Vitality is all better now, just a one-night thing. Not sure what it was.
We had a yellow-footed booby on our front pulpit. The kids and I were playing cards in the cockpit one night and saw him come. It was cute and we let him stay for the evening. Next morning the kayaks on the front trampoline were covered in poop. Now, I knew he'd poop and that was a risk we were taking, but WOW can that bird poop!! He must go every 10 minutes?? Shalet, how often does a normal healthy bird poop?? At this point, I got pictures with the kids and told them they could scare him away. He hissed and fought back, so we let him stay. It did appear that most of the damage was already done. Other boobies were circling us. I think they were jealous! Integrity found a squid that had landed on the boat overnight and tried to offer it to the booby, I don't think the booby understood the plan and he didn't take it. He would fly off periodically, only to return about 10 minutes later. This morning he finally flew off for good while Courage and I were working on the mainsail. He was with us for about 36 hours. We figure he must be headed for the Galapagos; he certainly wasn't concerned about our course. We were right; most of the damage was done the first night. We'll need a squall or at least be able to throw those kayaks in the water in the near future!
Yesterday I had some sort of stomach bug. Courage was convinced it was seasickness, but I've had stomach bugs and I've had seasickness and this was much more than seasickness. I pretty much laid up all day in one of the sleigh beds in the living room and slept most of the day with intermittent trips to the bathroom. When I was awake, I watched the booby. In the evening I had some Jello and a Gatorade, slept all night again, and was feeling a whole lot better!! I don't think the motion of the boat was helping, but I also don't think it was the culprit!! Whatever the cause, I'm quite glad it is gone.
Got a lot more done today than yesterday. Been working more on the cushions on the boat, getting them plastic wrapped in case they get wet, getting them nailed down so they don't get knocked onto the floor on a regular basis. Have been sewing Velcro onto the ends of the cushion covers with my new sewing machine so that the cushions aren't always sliding out of them. Now I have an issue with tension. Can anyone tell me why the thread bunches up on one side, on the bobbin side? It makes a loud noise, and then ultimately broke a needle because it couldn't move any longer? What is that from? I'm sewing Velcro onto a relatively thin material. It's sewn much thicker things for me already. I didn't adjust anything, even the tension. I may have to break down and look at the manual, but until that time, does anyone know what the deal is??
I also made an Ecuadorian flag this morning before the cushion covers. After soaking the white flag material in yellow food coloring for 24 hours, it appears to be colorfast. So, I colored it with a yellow sharpie and decided to make it smaller. The Ecuadorian flag has a 2:1 (length:height) ratio. I never knew that flags came in different dimensions. I guess I thought it was like paper, it's 8x11 standard, 9x13, etc. Some are 2:3 ratio for example. I'm pretty sure the French flag I made isn't up to standard dimensions. I just eyeballed roughly a rectangle. By the time I took in the edges, it looks a bit lengthy compared to its height. Oh well. So, my little Ecuadorian flag is 8x16. The top half is yellow, then a blue strip is 1/4 and a red stripe is 1/4. You don't have to have the emblem, only on government flags. I left the white and blue material from the French flag material we had bought, and then cut off the red. I sewed the red to the blue, took in the edges, reinforced it a lot (our flags get blown to shreds sometimes out here), and then added some grommets to the edge. Other than the uneven stitching and coloring marks, it looks pretty professional! Courage assures me we can fly it high and hopefully no one will notice. Hope it doesn't rain while we're there, not sure the color will hold.
After making the flag, I cleaned out the freezer and threw out any suspect foods that may have made me sick. I had made yogurt, which was going well, but it ended up at the bottom of the freezer for over the past week. It's homemade and without preservatives or stabilizers. Well, a week is too long. To make new yogurt, you are supposed to use 2-3 tablespoons of the prior batch. So, I tried this to see if I could make a new batch today despite this yogurt not being well. Unfortunately, this batch went straight to curds and whey. Are there any yogurt experts out there with advice? At that point, do you just scrap it all and start over?? I have another commercial yogurt in the fridge and will try a batch tomorrow with it.
We have been doing great with winds and sailing. We've been sailing at almost 30 to 45 degrees to the wind. Another discussion - how does that propel you forward when the wind is blowing on your nose and pushing your sails from that angle? I'd like to hear concepts rather than throw out what we've discussed.
Finally this evening we've turned on our motors. This way, we should cross the equator during daylight hours tomorrow. Typically at this time you shave and apparently throw some alcohol in the water for Neptune. I don't know what the significance of shaving is; other than no one is likely to have done that in awhile . . . At this point you are considered a "shellback", like a turtle with a shell. So, by this time tomorrow, we hope to be clean-shaven and shellbacks. Not sure how well Neptune is going to fare. He'll do great if he likes curds and whey!!
Looking forward to the Galapagos!
Good night
Shannon
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