Oh, sure. We do some housework. Sometimes a lot. And some yard work - we call it gardening - much more gentile. I have shoveled and spread my share of bark around the yard, too. After all, I am tough - I lift weights at the gym. No problem, right?
When I got divorced, I was determined to do lots of things myself. I hung curtains (the rods were already up), I moved the furniture around, I hung pictures, I painted the furniture, I sprayed for bugs. I took care of basic home maintenance, right?
But I drew the line at power tools and propane - no grill for me. I was just not taking chances with blowing myself, and possibly others, up. Or maiming myself with a power drill. I traded a homemade dinner for a friend drilling the holes for the under shelf CD player. Fair enough.
So it was a nice change to date, and then marry, a guy (JS) who handles the propane grill, the propane stove on the sailboat, and sundry macho chores around the house. I could do them, but he is good at it! And I do reward him for his labors ... in a wifely way. And I brought back lunch from Subway!
So imagine my surprise when I realized that there was so much work to do on our sailboat, Duchess, last weekend - and just the two of us to do it. If I did not help, it would take three or four times as long to prep the boat for launch. So much for reading, studying lines, learning some new songs - the weekend I had pictured.
Instead, I found myself on a ladder, scrubbing the hull. And not as easy as just scrubbing away. You have to make sure use one cloth to put on and take off the cleaner on the white stripe, and another set on the blue. Or it smears them all together. And makes a mess. To say nothing of what it does to my fingernails. Until I found rubber gloves to wear.
This job requires finesse while standing on a ladder applying pressure to a cleaning cloth over my head??? Are you kidding? But I did my part. And I went over those lines while I was at it.
JS, of course, did the heavy lifting - the larger and higher part of the boat. WITH A POWER TOOL! (See it there on the ground at the foot of the ladder.
Of course, he had to use finesse, too. But he has lots more experience at this than I do.
Together we pumped out the bilge (I did the pumping) and put up the main sail. It was my job to feed the grommets into the slot and straighten it all out. Then I lined it all up as it came down and tied it with straps and put on the sail cover. After a few seasons, I am pretty good at that. My balance has definitely improved, since it is easier to do all this while we are still coming into the dock.
He does the technical stuff - he knows how to charge the batteries, and check them. I just turn the switch on command.
Finally, I went through all the canvas pieces of the bimini and dodger to see which seams need reinforcing. My 75-year-old sewing machine will not handle these industrial seams so I wanted to take the bad pieces home to find someone to fix them. Then I did some domestic tasks - sweeping inside and out to get rid of the grime from winter storage.
I ran out of tasks I could do myself before JS did. So I took the time to look over at Lake Erie. The boatyard is just across the street from the lake, and the stiff wind from the North had been chilling us all day despite the almost 70 degree day. But the view was amazing - a little hard to capture from the deck 15 feet up without falling off.
In two weeks, Duchess will be in the Lake, and we will begin another summer of sailing, hanging out with wonderful friends and enjoying the beauty of the wind, water and wild life in the Lake Erie Islands.
I guess a little manual labor never hurt anyone. Thank you, JS, for introducing me to this wonderful world!
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