Breeze On

When I was growing up my mom had subscriptions to a few womens magazines. My very favorite article in all of the magazines was a feature in the Ladies Home Journal called "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" The article gave the separate perspectives of each member of the couple (whose marriage was in trouble), then the marriage counselor's perspective and, finally, the outcome. Most times the marriage was indeed saved. I decided to steal the title of that article to write about a communication device we have been using called the Marriage Saver . And, no, our marriage is not in trouble. When we are anchoring the boat I am at the helm and George is at the bow operating the windlass. We initially tried hand signals so that George could signal to me when to go forward, in reverse, turn toward port or starboard. The hand signals worked pretty well but were a little limited. Also, since the throttle and gear shift are on the floor I have to be sitting to operate them. That means t...

One of the many things we have had to learn with Breeze On is to check the underwater metal parts for corrosion, specifically galvanic corrosion. As I have mentioned before, anything that has to do with electronics is Greek to me so I hope that my writing about it will help me to understand it. Whenever two dissimilar metals are in contact with each other in seawater they become a battery and an electric current can pass between them. So, for example, a bronze propeller on a stainless steel shaft can cause an electric current to form when they are under water. The current is formed by electrons coming off of the metal. If enough electrons come off of the metal it will eventually be destroyed. The process is called galvanic corrosion. To protect these metal parts something called a sacrificial anode is attached to the metal. These are very often made of zinc, which gives off its electrons more readily than bronze or stainless steel. Many boat owners call them "zincs". Don ...

My husband and I have been retired for one year. This year has passed more quickly than any other year in my life. It is true, we have done a lot this past year. We downsized, prepared our house to sell, sold our house, found a place to live, sold our boat, bought another boat, moved, helped our daughter move, delivered our boat from New York to Maryland and began cruising on our boat. It is a lot, but I don't believe all of that activity is the only reason this year passed quickly. When I was working there were days that seemed to pass SO slowly. I enjoyed aspects of my job (the clients and coworkers) but there were other aspects that made the work very stressful and took all of the joy out of work. Now that I am retired my days seem more like my own. I can choose how I spend my time. So how do I spend my time? I sleep in most days to somewhere between 7 and 8 am. I go to the gym and take 5 exercises classes a week when I am in town. I read all of the newspaper most days. I keep ...