SV OMARSEA

Back On the East Coast Again!!!

2012-01-15T17:50:00.000-05:00

It has been a wonderful trip from the state of "Mary" or Maryland as most know it, to Portland and back. We were blessed to spend 4 weeks with Clara, Margaret and Mary Halvorson in their lovely home up there on Mount Tabor. After one of the longest plane rides I have ever taken we were greeted by smiling faces, liquid sunshine and mild temperatures. They sure know how to set the stage for a great visit with pizza in the oven for the kids and pair of cold Black Butte Porters for Jean and I. Life just can't seem to get better that that sometimes. Over the coming days we were inundated with social activities of all kinds. Christmas was fast approaching. The kids counting down the days 4,3,2,Christmas eve!
We traveled to friends houses, they traveled to see us. Clara's house was a beehive of activity that lasted for days on end. That first week we went to bed at nearly 3pm EST every night.
Margaret plied us with delicious dinners. Mary kept finding sweet treats to put out on the counter. We all ate way too much and had a grand time doing it. Christmas Eve was a big deal. The other Halvorsons gathered along with my sister Tracy and Nephew Gabe, our friends the Kaminskis/Lahodneys, the Hales - Dina and Rob, sister Joyce, and I am sure more were there.
The following morning arrived early. The kids had done their obligatory stocking raids and were comparing gifts when I arrived for coffee. It was a slow relaxing day. The kind you want to never end. The weather was blustery so staying inside suited us best. Bring on the baked ham and mashed potatoes!
Our time between Christmas and New Years was quickly spent on visits by friends and visiting friends ourselves. We had a great time having a beer with Becky and Mike Tetherow at a little pub down off Belmont. Clara, Mary, Margaret, Jean and I went to a really chic place called Bar Avignon on Division st. Very trendy, a much younger crowd. It felt like I was in a bistro in Paris. Portland is in many ways being fashioned after Paris by the 30 somethings that have spent time there and since moved to Portland. The look and feel of the city has changed a great deal since I first laid eyes on it. Mostly gone are the Pink mowhawk headed grungies of Hawthorn. They have morphed into the more affluent METRO personalities that abound on every street corner and coffee house.
Portland has so far succeeded in keeping itself weird. Let's hope the new weird begins to take better care of the city that has adopted so many of us outsiders.
But Stumptown politics aside,how can you complain about a place where people smile more when it rains, hold doors for you when your hands are full, and are so optimistic about their futures. Portland is a hard place to beat!
I will close here and come back to more exciting news about our trip on the next installment.

Fair Winds

Scott

Travel at the Speed of Light

2011-12-07T16:23:00.000-05:00

A Brief History of the Speed of
Light
by Ben Trefethen

In 1667, Galileo Galilei tried to determine the speed of light.
He and an assistant each had lamps which could be covered and uncovered Galileo would uncover his lamp, and as soon as his assistant saw the light he would uncover his. By measuring time that it took for the light to pass between him and his assistant and knowing the distance Galileo reasoned he should be able to determine the speed of the light. His conclusion was that light traveled If not instantaneous then extraordinarily rapid"

In 1675, the Danish astronomer Ole Roemer noticed, while observing Jupiter's moons, that the times of the eclipses of the moons of Jupiter seemed to depend on the relative positions of Jupiter and Earth. If Earth was close to Jupiter, the orbits of her moons appeared to speed up. If Earth was farther away from Jupiter, they seemed to slow down. Reasoning that the moons orbital velocities should not be affected by their separation, he deduced that the apparent difference must be due to the extra time for light to travel when Earth was more distant from Jupiter. Using the commonly accepted value for the diameter of the Earth's orbit, he came to the conclusion that light must have traveled at 200,000 Km/s.

In 1728 James Bradley, an English physicist, estimated the speed of light in vacuum to be around 301,000 km/s. He used stellar aberration to calculate the speed of light. Stellar aberration causes the apparent position of stars to change due to the motion of Earth around the sun.

A French physicist, Fizeau, shone a light between the teeth of a rapidly rotating toothed wheel. A mirror more than 5 miles away reflected the beam back through the same gap between the teeth of the wheel. There were over a hundred teeth in the wheel. The wheel rotated at hundreds of times a second; therefore a fraction of a second was easy to measure.

By varying the speed of the wheel, it was possible to determine at what speed the wheel was spinning too fast for the light to pass through the gap between the teeth, to the mirror, and then back through the same gap. He knew how far the light traveled and the time it took. By dividing that distance by the time, he got the speed of light. Fizeau measured the speed of light to be 313,300 Km/s.

Another French physicist, Leon Foucault, used a similar method to Fizeau. He shone a light to a rotating mirror, then it bounced back to a remote fixed mirror and then back to the first rotating mirror. But because the first mirror was rotating, the light from the rotating mirror finally bounced back at an angle slightly different from the angle it initially hit the mirror with. By measuring this angle, it was possible to measure the speed of the light.

Foucault continually increased the accuracy of this method over the years. His final measurement in 1862 determined that light traveled at 299,796 Km/s.

Today: 299792.458 km/s

Source Materials: Wikipedia 2011

The New School Cooperative Project

2011-11-29T12:47:00.002-05:00

The Coconut Milk Run

BW Media

Please see the new School project at www.pacificrally.blogspot.com

Yesterday the kids and I reviewed a basic set of skills needed to achieve an upper middle class income level here in America. The list included:

Soft Skills

Public Speaking
Reading
Writing
The ability to plan and hold meetings
Event Organization
Sales skills
Foreign Language skills
The ability to recognize a need and develop a plan to fulfill that need.

Intelligence

Technical - computer or higher tech
Financial
Leadership
Historical
Social & Social Networking
Mathamatical

When asked where he would like to start Stevie chose the Event Planning. We brainstormed for an hour before coming up with the idea to plan a virtual sailing rally fashioned after the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. This one would play host to over 200 boats travelling from Panama to New Zealand on the Coconut Milk Run.

They will be developing blogs to discuss such wide topics as fleet logistics, weather routing, safety at sea seminars, equipment training, micro event planning including; hula dance lessons and meeting with locals at each island visited. There is virtually no end to the possible options they have. Particularly when you consider this all live prep for a real Milk Run Voyage aboard the Omarsea.

Ben Recieved his 1st Class Rank Last night!!!

2011-11-29T12:19:00.000-05:00

Congratulations Ben on achieving your first class rank with Boy Scouts. Ben prepared the necessary paperwork and completed the skills needed to move up in rank last night. He was recognized for his achievement by the troop, whom he led in the scout oath afterwards. Good Work Ben!

Benjamin Was awarded his Second Class Rank Last Night

2011-11-15T10:31:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Ben. Last night after a busy First Aid training session he sat for, and passed his review board to complete the Second Class Rank in Scouting.
Here he is with his friends Artem (in gray) and Deklan
(in the red).
Artem recieved his Tenderfoot award last night as well.

Good work Boys!

Mystery Clues Update

2011-11-15T10:08:00.001-05:00

The French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand was assigned to receive the three man American delegation. Gerry, Madison and Pinckney.
However as things played out, several indirect suggestions of loans and bribes to France were made to the commissioners through a certain Mme de Villette, a friend of Talleyrand. Informal negotiations were carried on through her with Jean Conrad Hottinguer and Lucien Hauteval, both Swiss, and a Mr. Bellamy, an American banker in Hamburg; the three were designated X, Y, and Z in the mission’s dispatches to the United States.
Note the only Frenchman who stood to gain was Talleyrand. The Actual agents were Swiss and American. One has to wonder what an American banker and two Swiss businessmen were doing trying to bilk America out of a fortune while her merchant navy was being stolen by France? Were the Swiss financing the piracy? We may never know.
The proposal that the Americans pay Talleyrand $250,000 before the French government would deal with them, was kept secret by president Adams for some time. His political opponent Alexander Hamilton eventually forced President Adam's to release the French documents with an ensuing uproar against France. This in 1799 was welcomed by Hamilton and his pro-British party.

Keep in mind Hamilton's actions may have spurred the English attacks of 1812. Having given the impression that America was weak and divided in it's loyalty's. So an undeclared naval war ensued between France and the United States. Both Talleyrand and President Adams wished to avoid a declaration of war. In 1799 Adams, to the intense disgust of Alexander Hamilton, appointed William Vans Murray the U.S. minister to France and assigned Oliver Ellsworth and William Richardson Davie to accompany him. The result was the Treaty of Mortefontaine (Sept. 30, 1800), known as the Convention of 1800, a commercial agreement that improved relations between the two nations.

As a side note.
Each time we pass through Saint Michael's , MD we read the sign that states " Welcome to St Michael's, MD The town that fooled the British" During the British Naval attacks of the War of 1812 the people of St Michael's hung lanterns in the trees a few miles out of town near the water. British Man O Wars bombarded the forest thinking they had destroyed the town. Imagine the crew of a war vessel firing on the center of a small village knowing that there were civilians there? I makes me wonder what someone as famous as Alexander Hamilton would have said about the Imperial British three years later?

Interesting Item on Climate

2011-11-15T09:16:00.002-05:00

I received this in an Email from Clara Halvorson and wanted to share it with you.

In Laura Ingalls-Wilder's "The Little House on the Prairie" she described living through this 1911 freeze in Nebraska.

Margaret writes:

"Her mother had a cousin living in Niagara Falls that year. She told the family that she and her neighbors woke up in the night feeling something was wrong.

It took a while but they finally realized that it was the lack of noise. They had all become so used to the roar of the falls that the silence was unusual enough to alert their senses. Of course at that time nearly all the houses were near the falls. "

Having seen the force of the falls first hand I can say that it must have been unbelievably cold to stop the flow traveling at 10-15 mph over the falls.

I recall my grandfather speaking of the winters when he was a boy not many years after this picture was taken. He described the waters where he lived, in Portsmouth, NH, as freezing over so people could walk across broad rivers and bays. The only difference was he was talking about salt water -not fresh. This same area including Great and Little Bays has not frozen over so completely since I was 6 years old. Circa 1968. It may indeed indicate a strong warming trend. However, according to European weather experts. Europe is bracing for an extremely cold winter this year. Hans I hope you have your skates sharpened.

Does anyone know what this means?

2011-11-10T08:38:00.000-05:00

My Paternal Grandmother used to say we were related to a signer of the Declaration of Independence through her family. That he was Governor of Massachusetts and the vice president of the United states. Elbridge Gerry is best known for his attempted restructuring of the tax districts of Massachusetts "Gerrymandering". But according to this biography he was directly responsible for the Boston Tea Party and personally funded the purchase of the gunpowder that was used to start the American Revolution. What my Grandmother did not know was there may have been a mystery associated with her ancestor.

See the following link. http://colonialhall.com/gerry/gerry.php

Elbridge is buried in the Congressional Cemetery , Washington, DC. and was spoken of in these words.

"He finally saved the peace of the nation," said the late President Adams, "for he alone discovered and furnished the evidence that X. Y. and Z. were employed by Ta11eyrand; and he alone brought home the direct, formal, and official assurances upon which the subsequent commission proceeded, and peace was made"

Succeeding Adams and Franklin as envoy to France, Gerry was able to resolve the issues our young nation had with France in the early 1800's. But who are X, Y , Z and Ta11eyrand? This is a very interesting quote for a US president to make don't you think? Why the code?

The kids and I will begin looking into this as part of a home school project this year. If you are a history buff and would like to join us on this adventure we would love to have the help.

"Blue Water Sailing" Here we come!

2011-11-04T16:06:00.004-04:00

First of all I want to give a big thanks to my family for helping me complete these two big tasks. Jean is ever patient with my " Other Woman" , Ben is always willing to go down to the boat and lend a hand, Juli and Stevie are always happy to help me move big items here at home when I need them.
Let me explain the significance of Ben's big grin. This is day two of the project. We had to mount not only the new solar arch as seen above him, but to fully install the rudder as well .
The arch proved to be very heavy and slow to lift. As we stood on the stern it seemed a little dangerous so we had to take our time and use caution. This is because we had to remove the lifelines and stern rails to mount the arch.
Overall it went smoothly. We were able to bolt it down in position and secure the lifelines that first afternoon on the boat. Fortunately we had great weather. The highs were in the 60's and it was sunny all day.
The next day proved to be the big challenge. Prior to coming down to the boat I had prepared the stainless steel retaining collar to roughly fit the rudder shaft. It's like a wedding ring that has been on your finger for 20+ years. It didn't want to come off and it doesn't want to go back on. It has to fit just right. Too tight and it won't go on at all. Too loose and it will damage the rudder bushing.
Starting about 0800 I began sanding the inside of the collar to fit. Five hours later and some thirty trips in and out of a very small locker the collar budged and finally moved smoothly down the rudder shaft where I bolted it in place. Ben helped me mount the rest of the steering quadrant and cables. We balanced the steering wheel positions to center and tested the rudder. It worked flawlessly. The new bushing and fiberglass work had returned it to just about factory new standards. Ben's smile reflects some 100 hours of labor over a period of 18 months. I am just as glad to have this done and over with.

P.S. For any Beneteau 510 owners out there. If you decide to replace the delrin rudder bushing. I would recommend cutting the collar off with a silicon carbide cutting disk. First remove the steering quadrant by loosening the cables and removing four mounting bolts. Then carefully cut the stainless collar off the shaft. You will wind up damaging the old collar and a little of the fiberglass at the top of the tube. Make two cuts 180 degrees apart. Wear a mask as this stuff is nasty. Have the boatyard raise the boat to get the rudder out. Then make up a 3/4" plywood disk that loosely fits into the hole where the rudder came out. From outside the boat have a stout 2/4 about 5' long and a mechanics bottle jack ~ 5 ton. Nail the plywood disk onto the 2/4 and insert up into the rudder shaft hole plywood first. Use the bottle jack to push the delrin bushing up and out.
I used a company in California to bid out replacing the Bushing. It arrived about three weeks later and was exactly what I ordered. Email me and I will be glad to send you Gary's info. It was ~ $200 with shipping. He also was able to get me a quote for the collar. But, I had it welded and fitted it back on the rudder. It saved me $300 but in hindsight with all the gear I had to buy to remove the collar, I broke even. If I had to do it over I would cut it off and replace with new. It would have saved me many hours of labor! Good luck with your project.

