Live Free 2 Sail Fast

Great Dane On A Boat: She Sleeps Well, I Sleep Well

Welcome to Great Dane on a Boat, in which Quincy the Great Dane pontificates on whatever she wants to discuss for the day.  Quincy is a Great Dane who lives on a sailboat.  This is her Sunday space to discuss dog issues and Great Dane thoughts with all of you.  So here we go: (more…)

Kids Corner: Tenth Birthday

From a Kid on a Boat to Kids Everywhere…Kids Corner: 

“HALLALUJEH! HALLALUJEH! WHY AM I CELLABRATING? ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEEE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR TEAGAN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEE! I turned ten last night, around midnight. As a firstborn, my dad was SOOOOO anxious to hear whether I was okay or not. Everybody was there, at 12 o’clock at night, waiting. I really wanted to come out at first, and I was early. But then I sensed the coldness, the bright lights, and all of these weird things crowding around me, cooing at me, with really hairy tops and dressed in animal skins, I knew that I was meant for a better world…but where could I escape to? I saw an opening in the place where I had just come out. Yes, that place was warm and there were no hairy things in there, at least what I had accounted of.  They picked me up and raised me to be one like them. They put animal skins on my body {which were VERY itchy}, and I grew hair on my top as well. I tried to escape, ANYTHING to let me be free! But alas, they were invulnerable. Curse those stupid baby fences! And oh, the horror of………. THE DOGGIE! It was everywhere, even in THE best hiding spots EVER! And yet it caught me every time. And then…………………”IT” CAME! They left me with gramma for some unknown reason, and I took this as my chance to escape! But again, she found me and gave that oh so amazing hot milk…but then they came back…with another! This one was even MORE horrible! But alas it is time for my nap {not really} TEAGAN UP AND OUT…”

Pretty cool that Teagan still has a chance to be creative and write her weekly column while we’re still here.  We’re going to make every effort to allow her to continue to write, post and grow her writing skills as we go along.  Very exciting for us here that we’ve been contacted by a number of cruising boats prepping for the Baja Ha-Ha also, congregating here in San Diego.  Teagan writes for kids everywhere from our boat..while we’re waiting for both our engine and the start of Baja Ha-Ha.  Which will come first? Not sure.

As we’ve gone along these past few months, we’ve started to collect home-schooling references and supplies and took inspiration from the sailing vessel “Totem” to buy a complete set of encyclopedias.  Here’s me unpacking them:

As we unpacked them, we realized how much space they took up and knew we would need to shuffle things around to fit the entire set.  So, we reshuffled the salon and now it looks like this: 

We bought last years “World Book” set (2018) and can’t be happier with it.  We know we won’t have wi-fi and internet in many of the places we’re going but we know we need a way for the kids to continue to do research..so these books will be instrumental I think.  So the kids will be home-schooled here on the boat as we go…we’ll cover this as we go.  Stick with us as we’re a family living on a sailboat with a Great Dane and prepping to leave to go sailing in far-away places.  

Less Than 30 Days

We’re at less than 30 days till Baja Ha-Ha and still want to go. Great news is that our new sails came in yesterday. They’re not on yet, but they’re here. Now, we need our engine back in our boat so we can test it, get the valves readjusted and done and motor out with the rest of the fleet on 04 Nov. I think I clearly communicated this with our mechanic….let’s see if we make it. Even if we don’t make it on 04 Nov we’re still going, but we lose the valuable opportunity for the kids to meet all the other Ha-Ha kids and form that friendship base…which we’d really like to see. We’re rolling along with our non-perishable provisioning and other boat projects, but miss being out on the water while we’re stuck in our slip.

Don’t forget Kids Corner on Fri-

Big Green Egg On A Sailboat: I Really Do Egg Some Veggies

I’ve been telling you that I cook a lot of veggies on the Big Green Egg on my sailboat, without much proof yet.  So here we go-

Mmmm, Zucchini on the grill for some smoked flavor…really good.  For these, I gave them a nice flat steak cut, laid them flat on the platter for some great olive oil and spices and cooked them for about 7 minutes per side on my egg at about 275 degrees.  Easy peasy and they came out great.  Notice how they are directly on the grill (after I cleaned it).  This is how you get those nice sear marks and great flavor…but you can’t be timid about putting them right on the grill.  I also have a veggie plate I use for smaller veggies, again right on the grill.  So here’s your after picture,,,I really do egg some veggies!

Only In Imperial Beach, Ca?

