Paint the bottom of my boat

February 26. 

Cold and windy. The river fast going down.

 
Paint the bottom of my boat. 

What an accursed land, methinks unfit for the habitation of man, where the wild animals are monkeys! 

I saw Mrs. Brooks's spiraeas to-day grown half an inch (!!), whose starting I heard of on the 18th.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, February 26, 1857

Paint the bottom of my boat. See March 9, 1855 (“Painted the bottom of my boat. ”); March 15, 1854 (“Paint my boat. ”) ; March 16, 1860 (“As soon as I can get it painted and dried, I launch my boat and make my first voyage for the year up or down the stream, on that element from which I have been de barred for three months and a half.”); March 17, 1857 (“Launch my boat.”). See also February 23, 1857 ("I have seen signs of the spring.")

I saw Mrs. Brooks's spiraeas to-day. See February 18, 1856 ("Sophia says that Mrs. Brooks's spiraeas have started considerably!”); February 25, 1857 ("I hear of lilac buds expanding, but have not looked at them.")