Day Fifteen - Monday - Nowhere to Nowhere

          The rain began yesterday late afternoon and has continued unabated through the night.  At times the downpour woke me but surprisingly, the wind has not been worrisome.  We’ve had a few gusts over 20 knots but that is considerably less than what we were anticipating.  Apparently the wind shear line did not come this far east, so Brett and I are lazing about deciding which books we will read today (two paperbacks and a biography for me) because it is obvious we will not move from this comfortable anchorage. A day of absolutely nothing to do sounds inviting to say the least!   

          AURORA has led a pampered life these past 25 years.  In Los Angeles and Marina del Rey, we were in an uncovered slip but had only one or two days of rain all year.  The worst weather was a constant punishing sun and the corrosive salt air which necessitated varnishing brightwork  (brightwork is the exterior wood on a vessel, in AURORA's case, mahogany and teak) at least once a year and sometimes twice.  In Kentucky, she was under cover and although there were many rain storms, the damage incurred was only to one’s ears from the drumming drenches on a thin tin roof. Even the snow storms of last winter only deposited measurable amounts on the aft deck while the majority of the boat was protected under that tin roof.  Last night and today, we are out in the open listening to drumming raindrops landing on all of AURORA’s exposed decks.  I love the soothing sound of rain on the decks but it brings an unwelcome realization that all those years under cover has not been kind to my watertight seals around windows and hatches. 

          My day of doing nothing devolves into locating, staunching, and attempting to staunch leaks as they seep across the main salon's teak parquet sole.  A dozen old towel rags serve as sponges but I find myself wringing out towels on a consistent basis all day long.  It occurs to me that AURORA is aging… just as her owner. It is not a thought that is alien to me these past few years. Healthy all of my life, when I got to 70, systems began to run less than optimally.  Deteriorating eyesight, nerve damage in one leg, and balance issues seem uncorrectable in spite of my overriding sense of denial and depressing doctor visits. I guess that’s why I’m out here on AURORA today.  I do sense the law of diminishing returns plotting my eventual acceptance of old age, but not today. These old legs have made the trip up and down AURORA’s three deck levels wringing out wet towels more often today than the entire previous week. I will sleep well tonight… with the help of Ibuprofen.