Crappy Day #2
A couple weeks ago I blogged about Danny, Jude, Emma and my experience on working on the hoses in our heads…well, today was Jonathan, Aidan, Mycah and Skyler’s turn. Even though Jude had already served her time, and since she has such an incredibly big heart, she decided she’d embrace the projects with the rest of the crew, and offer advice and help from her experience.
We began ‘project head’ at about 8am and worked solidly on it till 4pm, and everyone on board was involved…Jude and Mycah removed the hoses from the head on Starboard, and Jonathan removed it from the port head, and once again the comments and sounds coming from them as they did this, was so hilarious. At first everyone tried to keep clean and avoid the messy stuff at all cost, but very soon into it, they stopped caring and dug in…literally. When the hose was removed, Emma and Skyler had to dig out all crystallized urine/seawater from the pipes and valves going into the holding tank.
Every once in a while I’d hear “Awwww! That splashed up and got me in the face,” or “Oh my gosh, this is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.” Just like last time with our other two heads, it was obvious that previous owners of this catamaran, had never cleaned the hoses out before.
Mycah and Jude got really creative in try to break up and release the fossilized badness in the hose. First they moved it back and forth, then swung it, then stood on it, and finally hit it on the side of the dock.
Some parts had to be dug at with a flat head screw driver.
Aidan and Jonathan had the same experience. I didn’t think Aidan’s face would ever straighten again from the look of utter disgust he had.
As each of them broke large pieces free they exclaimed proudly and were so happy! The simple joys of being little plumbers. Danny and I wanted each of them to work hard on their heads so that they would appreciate the work that goes into projects such as these, and to continue to not be reckless with our home. When Mycah was done with her head, she exclaimed, ‘well, I feel clear headed now!’
When they were done with that, the work day wasn’t over yet as they had to clean out the bilges in their hull. They all broke out into song, singing “It’s a hard knock life for us…” (From the movie ‘Annie’)
Danny and I are so proud of them all because they worked so hard, never complained about what they had to do, and did an absolutely thorough job. Nobody slacked or became irritable, in fact as the day went on, everyone got funnier by the minute. When the girls were cleaning their bilges they decided that they want to get a pet baby crocodile to live in the bilge, and they’d tie a scrub brush to its tail so that as it swam around, it’d scrub the bilge and keep it clean. They’d feed it and keep it company. I cut up watermelon for everyone to keep them going and nobody wanted to touch it. They were all too disgusted to eat.
While they were busy on their projects, Danny was called about 800 times by them for help or advice and he was so patient to run back and forth between everyone helping them. He and I got started on installing the water maker. One of my absolute favorite things is to be his right hand man and hand him tools and help in any way I can. I LOVE working with Danny.
As we worked on the dock we noticed a huge swarm of jellyfish. There were 1000’s all around Tanda Malaika, and they were so beautiful. I sat with my feet in the water for a while and watched them.
What an amazing day with an amazing group of individuals. I am so grateful.
Adventures of a Tribe 