Real Progress

On Sunday afternoon, I arrived back down at the boathouse to be greeted by Merrie and Robin who were preparing for the next Elements of Seamanship class at the boathouse. They asked me if the mouse had been there for long.

Mouse? What mouse?

They pointed underneath one of the chairs circled in the great room of the boat house. There was a baby mouse that had wandered into the room, appeared to have been exhausted by the effort and had fallen asleep under the chair. I put a cup over the mouse and slipped a piece of cardboard beneath so I could take the mouse outside to find a new home in the woodpile.

Heading up to Mountain Ash for dinner, we had a new group of students for the week getting to know each other and the school. During Rich's orientation, he brought up the fact that 40% of the students return to take other classes. That's a pretty impressive statistic.

Because my student's were not starting anew, we skipped the shop orientation and went into our new quarters in the west bay of the shop to remove staples from the bottom panels of the "football" and to mark the centerlines on the panels.

Friday's Progress

By Friday afternoon, we'd finished most of 1/2 of the "football". On Saturday morning we'd finished the second half of the "football". When I talk about the "football" I'm talking about two panels that fill the opening in the picture above. I figure that it is easier for a new builder to make one good joint than to try to make each individual cut at the ends of each strip. In my experience, it's much easier for them to understand and accomplish.

After we'd finished cleaning up the bottom panels, I went down th the boathouse anticipating a warm fire in the fireplace and a cold beer. What I found was not exactly what I had in mind. All of the students in the Elements of Seamanship for Women were just being told that there would be no men around for the class just as I tried to sneak up the stairs to my room to get a warmer jacket. My appearance was greeted with guffaws and giggles as I beat a hasty exit with my warm fleece.