Summarizing our Summerizing

 

Wilbur has to burrow under his pillows if his clueless parents don't cover him up when he's obviously quite chilly

 

When we arrived back at our marina after our Shake Up Cruise we knew we'd better get a start on readying the Knotty Cat for another brutal Florida summer. This will be our third full summer here and we're finally getting a grip on ways to survive the tropical heat. And I just want you to know, I'm not the one who came up with the term 'tropical' for Florida. I read somewhere that the 'South' ends somewhere in Georgia; after that it's tropical all the way.

Now that we have many systems in place to combat the heat I cringe when I remember how unequipped we were our first year here.

We now have:

A phifertex sunscreen around our dead lights (or wind shield if you think of us as a car) which faces east. It's snapped in place and doesn't have to be removed when we sail.

A phifertex sunscreen dead astern (at our rear end and it can be unzipped and put away when we set sail) which faces west and keeps us from baking during the afternoon.

We can now sit in the cockpit (back porch) in the afternoon without getting fried.

 

A close up picture of Phifertex. Look at all the colors!!

(this picture is from Sailmaker's Supply)

 

Home Depot patio curtains (they are very porous and allow the wind to blow through without trouble) tented over our boom and the bow. While they look pretty feeble, they keep out a lot of UV rays and also deflect some of the heavier rains we get during the summer.

 

What a mishmash of crap. But it works!

 

Air conditioners. I could write a thesis on this particular subject. Well, maybe not, but almost.

We don't have built in air conditioners and most likely never will so while we sit here in our slip we use A/C window units. Back in August of 2011 we set sail from Indiantown (in central Florida) where the Knotty Cat had sat on the hard since May of the same year. We were going to transit the Okeechobee and there was no way we could do this without A/C. This was because we were going to have to dock every night. I can't even remember if there are any anchorages in this waterway but it was August and unless you've experienced it you wouldn't believe the size and volume of mosquitos there. They arrive like angry B-52 bombers as soon as the sun sets.

So we went and bought a horribly expensive (and we found out horribly inefficient) West Marine air conditioner. Each evening after docking we had to heave that sucker atop the Knotty Cat since it wasn't stable enough to stay in place while we moved during the day. We then had to sleep in the salon since it only (slightly) cooled this area. After we arrived at our Marina here on the gulf coast we were able to leave the air conditioner in place. However, we were still sweating 24/7. We finally draped tarps over the windshield (anchoring them with our fenders) and since we lacked hatch covers I would lay our cockpit cushions over them during the day to keep out the sun.

First summer. Tarp covered windows and up on top and to the right; the West Marine air conditioner. Pretty!

 

Luckily we paid for the extended warranty because our deluxe air conditioner broke down within about 3 months. Its replacement and its replacement's replacement also broke down within 3 months. We finally got smart, sold the last unit on Craigslist before it could break down, and the following summer bought 2 window units for about a 10th of the cost. BTW, we made sure the new owner knew about the extended warranty should anything go wrong with it. We've never heard anything from him so maybe he finally got a good unit.

Summer number two is when we bought two 5,000 BTU units and with one over the salon and one over our berth we were a lot more comfortable and I was quite happy that I no longer had to re-convert the salon from a berth back to a settee every day. Also that second summer we had the sunscreen for the windshield made and I sewed some hatch covers. We tried several methods at the stern where the western sun drilled its rays through our cockpit door. This included some straw-like roll up curtains we salvaged from the dumpster but they just didn't do the job. We ended up having that sunscreen made too and it made a huge difference. Some marina friends had draped their boat in Home Depot patio curtains so of course we hustled off to buy some for ourselves.

From the stern looking toward the bow: on the left you can see our phifertex windshield cover; it wraps all the way around to the other side. Straight ahead is the box that covers our berth air conditioner. Over head are our Home Depot curtains.

 

Every additional layer of systems helped but guess what? During the hottest part of the day our poor Knotty Cat was still uncomfortable. Trying to do anything; sewing, cleaning... would bring on a sweat storm.

So now, in this our third summer, we replaced the 5,000 BTU unit over the salon with an 8,000 unit and kept a 5,000 BTU for our berth.

Wilbur is the true barometer of whether the Knotty Cat is now set for summer. When he does 'the tuck', which involves lying on his pillows with his paws all drawn up under his body and gives us his poor-me-winky-blinky-eye look, we know to grab his blanket and cover him up. Only then does he relax, stretch out, heave a huge sigh, and go to sleep.

