Feb 16th

Haven’t written for a few days……  Been busy.  Doing what??

As i wrote, we went to Vieques to visit our friends Sharon & Bill from Maine.  We met them at a beach, us by boat-them by car, and had a little going away toast on the beach,.  We made up a batch of Pina Colada’s and took it to shore.   That was early in the day, so we decided to move further east along the island to stage for our departure back to St. Thomas.  It was a beautiful day, and the water was fairly easy, so we decided just to head for St. Thomas, a 30 mile passage.  Easy to enter if we lose the light.  So we sailed for a couple of hours and got out beyond the protection of the island, and wow—conditions changes, bigger wind,  terrible bumpy seas again, and dark couds decorating the horizon.  Luckily, we weren’t far from the anchorage that is very close to the end of the island, so we ducked in there with one other boat.  This is the anchorage that has a huge beautiful beach, with signs every few yards warning not to go beyond the beach due to potentially live explosives.

There was one other boat in the harbor.  The bottom was really hard sand, and our anchor wasn’t having anything to do with a good hold.  we dragged all over the place.  Finally we got one wing to bite a bit, and then went out in the dingy and put a second one out.  A small Danforth.  Worked good.

Those “decorative” clouds arrived, and it rained buckets!!!

the next day our passage back to St. Thomas was wonderful.  Worth waiting for.    We went into the main harbor in Charlotte Amalie to anchor.  3 cruise ships in, and also the USSKennedy, a training ship from Mass. Maritime Academy.  We met some of them on a bus, and they were on their way to St. John for a day trip,  We told then not to miss Woody’s at 3pm…………Our favorite happy hour.

They have been all over the Caribbean this winter.  I wish I had known about that kind of thing when I was getting ready for college.   Or even went I went back to college the 2nd or 3rd time………………..

any way.  Good for them.

We had a really rolly night in the harbor, and needed to get fuel and water and do laundry, so we went over to the Crown Bay area.  It is very industrial, and loud, with more cruise ships, but a good anchorage.   The cruise ships come in an pull up to those wharfs all on their own power.  No tugs.  It is amazing.  it is also amazing how close they come to our boat when pulling in or out.  They have got to have enormously powerful thrusters.  Cool to watch.  Here is a photo of one last night. taken from our deck.

We went into Crown Bay Marina for fuel and water, and while we were at the dock, a fisherman approached Larry, and asked if he wanted to buy some fresh fish.  They had a dolphin fish that they has just landed not 2 hours before.  So we bought the fish which he filleted for us.  We ended up with about 15 # of fish and paid about $6.00/lb.   the next day we saw it in a market for $23.95/lb.!!!

It is also called Mahi, and man is it good.  We have enough to feast on with the kids for a few more meals.

We also had plans to go to the Mon. night movie on Honeymoon Beach on Water Island.  Just found out about this event.  So over we go, and they have a huge screen strung up between 2 beautiful coconut palms, and the place was packed.  There had to be 100 people there.  they had chairs and benches and picnic tables, and of course the islanders lined up on their golf carts.  They had a stand selling pop corn, soda, hot dogs, ice cream.  Larry and I arrived a bit late, and sat on the huge roots of a banyon tree.  It was great.  we saw Midnight in Paris with Owen Wilson.  Very cute.

 

So today we are having a better weather window for our short passage to Culebra to meet the kids.  We are looking forward to this.

Why have we been around St. Thomas for so long??  About 6 weeks ago, I discovered a lump in my breast, and had to have it checked out.  After 2 mammograms, and an ultrasound………..I’m good.  Just a lymph node.  Now I feel stupid……….but happy.  Had to get it check out.  Anyway, because of this and weather we didn’t get to St. Croix.  We have been there on other trips, and really liked it.  Guess we wanted a nostalgia trip.  Also wanted to check out the beautiful historic buildings in Christianstead.  Oh well,   More for Puerto Rico, where we have never been.