Fair Winds

Scott Trefethen

Omarsea Update

2011-11-01T23:09:00.001-04:00

Back in 2008 we were blessed to find ourselves in the company of some serious bluewater cruisers on the island of Bonaire. They were "headed around " as they say. Nearly all of them had these stainless arches on their boats. The fellas would often spend hours discussing the best designs and features. I being without an arch, felt somehow left out and later developed a serious case of Arch envy. It is a curious disease I must say. It begins with minor neck pain. Most likely the result of straining to see how the neighbors arch was made. Then it creeps down your back right into your wallet. There it rummages around looking for the zeros needed to buy an arch of it's own. I being the homeward bound kind of sailor that year, found that the envy just stayed there in the cracks and crevices grumbling about how nice it would be to have an arch. Then last winter I decided that I would build my own. Of course!, how hard could it be after all? Remember those 9 little words from Hitch hikers guide to the Galaxy? "It seemed like a good idea at the time". My family being the wonderful people they are just smiled at me and said nothing.
And fools rush in. I spent the Spring looking for the stainless steel tubing needed for the arch. Finally I found a good deal through Defender Industries. If you every need stainless, email me and I will put you in touch with the person who really made this possible. But I digress. After receiving the tubing I spent a week looking for the right bender to make those pretty curves at the corners. I purchased a pipe bender from Harbor Freight. But, that was a real mistake. It mangled the sample tubing badly. I then found an outfit online, Speedway Motors, that has a really good bender at a decent price. A week later I had my nifty new bender all setup and was ready to get started. Keep in mind that I was running under the assumption that I could do this even though I had no previous experience. Being an ex-rock climber I was used to steep learning curves. Even so I started the project very slowly. I measured the pieces a dozen times before cutting them. I wanted this to not only work well but look good too. After all what would the blue water types say when the Omarsea pulled into the harbor and dropped anchor. Hey Mate, is that a jungle gym on the back of your boat? I hate to think of myself worried about what other cruisers would say but deep down I knew I had to get it right.
The tube bending turned out to be a slam dunk. The kids and I spent a day carefully putting 60 degree curves in the pieces and I was pleased with the outcome. Now for the next step. I had to cut the cross pieces and somehow notch them to fit the larger curved bows. I found a professional tube notcher online and ordered it along with several bits or hole saws. I then tried to cut the tube with my chop saw and a metal blade. Whoa that was a joke! The blade smoked, the metal glowed red and the saw strained to make even the smallest cut. I needed a serious tool to cut stainless steel. So back to Harbor Freight I went and picked up a proper metal cutting saw. After some messing about with setting the saw up I was able to make decent cuts in a few minutes without my tools going up in flames.
Notching the tube was another long story I will save you from. To save you the gory details suffice it to say I wasted all the 1.25" hole saws that Home Depot had in stock. At 8$ a pop it was very painful. Finally I went online and watched a few Youtube videos of the pros notching stainless steel. What I was doing wrong was I had been holding back when cutting through the tubing. Your supposed to ram the saw through with metal fragments flying and smoke everywhere. Go Figure! So I do this and sure enough I am able to use one hole saw to notch all the ends of the cross sections verses the lifetime supply I had just scrapped and thrown in the recycle bin. By now I am sold on Youtube and the educational value it presents.
So that just leaves the easy part. Welding Stainless Steel Tubing at all kinds of crazy angles. I was a willing victim in this process because I had experience TIG welding. 16 years ago I had worked with some very experienced welders that showed me the basics. But I didn't count on the fact that 16 years and three children later I couldn't remember what end of the torch was what. Now that is an exaggeration I will admit. I know how to setup the equipment and get everything ready but I had lost the knack somewhere in those many diaper changes.
But being one to try anything I pushed on and began welding on some sample pieces. Not sot pretty. So I changed the heat and other settings and did some more. Worse! I was pulling gray hairs out now. So I went back to Youtube and watched every video remotely related to TIG welding. Then went back to my samples. The first few welds were OK. Nothing to write home about but they would work. So I started in earnest on the arch. Oh Big Mistake!
I was so anxious to get the arch put together I tacked all the pieces together in one go-round. Later I realized that it caused me to overheat critical areas and warp the overall curve of the bows. I welded and welded all summer. Then I ground away the rough spots and welded some more. By August I had made such a Frankenstine I was ready to throw in the towel. Those of you who know me well may remember to call Guiness and report a world record. I don't give up on tough things. So it was that Jean suggested I do the unmanly thing and call someone for help. Get a welder to coach me on how to make it right again. So I did. Bruce my welding teacher showed up an hour late for our first class. We spent a few minutes talking and he went over my welding equipment and showed me some of the basics I needed. As I welded he would give me tips and get me to lift the torch just so or hold the filler rod in such a way to make the bead flow across the weld better. After four hours of instruction I was back on course and ready to clean up my Frankenstine.
It was that week that the weather turned wet. It stayed wet for the nest four weeks. I was forced to move the arch into the container to work and later onto the side porch. I spent all my spare time grinding off the bad welds and making new welds. There are some 120 welds to this arch so it takes a whole lot of time to do this. This is my greatest mistake with building the arch. I believed going into it that I could have it done in July. Now I realize that to make a really decent arch it takes three to four months of welding and finish work.
Throughout the process I learned patience and an appreciation for the effort the people who make their livings creating these works of engineering art.

PS: Tomorrow Ben and I will be installing the completed arch on the Omarsea!

Happy Haloween

2011-11-01T20:42:00.000-04:00

Hi to all you Ghosts and Goblins out there. Last night was a great time for kids and parents alike in the Germantown area. Julianna went to her friend Katie's house and they garnered all the reeses candy bars in her neighborhood. I think she said she had 22 of them. The boys dashed out for a quick 30 minutes and came back with huge hauls. Though Ben managed to eat half of his on the way back. Our friends the Tewilows and the Condits came over with their boys Artem and Declan. The boys then went out to our nearby neighbors in Fountain Hills and cleaned house again. They came back in about an hour just as Julie was getting home from Katie's. There were suddenly 7 kids running all over shouting out what they had for treats. Great fun was had by all of us as we settled into the kitchen for some socializing and talk of sailing this coming summer.
Jean worked from home today as it was a Holy day of obligation - All Saints Day. So we went to the 12:00 Mass at Mother Setons with our friend Julia . It was an excellent Mass given by non other than our very own "kick you in the pants" Father Carlos. He always seems very inspirational to me in these confusing times. For those in Oregon who know our friend Steve Jones. Imagine Steve as a priest ! That's our father Carlos.

Keeping out the weather

2011-10-29T14:49:00.000-04:00

As the weather this year became more wet and rugged we started to find that the old siding on the house was leaking. As a "temporary and reversible" measure to this we opted to replace the damaged areas with cement fiberboard or Hardie plank. I had started the project from a ladder. Though we quickly came to the realization that this too slow and too difficult to complete in this manner. Jean contacted a local rental place and the next day we had several sections of scaffold quickly in place and the work began to proceed the way I like- Fast! Over about a three week period we stripped 5 sides of the house and replaced the siding, window trim and repainted all the above.
The Hardie plank is heavy to work with. It breaks easily so you have to use care when lifting it but it is impervious to insects and most types of mold and rot. As I removed the old planks just outside our bedroom there was a great swarm of yellow jackets suddenly. I was 25' up on the third layer scaffold. I just froze for several minutes. They flew all around me . Then they quieted down and returned to the nest in the wall. Jean purchased a can of bee killer and I sprayed the hole with the entire contents. There was an angry buzzing from inside the wall that slowly died away. The next day there were only 5 or 6 left and they ignored me as I tore the remnants of the comb/nest from the house's insulation.
Overall I liked working with the Hardie Plank and would use it again on another project. It is less than wood siding in price and more than Vinyl. We had the 100 pieces delivered to the house. I recommend delivery as these pieces weighed in at over 3000#s total. The cost to reside 75% of the house , trim and paint came in at just under $2000. This price, including a two week scaffold rental, paint and brushes. Not bad when you consider that to have it done would have run us ~$15,000.
I am happy to report that all the leaks have stopped and the new siding seems to be keeping us a little warmer this winter!

Great Weather we are having today :)

2011-10-29T14:24:00.001-04:00

"It's Snowing!" shouted Stevie this morning around 7am. Sure enough the weather people were spot on about this cold front/AKA Nor' easter blowing in last night. We have a dusting right now but the wind is picking up and they are sanding the streets against possible ice. Jean and I are contemplating a walk up to the nearby RedBox for a movie. She has been working on her NRC review this morning and baking a cake for desert. I have been rebuilding my laptop PC this morning. All the while contemplating the ease of use of the Apple Ipad II. I have read a couple of articles in Sail Magazine about the Apples and navigation. Next year I will most likely be getting one for our sailing trip South. As for our wonderful Kido's. Well let me tell you I have heard hardly a peep. With the exception of Ben who just appeared asking what was cooking in the kitchen. He is now in overdrive with his growth spurt. He should be overtaking me in height in the spring. Juli and Stevie are playing video games on their computers. And I am happy to report the snow is just getting thicker as I write this. I am glad for the break in routine. Homeschool has been very demanding the past month. We are covering a lot of ground. Jean stepped in yesterday and gave the kids an introduction to Project Management. She just took a class in Bethesda, MD and wanted to share the basics with the kids as a way to lock it all into her memory. Her class gave me a chance to pretty much finish the 120+ welds on our Solar arch for the Omarsea.
Next spring I will be installing solar panels that will make the boat independent of fossil fuels with the exception of having to motor when there is no wind or coming into port. How's that for going green?
We will be gradually moving our focus back to sailing over the next couple of years with the kids and I spending more time aboard, homeschooling and gradually moving Westward. As always if you are interested in joining us on any of the Ocean legs please email me via the website.

Fair Winds

The Tref's

Omarsea Update

2011-09-27T22:42:00.000-04:00

Ahoy All. Some of you like to keep up to date on whats happening with the Omarsea. This week has been really busy with Home school and housework so the boat repairs are coming along slower than I would like.
I have nearly finished the rudder. I had to glass a 1/8" bushing around the lower bearing to compensate for the gap between the two metal bushings there. A significant wobble had developed in the rudder when we made it back to the States.
The solar arch is taking place nicely. After hiring a welding instructor for a day I have begun to master the fine art of TIG welding. Though still not an expert I can make two pieces of metal stay together and look good.
The Motor is nearly done. I have a couple of errant bolts to find and install and there is some hose work yet to be done.
The Thruhulls are finished!!! I had to cut out some 14 of them. I have replaced 10 with new bronze pieces. The remaining four I will not replace as I have taken both heads on the Port side out of the boat and the associated thruhulls are no longer needed.
The new bow rail is finished and installed. I will be making up a new dodger frame and bimini frame this spring as time permits.
The biggest question right now is the rigging. With the failure of the bolt to the backstays and subsequent cables crashing to the deck all the wire rigging is suspect. Normally to replace these you would pull the mast. But the way the boat is constructed the mast is secured with three rusted bolts that are countersunk in places that are very hard to reach. I am in a quandary as to how the rigging will be replaced. I will be speaking with a professional rigger in the next week about what to do.
I can't wait until all these big jobs are done so I can just go down to the boat and putter around with things like new batteries, solar panels and refrigeration!

Trip to Virginia

2011-09-27T22:25:00.000-04:00

Last week was so busy we are still recovering from it. We all drove down to the place in Virginia and back last Wednesday to pickup a ladder and supplies we had left there in the spring. I am doing a large project here at the house that required our big ladder. We are repairing problems with the house siding here in Maryland. The storms last month have wreaked havoc with this old house. Last year when we were rushing to get the house in the kind of condition we could live in, we only primed the outside. Now I am painting all the siding and trim with proper paint. Because the North side is so tall we have rented scaffolding as I need to work some 35' up in some places. My biggest challenge right now is the weather. If it's not raining then I can paint. But we have had so much rain lately. It has not dried out at all for the past three weeks. The "mozzies" are so mean outside that I can't work after 6PM or they eat me alive. The work is really hard but we are making good progress and it is beginning to look really nice. Like we always say. You can't get the prize if you keep questioning the price!

Boy Scouts Of America

2011-09-27T22:12:00.000-04:00

A big announcement. Stevie is officially a Tenderfoot Scout. This past Monday he passed all his requirements and is excited to be the troop Quartermaster as well this year. Hip Hip Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Tref's Travel to the Renaissance Fair

2011-09-27T22:07:00.000-04:00

The highlight of the month so far has been the Maryland renaissance festival. We spent the whole day there with friends from Germantown. There was so much too see and do. Theater,jousting, sword fighting, slides, and great live entertainment by a cast from all over the world. People like these folks dressed up in costumes Parents and Kids alike. This pic is from the rennfest website. Stevie and Juli were on stage with some very crazy characters. They even roped me into coming on stage and having some fun. There was Shakespeare of course. Both satyrical and serious. Stevie was having a ball watching the actors. He wants to get involved with the theater. Juli and her friend Fiona were dressed in costume and had a great time. Jean and I even had a chance to sneak off and share a quiet pint of ale together. The weather was cool and overcast. Just perfect for this kind of activity. We walked around looking at all the shops. We found one that made wooden swords. Ben, Stevie and their friend's Artem and Deklan chose the larger English swords. If your ever in Maryland in September make sure to see this place. It really is a merry time.

Awesome Documentary on the NW Spirit Bear "SPOIL"

2011-08-28T17:31:00.001-04:00

Natural Disaster De Jour

2011-08-28T16:00:00.000-04:00

Goodbye Irene! Last night at 3AM we were awakened by the roar of wind outside. Almost immediately there were several bright flashes. Power transformers were shorting out, 3 of which exploded like bombs all around the neighborhood. The Maple trees outside were bent in the most horrific shapes. The trees being so close to the house posed a real threat to our upstairs bedroom so Jean and I decided to move downstairs and stay in the living room till the storm let up. The power went on and off numerous times. Our stove beeping its warning each time. I unplugged the fridge and computers to be on the safe side. Jean finally fell asleep on the couch. I paced the downstairs watching the branches being ripped off the trees and blown down the street. Police sirens were nonstop during the wee hours of the morning. Somehow I did manage to get 30 minutes of sleep when I was awakened by a large fire truck stopping in front of our house. The four fireman went across the street and into my neighbors house. They were there for nearly an hour. I will have to find out later this week why this was. By then it was time to make a pot of coffee and see what we had to do for cleanup around the yard. I am pleased to report that the damage was confined to several medium sized branches downed in the yard. The house came through with no damage as did we. Thank you God!

