He reminds me yet again that life is for living and not to put off the dreams we hold in our hearts.  Godspeed Scotty.

We had 3′ high lit candy canes on every stancion, 5 wreaths, icicle lights on the lifelines, up the forestay and down the backstay outlining where a sail should be, up the midmast halyard, across the boom, and a net of lights hanging over what should be my dodger.

But oh, it was a little much for the Honda 1000 generator.  So we had flickering spasmodic lights for the first hour and then they pooped out all together and we turned back figuring we were out of the running.

But no.  Later at Spindrift restaurant over my favorite coconut crusted prawns, we found out we won for the smallest, most original and only sailboat to enter.  Some nice gift certificates to local cafes and a bottle of Barefoot white dessert wine that we actually guzzled under the full moon en route.

Kudos to my crew and I hope they get to eat with me at the cafes.  Apparently last year there was a $400 prize for best decorated boat but it was discovered that the same boats would go from parade to parade with big displays and win everything.  What a scheme!  So they stopped that and made a smaller, but infinitely more personal event.

Stay tuned for the cartoon!

I also started a blog about water hyacinth in the hopes of inspiring someone somewhere to get interested in solving this practical problem. http://deltawaterhyacinth.wordpress.com/

The geese are making their trek to their winter outpost.  I heard their soprano cacophony overhead from inside with the doors and windows closed.  The sky was full of birds as far as the eye could see in any direction.  Truly countless and all with both wings and beaks flapping.

Later in the day I was taken to Eight Mile Road, the closest BofA without going over a toll bridge.  I was amazed to see the enormous mall of big box and chain stores.  All of those trucks on HWY 5 had to be going somewhere with their loads.  But more amazing is that a very short jaunt down the road yielded MORE malls in Lodi.  Who is doing all this buying?  How can so much consumerism be supported?  There wasn’t an independent or original shop to be found.  I was a little overwhelmed and slept restlessly amid dreams of a menacing Shopalopoland.

I have also started messing about with a second blog topic – which is related to the NPR piece so I’ll wait till they get to play it before I launch the new blog properly.  In the short time since I started blogging here it seems that the process has gotten significantly more complicated and my learning curve is again straight up technology-wise.  Sigh.

We do find so many different ways to poison ourselves.  And it feels like there are fewer and fewer places where you won’t suffer from sloppy human habits that are shmutzing the environment in some way.

“Remember on Earth, you must take care, where you live decides how you fare, there’s only two things you must beware, don’t drink the water and don’t breathe the air.”

The morning dawned quiet and calm.  The sun emerged and I slipped lines and fled, oh so happy to be underway at last.  Into the river road downstream.  We made great time catching the current and went 5 – 7 mh at half throttle the whole way.  As we approached the marina after blissful hours of snacking, repairing boaty things, writing lyrics, or just humming a lot, I saw a harbor seal with a big silvery fish.  He was shaking it like a dog to pull off pieces to eat.  Thrashing about in the water and tossing the fish around like he was the main event at SeaWorld.

So the efficiency contrast:  First time up it took 8 hours and a tank (3 gallons) of gas.
Second time up: full throttle for four hours, and 5.5 gallons of gas
Third trip: Five hours at half throttle and only 3/4 of a tank!

It is definitely getting colder and Austin is eyeing me suspiciously as if I am causing it somehow.  Which door is for summer?  He wants to know.

I’m considering where we might go next.  If there’s a quirky sunny day I think we’re headed out to the sloughs to bask like a couple of  harbor seals.

There’s also been smoke in the air.  The controlled burns are very dramatic, and pretty in an awful way.

We are surrounded by pear orchards.  In the evening I walk Austin through the rows of trees and there is a strange musty smell that I do not associate with dirt, rotting fruit, or grass.  Can’t identify it.  And I’ve been told that there are semi-wild dogs in the orchard who are deliberately not fed so that they catch the rats.  Austin looks a little too much like a white rabbit so I’m always on guard.

The business we are docked at does a vigorous wedding business on the weekends.  The building is all white and gold and ornament with incessant hot and cold running Mozart.  It puts one in the mood to get married.  Austin still hasn’t said yes.

Yesterday we scored a dozen eggs from a neighbor who keeps chickens.  The little brown eggs were precious both because I could see and hear the chickens who laid them and that I walked a mile down the road to retrieve them and never set foot in a store.  They feel like a treasure.

Once underway I felt foolish that I didn’t know where exactly we were going, if I had enough fuel on board, or if I could keep up with their much larger sailboat.  We motored for four hours at top speed on a route that has previously taken me twice that time when not trying to keep up with a bigger boat.

I’ve been at a comfortable guest dock in a quiet river slough ever since.  Not sure when I’m going “home” since home is with me.  Guess I’ll have to find a pump out and more fuel soon.  If only to be ready to take off at a moment’s notice.  It feels like extended summer.   I’ve been coking solar oven food and practicing the banjo and generally staying flexible about when and where and what.  This play it by ear schedule is the prize of living in a mobile shoebox.  It’s not for everyone, but I love it.

Now I’m parked at “my office,” a picnic table oasis where it is possible to catch the fickle wifi signal.  I don’t have enough sun at my boat to make solar oven bread and so I swiped a marina cart and am towing the solar oven around behind me, parking it in good sunlight for as long as it needs to cook Swedish bread and brownies.  That gets a lot of commentary.  “What are you up to NOW?”

I appear to be a continuous source of entertainment for this crowd.

I procrastinated for as long as I could on the broken marine head problem.  Yesterday I finally did the Royal Flush and spent my afternoon in a painful half crouch twirling not-quite-the-right-screwdrivers on blue calcified hand pump bolts.    I put it back together ok, but it still leaked.  The answer was my favorite Lanakote.  I slathered it on both sides of the new rubber flappers and valves so it would seat securely.  It protected my hands from the briny blech, but made the screwdriver twirling a lot more challenging.  No more leaks.  It appears I have solved the problem until the flapper breaks again.

By the way, on my Linked In page I am listed as a Boat Systems Actuator, which R. was kind enough to point out are the same initials as Bull Shit Artist.  I guess it’s one and the same.