Clayton NY July 30, 2015

Last night turned out to be very quiet and pleasant at the dock. As expected, the rolling and bouncing ended with the darkness when the small boats stopped running. It was pretty and still, and the lights on the public dock shining on the boats was a pretty sight.

The first thing I did this morning was check the weather and find two conflicting reports. The marine forecast was still doom and gloom, while the Weather Channel forecast was sun and fun. Over coffee and little white powered donuts, Jim and I decided we should stay here today, another change in plans. The wind forecast is for it to come from a favorable direction for our docking situation and it was not bad at all last night. Our plan would be to do the Boat Show tomorrow, then leave and go to Cape Vincent. It is raining now, but radar indicates it will stop soon.

A freighter passes Clayton in the early morning rain.

It turned out to be a tie on the weather reports. We had the sun and clear skies predicted by the Weather Channel, but the winds predicted by the nautical weather website. All in all not a bad day. The front that passed by carried away the heat and humidity.

Kerry and I walked to a drug store this morning, and then to the grocery. The little market here has very nice meats and a buy one package of cooked ribs and get one free special. Had to do that. Then it was off to the pedicure salon for Kerry and Jola, off to the barber for Jim and off to work on the boat horn for Don. 

I have two horns, one of which works. I took the other apart and tried to figure out why it does not work. Nothing was the obvious problem. I cleaned up all the parts and Jim and I checked to be sure it was receiving power, and it still does not work. R.I.P. 

We walked to town in the afternoon. One store has a lot of cute signs. This one was Kerry's favorite:

The winds had picked up by this time and Jim and I were anxious to get back to the boats to be sure they were riding the waves OK, and they were. I made martinis for us and a rum and tonic for Kerry. Jim and I sat on the dock and watched as several sailboats tried to anchor. Eventually they were all unsuccessful. One did get anchored and the crew took the dingy to town. Their boat started to drag anchor and was really moving backwards fast when they came back. One boat never could get his anchor to set. Others gave up when the anchors would not hold. When the anchors came up they were all filled with weeds, like on the boat below - and this captain did not have a windlass!

We met a very nice couple who dock here and live in a town on the Erie Canal, Dick and Joyce Saltore. They gave us some tips on good cities to visit, good restaurants, and told us we need to be sure to visit the Wagman's Grocery in Pittsford.  

We ate dinner on the dock using Annie's tale and chairs. It was just too rocky to eat on the boat. The antique boats were arriving all day today, and they are just beautiful. It is a treat to see them go by. Jennifer, the marina manager, said we could stay until 3:00 tomorrow before we have to leave. This will give us time to go to the Show. 

Kerry has been threatening to write an expose on life aboard a floating tiny house. She says she is ready to go to press tomorrow. We will see.