 

Vieques, Puerto Rico

Here we are in another location new to us.  Vieques Puerto Rico.  This is a good size island   2miles wide x 20 miles long.   This used to be a major military installation. The military used the eastern end of the island for bombing practice.  The military has since left, and so down goes the economy of the island. There are still many restricted areas with warnings of live munitions on land and in the surrounding waters.  We are told that the local people are very happy about their departure, and also happy that the United States is taking such good care of them……………..  our tax dollars at work again.  Don’t get me started.     This is a beautiful island, with rolling hills and fantastic palm tree lined beaches.  For us as boaters, along with this beauty, come some of the rolling-est anchorages we have been in for quite some time.  Last night was brutal.  Larry slept on the floor in the lowest part of the boat, and I was on a bench next to him.  We moved this am a daylight.  We are in a moderately better location in front of a gorgeous beach, and I am going for a good swim!!

We have friends here from Maine who are vacationing on the island.  We had a land day with them yesterday, and got an island tour, a few hours beside a beautiful hotel pool, and a lovely dinner, at an even lovelier resort.–Blue Heaven or something like that. Really nice.

We will hang here until Sun–waiting for the water to calm a bit, and then must go back to St. Thomas for another xray appt for me.   Then back to Culebra to hook up with our kids.!!  We are looking forward to a Puerto Rican sea and land adventure with them.   Our other “kid” family is hanging in Florida this week, with the other Grammy.  Good for you Chris and Wendy!!!

INTRODUCING!!!!!…………..Johnnie !!!!

Well, we did it.  We have adopted a sweet little doggie from the animal shelter on St. John.  Her name is Johnnie–for St. John, of course.  We had to wait 2 weeks for her.  She has an interesting history.  She was seen running over near the Cinnomon Bay campgrounds, but they were unable to catch her.  Someone finally trapped her in a tent. — She must have been trying to get some food.  I was at the shelter the day they brought her in.  She is just a tiny thing, and was so afraid.  We were looking for a male puppy, but she stole my heart.  So I said, ” I might be interested in her”.    Then they had to find out if someone was going to claim her, or if she had a chip.  After no one came forward, she had to be spayed, and they discovered she had 4 puppies.  They were very large puppies, and Johnnie probably would not have lived thru the pregnancy.  So here she is and she is officially ours.  She has been adapting to boat life quiete well.  Just a few incidents of sea sickness, but then Larry was pretty close himself………………..

What day is this?? What happened to January???

 

Jan 30

Wow!!   Where has this month gone???    Seems like we were just getting ready for guests, and my swim class, and that was already 3 weeks ago.  What have we been up to??    Hangin around Love City…………..   (Cruz Bay St John).

As I have written, we have been sticking around St. John.  Many cruisers spend the entire season right here.  There are lovely anchorages all around the island, and we can be either very secluded, or with little effort in town for laundry and provisions.  We are meeting some other boaters to socialize with, which is really nice.  Now when we go into an anchorage, we look around for a familiar “friend boat”, and soon there after is a get together on our boat or theirs……………   The cruisers are not hard to miss.  Our boats have a certain “Look, or character”.   Radar, wind generator, or solar panels are a dead give away, but also the telltale fuel and water tanks tied on the decks, and then whatever else you choose to “store” here and there.  Many of us construct (put loosely) elaborate shades and awnings to allow shade in the cockpit.  The sun is so intense, we can’t be in it too much.  Shade is very desirable.

Today, we went into Cruz Bay to have lunch with some friends vacationing from Maine.  We had a nice time, picked up some groceries, stopped by the animal shelter to visit ‘Johnnie’……….yes, we are adopting a dog.  She is a long hair dashund mix, and got spayed last week, and is getting treated for heartworm this week. We have been approved for a trial adoption, and then they finalize it after we decide if we all get along.   We pick her up on Fri.   We are both excited.  Me more that Larry, of course.

We are in Maho Bay.  Going into Cruz Bay is kind of like driving to South Portland from our house.  We get close to the harbor, then anchor just off the town—out of the way of all the ferry traffic , and then take the dingy to the dingy dock.  We have this down pretty good.

We spent the entire month of Dec. in the British Virgin Islands, and now are pretty much leaving that area to the NUMEROUS charter boats. Is seems that most of the charter boats out of the BVI rarely come to the USVI.  Enough spectacular sites for them there.   We are fortunate to have it all!!

 

What have we been up to ?????

Jan26

Well, it’s been a while.  what have we been doing???  That’s a good question, what have we been doing? We did spend about 6 days in Round Bay, which is a beautiful quiet spot on the east end of St John about 2 miles out of Coral Harbor.  There is a group of local women who come down to the beach each morning at 0730 for water aerobics, and I joined them.  So we did alot of hiking, a lot of relaxing, I started painting again, lots of swimming, tho I have had to stop real workouts for a while.  My right shoulder is talking to me, so I have to pay attention to that.  I want to enter some events in Maine this summer, so I had better take care of it.  I am still doing lots of water exercises, and snorkeling.