The fact that has happened now that summer is here...

Dare I say, "By jove I think we've got it!" ? Because I think we do.

 

Is that a blanket on Wilbur? Is this June in Florida?

YES!!

 

I don't even want to think about having to take all this stuff down when we get our first hurricane threat.

 

 

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The Sweating Season

Hans and I, both very much northerners (during those years we never did enjoy the more than 9 months of cloud cover at a time), are now entering our third summer as liveaboards here on the hot, sunny, and steamy western coast of Florida.  We are either becoming a bit more accustomed to the heat or we've just given up any hope of ever knowing what it's like to not sweat for 24 hours a day.

I'm still amazed at the destructive rays of the sun and we are only now feeling like we have a small handle on its power. After suffering through our first summer here we covered the dead lights (or windows that don't open) that surround our salon area with a sunscreen that snaps onto the outside of our boat. 

Then last summer we had a sun shade made for our western facing stern. It very conveniently zips into our bimini and means that we can now sit in relative comfort during the early evening hours and not feel like a couple of sizzling eggs in a skillet. In the very near future we'll be draping the Knotty Cat in her Home Depot patio curtains that supposedly block an additional 15% of the sun.  And last week we installed two air conditioners. 

Before: closed hatch with a sunbrella cover.

Open hatch.

After: we cut a hole in a Rubbermaid container, stuffed an air conditioner  into the opening and dropped it over the open hatch. It was a perfect fit.

Who'd think there was an air conditioner behind that box?

What a difference. 

I had enjoyed our open-hatch-fresh-air winter so much that I dreaded having to deal with another hot and closed up summer. But thanks to Hans' ingenuity we now have cool dry air down below and I think I may even be able to sew in comfort.

Hans was away on business last week and here's Wilbur watching for him during his evening ritual.

It's been a while since I've posted and needless to say life at the marina continues to be interesting.  I'll catch up on all the doings here on my next post.

Today We Moved Our House

Actually we only moved the Knotty Cat around the corner to a boat yard so she can get hauled out tomorrow for a good cleaning and bottom paint job. But after we arrived Hans observed that all we really have to do is cast off our lines and just like that we can move our home to wherever we want.

It's quite liberating.

I did manage to get the boat out of our slip with much better results than I did last week and when we arrived at the boat yard we were very happy to note that we were docking in a slip at least 20 feet wide. Wow!! It made us realize how tightly squeezed we are in our current home port.

The only place we can find on our boat that will hold our over sized dinghy motor is a side rail at our stern. Either port or starboard it doesn't make a difference, but this damned motor has become the bane of my existence. Getting in or out of a slip means that this little bugger gets high priority attention as it just loves to grind itself into pilings any chance it can.

This morning Hans was at the bow and while he pulled the Knotty Cat forward, I braced myself against our stern piling in an attempt to fend off the dinghy motor. It probably would have helped if I'd kept my right hand clear so it wouldn't end up pinned between the piling and the motor.

Ouch!! Luckily Hans heard me screaming and gave me some slack and I managed to free my hand before it could be completely crushed.

Never again will I do that.

Now that we're at a different marina we have to keep the starboard stern away from the dock so the stupid motor doesn't dig into the dock. Luckily we get hauled out in the morning.

Wilbur was at his most irritating this morning and when he wasn't jumping ship to he was constantly underfoot.

Naughty Dog!

The Welcome Wagon arrived to greet us.

And then flew away.

I was under the impression that this was January. So why the hell have I had to take two showers already today? Honest to God, by the time we arrived here this afternoon the sweat was running off us.

Gee, I just can't wait for summer to arrive.

 

We be Lovin' our Florida Winter

After our wonderful week of vacation (ala our Thanksgiving Turkey Tour) we are now truly enjoying the Florida weather here in, uuuhhhm, well, Florida.

And let me tell you, it's been absolute heaven.  

For me it's kind of like giving birth; even though I've somehow managed to live through 2 beyond hellishly hot summers here in the Sunshine State (on a boat!!!!!!!), I've forgotten the bad stuff and only want to embrace the good.

Our days are full of sunshine, our evenings and mornings are now cool, and all we need in addition to a hot blooded pit bull for warmth at night is a blanket.  And we always have a hatch or two open for fresh air.

