Hurricane Matthew Prep & An Annoying Tree Frog

One of the things you do when you live on a boat in southern Florida is to check out the National Hurricane Center forecast on a regular basis. I'd been keeping my eye on Matthew ever since he was a wee baby in the Atlantic Ocean. At first he seemed like a sweet, little boy. Maybe a little fussy, but nothing too serious Then he grew up, turned into a monster and started making his way up through the Caribbean and Bahamas with his sights set on the east coast of the States.

It became clear as the days went by that we were in the cone. Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of cone that's filled with chocolate ice cream. This is the kind of cone that's chock full of nastiness which can leave devastating destruction and loss of life in its path.

Indiantown Marina, where I live on our Moody 346 sailboat, Tickety Boo, is considered to be a hurricane hole. It lies in a protected area inland about halfway between Stuart and Lake Okeechobee. Because the marina is situated off of the St Lucie Canal behind a lock, it's protected from storm surge. If you've seen the pictures of the flooding that Matthew has caused or pictures of boats washed up on shore, you'll know how devastating storm surge can be.

In the days leading up to Hurricane Matthew's arrival, boats started heading into the marina from the coast to hide out. Many of the boats, especially the super expensive ones, are members of the Hurricane Club. For an annual fee of $250, they get priority when it comes to being hauled out in the event of a hurricane. (They still have to pay the standard haul out and storage fees on top of the Hurricane Club membership fee.) The parking lot basically became a boat storage yard. Even if I had wanted to get hauled out, I wouldn't have been able to as so many Hurricane Club boats made their way to Indiantown.

While the ladies in the office and the Travelift crew were working overtime to get everyone situated, I was busy prepping Tickety Boo for the hurricane. While we would be protected from storm surge here, the winds were forecast to be brutal. This meant I needed to remove as much windage from the boat as possible (i.e., anything the wind could grab a hold of) and making sure she was securely tied up in her slip.

Fortunately, the sails and anchors had already been stored away, so my focus was on doubling up my lines where possible, adding fancy chafe protection in the form of duct-taped towels to the lines, getting everything out of the cockpit, taking down my American flag and removing the sun shade and canvas.
 
Everything went smoothly until I tried to take down the canvas. The term "canvas" is shorthand for the dodger, bimini and connector piece which provide cover over a boat's cockpit. Here's what ours looks like on Tickety Boo. The previous owners had it made in Grenada and it's in relatively good shape. Or so I thought.

When I went to unzip the dodger from the bimini, I found that the zippers were seized up and I couldn't get then to budge. I was starting to have a minor meltdown when my friends Matt and Jessica popped by to check in. Perfect timing! Matt is a life saver. He dismantled the frame and we managed to fold and tie down the dodger and bimini. Not an ideal solution, but the best that could be done in the time we had to get ready for Matthew.

In the process, I ended up ripping part of the canvas off of a track while we were taking it off and some of the snaps broke. I needed to do some repair to the canvas anyway, so once I can get the zippers off (thanks to everyone for the great tips on how to do this on our Facebook page), I'll start in on this sewing project on my Sailrite.

Once Tickety Boo was all squared away, I made sure that I had enough food to last me for days in case we lost power. I also filled up my tanks and jerry cans so that I would have drinking and  washing-up water.

After I was as set as I could be, I joined Matt and Jessica on the patio to chill out with a beer or two while we waited for our friends, Michele and Bruce, to make their way from Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart to Indiantown. While we were there, Matt and Jessica made a video on their hurricane prep for their new You Tube channel.

After Michele and Bruce got situated, we all went out for a "last supper" at the local Guatemalan/Mexican restaurant. We savored every bite, not knowing if it might be our last hot meal for awhile. I tried to get to sleep early knowing that I would probably be up all of the following night with the hurricane.

At one point, I started dreaming that my boat had been boarded by pirates in search of treasure. After a while, I realized it wasn't a dream. People were actually on my boat. I dashed up top to find a boat trying to get into the slip next to me in the middle of the night.

We had been told that two boats would be coming into the two empty slips next to me, but when they didn't show up that night, all of the nearby boats tied off to the piling between the slips. When a hurricane is coming, the more lines you can have securing your boat, creating a sort of spider web,  the better. You can see the piling in this picture, along with a very expensive fishing boat in the slip across the way.