Earthquake !!

2011-08-23T21:05:00.000-04:00

I was working in the yard today when a moderate quake struck. The ground seemed to ripple beneath my feet. When I looked at the house it seemed to be moving sideways away from me. Julianna ran to the window and cried "EarthQuake!" I told the kids to get outside quickly. They came scrambling out the back door and ran over to me. It passed in seconds and there were no more tremors after the big shock.
Later in the day when I walked down to the train station. There two people stopped and talked with me about the quake. Asking if I had felt it? Now this is a big deal here in MD. No one talks to strangers much. They both had been released from work early. One woman ,from DOE, was not allowed back into her building until structural engineers had inspected it. Jean felt the quake down in Rockville. The NRC did let it's staff back in the offices. However the trains were many hours late. Jean fortunately was able to catch a ride with a coworker and made it home a little early. I was down at the train station waiting for her train when she drove up in the car and gave me a ride home. The attached link takes you to the USGS website and has more info on todays quake.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/us/c0005ild/us/index.html

Ready for takeoff

2011-08-20T21:44:00.000-04:00

Ben being a good sport took Stevie on the helo ride at the fair. The kids had a great time Monday trying all the various carnival rides.

Dog Rescue

2011-08-20T21:39:00.000-04:00

Last week a lost dog entered our yard and sought shelter and shade under the big pines in the back. I discovered this when two cars parked on the street out front and strangers began walking through the yard while talking on their cell phones. When I asked them if I could help they told me they had been following a lost dog and had seen it enter our yard. We walked back to within a hundred feet of the dog who paced restlessly near the rear fence. When the kids came rushing out I had to hold Stevie back as the dog started to make a run for it. The dogs owner was out of town and being watched by a friend. The friends wife had mistakenly let the dog out the night before and they had been looking ever since. This was because the dog has diabetes and must receive regular shots or it will go into a coma. They had called the humane society and let them know the dog was missing. When the two people who came into our yard drove up both were on their cell phones with the Humane society. At some point they ID'd the dog as "Jack" and called his sitter who is seen here in the picture with Jack. The dog seemed to be dehydrated and was walking with difficulty. Julianna brought out a bowl of cool water and he drank it all. The sitter took him back home and this should have been a happy ending. But the very next day jack went missing again. The sitter stopped by and asked if he could look in our yard for him. Unfortunately for the sitter Jack was not there. As yet we have not heard anything more about Jack.

Sculpting 101

2011-08-20T21:23:00.000-04:00

Juli, Ben and Stevie have had such fun making things with clay. This is one of the imaginative characters they have made. Note the long nose and chin. The low brow line and of course the scowl. All trademark features of this weeks creations.

Large Praying Mantis Captured

2011-08-20T21:16:00.000-04:00

Juli's fascination with all things great and small continues. Yesterday Ben was out cutting the grass and sighted this amazing bug. Being a great brother, he ran in and got Juli right away. Together they captured the Mantis and took it in the house. She is a lovely copper bronze on the underside and has wings both dark and light green. About 6" long she reminded us of a fat walking stick. We studied it and took both stills and video of her movements. She flies very well and is most attentive to movement around her. After a few hours of observation it was decided that she would fare better outside than in and was released in our garden. We are happy to report she is still in our garden today.

2011-08-17T20:46:00.000-04:00

Though this looks like the creature from "Alien" it was a breakthrough device in the removal of the damaged rudder bearing. 16 years of salt water and tropical conditions nearly welded the stainless steel collar to the rudder shaft. The jaws as seen here are pulling the collar up off the aluminum shaft with a combined force of 10, 000 lbs. Even with this incredible strength the collar moved very slowly fighting every mm of movement.
The pin you see sticking out is a 3/4 inch solid stainless shaft that holds the rudder in the boat. Omarsea's rudder is large and the waves exert tremendous loads on it when the boat is surfing down large waves.
Interestingly the damaged bushing, seen under the pin, was worn on the sides but not the front and rear. This possible accounts for the more than 1" of wobble felt at the bottom of the rudder when you held it.
I was forced to cut the collar to be able to drive the pin out of the rudder shaft. It will need to be welded back together later this week.
I started this project last August. Spent some 40 hours in that cramped steering locker grinding, cutting, sawing and well now that I think of it cursing at times like a sailor. It was a job I wanted anyone but me to finish. I devised four different engineering approaches to remove the collar and the pin. Each idea by itself was only marginally successful. Combined though, they proved to be a solid way to get the job done.
I was in Harbor freight a couple months ago and found this 5 ton hydraulic puller. It was very nearly too big to work in the space, I had to reset it seven times to get the collar completely up off the shaft. What saved me was that there is a cover plate right above the rudder shaft. It's there to allow the emergency tiller , a large metal lever to attach to the top of the rudder shaft. I was able to pass the hydraulic pump up through this opening and get the rig to work.
To give you an idea how close this came to failing. I had to force the fiberglass decking upward about an 1/8th of an inch to clear the top of the rudder shaft. By the skin of my teeth you might say. A funny thing happened about an hour later. Someone asked me what the loud western whooop was all about?

2011-08-17T20:04:00.000-04:00

Chef Ben! What are you cooking today?

The other day Ben was hungry. I know so what else is new? While looking through a cookbook on Mediterranean food he found some great ideas. Though he admitted he was more hungry after looking at all the pictures of desserts, they did provide the inspiration for these amazing iced oranges.
He arranged to get the ingredients with me at the store and then set Juli and Stevie up helping him make them. I stayed out of the way and the kids made these very complicated and highly delicious treats all on their own. They learned teamwork, how to follow directions and then with a little nudge from me how to clean up your kitchen :)

I am so proud of Ben. He is changing from a boy to a man before our eyes on a daily basis. He is level headed, courageous and a fiercely loyal friend. There is a quick dry whit mixed with a warm heart, a hint of joker and dash of just plain fair play. I get up these days excited to see what has changed while we were sleeping. I have heard that teens can be a challenge. But, I am begining to see the opportunity side to this chaos. It sure is good to be an at home Dad!

2011-08-17T19:39:00.000-04:00

The boys and I were working on the boat last month. I had arranged with the boatyard to lift Omarsea up so we could pull the rudder out. So after getting everything ready the yard asked us to loosen the forestay. It's the cable on the front leading from the mast to the deck.
To do this we first loosen the backstays and then disconnect the forestay. As luck would have it as we loosened the backstays a pin broke with a sound like a gunshot. A second later both cables crashed to the deck. The boys and I were fine as we had positioned ourselves on the very stern of the boat. The only loss was a spilled glass of water on the deck.
But this adds to the interesting nature of owning a boat. On closer inspection the pin that had broken was nearly rusted through. Note that from the outside you could not have seen this!
So of course this takes us to the conclusion that we had better replace all the standing wire and fittings to ensure we don't get offshore and have the mast fall down on us. I am going down to the boat sometime in the next two weeks to work with the boatyard and pull the mast out to do this work. It's really a neat project to pull the mast. The yard uses a crane to hoist it up and out of the boat. Then they lay it down on a series of supports. This winter I will work with local riggers to replace various parts, rewire the mast lights and add a couple of wizbang features.
I have shelved the solar arch for now. It's required too much time to complete before winter and I found myself rushing the welding. We will take some time next summer to get that done. As much as I hate to put these big items off I have too many important plates spinning right now and with school getting geared up it is best.
Last weekend the Tref's were down in Tilghman Isle. We went down to see some friends and celebrate what they call Spudge Fest. Spudge is the name of their Maine Lobster boat. Dale and Susan put on quite a party and we all had a great time. We met a family there with 11 kids. Stevie made a new best friend Walter, Ben spent some fun times hanging around with some older boys and Julianna had seven girls to play with. WOW! The Watkins family are of course a Catholic family. They live near the Maryland / Deleware boarder and we look forward to seeing them again soon.
Then Jean took the kids to Blackwater Wildlife preserve. They walked the boardwalks out over the salt grass and watched birds. I get quite a lot done when they are occupied. It is a real plus to have Jean down on the boat with us. It's a better chemistry with the kids when she is there.
We came home Sunday morning. Then Jean took Juli to the 4H group gathering at the county fair here in Gaithersburg. They were out till late having a ball. But wait there is more. The kids went back the next day and they spent 12 hours riding rides and looking at the animals. They were burned to a crisp by the sun but all smiles. Stevie and Juli were at hand when a pony kicked its way out of the rides area and stampeded past them. Stevie wisely stepped back out of the way as the crazed animal swept past.
Ben was fascinated by the blacksmith. He spent a couple hours talking with her about metal working. He is really interested in making swords and shields. 14 year old's are all about combat. We are looking into creating a forge here in the back yard for him to experiment with some wrought iron.
Speaking of heat. The craziest thing happened today. I got in the car to go pickup jean from the bus station and the rear view mirror was dangling from its wires. Now it only got to 86 degrees today. After a month off 100+ degrees it must have weakened the adhesive enough to let it fall off. I am constantly reminded why I was put on this earth! Fix this , Fix that.
Anyway so long as these things happen when they are home sitting still and not 500 miles offshore I feel very blessed.
Stay tuned. We have a busy end of the Month coming up!

Not so Rare Bird Alert - Robin Rescue

2011-07-04T14:08:00.000-04:00

This little guy caused quite the excitement here at the house. Juli and Stevie found him on the lawn chirping for all he was worth. To her credit, Juli did not ask to keep him. But rather, she placed him here in this shrub and then went online to find out more details about baby robins. What she quickly discovered was that they often wind up on the ground after their first flight attempt. The parents stay close by and should the baby not fly for a few days they will continue to feed it until it grows strong enough to fly. This guy could fly eight to ten feet horizontally. But being so well fed he was having trouble gaining altitude. Juli kept a close eye on the bird that afternoon and the next day we found it had flown away. Interestingly enough, on or about the same day the chicks of a family of Carolina wrens raised in our bird house, also flew the coop. This good timing allowed Juli and Ben to finish painting the shed where the bird house hangs and get paid for their efforts begun several months previously.

A Grand Day at Home

2011-07-04T13:56:00.000-04:00

Each week there is the cry" Mail!", and " Color Comics First!" when the mailman pulls up to the mailbox. This followed by " Colored Comics Second!" and a mad dash out the door to the post box. So what's the big deal? Well I'll tell you. These kids have a very special Grandmother. Each week without fail. She puts all the Oregonian comic pages and any mail we received at her house in a box and ships it East for the kids. This week Stevie was third with the color comics. Here he is at lunch devouring his favorite strip - The Brilliant mind of Edison Lee. What joy they have opening those boxes. Thank you Clara for all you do. God Bless you each and every day.

Breakfast Companions

2011-07-04T13:44:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday I woke up and went down to get some coffee brewing. I usually open the window shade and look out back to see what the weather is doing. It's an old sailing habit. This morning the shade was already open and these guys were busy eating the clover just outside the kitchen window. We have many rabbits here this year. Several live under the shed and container. There are also a family of ground hogs with little ones running around the yard. If you will recall the earlier blog with Julianna holding one of the baby bunnies. Those are now nearly full grown. While they will still let you approach fairly close, they are quite skittish of people trying to pick them up. Off and on we have a skunk that walks through the yard and sprays his pepe la pew everywhere. This happens in the evenings when there is a bright moon. We often don't run the AC to conserve energy. We would rather have fans in the windows and the fresh air. It's quite the wake up call when the skunk visits. The kids always sleep right through it. Go figure! Anyway I am always saying the next thing we will see is a bear. A couple of weeks ago, not but a few miles away, a black bear was found. Just a cub and that means there are more in the area. It's just a matter of time before we see them in our little patch of wilderness. If I get a picture I will post it to the blog.

Fair Winds

Solar Arch Update

2011-07-04T13:23:00.001-04:00

Believe it or not I had to move the project into the shipping container due to the bugs. We have a healthy crop of gnats this year that won't allow me to work outside. This pic shows the arch nearly complete. Once the welding is finished and I have attached the feet I hope to mount it on the boat the last week of July. This weekend Jean, the kids and I went down to the boat for a mini vacation. They played while I worked on the boat. St. Michaels was having a 4th of July parade and then there is the great swimming pool at the marina. The kids came back all freckled and tan. We had plans to be in Germantown on Sunday and Monday for the holiday, so we drove back Sunday morning. The Boat is coming along well ,though there is going to be more work than summer this year. I pulled off the windlass and the wind generator. Someone had climbed aboard sometime during the last month and switched off the wind generator. Maybe due to the noise it makes. What they didn't know, was that when switched off it places a drain on the batteries. By the time we arrived the ships house batteries were badly depleted. I needed to pull the generator anyway, as its mounting pole is in the way of the new solar arch. I am planning on mounting the wind generator to the new arch once it's installed on the stern. Jean made herself busy by cleaning out the galley and organizing the food stores and pots/pans aboard. With the new bunk mattresses and the inside cleaned it feels more like home once again. Now I just have to finish the engine installation, put the galley island back together, etc, etc etc. Well you get the idea. It is a boat after all :)

Around the World with Magellan - Ben Trefethen

2011-06-28T20:20:00.001-04:00

Ferdinand Magellan was born about 1480 in Northern Portugal. The son of a minor royal, he was schooled in a monastery and then sent to work at the Palace of Queen Leonora in Lisbon the capitol city. As a page he was educated to a high degree including the science of navigation. Portugal had just discovered the sea route to the Indian ocean going around the horn of Africa. While it's biggest competitor Spain gambled on sailing west with Columbus's four voyages. Enter Magellan and the Great Age of Discovery. The excitement to explore new lands was compelling but paled in comparison to the riches that awaited the country that could develop the fastest trade routes to the spice islands of the west Pacific. The most profitable of these spices was pepper. It was easy to store and keep over long voyages and often referred to as "Black Gold". It was this treasure that was to lead Magellan on his greatest adventure. In 1505 King Manuel launched an aggressive campaign to seize control of African port cities. Launching a dozen ships with a compliment of 400 men total the fleet ran South along the African coast and after rounding the Horn split. Some ships headed for India and eight ships remained in Africa to conquer various port cities. The crews ravaged the coast. Pillage, murder and savage acts were committed against the Muslim towns. Thousands of villagers were killed. Magellan was aboard these ships and would have played a role in these massacres. He proved to be an able leader and received quick advancement eventually becoming Captain of a small barque. King Manuel was determined to subjugate the Middle east and India to Portugal's control. Years of heavy fighting had cost him much in men and ships. Eventually Portugal was able to gain control of the Indian Ocean and trade routes to the spice islands. However Morocco was now in revolt. The king sent Magellan and his brother to quell the uprising. Magellan was wounded severely and came home in shame. The king expressed his displeasure and Magellan asked to be set free to work for a different country. The king agreed.
So Magellan went to king Charles I and convinced him that he was the man to lead an expedition to the new world . The king financed a fleet of ships and on September 20th 1519 they set sail. Crossing the Atlantic they followed the coast of Brazil southward and around the the tip of South America. Magellan had entered the Pacific at last. He survives mutiny , storms and thousands of miles of sailing through reef infested seas to arrive in the Philippines in 1521. After converting locals to Christianity he went to the tribes sworn enemies and tried to convert them as well. This tribe attacked and he suffered a poison arrow to the leg. He died later that day and was abandoned by his men in their retreat. Of his fleet of five ships the only surviving vessel was the Victoria. Of the 270 men who sailed with Magellan only 18 returned to Spain. Magellan had kept the secrets of navigation to himself and the crew's returning to Spain sailed blindly about struggling to reach their homeland. Eventually they turned to Piracy. One of the mutineers eventually became captain of the Victoria and sailed her back to Spain.

