So for those of you who became depressed a couple of posts back when Mel detailed a typical workday, cheer up! Here’s a few things Mel did on this long winter weekend in Minnesota:
I wake up and do my Focus T25 workout. I can work out for 25 minutes. Anything longer is inefficient. And impossible. I HATE working out. But after telling all of my dementia and Parkinson’s patients all about the benefits of exercise all week long, I kinda have to. So I won’t be a hypocrite. Greg put all of the workouts on our media server, so we can call them up as needed on the boat. So we can prance around in the tropics without having to see yet another commercial for frickin’ Shakology. Maybe by the end of it I will be able to get away with just a sports bra instead of a roomy T-shirt. Abs, here I come!
I spend a morning with my book on the flags of the Caribbean. I got Allie (i.e.: me) a sewing machine for Christmas, and so I thought a good project would be to make our own courtesy flags. These are the flags of each nation that you fly from your boat when you are in their port. I ordered the cloth and supplies on Sailrite. I feel so self-sufficient! Flipping through the book, I quickly realize that the Dominica flag will be a pain. So I spend the morning finding a sample flag on the internet and trying to figure out how I can transfer the image of the happy little parrot from my laser printer onto Dacron sail insignia. After many failed experiments involving acetone and the like, I order something called Matte Medium on Amazon and wait. Ordering online is an excellent way to stall completing a project.
In the afternoon, while Greg takes the kids sledding, I educate myself on lionfish. Did you know that a single small lionfish may reduce the number of juvenile native fish on any given reef by approximately 79% in just 5 weeks? I am not a hunter; I prefer to photograph wildlife. But a while ago I heard this awesome podcast about how they eliminated the goats, another non-native species, in the Galapagos to save the native turtles via a massive helicopter shooting spree. And it worked, without introducing an additional modern-day, man-made, uncontrollable technology into the environment. Well, besides guns, I mean. But anyway, there is something appealing about being proactive about the environment — about actually DOING SOMETHING TO FIX IT. So, I buy a giant speargun. And gloves. I need good gloves.
One evening, I crack open my coastal navigation course. I learn about dead reckoning and Chart No. 1 via a very cute, ancient website that badly needs a 21-st century upgrade. I learn about the dreaded “asterisk rocks,” or “rocks awash.” I mentally practice avoiding such rocks. I would hate to be killed by an asterisk.
And so I fill my weekend learning about frustrating flag emblems, poisonous fish invasions, and coastal hazards. And I enjoy every bit of it!
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