Because we had lines blocking off the slip the boat was trying to get into, someone had boarded my boat to release it. I joined in the midnight fun and we all pitched in and ended up getting the boat settled into her slip. I'm amazed that this guy was able to maneuver into the slip without hitting me or the fishing boat.

I trundled back to bed, desperate to get some shut-eye. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I started to hear noises. Not the usual noise of the turtles banging against my hull, but a strange noise inside the main cabin. I searched and searched and searched to try to figure out what it was, but no luck. As I tried to fall back asleep, I heard it again, right next to me. I turned on the light and there was the culprit - a tree frog. I guess he was just trying to find a safe place to hide out from the hurricane too. Eventually, I managed to trap him and escort him outside. By this time the sun was coming up and Matthew was heading our way that evening. Oh well, sleep is overrated.

That morning, I did a few last minute things like remove the portable A/C unit, unplug from shore power, turn off the fridge and wait. Waiting is the worst part. We've been through some serious weather on our boat in New Zealand, like ex-cyclone Lusi and ex-cyclone June, but this had the potential to be much worse.

Thanks goodness for books. I read and snacked all day and waited. Then I read and snacked some more in the evening and waited. I would turn on my cell phone every couple of hours to get the latest track from the National Hurricane Center and the wind forecast and wait some more.

While I was waiting, one of the things I fretted about was that the boats parked directly behind my boat would come tumbling down and smash into Tickety Boo.

 
Turns out I waited for nothing. We ended up being incredibly fortunate in our neck of the woods. Hurricane Matthew tracked eastwards over the water and didn't make landfall near Stuart/West Palm as we had feared. We had some gusty winds, but nothing too serious. Sadly, that wasn't the case for so many people elsewhere.

Everyone got up the next morning, had a walk about to check things out and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I spent the day chilling out and counting my blessings.

What do you do to distract yourself when you're nervously waiting for something to happen? Have you ever experienced a hurricane or other scary weather event?

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Asking People To Critique Your Writing | Critique Circle

Do you remember that scary button I pressed a few weeks ago asking complete strangers to critique a short story I wrote?

There are a number of online critique groups such as Critters Workshop and Writing.Com. The one I tried out was Critique Circle. I broke out into a cold sweat when I pressed the submit button, but it turns out the experience wasn't that scary after all.

Critique Circle operates on a credit system. For every critique you do of other people's stories, you earn credits. If you want to submit one of your own stories for critique, you have to pay a certain amount of credits. Your story is live in the critique queue for a week. After that it's archived where people can continue to critique it for a reduced amount of credits.

As a new member, you can jump the waiting line and submit your story directly into the newbie queue. However, you can only get a maximum of five critiques. People that post in other queues get an unlimited number of critiques. To be honest, five critiques sounded like plenty to me. Although, for a while, I wasn't sure if five people were actually going to critique my story. Turns out everyone else is pressure prompted like me and did their critiques at the last minute.

The critiques I received were extremely helpful and supportive with lots of useful feedback from catching typos, pointing out my overuse of adverbs, highlighting areas that were confusing, making suggestions about modifying or removing scenes, bolstering my confidence by telling me the premise of my story was intriguing etc. I suspect folks probably go easier on new members.

The system is really user friendly from posting your story to reviewing your critiques. I was able to print all of my critiques together, inline with the text, so that I could compare what different people picked up on in different parts of my story.

After making a number of changes based upon the feedback of these kind strangers, I then decided to press yet another scary button and send my short story to some wonderful bloggy friends who offered to act as beta readers. (Beta readers are essentially non-professionals who "test drive" your manuscript.)

Perhaps I'll do another post at some point on the beta reader process and the guidelines I put together. If that would be of interest to folks, let me know in the comments. In the meantime, let me do a shout-out to those lovely ladies - Liesbet from Roaming About, Melissa from Little Cunning Plan and Lucy from The Larks of Independence. Thank you so much - your feedback was so helpful!

Now the big question is do I push an even scarier button and submit my story to the Insecure Writer's Support Group anthology contest once I've revised it yet again?

Have you ever entered a contest? Did you win anything? If so, what was it?

