Monday, July 25, 2011

Working Aboard

Here we are in late July and I'm finally back to working again.

I did one project in May, when Ivy was going through the worst of her colic. It. Was. Hard. I finished up the work, but decided it was too early to take anything else so I took another month off.

Ivy is 4 months old today, and with that comes a few wonderful things - a happier baby and regular(ish) naps. She is full of smiles. She takes a couple of naps a day now and while I can't always rely on them, for the most part I can get a few things done again.

Work is going surprisingly well with having her around. I know that it will be forever changing as she grows, but at the moment I can work while she's eating or napping. Since I know I have limited time, I am really focused on the task at hand.

That being said - sometimes she just won't fall asleep in bed, so I put her in the Ergo carrier and let her sleep on me. It makes everything a bit more difficult, but doable. Whatever it takes, right?

Crappy picture of Ivy strapped to the front of me while I index a book.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

One project at a time.

We're getting there....

We used the same 1/2 inch scratch resistant polycarbonate sheeting for the companionway drop-in board as we had used on the pilothouse windows. It is nice crystal clear and durable stuff. Very happy with it, despite the price! The upright posts are 3/8 inch stainless barstock drilled with 1/4 inch holes and through bolted to matching uprights on the inside. I think it should work out nicely. The hatch itself is a Bomar aluminum hatch made just for companionways. We boughtt that from Henry along with the rest of the hatches he had purchased for the boat nearly 30 years ago.

Fun stuff.

-Justin.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Here Comes The Sun

It's been going on for a couple of months now, and somehow I've just noticed the pattern. Ivy goes to bed at sunset and wakes up at sunrise.

It's such a beautiful, natural thing and I hope it lasts, even for a little while. I love that she's already so connected to nature, and I'd like to think that living on the boat contributes a bit to this rhythm she's gotten herself into. We don't use a lot of artificial lighting and we have curtains that let the light shine through. Just last night I was thinking that we maybe needed to make the v-berth darker so that she'd go to bed sooner, but now I'm rethinking that.

Maybe I'm taking too much credit for it, but it seems that it's most natural thing in the world that we've all defeated early on in our lives with artificial lights to make the day longer and curtains to make the night longer. We stimulate ourselves with coffee in the day, then take a tylenol P.M. when we can't wind down at night. Then we wake ourselves up with terrible screeching alarms, but only after hitting the snooze button multiple times.

I have to admit that I've never been a morning person. Far from it, in fact. At my worst, I was going to bed at sunrise. I was in college and had scheduled my earliest class at 4pm because I felt so trapped by my horrible sleep schedule and decided to just go with it.


As I sit here at 6:30am, roughly an hour after being up with Ivy for the day, I realize that I'm really growing into this new cycle of sleep and awake. I admit, sometimes 5am comes awfully early. I also admit that coffee has been my friend lately. Even still, I'm far more awake in the morning than I ever would expect, even when I go to bed an hour or two later than Ivy. If I followed in her footsteps and went to bed at sunset I'm betting I could cut coffee out entirely, but those late hours are when I finally get work done so at the moment it's not an option for me. Best part is that she naps frequently, and I can always take one with her.

I love that this little girl is teaching me how to live a more natural way, and I have to admit that I'm glad I'm not too ignorant to entirely miss the point. I could easily be resentful of these mornings, but then I'd be missing out on so much.

I know it may not last, but for now I will work with it in hopes that she will always remember to pay attention to the rhythm of nature.

(If we lived in Alaska this would be an entirely different post). ;)

Friday, July 8, 2011

Another Creekmore Update

Creeky's Blue!

Before and After

Ivy's growing like a weed...

Gnawing. On. Everything.

And Justin cut my hair.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Creekmore Progress

Justin's been hard at work on the Creekmore and I wanted to show it off. It's starting to look like a whole different boat.





Saturday, July 2, 2011

Handwashing Video Clip

I had a request to make a video explaining how we wash our clothes. Well, that's kind of boring these days (we go to the laundromat), but I do hand wash Ivy's diapers. Here's how it's done.