Summer 2016

August 2016

The summer is passing so quickly!!  A number of people have commented that I have not posted anything for awhile, so here goes. This is not as exciting or interesting as being on the boat but you asked for it...

We are both working right now.  First it was to pay for boat repairs but after the accident...oh, wait, I didn't tell you about that...

Up at Palm Coast, after we hurriedly cleaned and packed the boat and managed to get away a day earlier [the mosquitoes were literally driving us mad!], I was driving and blew a tire! I managed not to hit and other vehicles in the four lanes on our side of I-95 but hit a guard rail!  There were two cops who passed us going the other way; one turned around and radioed (I assume) for back-up, and a few minutes later a highway patrol and state trooper pulled up behind us.  Before they arrived, Rick was trying to change the tire and every time he jacked up the van, the kack went throught he frame. Uh-oh...not good

Initially I wanted a job that did not involve decision making, personal interaction with strangers, or thinking of any sort, so I found a housekeeping job at a motel.  The pay is minimal but I don't care...the whole idea was to supplement the cruising kitty. I get about 15-20 hours a week, but it does two things: gives me money for boat repairs and keeps me fit!  I can completely clean a bedroom and a bathroom from stripping and making two beds, to completely washing the bathroom including walls and floor to vacuuming the whole place in 30 minutes. I am stronger now than when I started and still flexible!

I also made some boat cushion covers for friends' boat, which took about a week to complete.

Rick, on the other hand, is working at Tobermory Marine Services four days a week. He drives an hour each way and loves it! He's back in "his natural habitat...marine retail"!  He will be able to get the dinghy motors repaired and we can decide which one we want to keep. He will be there until haul-out in October.

We took the sails and the trampoline over to a sail-maker yesterday in Collingwood - K-Force Sails. He is replacing the edges of the tramp with an amazing material that is not sail cloth. It is a poly-vinyl that has reinforcing in it so that it cannot rip. We tried!! And it is UV protected so it will not get sun-damaged!  He also told us we should be using 303 Sun |Protecter on our fabrics to prevent sun-damage. He will look at the small spinnaker to see about repairing it and told us to get the measurements for him to see about building a new one for us that fits the boats.

I have started to make repairs to the sail cover. I am changing it so it can be eventually converted to a lazy-jack bag.

We are staying with my brother Jack in Alvanley. Liz's house in Hepworth cannot support 7 people on a full-time basis ...neither will my sanity. We have been working with him to get the Rockford house [mom and dad's place] finished so he can get it rented out. It's beautiful. If it were mine, I wouldn't let anyone else move in!!

[FYI - all these little communities are about 10-20 minutes apart...not really different towns; more like suburbs with farms in between ]

Quentin is back at home. He is also working part-time with me, actually. He does maintenance around the motel and he is also on the call list for another one and a roofing company.

The summer here has been horrible. At first, it was so cold I couldn't get warm. There has been no rain except for two days since we got back, and the whole area is tinder dry. At night the temperature drops to 10-12 degrees and it is freezing but in the daytime it goes up to 25. [For our foreign friends that's 50 at night and 75 during the day...25 degree change and it's tough on the body!!] 75 is not really hot but everyone here is complaining of the heat. If it's humid, it's worse and there is no reprieve. Apparently the water in the lake is still very cold. I wouldn't know...I have no intention of swimming until the water is 25-27 degrees [Caribbean warm]!

We expect to be back down in Fort Pierce by the end of October. We are taking the scenic route back: via Thunder Bay, Kenora, possibly Billings, Montana; Indiana and Charlotte NC. That should take about 3 weeks but we will see many of you that we have missed.

We finally got the see the last Star Wars...not impressed, but the Star Trek was awesome!!! And we managed to watch "The Martian". I loved the movie but the book was so much better!  It's a little scary how easy it is to fall back into old habits...watching TV, especially baseball games and favourite comedies. I still can't listen to commercial radio and I snarl at stupid drivers. I hate the City [Toronto] and the suburbs, love the countryside, but I still love the challenge of driving on superhighways.

I am waiting for a couple more things to happen but until they manifest I am not going to mention them. Suffice to say, there will be more news soon...maybe...or not.

Enjoy your summer, and stay warm...god knows I'm trying to!!