Oct 12 - and the plan said ...

... go boating, so we did.
... and that was all we did.

Another day in paradise, that it was.

Two of Jeff's guys came at 8:45 to remove the old tub and deliver the new. Have you ever tried to move a cast iron tub ? Apparently it weighs over 300 pounds. Why would you want to do that ? Well, out with the old ... but not in with the new since that's the plumber's job but they both agreed that there is no way that one person can move the thing. I just went online and found that they were exaggerating -- it only weighs 298 pounds. Sheesh. The plumber comes tomorrow -- if he comes after 8:30 we won't be here. I sure hope that Jeff has given him good instructions.

We called NCM at 9:30 and headed over for 10. The boat was ready to roll. We putted out to the inlet and out to the ocean. It was a bit rolly, so I took it easy on Sandy. We did putt around for a while though and then headed back in, and lo and behold a ray jumped out of the water right in front of us. That's two trips and two rays. This one was small, didn't jump quite as high, but neat all the same. Later as we were sitting in the boat, anchored at the island, schools of fish were hop, skip and jumping out of the water in front of us. Apparently underwater is an exciting place !

On the last trip out, when I was with Abby, I went out to the vicinity of the outer buoy. I could hear a bell ringing and went over to it, wanting to see if it was electronic or mechanical. Well, there is a bell in the center of the buoy but unlike a normal bell, there is no striker inside. Instead, on all four sides there are strikers hanging from the buoy framework that can swing towards the bell as it rocks in the waves. It's quite effective. Close up you can hear the strikers hit the framework with a click while the opposite striker will hit the bell with a bong.

We spent a while on the beach. Abby chased and chased minnows until she was tired. Back on the boat we gave her a complete shampooing -- that fresh water tank is one of the best things about this boat. We sat at anchor, ate our lunch and then headed back. At NCM, after a thorough wash down, we put the cover on. It will be interesting to see how it survives the next 4 weeks. I don't have anything down the center to stop water pooling, but it does have some tension to help drain.

We were talking to Al and he was saying that most boats just sit there, unused by their owners. Last time he'd been talking about the big boats in the wet slips but I was asking about the boats in the racks. The lot was crowded with boats on trailers and on the work racks -- boats in for service -- but very little in/out activity. I guess that summer is the busiest time. I sure wish that a few of those inside owners would give up their spots and we could put our boat inside -- now, before it's aged and inside wouldn't matter anymore !

Oh ... and the porta potti ? Still unchristened. The top part, with the seat and water reservoir, comes apart from the bottom part which seals when you take it apart, so I wouldn't have to take the entire thing home ... but I've been spared even that so far. One of these days I'll go ahead and christen it just to say that I have. NCM has a johnny-on-the-spot in their yard and I may be able to empty it either there or in the inside restroom. I should ask before I start taking it home.

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It's a.m. again. I decided to make bread since I finished my loaf yesterday and still have two lunches to make down here -- today when we get back from Orlando and tomorrow's on the road. I'll freeze the balance of the loaf for when we get back. I haven't eaten any store-bought bread for a long, long time. I can hear the machine cranking away. I hope that it's not keeping Sandy awake.

I don't think that she slept very well last night. She was awake when I got up. She is still in some abdominal pain, from the stent I guess, but the bleeding on urination is mostly gone. Today's removal of the stent should hasten the recovery process. She will be up early today because we have to leave around 8:30 for Orlando -- normally she gets up at 8am and doesn't have breakfast until 9am.

I'm still dithering about whether to bring all four guns up north -- pellet rifle, two shotguns and 30-30. It doesn't cost any more to bring all four, just takes space going up and down. In particular the pellet rifle and semi-automatic shotgun take space because they are both longer guns. Perhaps I should make up another set of the CAFC forms so that I can decide at the last minute. The forms are PDF's and I type into the forms but it doesn't let you save files unless you have purchased a copy with that feature.

I exchanged emails with Jason and he'll be at the cottage later this week to finish off his garage and then on the weekend of October 25th to close up. We'll see them at that point. Our time up north is going to go very quickly since we also have a couple of days at Stratford booked in the middle. I'm also hoping to do some tiling work for Stef in that timeframe. Whew ... we retirees are busy !

I checked the tires yesterday and found that they were installed on June 17th with 138,204 miles on the car. As of yesterday the car had 147,500 -- so almost 9500 miles since June. That includes a round trip to/from Florida and multiple trips to/from Toronto from Loring. It sure adds up when you consider that the Florida round trip is only 3,000 miles. There is a discernible difference in wear between front and back but I won't rotate the tires yet. These tires should actually last longer than the last ones since they won't be subjected to that long trip hauling the Bayliner, which surely produces more wear than straight cruising.

By the time that I put the snow tires on for the trip out west, we will have driven another 6,000 miles. The Christmas round trip is 4,700 miles -- so figure 5,500 including some driving around. That driving will be on the snow tires. We'll then drive back down here plus some driving around of course that will add another 2,000 miles. So ... roughly speaking, by the time we get back down here in January these tires will have 17,500 miles out of their likely 25,000 or perhaps 30,000 lifespan. The snow tires will probably be done, since they are already some years old. The car's mileage will be at least 161,000 ... I think that the longest that I've ever kept a car was the BMW 535 that I think hit mid 160's. This car is younger in years. I'm quite happy to run it into the ground but know that at some point I'll be making that big decision when a major repair comes along.

Since we have a second car in both houses and since the boat is now housed in a marina, we won't have to rush into a purchase when the inevitable happens. That's a good thing.

It's after 6 now ... time to eat breakfast, feed Abby and stop blathering in this blog.

Onward ...