Some of you are already on the list, but I thought I'd offer others the
opportunity to see what it's like over in the googlegroup Flying Pig
Log. Lydia just posted this first message to that group:

Hi

We've been here three weeks today. I have absolutely no idea where the
time has gone, and while I see progress on the boat, it sure takes a
lot longer to get things done than I would like. But, we're retired
now, after all, and Yay for that. We don't have to work at mach speed;
there's no one to tell us that our coffee break time is over. The only
boss around here is me.

Pedicures have taken on a new meaning to me; my feet are so beaten up,
I'd have been embarrassed to go and get one. I discovered several
years ago when I was thirty miles off shore, that I could, in fact,
make a perfectly lovely tampon out of materials I found in a First Aid
box on board. Today, I discovered that #1200 wet sand paper does a
marvelous job on toenails to remove paint, caulk, and various other
blobs that aren't supposed to be there. I think I'll probably forego
the nail polish at this stage in my boat-yard-bum career.

Days are hot - blistering, in fact, so getting your T-shirt wet before
you manage to get it sweat soaked is a good idea. Keeping your feet
wet (and cool) affords relief also. Once you get that down pat, and
immerse yourself in a job, you don't notice the heat anymore, anyway.
I'd still rather take this heat anyday, than North Dakota in the
winter.

There are lots of very interesting characters here in the boat yard,
and the folks in St Pete are very friendly people; it seems there are
many different nationalities living here. We go out for supper a few
times a week when Skip just can't take Peanut Butter and Jelly anymore,
and invariably, we strike up conversations with fellow sailors. Seems
everyone here has, wants to have, or just sold a sailboat.

Happily for me, there are lots of animals, too. I've made
acquaintances with all the pet owners on my jogging route down by the
beach, which is a block away. One guy has an 80 lb desert tortoise who
roams his back yard; it's only 7 years old and hasn't finished growing.
Tonight, at Fish Tales, one of our dinner haunts where we show up
looking like yard bums, there was a beautiful dog sitting politely at
the table next to us. I couldn't resist going to meet her, and she
very gently and thoroughly cleaned my face for me, as well as put her
front teeth around my nose and gave me the tiniest nibble. She was
marvelous. When I walked home from dinner back to the yard, I stopped
at the beach and watched a man way out in the water with his dog. It
was low tide, so the man had water up to his knees and his Lab was
quite immersed. The dog would stand in the water, waiting for a fish
to jump, and then go galloping after the fish, happily amusing herself.
I was tempted to go out and join them. It sure made me miss my furry
grandsons, Bentley and Nigel, to whom I said goodbye three weeks ago.

I'm working on the outside of the boat; Skip's on the inside. I've
been saying this for 3 weeks now, but I hope we'll have the boat in the
water in a month. Meanwhile, I live each day as it comes and I'm
enjoying just being on the boat and *finally* being involved with
working on it. The journey has begun - albeit on land, for the moment.

I'll write again when we're closing in on a splash date.

Love, Lydia
S/V Flying Pig
Morgan 461 #2


This is the standard footer which goes with each such maliing...

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Flying Pig Log" mailing list. It is Lydia's "warm-fuzzy"
posting site for updates on our adventures. You'll only see brief
messages of a non-technical nature here.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to (click this link)

For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog
Email to this group (or a reply to this posting) will go only to Skip
and Lydia. For an interactive, more in-depth discussion of what's
happening aboard, you may wish to join

If think you'd like to be on either list, please visit the sites to
have a look around...

L8R

Skip and Lydia, sweltering in St. Pete's Hete

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
oups.com:

I discovered several
years ago when I was thirty miles off shore, that I could, in fact,
make a perfectly lovely tampon out of materials I found in a First Aid
box on board.

I'll never use dental floss again.....(c;

--
There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.

In article .com,
"Skip Gundlach" wrote:

Some of you are already on the list, but I thought I'd offer others the
opportunity to see what it's like over in the googlegroup Flying Pig
Log. Lydia just posted this first message to that group:


Wow! over 400 subscribers already.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/