April 8, 2014 Back in Stuart

Aww, come on.  Is it really that cold?

After uneventful doctor appointments and a visit to Amanda to get haircuts (I was able to get away with split end removal which still baffles me but seems to please everyone else) we headed up to Fish Creek the next day to purchase olive oil and basically to see Door County.  We bought 8 bottles of Olive oil and took a few minutes to immerse ourselves in the brisk chill of Door County before turning around and eagerly heading south.  Sheez, how did we endure all those years in this climate.

We met some brother and sister in-laws and even a niece, Danielle whom we haven't seen for a few years, at the Water Street Brewery in Cederburg.  Wonderful to see everyone again!

After leaving there we made it to Ixonia and went right to sleep.  Next morning we slept through all the morning commotion with everyone departing to jobs and school.  When we finally did stumble out of bed we did some laundry and I started sorting through all our tax stuff.  And I was able to take a nice long walk around Ixonia.  

On Thursday we met Dan and Judy for lunch and a planning session our future destinations.  They're interested in visiting us along with Gordy and Joanne somewhere on the east coast.  Hopefully that will all work out.

After lunch we head over to the Lutheran home to visit with my mother.  Kathy and Dave Boyd were already with my sister.  I even had a chance to talk on the phone with my cousin Judy. 

After the Lutheran Home we headed back to Ixonia for more tax fun but before that we stopped off to see Laura and our grandson Sean.   He's riding a bike now in a style reminiscent of a formula 1 race car driver.   After returning to Ixonia we had dinner and took Jack out for ice cream.  

Then on Friday, Greg brought Sean back over to Jen and Dave's house for dinner.  By then I had most of our tax work completed and we were organized to pack for Saturday when we'd be leaving.   And leaving early.  8am ... ish.  

And bearing in mind our journey up here, I went and made a reservation at a Hampton Inn in Clarksville TN.  And of course the place was hardly even occupied.  But we were well rested and able to head out at 8 again the next morning and made the 800 mile drive to Stuart in pretty good time.  We arrived back a the boat a little before 11pm and just left everything in the car and went to bed.  The boat was, thankfully, still floating.

Next day we unpacked, and Mary made arrangements for a diver and talked with Nyla who is really good at sewing Sunbrella.  I called a boat detailer and a dinghy repair place.  The diver will be cleaning the hull since it has an impressive amount of growth from the time we spent sitting in Marathon. 

 The boat detailer is going to end up stripping off all the poly-glow (a kind of boat wax), washing and re-waxing the whole boat.   It will transform a dingy old tub into a shiny old tub.  It would have taken us a month to do what these guys (5 of them no less) do in 2 1/2 days.   Like I could even talk Mary into helping wax the hull.

Legally able to park in a senior spot now!

We did a late afternoon shopping run while we still have the car and ended up selecting a new salon carpet and runner.  Why we did this is beyond me but we did actually buy some groceries.  

New (soft) carpet!

I might add, it was my color choice.  What Mary picked out was hideous which is exactly what she thought of the one we kept.  But once we got it in the boat it looked fine. 

Hard to tell but it really is shiny!

So today, Wednesday, the boat shines, the dinghy is off at a boat yard and taxes are completed.  All I have to take care of now is some fuel filter replacements and investigating a squeaky idler pulley (I think) on the port engine.  Oh yeah, and figure out a route to St. Augustine.  Luckily we have last years log notes as to where to anchor etc.  But we aren't leaving until Monday.   If the dinghy is ready and my new lap top arrives.  At least that's the plan anyway.  

This morning I drove the car back to Hertz around 8:30.  Long line at the counter, but luckily there was a Hertz guy just coming into work and he took my "gold" membership thing I signed up for and promptly forgot about.  So all I did was leave him the keys and walked back to the boat.  

Another Cleo?   And this one is 13 years old!

I met up with a Basenji owner who we met last year as I got back to the marina .  His dog sure looks like Cleo.

And I arrived just in time to meet the Imperial Boat works guy who was there to pick up the dinghy.  So we all hauled lines, and pushed and pulled the big boat over towards the other boat in the slip to our starboard.  I went up and winched the dinghy down with inches to spare.  Then 4 or 5 of us pushed and pulled the dinghy through the small opening between our boat and the dock.  Whew!  Close one.

And luckily enough I was able to get the engine down low enough so it was able to pump water otherwise we would have had to tow over to the launch ramp where their dinghy trailer  was located.

Johnny, from 5 Star Boat Detailing came over and he gave me some boat waxing and cleaning product names to try.  I  paid him just as Nyla came on board to take down some of the fly bridge side curtains so she could sew some additional flaps on the corners to keep water from entering the boat from rain.  These side curtains dont fit real well and its far, far cheaper to have these flaps sewn in rather than re-doing the whole enclosure.  

They work!   

After all this activity it was only 2:30.  Mary was off showering and doing laundry.  And I got bored so replaced the last florescent light above the stove with two LED lights.

The rain storm which lingered into the early morning is now gone and we have nice sunny skies.   Should be a nice cool night, perfect for a leisurely cocktail or two.