Vermont

Okay, let’s see what has been happening here on my own in Vermont. When I arrived, Carrie Rose was sitting high and dry in not the most scenic circumstance. It was determined that I would spend the time before launch (which, by the way happened today) on the boat. Of course you say, should not CR be just as comfortable out of the water as on and I would say your correct but it is just not the case.

For one there is no water, so to wash your hands, go to the potty, or do the dishes requires a step off a precipice onto a just-barely-stable ladder. Most normal people will look for somewhere to eat but not me. I toned things down and managed to have dinners of spinach and cheese tortellini with butter sauce one night and a local tomato sauce the next.



Instead of wine, I have been sampling the local brews, which seem to come in 22oz. bottles. I suppose this is the local unit of what one should drink at one sitting but of course I can’t pull it off without being worthless, so I use the wine pump to preserve what is left for the next day. It does not actually work but then I am not a beer connoisseur.

Back to CR, I was nervous this winter if I had winterized CR correctly. So, I searched for any obvious signs and found none. I went through the checklist: seacocks, water system, engine block, and toilet. And I found no reason to be concerned but the only way to tell is to get in the water, start the engine, and fill all the tanks; ultimately the only way to find out is to use it. So, that is what I did today and I can report CR is working fine.

I also did something I do not usually do I washed CR before she hit the water. Even though it was covered until recently the shear abundance of nature in Vermont made sure that it was decked with the detritus of the multiple flowering trees, the pollen from the pine forest, the usual aggregations of spider and bird poop, and the carcasses of whatever hovering fly happened to be in the vicinity, etc., etc. This mess was even too much for me. I got the hose out and scrubbed.



Now on my third day here at Ladd’s Landing CR is gently bobbing in Lake Champlain’s pristine water. For a boat, no matter how nice, is not a boat on land. It is a dead creature, a mere appliance until it is transformed at the intersection of water and air. Miraculous indeed…