Last Sat, we left Round Bay, went over to Soapers Hole to get water, and then back to Maho Bay for a couple of days.   we have been in and out of Cruz Bay to shop, do laundry, and visit the animal shelter.  We are pretty sure we are adopting a little long hair Dashund mix.  We are going to call her Johnnie.  She tested positive for heartworm, so has to have the treatment next week.  Then we can pick her up.

Oh, we also spent a day on St. Thomas with some friends of ours.  Susan is from Portland, and has been living on St. Thomas for about 16 years.  She was my first 1st mate when I started chartering in 1993.

We were supposed to go to St. Croix, but now not sure.  The water and wind have been pretty big, and it would be a crazy rough trip.  We are saying that we don’t want to do that again until we have to.

So who knows………….

We spent a couple of days in Lameshur Bay on the south side of St. John.  Some really nice snorkeling, and we also did a long hike to see the petroglyphs.  Very cool.

Guess where we are now—Back in Round Bay.  I went to class this morning with all the women.

We are thinking about hitch hiking back in to Cruz Bay this afternoon.  A new boat friend is having a birthday party at Woody’s.

Jan 27th

OK, so we didn’t make it to Woody’s yesterday, but we did hitch into Coral Bay.  Taking a chance.  Not all that much traffic for coming back to this end of the island…………

So we did mention that we have been hitch-hiking around St. John.  You meet the most interesting people.

A few weeks ago, Larry got a ride up to the lumbar yard, from a guy who was listening to his conversation in the hardware store.  The guy waited for him and offered to take him up to the lumber yard. Then he couldn’t get what he needed from the lumber yard, so the guy takes him over to “ a friend of mine might have what you are looking for”—and then back into town.

Another day,  we were both hitching from Coral Bay into Cruz Bay, and got a ride from some folks who were just leaving the local school.  They are Broadway actors (NEW YORK)  who volunteer to come down here for 3 weeks every year to work with all of the 4th graders in 4 different schools to put together a theater production.  It sounded just wonderful.  The production is a fund raiser for the island Arts Assn.  but also they put on a free performance for everyone else.  The Westin donates the space.

Yesterday we got a ride from a guy from London.  His parents live on St. Thomas, and he brought  their  car over on the ferry so he could tour St. John, and go to Vi’s for her famous Conch Fritters.  Vi’s just happens to be a hop skip from the boat, so we lucked out again.  Met an interesting fellow, and got a perfect ride.

Tonight, we had a visit with some boaters we met at the laundry mat the other day.  They showed up in the same harbor (not planned) and so we get together.  We might see them again along the way, and we might not.

Tomorrow we will probably move again back closer to Cruz Bay.  We have an appt on Mon with the US Customs office for an interview.  They meet us in person, and then issue a special  cruisers # so we can check in and out by phone, and not have to do it each time in person.  Saves alot of hassel and some $$$.  This is only for the US.  Not international.

We have started doing more boat maintenance.  (Larry has never really stopped, but I have been kind of a slacker.  He did some varnish prep today, and I cleaned 2 of our winches.  Took them all apart, cleaned, re-greased, re-assembled, and now we have some smooth operating winches!!  2 winches took me 6 hours.  I’m a bit out of practice.  amazing how many parts there are!!

Open water swim class…………

I started my Total Immersion open water swimming workshop on Sun, the 8th.  There are 34 women total with 8 coaches, from all over the united states. We are split into 4 groups from working on basic skills to group 4 who does mostly competitive swimming.   There are many triathletes and 2 of our coaches have done the Ironman.  We are talking serious athletes here.  I believe there is only one woman a few years older than me, and she is still doing tri’s.

We are all having a great time.  I am basically learning a new more efficient swim stroke, or whole body stroke, and it is much more difficult than it looks.  Actually, the difficult part is trying to teach muscles to unlearn the old way–and re-learn a new.  It’s quite a challenge.  We do drills all morning, and then a long swim in the afternoon.

Wed afternoon our group swam 2 miles.  My 1st time at that distance.  I slept 11 hours that night!!

