Environment Canada Weather Forecast Marine Forecast issued for Eastern Lake Ontario. Issued: 3.00 AM EDT Thursday 12 April 2007 for the period ending at 3.00 AM Friday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: Wind east 20 knots veering to southeast early this morning then diminishing to 15 near noon. Wind becoming variable 10 early this evening. Wind increasing to southwest 15 this evening then veering to west near midnight. Periods of rain. Waves 1 to 2 meters lowering to 1 or less this evening. Outlook..Strong westerlies veering to northwesterlies.

There is a wet snow falling from a heavy gray sky as I headed to the shop in the morning. As I moved away from the lake there were signs of a slight accumulation but mostly mucky. There is no driving in to the Ben Gill shop right now and I have resorted to my deck boots for access.

By early afternoon I had the entire outside of the dory sanded and the floor roughed. Arthur dropped by and we made a joint home depot trip which supplied all the material that I should need to finish repairs to the dory. The rest of the afternoon slipped away at the Waring House. Later in the evening Rufus once again proved his alpha bully trick and treed poor Beauty as Arthur had her out for her evening walk. This is no good and Rufus is going to have to learn to be more sociable or learn to spend a couple of early evening hours locked on board so Beauty can have garden time.

Friday, April 13 07:23 EDT

I hope that superstition is wrong and the specter passes me by this day. Once again it is slightly above freezing with a light rain falling. Tomorrow is "ET" delivery day, today I meet Tony at 09:00 to extricate the tractor and move "ET" to the front of the yard, right next to the gate on high ground. That way I do not have to deal with stuck clients as I have no doubt that getting through the yard right now is going to be a feat in itself.

The dory is proceeding well and I hope to have the gunwale roughed in by the time I leave this afternoon. It is now time I seriously consider what I do at the end of April as the way things stand now I will have to go to my mooring whihc will make Rufus extremely unhappy. But it is more than that I have at least two options to purchase a dock which if I decide to stay and work for another 4 or 5 years is the most practical option as then the rules are much more my own. OR Or do I start moving out and slowly east. My next haul-out will most likely be Kingston and it costs me no more to move than to sit in a marina.

Getting Ebb Tide out yesterday almost went well, moving the boat with the tractor posed no problem and it was already by the road when I arrived before 09:00. However, Tony had gotten big time stuck and even the tractor was going no where with the car up to its belly and foot deep ruts swimming in a slick pond of brown mud. It took over an hour and a half with many scrounging trips searching for more chain before we finally extricated the mud strewn mini van by which time the fun had defiantly gone from the day. I did get the gunnels off the dory and lay out today’s cuts.

Environment Canada Weather Forecast Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 10.30 AM EDT Friday 13 April 2007 for the period ending at 10.30 AM Saturday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: Wind west 25 to 30 knots diminishing to 20 this evening and to 15 overnight. Scattered showers or flurries ending this afternoon then fair. Waves near 2 metres lowering to near 1 overnight. Outlook..Moderate westerlies diminishing to light and variable then increasing to moderate northeasterlies.

Saturday April 14, 2007

There is sun out there again today. I had almost forgotten what the sun looked like since this last blast of winter with its gray wet cover descended on spring.

I left early and checked out another dock for sale but ended up coming up empty one more time. It is becoming extremely difficult to find a place to live aboard in Ontario.

Rufus took his first swim for the year today. I have no idea how he manages it other than his coat seems to shed water extremely well. He comes back all sheepish with the dead giveaway of a soaked tail. Somehow he manages to get out, which must be quite a vertical climb trick as most of the dock wall does not reach the water meaning he has to reach several inches above the water level to get a claw into the lowest board. The good news is he does not seem to become disorientated and quickly heads for the dry.

Rufus really hates being fussed over and getting a quick towl dry on him before he headed out to the dock to dry himself. There is always a indicator ho badley he messed up by how far up his tail the saturated line comes.

Arthur is back with kitty Beauty along this time and has settled into the getting Marajcooga ready while living aboard on the hard. A true brick is Arthur as h an excellent camper who has developed a excellent set of cooking tools that work in any wind and make camping life quite civalized.

Sunday, April 15

Another wet gray day. I will head into the shop in a bit and put in 4 or 5 hours on the Dory.

I have been procrastinating for much of the winter as what to do next. I have a growing desire to leave port and am within inches of figuring out the financial end. Once I can cut the shore strings the costs drop so dramatically, yet I am short dollars for the proposed trip. What can I do? Win the lottery would be nice and support the cruise, on the other hand I spend less than $10 per year gambling and that is $20 on slots if in a gambling Mecca making any sudden change unlikley. Working low level jobs keeps the states quo stable but falls short of supporting a major cruise.

Rufus is curled up next to me as I delay going out into the rain and hoofing it into the Ben Gill shop. Not in any way to curse the shop, the section I am in is very pleasant to work in and after Fridays get stuck with Tony I applaud my decision to walk in, as both of walked the ground and I for once was the more cautious. He paid as Friday was a big time stuck. Today I will get the gunwale on the dory put on and put some primer down on the areas that only require re-priming before the repaint. Then it is Sunday and it is time to do a bit of social reciprocating making this a short work day.

Dave of Bodilla came back and opened up Bodilla. Dave has his sights set on offshore passage taking him south then across the Atlantic to the Med. I am glad that he is going to be around and getting ready for offshore as he does not mess around and does it right.

I must have kicked the exhaust for the Espar where it crossed the deck when I was working on the port side deck and appear to have broken a connection seal in a join of the pipe as my alarms tell me that there is too much carbon dioxide. Ah well there is another tube of high temp in the engine room which will solve the problem until the next time it is kicked. I had another engine room dive and I believe I have found the leak in the old CAV furl/water CAV for Defiance’s 671 which is good news as a new Racor is almost $200.

It is raining and generaly ugly outside as the day ends. The forcast is for a winter storm and the entire eastern seaboard is bracing for the worst. As the conditions are right for an ice storm or heavy wet snow it would not surprise me if there was a hydro loss incident this week.