Head Down In the Heads

For the past two days I have been rebuilding the plumbing system in the forward head of the boat, fitting the new toilet and holding tank.
There's very little room to move around and fit the pipework, because of the limited room you have to work, jambed in a half sitting position, with your left arm threatening to dislocate itself.
Halfway through the installation I made the decision to replace all the existing pipework, it had been there for at least 20 years, Not a pleasant job! I won't continue this description of it's condition any further...
Now we have nice clean white sanitation pipes.
I should have the installation completed with about another 3 hours work, it will be a great day when we will be able to flush.
The next on the 'to do' list is the stern head.

Head n bathroom/toilet-nautical term

Snow!

I knew I shouldn't have mentioned snow, last night we had a polar blast move up the country and now the road over the Rimatukas is now closed...and more is forecast.
Wellington has a beautiful day, Martinborough, rubbish, the mountain range that runs up the centre of the island and divides the Wairarapa from the Wellington region makes a huge difference to our weather.
The dog (Oscar) woke me up, deciding at 1am  in the morning (It was freezing) to become an outside dog and move to his chair under the barn deck, normally he's an absolute wimp when it comes to bad weather and will spend his day guarding the heating system but not today.

What Difference a Year Makes

The pictures were taken at about the same time of  year give or take a few weeks , this year we have hardly any blossom, usually the driveway Almond trees are smothered in blossom.
Global warming, or just a change in the weather pattern?

 This Year

Last Year an unusual dump of snow, first for 30 years!

Table for the Gallery

The Table is completed for the gallery, a place for people to sign cheques, and the EFTPOS machine for credit cards.

Mrs DIY supplied the picture from a shop window she had passed (reference only!) and told me this should be easy to make, so...

Wind

What a wild night, we had winds of around 100-120 Kms/hr.and then rain.
Reminding me of an old mariners rhyme.
"Wind before rain, it'll be fine again.
Rain before wind get the topsails in"

The saying goes: 'Come the wind before the rain, soon be setting sail again.' When a cold front is moving in, if the wind picks up before the rain, the storm is likely to be less severe and shorter. If the rain arrives before the wind, the opposite is true.

Wellington Marine Weather!!!

Recreational Marine Forecast: Wellington

Valid to: Midnight Friday 7 Sep 2012

Issued: 11:13am Thursday 6 Sep 2012

Warning: STORM warning for COOK

Situation: An intense northwest flow covers much of the country through Friday. A trough moves onto New Zealand from the west Saturday then moves away to the east on Sunday, followed by disturbed westerlies.

Forecast:
Gale warning.
Thursday: Northerly 20 knots gusting 30 knots rising to 25 knots gusting 35 knots this afternoon and to 35 knots gusting 45 knots this evening. Moderate sea becoming rough this afternoon and very rough this evening. Fine and cloudy periods, fair visibility in evening drizzle.
Friday: Northwest 35 gusting 45 knots, rising to 40 knots gusting 50 knots for a time in the morning. Sea very rough. Fair visibility in scattered rain, clearing during the afternoon.

Outlook:
Saturday: Northwest 40 knots. Rain.
Sunday: Northwest 40 knots, easing to 30 knots later. Showers clearing.
Monday: Northwest rising to 40 knots early. Mainly fine.

This is a reproduction of the weather report for this weekend, it looks very likely that we won't be sailing on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. bum!