The wind keeps howling more and more. It's right out of the north, bringing arctic cold and possible snow flurries. The tide's gone out so far that Jofian's keel is two feet deep in the mud, and we have to climb UP to get to the dock. Worse, the marina owner told Roy that the tide will never come back in as long as the wind is blowing from the north; the wind is blowing the water right out of the bay. So here we sit until the wind shifts to the south. This isn't exactly where we planned on spending the winter, but it could be worse. At least we're protected from big waves, we have electricity to keep us warm and cook our meals, there's a laundry here at the marina, and there's a grocery store within walking distance.
For some time, we've been aware of a leak, but we didn't know where it was. We noticed the bilge pump coming on more and more frequently, especially when we were under way with the engine running. Now that Roy has time to work on the boat, he's found the leak. There's a small hole in one of the pipes of the wet exhaust system. When the engine's running, salt water is pumped in to cool the fresh water that cools the engine. Then the salt water is expelled through the wet exhaust system, but it was squirting through the hole into the boat. That's how the parts and stuff got wet. Of course, the salt water eventually flowed down into the bilge and was pumped out by the bilge pump. Roy had to take all the crates and what-not out of the compartment on the port side of the cockpit in order to get at the pipe. The marine supply store here at the marina was closed for the weekend, but luckily the owner came by and sold Roy the pieces of pipe he needed to make the repair. It was an all-day job, but now we don't have to worry about the leak any more.
While Roy was working on that, I put on my warm winter coat and walked back to the grocery store. Found out why we'd had a problem with the directions yesterday; we'd taken the little road over the hill instead of the road along the creek, which wound around and eventually came to the highway. If we'd gone that way, the first stop sign we would have come to would have been at the highway, and then we'd have turned right and seen the store ahead of us, as we'd been told. That's the way I went today, except when I got to the highway, I turned to the left to go to Hanesville, thinking there might be a larger store there. The first store I came to turned out to be a taxidermy shop, so I went in and asked if there was a grocery store nearby. They told me there was one WAY down the road, so I decided to go back to the little store in Melitota. It had enough stuff to get us by, even though it didn't have everything we needed.
Two friendly doggies had followed me all the way from the marina. I kept telling them to go home, but they ignored me. I was afraid one of them might get hit by a car on the highway, and then I'd feel responsible. Also, one of the doggies was lame, and I was afraid he'd get too tired hobbling along to make it back home. When I came out of the grocery store, they had disappeared. I hoped they had gone home, but as I was walking down Buck Neck Road, the black doggie came running out of the woods. There was no sign of Lamey, so then I was really worried. Had he collapsed in the woods and was unable to go farther?
The wind was blowing so hard, even the geese were grounded. I passed a field where at least a thousand geese were standing around, waiting for the wind to die down. As I passed, the geese suddenly flew up into the sky, honking and squawking. I wondered why they would be so afraid of me, but then I saw Lamey and another dog out in the middle of the field, and I knew what had scared the geese. As soon as Lamey saw me, he came hobbling over. I was very glad to see him. He was tired, but managed to make it home. Blacky, too.
Took the dirty clothes up to the laundry room and started them washing. Went back to the boat and ate lunch. After lunch, I went up and put the clothes in the dryer. This is the handiest laundry we've had in a long time.
The wind keeps blowing harder and harder, and the water keeps getting lower and lower. It's so strange to look UP at the dock. The wind is supposed to start calming down tomorrow, but there's no telling how long it will take for the tide to come back in.
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