However, if Wilbur had any say in the matter, I'm pretty sure he'd have a complaint.  Our poor pittie truly has a problem with the cold. He shivers and trembles and burrows under blankets in even the most tepid of temperatures and has shown no desire to venture into our cockpit to 'take care of business' if it's even remotely chilly out.  

Actually, as far as Wilbur is concerned, 'taking care of business' is much more satisfying in a comfy warm berth.  

But we'll say no more on that matter.

Wilbur with his portable heater. Only 72 degrees?? Stop the Abuse!!!!

A 'crackling' Yankee Candle.

A former classmate of mine, knowing that I'm missing my fireplace, sent us this candle for the holidays.  Next summer we hope to attend my 35 year (how is that possible?) high school reunion and take a tour of her and her husband's working dairy farm. This farm is now on its eighth generation of family ownership.
And for those of you unfamiliar with farming; they operate 24/7.
All year long.
Period.
I grew up in farm land but Hans didn't so he's really looking forward to next summers visit.  I know he'll get a kick out of how far science has come to impact the farming community over the years.

-------------------------------------

Since I detest sweating for no reason at all; during the summer I now fully understand the need for siestas.

But now that it's fall and I have my sweating down to a minimum, I'm thrilled that the light bulb on my sewing machine isn't adding unwanted heat to our boat and I can actually plug in my iron without fear of melting.

Some actual sewing going on here

Nautical potholders made for a going 'aweigh' (I'm so clever) present 

A little more sewing.  Christmas potholders

And even more sewing!!!  Some wallets (these are only the beginning).

In addition to sewing, I've swabbed our decks more than once (just because I can!!!), biked to the library, walked a very naughty dog, and have actually enjoyed sitting in the cockpit during the evening.

What's not to love about a Florida Winter?

Cooler Weather = Outside Boat Cleaning

Right around November the first someone threw a switch on the weather here in Florida and we went from what I refer to as 'ankle sweating weather' to 'the most fantastic weather ever'!!  We now have breezy mornings, hot sunny days, cool comfortable evenings, and no need for air conditioning!!

Every day.  And it's fantastic!

The only downside is Wilbur and I can no longer hide out below board eating bon-bons, watching old movies, and napping, all the while blaming the intense Florida heat for the fact that the outside of our Knotty Cat is just plain filthy.

But now that the weather is cooperating I can't use the heat as an excuse for my slovenly ways. I can't whine to Hans that just navigating my way through a day means sweating through the lightest of clothes and even while sitting still sweat rolls down my back unless I sit right in front of a fan. And I'm not kidding when I tell you that just standing at the bow for the half hour it takes me to fill our water tanks once a week during the summer is beyond excruciating.

Honestly, the summer here is that bad.

So I've actually (almost) enjoyed these past two weeks as I've mopped and scrubbed the decks and have used about a gallon or so of mineral spirits to remove the inky black tar left behind from the oozing edges of our roll up solar panels (I've since wrapped those edges with UV resistant foil tape). And you just haven't lived until you've used an entire box of Q-Tips to clean just one locker. I've also skinned my knuckles scrubbing out too many lazarettes and lockers of their summers worth of dog hair, grit, and grime.

Gross indeed, but I did it mostly sweat free and that works for me.

Unloading the lazarettes in the cockpit.

Wilbur stands guard over our belongings.

Wilbur's swimming pool put to a whole different use.

"Phooey on all this boat cleaning! Where are my bon-bons and  DVD of The Return of Lassie?"

Next week is Thanksgiving already and Hans finally has a weeks vacation due him.  We are going to spend it  cruising up the coast and will celebrate the holiday at anchor with Wilbur.

I've never cooked a turkey (actually I bought a turkey breast)  in my life and I'm hoping as Wilbur is so smart he'll be able to lend me a paw with it!

So long, Isaac, it was nice not knowing you.

Since Isaac decided not to show up at our party we're finally getting back to normal here at our marina.

Actually, I think Isaac realized he couldn't compete with the Ryder trucks full of barrels of human urine and feces (can you imagine volunteering for that job) that the protesters of the Republican National Convention were bringing into our state, and decided to veer off toward poor old Louisiana. I sincerely hope Isaac doesn't cause a lot of damage there.

