Life onboard continues

Some views of life down below in our living quarters -

Dish storage

Cook's galley

Hanging fruit

This didn't really work.
Too much swinging & banging while the boat is underway.
Rethink.

Passed my driving test!

Stack pack main sail

First outing for new stack pack main sail - they worked a treat & no more struggling to get the main sail down & stowed on the boom.  Success!














Views as we potter around in the bay -

Blue Wahoos brand new stadium

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are the AA baseball team affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds.

Global 12 deep sea cable laying ship

This huge ship comes & goes.  It's a deep-sea ship for laying cables.

Life on board

Tim from Island Marine reworked our spray hood, adding new windows.  Nice job, Tim!  (no more hiding, Mr. Man....)

In the weekend FT, Mary McCartney - Linda McCartney's daughter - published some great veggie recipes.  This one looked good enough to make myownself - yum!  Mr Man say it's too "earthy" for him.

A few very windy & choppy days have us dockbound (voluntarily), getting jobs done which are easier with shore power.  We don't want too much drama yet.  Ordered the new nagivation electronics from George's Electronics which is going to be a big job, and necessary before we go anywhere.  Got the solar panels connected and J's designing & building a frame for them to sit on top of the bimini.  Yay!  Lots of power while we're at anchor & underway.  All we need is the sun, which is in plentiful supply here.

Keeping up with the accounts, keeping the tea flowing, keeping meals interesting, keeping up with pals on FB & Email - all part of my "routine", which is really flexible.  It's all fun, this learning how to be retired AND live on a boat.  One of our boat neighbors told me she failed retirement & went back to work.  For 10 years.  Good grief, it ain't that hard!

Took a walk along our fave Bayshore Drive - just a few things we like -

House built around tree

Flowers

Mailbox

Getting ready....March & April 2012

Here's what we've been up to for the past 6 weeks -

Many loads of excess stuff to local thrift store......Tried bread making - yuk.  Tried again.  Ditto.

Followed our niece, Jane, virtually on her India odyssey.

Started stowing stuff.

Master of Chaos

Hung some pictures to make us feel more at home....

Installed printer in cabinet & new hanging rails in lockers.....Did taxes - yuk.

Fixed continuing problems with steering.....Getting fridge/freezer working efficiently without freezing absolutely everything.....Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning on deck and down below.  Impressed my pals by acquiring a swiffer!

Installed new mizzen and main sails.

Mizzen Mast

Installed stack packs for mizzen and main sails.

Mizzen sail stack pack

John used bosun's chair to go up the masts.

John up mizzen mast

Learned icicle knot!

Took Big Red, the dinghy, out on the bayou - got soaked!  It was a bit rough out there.

Sold trailer on Ebay - it now resides in Buffalo, Texas.

John continuing work on Navman electronic navigation - not looking good.  Depth sounder working, radio talks to GPS.  Not much else.  New one on the horizon?

Started taking Star out - first stop fuel dock. 

Fuel Dock

Cormorants

Spot our mascot, ever present

So far, so good!  More posts coming more quickly...watch this space!