Ben Trefethen

Wildcat Propeller Service Fixes the Omarsea's Prop

2011-06-28T18:13:00.001-04:00

Last month we were fortunate to find Troy and his team of experts at the Wildcat propeller shop down in Chesapeake, VA. Jean and I drove the Omarsea's prop down there after I read reviews customers had left online. As we entered the shop we were greeted by a pair of friendly golden labs. Troy came out to meet us and was a wealth of information. He quickly assessed the situation with our prop and taking us back into the shop he showed us how they evaluate a props condition. Using a proprietary software developed by an Australian engineer they scanned our propellers profile into their computer and printed a digital report on it's condition. It seems one of the three blades was badly out of balance and there was from the outside what looked to be considerable electrolysis. After looking our options over and discussing possibly buying a new prop Troy asked me to leave the prop with him for a few days and he would really examine it closely and see if they could repair it. True to his word the prop was done a couple of days later and they were able to balance the bent blade 99.6% true. The great news was the electrolysis was superficial and they were able to restore it to nearly new condition. All for $195. I am thrilled with their service and the price. Definitely consider these folks if your boat needs propeller work. You can mail them your prop for fast service if your out of the area. I have also added a link on the site below called "Best Propeller Service" to the Wildcat site to make it easier .

Amelia Earhart -Julianna Trefethen

2011-06-28T12:02:00.001-04:00

Amelia Earhart. Was born July 24th 1897. She grew up in Atchison Kansas close to the Missouri river. Her parents went against the views of the day and allowed Amelia and her sister Muriel to play boys games. Their Mom even had outdoor cloths made for them. They went sledding in the winter and called it "Belly Flopping". Her family traveled constantly and she attended 6 high schools before graduating. This travel created what she called "Threads" that led her eventually to aviation. She served as a nurse in Canada during WW1. The hospital was next to the airfield that she liked to visit often. After the war she briefly attended Columbia University and then her parents asked her to come back to Califiornia. She went back and went with her dad to an airshow. There she took her first ride in an airplane. "As soon as we left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly. I think I'd like to learn to fly,' I told the family casually that evening knowing full well I'd die if I didn't. 'Not a bad idea' said my father just as casually. 'When do you start?'"
After learning to fly she went back east to live with her Mom and sister in Boston. But College did not work out and she began working with immigrant families helping them learn English. In 1928 she had a break. Amy Phipps Guest was looking for a woman pilot to travel across the Atlantic. It was billed as the first flight with a woman passenger and made headlines. A seaplane was selected and named Friendship. It was piloted by Wilmer Stultz. Amelia sat behind the Pilot taking notes about her experience. This even launched her flying career to new heights. She met George Putnam during this experience. He owned the large publishing house in America. They were later married in 1931. She continued to be a high profile pilot flying in the 1929 "Powder Puff Derby". The Derby featured the most famous women pilots of the day. Amelia took third place. Spurred on by her success and fame she decided to fly across the Atlantic again but with herself at the controls and alone. Leaving from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland in her lockheed vega she landed in Londonderry Ireland some thirteen hours later. It is said she drank Tomatoe juice during the flight. Maybe that's were the saying "I could have had a V8 " came from.
She returned to a Ticker tape parade in New York and President Hoover gave her the NAT GEO special society medal. In 1935 she began her goal of being the first woman to fly across the Pacific Ocean. She flew from Californina to Hawaii and back. Then she flew to South America and back across the Atlantic to Africa. Across Africa to te Middle East and on Australia and New guinea.
Leaving New Guinea July 2 she and her mechanic Fred Noonan took off for a tiny speck of an island called Howland Isle. They never arrived. Search parties looked but found no remains. Though rumors had it she was captured by the Japanese in WW2 no proof has been presented and the mystery remains. I would like to be the person who solves this mystery.

Julianna Trefethen

Spanish Explorers - Stevie Trefethen

2011-06-28T11:15:00.000-04:00

I just read a book by Stuart Waldman called "We Asked For Nothing" . Its about the remarkable journey of Cabeza de Vaca a Spanish conquistador. In April of 1528 he sailed on one of four ships from Spain to what they called New Spain. He landed in Tampa Bay Florida. They met local indians and after discovering they had little bits of gold they were determined to find more. De Vacca learned that the gold came from a village to the North called Apalachee. They said it was overflowing with gold. But it was an island very far to the North of Tampa Bay. They decided that 300 of the men would walk there and the ships would meet them there. Travelling through thick swamps they had tough going. They found Apalachee but no gold. The Indians had lied to get them away. Hungry the Spaniards pillaged the Apalachee's food. Mostly corn they called maize.On the way back through the swamps to the rendevous place 50 men died from Indian ambushes. They got back to the beach where they first landed but the ships never arrived. (A storm had driven the ships away).
Desperate the men melted their armor and weapons to make fastners and build several large rafts. They set sail into the Gulf of Mexico. When they came to shore the rafts crashed onto the beaches of the Karakawa Indians. De Vaca gave them beads and trinkets. The Indians gave him arrows. They provided thte Spaniards with food for a while and then then made the them work. Begining as food gatherers they moved up quickly to medicine men and the tribe was very appreciative. De Vaca was here two years.
Then he learned to trade with other Indian Tribes. He travelled all over what is now coastal Texas. He helped the tribes deal with the desieses brought to the new world by Europeans. More Conqueistadors arrived. Cabeza told the new commers he was Spanish. The Indians could not belive him. The Spanish did not know what to make of him either. The Conqueistadors began enslaving the indians. Cabaza learned that the Pope had forbade the enslavement of christians so he began converting the Indians to Christians. When Alcaraz learned of the conversions he stooped enslaving the locals.
After walking over a thousand miles he entered Mexico City and met with Melchior Diaz the new govenor and found passage back to Spain. There he wrote his famous book called "La Relacion". He died in obscurity. But 450 years later his book became a best seller and to this day is the best resource scholars have about the early indians of New Spain.

Stevie Trefethen

Home Alone - Day 3

2011-06-22T12:50:00.001-04:00

It is very quiet in the house! I half expect them to come busting in the door any minute. It's been a while since I have had this much time to myself. I needed this little break. If only to take off the Dad shoulder pads for a few days and just take care of me.

Part of this year’s ambitions has been to design and build a stainless steel solar arch for the Omarsea. It is a big undertaking for me. I have not done any serious welding in years and this is more an art than a science. I began by bending the 1.25" tube to the shapes I needed. Then I spent nearly every evening last week online searching out all the tips and tricks I could find on how to weld this metal.

I started my first series of test welds. What a humbling experience! Burned metal everywhere. There are so many variables to TIG welding. I spent all Monday morning blowing holes in test pieces before I finally made two of them stick together. But the weld was really knarly. I went back online and found more hints and ideas. So Tuesday morning I started out by making numerous welds and showed huge improvement. But they were still so poor in quality that I began to think I was not going to be able to make this arch.

Last night I managed to find several discussion groups online that were talking about newbie welder’s mistakes and how they could improve their techniques. Among the hints were several sage pearls that applied to me. I was contaminating my welds in several ways and did not realize it at first. I was using too much heat. Lastly I was grinding the point on the tungsten wrong.

So about 0600 this morning I started before the heat of the day. I set out to eliminate as many of these problems as I could. The contamination was the easiest. I just needed to keep the filler rod in the gas stream and allow the gas to flow over the weld after the arc was turned off cooling the metal without oxygen getting to the hot weld. This sounds really complex but it's very simple really. The weld is liquid at ~ 1400 degrees. When the gas in this case Argon, shields the weld, it can't combine with oxygen in the air. Oxygen combining with the weld makes it porous and brittle- not good!

Turning down the heat is really simple as well. There is a knob on the machine. I set it to 60amps and that seems to give me just the right heat to create the "puddle" welders so often speak of.

Grinding the tungsten is the really trick part. I am so unpracticed at welding that I often drop the end of the tungsten electrode into the puddle. It is then contaminated and has to be ground to a fine point yet again. I use a grinding wheel dedicated to tungsten. My first points were just like the suggested ones I found online. They look like a shiny pencil point but smaller than a real pencil. I have found through trial and error that if I don't dull the point but leave it sharp I get a smaller arc and a more concentrated weld.

It was after spending three hours this morning experimenting that I was able to get my first so-so weld! Yea!!!!! Ugly as it is it is. It is shiny and shows good adhesion or penetration as welders call it. Anyway it's a huge step forward.

The picture here is what I hope to be doing in the coming weeks. Right now it's not even close to this.

A sad event happened today.

2011-06-19T13:22:00.000-04:00

Julianna's bearded dragons both died today. First the smaller one Clyde and then the larger Bonnie. Though we are not sure exactly how it happened it is suspected that they ate fireflies. The chemical in the firefly is deadly to bearded dragons. Julianna is taking this very hard. These were animals she loved very dearly and took extremely good care of. Please keep her in your prayers.

Omarsea Sailing Update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-06-13T10:30:00.001-04:00

Get your calendars out and block off time next year for a trip to sunny Burmuda! Can you tell I am excited about this? Jean has given me the green light to splash and dash next April to the island of Burmuda. Why April? That's our high pollen season here in Maryland and after this years bout with allergies I am ready to get sailing. April begins the tourist season in Burmuda with big international sailboat racing, festivals and celebrations all over the island. We are thinking that it would be most comfortable for everyone if a rental property was secured and week long slots scheduled to fill the months of May and June. Those who live in the Washington DC area will have an easier time flying in as BWI offers great flights. To our family and friends out west thinking of coming out for this cruising bonanza check with your favorite airlines and see if they fly through BWI. Burmuda offers so much to the traveler. It was voted the premier dive destination in 2010 with over 300 shipwrecks. The waters are warm and inviting and the beaches are pink sand.
We will be planning to do many dives using surface supplied air (Hookah) equipment in shallower waters. This equipment can be used by any intermediate swimmer to extend their stay in waters up to 30' deep. This will allow guests to see the reefs and historic shipwrecks up close without the cumbersome weight of dive gear.
St Georges and Hamilton are home to some of the very best shopping. The nightlife is active and carribean in flavor.
There are miles of trails and bike paths that lead to secluded beaches. An excellent public transportation system provides both land and sea (ferryboat) routes.
For more information see the following links.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g147255-Activities-Bermuda.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda

http://www.gotobermuda.com/travel-deals/airtran/baltimore-washington/

PS no I don't get paid to say these things about Burmuda :) We just want to share this adventure with as many friends as we can next year!

2011-06-13T10:02:00.000-04:00

Last month we took the plunge so to speak and purchased the stainless steel needed to build the solar arch for the Omarsea. The arch is quite big measuring some ten feet wide and seven feet high. Here I am fitting one of the cross members to the arch bows. I have designed it to hold 2 solar panels, our wind generator and support a davit that will lift and house the dinghy. Today I will finish cutting and fitting the cross members, some 13 of them. The next step is to begin welding the seams together. I will be using a dc power inverted TIG device we purchased last year for this purpose. In addition the solar arch I am constructing new bow and stern rails. The existing bow rail was damaged during a collision with a drifting boat in St Lucia some years ago. It has a big dent in it. I have wanted to replace it with a heavier rail that will have a seat over the bow with a safety belt so that we can view and film dolphin as they ride our bow wave. The new stern rail is intended to seamlessly meld into the solar arch and provide us with a little more room in the cockpit as well as support the outboard motor when not on the dinghy. It has been a challenge so far this summer with the heat in being able to work outside in the sun. This is very detailed work and difficult enough without sweat running down your face and hundreds of minute gnats biting all the time. I am nearly immune to the gnats about now but the heat of the day can really sap ones energy and patience. I plan to have the arch finished by the end of June and have the other items completed by the end of August.
I will post more pictures as the work progresses.

Fair Winds and Seas

Scott

Ben's Kitchen is open for Business

2011-06-01T08:01:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday Ben and his friend Artem, now Boy Scouts, were asked to give a cooking demonstration for the Cub Scouts. His patrol the "Chaos" group mixed and baked a peach cobbler for the cubs. Here Ben is preparing to mix the ingredients. They spent the night camping out at a nearby state forest and had an awesome time.

Iron Mike Raddatz & the Mighty Engine

2011-05-28T22:35:00.001-04:00

What a time Mike and I had this weekend! We arrived Thursday evening for an early start installing the motor Friday morning. As a sign we are getting wiser in our years we asked Mark the Boat Yard manager to first have his crew hoist this engine stand into the boat as a single piece with the large truck mounted crane they have on site. Then they lifted the motor and lastly the transmission. Mike came up with the supports layout. Then with the use of a chain-fall we were able to jockey the engine into place. Positioned above the motor mounts the crane lowered the new motor into the engine space and onto the motor mounts smoothly and easily.

Below is a picture of the engine resting on the mounts supported by the crane. I will leave the crane on board while fitting up all the accessories to the motor as it makes it easy to adjust the motor position.

