Whaddya mean it's November?!?!

November 4

OMG - one month away from Christmas and we are still stuck in Florida!!!

Sorry, I've been slack here but things are heating up literally and its taking longer than we ever expected to get off the land. Hopefully we can be in the water by the weekend. For some reason Rick is dragging his feet...not sure what that's about except that we are still waiting to find out if our dinghy motor will live and I suspect that's what's taking so long.

If you caught Liz's message on facebook re: Quentin and his focus, I had said that he could go back to Canada next year and re-do grade 10. Liz's comment was that he could leave paradise now and go home to do it.

Let me be clear: THIS IS NOT PARADISE!!! 

·         It is 239 +/- steps from the boat to the bathroom...one way. How far do you have to walk to YOUR bathroom?

·          Lots of times there is a wait time of 10-15 minutes before someone in there finishes their cigarette, their book or simply wakes up. 

·         Does the expression "Crapped a cow" hold any meaning for you?  The bathrooms are revolting at the best of times

·          You cannot drink the water. It is so sulphur-y that it is hard to believe we don't smell like rotten eggs after we shower.

·         The freaking trains are unbelievable. We compare notes in the morning as to how many times we heard them. I think engineers here get to pick their own horns and they hold contests to see who can blow it the loudest and longest!

·         The dust in the yard is a combination of limestone and shells. There is the constant feeling of grit in your teeth, in your hair, in your eyes, in your ears...

·         We are buried in the back of the yard and all the other boats around us block the wind so there is no breeze that reaches us in the boat.

I think if it weren't for his friends he might have opted to go home already...I know I've been considering it!!

Hallowe'en [I don't care what your computer tells you...this IS the right spelling] worked out better than I expected. Quentin wanted to go trick or treating with Daniel and Pace, and their parents were fine with it. I was a little iffy since he is 5'6" and doesn't look like a little kid but that's me.... so I had a brain wave!  We dressed him up in his ordinary clothes, including socks and a tie. Put on some nerdy glasses frames and I made him up a name tag that said he was from Statistics Canada, and he carried a clipboard. His question was: At what age should kids give up 'trick-or-treating'?  Brilliant, right?  He didn't look like he was begging for candy but he got a good haul anyway: some people recognized that he was a nerd right away; some people even had a name for him!! The only problem was everyone wanted to talk to him and he was holding up Pace and Daniel!!

Sunday night we decided to go back to the Steak and Shake because I was too tired from working to cook, and it is still stupid hot here.  We took Daniel with us and then stopped at the Carnival...good move. Quentin and Daniel each got to ride all the rides and we didn't have to! They were on the assorted shake-up machines for about 2 hours and we just sat on the grass and watched the world go by! The toughest part was getting back on our feet!

This morning we were up at 5:30 and by 6:00 a.m. I was painting the decks. Rick got up and helped and then Quentin came out and we got it done by 8:00 a.m.

The parts arrived for the drive and Rick is taking them up to a machine shop today to have the bearings pressed on and then we can re-assemble it and try it out.  MY worst job is to try to re-organize all the stuff we have on the boat that has to stay there. I am putting most of the cold weather clothes in the van and they will be ready for us when we get back next year but not take up so much space.

So, time to go and find him. He went out to the van 20 minutes ago to get a chocolate bar and hasn't returned yet. I think Daniel is upstairs working and that's where he's gone. I need a leash! ttyl

The nerd but you can't see the socks!

Swimming again

The new toy

A stormy day ... too rough to swim