Larry has been keeping very busy with various boat projects, and keeping an eye on the bathing beauties.

yesterday was a day off, and Larry & I went over to Cruz Bay for groceries and laundry.  We also went to the animal shelter.  We are looking for a puppy.   We have to have a male to be with our Porsche   (female shephard) who is with my sister for our trip.   I didn’t find one who stole my heart, but I did see several who broke my heart.  This shelter in St. John is very clean, and seems to be very well run, with a committed staff.

 

At the end of class tomorrow, we will head back over to the east end of St. John to relax for a while.  I hope to do some painting.  We also have to clean the bottom of the boat.  That doesn’t sound to relaxing.

The class is completed,  and Fri afternoon, I swam almost 3 miles.  WOW.  That was really awesome.

Never would I believe I could do that.

We are down on the East End. We are relaxing.  I hauled all of my painting stuff out today, and now—–man, getting started is so hard.  I feel like I haven’t put paint to paper in a really long time.

We have internet here via my phone, so we can watch TV on Hulu.  Larry couldn’t watch the big football game last night, be we are catching up on all of the episodes of Gray’s Anatomy!!!!

Socializing with YOUR kids and grandkids……………….

Jan  5

We did go to Foxy’s at Yost Van Dyke for New Years Eve.  Now we can say  “Been there, done that”.

What a free for all!!   Foxy’s restaurant/bar sits right on the edge of the harbor.  He told me that he started in in 1968.  Before that he would go to the other islands and perform for food and drink.  He started in his teens and opened Foxy’s when he was 30. Some woman told us Foxy’s is the #3 place to party on New Year’s Eve, behind #1 Times Square, and #2 Rio.   Not sure about that, but it’s right up there.  We arrived early in the day on the 30th, and the harbor was already jammed with boats.  All moorings were taken, so we had to anchor.  Boats continued to arrive right up until evening on NYEve, and it was just crazy.  There had to be over 300 boats by that time, and the dingy traffic was continuous, and fast,.  You didn’t dare go in the water (wouldn’t want to) at risk of being run over,.

Being in there for this event was a humbeling experience for me.  I think we were the oldest ones>

and I want to know where all these young people get the $$$$$ to get there, and also where are the girls getting these bodies?????

We were walking over on White Beach, (next beach over the hill) and a cruise ship was nearby, and unloaded on the beach.  Larry’s eyes were bugging out of his head, and he comments “Chris and Daniel would enjoy this” ( his sons).     Yah, right.   Like he was just forcing himself to look  for them………………  I had to insert his tongue back into his mouth so we could have a beer!!   

 

So the ear shattering music from several sources along the beach went on until 4am,  along with the crazy dingy traffic.    We were able to extricate ourselves from the harbor around 10am and went over to the peace of Maho Bay on St. John.

 

We picked up our friends Abel and Sylvia on the 3rd in Cruz Bay, and have been playing tour boat guides, and having a great time.

 

I start my swim class at Maho Bay on Sun.  We’ll see how Granny does.

a really sad day

dec 28th

we left Roadtown a few hours ago, and are having a really sweet sail down the channel—–with no hands on the wheel.   that means the auto pilot is functional!!  so all of you reading this, keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer, because Larry and I will be returning to Maine by ourselves, and this is one piece of equipment we will really need.  Maybe it has been unhappy because we have not named it.   Can somebody help us find a name for the autopilot???  Not Otto–to many of them.

Taking suggestions…………….

Before leaving this morning we had a really sad experience.  I was listening to channel 16 on the VHF radio.  I heard a Mayday call.   It was from a charter catamaran who had lost a swimmer.   They have these huge catamaran’s down here that they use for day sailers, and load them up with people from the cruise ships and resorts, and go a few miles out for them to snorkel and swim.  Apparently, a man was reported missing, and they launched the mayday call.  We listened of course, many boats were responding, and the coast guard, and the BVI air and sea rescue.   The did find the man, and he did drown.   Man, I just can’t even imagine what they are all going thru.  The friends and family on vacation, and then the captain and crew of the boat.

It makes me realize how important safety is, and communicating and teaching that to  your passengers and crew.  In all my years as skipper with many passengers, in all kinds of conditions, we have been very lucky, and careful.

we don’t yet know the circumstances of this fatality, but as an avid swimmer and diver, I pray that in his last moments, this  man was having the time of his life, seeing some awesome underwater sights,  and doing what he loved to do.

