Monday, May 31, 2010

Heartless Landlord evicts young mother.

Apparently, many people know that mourning doves have two clutches of eggs every spring. Until this weekend I didn't know that.

Being the heartless cull that I am, I decided that I had had enough and it was time for momma dove to leave. I think she was quite surprised that I carried out my threat this time. She let me walk right up to her and almost touch the nest before she flew away with a few choice chirps for me that I can't repeat on a family blog.

I set the nest down on the ground figuring that would be the end of it but momma wasn't through with me. While I disassembled the winter cover, momma continued to fly around chirping and keeping an eye on me.

At the end of a few hours on Saturday I had the cover off.



On Sunday I came all prepared to wash the boat of its winter grime and start sanding and varnishing the toerails. Momma had other plans for me as I found her back on her nest where I had set it under the boat.



After a few tense moments we came to an agreement. I agreed to put the ladder on the port side and work on interior projects and thus not get the nest wet with hull washing, and in return momma promised to let me make all the noise I want inside and not give me those dovey eyes that make me feel so guilty.

So I used my time on Sunday to clean up the epoxy squeeze out from around the bamboo cabin sole. That took more time than I expected. The hatch covers sit pretty tight and the smallest amount of epoxy in the corners were keeping the hatches from sitting properly. After some boring detail work I realized that my router back at home would come in very useful. Using a quarter round bit I simply rounded the lower edges of the hatch boards which made the hatches drop into place easily. Sunday afternoon was for holiday socializing (my girlfriend made me go and be social).

Monday I was tied up with holiday guests for a few hours but I did manage to spend a bit of time cleaning up the sole and buying some materials for the final finish work.

So here is how the sole looks today:





So far I am pretty happy with the look. I have satin finish polyurethane for the bamboo and a close match of paint for the exposed bits of hull and hatch fiddles. I need to do a bit more fairing before the paint though. The hatches sit just a bit low so I need to build up the edges that they sit on slightly and I want to smooth the exposed hull surfaces as well before I paint.

The highest priority next week is to sand and varnish my starved toerails. Now that the sun is beating down on them I really feel the need to get them protected. Its nice having teak that can take the abuse but I would like to limit the abuse as much as a I can.

As I was leaving today, Momma Dove posed for one last photograph.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Momma's gone but ...

but baby Dove is being reluctant about leaving the nest.

On a positive note; my girlfriend is thrilled to have me around and available on the weekends. She has been getting into sea kayaking in a big way and I have been participating with her.

I have to say, considering the aquisition and yearly maintenance costs, you get a tremendous bang for the buck with a kayak. They are tons of fun and but a fraction of the cost of a small cruising sailboat.

Truth be known, I have purposefully avoided kayaks because I knew I would like them but I didn't want any more distractions in my life. I am busy enough as it is. Despite my best intentions I may be losing the battle. Kayaks are a lot of fun.

I have high hopes for some real boatwork next week. That's about it.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Baby doves are very cute

What can I say. The little baby dove is very cute. It must have hatched sometime last weekend as it already looks like it is about ready to leave the nest.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Yeah, I know...

Saturday, torrential rains, high winds, thunder and lightning. No boatwork.

Sunday, Mother's Day, visiting guests. No boatwork.

I checked on Jenny. She is doing fine but the cover is looking a bit flabby.

Momma dove was celebrating mother's day by sitting on her eggs. Any day now...