Waterlogged

Greetings from the SS Bullwinkle! We haven’t floated away just yet. But, by the looks of things, it could happen any time.

Today’s forecast said it all. “Windy with rain. 1 to 3 inches expected.” When significant rainfall takes second stage to the wind, guess what? It’s windy! The weather dude even said something about the possibility of water spouts coming ashore along the coast.

Have we told you we’re a three-minute walk from the beach?

With high hopes of avoiding our first encounter with a water spout, we ignored that part of the forecast and found plenty to do inside our cozy cabin. I spent most of the day figuring out a quilt block I spotted at the quilt show we attended in Rockport Sunday afternoon. Sure, I could order the pattern online. But, with a rainy day on my hands, it seemed like a great idea to try to figure it out on my own. I want to keep my math skills sharp, and deciphering a quilt block is a great way to do just that. Quilting isn’t really about sewing, you see. It’s all about the math! By the end of the day, I had successfully completed my first “practice block”, which provided lots of valuable learning. (Yes, there is a second practice block in my future!)

Speaking of skills we want to keep up, Paul and I spent some time this afternoon tweaking an Excel document. Not very long ago, we spent far too much time with our noses buried in spreadsheets. Back then, our Excel skills were automatic. We didn’t have to give them any thought. Today, however, it was obvious we’re just a bit rusty in that department. (Nearly seven months of exploring America will do that to you!) But, with the benefit of a rainy day, we poked around as the unfamiliar became familiar once again. Heck, we even learned a new thing or two.

Torrential downpours are good for one thing: Discovering leaks. Turns out we have a wee one in a slide. Not a big deal, though. We pulled in the slide, spotted the source of the trouble and sponged things up. We’ll expand the moose again when the weather clears, and we’ve put this on our list of little warranty items to take care of after we leave Mission next month. Thankfully, even with one slide pulled in, our moose is still quite spacious.

No water spouts today, thankfully. But, the wind has been fierce. It has whipped around from all directions, and Bullwinkle takes it all in steady stride. It’s a good thing this big box is heavy!

With water rising around us and gale force winds, maybe the thing we need to get this moose floating is a sail!