I have been busy. Not a lot to talk about so have not been posting.
I am constantly amazed at how difficult my physical recovery has been. That and the fact that it is still ongoing. At this point... I am just about 2 weeks with no real pain meds. It is hard to consider a 600mg ibuprofen and a Tylenol pm at bedtime as real pain meds.
When I bought Mary Lee, my brain seemed to think my body could somehow just miraculously recover and push on through to completion of future plans. My body did not see it the same way :-)
My legs still have much nerve pain. It still radiates out from the L-1 to my hips and points south. Getting to sleep at night is difficult at best. However... even though I still have to be careful about what I do,(especially now that I am not taking anything to ease the affects of overdoing) My brain is coming out of the drug induced fuzziness. I am pleased :-) I hated taking pills long before the back injury in March of 2006. April 16th is 2 year anniversary of buying Mary Lee. I could barely stand without a cane when I bought her. That was on 120mg of oxycontin a day. I had to ride the wheelchairs through the airports. WOW!!!! What a battle it has been.
Even though I have not moved along at the pace I had planned, I am still doing all I can do every day. If I do to much or do something wrong... I may be several days before I can even continue. Still... I do what I can on the slack days. I have a goal.... I will not be detoured.
This is beginning my 3rd year with Mary Lee. I have a busy summer planned. I will get a lot of sailing done this summer. A few changes to Mary Lee. Solar panels and wind generator installed. I have a garage to work in and most tools are now bought and shop is set up.
I built a good solid table to work on. I still need a set-up for doing mortise and tenon joints. Also need to pick up a dovetail jig. I am looking at building a permanent dodger for Mary Lee. It will give me a place for solar panels. I have sorted out how I want to re-fit the galley. I am happy with what I finally came up with.
Lumber delivered for dinghy build.
Because inflatable is selling. I just want a wood dinghy that I can also sail.
Have plans for nesting dinghy. put together it weighs just over a hundred pounds. I think I am going to build a few different styles of punts, prams and dinghies this summer and find something that I like. I will certainly build this rascal. But not quite yet. Besides... as long as I can sell my experiments, I can let the proceeds pay for some upgrades.
I am not jumping in blind. I am making sure to read all I can for those little tricks that make projects go easier.
Spring has sprung. Yesterday was spent enjoying the sun. Long walk on beach was overdoing it a bit. But nice anyways.
Still baking. Spaghetti squash with fresh bread.
Remember this. Holding tanks. It turned out that following advice is not always the best advice. Capping off second tank only keeps it from being pumped out. It still fills. Putting in suction tubes that are not only the right ones but also installed correctly makes a big difference. Moral of the story??? Never assume that what you are looking at was correct to begin with :-) Murphy said something like. "Never enough time to do it right.. ALWAYS enough time to do it over".
I like the idea of a composting head more all the time. That may be on the list.
I will be sailing all I can this summer. Building dinghies and refitting a bit on Mary Lee. Of course... The battle to make my back stronger is ongoing. Did I mention I am now riding bicycle? Pretty big step. I have ridden as much as 14 miles on one day(that was not all at once and I had trouble not only finishing, but for days afterwards. But... I did do it) and will be regularly riding 3.5 miles from Mary Lee to garage in the morning and the return trip when I have done all I can and head back to Mary Lee
Tonight Mary Beth is helping me set up her total gym so I can start doing as much of that as possible. The daily plan will be to go for a short sail in the morning. Ride 3.5 miles to Mary Beth's and garage. Spend a short bit on the gym and then build for as long as I can stay on my feet, then ride the 3.5 miles back home. I will set aside one day a week(or more as it suits me) for work on Mary Lee and one day for nothing but sailing.
I know it sounds like I am planning to overdo it.... Maybe, But I am heading south the first part of October this year and I intend to be as ready as I can. This is it. Whatever shape I am in come October, I am heading south.
At this point... I am wrestling with the idea of going back north next summer to explore the Maine coastline. I keep hearing about how great a place it is to sail. I have even heard it is the best in the U.S. I may have to see for myself.
Need to get my passport this summer. I am not sure how the other plans are going with Peters sailboat. Refresher... I do not remember if I mentioned it. Peter(from Germany) is refitting a 65 ft. ferro-cement sailboat where I fixed my prop. He and his wife are planning to take it to Cartagena, Colombia sometime around November this year. I have an opportunity to ride along if the schedules work out. I would like to go check it out. Time will tell.
Lee(south Korean) bought a 57 ft. sailboat in the same yard. He is planning on taking it to South Korea when done. I have an opportunity to go but I think My schedule is to full. Also. North Korea is pretty close to destination. It would be interesting to go along as far as the passage through the Panama canal.
So you see... Not a lot of exciting things to blog about. However... there are some things about to fall into place. The dream is slowly approaching a point of fruition. I just need to keep my head down and keep pushing along.
Not much time for anything else. I will have to leave out all thoughts of any kind of relations beyond friendship, and certainly any dating, until I have made a pretty big dent in the work load. I have been alone this long. A little longer does not matter. My lesson last winter will keep my nose clean :-) (some of you know about that)
I am constantly making new friends. That makes this experience a rich one for me. I have not forgot anyone I met so far. Everyone has left a permanent mark. Final analogy for today. If it was over tomorrow... Everything leading up to it has been so worth the effort.
Certainly not the way I planned it. Every minute of my day hurts, whether I move or not. But (if hurt I must) better to have a life and hurt, than to lay around doped up hurting and wishing for a life.
