May 15, 2011.

This past week at work went pretty well with the exception of my feet which are royally f’d up. The picture from the last post was after a single day, by the end of the week let’s just say that I can’t in good conscience subject anyone to a photo. Christy did buy me some flip flops to wear for the weekend to give my heels a chance to heal.

During the week I changed a pair of cutlass bearings, replaced a few impellers, fixed 3 bilge pumps, installed some deck hardware and did several oil changes. It’s been a bunch of small jobs but I have to say that it’s nice to go to the same place every day and have the work lined up for me.

I had to get a large power cruiser ready for the season. I changed the engine oil and various filters, diagnosed some electrical anomalies and changed plugs and wires. So I loaded up my little wagon with tools and supplies and transferred it all to the boat. It was going to be several hours of work and I kinda like the solitude that working alone offers. I was on the boat for only a few minutes when I realized that I was not alone at all.

The boat has been closed up since last fall and was completely infested with stinkbugs. Stinkbugs typically show up at the onset of Fall. They look like a chip of tree bark and are about the size of a finger nail. They’re slow enough that they’re an easy kill but typically there are just SO many of them. Plus, they fly, so they’re either bumping into you or landing on you, they just suck. Escaping Annapolis in the fall without any stink bug stowaways will be a miracle.

Dead stinkbugs were everywhere. I had to move mattresses to gain access to the various nooks and crannies of the boat and there were stinkbug bodies everywhere. They were on every surface in the entire boat. Thousands of them. I consoled myself with the fact that at least they were all dead.

After the electrical problems were worked out I pulled up the salon floor and settled in to do the engine work. That’s when I happened to glance up at the windscreen that dominates the forward end of the salon. Dozens of live bugs were walking across the inside of the windshield luxuriating in the suns warmth. That’s one boat that I’m glad to have behind me.

On Saturday we had a friends van for the day. Christy had to drive because I couldn’t rest my feet on their heels to drive. We haven’t traveled over 12 knots since November and once again it was an adjustment to get used to hurtling along at 60 knots. I resisted putting my head out the window like a Cocker spaniel.