Hans worked from the boat yesterday and without air conditioning (we were still in defensive mode and didn't want to put our huge air conditioner back in place just in case it would need to come down again), it wasn't very pleasant.  There was a decent breeze going on which would have been okay except it would start raining and we'd have to close the hatches. The boat would heat up, it would stop raining, we'd open the hatches...aahhhhh, more fresh air.
It felt so good.
And then WHAM.
Rain.
We opened and closed hatches all stinking day long.

Early in the day I made the huge mistake of thinking I'd do some very much needed inside boat cleaning. After all there was all that fresh air blowing in. Then of course it started to rain. First of all, I don't do well in heat.  I grew up in snow belt country and this much I know; you can always bundle up and stay warm when it's cold. But if you don't have air conditioning in Florida during the summer, with over 80 percent humidity--you're going to sweat like a whore in church and most likely be cranky.
I grew cranky quite quickly (yes, I meant to say that), and I'm pretty sure Hans wished he'd gone into the office.
By the time I was done sponging up all the soapy water full of Wilbur hair from the floors of our galley, heads,berths etc..., I could have wrung a bucketful of sweat and tears from my shirt alone. The only thing that got me through the torture of my own personal sauna was the promise that even if it was raining, I was going to go for a swim.  But when that time came, the rain and wind had kicked up to such a degree that it just didn't make sense and I swear there were white caps in the pool. I could go on ad nauseum, but I'm sure you get the picture. I ended up taking a shower on the boat and I was a sweaty mess before I could even dry off.

Wilbur practices his 'Stink Eye' for Isaac.
"You talkin' to me, Isaac? Well, get lost, 'cause my mama is cranky!"
And notice that he's properly attired in his bow tie collar.  It's the one from  Silly Buddy the gift we received this spring from Two Pitties in the City  (the blog that made me think I surely needed to own a pit bull of my own thank you very much!).

The fun girls contemplate where they're supposed to poop if Isaac shows up (and pooping is a serious hobby for these two). 

We expected this much and more (photo from Tropical Storm Debby). Yet it never happened.

Honestly though, we're quite happy that Isaac passed us by and we were pretty impressed at how quickly everyone pulled together and got our marina 'hurricane ready'.  

We're not done yet though and I'll be glad when December rolls around.
Except I hate Christmas shopping.
I'm not happy unless I'm complaining.

When I have time...

... I plan on posting about living aboard a boat in a marina.

But, just when I think I have a minute I realize there's something I forgot to take care of. Like filling our water tanks, and considering that we use the bath house for most of our showers we still manage to go through about 70 gallons of water in less than a week.

I've finally decided to save myself about a half hour of time by just waiting for Hans to get home from work and handing me the hose from the dock while I grab it with a boat hook. This is way more simple than me trying to get it in the boat without dropping it in the water (and dock water is gross!). This week after filling the tanks I couldn't help but notice how dirty our cockpit was and decided to hose it out. I'll give it a good cleaning some other day I told Hans, but then I decided to take advantage of the cooler temps and ended up scrubbing the whole thing. And then I saw grease spots on the outer deck that had dripped from our grill, and what is that stain up at the bow... ? I think I now have scrubbing elbow and sadly this will all have to be done again next week.

I'll think of something that makes our life interesting but remember I need to get to the office for ice and since Wilbur needs to take a walk I'll kill two birds with one stone and take him with me. And with Junior along that little job is guaranteed to take twice as long (I'm pretty sure a lusty blood hound once took unfair advantage of one of Wilbur's ancestors because there's not a blade of grass that goes un-sniffed during these excursions). Our mailbox is also over at the office but do I ever remember to take my key with me? And there goes another trip.

I'll go to sit down at the computer and remember I need to do my daily creative shuffling of our refrigerator's interior. We have a wonderful Adler Barber refrigerator with freezer. But everything on the bottom of the fridge ends up freezing and the stuff on the shelves up and away from the freezer don't get as cold as they probably should. This isn't a defect, it's just the way it is. So everyday I swap thawed out ice packs with frozen ones. I also have a couple of pliable sheets of stuff that look like bubble wrap and I lay our eggs and butter, sour cream etc... on these. I sit our milk and things like potato salad right on top of the freezer, they don't freeze but they stay very cold.

I take our bunk apart and convert it back to a sitting area (something we do everyday since it's too hot to sleep in our berth) and think, today I'll start a post but then notice our carpet is dirty again which is what happens when your carpet is one tone and you have a dog and feather pillows and you live on a boat! Not that sweeping these small areas is so time consuming but in order to get to the sweeper, I have to crawl over the obstacle course that's taken over our port berth to the locker where the sweeper resides.

