7 April 2026
The big news for the last few days regarding boating has been focused on the wet and windy weather. Gale force winds were predicted, and more often than not, they appeared especially, it seemed, at night. The sky in Vero Beach has been a perpetual shade of gray with the sun losing the battle to appear.
Given the forecast, we decided to "hunker down" for a few days here with our friends and make the most of it. We contacted our friends, Sandy and Bill, whom we know from Faro Blanco days when they boated on L'Attitude Adjustment, and they drove to Vero Beach from their home about an hour north of here to go out for the day in their car. Such good friends we have!
Sandy and Bill were scheduled to arrive around 11:00, so Clark got involved in a puzzling problem with our host Don. Given the weather thus far and the forecast indicated on the radar snapshot below ...
it seemed prudent for Don to have a pool cover pump operating for his pool. The pool cover was rapidly gaining inches of water on top of it, thus the necessity for the pump.
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| pool cover pump |
At least that is what is supposed to happen. However, the pump Don had in place stopped working, so he went and bought another one.
Unfortunately, this one died instantly upon being switched on. Sometimes electrical items have "infant mortality" if quality control let it get through. However, Don ended up trying multiple new pumps, and they all failed. Clark and Don worked together to find a solution.
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| Take it out of the pool |
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| Carry it into the garage |
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| Put it in a bucket |
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| Plug it in |
and watch it smoke! I watched as they tried two of these pumps. In the past when Clark said, "I smoked it!" I had no idea it quite literally smoked. I thought it was a figure of speech, but when these guys plugged in each of these two pumps, a huge cloud of smoke came out of the bucket! The wire quickly got pulled from the plug.
The question of the day was "Why would so many pumps be failing?" They thought it might be the extension cord(s) they were using. One of them went in the trash. Perhaps the other extension cord was too thin? Meanwhile, the water on top of the pool cover was getting deeper and deeper.
The pump puzzle was not solved today but, a couple of days later, when they decided to check the outlet itself. All testing apparently had been done using the same outlet. Unfortunately, the outlet was putting out 240 volts instead of the 110 expected. Some incorrect rewiring of the electrical panel had been done over a year ago. Clark said it was an easy fix. He just looked down the panel until he found the breaker with a white wire attached as it did not belong there. He found it and rewired the breaker correctly, and voila, no more smoking pumps.
Interestingly, the pump that failed, that started this whole "adventure", had been working on the 240 power for the past year. One of the pumps bought during this exercise ran for a while, stopped working when the temperature sensor became hot, and then restarted. How is it that some smoked immediately and some, real troopers, fought on?
As noted above, the pump problem was not fixed on day one. We had plans to go out with Sandy and Bill, so Clark stepped away from the pump for our outing. Our normal outings with Sandy usually include some activity as well as lunch. However, given the uncooperative weather, Sandy suggested a leisurely lunch including plans for dessert afterwards.
Sandy likes to take us places we have never been before. Today she decided to have us try some out-of-the-ordinary cuisine.
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| River Twist Creative Cuisine |
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| A Slice of Paris patisserie |
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| Elizabeth's Fine Consignments shop |
Sandy is great at coming up with ideas of things to do together. Today her suggestion was a simple one - "Let's go back to your boat to relax and chat!" Perfect! Bill and Clark sat next to each other and continued to discuss topics I had no interest in. They sat on the back deck of the boat (it had stopped raining at least for a while), and to avoid contending with their discussion, Sandy and I sat in our salon to talk.
With an hour-long drive back home, Sandy and Bill left about 4:00. This worked perfectly for us as well since our hostess in Vero Beach, Anna, was preparing dinner for us at the house. Around 5:00 we walked up to sit on their patio overlooking Bethel Creek for "Martini Time" where Clark and I indulge in a glass of water each! Dinner at 6:00 included a multi-course meal from salad to dessert.
Today seemed to revolve heavily around food. I was stuffed and glad that Wednesday I would have a day to recover from restaurants and expansive meals.
While we were still seeing nothing but off-and-on rain with gray skies, friends from Marlin Bay were posting gorgeous sunset pictures!
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| Sunset in Marlin Bay tonight |
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| Sunset near Miami, FL |
Our sunset ... see photo at beginning of blog!
8 April 2026
My friend, Cathy, offered, as she always does, to take me shopping wherever I needed to go. We agreed yesterday to meet today at 10:00 for a trip to Publix and Fresh Market for a few groceries. From a weather point of view, we could not have picked a worse time!
When I walked up to the house to meet Cathy, we had a slight drizzle and, foolishly, I did not wear a raincoat. By the time we had driven the short distance to Publix from the house, we had entered Monsoon season! Torrential rain came down sideways with the wind. The first thing I put in my shopping cart at Publix was an umbrella strategically placed at the front of the store to lure in buyers. It certainly lured me in, and I detest umbrellas.
I just needed a few basics to supplement my boat stores - bread and fresh veggies specifically. In the bread aisle, I found something unusual I haven't seen in a Publix before.
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| Acacia Wood Rocking Chair |
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