Tuesday, March 2, 2005

Spent the last week and a half cleaning Alan's dad's  house, mulching the gardens and getting the house ready to be put up for sale.  Now we're ready to head out again for a few days.  Last week we were listening to this great music at a coffee shop and when I asked the clerk what it was he told me about satellite radio.  So.... I investigated and went to Radio Shack this morning and bought a receiver for Sirius satellite radio.  It's the best thing since sliced bread!  Continuous, no commercials, radio by type of music - over 65 stations plus traffic, weather, and news.  It's so simple and transportable to the car when we travel.  Our favorite station is the "Vacation" station - nothing but island, vacation music!  What fun.  I don't think we'll ever need CD's again.

Had our niece Candace and her husband Dan over for dinner on the boat.  It was fun spending time with them.

Wednesday, March 3, 2005

Left the dock around 10:45 am and made the 12:30 opening of the Sanibel bridge.  Picked up a mooring at Salty Sams, Fort Myers beach in the afternoon.  Walked to the beach and had beer, wings and shrimp at the bar on the roof of the Lanai Kai, a hotel right on the beach.  Also happens to be one of the big spring break hotels.  Had a good time walking the beach, listening to live music at all the beach bars and watching the antics of the spring breakers.

We noticed that "A B Seas" a trawler that belongs to our friends Bill and Antje was on a mooring just across from us.  They weren't aboard but we left a note on their deck inviting them to dinner on the "Mystic Jitney" tomorrow.

Thursday, March 4, 2005

Overcast day with light rain.  Lazed around the boat, baked cookies and planned dinner for our friends.  Had a nice evening with Bill and Antje.  Unfortunately they're leaving in the morning to cross back over to the east coast and start their trip north to their new home in North Carolina.  Way to early to head north!

Friday, March 5, 2005

Rain all night.  When Alan went to bail out the dinghy this morning he found a shrimp (extra large size) in the bottom.  Must have jumped right in during the night.  It was pretty funny - looked just like the ones we buy in the fish market!  Walked to Fort Myers beach again and stopped at the shrimp fleet on the way back to buy some fresh shrimp.  Tomorrow we'll head back to the house in Cape Coral.  Alan wants to start going through the garage and doing some more clean up.

Saturday, March 6, 2005

Started the generator and made coffee.  Turned off the generator, had breakfast and tried to start the engine but to no avail.  Started the generator back up only to discover that it wasn't putting out 110 volts.  Realized that one of the batteries was dead.  Spent the next hour trying to figure out how to solve the problem and get the engine started so we could get back to the house and then further investigate.  Alan finally had to wire the engine to the battery that starts the generator and hallelujah! it worked.  What a guy!  Left the mooring around 10:30 am, had a beautiful trip back up the river and arrived at the house around 1:00.

Alan decided to remove an old jib track on the port side of the boat to solve some leaks.  Wasn't all as easy as one would think.  Seems that stainless screws and aluminum backing don't make for a good match after time.  Several screws had really seized and Alan had to use his ingenuity again. 

Sunday, March 7, 2005

Visited with Alan's sister Shirley and Don in the morning.  They're heading to Hawaii for a week.  Spent the afternoon spreading more mulch and more cleaning of the garage. 

Monday, March 8, 2005

This morning's task was getting the dead 8D 12 volt battery (150lbs) out of the boat.  Alan managed to get it positioned under the engine room hatch.  Next job - to get it out.  With each of us managing a rope that ran through the battery handles we managed to haul it up into the cabin, slide it across the floor, lift it again onto the boat rail and over onto the dock.  That was the easy part!  Next we had to get it up through the yard and into the back of the jeep.  Did that with an oar, Alan at one end, me at the other end and the battery hanging in the middle.  Had to make several rest stops on the way.  When we were done I looked at Alan and mentioned that I had some doubts about being able to do this again in five years!  Guess it got him thinking because he began investigating replacing it with two 6 volt batteries (more like  70  lbs).  Great idea but our electrical consultant, Mark, advised that we should  not mix batteries but replace both 8D's with 4 6 volts.  If you've been following this you will now realize what that means - yes, we'd have to remove the second 8D from the boat!  What the heck - we have the system down now! 

Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Removed the second 8D battery in the morning (glad we won't have to do that again) and Alan installed the new 6 volt ones.  Drove over to an outdoor mall near the airport to meet our friends, Roberto and Maria, who flew in today for a wedding in Naples.  It was so good to see them again.  Haven't seen them since September.  Had lunch at a nice Italian restaurant - good food, good friends.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Worked on the boat in the morning.  Drove over to Naples to visit Maria and Roberto in the afternoon.  Walked the beach and then we all headed over to Mike and Christine Hall's house (mutual friends who've moved to Naples from CT) for dinner.  It's been several years since we've seen Mike and Christine.   Christine cooked a gourmet dinner and we all had a great time catching up and reminiscing. 

On the beach in Naples with our friend Roberto

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Yesterday Alan investigated the generator problem.  He thinks the brushes are worn out.  Not going to invest any more money in it at this time.  Will probably have a new one installed in the fall.  More friends from Mystic - Ray and Mary Jane Halsted.  They're here in Fort Myers on vacation and stopped by for drinks last night.  Good to see more friends from home.  We're meeting them tomorrow afternoon at Fort Myers beach for dinner. 

Sunday, March 13, 2005

We hauled the dinghy out onto the dock and Alan started doing some repair work on it.  I put down more mulch and planted some flowers down by the docks.  Also spray painted the furniture on the dock.  Went for a swim in the pool (water temp 80) this afternoon.  Life is good.

We're heading home for a few days on Wednesday.  Our granddaughter, Sydney, is having surgery on Friday.  Because of her cystic fibrosis she hasn't been able to get her weight above 30 lbs in more than a year.  For a 4 1/2 year old that puts her only in the 5th percentile.  To maintain good health and lung development they really want her to be at least 40 lbs.  She' having a feeding tube surgically inserted in her stomach.  It'll have a button on it that will her allow to be hooked up to a pump at night that will feed her high nutrient food.  She'll still eat regularly, go about all her activities, etc.  They say that this procedure really works well for CF kids who have this problem.  We're going to stay with the kids and help out getting William to and from school and visiting the hospital.  We'll be back here on the 22nd. 

Monday, March 14, 2005

Spring Break 2005 Pick Up Line.  Alan, Joyce, Ray and Mary Jane are walking the beach at Fort Myers.  Young college male comes up to Joyce and asks "Was your father a meat burglar?  Because he stole a couple of   fine hams and put them in the back of your shorts!"  Ah to be a part of spring break again!  What fun.  See you all soon.