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Wordless Wednesday | Boats & Hurricane Matthew

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - After Hurricane Matthew, a number of people contacted me to check up on their boats that are in storage at Indiantown Marina. It must be so worrying to wonder if your boat is going to survive a hurricane when you're miles away. All the boats here seem to be fine. Unfortunately, that's not the case for people who have boats elsewhere.

2 - I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took because pictures of boats are fun! Boats come in all shapes, sizes and colors, just like people.

3 - I can't figure out why some of the boats in storage hardly seem to have any mold and mildew on the outside while mine seems to be covered in the stuff just a few days after I wash it.


What words do these pictures bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here. 

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Moms Are Swell & Hurricane Matthew Update

For those of you who don't follow us on Facebook, I thought I would do a quick Hurricane Matthew update here to let you know that all is well at Indiantown Marina. We were lucky that Matthew tracked further east than forecast and didn't make landfall near the West Palm Beach/Stuart area which would have impacted us in Indiantown. We really dodged a bullet. I'll do a full update on Friday about hurricane prep for our boat and how it all went during the storm. Probably the worst thing that happened involved a tree frog. Tune back in on Friday to find out more.

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My mom is swell. I bet your mom is (was) too.

That’s a picture of my mom holding me not long after she gave birth to me. I can’t believe she got into that tiny dress so soon after childbirth. She told me that she traded in her two-seater sports car for the VW Bug you see in the picture so that she’d have room to cart me around. I guess VW Bugs were the 60s answer to today’s soccer moms’ minivans.

My mom has a milestone birthday this week and I’m not there to celebrate with her so I thought I would dedicate today’s blog post to sharing just a few of the reasons why she's so swell.

• She taught me the difference between asking, “Can I have a cookie?” and “May I have a cookie?” The answer to both questions is yes, but only the second one will land you with an actual cookie. It has to do with ability (being able to open the cookie jar and grab a cookie) vs. permission (making sure your mom will let you have another cookie so close to supper time). I think if she were ever to get a tattoo, it would be of the Oxford comma.

• She instilled a love of reading in me. My sister and I were encouraged to read anything and everything and outings to the library were a regular occurrence growing up.

• Although she’s allergic to eggs, she would still make scrambled eggs for us despite the fact that her eyes would swell up and get itchy from the egg fumes coming up from the pan. On a related note, she’s never had a chocolate chip cookie in her entire life due to the whole egg allergy thing. Wow. I can’t quite imagine life without cookies. Can you?

• She ignored the fact that we fed the cat vegetables under the table. That cat would even eat lima beans which was a good thing because lima beans are disgusting. Hmm. Maybe she never knew about the whole lima bean eating cat thing. Oops. I guess she does now.

• She put up with me during my teenage years. Honestly, how do parents survive teenage girls? 

• She taught me to be independent and self-confident. She instilled important values in me including valuing diversity, standing up to intolerance and social responsibility for those who are less fortunate.

• She's got a great sense of humor.  

•  She supports me in anything I want to do, even crazy things like live on a sailboat.

What's your favorite memory growing up? Did you have swell mom or other swell female figure who was there for you when you were growing up? What made her swell?

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Cost Of Living Aboard Tickety Boo | August & September 2016

It’s time for our regular cost of living update, which I do every two months. We've been tracking how much it costs to live aboard our Moody 346 sailboat, S/V Tickety Boo, at Indiantown Marina in southern Florida, where we were initially laid up during last hurricane season and where I'm now living while Scott is working overseas. While Scott has been in Scotland, I've been staying on our boat and slowly ticking things off of our project list. So, our live aboard costs are pretty much just that - cost of my daily living aboard our boat and occasionally buying stuff for Tickety Boo to keep her happy.

You can find links to other cost updates from ourselves and others on this page, as well as on The Monkey's Fist. If you want to know how much we spent over the past two months, have a look below.


Cost of Living Aboard | August & September 2016

Overall, we spent $2,441 during August and September which is down $718 from the previous two months. I haven't really been buying anything for the boat lately which has really helped keep expenditure to a minimum.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of what we spent, here are a few things to note:

1 - All costs are in US dollars.