I decide I don't feel like collecting all my shower stuff and then trek all the way to the bath house so I shower on the boat. Aha! with all the time I saved I'm going to take it easy and upload pictures that have been sitting on my camera for over a week. But then I realize I can't remember the last time I cleaned out the shower filter and after venturing into the engine room to dismantle it I'm completely grossed out over how filthy it is. And while I'm at it I should probably see if I can figure out why the sink is draining so slowly.

I swear I go to the grocery store every day. It's not that I buy tons of stuff but I try to watch for sales and now that we're within a stones throw of a lot of stores I don't need to keep tons of provisions on board and can actually use the cupboards in our berth for our clothes and not ten boxes of tuna helper.



Isn't this lovely?

We had to use tarps to cover the dead lights (or windows) in our cockpit in order to keep out the hot Florida sun. We've also re-purposed our cockpit cushions by covering our hatches with them. This also keeps out the sun and who cares if it seems like we're living in a cave? It's better than living in an oven.








Just try to get some sewing done with a pit bull lying at your feet. I pray he doesn't knock that support out from under my table. And the other day I had a heart stopping moment and nearly sent for a priest when my sewing machine started sewing all by itself. Then I realized Wilbur had flopped down on the foot peddle. He's mommy's little helper.

Now that Hans is gone all day long, someone misses his daddy!

This past Sunday we spent the day at the beach with some very new friends and watched speed boat races. This is the first time we've left Wilbur alone for more than a couple of hours and right before we left the boat we were a bit puzzled about the air conditioner. It didn't seem to be blowing cold air. But the day was very cool and the unit was very new so surely we were imagining things.

When we got home eight hours later we were horrified to realize we could smell our head from the dock and were even more horrified to enter a very stuffy and very warm boat!

Yes, our air conditioner was indeed on the fritz and our holding tank took advantage of the situation and developed a bizarre case of the vapors.

I'm just very thankful that it had to happen on the coolest day we've experienced since we've been here and never again will we leave Wilbur alone for this long unless the promised highs for the day won't go above the 70's!

I spent the next day getting a new unit (covered under warranty), calling our dentist's office in Pittsburgh (for the third time) and asking why they're still sending their bill to our old address, and making sure to buy a bottle of bourbon.

You see, after finally moving the now defunct air conditioner to our vehicle (which required said vehicle to be emptied of our winter stuff and ramming it all into our already overflowing port berth and now I'll never find that damn sweeper!), feeding and walking our neglected and bewildered baby, we sat down (in our very smelly boat) to a crappily thrown together dinner of tortilla chips, nacho cheese, and the tiny amount of salsa I was able to scrape out of the bottom of what I had thought was a full jar! I was looking forward to a well deserved drink, and realized I was out of bourbon! Talk about the straw that broke the camel's back!

So anyway, if and when I get some time, I fully intend to post about what it's like to live on a boat in a marina!

Finally home.

We've had a lot going on these past two weeks so I apologize for being so behind on our progress.

After 11 days in the water we finally pulled into our marina...and right on schedule for the first time in our sailing lives! And also for the first time, we had very few technical difficulties. Admittedly we motored in with some smoke blowing out the port engine exhaust but the Knotty Cat enjoys the attention.

It's been a crazy summer for us, cleaning out our apartment, dealing with continuing family issues back home, lining up everything we need in Florida, trying to figure out the complicated mess of changing our driver's licenses, registration and what have you for our vehicles, getting the unpleasant news that our car insurance is now doubling!, finding suitable day care for our Wilbur, and wondering why the hell the post office can't seem to understand that when you ask for your mail to be forwarded, you want it forwarded!!! We have stacks of mail sitting in Pittsburgh that need to be sent to Florida. We are also trying to deal with the heat. It's an odd feeling to be standing still and realize there's not an inch of your body that isn't sweating. I had no idea my ankles had sweat glands!

Wilbur's tummy isn't too happy either so I ended up spending a agonizing afternoon boiling chicken and rice in hopes that he won't wake us up again in the night with an 'emergency'. Even looking at our stove in this heat makes me sick let alone actually using it. Imagine cooking in a sauna and you'll know what I mean.

