Waiting out the wind, Waiting on the work

This one's from Connie: 

In the work yard sitting on the poop deck, Palo Verde blooming , birds, brown with creamy colored breasts and long tails are chattering away in the tree behind us, overlooking the sewage marsh. It's beautiful,really, until you know what's created it...Cranes and ducks visit, and little white ones, swallows, so many and I don't know what they are, but a birder would be in heaven, I think. With the Cerras las Tetas de Cabras in the distance, organ pipe cactus on the foot hills and tall grasses growing in the swampy water, it's quite verdant for the Sonoran desert. Two horses graze, lifting their heads to check you out.

It's coming up on the full moon and Semana Santa begins next week. Tomorrow, in fact, is Palm Sunday. I'm planning a trip to Rescate Market, a farmers and crafter's market with local food vendors that supports the Rescuers in the community of San Carlos. Then, I'll go to Santa Rosa grocery for carnitas and other sundry items to bolster our galley in hopes of getting to the other side...

There was a big wind event last night. Meg and Bob on SV Circe, our work yard neighbors, came over for after dinner tea and cookies. Shortly after they left for home the wind really kicked up gusting to 26kts, allegedly. You can hear it start way up in the mountains, a high pitched woo-ing followed by a mid range oh-ing and rushing down upon us with a full chested ah-ing. The whistling air compressed in the stainless steel tubing of Nepenthe and her surrounding boat buddies is a chorus of singing wind! It inspires me to create an Aeolian Harp in the rigging...maybe off the the back stay and attached to the brackets supports for the solar panels.

A brave little bird leaps into a gust of wind briefly, trying to stabilize itself, holding it's course and maybe finding a branch in a nearby tree. Larger birds revel in the ease of gliding, soaring higher to search out their next perch or prey, while here, poor Nepenthe sits on land, her wings bound, as we drill and sand her belly.

The thru hull issue, or should I say saga, continues. The one that drains the bilge drilled into her in November had a problem. It was discovered during the excavation to be cork sandwiched by fiberglass, not solid fiberglass as expected. Not a good idea. So, it's been removed and glassed over. That hose has been re-routed, connecting by a T to the hose for the scupper drains. I'm here as moral supporter and filler of bellies, feeding body and soul with food and music, errand runner and provisioner. Maybe I'll put in some waypoints on the GPS. That way if we ever do get across to the Baja Peninsula we'll be ready to set a course. Ride this wind instead of hide from it!