Note the straps we used to hold the legs of the crane in place. Together with 2x10's the entire rig was completely stable. At all times we felt like we had control of the 800+ lb engine. This particular crane has folding legs which allowed us to get it into the boat pretty much in one piece. We did have to pull the black extension piece off while going through the companionway. But that was easily done and simple to put back.
Three pieces of 3/4" plywood were used as a landing and stage for the motor once it came in the companionway via the yards large crane. Mike and I crabbed the motor sideways over to the base of the smaller crane. There Mike hooked up the chain fall( round orange drum with chain hanging - upper part of photo)and we lifted the motor over the beds. Once free of the the plywood and 2x6" supports we removed the plywood from the boat -tossing it overboard so to speak and gently lowered the motor down into it's new home.
All and all it was a flawless days work. Thanks again Mike for all your help!

Juli's latest Capture

2011-05-28T16:43:00.004-04:00

This year we have many rabbits in the yard. This little guy was hopping right outside our front door when Juli caught him. So small it fit in one of her hands. The Bunny stayed in the yard for several days with it's sisters and brothers and then they all disappeared one day. We are keeping an eye out for them.

Shades of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

2011-05-18T18:43:00.000-04:00

In an effort to earn some spending money Juli and Ben decided to paint the historic landmark shed we have on the property. It was a cool day (50's) but waiting means painting while dodging the carpenter bees that inhabit the shed. Once they come out there is no going near the shed for weeks as the busy insects gather food. We found that there were several wasp nests so I had to spray the wasps and painting was temporarily halted. After the wasps were killed the kids finished painting the outer walls and doors.
Just this week Ben and I discovered the riding lawnmower we own was rusted from being stored outside in the weather. Our solution was to cut out the old shed main door and frame/hang a double door entry wide enough to drive the mower into. It reminds me very much of the little red shed in New Hampshire next to the home where my Dad lives. What with the dirt floor, gas cans and bits of stuff stored in the rafters. With the raised panel doors it looks quite respectable now. Good work Kids!

Just a Swingin

2011-05-18T16:25:00.000-04:00

Kids and I were looking for some fun the other day. I brought home the old topping lift from the boat. It's the line that holds up the boom for those non sailors out there. Together we made a really great swing on the old maple out front. The kids take turns twisting each other till they are so dizzy they fall down. It is such fun just watching them.

Boat Yard Blues

2011-03-31T10:42:00.001-04:00

When the boatyard begins to hum with activity you know it's springtime again. Like all boaters here in Maryland I tend to go into hibernation during the winter months. First I begin by making a list of all the things I need to do on the boat the following year. Stuff like replace thruhulls, glass in loose bulkhead tabbing, re-plumb the fresh water system. That's my short list. I forgot to mention drop in the new engine, replace the rudder bushings and running rigging. Then as we near January my thoughts drift to far off places and I begin making my wish list. I visit West Marine and EBay boats a few times a week. Things like solar arches, solar panels, new Genoas and folding props find their way onto my to do list. By February I have hit rock bottom and I am looking at web cams of St John and Tortolla. Driving myself crazy with pictures of warm tropical waters and beaches. I spend hours late at night sailing the worlds oceans aboard the SS Google Earth. Mapping out our routes to New Zealand. But as February melts into March and the temps begin to climb into the 50's again I pull my head from the upper rigging and gather my tools once again to do battle with the wrath of winter and time on our boat the Omarsea.
Being 50' is nice when you live aboard in the tropics. But it means more complex systems and that equates to more problems and that always means more work . Boats are the ultimate compromise in life. They can transport you to the farthest reaches of the globe. But they can also be the bane of ones existence. Fortunately we sailors though a bit gruff sometimes on the outside are Pollyanna's on the inside. I find most of us can't wait to get our hands dirty cleaning out the boat and doing basic maintenance items. Though this desire is short lived as April evaporates into May and we long to see ourselves sailing again. I always seem to have a nautical honey do list as long as my arm. This year is no exception and we don't even plan to put the boat in the water.
In addition to the afore mentioned items I will be pulling the rudder, installing a Roller Furling stay sail, having the old genoa recut, installing a 60# CQR anchor, rebuilding the windlass, electrical panel and the 12 volt refrigeration system. Oh yea did I mention Jean and I are replacing the berth cushion/mattresses? Whew! I am tired just thinking about it all. How do we do it you ask? I just keep a mental picture of the sun setting beside the peaks of Bora Bora and we are hosting the other cruisers in the anchorage that night for drinks and dinner. If the past few years are any example it won't be too long before we are there.

I would like to wish those sailors out there now a quiet peaceful evening and ask that you raise your glass to those of us preparing to join you.

Fair winds

Scott Trefethen

PS a little Jimmy Buffet goes a long way during the winter!

Kids & Kites

2011-03-18T18:43:00.022-04:00

Julianna has been asking about kite flying lately. We had some free time and materials lying about so we put this old time kite together. It's just like the ones I could buy as a kid for 15 cents at the drugstore. Two flat pieces of bamboo crossed and lashed securely. Paper from a package we received in a long crumpled sheet. Glue and string to finish the shape and hold the folded paper over the stick and string frame. The whole time we made the kite we were singing "Let's go fly a kite" from Mary Poppins. This was an early test flight as there is no tail. Later we cut the paper in strips. Glued the strips end to end and glued a 20' tail to the kite. It worked so well we were amazed. The design is so light it flies in breezes and so strong it will hold up to 35mph gusts. All except the tail that is. Like a bull whip it snapped about shredding itself here and there. Fluttering like paper leaves in the fall.

Back Yard Wonders

2011-03-14T21:45:00.000-04:00

This evening the kids and I were headed upstairs to brush out teeth when I looked out the window and sighted something I have not seen in years. A red fox. Likely hunting one of the rabbits living under our shed it was slinking along the tree line when it noticed us watching. Like a wraith it melted back into the brush and vanished from sight. This amazing picture is credited to the Winterspells.com website.

Time at the Beach

2011-03-06T14:05:00.003-05:00

The Kids and I headed down to the beach house to get some work done last week. The weather I am happy to report has begun to improve and has been in the upper 60's most of the time. That is except for today. Rain rain rain. I keep expecting the Cat in the Hat to show up at any minute. Waite a minute there she is! It was Dr Suess's Bday last week and the library is celebrating. One of the librarians is running around dressed alike the cat in the hat. There is more than one way to skin a cat!

New Door

2011-03-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

A few months ago my friend Mike R gave me a couple of doors from an auction he had been to. I decided we needed to hang these on the sun porch. They are oak vaneered and solid wood. Very heavy to work with and very difficult to install. After completely rebuilding the door frames and jambs I was able to get them in place. Now I just need to paint them.

A Prayer for our departed Brethren

2011-03-06T13:46:00.000-05:00

As some of you know the sailing vessel Quest was seized by pirates two weeks ago. Naval ships kept an eye on the Quest but when they approached her the Pirates killed all four Americans aboard. Two Pirates were killed by Navy Seals and the yacht was taken into Naval custody. Please say a prayer for those killed by the pirates and if you can. Email your senators in Washington urging an aggressive stand on these and many other actions.

Click HERE -Scott & Jean Kidknapped by Somalian Pirates - CLICK HERE

2011-02-20T13:58:00.001-05:00

Just last Friday Somolian Pirates attacked an American Yacht SV Quest some 240 miles off the Gulf of Aden and kidknapped the 4 Americans aboard. The Owners Scott and Jean Adams from California and two friends from Seattle are believed to be now held for ransom near Mogudishu. Please keep these folks in your prayers. They need all the help they can get.

When Beavers fly

2011-02-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

The other day we were in the back yard BBQ-ing dinner. Hearing a plane over the house I looked skyward and saw a De Havilland Beaver coming over at about 1500ft. The pilot banked sharply and circled the house. A good afternoon for flying I didn't think much about it. Jean and I waved as the plane passed overhead. Then the plane banked sharply again and circled the yard three times. Now he had my attention. I watched the plane with interest wondering why the strange behavior. Then it dawned on me why it might be circling. Benjamin recieved a set of lazer tag guns for Christmas. This week we set up a lazer tag combat course in the back yard. The 4x4 sheets of plywood proped up with sticks were spead out over a 1/2 acre. It must have been quite a sight from the cockpit of the plane flying over. I am told we are under the flight path of Marine One on it's way to camp David from the white house. I suspect someone was making sure we we on the up and up. But still, here we are getting ready for Ben's birthday party and his Lazer Tag with his friends. I asked him to take the plywood shields down until his Birthday party lest we attrack the wrath of higher powers. One never knows these days. Anyway the boys will have a great time as we found Ben 2 more infrared lazer tag guns and now four of them can play together.

I've got to fly to Saint Somewhere!

2011-02-19T14:44:00.000-05:00

About a month ago Jean asked when I was going to get the Island put together. I was day dreaming about the tropics at the moment and thought she had asked me when I was going to the islands? An old Buffet song came to mind so I named the island St Somewhere after the line from the Boat Drinks song. Our friend Mike Raddatz gave me an old workbench top made of 2" rock maple. After sanding the dings and bubble gum off it the workbench became our new island top. I sealed the top with West Epoxy. The base is made from a 36"sink cabinet, 3/4" plywood stained a cherry hue and 3 fluted corner posts. I put it together over the past 2 days and we are very pleased with our new Island. As I was putting the finishing touches on it Jean picked up 4 stools so we can have breakfast and lunch here in the kitchen. We are looking forward to Clara, Margaret and Mary Halvorson visiting next month and hope the island will make them feel right at home.

2011-02-12T14:47:00.000-05:00

Will our mystery guest please sign in? This picture is from an very old friend of ours, Ben Traynham. We worked with he and his wife Lisa on St Thomas @ Bimini Yacht Charters many moons ago. Having just signed up for facebook we have had a flood of people contacting us from our other life (Pre-Kids). With the snow we have been enduring here in MD I thought it fitting to put up a story with some warm water and a suntanned boat babe. Yes this is Jean! Picture was taken by our friends circa 1990 on a company sailing trip.

It's Official Spring on the way!

2011-02-02T09:59:00.001-05:00

Phill has spoken. "Let there be an early spring" The prognosticating rodent made his anouncement this morning to adoring fans.

Happy Birthday Mom!

"Keep Moving Foward"

2011-02-01T09:28:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Priscilla Murray, Clara Halvorson and skills learned from Rich Dad Poor Dad we finally found a fourplex!. Located in Virginia, this property is a 10 bedroom rental complex located across the street from a nice beach in the heart of the Ocean View resort community. Originally slated to go condominium in 2009 the owners went bankrupt and the property came to us via foreclosure and a helpful local real estate agent Sean Campbell.
While it is now complete on the outside there is room for improvements on the inside. Repairs to drywall, kitchen cabinets and appliances are needed in two of the units. New floors and paint will go a long way with this home as well. This past weekend we spent visiting the property and getting ready for the upcoming repairs. While the kids walked the beach looking for seaglass and shells Jean and I took measurements and made notes. We found the local library to be amazing. It's brand new building and facilities are geared more toward the electronic age than the written word. This seems to be the trend these days I suppose. The kids walked down there a couple of times and as the weather was very cold ,spent quite a few hours reading new books. The area on the whole reminds me of Carolina beach back in the 90's. The biker bars are closed and the developers are moving in building big expensive beach front homes. While the town is like Carolina Beach the actual sandy beach reminds me of Wrightsville beach when we moved there in 1979. Broad sand dunes leading to a very wide flat beach with smaller waves. While not a great place to go surfing it promises to be an awesome swimming beach and a place for the kids to learn more windsurfing.
Our plan is to put our MD home up for sale in the spring and move the family into the larger lower unit as I get it up to our standards. Jean is planning on telecommuting from there for work. Then over the summer I will finish off the remaining units and rent them before September.
If anyone would like to visit the beach and has a hankering to swing a hammer let me know :)

National Joe Average White Guy Month

2011-02-01T08:15:00.000-05:00

This week Jean picked up a copy of the Norfolk Public Library Monthly newsletter. It was filled with celebrations. Pages on pages of color photos showing excited people doing exciting things. Among them I noticed the National "I'm a Female Month", the National "My Tan is different than your tan" Month and National "Beanie baby" month. However as I carefully reviewed their calendar of events I noticed there was no National Joe Average White Guy Month? Then it occured to me. If we are going to be celebrating mediocrity then we average white fellas need to get in on the action. So I am hereby declaring July to be National Average White Guys Month. I mean after all we are in good company what with Archie Bunker and Homer Simpson blazing the path for the rest of us.

So all you average white men out there need to get ready. We can do all the things we do best. We can grow extra facial hair. We can buy a little bit better beer for our BBQ's. Hey we can get "T" shirts that declare just how average we really are! We can all get together and go see baseball games. Then we could out do ourselves by going out of our way to be extra nice to all the other groups during "Our Month". Why we could help little old ladies across the streets. We could hold doors open for all the nations females. We can be that good neighbor we always say we are going to be to they guy next door with the different tan. We could even adopt a beanie baby. Lets make this July something to remember!

(Archie Bunker Character and TV show the creation of Norman Lear.)

2011-01-12T21:20:00.000-05:00

Like an Umbrella to the land luber last week we purchased a life raft on Ebay in the hopes we will never need it. I am told the Givens is the cats meow of life rafts. The brand has saved hundreds of lives over the years. A gentleman in Boston had two of these rafts and was getting this one repacked when the facility there where he lives threw away the inflation bottle, food, water, safety knife and lanyards. They also misplaced the fiberglass container the raft was stored in. He shipped it to us last week and we inflated it in the living room to check for leaks. All is sound with the raft which Ben and I have Christened "Bob". We will pack this raft ourselves with new supplies and locate an appropriate valise.

merit badges

2011-01-07T09:52:00.000-05:00

Last fall I was fortunate in that I was able to join an excellent scout troup in our area. The Germantown troup is very active in advancement and achievment of rank. In 2010 4 merit badges were taken out mothballs and scouts were allowed to qualify for the Carpentry, Tracking, Pathfinding and Signaling Badges. I have so far recieved the Carpentry and Pathfinding and I am working on the tracking and the signaling badges. Scouts is really awesome!

Ben Trefethen

Check this out Mate

2011-01-07T09:37:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I became interested in Chess. Mom found a chess club and I go every saturday to play chess with others my age and my two coaches, Omar and Bruce. It's great. I can't wait till Saturday comes around.
I have studied hard and am begining to be a good player. My favorite pieces are the Queens and the knights. The Rooks are good too. I am thinking about becoming the world champion but it's going to take a long time. Good thing I am just 10.

