Life is falling into place

We find ourselves looking right into the last month of living a land based life. This past week found us on the boat for 8 days, the longest I think since we purchased her 2 years ago this month. The weather was fairly crappy as we had a large front lingering around Florida for quite some time. Not too much rain in Panama City but the winds were pretty hefty and the temps actually got down to about 57 one evening. We managed to pack the truck full before leaving home and actually found a home for all items. Got the new mattress installed on our berth and I slept like a baby most every night. Got lots of organizing done, lazerettes cleaned out and stuff we can live without packed into the truck for long term storage. As I sit here and write this I am now recalling that I left a bag of potatoes behind the stove. Whew! That's gonna be rank by the time we get back down there. Maybe we need to make a call to a dock neighbor.

We did manage to head out to Shell Island on Sunday afternoon and spent the evening grilling steaks and enjoying sun downers with Gary & Jan of S/V Divine Miss Em. Memorial day we headed to the island and did a little beach walking and taking a quick dip to cool off. The water temp is still only 75 so its a bit chilly when you first try to get in. After grilling some dogs for lunch we pulled anchor and headed for the docks. Dirk threw out a line hoping to catch some fish or perhaps the fish that the day before ended up with a new lure of ours. Anyone catching a large fish with a red and white lure attached we claim dibs. From the anchorage to the fuel docks I had the wheel and when I tried to pass it on to Dirk to take over he claimed "You will be fine" Oh no, not again.....He did this before to me. Surprise!!! your taking her in. He knows better then to tell me before hand because he knows how anxious I get. So like the good husband he is, he springs it on me last minute. Once I get close to our dock I see Charley from a couple boats over standing on our finger pier there to offer assistance. Guess once he saw me at the wheel he figured I would need it. Perhaps he was just protecting his boat...With gentle encouragement from Dirk I got her into the slip with no problems. Even got some atta girls from the hubby and Charley saying I did a job well done. (as I grinned from ear to ear) Ah the little things. Once my heart rate dropped below 100 bpm I opened up a Corona and toasted the evening. Life is good.

Oh, before I forget. Dirk is officially among the ranks of the "retired" About 2 weeks ago there was a luncheon recognizing him and bidding him farewell. Here he is accepting the black hawk helicopter given as a token. (Hummmm, maybe we can put it on top of the mast as a wind vain of sorts) Congratulations Dirk, you deserve this time off for the many years of service you gave to this country. So here we are back at home dealing with packing, storing, and beginning to tie up some loose ends. I will check in soon and let you all know how its going. Till then.....

44 days till we become liveaboards

Figured I needed to put out a blog as here it is almost mid May and I haven’t done one yet. First things first, for those keeping up. Our official count is 44 days but we have had so many wrenches thrown in the mix I really am not sure what I was counting down to. I think I originally was counting till Dirk was completely done with work. That changed…. He had so many leave and sick days accrued that this morning finds him heading off to work on his last Monday. Yep, that’s right, Friday is his last day. Then we had gotten our lease renewal in the mail Saturday and realized our lease isn’t up on the 30th of June but in fact the 24th. So we have a week less of living in the apartment. Yikes!!! So I guess if we count the number of days until we become liveaboards then that would bring us to huh......I just counted and its 44 days till our lease is up. So my count is correct, I just didn’t realize it.

Two weeks ago found us down at the marina for a three day weekend. Saturday was the annual marine flea market so we put out a few items that we had removed off the boat and tried our luck. We made just enough money for Dirk to turn around and spend it at another booth. That’s how it goes sometimes, but the items he bought we in fact had intentions on buying anyway. He managed to get a good price on them to boot. Was a long day as it started at 6am and by 11am we packed up the left over gear and headed back to the boat. We met a great couple from a 50 foot trimaran that were on their way south. Beautiful boat which Bill the Captain had built himself. His wife JoAnne and he charter their boat “Yacht Ultra” in the Texas area and decided to take a break and do some traveling. They will be heading down to the Bahamas next season so I’m sure we will run into them again. So our evening was spent having dinner with new friends and old as we joined Gary & Jan from Divine Miss Em for great food and conversation.

Sunday found us packing up and heading home to prepare for a yard sale this past weekend. How do two people accumulate so much stuff? Up at 5:30 to face the day and by 6:30 the people started showing up. All in all it was a very prosperous day. Thank goodness that is done.

This week my goal is to get the bedding custom fit for our berth. I had said in the past that we purchased a memory foam mattress system. It came with a 90 day in home trial so we did the trial for about 6 weeks and decided we liked it. So yesterday was spent cutting it down to the size of the berth. Simple? Yeah right…..Nothing is ever simple…Not only is the berth an odd shape it also has an odd angle as in one spot it follows the shape of the hull. Measure twice, cut once, or in our case measure twice, re measure, sit and think about it a while then ah what the heck cut and leave a little extra. Then I spent the evening custom fitting the mattress cover that came with it. Guess it’s ours now, no sending this one back. Today will be spent custom fitting sheets and after yesterday custom fitting the cover I don’t think it will be too big of a deal. I am no seamstress but I am learning my way around that sewing machine.
We are planning on taking some time during the Memorial Day weekend to put down the tools and plans and just relax. Slip away from the dock, sail over to Shell Island and anchor out for a couple days to decompress and enjoy. What a needed break that will be. Will try and have something interesting to report or pictures to post after the weekend away.