Hans is currently training on his new job and he thinks he's going to like it. I sure hope so because I don't feel like moving again anytime soon.





I don't even want to know what he's pondering here!



"Hmmm, now that we've lived on a boat, I wonder how she'd feel if I told her it might be fun to live in a tent?"

This is what our air conditioner looks like from the inside. There's a water resistant cover over the top of it and surrounding the hatch from the outside.











The outside view. The down side is we have to remove it every day when we get underway again. It's not latched down and I would sincerely hate to see it take a dive overboard if we were to get waked by a bigger boat.








We have the A/C in the salon area so every night we open up the seating area up into a bunk.

Wilbur loves the idea of a bunk bed.












Unfortunately he only uses the floor during the day. Come bed time and he's right there in bed with us.

So anyway, here are some Lake Okeechobee Waterway observations. There is no way a boat that draws more than us could make this trip with the water as low as it is. We are traveling westward and as we exited the Port Mayaca Lock, the Lock master warned us to stay to port as there is a lot of shoaling in the area. We stayed to port and saw water levels of 2.6 feet. We draw 2.5.

He stayed on the radio with us and assured us that we were right where we should be and that we would soon see three and a half feet. We did and who'd have thought three and a half feet would be a relief?

We went through the Clewiston Lock because we decided to stay at Roland Martin's Marina. Once again we saw shallow depths, this time 2.8 feet. Anyway, you don't have to go through the lock if you just want to continue on the OWW (Okeechobee Water Way) but we wanted to tie up for the night. We lucked out too in that it was Sunday and there was entertainment in the Tiki Bar and we were docked right outside. We enjoyed some good music and our own beer.

Back into the water way the next day we sighted our first alligator and believe it or not, Hans, who graduated from Miami High School and attended the University of South Florida, had never seen an alligator in 'the wild'.

The shores of the waterway are full of the little buggers and Wilbur doesn't like them. He calls them Crockigators and worries that they might like to taste some tender pitty flesh.

Last night we stayed in LaBelle Marina and they only had one 30 Amp hookup. We now need two (or one 30 Amp and a 110V) because we've added A/C. We tried to use the A/C in addition to keeping the fridge running and it should have worked but all of a sudden during yet one more thunderstorm a huge clap of thunder hit and our inverter alarm started screaming at us. It wouldn't stop screaming no matter what we did, and it was raining and storming so hard that it would have been dangerous to try and get on the dock and disconnect the power cord. When things finally calmed down, we got it disconnected, and the inverter calmed down and allowed us to reset her. We found out later on that the marina did suffer a short electrical outage but we finally decided to just use the A/C and turn off the refrigerator.

After crossing under the LaBelle Bridge this morning we docked at the City Marina where they allow you to stay for free for three days. This also includes electric and water!!! Since this is such an off time of the year for cruisers we are the only ones here which is very nice because there are only 8 spaces and you're supposed to anchor Mediterranean style with either your bow or stern into the dock and your anchor out in the water way. We didn't have to bother with this and just docked on our port side.

We were able to walk with Wilbur into town and get a few groceries. This is the one day we decided to just stay put and take a break but it's so stinking hot!

Tomorrow we go through Franklin Lock (the last one) but it's on a schedule of only opening at 9 AM and 4 PM. We'll be taking the 4 PM opening.

Even though it's hot we do like the fact that we aren't having any difficulties in finding places to stay because no one else is stupid enough to cruise at this time of year. Unfortunately though because of the mosquitoes we have to find a dock with power each night or we wouldn't be able to stand it.

I realize this is a rather dull post but I'm too hot to really do a lot of thinking.

"Never again!"...

...is what I told Hans last night.

What I meant was, I will never move on or off this boat again without it being a final kind of thing. I've done it way too many times and it's no longer fun.

Note: my computer is on its last legs so I hope I can post this successfully.

We left Pittsburgh on a beautifully sunny day, free of humidity, and I suddenly realized that we were indeed moving.

I cried.

We stayed at a very nice (pet friendly) motel in Winston Salem, NC and for some reason I slept like total crap, I kept waking up with my heart racing, I had nightmares about people using our shower, and I swear I thought the Pittsburgh Pirates were playing a game right outside our door. This had me a bit worried because we had an eleven hour drive ahead of us the next day and I just wanted a good nights sleep. Bear in mind, Hans and I were driving in separate vehicles and I insisted on being the lead vehicle, and commandeered the GPS!

