Go with the flow

I enoyed a dockside shower in the rain yesterday.
It's not like I set out and made it a goal for the day (tho some might have thought I needed to), a chain of events took place that just made it happen. At sunrise my day plans had an entirely different direction in mind, but it didn't go that way.

Obviously, the end result occurred because it was raining, I was all soapy, and out there getting wet anyway so I went for the shampoo. No, I wasn't just out there because I was not smart enough to get in out of the drenching, but I was out there finishing my washing of the boat. It was time to do the non-parade side of the boat which sometimes gets neglected. The parade side is easy to do because of the dock. I had the foresight of leaving the dink in the water and have been meaning to get to the other side. It's not an easy job, and with only one person it's almost a guaranteed slopfest.

I hadn't planned on washing the boat today either. I was out there because it turned into a good day to do it. It had gone from a blistering scorcher morning into a gray overcast and cooling and I was already in the dink anyway with a couple of rags and some soap in a bucket. It just stemmed off from what I was doing.

I was in the dink anyway and I was already wet and soapy from washing off the fantail. This is not a fun job either but I noticed it needed to be done. I saw a clean spot where the dock line must have rubbed away the grime. Any passers by would never notice that it was a little off color and had a slight layer of oil and soot most likely from running the motor. It is such a deep overhang back there that it usually involves a really long handled brush, but it's really tough to get any leverage on it being that far away AND trying not to float away as I push the wooley pad around. I figured the next easiest way is to go in upside down hang onto the rail and reach as far as I can. It turned out to be a fairly sloppy process but I got almost down to the bootstripe which is really good. I'm not sure who was getting more soaped up- the boat or me. A neighbor made the comment about it being bath day. I quipped back that the boat's pits and mine were overdue due for a scrub.

A short moment earlier I found myself in front of my bucket, very pleased with myself, rinsing out a handful of brand new rags and noted they were making a good solution of some simple green water and remembered my greasy fantail project. Perfect.

I was pleased because of my recent acquisition. I just swiped the rags out of the trash can because my inner scrounge was seduced by their bright white fluffy newness of their condition. The uberfishers that come in here are a great source for stuff like this. Their boats get their daily squeegee and have no time for rinsing out rags and I guess hanging them out to dry is against their code of show. It was a tough call whether I should risk being branded as a scrounge or a thrifty cruiser. These last few weeks aboard Astor we have been polishing demons and have pretty much killed every mini towel on board. I managed to resurrect quite a few with multiple hand washes in the bucket, but they are still pretty shabby and suspect they will not last long. These new ones came at the right time. If they were tainted with unknown nasty chemicals I would have left them right where they were. These were only soaked with simple green. SCORE!

So, scrounging a few towels out of the trash might lead to a dockside shower later. Some days you never can tell what one will get into. You learn to go with the flow.