Another itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka-dot bikini day. Thanks to plenty of white puffy clouds our temp display reads 89 now instead of 92,- Ok- make that 94 now in the sun.  I read the background story about the song; Paul Vance wrote it in 1960 about his two-year-old daughter and Brian Hyland took it to #1 that summer.   I was two in 1960; don’t think my swim suit collection included a bikini. We’ve ended up retrieving Bonny, Ms Escape Pod #1, from our CT marina. Borrowed a ladder from David (not buying anything more that we have to store!) to allow us extreme ease in getting off and on the boat and also for working along the edges of the deck. Our big project this summer is removing all the deck hardware and fittings, grinding out a bit of coring, filling with epoxy, then re-installing the machine screws with proper sealant. When the hardware was off we cleaned off the rust. The end result, assuming we don’t expire from the heat, will be that water can no way get in to the core-cell and no way will we have rusting.

Tools of the Epoxy Worker. Small holes filled via syringe.

Starboard bow deck cleat. Have you checked yours lately?

Ortolan’s master repair guy dremels out the screw holes for the port bow pulpit

Our spot between two Butler buildings affords some sun protection and no other boat are near us (no worries about our work bothering them, or vice versa) but the very “best” part is all the birds!  Half of Barrington’s sparrow (and I don’t mean “Cap’n Jack’ here) population lives in the openings under the small overhangs. They fly back and forth, sometimes with nest material, but ALWAYS leaving a reminder on our deck or rooftop of their existence. Just disgusting; even a rinse off doesn’t help much.

The view off our stern-taken on a rare overcast day.