It is 90-something degrees outside, but in Robin's saloon, it is quite pleasant. Today I brought the serious hardware back to Robin -- the life raft, the drogue, the survival suits -- and I brought a new lid for the deck box where, I hope, the working propane tank will be moved either tomorrow or during the weekend.

The lid fit well, considering that I'd built it at home and had to work off of measurements rather than build it to fit the real thing. (My carpentry mentor, Bill Haldeman, almost never measures.) But I discovered a problem. The forward wall of the deck box base is rotten. I managed to fasten the lid to some good portions of that wall, but it will have to be replaced -- perhaps not before we cast off for Maine, however.

It has been a busy couple of weeks. I've been rewriting the latest attempt at a youth novel. And I've been attempting to get Bluebird, the O'Day Mariner, some power. Skip, the outboard mechanic in Philadelphia, said to call back next week. He's been having problems getting the old bolts out of the lower unit.

So Bluebird sits placidly on her mooring. I check her every morning when I start my daily run, and I drive to the end of the street every time I go out of the house. But so far, we haven't sailed her. I'm getting some shall I say sarcasm from another member of the household who, unfortunately, recalls how frantically I looked for this boat last summer.
But in a week and three days, Robin will set sail and so for the interim, I have to focus on her needs.
And I have to finish the rewrite.
I've been hoping I could generate some income by writing about the Maine voyage. But a look at the most recent Soundings edition, where there were only three pages of sailboat classified ads, suggests just how difficult that sale may be.
So the trip will be fore pure pleasure, and that is the best kind.
Today I also brought the canned food for the trip. Soup, beef stew, sliced potatoes, peas and canned fruit -- particularly pears for any crew members who might have gastric distress as we round Nantucket Shoals. I also have ginger candy which, when chewed, does seem to calm a queezy stomach, along with Bonine and Sturgeron, a medication recommended by Dan Stadtlander.
The four boxes of meds and first aid supplies are on board, as are the clean sheets, the towels and some snacks.
When I leave here tomorrow, I may not return until the day before the voyages starts. Hope I remember everything.