Tag Archives: Preparing to cruise

Another One Bites the Dust

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File this under ‘how to save money so you can buy a boat’, ‘downsizing’, or ‘preparing to cruise’, whichever you prefer. Mike and I are trying to live more frugally lately and this means that at times we have to make choices. Suffice to say I ran smack up against my definition of self, otherwise known as ‘ego’, this week. Turns out this whole idea of saving money is making me a pretty cheap date.

Recently 3 seemingly unrelated things happened: We sold my Mazda van, and our daughter moved to an apartment in Seattle, on her own once more. She left her 1994 Toyota Camry behind forever, sitting in our driveway. Then our son came home for the summer. I had been driving his cute little Toyota Matrix, a car both versatile and attractive. Astute readers will see the handwriting on this wall by now.

This is what I usually drive. Cute, versatile.

When a son returns home for the summer, he wants his car and because the car belongs to him (and I promised he could have it back) I am currently without vehicle. I need to get to work. We considered our options, including riding the bus (but I have to find a way to the bus stop) and buying a scooter to be ridden in the summer. Cute, but not very versatile. Trouble is, we don’t want to replace one vehicle with another. That’s not part of our plan.

“But wait!”, you may think. “Don’t you have the old Camry?”. Oh. Yes. We. Do. Let me tell you about this car. We bought it for $5000 when our daughter was a Junior in highschool. She has driven it for 10 years. Driven it only. Not actually cared for it. It has 270,000 miles on it (Long live Toyota!). It has had several minor skirmishes with various fences, gates, and other vehicles and apparently we don’t believe in spending money fixing cosmetic things on old cars.  Think of the damage as war wounds. The windshield is cracked, the doors don’t lock properly, the windows will roll down but then won’t roll up, steering is decidedly wavy, the dashboard is cracked, and it leaks like a sieve… as in there was a small lake on the passenger’s side of the car and Mike actually found large mushrooms growing in the back. I am not making this up.

The Camry was a fine looking automobile. That's past tense.

 

Understand, we have never driven new cars, believing a new car to be a profound waste of money. We do not even drive late model cars, as a general rule. We pretty much see cars as a means of transportation. We like them reliable, safe, inexpensive, and fuel efficient. So we don’t really think of cars as being reflections of our true selves, but there’s a limit and I thought I’d reached it when faced with this transportation issue.

I contemplated driving the Camry. Mike had spent considerable time and energy drying it out and cleaning it up. But still, it’s a car from 1994. I don’t even remember that long ago. I don’t think Andrew even existed yet.  I thought about clients and colleagues sizing me up as I pulled into the parking lot in this ‘vehicle’. I thought about the fact that as a middle aged woman, I am already part of a segment of the population that people don’t take very seriously, as though my usefulness as a human being is nearing its expiration date. (If you think this isn’t true, you are either not a middle aged woman, you are not paying attention, or both.) In short I was thinking, ‘What will people think of me?’. I ran smack up against ego, once more! Damn! Will it never end? Where is the part of me that gives less than a rat’s ass about the judgments of others? I know she’s around here somewhere…

I contemplated driving the car to the park and ride, taking the bus to work. It would actually be fine as it stops just a few blocks from my office and I would enjoy the walk. That was the plan for today.

Then I found myself driving to the park and ride in pouring rain, without an umbrella. I would get soaked walking the few blocks to my office. Unacceptable. So I drove to work. And you know what? It wasn’t bad. I studiously ignored any looks from other drivers. Maybe there weren’t any. I’ll never know. There is a sunroof and great visability in that car; much better visability than the Matrix. And the sound system is terrific! I pulled into the parking lot with my hearing aids vibrating to ‘Another One Bites the Dust’.

Can I allow my self-imposed persona of the professional woman who drives above-average looking, versatile cars give way to the part of me that wants to be frugal for the sake of living the rest of our lives on our own terms? Yep. I can. I’ve always been a bit of a rule breaker, even when I’ve made the rules myself. Another one bites the dust, indeed!

My new ride!

 

The ADD Brain and Boat Maintenance Reading

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Great literature!

Hi there blog readers. So earlier this week Mike posted about the kinds of books one needs in a good boat maintenance library: the kind my husband likes to read. Books like [amazon_link id=”0071475354″ target=”_blank” ]Marine Diesel Engines[/amazon_link] by Nigel Calder are light reading for Mike. He loves to snuggle down on a rainy day with a good book, and since he’s already read the entire Oxford English Dictionary, fine print edition,  this book on diesel engines will do.

This is where we part company. Unlike Mike, I did not grow up reading the dictionary for entertainment. No, I grew up reading Nancy Drew, like all red-blooded American women my age. If my husband had read The Hardy Boys rather than the dictionary and various other reference materials, we’d probably be on the same proverbial page about good literature and what constitutes reading entertainment.

Good reading!

There are two basic problems here. First, Mike has the kind of brain that can pick up a book like Marine Diesel Engines and understand what the bloody hell the author is talking about. He can see it in his mind as Nigel waxes poetic about tracing fuel lines, Pneumatic Sensors, and Flexible-Impeller Pumps. When Mike reads about ‘four-cycle’ engines, he knows the author is not talking about permanent press, delicate, pre-wash, or soak.  The term ‘planetary transmissions’ does not, to him, mean that Mercury is retrograde until August 2012.

