How Can It Be December?

As we approach winter here, Argentina is approaching summer. That might make the most exciting thing about our boat delay getting to escape the winter and go to a warm place. The first Antares 44 Hybrid splashed last week, making Sorella next off the line! We've been slightly neglected by the factory the past month, as we know there has been an extensive to-do list that pre-empts getting us our photos and updates. That's given us plenty of time to prepare for our big move. Ha ha ha.

According to Stephen's mother, his late father always said, "The ladies have come for tea." They even showed up on Thanksgiving day. #NoFear
Yard art
Marriage savers. Because hand signals don't work when you're using both hands or you're out of view. We got to test them out on an actual project when we drained the water pipes in the part of the house that gets shut down for the winter. They work--we're still married!
DJI Mini2 Drone
This endoscope camera is waterproof, and comes with accessories, like a magnet and a hook. We think this will be endlessly useful on our boat. I wish we'd bought this ages ago. It also has explicit instructions (with photos) on not using this in your ear, mouth, nose or your dog's ear. It didn't say anything about cats, but I'm guessing that also requires a different model...
#IndoorCats

When we saw live video of our boat this morning, we wondered how it could possibly be done in two and a half months. When we look at all our belongings needing to be organized and sorted and packed, we also wonder how it could possibly be done in two and a half months. Then we pour an adult beverage and sit down to watch a movie.

 

We may actually be perfecting the art of procrastination. Have we learned this from our cats? No, because they don’t have a To Do list that isn’t getting done. I don’t think we will be creating the website for future cruisers to consult about how to purge and organize and prepare to make this big life change. Perhaps we’ll create the website on How Not To…

 

I can’t really fault the book that Stephen borrowed from a lending library, titled Get Your Sh*t Together, because he didn’t finish it and I didn’t read it either. We also have the book Declutter Your Mind, which inspired us for 20 minutes, until we procrastinated taking the first steps required to actually follow through with it. We have many other resources, tried and failed. The truth is, it will get done when it needs to; or it won’t.

 

We have looked on other websites that actually do offer helpful information, though, and what we have done is order some things for the boat.

Everything we’ll need at the start that has an electric cord has to be brought with us because Argentina has different outlets and voltage and nothing will be compatible with our boat. So what did we get? It’s been like Christmas around here! 

We were very excited to purchase a drone before Thanksgiving, which we got to test out during the annual family Turkey Bowl touch football game. We felt lucky that none of the cousins got annoyed enough to think it would be cute to try to take it out with the football, and we succeeded in shooting some really lame footage which we have yet to look at. This bodes well for our YouTube channel…

We bought a pair of headlamps that we got to test out on a 5p.m. walk because it’s ALREADY DARK HERE! Ugh, winter in New England. The red light setting is really great for middle of the night and ambient lighting that won’t wake up your partner or blind your further-afield vision. 

Speaking of blinding, we also received our super-bright, handheld searchlight, which we fully intend to use on any intruders who may come for an uninvited middle-of-the-night visit. 

This handy spotlight comes with a tripod so we'll be able to use it as a standing lantern or work light. It also has strobe/emergency functions and a red lens, for our dance parties.
Lead by example, we always say.
Bed warmers! Just kidding, there's an electric blanket under them. You didn't really believe they would do anything that useful, did you?
Betty is the snuggle initiator. He considers himself lucky when the others don't leave.
We purchased a set of stabilizing 14x40 binoculars. We've enjoyed using it to stargaze so far, and already know the value we'll get when we're trying to view something at a distance on the water.
Headlamps, like marriage savers, are particularly helpful when you need two hands.