Friday, November 7, 2014

Morning Tea. Vero.

Morning Tea posts are just random thoughts dumped onto a page because I can't seem to string any of those thoughts together to form a post lately.


No See Ums. Hate the tiny bastards. Not sure what works out there for protection but we have to try something. Lost a good nights sleep getting eaten.

Vero is a good place to re-stock and get some work done on the boat. It is also good for socializing and meeting new boaters.

The Bus system in Vero is great, you can get anywhere free. Depending on where you go it could be an all day affair and you might enjoy or suffer, depending on your outlook on life, with an out of ordinary discussion with some of the regular riders.

Walking everywhere gets you thinking about all the cars in the Country. It used to boggle my mind thinking about all the cars that were being assembled and hitting the car lots every day. Still amazes me. Actually it's depressing. We would be so much better off with mass transit. The number of cars sold world wide each year : http://www.statista.com/statistics/200002/international-car-sales-since-1990/

We've been cruising in stages. First was the A1A cruise from St Aug to Vero. Second was the Northern run from Vero (and Arthur) to the Chesapeake. Now we just completed the Southbound Sail from the Chesapeake to Vero. Blazing new trails from here on out.

When we roll up or down the ICW Debra takes the helm on the straights and I get to steer the wiggles. I am getting much better at making those wide sweeping turns and have not been yelled at lately for driving on the wrong side. Eventually Debra will just take over and I will be assigned to the galley. Wait. I'm already assigned to the galley!

Our Pirate friends suggested the ABC store for a better selection of brewski's. They were right! We have been finding some interesting and tasty brews in cans no less! Consumption is actually down. When corporate swill is all you have you tend to pass and have lemonade.

There are a few things on the boat that have bothered me lately. The rudder post has a tiny leak around the seal. I'll try to tighten the nut a bit. Our shaft seal drips way too much under power and the lock nut won't budge. Hammer time? Recently I went to start the engine and only the solenoid clicked. The next try it fired, but this is disturbing. I have some leaky ports to contend with still and the engine keeps creating belt dust even though the alternator load was electronically reduced by half and the belt is nice and tight, but not too much. WTF?! Alignment?

We are missing the kids and grandkids very much but we will see them all at Christmas. Hopefully we get enough lovin to carry us through the winter.

We have a plan for travel for the winter and that is to get as far south as we can. Not sure where that will take us but we are just winging it day by day, week by week. We found out you can't really make concrete plans in this life we live.

There are some really interesting people out here on the water and especially here in Florida.

We went to Walmart the other day.

We ran from Walmart the other day.

We need to get more exercise. A morning or evening walk needs to happen or we will both have a short cruising life.

I still have not learned anything on the guitar.

I want an electric guitar. This way the whole anchorage will not have to suffer if it's not plugged in. When I learn a few things the whole anchorage will know about it. Yes they will.

There is too much face to screen time on this boat. So goes the world I guess.

My laptop battery only lasts an hour. Maybe this is a good thing.

We called for a bottom cleaning but like last May, the guy will need prodding. This reminds me I need to buy more zincs.

Like many Americans, even the folks on the water seem to be in a hurry. All those Buffett songs about not living in a hurry and enjoying your surroundings didn't stick I guess.

The sometimes comical haircut saga continues. Not sure why I have this problem with getting a good haircut but I think it stems from a bad childhood experience with a horse head. More on that in the next post.

Cheers!
P







Monday, November 3, 2014

Blog changes coming

I have been meaning to change the look of the blog for some time and now I'm finally getting around to it. There are other more important things to do, like relax in the sun, walk a beach, or fix the many things that need fixing on this tub but the blog was getting a little dated. The cold weather forced us inside so it gave me an opportunity to change a few things.

One BIG change is that Debra is getting her own blog! Deb has been keeping a journal and taking photos and I convinced her to put it online. I am not a travelogue person and I do not detail the places and people we meet everyday. That's Deb's job now :)

I will continue to post the weird and quirky details while Debra gives you another more normal take on things. Details to follow shortly.

We are in Vero Beach Florida getting a few things taken care of like dental and doctor visits. We are also picking up some spare parts and getting the bottom scrubbed. I plan on re-bedding a few ports as well. There needs to be some major organization taking place onboard as well. We kind of have stuff scattered all over.

Our V-berth is relatively cleaned up but I still have that pile of line to splice into new dock lines. We have a hot knife now and all I need is a fid and I'll give it a go.

Cheers!
PJJB