2 - Not all expenses are included - here's what we've left out:

(a) We don't report how much we spend on alcohol. I remember reading some horrible, judgy comments in a blog post a few years back about how much someone spent on booze, so I left it out when we first started tracking our cruising costs back in New Zealand. For consistency's sake, I've continued to leave it out when tracking our cruising and RV costs.

(b) We haven't included costs related to storing our Scamp travel trailer ($21 per month) because we track the cost of our RV and cruising adventures separately.

(c) We've also left out our costs for medical insurance. We didn't think it made sense to include insurance costs as they can vary so widely depending upon your nationality, where you cruise, what level of coverage you want and can afford etc. In case you are curious, while we're back in the States, we do have insurance through the health insurance marketplace (aka ACA/Obamacare), primarily to protect our assets and cover us in case of a catastrophic medical condition. After spending a pretty big chunk of change for health insurance during 2015, we were in a bit of a quandary about whether we should go ahead and get coverage for 2016 or take the risk and pay the tax penalty for being uninsured. In the end, after weighing up the potential tax penalty, possible tax credits and risk of being uninsured, we ended up getting insurance for 2016. If you want to know more about our health insurance options and quandary for 2016, check this post out.

3 - Scott has been in Scotland taking care of some work projects and tending to some other matters, so grocery and entertainment costs are less than they would be normally.

4 - I've included any shipping and taxes we've paid in what we report. Florida has a 6% sales tax. Boo.


GROCERIES | Total = $417.19

This category includes everything we put in our bodies in terms of food and drink (excluding booze) that we prepare ourselves. It doesn't include things like paper towels and ziploc bags, which I know some people would classify as groceries. Sure, you could probably eat them, but they wouldn't taste very good.


PERSONAL & HOUSEHOLD | Total = $51.09

This is the category where we include household things (like paper towels and ziploc bags) and personal hygiene items (like soap and shampoo). We also capture items for the "home" here - like bug spray.


ENTERTAINMENT | Total = $78.29

One of the great things about hanging out in Indiantown is that there really isn't all that much to spend your entertainment dollars on. It's a pretty small town and things are really quiet at the marina, so there's not a lot of temptation.

In terms of drinks and eating out, this includes everything we don't prepare ourselves, even if we get something to go and eat it back on the boat. We also track how much we spend on Amazon Prime (for streaming video), books, magazines, movies, colored pencils and coloring books etc. in this category, as well as the occasional lottery ticket.


COMMUNICATIONS | Total = $140.00

Our cell phone is actually one of our biggest non-boat related expenses. I have a $60 monthly GoPhone plan with AT&T which includes 6GB of data and unlimited calls and texts. While Scott is away, I've also added on a $10 monthly international call plan so that we can have our daily phone call.


BOAT FUEL | Total = Nil

Because our boat hasn't left the slip, we haven't needed to spend anything on diesel or gas.


LPG | Total = Nil

I've been primarily using our microwave, an electric burner and crock pot for cooking, so haven't needed to top up the LPG tanks. Electricity is included in the slip fee so it makes sense to use that for cooking.


MARINA COSTS | Total = $1,166.00

Keeping Tickety Boo in a slip is one of our biggest expenses. The monthly cost of a slip with electricity at Indiantown Marina for a 34.5' boat is $572.40. The guys at the marina will also come pump out our holding tank on demand - $5.30 for each visit.


BOAT STUFF | Total = Nil

This category is for all the stuff we've been buying for the boat. We've got a long list of stuff we need to get for Tickety Boo - some upgrades, some maintenance related items, equipment etc. I haven't been working on many boat projects lately so there has been zero spend in this category during the past two months.


TRANSPORT | Total = $51.07

This category is for costs related to our vehicle, mostly for gas to keep it going and drive into the nearby "big city" of Stuart for errands. Gas is so cheap these days that I've really been able to keep these costs down. Beside filling up the tank with gas, I got the oil changed.


MEDICAL EXPENSES | Total = Nil

This category includes medical expenses outside of our monthly insurance premium (which aren't included here - see section on exclusions above), like over the counter medications, prescriptions and things for our medical kit. It also includes the costs of doctors visits and medical tests which aren't covered by our insurance. I didn't spend anything over the past two months but I'm still expecting some rather large medical bills to come due from way back in March. Who knew processing insurance claims could take so long.