Stevie Trefethen

Off to See the Lizards

2011-01-07T08:45:00.001-05:00

Hello my name is Juli and this is one my bearded dragons Bonnie.(the other is clyde) they are about 5'' in length. Bonnie and Clyde are only baby's now but when they are older they will be about 1ft in length. I feed them medium to small cricket's ( 2 or 4 apice ever day ). They are curious and energetic. They love the heat lamp and the sunshine. Sometimes I take them outside to crawl through the grass. They eat clover when outside. Stay tuned for more news about the clandestined adventures of Bonnie and Clyde.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-26T20:13:00.000-05:00

We have had a very merry Christmas this year and we hope you have as well. Benjamin, Julianna and Stevie could hardly sleep the three days leading up to Christmas eve. We seemed to be swept up in a tide of activity. Shopping became a daily event gathering all the little things a family needs when Christmas approaches. The weatherman called for snow. But we only received flurries on Saturday. We might see more tonight as there is a winter storm advisory in effect till morning.Jean and I have both been quite tired in the evenings this past week. We have many things going on beside the Holidays. She is going to be acting director for her office this Monday and Tuesday. I am continuing major household renovation projects here at the house. On top of that we are considering the purchase of a place in Virginia as an investment. It's close to the ocean and would be a great summer home especially for the kids. It would sure be nice to spend time near the salt water again. And it is a great place to have company come and stay. Until the summer we have much to do and even more to look forward to. Clara, Mary and Margaret Halvorson are coming in the spring to see us! We can't wait. Jean's Mom and sisters are Superfantastic!

All the Best to you

The Tref's

Omarsea Crew update Nov 2010

2010-11-16T10:49:00.000-05:00

As winter begins to tighten her icy grip on Maryand the Tref's are finding indoor activities to keep us busy. Jean is in the process of making these great curtains for the house. Julianna is catching new reptiles to add to her zoo. Stephen has taken up chess in a serious way and joined a chess club that meets once a week. Benjamin has rejoined the Boy Scouts and is really excited about the time with new friends. Last night he pitched a tent in the backyard and slept out there all by himself. But it will be his last camping for the season as the rains have set in and we will need to hang the tent in the basement to dry today. I have my usual projects underway. The house still needs loads of finishing. I am re-cutting the old sails for a better fit this winter. The Motor is ready to install in the boat. I am just waiting on the boatyard to open enough space for the crane to be able to fit netx to the Omarsea. Our homeschool is in full swing. The kids are studying ancient Rome and the 300 years following the birth of Jesus. That combined with French, writting and Algebra II are keeping their minds busy. As the holidays approach we look forward to getting together with Family and friends. Happy thanksgiving to all.

Scott Trefethen

2011 Sailing update

2010-11-16T10:32:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone. We have been kicking the idea of putting the Omarsea back in the water next summer and sailing to Burmuda. But with her engine out, the rudder 1/2 removed and many of her vital systems not currently working we have decided to instead to complete the repairs and launch later in the year. Our plan was to head immediately out of Maryland waters for the Carribean. With a stop in the USVI long enough to correct any minor problems and head on toward Panama. We had hoped to have Jean working Stateside while I and the Kids move the boat. After several weeks apart this year we have decided to postpone the westbound trip for a few years. When we do arrive in Panama we will be visiting the San Blas Islands and the Kuni Natives. Once measured and scheduled for our transit we will make the passage through the Panama canal to the Pacific. I am looking for crew on the leg down to Panama and also through the canal. If you or anyone you know might be interested please contact us via the Omarsea website.

Fair Winds

Scott Trefethen

Fall Events here in MD

2010-10-27T19:58:00.001-04:00

Well France has come and gone for the Trefethen's. Our time in Oregon went all too quickly and I regret not having the chance to see all our friends there one more time before the kids and I flew back to Maryland. We have been no less busy here on the East Coast. The Omarsea having limped into Maryland with a bad motor and rotted thruhulls is now being transformed into a safer vessel. We have pulled the engine as you know and are now in the process of stripping all the usfull parts off the old motor and installing them on the rebuilt one we purchased in Oregon. I have ordered new thruhulls and these will be installed in the springtime. We have talked seriously about a shakedown cruise to Burmuda in the late spring but it now appears that the amount of work required on the boat will delay that launch at least until the late fall possibly until the next spring. It has been slow going for me as the scale of projects; i.e removing the rudder, cutlass bearing and shaft as well as constructing a stainless steel solar arch and bow sprit are very time consumming tasks.
We do have good news though. I have decided to put off building a garage on the property for a year and that free's up loads of my time.
I spent the better part of today working through a list of items we need both for the boat and the house and was able to find all of these online at reduced costs. I don't know if you can relate to this but I have put off the purchases of many smaller items that are just, well for lack of a better description are boring. Things like shift cables, thru hulls and hose clamps. Necessary, but no one will ever see them once they are installed. This is the hardest part of the work on the boat. All that I am doing and all I will be doing for the next many months are tasks that will keep the boat afloat and make her faster but you will not be able to see them. Things like replumbing the fresh water system. Big deal right? Well it will be when you turn on the faucet and water comes out. I like to be able to brush my teeth, take showers and wash the dishes on a daily basis as I am sure you do too.
It was all part of my delayed maintenance plan. Buy a boat that works. Travel as far as you can and enjoy as much as you can before having to come back to the states and fix all the stuff that will need attention. Well I played and now I am paying. Good thing working on boats is mostly fun for me. I say mostly because there are several jobs that have passed the fun phase and gone straight into being candidates for that TV show " Dirtiest Jobs".
Cutting the retaining collar on the rudder is one of these. 1.5" of solid stainless steel wedged into a tiny area that required me to hold a sawsall for 6 hours while hacking away at it. I am pleased to report - that part is done and the kids and I are pulling the rudder tomorrow. Thank God!!!
We are also pulling the Prop for repairs and the replacement of the cutlass bearing which is 15 years old and in need of retirement. Keep in mind and this is not bragging mearly lamenting the lack of good fiscal judgement in letting the pro's handle these jobs. But, pulling the rudder and changing the cutlass bearing is something 99% of boat owners would pay a yard an extravagant amount of money to do. No! Not the Tref's. If we can do it we are doing it! No job is too big for us!!!!
I will blog an update on how the boat is coming along soon.

Fair Winds

2010-09-29T19:02:00.000-04:00

Avignon, France. We arrived here a week ago last Sunday. After driving from Carterette to Montpelier, splashing our feet in the Mediterranean sea we turned North East for the walled city of the Pope. During troubled times in Rome the Papacy was moved here ~ 1300AD. A large cathedral and Palace were built and for nearly sixty years the Church looked to Avignon for leadership. Over time the city was encircled by stone walls and a large bridge was built over the Rhone.
It was these walls that gave us quite a time on arrival. We had a rough idea where our hotel was, "somewhere in Avignon" but not an address. The walls create a real parking problem as there is limited space within the small city. Jean made our day when she asked inside the art museum and they gave her a map and our hotels location. Our Hotel was nice and just off the main street. We were within close walking distance to shops and restaurants. I parked on the street that night and we schlepped out bags up to the Hotel D"Angelterre. Jean had a meeting the next morning with her fellow NRC people. Before her meeting we went out walking and purchased sandwiches and coffee for breakfast at a little shop. Then we strolled up the Rue de Republique to the square near the Palace and ate our breakfast on the steps of the Elephant. The Palace is what you see in the background. Jeans co-worker Wendy stopped by and chatted with us while waiting for the museum to open. Jean went to her meetings while I went back to the room to inspect the inside of my eyelids. After a complete inspection and a trip to the shops jean got back and we went out for dinner. It was early so we walked through the streets. There were quite a few people out at the various shops and bars. We went down noisy streets. Once I looked up to see a young woman sitting precariously on a window ledge watching the passersby. We passed dark alleys and decided to head back toward the more populated streets as it was quite dark and even this City had questionable neighborhoods these days. The following day arrive very early. Jean heading to a site nearby for a tour of the reprocessing of nuclear fuel and I a walk of the perimeter of Avignon. We shared a breakfast in the hotel lobby and then divided to conquer our days. I headed out the small gate in the wall nearest our hotel.

The wall that surround the city has many such portals. Some are just for pedestrians and others are for cars and trucks. There is even a place where the wall has been removed and there is a large opening. Likely to accommodate large trucks. Each of the opening on the river side is equipped with flood controls. Grooves set into the stone allow for boards to be inserted to block flood waters. This is a great example of 13th century castle/fort construction. Complete with moats, draw bridges. Lookout towers and slit windows to rain havoc down on your enemy with arrows. Each entrance has crenelated walls like those here in the photo. What you cant see is that between the braces are holes that would allow someone to drop a rock or shoot down from a protected position on high. I don't know if any armies ever laid sieg to the city but if they did I feel sorry for the first warriors that arrived under this gate. I proceeded across the street to the river where I has seen several large boats tied up the day we arrived. The Rhone is very wide here. The color of dirty emeralds it carries a swift smooth current of water southward to the Med. The boats I came across were cruise boats that plied the rivers of France with cushy amenities. They had stopped in Avignon to allow their passengers to tour the city. Most of the ships passengers were well in their late seventies and early eighties. I was greeted by the occasional Bonjour as I walked past. They moved with enthusiasm but at a greatly reduced pace.

There was a statue of a woman I had seen from the road that I wanted a better look at. It was a rather large affair with much writing at the base. As I walked back over the roadway I was reminded that cars have the right of way here not people and I had to make a quick dash to get back over to the other side. As a friend of mine is fond of saying. "Yous pays your money and yous takes yous chances". I had meant to take a close look at the statue but never made it so I will include a photo here of the mystery statue for some intrepid reader to solve the mystery.

I was distracted by the bridge to nowhere. It would appear that Sarah Palin was not the first govern er to have this idea. The city had at one time constructed a stone bridge across the Rhone with large arches and towers. Today all that stands is the portion near the city. Complete with draw bridge and iron gates the bridge is part of a museum. I walked the outer walls looking for a way up onto the bridge but there was none on the outside. It seems the original design was working well to keep the unknown travellers out. There was an entrance within the city but it was early morning and they were not open as yet. I was later told that after a particularly cold winter a spring flood had washed the original bridge away. It had been repaired as a matter of course but the subsequent repaired structure had been washed away by an even stronger flood. It raises the question of how do you tell people the bridge is out and we will need to up your taxes to pay for another one. Somethings stay the same.

I spent the entire morning walking. Passing in and out of the city walls I came across many interesting places. There was a little chapel that looked as old as the city or perhaps older. The stone work worn with the erosion of time. There were shops of every description and traffic coming into the city ebbed and flowed like the tides. Inward as people went to jobs and outward as they went to lunch. On the North end of the city i came across a very peculiar wall. There were hundreds of niches in it. Many of they held curious objects like this stone face. Some had dolls. Some had broken pieces of pottery with colorful glazes and messages written in marker. Some had letters or Tibetan prayer flags. It was the crossroads of early message boardism. An obscure place with even more obscure meaning. I tried to take pictures of the niches and their symbolic occupants but the sun now high above the wall cast it in sharp light making it hard to see the objects. After taking several so so pics I walked down a narrow path to return to the square and the Palace where I would find the way up to the top of the hill and the gardens of the Abbey. Friends had mentioned that you could have dinner up there and I was determined to see these gardens before we left. I almost missed the entrance. As you walk up the winding ramp to the Cathedral you pass a statue of Jesus on the cross looking West. I stopped to admire the work and look out over the city. The view of the city with the river in the background is spectacular. I noticed a group of German tourists going through a gate to my right and followed their tour up the path. The cathedral is undergoing major stone renovation. The entire exterior is encased in scaffolding. The statue of Mary gleams atop the church in the morning sun. The winds are light out of the east and it is a perfect day for sightseeing. We pass a cemetary on the way and I attempt to get a picture of the rose garden outside. But, a man stopped right in front of me and stood there looking at me as I sighted up my shot. I waited. He waited. I waited some more. He looked about as if killing time. I walked up the hill and he put himself between me and what I was trying to shoot a second and third time. I finally put my camera away. Yawned loudly and waited for him to leave. He did hang around for several more minutes before finding another person trying to take pictures and scurried off to get himself in that photographers view. Meanwhile I high tailed it back to the rose garden and got my shot before he could return. This is one of the pictures I took from the top of the gardens overlooking a castle on a hill several miles away. Below is the Rhone river. After three and a half hours I am proud to say I completed my circumnavigation of the city and walk up to the garden. Avignon is a great place to visit and I would recommend it highly to anyone interested in history and European culture. Jean and I had a great time wondering the streets here. We found the food to be good and outside of the hotels very reasonable in price. But I have always enjoyed doing what the locals do and spending as much time as possible people watching. Bonjour!

