Living on the boat in the winter...

I love the excitement that snow brings! Today, we got all bundled up to get outside to "play in the snow". Of course, this weather episode brought only a few millimeters that laid on a few leaves...

The kids still enjoyed catching the snow on their tongues, though.

We have been spoiled with very mild winters the past few years. I am afraid we may have a regular one this year. The past few years I haven't been too concerned about walking down a 250 foot icy dock with 2 kids and a geriatric dog. This year may be different!

One of the exciting things I have learned about living on a boat in the winter is how to be as prepared as possible. This involves having all the laundry and dishes done every night. If the outside water line freezes, we will have to rely on our 300 gallon tank of water reserve. We like to save as much of that for our showers.

I also have to think about having some meals in the freezer. This reduces the amount of dishes to wash when the water is frozen.

Now, if the weather looks warm (~42 deg. F or more) for the rest of the week, we can expect our water to thaw. If, however, a 2 week freeze is in store, we (i.e. Bruce) will have to run another hose out to our water source.

The most important thing to remember while living on the boat in the winter is to keep a sense of humor. I often fail on this one. I get grumpy... But, if I look at this picture of John's "hat head", I may do better...