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| Silhouette .. Clark at sunset |
Clark received his replacement steering cylinder and installed it as soon as it arrived. We spent a lot of time afterwards "bleeding" the system to be we had sure no air in the line. Clark used our bicycle pump to pressurize the system and that forced fluid to be pushed through.
Then, while Clark monitored the new equipment down below, I went first to the upper helm and then the lower helm to turn the steering wheel to push any air through the system. This turned out to be a workout since each wheel has to be turned 60 times to port and then 60 turns to starboard, but each full turn takes about 4 intermediate turns to get all the way around (it's a big wheel). We used our phones on speakerphone to communicate progress.
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| What I see when he is under the boat checking the props! |
When he came back on board, he said everything looked good. He was checking for lines caught on the prop, etc. in case we picked up a trap or something. Given we had a diver clean the bottom recently, that seemed unlikely unless we caught something on the way out for a maintenance run.
Having enjoyed our outing, we pulled up anchor and returned to our slip just after 4:00. We put Clark's wet suit in a tub of water to soak out the salt. Then Clark took the hose to wash off salt we had collected on the stern from our short trip. That led to serious scrubbing of the swim platform to get out stains collected there.
After calling it a day from the boat, Clark suggested we go for a walk. I agreed but insisted that we had to get a sunset picture as part of the outing. As such, we headed to the west dock of the outer basin to get the best unobstructed pictures. As we tried to position ourselves for a view of the sun lined up with the Faro Blanco lighthouse, we noticed Steve on "All Talk II" was sitting out watching the sun set as well.
He invited us on board to talk and watch the sun set together. We had a gorgeous sunset tonight. Clark and I both took pictures, but somehow he got better colors!
Today turned out to be a cloudy and breezy day. The sky at 9:00 this morning was a display of interesting cloud formations.
It rained around 8:30, but the shower was short and did not recur. By 9:00 the sidewalks were completely dry.
Clark left around 9:30 to start his day with the usual finger physical therapy, and on his way back did some shopping for the boat. While he was gone, I did the laundry. Given my bicycle had a very flat tire, I walked to the library to return the DVD I borrowed when there on Friday.
I took my camera with me on the walk to do my photography "homework". The homework assignment required that I "shoot pictures from the hip" to get shots at the perspective of a dog. So, I decided if I had to take pictures a dog might take, I should think like a dog!
What would interest a dog more than fire hydrants and "balls"?! I hope I get an A on my homework assignment!
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| hydrant in front of stacked traps |
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| old trap marker |
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| hydrant in front of old truck wheel |
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| string of trap markers |
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| hydrant with a tree! |
After lunch, Clark decided he would start the massive project of cleaning the boat starting at the very top and working his way down. With his buckets, rags, cleaning products, and ladder in hand, he said that if I heard him yelling, I should come because he was "stuck" on the top of the boat and could not get down.
When he is up there, his feet are 17 feet above the water. Add the rocking of the boat to the picture and it takes nerves of steel to be up there working. Even though the boat sways when it's windy, he says it is better for working because it is cooler than when the sun is beating down without the wind.
Clark being up there worried first one and then another of our boating neighbors. Steve on "Voyage" did not like the fact that Clark's ladder is at least one rung too short (probably two too short actually since they say the top is not a step). To demonstrate how he would get down, Clark knocked on the top of the boat. I left the book I was readying and stepped outside to see what he needed. I heard him tell our neighbor, "See, it works!" Apparently, he told Steve that I come running to help when he knocks! In fact he did want me to get something for him, so it was not just a test "run".
Our next door neighbor, Guy on "Patience", did not know Clark was up there until he saw me taking a picture of Clark on the boat. When he looked up and saw Clark on the tippy top of "Sunset Delight", he got very anxious. He insisted Clark should be wearing a harness in case he fell off the boat. He even offered to loan him one. Clark said he would be more likely to get tangled up in a harness than see it as a safety feature.
Personally, I have given up worrying about the weird places Clark gets himself into. Standing on the top of the boat is nothing compared to when he perches on the ledges on the sides of the boat, more than a story up in the air, to lower antennas for bridges while I steer the boat through a bridge opening. That makes my hair stand on end! Him standing on top of the boat in the wind is nothing in comparison!
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| Clark explaining to Guy why he does not want a harness |
Clark does not clean the very top of the boat all that often, but it definitely needed to be done. Spraying the hose around and under the solar panels washed out goose poop we collected in November at Lamb's Yacht Center near Jacksonville. I cannot believe we are still dealing with that sh#t!
Once the top was washed and polished, it was finally time to get Clark down. He rapped and I ran to help. First he handed me the buckets he had collected up there - four of them! Then some rags and tools. Then he wiggled himself around to come off the top backwards. He has to climb over solar panels and avoid the radar tower which is blocking his escape.