OTHER | Total = $528.60

In this category, we break out how much we spend on clothes and travel expenses. We also include a catch-all miscellaneous group for stuff that doesn't fit neatly anywhere else - things like laundry ($3.25 for a wash and dry at Indiantown Marina).

The big expense over the past two months was for a plane ticket to visit my family in Portland in November. I also picked up some clothes on sale including a skort (skorts are fun!) and a bathing suit.

Do you budget and/or track your expenses? If so, do you find it helps you manage your money better?

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Knowing When Your Story Is Ready | IWSG

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is a place to share and encourage, where writers can express their doubts and concerns without appearing foolish or weak. It's a great place to mingle with like minded people each month during IWSG day.

Every month there is a question which may prompt folks to share advice, insights, a personal experience or story. Some folks answer the question in their IWSG blog post or let it inspire them if they're struggling with what to say.

This month's question prompt is:

"How do you know when your story is ready?"

Check out how people have answered this month's question, as well as the other insecurities and writing topics they may have shared by visiting the IWSG sign-up list here. If you want to know how I answered the question, have a read below.

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Image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

I laughed out loud when I read this month’s question. Not the kind of mean spirited laugh a bully makes right before he pushes you to the ground and steals your lunch money. It was the kind of nervous laugh you make when you have no idea what the right answer is. You could hear me laughing this particular laugh often during physics exams in high school.

Remember how I enlisted a crack team of researchers from MIT to help me answer last month’s question? Well, this month, the crew at the Better Homes & Gardens test kitchen came to the rescue.

There I was, laughing nervously away to myself, when one of them walked over, patted me on the shoulder, handed me a triple chocolate brownie and said, “Now don’t you worry, honey bunch. We’ll help you answer that question. It sure is a tricky one, isn’t it.” She smoothed her apron, got down some flour from the cupboard and added, “But first, let’s bake some bread.”

Don’t you just love bread fresh out of the oven? I sighed as I thought about the smell of freshly baked bread.

“We don’t have time for daydreaming,” she said, interrupting my thoughts of warm bread slathered in butter. She handed me an apron to wear. “Here, put this on. Now, the first thing we need is to get out our cookbook and find the recipe. You do that when you write a story, don’t you? Make sure you’ve got a recipe to work from. I think you call them plots?”

“Yes, ma'am, that’s the first thing I do before I start writing. Think through my plot. Well, most of the time. Sometimes, I just dive in.”

She made a tsk tsk sound as she peered at me over her glasses. “We’re more organized than that here at the test kitchen. Why don't you make sure we have all the ingredients we need,” she said as she handed me the cookbook.

As I gathered up yeast,butter, honey and salt, I thought about the ingredients involved in writing a story such as characters, settings, conflict and dialogue.

“Okay, put those down here on the counter and let’s work some magic.” Her eyes sparkled as she mixed all of the ingredients together forming a sticky dough.

“Are we ready to put it in the oven?” I asked.

“Of course not, you silly goose. We've got to knead the dough. Kind of like when you do revisions to your manuscript, isn’t it? Making bread take effort. You can’t just slap some ingredients together and call it done. Same thing with writing. Just because you write a first draft doesn't mean your story is ready.”

I watched as she kneaded the dough, adding flour from time to time to keep it from sticking to the granite counter top. "Why don't you give it a try," she said.

"Wow, this is hard work," I said as my arms started to ache.

She made that tsk tsk sound again. "Of course it's hard work. You didn't expect to have a perfect loaf of bread without any hard work, did you? Okay, that's enough. Now, let's have a pot of tea while we let the dough rise. Just like when you're writing a story. Sometimes, you have to put it aside for while before you start working on it again."

After a lovely cup of Earl Gray tea and a few more of those triple chocolate brownies, I was ready for a nap.

I felt someone shake me by the shoulder. "No sleeping on the job here, sugar plum. Time to get back to work."

"Is it ready yet?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"No. Now we have to bake it and watch that dough turn into the perfect loaf of bread. Like when you edit and polish a story. It might take a while, but you'll be glad you took the time," she said as she put the loaf in the oven.