Auto pilot part is installed–fingers crossed.

Dec. 27

On Christmas Eve, we went over to the Bitter End to watch the boat parade.   We stopped an official looking woman, and she told us to go over to that boat with the lights on, and have some champagne.  Of course we were all over  that–free bubbly!!   We discovered that this boat is going to be in the parade, so we stayed on board  for the ride.   and Guess what!!  Santa flew in by helicopter (I’m sure of it), and  Santa himself was also riding on our boat.  That was really fun.  There were just like 6 little boats in the parade, and we went all over the harbor amongst the hundreds of boats on moorings.  We were singing carols and hooting and yelling Merry Christmas, and the boat would holler back to us.   A couple of the really big power yachts got into a “who has a bigger horn” battle.  It was great.   A Christmas Eve we will never forget.

Oh, and here are some photos of the big guys.

I forgot to mention that we got some diesel fuel in Spanishtown (Virgin Gorda).   It was $4.47 at a nearby gas station, as compared to $5.65 at the marina.  We took our 5-5 gallon gerry cans off the boat, and hoofed it up to the gas station, and then got a taxi back.  Good savings!!

Guess what??!!!   We have our new part for the auto pilot—installed.  Fingers crossed.  still have to do a sea trial.   Everything has been closed for Christmas until today, so we have been waiting—”patiently”………….  The man who did the installation is from Guiana.  All of his family is still there……….  He sounded kind of lonely.

We leave here tomorrow, and go somewhere that I can swim, and then on Fri. we’ll go over to Yost Van Dyke to get a spot in the harbor in front of Foxy’s for New Years Eve.    Not sure how that is going to work for us—-we are both crashing really early these days.  Really in sync with the daylight hours.   We’ll have to take a nap, and then don our party hats!!!

More BVI FUN !!!

Dec 20th-22

 

I’ve just re-read some of the stuff that I’ve written, and believe I had better double check my spelling before publication….please forgive.  If it’s still wrong—oh well.

 

A few days ago, we left Fat Hog Bay on Tortola, and had a nice sail over toward Peter Island, and then began beating our way back across SFD Channel with our destination being Spanishtown on Virgin Gorda.    The Channel was really kicked up, so the rest of the trip was a hard beat to windward.

We went past The Baths on the south end of Virgin Gorda,  and looked forward to another visit to that amazing natural wonder.  I have some photos.   Lots of new homes on the hillsides in the past 7 years ($$$$$$$$$$$!!)  (The last time we were here)

 

We went into the marina in Spanishtown to stay for two days.  We changed the oil, and filters, and did our walk around the town.  They also have a large boat yard where many cruisers store their boats while they return home for the summer season.They have a special type of hurricane yard for the storage.  They have keel holes dug into the ground and set the boats right down into these areas.  Rigs are left standing.   There are quite a variety of boats, many in various stages of neglect or forget, and others that we lust after.  There were also many owners working on their boats– getting ready for launch and more Caribbean adventures.

There is lots going on in the islands this time of the year.  We saw the Christmas parade.  It was about 200 feet long, with 3 floats, and 2 other groups–all with home-made costumes, and music.

They don’t stop or redirect traffic for the parade, so it was kind of “interesting”

Santa also came to the marina.  I was so excited!!   He came with a bunch of little elves, and each of the children were given a nice gift.   There was also a band playing.

There seems to be a certain requirement for loudness of music down here–everywhere down here.  If it isn’t ear shattering at 300 yards—it isn’t quite loud enough.  On Santa night, the band at the marina played until 11pm.  Larry would not allow me to cut the electrical supply.

 

I mentioned to Larry that I would like to attend a church service the next day, so we decided to go to the Methodist at 9 am.  But……………..  our second night, we went for a walk around town, and passed by a church where a group of children was performing, and the music was rocking.  We stood a short distance outside and watched and listened.    —not far enough………  We were spotted by a very pretty woman and invited in.  So in we go, the music stops, the sermon resumes, and we find out we are in a small spanish speaking church.  No idea what denomination.  People came up to us and welcomed us.   There were kids like jack in the box all over the place.