The next night we arrived in the Clearwater, FL area, pulled into our next pet friendly motel, and I knew there was no way I was going to get a good nights sleep. I swear I felt just like a big old dairy cow that had taken a wrong turn in Farmer John's pasture and somehow ended up in a jungle. All three floors of the motel were teeming with slouching, beer drinking, cigarette smoking individuals whom, not unlike vultures, watched Hans and I unload our vehicles with far more interest than was warranted.

And for the first time in my life I was glad that pit bulls have a bad reputation and I wished that Wilbur would quit wagging his tail.

Hans had no sooner exited his vehicle when some very young chick (whom I'd observed slapping her way around the perimeter of the building in her flip flops while Hans was checking us in) approached him and asked if he was alone. When he said no he wasn't alone he was with his wife, she saw me and replied, "Awesome", and then said some odd thing about having been given the wrong room key.

Anyway, it was late, we were hungry, the right rear tire on Hans' vehicle was dangerously low (something I spotted when I actually allowed Hans to lead the way for a spell), and so Hans left me and Wilbur in order to take care of both issues. While Hans was gone I felt quite safe when I traversed the very long and dimly lit hallway to the ice machine because a Florida Highway Patrol Officer had shown up at the room next to ours. By the time Hans came back I felt even safer because there were four Florida Highway Patrol Officers sitting in our parking lot, and guess who was the star?

Miss Flip Flops, that's who!

We ate our Wendy's 'to go' dinners, let Wilbur out for one last break, and the police were still hanging around.

I only wish they'd been hanging around at five o'clock AM when Miss Flip Flops got into a huge fight, right outside our door, with some guy she kept referring to as Crackhead. Hans slept through all of it (Wilbur, however, shot up out of a sound sleep and did some very quiet and tentative boof boof noises, but I shushed him), and just as I was ready to call the police, they finally shut up. That's when Hans decided to start to snore.

At least I didn't cry but I got very little sleep.

Just before we left the next morning Miss Flip Flops, who for some reason didn't get tossed in the slammer, was very offended when Hans wouldn't cough up two dollars so she could do her laundry (yeah right! Laundry!).

The sad part of this is the fact that staying at the Crack Head Resort (and most likely sleeping with bed bugs) would have been absolute heaven compared to what we've put up with the last two days.

After our boat was dumped into the water and tied up at the dock, we had to provision and pick up our air conditioner at West Marine. That's when we discovered that West Marine had stored our air conditioner on its side and it would therefor need time to 'settle'. Not something you want to hear when the temperatures are hovering at around a hundred degrees and then we came back to a very wet boat because we'd left some hatches open and of course a huge storm had blown through.

Sweat was pouring off of us as we unloaded everything and since it was now dusk, the mosquitoes hit us like bomber jets. This time I cried and we said the hell with the warning about the air conditioner and went ahead and installed it. That's when I spotted a tiny little mention in the instructions that it only needed 30 minutes to settle! We cranked that baby up full blast and actually got a good nights sleep. However it does very little to dispel the heat during the day and we had to string our red neck awnings over various parts of the boat as the sun worked its way from east to west.

We had to stay at the marina an extra day in order to get everything done and we left this morning. We already crossed under a bridge that's normally 49 feet high (our mast is 50 feet high) but with the low water levels we ghosted under it, and we've also gone through a lock. Just out of the lock the water was under three feet deep. Very scary.

We now have to work our way through Rocky Reef and with the water being this shallow there are all kinds of warnings about it.

What fun!

Hans at Motel # 1.

Wilbur never travels without his pillows. Here he is at Motel #1.

Back on the boat.

A pretty hot pitty.

Sweating away in Margaritaville

I have a sneaky suspision that a lot of people think since Hans and I moved aboard the boat we must be living a tranquil Margaritaville dream.
I suppose that could be true (if we liked Margaritas, which we don't) but it's been more like a bad tequila nightmare.

Every morning I arise at six AM when Wilbur's inner alarm clock tells him he's lonely and desires my company.
Now.

After some wild gyrating (on Wilbur's part) I take him to the 'poop deck' for a visit to his potty patch. We then retire to the salon area where I can sometimes coax him into taking a mini nap.
Sometimes.