I made an excuse that I needed to use the ladies room and had a quick nap in the pantry while the bread was baking. When I got back to the kitchen I could smell the the heavenly scent of bread wafting out of the oven.

"There you are. I wondered what happened. Did you get lost finding your way back to the test kitchen?" she asked.

"Yes, that's exactly what happened," I said averting my eyes so I wouldn't be caught out for fibbing.  "I found myself in a room where there were a bunch of people making holiday wreaths from pipe cleaners and orange juice containers."

"Well, you're here now and just in time," she said as she pulled a loaf of bread out of the oven. She tapped on the golden crust. "Do you hear that hollow sound? That means it's ready."

I reached out to tear some off but she slapped my hand away. "You have to let it cool first. When you finish writing a story and you know that it's finally ready, you should take a few moments to admire your work. We're going to do the same thing with this here loaf of bread."

She got a couple of china plates out from the cupboard and set them next to a butter dish. "There, you should be proud of yourself. It takes time and patience to bake bread, but in the end it's worth it."

I'm not a very patient sort of person. I like things to be finished right away. I find it hard to take the time to make sure a story is really ready before I call it quits. How about you - when do you know that your story or other project you might be working on is ready?

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September In Numbers

Clockwise from upper left: (1) I love my crockpot; (2) Pretending to be an auto mechanic again; (3) IPAs imported from Georgia; (4) I've got paper dragonflies decorating my boat; (5) Spotting a Moody sailboat at Sunset Bay Marina and (6) Playing dominoes is a blast;

Here’s the usual recap of the month in numbers – an assortment of odd tidbits and random thoughts that popped into my head when I was reflecting back on the month.

• 3 – Remember how I had that streak of 31 days without any sugary treats in August? Well, I broke down in spectacular fashion at a Labor Day barbecue at Sunset Bay Marina, where some friends keep their boat. Not only did I have dessert, I had three desserts! A brownie, a slice of apple pie and a very large piece of chocolate cake. Now I know what was missing from my life. 

• 2  – Number of new recipes I tried last month. I made Hawaiian inspired Hula Chicken in my crockpot. The recipe calls for 1-2 tablespoons or Sriracha sauce. I went with the maximum and then added more. More is always better when it comes to Sriracha sauce, isn’t it? I also tried out a ham coleslaw salad from the Boat Galley Cookbook to bring with me to a potluck. We all decided it was good, but could use a bit of vinegar in the dressing.

• 5 – Number of critiques I got on a short story from some very helpful folks at the Critique Circle. It was a scary process, but very constructive and useful.

• 3 - The number of belts I have in my Nissan Pathfinder. I know because I inspected them the other day for wear and tear.

• 3,000 – Karen Eriksen emailed me to tell me about a sailing novella she recently wrote, Rally Crossroads, which describes the annual Atlantic Rally Crossing (ARC) where hundreds of boats sail nearly 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands off of the coat of Africa to the Caribbean. It's a trip that she and her family have completed. It sounds like a great read.

• 2 – Number of books I bought last month. I don't normally buy a lot of books, preferring to check things out of the library or get them from the book exchange at our marina. But I did pick up a couple written by people involved with the Insecure Writer's Support Group - Diane Burton’s novella, Mission to Earth (sci-fi mixed with some good old fashioned romance – you can’t beat it), and Elizabeth Spann Craig’s latest cozy mystery, Cruising for Murder, featuring a highly entertaining octogenarian sleuth.

• $15.97 - How much I spent on a box of beer. Not just any beer. No, these were some of the finest IPAs that Georgia has to offer. I've never been to Georgia. Now I realize what I've been missing. It came out to only $1.33 a bottle which seemed reasonable for all of that hoppy delightfulness. 

• 30 - Number of days in my free Scrivener trial. Scrivener is software designed with writers in mind. I downloaded it at the end of September and have been playing around with it. Now I just have to decide if it's worth $40 before the trial period ends.

In case you missed them, here are some of our favorite blog posts from last month:

Tired of Politics? Talk Controversial Boat Stuff Instead
Eek, I Pressed a Very Scary Button!
Morning Coffee | Random Thoughts & Oddities


How was your September? What are you looking forward to in October?

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