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| from the internet |
30 December 2025
So the big news for today was the big chill that moved down the states all the way into the Florida Keys. During the day today, the winds sped up to 22 knots or so. We woke this morning to 73 degrees and watched the temperatures drop hour over hour to around 59, which is quite brisk for this far south.
With the winds came the rocking of the boat. The rocking I can deal with, but the agonized squawk emitted by the tortured bow lines gets on my nerves in a hurry. The lines have lost their stretch and groan with every pull made upon them. I complained to someone about the noise, and they made the suggestion that spraying the lines with soapy water gives them their stretchiness back.
I found a spray bottle, added a bunch of dawn and water, and went to the bow of the boat to attack the lines. Only one was in agony - the one fighting the northerly wind. I could only reach about 3 feet of the line closest to the cleat. When I stretched out my arm to try to spray further along, the soapy water came back to hit me in the face. I sprayed it really well to soak the 3 feet of line I could reach. I could see an immediate improvement as the stretch returned to that section of line.
I tried to capture a bit of the rocking of the boat, but the video does not do it justice.
Clark left after a quick lunch today for a 1:00 meeting at the church to practice with the band for Sunday's service. Had the weather been better I might have gone to the library for some resin-pouring craft. However, I decided to stay on the boat and work on art there. I pulled out a "how to draw" book I got for Christmas and followed step-by-step instructions on linear perspective and vanishing points.
Clark did not return to the boat until late afternoon. As soon as he dropped off his guitar, he was back on his bike for a trip to Home Depot. He came back with a few items including a large, rectangular piece of copper plating. He has plans to use that for checking out the AC leak he discovered with his new meter.
31 December 2025 - New Year's Eve
Clark helped me get my laundry off the heavily rocking boat, and I spent the morning at the boaters' lounge reading a book while my clothes got cleaner. The TV in the lounge was playing the movie "Frozen". Apparently, I missed Clark's fav Disney flick "Moana" that they had on yesterday.
We had some late Christmas presents that arrived today (ordered after Christmas for better prices) - one for Clark and one for me. That was fun! Mine brought me an afternoon of frustrations. I had to buy a new laptop due to the Windows 11 issue. My PC was too old to upgrade. Moving to a new laptop is an unbelievable pain.
By the end of the afternoon I had only managed to get my Windows and Google passwords / pins established. I wished that one of my sons could have sat with me to get me through this as Clark is not a Windows person. I was on my own and ready to pull my hair out!
Thankfully, we had somewhere we needed to be this afternoon. The marina / resort was throwing a BBQ bash for their guests. Had the weather been more cooperative, the BBQ would have been at the pool bar. When we arrived, we found our friend Ed working on the infamous jigsaw puzzle and joined him to put a few pieces in.
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| Ed and Ev at jigsaw puzzle table |
Not long after we arrived so did a bunch of people. The Marlin Room was packed full. Because all resort guests were invited we had adults and children in attendance. The week between Christmas and New Years is called "Hell Week" here in the Keys because tons of folks come in and bring their children who are on school break.
Unexpectedly, one of the young boys walked up to our table and decided he didn't like what he saw and immediately started to destroy the left side of the puzzle. I quick yelled, "No no!" That woke up his mother who dragged him away as I put the puzzle back together. As if this "beast" isn't hard enough!
Just before sunset, flutes of champagne were handed out to all those interested in imbibing to welcome in the new day. As our hostess, April, said, the marina marks the arrival of the new day at sunset. We even had someone who blew the conch to acknowledge sunset - an acquired skill!
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| Deanne blows the conch |
In general it seemed that the non-boaters did not stay long. As the party progressed, we had less and less children in attendance. When it thinned out some, the pool table came in to use. I got shoved out of the way more times than I can remember as no matter where I stood, I got in the way of a shot.
Grills on the balcony were put into use to cook up hot dogs and hamburgers. Tables were set up nearby for macaroni and potato salad as well as beans and all the fixings to go with the meat.
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| Ed and Dell grabbing some chow |
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| Tony manning two grills |
Even with two grills going, Tony found it hard to feed the number of people in attendance. I was talking to a friend and missed the first round of burgers and dogs as well as the salads. The only food available when I got a plate was the baked beans. Eventually I got a hot dog but the pickings were scarce.
Clark and I were one of the last ones to leave the venue. The bar shut down around 8:00 but we were still there almost an hour later. I practically had to drag Clark away from his discussion with two guys. Though I can't really point fingers as I was talking to someone non-stop for a good long time myself.
As we got back to our boat, we could hear loud music emanating for one of the boats further along our dock. We thought we knew who that would be. I saw none, but Clark said a few fireworks were visible from our dock as the night wore on.
Nearing midnight we watched the last minutes of the "Nashville New Year's Bash". At midnight we got Happy New Year's message from our son in Connecticut, and at 1:00 a.m. we got a Happy New Year picture from our Idaho clan.
We were still awake! Our stateroom had quite a chill - somewhere around 60 degrees. We added a blanket to the bed, but it took a while for the sheets to be not quite freezing and conducive to falling asleep.
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