My job is to direct his foot to the top of the step ladder and make sure it is centered so he can put his weight on it. Given when he first hangs his leg down, his foot is about 12" from the top of the ladder, it is no easy feat to make foot and ladder meet! The process works but only because Clark is extremely agile! Our neighbor, Guy, said he was delighted to "see that" meaning he was happy Clark was no longer on the "roof".
While Clark was cleaning the top, a package came for him - a very small package. I had no idea what he might have received and put it to one side for him to open later. Well, it turned out to be something for me! My bicycle tire went flatter than a pancake recently, and Clark ordered a new inner tube. The predicted delivery date for the tube was mid-to-late January. Happily, it arrived today!
After dinner, while I watched the NCIS 3-hour, cross-over event, Clark worked on my bicycle. It took a long time, with some serious grunting going on, for him to take off the old wheel, replace the tube, and put the wheel back on. He set up the bicycle in the salon upside down with the wheels in the air as he worked on it. I am very fortunate that he is so very knowledgeable and handy!
That tiny box turned out to be one heck of a present. They say the best gifts come in small packages! I have my bike back, and I am exceedingly happy!
Sandy bought a couple of her favorite prepared items. Other than the vegetables, I find the items too high-priced for experimentation. Since I did not know if I would actually like some of the prepared foods that caught my eye, I kept my wallet in my pocket.
After the farmers' market, we made a couple more stops before Sandy dropped me off at my marina. By the time I got back to the boat, it was soon time for lunch. Since I was meeting someone at 12:40 for my next activity of the day, I had to watch the clock while I ate lunch.
A boater I met at a Faro Blanco docktails, Laurie on "Gemini", invited me to play Canasta Americana with her and her friends. I declined last Thursday, but she asked me again for today, and I decided to give it a try. I have played Canasta in the past and really enjoyed it, but this version has so many extra and different rules, I thought my head might explode!
One of the other folks playing Canasta also has her boat at Marlin Bay and has a car. She offered me transportation to Faro for the game, so I took her up on the offer. The game started at 1:00. Initially we had 5 people, and we only needed 4, but then one person got a phone call, bowed out of the game, and never returned, so it worked out. It took several rounds to get to the score where one of the two teams was declared the winner.
It seemed like every time I turned around a new rule was announced -- usually with Laurie saying, "Oh, you can't do that because ... !" or "No, you have to do this because ... !". Right up until we stopped playing, she still had more surprise rules to share. The game has too many rules to remember to share them all up front, and even though I had read the rules for "Canasta Americana" online ahead of time, I think her version had some rules not shared on Google! New rules or not, I am happy to announce that my partner and I won the game!
While I was off, first shopping in the morning and then playing cards in the afternoon, Clark was busy on the boat either playing his guitar, reading his email., or washing the boat. Someone recommended to Clark a product to remove dirt marks from our dinghy. He tried it with some success as a test so bought a bottle for us to have on hand. He said some marks on the dinghy were just too embedded to scrub out.
By the time the Canasta game concluded, I had begun to worry if I would be back to my marina in time for the next scheduled activity. Clark had seen an announcement from the MOTA boating association that we belong to that they planned on holding a meeting at the Marathon City park, and he wanted to attend. That event started at 5:00.
I got back to our boat shortly after 4:00 and barely had time to turn myself around to go out again. This time, I got to try out my newly-repaired bicycle. It worked well! The park is basically across the street from Marlin Bay Marina; however, since a person takes their life in their hands trying to cross the U.S. #1 highway, we rode our bikes to the traffic light to cross the street, i.e. we had to go south to go north.
Before going into the park, we rode past it and into the Municipal Marina so Clark could take the mineral oil from the steering repair and dump it at their fluid recycling center. Perhaps because it was late in the day, he got help with that task immediately (no waiting in line), and we were quickly back at the park for the gathering.
Sadly, we found no one there and started to wonder if we had the wrong day, but eventually the host and hostess appeared. One other couple came a bit after that and then no one else. We had "pigs in a blanket", brownies, and oatmeal raisin cookies galore, but not enough people to eat them. We talked for a while to see who else might show up.
Eventually, however, it became apparent that six of us would be the sum total, so instead of staying at the park, we moved across the street to the Overseas Pub & Grill to get dinner. However, before going to the restaurant, we sampled the goodies brought to the gathering. The brownies were too good to bypass, and the "Pigs in a Blanket" were all beef (so not really pigs at all), so Clark could enjoy them.
We had planned to eat outdoors due to Covid; but outside at the restaurant was crowded with a live band playing music exceedingly loud. We found a table inside apart from everyone else where we could feel safe from Covid as well as talk and hear each other. The food was very good, and we enjoyed getting to know the two couples there with us in a smaller, more intimate group. After we ate, the waitress asked if we wanted dessert; we said, "No, we had dessert first!"
Clark and I arrived back at the boat, in the dark, just before 8:00. What a long, and full day we both had. We chilled for the rest of the night just watching television.
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