Take a look at this cool parking sign spotted at an Imperial Beach, Ca store.  Do you have any of these where you live? Hit me back and let me know-

What A Diverse Group- Famous to Infamous….Thanks

A quick note to reach out to all of you…who read my posts, support my website and keep coming back to read again.  We’ve got friends and family who read this site, boat neighbors, contacts and folks from all over the world.  What started in 2014 has blossomed into a full fledged website with followers and comments, conversations and thought provoking ideas. We do have a few semi-famous followers from the cruising and oceangoing world, but we also have folks scattered in 23 countries around the globe…who tune in to read about Quincy the Great Dane or see what’s cooking on the Big Green Egg this week.

And we have lots of folks who can’t wait to see us leave this slip and actually start cruising…just because we’ve run our mouth on this blog so many times about starting this new chapter of our lives.  We are going through some trials to get to that goal….like waiting on our engine to get rebuilt and put back in and putting on new sails, but we’re slowly slogging our way there.  So this is a huge thanks to those who follow our website and keep reading…it is validating that you’re all still around and reading.  

Don’t forget you can check out our Pinterest site and if you feel like supporting us into our trip, you can check out the Patreon site too!  

PS: Happy Emergency Nurses Week!  

Great Dane On A Boat: Quincy’s Happy Place

Quincy the Dog is a 130-pound Great Dane who lives on a sailboat in San Diego while we prepare to get under way heading south…semi-permanently.  She lives with her adult and kid people’s who feed and walk her and she occasionally barks at dock strangers when she’s awake.   In general, Quincy the Great Dane behaves like other Great Danes but with a bit more leash anxiety.  Today she’ll dispense her wisdom like she does every Sunday…..for both dogs and humans alike.  Keep reading- (more…)

Smaller Projects Take Up Time Too

I’m finding that smaller projects take up as much time as large complex projects, especially when there’s (2) of us now involved with the daily decision making.  I’m good with that…I’m really, really good with my wife helping with day to day decisions now that she’s retired but it tends to stretch the decision making process just a bit as we discuss things more.  Frustration over our engine has now grown into more sullen frustration because we want  to LEAVE on NOV 4th and we’re now in week (6) with the engine out of the boat.  AND…this is in the US where we all speak the same language and parts can be overnighted and express shipped!  Nuff of that, let’s get back to small projects. (more…)

Kids Corner: SKY, A Favorite Computer Game

“Hey ya’ll. I’m back! We leave for school in 25 minutes, so I gotta hurry. It’s really cool that we still get to have internet {at the moment}. My favorite game is called Sky: Children Of Light. Its this game where you collect golden spirits and you get wings! Then you have to travel all over sky, finding silver spirits, that give you expressions. Every 2 months a new season comes, with new silver spirits. You see, you can get garments and stuff from spirits, like instruments! My favorite is the harp, and you can actually play instruments! As a matter of fact, you can get new hairdos, new wing colors, new pants, even new masks. But for seasonal spirits, you get, like upgraded stuff. Like you can get hairdos with hats! And this season only, you can get an umbrella!!!{which helps a lot In the hidden forest}. You can also get different wing shapes! And the best part is that for normal spirits, you have to unlock most stuff with end candles, the hardest candle to find {candles are the natural currency}. But for seasonal spirits, you don’t have to unlock anything. It’s a really good game and you should totally get it. TEAGAN UP AND OUT”

These are writings from my daughters while we sit at our dock waiting on our engine to get fixed.  We have internet and are still in the US so this is easy and fun while they still have the ability to do this.  Soon today will be yesterday and we’ll be off for our adventure, but today the kids go to school and I work on the boat.  We’re living on our boat with two kids and a Great Dane ready to head south.  We’d love to have you FOLLOW us and check us out as we continue this adventure. 

An Unfamiliar Rythm

We’re 5 1/2 weeks with no engine in our 51-foot sailboat. Thus we can’t get out of the marina, can’t go sailing or much adventuring…cause we’re waiting on baited breath for every call from the mechanic. The latest updates put us all the way into the last weeks of Oct…meaning it’s likely we’ll have to choose between Baja Ha-Ha and a decent engine workout with post-valve adjustment as needed. This is the most frustrating…cause we paid for Baja Ha-Ha long ago and we were upfront with our timeline to the mechanics in the first two weeks of August when they started the engine work. It’s not about the money for Baja Ha-Ha..it’s about cutting the lines. So sitting in our slip this long is that unfamiliar rythm..I’m not liking it too much.

Kids Corner Fri then I’ll do a project update Sat and you’ll get your fill of Quincy on Sun.