Tag: northwest school of wooden boatbuilding

1st quarter 2023: Big change. BIG.

So uh, remember last update when I said that pesky medical follow-ups were keeping us in TX, but at least none were serious? 

One got serious. 

And that’s why we’re still here, but that’s not the BIG change. I’ll get to that.

It’s a little bit about me, and a lot about Tim and boats.

I won’t leave you guessing about the medical thing. 

My doctors found that I have some precancerous endometrial lesions, and the treatment for someone my age and with my cancer history is a hysterectomy. I’m scheduled for the surgery in April, and we expect to begin our trek toward WA & AK in mid-May, assuming I get an all-clear from my medical team.

Quite honestly, it’s a relief — and also a good excuse for a heartfelt reminder to get your regular check-ups, and also your irregular ones, for symptoms and conditions that just don’t seem right. Don’t wait.

So yeah, other than a 10-day visit to Tim’s folks in Mexico, we’ve stayed put here on our friends’ property in Boerne, TX, and since I have no RV travels to report for this quarter, I’ll jump right into what’s happening later this year.

And now… for something completely different. 

If you were paying attention last summer, you might have noticed my somewhat cryptic caption on the photo of Tim at the WoodenBoat School in Maine.

It was here, in July, that we started seriously discussing the “what ifs” and “just maybes” of that rekindled flame.
(This is a screen cap of the slide show from the original post, not a new slide show, so don’t click the little arrow thingies because they don’t do anything.)

Tim loves wooden boats, and …

… he once built a wooden boat, and …

… our older son went to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, WA, ten years ago, and …

… Tim’s been thinking about it ever since, and …

… we knew we’d be returning from Alaska to Washington in September of this year, making it an ideal time to start school there, but …

… Tim didn’t know what he’d do with the skills he’d learn and the degree he’d earn, so …

… after a lot of drive-time discussions and no small amount of soul searching, he decided to let those wood shavings fall where they may, because life is short, and it’s time to fulfill this dream. A post-graduation plan will eventually reveal itself.

Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tim applied in January, pretty much the second admissions opened for the 2023-24 school year, and – – – paperwork, interview, more paperwork – – – is now enrolled in their 12-month Boatbuilding AOS Degree program, starting in October!
It was in fact while we were living in WA 20 years ago that Tim built his first wooden boat, laying the keel after returning from a lengthy Navy deployment in 2003, and launching in 2004.
The 15’ solid wooden and fiberglass sailboat was based on Harold Payson’s Gypsy.
Tim modified it in 2005, refurbished it in 2015, and sold it in 2016, shortly after we took to full-time RV living.

We have what feels like a shipyard’s worth of logistics to plan before school starts. Are we going to book an RV site for a year? Rent a furnished place? Sell or store Tex (5th wheel) or Road Island (truck camper)? What about the cargo trailer with all Tim’s tools in it? What am I going to do while Tim’s in class every weekday from 8-5 for a year? If I get a job, won’t we need a second vehicle? And oh yeah, there’s this summer’s trip to Alaska in Road Island, for which we don’t even have the bare minimum of dinghies in a row yet. Ack!

And then… there’s the weather. We’ve visited family in western Washington countless times, plus we lived in Bremerton for a 2-year tour of duty, and it was the longest, coldest, darkest, wettest 6 winters I’ve ever experienced. Please send a sun lamp and other mood lifters. I’ve already bought the wildest pair of rain boots I could find.

The father will follow in the son’s footsteps, right through the doors of the boat school, 10 years later. It’s kind of like a legacy admission, only… backwards?
Plus, that boy of ours still lives in the area, and the prospect of more family time definitely puts some wind in this mama’s sails.
(Photo taken at the school, the weekend our son graduated)
And if I knew where to find this old license plate frame, which I had custom made for Tim when he finished the sailboat in 2004, and is now buried in a box in our storage unit, I’d definitely give it a shine and put it on the BFT.

As we muddle our way from springtime surgery in Texas, through an Alaskan summer road trip, to settling into student life in Washington in the fall, check in with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for brief updates on how it’s all going. Until the next long post here, I’ll leave you with a joke.

Question: What’s the biggest advantage of going back to school as a retiree?  
Answer: If you cut classes, no one calls your parents. 

We started full-timing in August of 2015, but I didn’t think to do an annual review until the end of 2016, and it was just a listing on Facebook of places we’d visited. After that, I started using a quarterly format.

Travel cheat: We flew from TX to WA — but then promptly borrowed an RV

It’s true. And there’s probably a good joke here that starts, “You can take a couple of full-timers out of their RV…”

But didn't we look cute on our airplane?
But didn’t we look cute on our airplane? Sorry it’s fuzzy. I was probably giggling with glee!

