Saturday, November 26
Quiet day. I went in to do laundry and talk a walk in the morning while Alan worked on our fishing gear. In the afternoon we went out in the dinghy on our first fishing trip. Alan trying his hand at fly fishing and me working on my spin casting. Before we left Alan showed me how to tie my lures on. If you're going to fish you have to learn to do all this stuff for yourself! Found a nice spot where the fish were jumping in amongst the mangroves but didn't get any bites. I decided to try a different lure. Like the well taught "fisherperson" I proceeded to choose my lure and tie it on all by myself. Alan told me that I should except a different feel from the new lure since it was a bit heavier. I proudly made my first cast only to have the lure go flying off my line and into the deep! Guess I hadn't gotten that knot down quite right. Alan handed me the little book of knots and I proceeded to tie another lure. I'm happy to say this one didn't get away! Alan had a good laugh about the whole thing on our way back. No bites and no fish!
Had cocktails with Leigh and Ken Parrot aboard their Benneateau, "One Eyed Parrots". They're from Kentucky and are spending the month down here on a mooring also. Their schedule for going to the Keys is the same as ours so we're planning on going together after the New Year.
Sunday, November 27
Took the Mystic Jitney over to Moss Marine for fuel and water. Back on the mooring and we decided to take a drive down to Bonita Beach to an Ace Hardware store that has a lot of good fishing tackle. Bought some new flies for Alan and lures for me along with some other goodies. Learned that they are having a fly fishing seminar on the 11th so we're planning on coming back to that. Wrapped Christmas presents and made up packages in the evening.
Monday, November 28
I took the dinghy in early for my morning walk/run. After getting back to the boat and having breakfast I decided to spend the day running errands and doing some final Christmas shopping. Went to UPS to mail packages, shopped for decorations for the Mystic Jitney and also for decorations to bring to the Bahamas for Island Girl (those had to be small and easily packable), and did some more shopping. Finally I had crossed all those little odds and ends off my list. I was feeling pretty good. Alan spent the day working on his solution to getting the dinghy up out of the water for long trips. He's worked out a system of pulleys, etc to pull it up onto the transom platform. He also pulled the hydraulic steering pump off the steering system for repairs. In the course of the generator work last week we noticed that the steering system was slowly leaking fluid. Having completely lost steering several years back because of a leak in the system we had figured we should rebuild the pump before we had a serious problem. We had the repair kid ordered last week and Olsens marine called Alan today to say that it was in. Alan took our pump over to them and they rebuilt it.
Tuesday, November 29
The weather front moved through today and it rained all day. Alan thoroughly enjoyed being able to sit and read all day. To all my beading friends I finally got my beads out and started beading today! I'm working on the beaded rose pins that I'll be selling with all proceeds going to Cystic Fibrosis. I've been asked to make as many as I can for a CF Wine Opener Benefit in Saratoga in March. Once I get the process down on those I'm planning on getting my loom work going again with some new techniques and ideas. It just takes a while to get a comfortable workspace, and system going, etc on the boat. Not like home where I have a studio I can just walk into whenever I feel like it. But I think I'm getting there. The rain stopped by mid afternoon and we went out for some groceries. By the time we got back the skies were clearing and we had a beautiful sunset - skies all pink and blue!
Wednesday, November 30
Drove to Cape Coral in the morning to pick up a package at Shirley's. Alan installed the rebuilt steering pump after we got back and we had to bleed the system. Put some Christmas decorations up , wreaths on the windows, etc. Didn't get the lights on the rigging yet but hope to get that done by the weekend. We went shopping for more fishing gear, etc in the afternoon. Had friends George and Florie Palange over for dinner. They are retired teachers who taught with Alan and now have a second home down here in Punta Gorda. Just about everyone here is from somewhere up north. Had a great time.
Thursday, December 1
Cold and clear this morning - temps in the 50's. Drove over to Bell Tower outdoor mall, did some shopping, and had lunch. Stopped at West Marine on the way back to pick up some supplies and order a repair kit for the hand pump in the guest head. Spent the rest of the afternoon arranging storage on the boat. Checked out our snorkel gear for the Bahamas and decided to buy new masks and snorkels. Shortly after dinner Alan had a major attach of pain in the upper abdomen - not unlike the gall bladder attacks he had. Since he had his gall bladder removed 4 weeks ago we became concerned that it might be something more serious so around 9:00pm we went ashore and I drove him to the emergency room. They did an EKG, monitored his heart for several hours and did bloodwork. Around 1:00 am the doctor came in and said that Alan's heart was just fine but his bloodwork indicated that he might have a residual gall stone that was the root of the problem. Who would have guessed that you could have your gall bladder out and still have gall stones?! Got back to the marina and boat around 1:30 am.
Friday, December 2
Spent the morning talking to doctors in NY, insurance company and making arrangements for Alan to see a specialist down here next week. The surgeon who operated on Alan assured us that if he did have a residual gall stone it could be taken care of with a simple procedure. Guess we'll find out next week. Today he's doing fine and we're back to normal. Had new friends from "One Eyed Parrots" and "Coco-Nut" over for cocktails this afternoon.