Next up is boiling water on the stove for coffee, and we use a french press since we don't have electricity at anchor. Breakfast is usually cereal if the milk hasn't gone bad and I learned my lesson early on and we now use powdered milk (don't knock it, it's better than nothing). I also had to forego real cream in my coffee and I owe the good people from Cremaora an apology for ever sneering at their wonderful product.

Making any meal on board involves very careful and calculated moves on my part to keep any refrigerator door openings to a minimum. It also requires some fancy footwork in order to avoid stepping on the dog who thinks the galley floor is a fine napping area.

Before we set sail I remove heavy items from shelves and lay them on the settee so we don't have a reenactment of our first day at sail where we had horrible rolling waves and watched the TV fly through the air just missing the dog. The remote however hit him right between the eyes.
As soon as the engines are running (using battery number one! but remember to switch to number two when at anchor) I get to turn on the inverter, switch the batteries to ALL for optimum charging, plug in the computers, phones, cameras, and my absolute favorite; turn on the refrigerator. It won't freeze anything on battery power but it will slow down the melting process of the three bags of ice I have stowed away (I'm not sure what will happen if the day arrives and there's no ice for my bourbon!). We can also take advantage of the extra power and take showers.

Hans usually waits until I'm in the middle of cooking, washing dishes, rinsing the potty patch etc...to suddenly announce "Let's hoist the jib, the sail, the genoa..." and nothing is more fun than bashing your elbow on the outboard motor we have mounted to the rail when you're wildly winding the winch in order to haul up the jib.

This whole process is reversed when we turn the engines off and we can do that any number of times during the day.

Entertainment, in addition to my binoculars (when we're in the middle of the bay they're not fun at all but maybe Hans should keep an eye on the freighters), is:

Fly swatting (Hans may be more accurate but I'm vicious!).

Keeping the cat on board while tied to a dock (our laughter over Chlorox's sneaky foray to the deck turned into into hysteria when she took a graceful leap to shore for a look see).

Find the cat (who can hide in the tiniest corners and I'm waiting for her to venture into the engine room at the wrong time).

Staying away from the big boys in the freighter channel and let me tell you they do not fear the Knotty Cat.

Comparing our very colorful and many bruises, and after three weeks it would appear we've taken to beating each other with winch handles. My shins now look like a toddler's (when my kids were little I referred to them as 'bad banana' legs).

Trying to find some way, any way, to keep cool!

We tied up to a dock last night and with 14 wonderful hours of electricity we slept with the fans on and I virtually turned the refrigerator into a freezer. I nearly fainted when I found out the marina bath house was air conditioned and seriously considered writing Hans a Dear John letter, and then hiding in there for the rest of the summer.

So if doing all the above with the added pleasure of feeling and looking like a greasy sardine all day long appeals to you, buy a boat (I know where you can get one!).

I wonder if I could sue Jimmy Buffet for false advertising!












Chlorox is thinking, "If I look innocent enough maybe they'll leave me alone and I can make my escape."



































Right before she went on the lam.















































Not a good picture but one of the many freighters we've seen.
Yesterday one crossed our bow from just a few thousand feet away!

Here is Wilbur with a frozen two liter bottle of water. I wrapped it up and put it next to him. I have no idea what I'll do tomorrow when everything will be thawed out and the temperatures are expected to be in the upper 90's

Hot, hot, hot!

Yes folks, it's hot!! Like over 90 degrees something hot, and we're still anchored in Oxford. In an attempt to cool off we took Wilbur for a dinghy ride into town where there's a little park. The park itself is heavily shaded, very breezy, and has an accessible shoreline for Wilbur to cavort about.

However Wilbur doesn't just cavort, he goes absolutely ape shit and after sticking his head completely under water and then swallowing all kinds of icky seaweed things, he charges out of the water like he's just been goosed by a thousand watt eel! It's all I can do to hold on to him and yesterday he managed to snap the plastic D-ring on his pink polka dot life jacket. Don't' worry it's been fixed and now a pretty purple knotted line has taken it's place.

We then headed over to Schooner's so Hans could watch some World Cup Soccer. Hans sat inside the air conditioned restaurant while I waited outside in the sweltering heat with a panting pit bull.
No problem though, I had a New York Times Crossword with me and enjoyed many draft beers with my late lunch.
Wilbur had a good time too and spread his Pit Bull Good Will Ambassadorship to all who cared to stop and give him a pat.



Back on the boat Wilbur and Hans enjoy a refreshment.