With only 7 days to visit two different parts of the family — our son and his girlfriend on the Olympic Peninsula, and Tim’s parents, sisters and their families a couple hours north of Seattle — it made perfect sense for us to have our own mobile guest suite. Thankfully, Tim’s folks own just the thing, and were willing to hand over the keys!

Tim's folks made the bed, gassed/watered/propaned it up, and even stocked the pantry and fridge for us -- including homemade chocolate chip cookies. My in-laws are the bomb!
They patched a few leaks, made the bed, gassed/watered/propaned it up, and even stocked the pantry and fridge for us — including a bottle of wine and homemade chocolate chip cookies.
My in-laws are the bomb!

Tim's dad checked us out on all the systems before letting us leave the driveway. This thing is way easier to set up and take down than our fifth wheel, but...
Tim’s dad checked us out on all the systems before letting us leave the driveway.
This thing is way easier to set up, take down, and drive around than our fifth wheel, but…

... wow, is it petite. Excellent choice for short trips, but I don't think I could handle living in one full time. The bathroom is about half the size of ours, and includes sink, potty and shower. I did not think that was possible.
… wow, is it compact.
It suited our needs more than adequately for this short trip, but I don’t think I could handle living in a truck camper full time.
The bathroom is about half the size of ours, and includes sink, potty, storage cabinet and shower. I… I did not think that was possible. And I am not willing to downsize that much.

Boiling water for coffee in this old percolator made us feel like pioneers!
Boiling water for coffee in this old percolator made us feel like pioneers! (Yeah, we know. Pioneers had campfires, not auto-ignite gas stoves.)

And although this is truly a 1-butt kitchen, we bumped it a 2-butt to clean up after a big breakfast. Tim washed, our son's girl dried.
And although this is truly a 1-butt kitchen, we promoted it to a 2-butt to clean up after a big breakfast.
Tim washed, our son’s girl dried.

Our site at the Point Hudson Marina & RV Park came with a view of Admiralty Inlet.
Our site at the Point Hudson Marina & RV Park in Port Townsend came with a beautiful view of Admiralty Inlet and the mountains beyond.

Moonrise over the inlet
Moonrise over the inlet

And here’s why we went: our older son graduated from the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding with an associate of occupational studies degree, and an impressive list of craftsmanship and engineering skills, such as planking, structures, fiberglass work, and handcrafted cabinetry. We are so stinkin’ proud!

That's him, sitting up there on the Chamberlain, a craft he's done a lot of work on during his time at the boat school.
That’s him, sitting up there on the Chamberlain, a craft he’s done a lot of work on during his time at the boat school.

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Not many school-sponsored graduation receptions include a keg. Was this place a good choice or what? And although this is not our boy's first beer, it's the first one his mama's poured for him, so like so many other milestones, we captured it with a photo. I'm sure there's a spot in the baby book for this somewhere...
Not many school-sponsored graduation receptions include a keg. This school was a good. choice.
And although this is not our boy’s first beer, it’s the first one his mama’s poured for him, and like so many other child rearing milestones, we captured it with photos. I’m sure there’s a spot in the baby book for this somewhere…

Later on, our son showed us around the boat yard in Port Townsend. This one bears a price tag of $5000 OBO. My best offer is oh hell no.
Later on, our son showed us around the boat yard in Port Townsend.
This fixer-upper bears a price tag of $5000 OBO.
My best offer is oh hell no.

I’ll leave you with three images of what the Puget Sound area is famous for: her picturesque waterways. No matter where you go, your journey will include bridges, tunnels, or ferries to get you from Point A to Point B, and the views are always worth the wait.

Deception Pass, looking west from the bridge...
Deception Pass, looking west from the bridge…

... and east
… and east

Port Townsend Bay
Port Townsend Bay

As for what’s coming up next for us, it looks like we’ll be sitting here in San Antonio through the fall, and perhaps into winter. Some medical issues have come up, and they need to be taken care of. I won’t share the details here, mostly because we don’t have enough information yet to know what lies ahead for Tim, but once we’ve got a better grip on what needs to be done, I’ll spill the proverbial beans. For now, in my husband’s own words:

I admit this is not how I wanted to spend my fall months, but such is life. I welcome prayers, well-wishes, and good thoughts. 

Hell, some of you might even feel compelled to send large sums of money, which would also be just fine.

Now if you do choose to pray, please don’t get too serious. I think something like this would be appropriate: “Dear God, please help that sap get physically well soon. We all understand he is a lost cause mentally.”