Red Tabby Cruising Committee Meets

The first Meeting of the Red Tabby Cruising Committee has adjourned… and it was fantastic! There were free drinks for everyone, three course meals, cupcakes to frolic in… 

Well, possibly not free for everyone – but for beloved guests of honour… absolutely. (The First Mate‘s strangled choking noises behind me are a tad reminiscent of when he was trying to bift me off the cupcake pile last night. But frankly if I heeded all of the Can Opener’s gasping and in articulate overreacting I would never get anything done. And certainly the cupcake count of my life would be dramatically lower.)

The First Mate spent the better part of this morning with Cruising Committee work: drafting emails to Cruising Section Members to publicise upcoming club cruising events this Spring. Tomorrow he’ll be compiling the updated Section contact list. Moaning and aching all day, he was. As if he were the only one frenetically employed…

At times, I do find the Can Opener has little regard for real effort – I have been busy all morning filing the leftover patisserie I looted. Filed according to colour, culinary heritage and tastiness… (Oi! WHERE did these come from, Fuzzbucket?? I thought I completely emptied your dreadful sac à main last night! My dear First Mate, that delightful Red Tabby chef absolutely pressed them upon me when I told him I could get him Dee Cafari‘s autograph. She still remembers me…)

Quality control is my forté. 

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Cruising Committee

The Cruising Committee meeting cake… of the The Cruising Kitty’s dreams

News flash:
The Can Opener has been invited to join the Cruising Committee at the Red Tabby Yacht Club!

What does it mean? Well… actually we don’t know.

They said we just had to show up for 6 dinner meetings in 2013 and maybe do some other committee type stuff. Like research and organising for upcoming events and event planning. 

Sounds pretty ominous to me.

I immediately volunteered to take care of the dinner–eating end of things and the Can Opener can do the research and organising end of the stick. We like to help the First Mate out wherever possible. Especially in the specialist area of desserts.

And we’ll get to meet a lot of other cruising cats which should be great! I wonder if Pussy Galore has signed up…

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Study Books for: Coastal Skipper Exam

Just ordered some more of the Can Opener’s favourite things… books! 

These ones are to help him review for his Coastal Skipper exam later this year. He’s got the old RYA study texts but in my opinion – it’s not enough. I want him to be 150% ready. 

I’ll probably order some more practice exercise books later too. Serious review starts now…

• Day Skipper for Sail and Power, by Alison Noice
• Yachtmaster for Sail and Power: The Complete Course for the RYA Coastal and Offshore Yachtmaster Certificate, by Alison Noice 
• Reeds Nautical Almanac 2012: With Marina Guide 2012 by Andy Du Port and Rob Buttress 
• RYA Weather Handbook – Northern Hemisphere by Chris Tibbs and Sarah Selman
• Coastal and Offshore Navigation, by Tom Cunliffe

Book reviews coming soon! 

–Captain Cat 

 (transcribed by the Can Opener)

Downsizing Books – Can It Be Done?

What are we doing?

Here‘s the decision tree I‘m training the Can Opener to use on his books…

1. Has the Can Opener read the book?

• If, yes… 
• is it sentimental?
• childhood book
• gift
• favourite book
• or actually written by a friend? 
• Or is it a reference text?
• sailing
• finance
• language text or dictionary
• travel guide
• …

• Sentiment and reference, he can keep.
• All else gets donated to the library (or if they won’t take it, the local youth hostel).

2. Has the Can Opener EVER read the book?

• If not read… — whaaaaaattt???? Why has my hard earned catfood been spent on this??!!!
• Will he ever read this?
• If yes, then go to 1.
• If no, then it gets donated. End of story.

Progress
You‘d think I‘d asked the Can Opener to put wax on his legs and then rip it off before he went cycling again. 


But despite all the yelping and anguish, we are making progress.


And it feels good to donate to the library. Our local biblio-rama is desperately in need of more business tomes and books of every kind.


I even plan to donate my beloved Encyclopedia of Feline Karate Bo, by Sensei Hiro Nekko. I‘ve already learned all the foundation moves anyway and am working on the ‘Intermediate‘ sequel.




It‘s aaaaall got to fit in a boat that‘s 30 feet or less. We’re on our way…

–Captain Cat


(transcribed by the Can Opener)


Downsizing
Next: Managing Food Inventory
Previously: Downsizing Papers That Breed