Now, I don’t want to be accused of stereotyping here (a crime that never goes unpunished in our household), but I submit to you that part of the reason we are different this way is that Mike grew up a boy in Tennessee. He carried a knife because it’s a useful item. He cut his teeth on screwdrivers, pliers, hammers, and their ilk.  While he was busy taking things apart, I was busy putting things together in artsy craftsy ways. My tools tended toward needles, thread, scissors, and glue with the occasional wood thrown in as a test.  I think you know what I’m saying here without getting into the whole ridiculous nature/nuture argument, as if there is a way to separate those things. In a nutshell, Nigel speaks Mike’s native tongue. I, however, am from a different planet altogether.

Here’s the other reason I will never be able to get cozy with a book on diesel engines. My brain cannot cope with it.  I believe this issue is more closely related to the whole ‘native tongue’ issue than to my ‘native intelligence’, but regardless of that it’s a good thing I have a rather decent amount of self-esteem or I’d be pretty upset. I mean, who wouldn’t like to think they could get cozy with diesel engines at any time, any place?

Rather than try to explain, let me illustrate the difference between what goes on in my head when I’m reading such a book and what goes on in Mike’s head while reading the same passage. I use a passage on page 36 of the book, under the heading ‘Wet and Dry Exhausts’ ( It certainly does!).

Mike’s brain:

“Noise is a rather complicated business, but one of its major causes is the velocity with which gases exit an engine. Another is the sudden pressure changes created as each cylinder discharges its exhaust gases. Decreasing the volume of the gases or expanding them into a larger area reduces velocity. A certain amount of back pressure in the exhaust system smoothes out pressure changes.”

My brain:

“Noise is a rather complicated business,……. I need to think of something to take to the brunch on Sunday. It shouldn’t be egg based… Shit! What did I just read? Focus, Melissa, Focus!….Noise is a rather complicated business, but one of its major causes is the velocity with which gases exit an engine. Another is the sudden pressure…..I forgot to take the clothes out of the dryer. Damn! Now I’m going to have to get out the iron. No, I’ll just run them through the dryer again…. A certain amount of back pressure in the exhaust system smoothes out pressure changes. I need to add coffee to the shopping list. And I need to make sure the long underwear is on the boat. I think I left my sailing jacket there, but better check the closet to be sure. Crap!  Noise is a rather complicated business….”

No, Nigel. Noise is really rather simple. But reading this book is a VERY complicated business for me. I think I will go makes some dolls.

 

 

 

A Beautiful Weekend…. On Land.

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My 'daffodil' rhodies.

We finally have decent weather in the Pacific Northwest! This weekend it hit 80 degrees, with blue skies and the sun acting as though it had been there all along. We wait all year for this weather. It’s the only reason many of us continue to live here through the dark disgusting winter season. The garden is filled with the majesty of spring.  So naturally our thoughts turned to being out on the boat.

“Oh good!”, the loyal reader exclaims! “They went out on the boat and there will be cool sailing photos. ”

But that is not what happened. We did not get out on the boat. You cannot possibly be more disappointed than we are about the fact that weekends are only 2 days long and one cannot be more than one place at a time, at least not in this dimension.

Alliums are in full dazzle.

When a certain mother and her daughter both have gift certificates to a certain spa and they want to go together, and the daughter works in Seattle Monday-Friday, then that mother/daughter pair must go to the spa on a Saturday. So we did. And after my body was scrubbed until it shone, I went outside to get dirty. I spent the rest of the day gardening. Being too clean and relaxed sends the wrong message to others. A little dirt under the nails calms down that kind of expectation.

And when that same mother has a son who is away at college and is coming home for the weekend to do the Color Run in Seattle on Mother’s Day, and then wants to go out to lunch with that mother, after which there will be a drive to Redmond,well, you can see that the two day weekend is now shot to heck in terms of going out on the boat for a day.

But all is not lost! There were some boats involved in this weekend. While in Seattle we took a little wander down to the Chittendon Locks in Ballard. The locks were named after a man named Hiram, and Mike’s grandfather’s name was Hiram, so we feel a special affinity for these locks. Also we wanted to see how they work because we’ve never been through them and we hear horror stories. You know, there are horror stories about just about everything. Locks are only one of many subjects.

This combination makes me happy.

After watching the locks open and close letting boats in and out between the salt water of Salmon Bay and the fresh water lakes, I’ve determined that once more, I am correct in assuming that if hundreds of thousands of people accomplish something with ease, we can too. Yep, it looks dead easy. You wait your turn, go in, tie up to the buttons on the wall, wait for the doors to open, then go out. I’m pretty sure we can hack it. So we hope to take a multi-day trip up to Lake Washington this summer, since we’ve never done that.

I took a couple of videos while up at the locks. Also, since there are no sailing photos, I took some of the garden and stuck them in this post. If I have to be on land, may as well enjoy what it has to offer. What’s that they say… bloom where you are planted? Well, I’m trying.

Watch the massive doors open in this video. Also hear the wind that we are missing out on by being on land.

 

Watch how they pack the boats in. It could make me a little nervous having other boats that close, but at least they are not moving fast.