Shear Madness

December 11, 2015

It’s time for another T-Shirt Contest! If you’d like to win a collector’s edition Shear Madness T-Shirt, it’s easy to try! Just leave a comment with the word T-Shirt in it and you’ll be entered in a drawing (click the comment button or REPLY if you get this by email). You can also include other stuff in the comment – we always love to hear from our friends – virtual and other!

We’re still at National Harbor, MD with a steady stream of friends and family coming by to visit. We’ve had a few people mention that they saw the boat on a local TV station. It turns out that NBC Channel 4 has a camera here at National Harbor that they use for periodic weather updates. Here’s how we look:

Channel 4 Weather Update with Shear Madness at National Harbor

Good friends and newlyweds Tom and Marina came by for dinner, joined by Mike, a boater we met here at National Harbor. Though it was a week after Thanksgiving, we cooked a turkey as it is one of our favorite meals! Tom mentioned that he had a spare ticket for the upcoming Redskins-Cowboys game on Monday night so I got to tag along. Alas, the (who would believe it) FIRST PLACE Redskins lost a nail-biter to the LAST PLACE Cowboys on a last second field goal. But it was great to get out to a game and I got to visit with step-daughter April and her nephews (and my step-grandsons) Kevin and Calvin. And, however brief it may be, the Skins are still in FIRST PLACE.

Kathy visits April and Kevin at Redskins game

Bob and Karen also stopped by for a boat tour and lunch. I somehow am a participant in Bob’s Friends and Family March Madness (college basketball) pool, which I actually won one year. At that time the only prize was bragging rights, but now there is an enormous trophy that the winner gets to keep for a year. So I showed Bob where I plan to mount that trophy – right up on the bow! We also met Bill and his friend Warren. Bill, who was introduced by a mutual friend, is thinking of buying a boat and possibly living aboard post-retirement. We enjoyed meeting them and talking about the cruising life.

Bob and Karen in the engine room

Tracy F., President of Shenandoah University, stopped by with her three kids, a couple of their friends, and Knox, a mutual friend of ours. So there are a couple of additions to the Shenandoah Flag collection. Good friends Sudhakar, Bina, and daughter Divya also came by and we hope to see them onboard for a cruise soon!! And Earl, who was a long time captain of a good friend’s boat, came over for a tour.We journeyed out to Margy and Bryant’s house for a Hannukah celebration with grandkids Tyler and Austin, where we cooked brisket and latkes.

Tracy, Knox, and kids

It’s also been a time for fixing a few of those little things on the boat. We’ve ordered some new hinges for a cabinet in one of the heads, a couple new door handles, and some “fiddle” parts – this is for the bars that keep things secure in open shelves. We also have had one large inflatable fender repaired and have replaced another.

Hinges to be replaced

The boat will be here until just after Christmas – we hope to once again spend New Year’s Eve on the water, en route to Norfolk.

Just a reminder that all our videos can be seen on my youtube channel. And don’t forget to check out the book reviews.