T&T: Skinwalker log January 3, 2007

[Wayne & Lynn Flatt]

WARNING:  This email is void of almost any useful information.
Skinwalker log, January 3, 2007, Wednesday, 0830 hrs, Turkey Creek, Ortona,
Florida

We are waging a screen jihad against the dark forces of nature; bugs and
sunlight.

Aha, grasshopper, you say sunlight is not a dark force.  How bright of you, my
little insect.  But what of the darkness of the light saber or the lightness
of a dark hole exposed by the weight of gravity?  After all, gravity is not
simply a good idea.  It is the law.
Now sit, my son, in silence and darkness and let the master speak to bring you
the true illumination of the world according to Skinwalker.

We have now completed the replacement of our white 71 percent reflective
sunscreens for the pilothouse windows.  Note:  Ok, so I made up the 71%.  So
sue me.  They are sun screens, they screen out some sun.  Please stay out of
my mood.

Now some of you would like a stitch by stitch description of this task and
others are already saying who gives a flying doughnut about your sun screens.
To those malcontents I say go quietly, sit with grasshopper and learn the ways
of master.


Now back to sun screens.  We simply folded and used the edges of the material
as a one inch binding which we secured with two rows of stitching.  Instead of
the former push snaps we installed the Common Sense twist things that hold
the screen in place with a metal tab.

Since Lynn & I are both mentally impaired, between the two of us the project
only occupied us for a week.  Lynn in the process taught me the basics of
sewing and I taught her the physics of sewing to aid in troubleshooting and
resolving challenges.  Between us we now have skill level around the area of
what use to be called an imbecilebut were happy!

Thanks to the crews of Freedom and Winnie the Pooh for the inspiration for our
current project.  The swelling of motivation is provided courtesy of the Deer
Fly of Georgia, the Green headed Fly of Tennessee, the Blockheaded Fly of
North Carolina and the No Seeums of Beaufort, the Horse fly of New York and
the Smith Falls, Canada mosquito swarms that ravage one precisely at the same
period after sunset each night. That isnt night falling, it is a blanket of
hungry beastie things with teethy mouths as big as a copper pit steam shovel.
Of course if there is a rain event the mosquito version of Flight of the
Valkeries and the eating of grown men alive may be delayed.  What I am trying
to say is: we are building door screens.

Not just any screens.  Special screens.  No Seeum screens.  Doors that will
that will stay in place secured over the pilothouse and saloon sliding doors.
Screen doors with zippers we can open and go out so we dont feel like we are
trapped in our own boat.  So we can go out with the bugs and get eaten instead
of waiting for them to seep into the boat.  So we sleep without swatting each
other in the guise of bug interdiction.  Smack!  Oh sorry honey, I thought
you were a Motorized Owl Gnat.  OK, Ill miss that part a little.

The screen surround is made of Nauga-Leather pretty much matching the interior
stain color where the doors will be mounted. The leather will be sewn to a
large plastic zipper and the zipper to the plastic wire or screening which is
measured at 20x20 which is either holes or wires of screen per inch.  Plastic
and leather materials of course because of the corrosive nature of salt water
we are normally exposed to when cruising. The door will also be held in place
with Common Sense twist locks and maybe some Velcro in tight spaces.  The
unzipped screen ties back when un-impeded access is needed, such as docking
evolutions.

Its kinda funny how projects get started.  We, especially I, had several
important but un-prioritized needs on our list after returning from Canada.  I
tried to prioritize them into the 987 other items of concern, but there is too
much, too many and they are all important at one moment or another.  Yet, yet
somehow there always seems to be those few tasks that are plucked from the
masses that stand out like water on oil.  That one trembling sloe-eyed virgin
in a thousand who came to worship and becomes the sacrifice.  Shes the one.
There are no others.  Nothing else is seen except this virginal task held up
as a mystical offering of peace to the god of maintenance.

On the other hand maybe its just Captn Lynnie saying:  Were doing this now
and it has to be done before Ill make dinner.

Happy New Year and may your resolutions last longer than mine.

Wayne Flatt & Captn Lynnie
MV Skinwalker
mvskinwalker.com