After a brief time, the keyboard player stood and began translating to english–for us.    Several on the members got to the podium, and preached, and preached, and preached……….    Then the woman who invited us in, asked me if we would like them to pray for us?  I said sure, why not.  I asked that they pray for our safe voyage here, and back home.  So what do we have to do??  We have to go  and stand in front of the congregation, and they all stood and prayed for us—very loudly, and all together, but each of them saying their own prayer.  That also went on and on, and they layed hands upon our shoulders, and prayed and prayed, louder and louder.  I do have to admit, I became a bit uneasy and wondered what the heck I had gotten us into.   Finally we sat back down, and listened to more prayer, and more music, and one woman in the congregation was asked to get up and sing a song for us.  She was awesome.  Larry went up to here afterward and gave her a hug.  Everyone shook our hand, and wished us well.   It was quite the experience.  It was also quite overwhelming to witness people who are so passionately involved in their faith.

We were both kind of quiet as we found our way back to the boat, and just said, WOW!!  That was an experience!!   We took a pass on the Methodist service the next morning.

 

The next day was our visit to  The Baths.   I wanted to take the dingy from the marina.  The  Baths is an extraordinary area on the coast created by huge water smoothed boulders. I mean rocks the size of houses!!   The water goes in an around them, and in some areas, there are cool paths thru them.

So we take the dingy, and pick a quiet beach to go into—except the water on the shore isn’t so quiet.

Why is it that you don’t realize that until it is too late to abort the landing??   Anyway, in we go–the waves were breaking, and we started to drift back out, I jumped out–not realizing how deep it was, and got soaked, and tried to tow us back to shore.  I got us a bit up on the sand, and Larry started to get out, and along comes a huge wave, hits the dingy side to, and Larry goes in ass over tea kettle.  He comes up spitting sand and water, and I am laughing so hard, I go down again, and the dingy wants to go back out with another wave.   Finally we get the dingy up on the beach, and see that we need to pull it about a mile up in order to secure it.   We are tugging and tugging, and along come this nice young buff couple.   We struck up a conversation, and got an assist with the dingy to where we could tie it to some bushes.   Off we go………..  We find that we are a ways from the  main area, and because of many new private properties, we can’t get thru, and have to go in to a different beach.  (It was my idea to go into the far beach, and try to bushwack our way down–no go.      Back we go to the dingy.  the same young buff couple is coming back along the beach, so they now help us pull the dingy back down to the water and help us get launched.  Another wet time for all.

So, over we go to a further beach where we see some other boats on shore and in we go.  A much more controlled landing (we had just practiced), and as we are tugging the dingy up on to the sand, who comes along to help us tug, mister and miss buff!!!      We made our way over to the paths, and had a delightful time crawling thru the caves and tunnels. We swam a bit, played on the rocks, crawled around, and had a great time.   This area is truly an amazing gift of mother nature.

Yesterday, we left Spanishtown, and sailed a short distance to Savannah Bay.  It is a “quiet” bay inside a huge reef, lined with beautiful beaches.   It is a beautiful bay, wonderful snorkeling, great beaches, but talk about rock and roll——-we had trouble staying in the bed.

 

Today we had another “exciting” sail (windy-beating to windward) up to Gorda Sound on the north end of Virgin Gorda.   I wish I could get a good night photo to show you this place.  The sound is light up like a huge Christmas Tree with not trees—-but mega yachts.  I mean mega-mega . You can’t imagine.  Larry said half of England is in this harbor.

There is going to be a boating Christmas parade here at the Bitter End Yacht Club on Christmas Eve.

We came up here to see that, and now we are marking time waiting for Sat.  We’ll probably go back down to Tortola on Christmas Day.  It has been really blowing here for the past several days 20-25 steady so the seas are really kicked up.  we are happy to find some shelter.  We have to be careful in our “exploring” around here.  It is super expensive.

More of the mega yachts are gathering here.  I will get some photos.  They are too mega to even try to describe.  So far removed from our world.  Masts so tall, they have to carry a red night light for air traffic.  Dingys nearly as big as our boat.  (I guess they don’t call them dingys).  Two up here with helicopters on deck.

and here we are in the Pub-rubbing elbows–as using the wifi……….

I just finished swimming laps in a very nice pool.  we are going to do some hiking later, and also have more boat projects.

We are also going to attempt a “craft” project that we saw in a shop, so Larry and I have been picking up scraps of wood along the trails.  We have gotten lots of shakes, which used to be on someones’ roof.