August 2018 – Cannons to Cruising

A Very Crabby Morning

We had an unexpected guest on our boat this morning, and he made a lot of trouble for something so small.

The A.C. had suddenly stopped working. It wasn’t completely unexpected, because the tide had been out for a couple of days. We were sitting in a lot of mud, and that is what usually clogs up the raw water filter. Clogged filter= A.C. trip.

So with a sigh, I pulled up the floorboard and unscrewed the filter, and just about had a heart attack. A crab popped out and scurried into the bilge! He was the size of a quarter and super fast. I managed to coerce him into a mason jar and set to work getting the A.C. back on.

Nothing. The compressor didn’t turn on, and neither did the fan. That meant it was an electrical issue. Our little friend had blown the fuse!

Replacing the fuse was a pain in the butt. To reach it, I had to unscrew our settee bench, pull the cover off, find the fuse, put in a new one, and put everything back together again. Also, all of our tools were over in the dockhouse. I loaded W up to go get everything we needed and got to work. It is always a race against the sun when dealing with an A.C. malfunction, and I was very glad it wasn’t too hot out yet.

Here’s a visual:

baby containment — Step 2: Contain infant

getshitdone — Step 3: Break apart living room

Step 4: Figure out where fuse is, then replace. (It is the circular knob on the very bottom of the electric box)

Long story short: I am woman, hear me roar. This boat mama got everything up and running in 45 minutes.

Oh, and our new friend was set free to make trouble elsewhere.

free

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend.

Love,

Taylor, Conor, and W

Virtual Book Tour

Would you look at that–it’s an actual box of my dreams come true!

One more day until Cloaked is released! Due to a number of factors preventing a physical launch event (like the fact that my husband is in the military and has zero control over his schedule, I have an 8 month old breastfed baby, and we live too far from any metropolis), I’m doing a virtual blog tour to promote my book. Stop by these awesome sites for an interview or guest post by your’s truly.

I answer questions about the book, talk about my quirks, rate my top 5 movie scenes, and more. Each interview is different, so follow along! I’m also giving out a $25 Amazon gift card to a lucky reader who enters the Rafflecopter. A big thanks to Goddess Fish Promotions for organizing everything!

August 27: Independent Authors
August 28: Author Deborah A Bailey
August 29: Up ‘Til Dawn Book Blog
August 30: Christine Young
August 31: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
August 31: Let me tell you a story
September 3: The Reading Addict
September 4: Fabulous and Brunette
September 5: Long and Short Reviews
September 6: Viviana MacKade
September 7: Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews
September 7: Hope. Dreams. Life… Love
September 10: Bookaholic – review only
September 11: Jazzy Book Reviews
September 12: Iron Canuck – review only
September 13: Welcome to My World of Dreams
September 14: Beyond Romance
September 14: Nickie’s Views and Interviews
September 17: Mixed Book Bag
September 18: It’s Raining Books
September 19: Kit ‘N Kabookle
September 20: Locks, Hooks and Books – review only
September 21: Two Ends of the Pen

Other Awesome People Doing Other Awesome Things

I try to do at least 3 blog posts every month, but if any of you readers are looking for other great blogs to follow while you wait for me to get my shit together and actually write something, I have a few recommendations.

Live Free 2 Sail Fast is another military family working to get a sailboat ready for cruising. They are on the west coast and have been incredibly supportive of our journey so far. If you think we’re crazy, they’ve got kids and a GREAT DANE on a sailboat! Follow them 🙂 https://livefree2sailfast.com/

Windtraveler has been our inspiration from day one, and got the ball rolling with thoughts of, “This looks cool. What if we could do this one day?” Their three adorable little girls are living the island life, and Mom and Dad have great tips about parenting aboard. The blog can be found at http://www.windtraveler.net/

Boats, Boards, and Babies are a family with three little boys who split time on a sailboat in the Caribbean and ‘real life’ on the east coast. They have great tips for boating and travel with little ones. Their website: https://explorenewshores.com/

Women Who Live on Rocks is a space for women writers to share funny and real stories about island life. Their experiences make me yearn for the day when I can join their ranks! https://womenwholiveonrocks.com/

The S/V Ruby Rose crew posts incredibly detailed videos about boat maintenance. They are Conor’s go-to guide for videos on engines, installation, electricity, and more. Follow at http://yachtrubyrose.com/

Jason and Nikki Wynn of Gone with the Wynns are a couple who started out with hardly any sailing experience and now cruise full time on their bluewater catamaran. Here’s their site: https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/

I’m always on the lookout for other adventurers to follow, so if anyone has recommendations for other blogs, please post below in the comments section! Shout out to all the people who are making their big dreams happen.

Love,

Taylor, Conor, and W

Does the fact that I can still do a handstand count as awesome?

Visit from YaYa

I almost titled this post, “It Rained for 2 Weeks Straight”. Our terrible weather also coincided with a wonderful visit from my mom, who came all the way out from Seattle to spend some quality time with her grandbaby. I planned to have an awesome post about my mom’s first sail (ever!) but you’ll all have to be satisfied with mini-stories from the dock instead.

It is hard to believe we didn’t have a weather window to take the boat out the entire time my mom was here. We had AM and PM thunderstorms EVERY DAY. It was ridiculous. If you remember one of my previous posts, “How to Sail With a Baby”, while W is so young, we are only comfortable taking her out if there are no thunderstorm watches. I also wanted my mom’s first time out to be an easy sail, so we just kept waiting and waiting for better weather that never came. Today, of course, it’s sunny out with a perfect 10mph NE wind. LASKDFHLKDSHGODIFGGAHHHHHH

However, this trip for YaYa was a lot more fun than the one in January. That one included a screaming newborn, snow, and being stuck inside the boat. This time, we had cocktails in the cockpit, bbq’s, and field trips with an always-inquisitive 7 month old. Other highlights included 4—count ’em—4(!) dates for me and Conor, one even on our actual anniversary! We went to fancy dinners (as fancy as you can get in Jacksonville and Swansboro), the movies, and a couple’s night with friends. YaYa spent quality time with W, while Conor and I remembered what it was like to just be us. It made me wish we were on the west coast to be closer to family.

Other news: for our anniversary, Conor and I gave each other the extremely romantic gift of a TRX. I want to finally get back in shape post-baby and build muscle again, and it is the perfect workout kit for boat life. It all fits into one little bag when not in use! It hooks around the mast. Here we are trying it out:

trx

We were all very sad to see YaYa go, and we will miss her very much!

Love,

Taylor, Conor, and W