Carterette, FR

2010-09-16T07:33:00.000-04:00

The Britton coast of France crashes with waves and foam below me today. The shore strewn with sharp knifelike rocks slanted upwards as though to ward off the ships at sea. A small chanel leads into the harbor through which a wary captain must time his entrance with care. For here the tides vary some 25' and much of the harbor bottom is visible a good portion of any given day. While walking the quay this morning I stopped to watch fisherman lower new lobster pots down onto their boat. It was a well found craft made of aluminum much as the purse seiners of Alaska are. The man on deck recieved the pot, quickly baited it with two hearing through the cone like entrance in the top and layed it in neat order along the stern, careful to keep the longline straing and untangled. While he did this the man above would fetch the next pot and tie it to the longline coiled at the top of the quay. They worked at a steady pace with practiced movements and soon the many pots were loaded aboard. The herring gulls cried for a handout, wheeling above the boat on the morning breeze.
Down the road I could see the beach and having promised some seashells for the kids I made my way along the walk toward the point. There is an old wall here made of flat stones and morter. Most of the structure was has crumbled and fallen into the sea long ago. I climb on top for a better vantage point and let my legs dangle the way the kids do while surveying this inspiring vista high above the beach. To my left is the channel leading to the harbor. With its jetty and lighthouse standing well out to sea. There are large waves bursting on the rocks at the terminus. To my right is a high promontory made of aged rock with fisures deep and dark. A house sits to one side of the tall radio tower on the hill. Ahead is the sea. The color a soft jade green flecked with white capped waves. Beyond the sea is the island of Jersey. Standing proud it casts a dark shadow along the horizon. A ferry boat bounces in the distance carrying passengers and goods on it way to the island.
Climbing down off my pearch I am greeted or purhaps scolded by a group of ravens who fly close overhead. You never know where you stand with ravens. They wheel their way to the North and dissapear over the clifftop. A path along the road provides easy access to the beach. As the tide is low I take advantage of my timing for a walk along the water. The beach here is broad. Purhaps a quarter mile or so from land to sea. As I come down the stone ramp, possibly made to haul fishing boats out of the water long ago, I find the sand coarse and colorfull. It's loose qualities let my feet sink an inch or so and is cool to the touch. I make my way toward the ocean and discover numerous rafts of large kelp washed in with the previous tide. These are dark brown with wide leaves and thick stems. Sand fleas scurry away when I lift the kelp to take a closer look. The ocean is very cool even now in September. I would be uncomfortable swimming here. To my right the rocks come down to the water and I walk that direction scanning back and forth in the way a beachcomer does, looking for interesting shells and bits of flotsome. At first I can only discern the broken shells and bits of seaweed. But as my eye became more practiced I found several treasures. The first was a large snail shell rolling in the edge of the surf. After a wave retreated I stepped forth boldly scouping up my prize. A worthy addition to Julianna's collection . Next as I moved through the rocky areas I noticed a strange white and reddish stone about the size of my palm. In turning it over I gave a small start of excitement as I realized it was no ordinary stone. Rather it was a chunk of clear quartz crystals that had at one time lined the inside of a geode. The small facets bounced the morning sun like so many diamonds. I washed it in the surf and after carefully placing it in my coat pocket continued mt walk. I also came upon some large seaglass. These pieces being dark green in color appeared to be the bottoms of wine bottles long ago thrown into the sea. Their edges were smooth and worn by the patience if the sea and sand. I added these to my ever bulging coat pockets. There were many tide pools among the rocks. Inhabited mostly by small limpets and rockweek clinging to the sides. I searched for crab and minnows but found none. Purhaps the action of the waves makes these areas too rough for the creatures.
At last I reached the point where the cliff came down to the sea. Here I could go no further without climbing the slippery rocks. Not having a death wish today I turned about only to find that while being absorbed in my beachcoming, the tide had begun to come in and I was trapped in a small cove still several minutes walk from the beach. To my good fortune the rocks here were low and for the most part flat. I jumped from one to another like a game of hpscotch only slipping once and landing neatly on my feet. My footprints along the beach had been errased and I noticed that the tide here rises much faster than at home on Wrightsville, NC. My return path led me closer to the shore as the small tidal flat I had previously crossed now held several inches of water.
Here i noticed the bath houses used by summer beachgoers. They line the upper beach area like so many blue and white soldiers. Small in size, only six feet by eight I would guess they all have bright royal blue doors and window trim. Contrasting their brilliant white paint and black rooves. I stopped to take a few photos before moving along the beach advancing ahead of my friend the tide.
On the way back to the "La Cap", our charming hotel, I said good morning to a couple of local gents. One on a bike, the other walking. Obviously good friends thay interupted their lively conversation only just long enough to acknowledge my Bonjour. I was begining to feel as though I could be a little French today. The thought of a little wine, cheese and part of a baggette came to mind and I quickened my pace homeward.
Avoir Mon Ami's

In Search of the Real Claude Monet

2010-09-16T07:09:00.000-04:00

Early the first morning in Paris Jean had to work. I was headed out the lobby of the hotel when my lovely spouse caught up to me. She wanted me to meet the delegates of the NRC group. Among them was Jim and Susan. Jim was the lead for Jean's mission here in France and he had brought his wife Susan with him for a vacation. Susan and I decided to meet later to go view the Louvre there in Paris. After breakfast we headed out and caught the subway #1 to the museum. It is an amazing place, equally amazing for the art it holds, as well as the building that houses the works. I walked the halls in reverence for the craftsman that had constructed its marble columns, arched and painted ceilings, etc. We saw the Mona Lisa along with several hundred others. It is a painting that is said to have redefined art in it's day. Davinci captured a depth of perspective and color that still has millions of people flocking to see the smiling lady every year.
I mentioned that the title of this was "In search of the real Claud Monet". Thats because as much as I enjoyed the louvre I am not really a museum gower. like many people I have a short attention span and quickly get over loaded with too many names, styles and eras to remember. Which made my next decision one quite strange at least for me. Susan wanted to walk through the palace gardens to the Musee d'Orange. I was tempted to wait for her outside as it was one of those perfect days. Sunny and 70 degrees. But she mentioned that Monet had painted his garden on the walls of this museum and having grown up with an excellent artist , Mom, who addored Monet's works I had to at least do a quick walk through. As I said I am not an art museum kind of guy. But what I saw in the Musee d'Orange captivated me. Inside the artist held in such high esteeme by both My Mom and sister Tracy , had captured the essence of the gardens at his home in Giverny, FR. I watched the various people as they walked in. The men like myself looked around with impartial faces. But the women! Oh the women! The women's faces immediately lit up with smiles and joy. Their eyes fairly gleamed with tears as they beheld the lillys on the pond. They would sit on the bench and ooze excitement as they turned slowly around the room taking in all the colors.
For those of you who have not partaken in this as yet, the museum's rooms are eliptical. Long spaces surrounded with gently curving walls. The ceilings are glass with white fabric stretched across softly diffusing the light of day as it plays with Monet's water gardens. There is not a bad seat in the house so to speak. The oval seat at each rooms center allows one a vantage of every aspect of the paintings. There is a sacred silence here. One talks in wispers and then not often. The hush of the paintings is almost tangible to the onlookers. I walk from room to room slowly amazed that color could be applied to a wall and reveal as though it had always been part of that wall the light and essence of Monet's dream.
On exiting we decided to take a detore the next day and visit the real thing. After seeing Jean and Jim off to the train Susan and I drove through Pairs to Giverny. I will save the driving experience here for another story as it merits more attention.
We arrived in Giverny thanks to Susan's navigation located Monet's home. I would not recomend doing this without a GPS as it is quite hard to find. Purchasing our tickets we entered the upper gardens, those above the pond. Plants that we see at home like sunflowers grew to twelve feet here in this fertile soil. All maner of flowers were to be seen. Each towering above it's stateside cousins. The tour groups followed their guides like so many ducklings and their mother. Each with an earpiece listening in thier natve tongue to her decription of the history of the garden and its many itterations. A nice couple from Charlotte, NC took Susan and I's picture. We took group pictures for people from England.
Then we headed downhill and through a tunel under the road to the water gardens. The first thing you see is the stream rushing through it's narrow banks at a furious pace. Willows droop low over the water and climbing roses cover trellis and trees alike. Paths lead around the pond created by Monet when he redirected the stream around a man made basin. Into this basin he planted his bullrushes and his lillys many of which are still blooming now in September. We dodged tour groups and baby strollers. Europeans take their infants everwhere. seldom do you hear a baby cry. A large stand of Bamboo has command of one area. It's tendrals reaching up and over the stream. They back up to the willow tree made famous in one of Monets paintings. the one with the row boat tied to it. A similar rowboat rests on the pond tied to the tree today. I took numerous pictures with my camera. A Mother and daughter near us were taking pictures of each other as though painting the real garden. Susan discovered the very spot where Monet painted one of his autum pieces we had seen in the museum. After several attempts I captured the yellow willow's leaves reflected by the pond super-imposing the lilly's nearly the same way Monet did in his painting. We stroll across the bridges, snapping pictures and talking about my mother. It is certain that she would have loved these gardens had she seen them. Alas, she never travelled to France to see Monet's works, either in the museum or in bloom in his gardens. She chose a different path and passed away last year. A quirky twist of fate happened to me while there. Twice I caught a glimpse of a women about Mom's age and apperance. Each time my heart skipped a beat. Strange how we see what we want to see in the world. Purhaps, I came here for her? I am not sure.

New Motor for the Omarsea

2010-09-06T10:32:00.000-04:00

While searching for parts the other day online I ran across a rebuilt engine. The motor on the Omarsea is now 16 years old and has close to 10,000 hours on it. That's like having 250,0000 miles on your car. I was fortunate enough to get in contact with a fella from Oregon who works for a company that liquidates assets from businesses that have gone under. He had a rebuilt Perkins 4.236 just like the one in the Omarsea. Now we can repower and have the drive train completed this year. Giving me time to focus on the many other aspects of the boat remodel we have planned. How ironic that we buy an engine from Oregon to repair the boat here in Maryland. Fair Winds!

Skunked

2010-09-06T10:07:00.000-04:00

Jean and I were awaken several nights by the intense smell of of this nocturnal neighbor. When we mentioned the animal to the kids both Juli and Stevie relayed stories of waking late at night and seeing this animal in the yard just outside their window. This year being rather warm we have had fans in the windows to cool the house. But after the third night of being "skunked" we knew something had to be done. The trouble was,what to do with a spray happy stinker that as it turns out was living right under the front porch? The kids and I ruminated over this odiferous issue one morning and finally decided that if we did not want to have it living here we needed to take drastic measures. So I purchased a "have a heart trap". But as I was setting it under the porch it occured to me that once caught the skunk would have it's revenge when I crawled back under to pull it out. Not wanting to offend every living thing arround me for the next 8 weeks I opted for plan B. Our solution, while heavy handed as it seems, turned out to be the simplist and most effective. We took our extra chain link fence. Then layed it over the holes and bare earth under the porch and paved over this with two courses of old brick we had from tearing down the chimneys. "Voila" We waited. Night one-no smell. Night two again no smell. Nights three- seven not even a whiff. Life is spinning in greased grooves again.

Shake Rattle & Roll

2010-07-16T15:00:00.000-04:00

3' Blizzards, Hurricanes and what now? Earthquakes?

Jean and I awoke this morning to the house shaking with a very load rumbling sound. As we live near the metro rail line we thought it was a freight train going by. But this was no train. At about 5:04 AM an earthquake occured about a mile from our home. USGS instruments put the quake at around a 3.6 and centered near Germantown MD.

Because the house sits on a stone foundation I was concerned that there may have been damage done. After a careful inspection of the basement I found only a single spot where loose mortar had fallen on the floor. The rest of the foundation checks out fine. This photo shows the rubble on our basement floor from the quake.

Good Neighbors

2010-07-16T10:50:00.000-04:00

For those of you who know my predilection for the automobile, have no fear, I am not starting a used car lot. This past winter the Buddhist Temple staff made hot chocolate and popcorn for the kids while they played in the snow of the big blizzard of '2010. They are really great neighbors. On my way back from the train station today (walking Jean to work) I found that the Temple was having a Holy Day and that they were expecting some 600 people. As a means of returning the favor and knowing their limited parking, we invited them to use the driveway and front yard as overflow.

Keeping the Neighbors happy

2010-07-16T10:40:00.000-04:00

Jean and I have filled many a yard debris bag in our day, but this job takes the cake! This winter's Blizzard broke numerous branches off our pine trees in the back yard. What with the work on the house I was unable to get to these branches until recently.

We tackled them last week and filled a total of 75 bags by the time we were done. This photo shows 35. Montgomery County will pickup as many as we put out there free of charge. Yet, still I called the city to let the yard debris crew know that we had a large load. Stevie and Julie carried most of these from the back yard to the street. Ben was down the street mowing a neighbors yard. They were wiped out by the time they were done.

Clean Keel

2010-06-13T13:46:00.000-04:00

I love to tell the story of "Jaws and the Bonaire Diver" The boat while in Bonaire for 7 weeks had grown such a verdant and abundant growth of sponge that it attracted a large gray snapper. So photogenic and cooperative was this snapper that word got out and soon divers from all over the world visiting Bonaire had to get a picture of this creature. Night after night they swam out under the boat, camera strobes illuminating the dark waters like so many lightning strokes in the night sky. We who lived aboard the snappers upper realm we awakened in the wee hours by the loud gurgle of bubbles breaking on the hull. Bubbles breathed from the compressed gas dive tanks of our nocturnal visitors. At last after much debate, shining spotlights down on the divers, and generally trying to make a nuisance of ourselves to get them to leave so we could sleep we arrived at a more devious approach. Using the boats hull as one giant speaker we would play the Da dum, Da Dum, da da Daaaaaaa soundtrack from "Jaws". The first time we did this one of the divers, obviously a fan of the movie, reacted immediately swinging his flashlight to and fro looking for a giant row of teeth. Ah Haaa - Gotcha! While this did not slow the divers visits I have to believe it made that particular night dive one to remember for those who chose to awaken the denizens of the Omarsea.

The newly epoxied keel will not be growing sponge any time in the near future as I ground an amazing amount of rust away to reveal this smooth hydrodynamic shape.

A little time off

2010-06-13T13:34:00.001-04:00

We still have the omarsea! While working on the Liberty Mill project the Omarsea has quietly been taking a break from cruising. This winter wreaked all manor of havoc on her. I winterized the various systems last fall but found that there still was a frozen copper water line onboard that had burst in the extreme cold of the February storms. Birds have made nests and scattered staining berries across the deck. The outboard on the stern became a hive to yellow jackets for a while. Fortunately the strong winter winds ripped away the cover I had over the motor and blew away all remnants of their hive.

Views of Change

2010-06-13T13:22:00.000-04:00

June 2010

April 2010

March 2010

House update

2010-05-27T18:28:00.000-04:00

Our ginned up contraption to hold the bucket on the roof while I applied the sealer. Thats the Budhist temple in the background. Great Neighbors.

Jean as seen through the hole in the roof left by the chimney we removed. I was up on that crazy 12/12 pitch roof a whole day sealing it. Jean had the really booring job of handing me up things as I needed and let me say it was nice in the breeze up on the roof but hot down in that hole. She is a real trooper.

Greg and I are hanging the gutters on the porch here. It was a fun job all things considered. With the rain we have had this week I must say the gutters work great.

We have Moved!

2010-05-24T13:00:00.000-04:00

After 10 weeks of frantic work the Tref's have moved in! It has been so crazy due to the incedent we had in March with our local building inspector. We had been given the impressionthat we could move in and then finish many of the details inside and out over time. However our electrical contractor chose to call for a final inspection in March and the county inspector left the property very angry that we had wasted his time. His comments to me were that if we ever wanted to live in the house, all the work had to be done and that we could not move anything in until that time. What a blow that was. We were running out of time with the arrangement with the bank. We had until the end of May some 12 weeks off. So we called in the help and got down to work.

