Today, Monday, May 9, 2016 was one of a great excitement as well as one of reflection on loss.
The reflecti0n on loss was the fact that today was the 7th anniversary of the passing of my son, Mike to the disease, Bacterial Meningitis. We shall miss Mike with every fiber of our being. We have decided to have a plaque made to dedicate the Misty Lady to his memory. The plaque will be installed on the bridge where Mike would have loved to be, were he still with us physically.
The great excitement was due to this being the first day of the Lady’s upgrading. I met with the companies who are going to be major influences on the Misty Lady’s appearance and functionality. The major influencer was the gentleman who runs the shipyard, and whose actions will mean about 60 percent or better of the work to be done. Another was the company that will be responsible for installing the flooring and possibly revamping the walls of our floating home.
I met with the owner of a shop that specializes in the canvas sections that make up the bridge walls. A great wind tore a large segment of the canvass from the rear of the bridge along with the door that led to the after deck. A critical component in restoring the Lady to her former beauty.
A team will converge on the Lady when she has been “hauled” (removed from the water on huge lifting machines), and they will wash, scrub, polish and in general give her a beauty treatment to all of her external surfaces.
We also made some tentative selections of appliances designed for marine use (washer/dryer, refrigerator, dishwasher, and possibly a stove. Critical aspects of these items are that they are small enough to fit down the companionways of the yacht yet large enough to be worthwhile in owning.
My plan tomorrow is to take my camera down to the dock and take some “before” pictures of the boat in her maintenance slip. As things evolve I will be taking more photographs of the progress.
Oh yes, today we also received the temporary documentation certificate from our Coast Guard “Documented Vessel” process. So now the yacht officially will be known as the Misty Lady and her home port will be Washington, DC. We also received our insurance binder to the Lady is covered by insurance as well. I purchased a Sea Tow policy that will protect us, should some catastrophe befall us and we need to be towed in to a port.
So, as I watched that large amount of money leave my account in the Credit Union, I realized that the Misty Lady was truly the property of the Captain and the First Mate.
Author: harv1941
Just a summary, I am 84 years of age, retired in July 2013 and settled down to promoting the dangers of bacterial meningitis, which killed my beloved son, Mike in 2009. My wife, Charlotte, and I embarked on an adventure of live aboard cruising, aboard a large Blue Water motor yacht. While our beginning was rather fraught with hurdles, we continued to look forward to the day we moved aboard the Misty Lady and cruise the eastern seaboard and associated waterways. After more than four years of life aboard this Bluewater Motor Yacht, I developed an advanced problem due to interaction with medications and experienced rather frightening balance problems. Therefore, getting on and off the yacht was fraught with danger of falling between the docks and the boat's hull. Walking the docks was also problematic considering that our yacht club docks were all floating docks and my balance problem was a danger during the walk from our yacht's docking slip to the clubhouse or out to the DC Wharf facilities and our car housed in the yacht club's reserved garage. SO, we had to regretfully put the Misty Lady up for sale and move back on shore. We moved on shore, first into a condo apartment in Alexandria, then after two years there, we relocated to the city of Newport News, in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Our original desired location was in the city of Hampton, Virginia, which is the oldest English-speaking settlement in the United States having been established originally in 1610. My ancestors came to this country through this settlement in the mid 1600s and lived in that area for around 100 years before beginning a migration of one portion of our family toward the west.
I looked forward to moving back to this area and exploring the roots of my family, both maternal and paternal ancestry, but we found a great house in the Newport News area and became ensconced in the terrific neighborhood of Kiln Creek. My wife, being still actively employed, received a substantial offer in a position with a government contractor firm back up in Northern Virginia. So we put the Newport News house up for sale, receiving and accepting an offer withing two days. We then relocated back up to the city of Alexandria and into another high rise condo. My wife reached a point where considerations for retirement were becoming very important. She indicated that she really didn't want to retire in Alexandria, so once again we began a house search in the Tidewater area, this time in the City of Williamsburg and in a community restricted to 55+ age owners. We found the ideal location, initiated the sale and closing for our retirement home. We then put our condo on the market. Alas, the market was not as robust as before so we had to change asking price a couple of time, but finally the Alexandria Condo was sold. Now we are set to enjoy the great locations found here in the Tidewater/Hampton Roads area, considering that we are history buffs and there are literally hundreds of historical sites in this segment of our nation. Of course living in Williamsburg is the epitome of history living life.
So, now we are in our retirement home, in a great retirement type community. A great clubhouse with a fine dining restaurant, a grill/pub, an award winning PGA designed golf course and miles of walking trails. Looking forward to my wife's eventual full retirement and the two of us visiting all up and down the east coast historical spots.
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Misty Lady Thought and Comment 