Learning Is All Around Us

Today marks the anniversary of Sue/Granny's passing. Years have passed but her spirit shines bright through her children and grandchildren. 

We wonder what she would have said about our life today. No doubt a remark about all our jumbled up cables sitting on our galley counter would have been mentioned, harhar 

This morning's schoolwork was completed rather quickly and with minimal fuss. Hooray!

I did bribe the kids with a trip to Peggy's Cove if they got their work done quickly and without distraction though.

It seemed to work. But I certainly can't keep using Peggy's Cove as a carrot, especially once we cast off.

The guys from the boat shop came in around 10:30am to start work on the rotten bulkhead. The whole salon was taken over with them needing to take apart the table and cushions so that they could work.

Luckily most of the schoolwork was done, so we got out of their way. We did a couple of boat jobs down near the mast and then I took the kids for the day.

Sometimes it is just easier if one of us takes the kids away for a bit so the other person can get some jobs done without distraction.

It's not ideal but in the end dividing and conquering is the best strategy.

There were a couple of expired fire extinguishers left on the boat so we had to go and dispose them at the hazardous waste site first.

Getting there was a bit out of the way but we did get to see a wind turbine up close and personal. Very cool!

Then it was onwards to Peggy's Cove!

It certainly is a cheap and fun way to spend a few hours.

Parking is free and we had packed a picnic lunch, so we didn't spend one penny there. We just had to drive the one hour to get there.. and back. But it was worth it.

We then stopped by Canadian Tire for some parts and supplies. I don't think I've ever spent as much time as I have in the last three weeks in a Canadian Tire as I have in my entire life! 

Each time I have a specific list, all very random items it may seem, but actually they are all crucial to our boat jobs.

In the beginning days when we told the kids we needed to pop into Canadian Tire, they would groan.

However they have since discovered the sports aisle and the hunting and camping aisle. They can now happily amuse themselves by looking at all the rifles and ammo, and then playing hockey and basketball with the sporting equipment.

A quick shop at the Atlantic Superstore, and then we headed back home.

Matt spent his day working with the headstay, trying to get the furler back together with a new piece that doesn't quite align, getting the sheaves back on and some other odd jobs.

This evening while Tai was helping Matt with some boat jobs, Aila made her first video call to her good friend Reaghan back in Ottawa! She gave her a tour of the boat and then there was a lot of show and tell elements to the conversation like "Here's my new stuffed dog, and oh here's where I keep my clothes. Here's where I have my books and oh look, I have 7 stuffies." 

Tonight after dinner we sat down around the table to watch another episode of "The Kindness Diaries". This has become our nightly ritual. If you haven't heard of it, go and look it up on Netflix.

We are on season two already. It's about one man who is driving a VW Beetle from Alaska to Argentina relying solely on the kindness of strangers. With no money, he meets amazing people and learns incredible lessons about humanity as he travels, relying on people to give him gas, food and shelter.

Season one was great too, where the host travels the world in a sidecar relying on the kindness of strangers.

Great series to watch together, not too long but full of impact and good lessons.

I find myself trying to make every activity or outing a teachable moment. Not sure if it's overkill or what, but I do want to make the kids aware that learning is everywhere around us.

So I catch myself saying, "Hey look, that huge boulder is like a triangular prism. How many vertices does a triangular prism have?"

Or "If this wind turbine blade is 120 feet long and our boat is 42 feet long, how many boat lengths is this blade?"

And "If you want to buy this doggy Beanie toy with your own money, fine. But work out the tax that you'll have to pay on it first and see if you have enough."

You get the idea.

I guess you can call me the boatschool Tiger Mom.

Sue, our inspiration.

Thinking cap on.... Spelling test time.

Rotating the headstay up through the mast.

Morning family boat job: feeding the headstay back into the mast.
It requires the wire to be fully elongated and as it was fed through the
61 foot mast, we had to rotate it slightly in order for it to pass through a
joint all the way to the other end.

Headstay is out! Now the next step is to clamp it down with a staylock.

Red tape marks where the staylock fitting should go.

Table gone, cushions out, hardly recognizable!
There is good storage under those seats.

Gotta put the table and cushions somewhere!

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is part of the bulkhead that should NEVER be rotten.
I don't even want to think what could have happened if we never
discovered this and we were sailing offshore.

A look inside our cabinet where the rotten piece was taken out. 
The bulkhead work has started! Finally got the rotten piece cut away 
and a new piece of solid wood will go in today or in the next few days. 
Bit of a mess in the main part of our living space but we don't 
care if it means getting on the water faster. 

Back at Peggy's Cove!

It was a fresh breezy day. Didn't see many people again
and hardly glanced at the lighthouse.

Hours of rock exploring. Happy to say I did keep up fairly well!

Doing some calculations on how many blades could fit in the tower,
how many of our boat lengths would make up the length of the tower
and the blade, etc etc.

Amazing to see a wind turbine so up close.

First concrete tower wind turbine in Nova Scotia.

Canadian Tire run... Again!

While I shopped at Canadian Tire, this was happening in aisle 38.

Kids got creative and made a makeshift bag with Aila's
shirt to haul up their stuff on the pulley.

Many people have asked about the kids' v-berth. You can see the shape of the V.
There is an insert that goes between the two bunks normally in order to
create a double bed, but the insert was a bit off the other day and Aila fell down.
So now it's down permanently. This also creates a more
distinct division between their beds.