Northward seems to be the way these days. The wind is always coming from the north. By the time I got to Ormond Beach there were dark clouds ahead. I put my cell phone where it wouldn't get too wet and continued on. I felt a drop ... then nothing. The black clouds moved on. Blue sky appeared and I thought that I'd dodged the bullet. I stopped at the Ormond Tomb Park, which is almost half-way and my standard use-the-bathroom stop and continued on. Oh oh, more black clouds are moving in. That bullet that I'd dodged ? Here comes another. Miraculously those clouds moved on too without dumping their load on me.
It had to happen / has to happen eventually ... but not today. I made it home soaking wet, but that was from the heat not anything that came from the sky.
After lunch I went over to NCW and Tara handed me a contract to complete -- it looks like we're in like Flynn, as the saying goes. I told her our plans -- boat in for 10 hour checkup on Thursday and then into the Marina on Friday ... ok by her so we're moving forward. That's the good news, and it's great. The bad news of course is that we have yet another regular monthly bill, but we'll get more use out of the boat as a result; it will be safer in their yard; it's just better this way.
We are getting more used to the boat. With many miles and hours on it now and three island stops we're getting the hang of stopping, getting off and on etc. Abby, who the first time had to be carried off and into the water, the second time eased in, the third time jumped in. She's also got the idea for getting back on -- get her front feet up and then I'll hoist her the rest of the way onto the back platform. From the water, with the drag of the water, she cannot jump. It's not as high as jumping into the back of the SUV, which she can do, but the water adds a lot of drag.
We've also been seeing lots of wildlife on our trips ... but more on that later, Sandy just returned from grocery shopping and it's time for SG1.
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Multitasking -- watching SG1 and typing at the same time --
Wildlife -- manatees "frolicking", if that's possible for something that large. I think that we saw a baby too -- both in the Intracoastal Waterway and then many, many manatees in the Haulover Canal. We saw dolphins a-plenty as well. Since I have not biked into the wildlife sanctuary yet this trip, I have not seen any alligators. I've seen turtles, only they were road-kill; snakes as road-kill and alive on the road; Sandy might have seen a turtle in the ICW; shrimp -- no we haven't seen shrimp, but they're obviously here in great numbers.
Out on the ocean the big shrimp boats are everywhere. In the ICW many boats have small nets, they too are catching shrimp. Fishing is supposed to be great too -- I guess that the small fish eat the shrimp, the larger fish eat the smaller fish, and so on and so on. It's a feeding and fishing frenzy it seems.
Changing topics completely, it's interesting to see what is happening with the palms in the backyard. I was wondering what would happen when they grew too big for our liking -- would we have to cut them and end up with nothing there ? Well, it seems that once I trim some of the upper foliage off the palms we get lots of new low growth. It looks like I can trim to my hearts content and we'll get new growth from the ground up. It's nice to be able to look out and see the sky, the sunset.
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It's freezing out there this morning ! Well, I guess that water doesn't freeze at 67F but it feels cold compared to what we've experienced over the past weeks. It's supposed to go down to 61F tonight so it will be a cool start for my ride tomorrow. I'm going to do 200k. North or south will depend on the wind.
Today we're going for another boat ride. The plan is to pull it north to the same launch that we did the sea-trial from and to boat north from there. There are no manatee zones north of that point so it will be easy cruising. We'll find a calm spot somewhere to let Abby have some fun. We have to be back at a reasonable time so that we can get the boat over to Bluewater Boats where it will stay for the following 36 hours. Monica said that Doug would do the service on Thursday, so I'll pick it up first thing on Friday.
I'll pull it to the launch on the North Causeway that we've been using, go for a ride (with Abby but w/o Sandy) and take it back to the Marina. Ok, I'll probably go to the Marina first, square that away and then go for a ride. Sandy intends to be house cleaning on Friday and grocery shopping in anticipation of Sheryl's arrival. After I drop the boat at the Marina I will walk the couple of hundred yards back to my car and trailer. I'll stow the trailer in the side yard by the clothesline.
We'll go boating one day with Sheryl and Jimmy on the weekend -- two if that's what they want to do -- eat at the SYC somewhere in there and then probably do a final boat trip on Tuesday. After Sheryl leaves on Monday I'll be ripping the wall out of the guest bath in preparation for that work. What fun. In the other bathroom that new door & trim are all ready for painting. I've filled all the nail holes and sanded. I think that there is paint in the garage but I may leave the door as it is until the work is complete in November. It doesn't look too bad simply primed. Perhaps another coat of primer is in order since there is a lot of spackle, as they call polly-filla down here. Polly-filla is a brand of cellulose filler that is the standard in Canada other than drywall mud for larger jobs.
I did post some pictures on www.wdthompson.com under "recent", some dating back to our visit with Carol and Allister. There are some of the new boat ... none of the porta-potti yet (a request from David for Meagan) ... perhaps I'll take some more today.
I don't have any good ones of the car and trailer. It's hard to capture the perspective that you get a) looking out the rear-view mirror and b) having the boat pull at you as you're driving.
Every day is spoken for between now and next Friday at this point. Somewhere in there I have to pack the car, get the forms ready to bring the guns across the border and a host of other things that I cannot remember now but better start making a list ! Ok, I've started my list. It has one item. We'll be gone just over a month, since we intend to return right after the first week of November. Angelika is trying to find reasonable air fares and if she does, will be down with us for U.S. Thanksgiving.
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On a sadder note, I just heard from cousin Sue that my Aunt Mildred, who we knew as Auntie Lennie, passed away last Friday. I have not kept in touch with her daughters Marion and Eleanor. They came up to my Mom's service in Toronto, that was the last time that I saw them although I spoke to Marion after my Dad passed away. Mildred was the last surviving member of my Mom's generation on the Fulmines side (my Mom's maiden name).
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Onward ...
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