This is my brother Greg ripping out the old brick steps in order to build the new front porch steps. He loves power tools as much as I do. Working crazy hours, with Jean providing meals, extra hands and logistics with materials we battled through tearing up the kitchen floor and laying a new one. Installing the cabinets and appliances. Sanding the floors and refinishing them. Greg removed 48 window panes just from the sleeping porch alone and he and Jean put in 48 new panes, caulked them and painted all 24 sashes. The window work went on for what seemed forever. We installed 12 new windows throughout the house and restored 11 old windows that were "Historic".

Here is our lovely banister with all its railings and balusters. Jean spent days on this and it came out great! While she was working on the inside railings I was fabricating the front porch rails. The front porch seemed to take me forever to complete what with the roofing, staining the decking, painting and painting and still more painting. But after all that it is glorious to sit out there on a cool evening and enjoy the outdoors again.

I have lots more photos to share with you so check back again in a week or so for updates.

Fairwinds and smooth seas.

House Inspections Passed we Have Moved in!

2010-05-24T12:48:00.000-04:00

Here Jean is puting the final touches on the front porch. We have as a family worked flat out for 10 weeks to complete the house before the end of our six month deadline. I know I am personally so tired of paintbrushes and rollers I look forward to not holding either for a long time. The house looks great and it has been wonderfull to move in finally. We worked at this crazy pace because the Electrical contractor called the bulding inspector out in March and the inspector beacame furious with the state the house was in saying he would not pass the final until all the work was done. We had been given the idea from the Bank inspector that we could move in and finish things like the mouldings and winds gradually over the next few years. The county inspector left in quite a huff and we spent the next 2 1/2 months furiosly getting all the work completed. My brother Greg came up and was a huge help. Here you can see him using a jack hammer to remove the old brick steps to make way for the new wooden front steps.

Thanks Grandma!

2010-03-26T21:58:00.000-04:00

Big Boy Toys

2010-03-26T21:47:00.000-04:00

As Tim Taylor always says " Uuuh Uuuh Uuuh" This is Big Bob. Bob is a 13,000 lb manlift we used to seal the metal roof on the steep east side of the house. Nice to be able to rent just the tool you need be it a jack hammer, a floor sander or Big Bob.

New Lighting Choices

2010-03-26T21:38:00.001-04:00

A Little Paint Goes A Long Way

2010-03-26T21:31:00.000-04:00

These 2 shots show the after and then the before. We are getting lots of interesting feedback about the color. Though this was an on the spot choice at Home Depot it turned out to be a great match for the house. If you have any ideas about trim colors we would love to hear them.

New Windows

2010-03-26T21:22:00.001-04:00

This Ol'e House

2010-03-26T21:15:00.001-04:00

The kitchen has been a ton of effort on everyones part. Particularly Jean, my brother Greg and our kids. We had to strip 2 layers of old linoleum and repair several boards that were dry rotted. Then Greg and I layed new hardwood flooring. We purchased the cabinets from a local supplier and they arrived unassembled in boxes. We spent 2 days putting them together but they look marvelous.

Click Here to see the latest video of This Ole House

2010-02-20T22:31:00.000-05:00

New Years resolutions

2010-01-10T20:44:00.001-05:00

It was just five years ago we went sailing with friends out of Newport Oregon and took this pic of Ben at the wheel. After the busy week we just had I can see where the time can go so quickly.
I have resolved this year to slow down the pace a bit and spend more time with these special gifts God has given us. If we are to be captain of our own fate then I want to see the course ahead and know that despite the weather and seas we faced I stopped at all the right islands along the way. God speed to you on your voyages ahead this year.

2010 A new year

2010-01-05T07:47:00.000-05:00

By now we had expected to be cruising the warm waters of the South Pacific. As you know we took a right turn at Albaquerky and wound up in Germantown Maryland. Funny as that sounds this has turned out to be a good change for the Trefethen's. We are spending a good deal of time with my family here on the East coast.
This winter is not without it's own challenges. It seems we have some dues to catch up on before we can move into 19219 Liberty Mill Rd. The weather here has been to put it plainly- COLD! Yesterday I was on the roof tearing down an old chimney that was rotted. The wind relentless as in the Grenadines was wipping the red mortor in my face to the point where I couldn't see anything and the bricks I was hurling were breaking on the frozen ground. Somehow this make memories of going up the mast seem like fun.
We are not just Liming around here Mon. Jean, the kids and I had just finished removing the old insulation from the attic and put down a floor. Our electricians are moving through their job of rewiring the entire house and we have the plumbers scheduled for tomorrow.
This pic shows the home with the old rickety porch removed. Weather permitting we should have the brand new porch by the end of the week. Won't it be great having you all visit this summer and sit out on the porch sipping iced tea.
We still have no heat in the house and I am using a propane torpedo heater to keep the chill off the contractors. These past couple of days the temps ahve been just above freezing in the house. The wind chill outside is down in the teens.
If all goes well we will have drywall in the home by the end of January and the floors, kitchen and bath done by the end of February. We should be moving in about the time March begins to turn from a lion into a lamb.
The kids will be sad to see the snow gone. But, they are the only ones. Give me a warm beach any day!

New Projects

2009-11-12T06:46:00.000-05:00

As you know Jean the Kids and I headed back to the States to see Family and build our Kitty as we cruisers say. Though we do not expect to be cruising for some years we will be improving the Omarsea and sailing her on the Bay. But not for a couple of summers yet.
In the meantime we are preparing to rebuild this old house from the ground floor up. Over the past three months we have involved ourselves in the 203K FHA loan system. I can tell you this is not for the feignt of heart. Unlike a coventional mortgage this involves federal government rules and regulations. We started the process by hiring a 203K consultant for ~$1000. Tom put together an exhaustive list or repairs and a scope of work for us. He is basically the eyes and ears for the bank making sure the work gets done. Next we began the more difficult task of finding a general contractor to work with. You would think in these economic times this would be easy. keep in mind though these professionals are used to making well over $100/hr and people paying what ever they asked just to get the job done. Spoiled is not even close to the target here. These tradesman were like Charron and his boat on the river styx for several years and the wages got way out of proportion to the work. The reality of the situation is hitting home now and ther eis quite a good deal of resentment toward the homeowner who is seeking fair pay for fair work.
So our first contractor decided that in order to accomodate us and our little project he needed to make $60,000 profit at a minimum. His mantra was "This is just a guestimate it may gow much higher". Got rid of him.
Second contractor we signed an agreement with and everything seemed to be flowing along well and then he leaves town for West Virginia over the 9 day period he is supposed to sign the contracts with the bank and get the project funded. No cell phone or email in West Virginia he told me. Fired him.
Now we are down to the deadline where the bank holding the property wants us to close and we do not have a general contractor for the 203K loan. Crunch time!
In speaking with several GC's I ran across a man that was really on the ball. He had never done the 203K paperwork so together we are working through the hoops. Will has been a tremendous help. He and I put a contract together in the 11th hour. I went over the numbers for the scope and we faxed the line item report to the finance company. He has agreed to work closely with us on this project and get us through the 203K loan process as our GC to closing hopefully the 20th of November.
But dont believe we are out of the storm yet. No No! This is a historic property on the National register. The next hurdle is getting our plans approved by the Historic Society. Stay Tuned Omarsea fans this is where it gets interesting.

Mindstorms

2009-10-28T10:06:00.000-04:00

While visiting Uncle Mike and Aunt Jeannie last weekend Ben found out that they had Lego Mindstorms. He has always wanted to program the lego robots. His cousins David and Alex have lots of experience with mindstorms working with their father Charles.
Ben after spending a morning modifing the robot was successful in getting his laptop computer to talk with the robot via bluetooth wireless. He was then able to download commands remotely to it and program the small automaton to fetch a plstic ball.
The temporary loan of the Mindstorm was courtesy of our good friends Mike and Jeannie Raddatz who hope to get Ben and their grandson Nick together and working on this kind of project. Photo courtesy of the Lego Mindstorm Website. http://www.legomindstorm.com

Train flattens pennies

2009-10-28T09:55:00.000-04:00

The kids had heard me tell stories of squashing pennies when I was younger. Now that we have trains in our back yard they wanted to try it as well. Juli's early attempts were thwarted by the shaking of the train knocking the coins off the track. She came up with and brilliant idea to use silly string to stick the penny to the track. That worked well but then she got the idea to use laffy Taffy or scotch tape. The tape and the taffy work very well. But on rainy mornings the taffy works best. This picture from the internet shows the results of a couple of pennys that were flattened or as they now say elongated by the commuter train that Jean rides to work.

The Trip to Maryland

2009-10-28T09:36:00.000-04:00

This was our first trip flying alone on a plane. We hade to get up at 04:00 or as Dad says O Dark 30. Aunt Margaret walked us down to the gate and waited with us in Portland. Juli and Stevie went to wendy's for a french fry breakfast. Ben went to the bakery instead and got a blueberry muffin.
The plane was good. They fed us sandwiches and we had candy to eat. Dad said we could play gameboy the entire time. A whole 5 hours! It was great.
We landed at Washington Dullas airport in Virginia where Mom met us at the Gate. It had been 5 weeks since we last saw her. We gave her big hugs and Stevie said he already missed Margaret, Mary, Grandma and Tony.
We got all our stuff to the car. We had backpacs and duffle bags and suitcases. The car was crammed full of people and bags. On the way we got lost. But Mom found the right way to go. Dad was going to meet us at our new appartment. He and Uncle Mike were at an auction for building materials. They met us at the appartment with a big load of wood and plants on a very rainy cold afternoon. We had some food in the fridge but decided we would go our for pizza instead of cooking. We went pizza hut and got personal mini pizzas. They were good. Then we went home and explored our new place. The beds were inflatable like camping matresses and pretty comfortable. They had air pumps built into them and they pumped up quickly.
Because ther eis a 3 hr time difference we couldnt get to sleep until late. We finally slept at about 11:00 that night. It was wierd to be in a new place and not at Grandma's house anymore. We miss Grandma's.

Great Turtle Experience

2009-10-24T10:06:00.000-04:00

Juli and I were walking the shores of our pond the other day and found this painted turtle basking in the sun. We took it home for an evening to observe it. Making a nice mini-pond out of a large plastic storage bin filled with small stone and water we had a great time watching it swim and crawl about the tank. Knowing a wild turtle is difficult to get to eat in capivity we released it back to the pond the following morning. A very iteresting thing happened. As you can see in the video it swam away from us. But a moment latter turned around and swam back to us. Crawled out of the water up to the kids then as though to say something blinked at us. It did not leave the bank until we walked away. Skipper, as the kids have named him, has some new friends.

Click here for Youtube Video of the House

2009-09-16T23:25:00.000-04:00

Bought the farm Mate!

With a 5 minute walk to the train station for Jean I had to say yes to this 100+ year old Victorian home. She needs gobs of work and we will be bringing in numerous subs to help. Stay tuned for future videos on This Old Wreck.

Annual Chimney Swift gathering Portland, OR

2009-09-08T18:05:00.000-04:00

Last night we went to see the Swifts fly into the Chimney at the Chapman Elemetary school in NW Portland. Our friends the Peltons came with us and we had quite a show with a falcon preying on these tiny birds as they tried to enter their nighly shelter. This video was taken by a fellow observer as my camera broke while filming the action. Click on the above title to watch a youtube video of the Chapman School Swifts as they sweep into the schools chimney.

Insane House hunters II

2009-09-08T17:57:00.001-04:00

Well today may be the day we buy a home. Jean and I just put a bid in on a fixer in Germantown , MD. We should hear back in a little while if we got the acceptance from the bank.
It is really hard to read what is going to happen. Right now I am trying to keep myself busy so I wont think about the house. If we do not get the house it may be a blessing in disguise as this property needs to be properly renovated and that means alot of time and money. We will see what happens tonight.

House Hunting 101

2009-09-05T13:17:00.000-04:00

It is really funny how many homes are marketed. Words like charming and cute should be avoided at all costs. Words like fixer and rehab often mean tear down. I am excited by all these possibilities. There are a great number of choices. But for the most part I am excited to play the game. The entire process of purchasing a home is a game. The players are realtors, bankers, appraisers, inspectors, contractors, consultants, and finaly the sellers.

Having been the seller three times I have seen the back side of the game. But we have always purchased directly from the owner in the past. Never have we had to deal with the additional layer of a realtor in the buying process.

It makes for a tricky choice when deciding how much to pay.

Right now Jean and I are in a bidding war with two other parties over an absolute wreck of a home. It is just a shell on a great piece of property. But winter is comming on fast and this thing needs all manor of rehab before we can think of moving in. It's a huge project to say the least and now is a crazy time in our lives to take something so complicated on.

But yet ...I ask myself ..why not? It has everthing we want and will be a great place to raise kids.

Our friends Dale Proctor and Jeannie Raddatz have looked it over and both think it's a smart project. And Jean has talked about completely rebuilding a classic home for as long as I have known her. Obviously home buying sickness has hit the Tref's.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Insane house hunting!

Crazy weather

2009-08-28T18:31:00.000-04:00

Have a look at this crazy weather system we found today on the Navy weather site. The two cells to the North in the Bearing Sea/ North Pacific look like eyes.

Pacific Crest Trail

2009-08-17T19:18:00.000-04:00

My brother in Law Mike Nove set a goal about the same time we did. Only instaed of sailing he chose to walk the 450+ miles of the Pacifi Crest Trail as it winds through Oregons Cascade mountain range. Last week Mike called me to inquire if Ben could join him on an 18 mile segment of the trail that passes just to the West of the Crater Lake Nation park. I was fortunate enough to join these two fine explorers for a two day jaunt through some of the most pristine wilderness here in America. For those who have never seen crater lake it is the remains of what was once Mt. Mazama a huge vocanic peak that exploded 7700 years ago and left a 2000 foot deep hole in the ground now filled with water. The rim drive is a series of spectacular views down into the caldera. This photo from the larryKyoung website shows the lake and Wizard Island.

Our Visit to Portland

2009-08-17T18:56:00.000-04:00

For the past four weeks we have been blessed to be in Portland OR. The kids are catching up with old friends as are Jean and I. Our friday evenings are busy with potluck dinners here at Jeans Mom's home. This past weekend Ben and I were in the Crater Lake national forest hiking the Pacific Creat trail. More on that to come. It is a busy time full for all of us. Something of a taste of things to come.