Alaskan Artist - Elise Tomlinson
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02/03/2005: "What I'm *really* afraid of..."


I changed my mind about what I would have painted had I been invited to the "What Are You Afraid Of" show...I would have painting the mast of my sailboat sticking out above the water of the Douglas Harbor!

I just found out today that several boats in local harbors have sunk from too much snow accumulation. My friend Beatrice told me, thinking that of course I have been scooping off the snow all winter, and the fact is, I haven't. Not once this winter. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. We've had huge snow falls in the last month or so, Winter Storm Warnings, Heavy Snow warnings, one big snow dump after another, seemingly endlessly...and I have been bitching and moaning about scooping my driveway...and it never once occured to me that I should be worried about my boat.

I just ran into Dan, an Anthopology professor here on campus who gave me this worried look when I said I hadn't been scooping the snow out of my boat. He's been doing it constantly this winter. His look of concern sent me into a panic. He has offered to help if the boat if full of water and I need help pumping, as I only have a hand powered bilge pump. I'd leave work early and head down there right now only I only have a short lunch break (which I'm on now) before a long afternoon meeting.

I literally feel sick to my stomach right now. Can a person die from having a severe enough panic attack? I hope not. If my boat has sunk, that will be the last straw for me and my bruised and bloodied finances.



Replies: 6 Comments

on Thursday, February 3rd, holly said

Oh, crap! Hope your boat's still afloat!

on Friday, February 4th, Elise said

When I got down to the boat last night there wasn't much snow on it at all. There are a couple of guys who live on their boats on the same float as me who help me out with stuff, chances are one of them has been giving Rozinante the occasional brush off. Which is very cool. However, I'm going to start being better about taking care of her myself. Now that I'm aware of the dangers of leaving a boat full of snow.

Thanks Holly for your concern.

on Friday, February 4th, holly said

Being boatless, myself, I just assumed that boats all migrate to some sort of boat garage for the winter. Never occured to me that you'd have to clean the snow off. Yikes, that could be an expensive oversight!

(Did you get the email I sent you last week about the Nova special with the fresco segment?)

on Friday, February 4th, Elise said

I did get your email (thanks by the way), I couldn't find the video in our collection but it sounds really interesting. I did find this tutorial (sortof). The process seems fairly complicated but interesting. Time permitting i think I will give it a try for the museum piece, with the cheesecloth backing so I can rip it off after the fact, though I wonder if that goes against the ephemeral nature of the show. Maybe they want the burried remains of the exhibit to exsit just under the surface?

Fresco Tutorial

on Friday, February 4th, Elise said

Oh yah, and as for wintering boats here, Juneau has two deep draft docks and five small boat harbors "maintained" by the city plus three privately owned harbors. Even so, most of them have waiting lists of people who currently have their boats trailored or dry docked somewhere who are hoping to rent a slip.

I've had my boat for three winters and this is only the first time I've shoveled snow off of it. Well, now I know.

on Sunday, February 20th, Alicia said

Hmmm. Naming something's hard. Probably because names have power. I used to wrack my brain thinking of the perfect title for a story...only to have an editor rename it 70% of the time. :satisfied:

How about a semi-literary pun, like Elise & Elucidation (Sense & Sensibility kinda thing)....or an Alaskan theme like, Dark Day Dreamer...or a whimsical theme like Graphics & Gaugin, or The Snacking Artist (instead of starving...OK, no one would get that.) This is the part where you say, Um, Alicia, thanks but you're not helping. :laugh: