Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The beach was calling our names, so we went. John and I spent the early afternoon at Flagler Beach. The sand was hard, smooth, and orange. In other words, it was perfect. The waves still tried to knock us over, but it was fun. We laid on the beach and read until we got hot, and then took a dip in the ocean. The water was beautiful as was the sky. The only bad thing was that I forgot to bring my camera with me. Oh, well, no pictures tonight. Afterwards we walked across the street and sat at a bar on top of a building. There was a pleasant breeze and the scenery was great. I could have stayed there all day, but we left after awhile and went back to our boat.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A "Spanish" soldier
Castillo de San Marcos courtyard

John crossing the moat.

Hoave you ever seen a pair of shoes like this?

The four of us went to St. Augustine this morning to tour the Castillo de San Marcos. John and I had been here 33 years ago when we only had two children. We celebrated Jay's 2nd birthday on the way home from this particular vacation. Also, on the way home from that vacation, we heard on the radio about the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire. That was one of the worst things that happened in the Cincinnati area. Anyway, I remembered very little of the details about the fort. Yesterday when we visited Fort Matanza, we met two couples from the condos across the driveway from the marina. Today we saw one of the same couples at this fort. That was kind of odd. After viewing the fort, we walked around in the historical part of St. Augustine. We saw lots of little shops, bars, and restaurants. That's where we saw the pair of shoes in the picture above. I had never seen any shoes like that before. On the way back to the marina, we stopped at an oceanside restaurant called South Beach Restaurant. It had been recommended last night by a guy at Happy Hour. He was right, the food was delicious!

Sue and I dropped off Norm and John, and went to Daytona to go shopping. I spent my time at a wonderfully large Joann Fabrics. It was nice to look at the pattern books, scrapbooking stuff, and fabrics without feeling rushed. I only bought needles and curtain rings, but it was still fun. We got back in time for Happy Hour.

We heard today that the material to build our new fuel tank has arrived. We are hoping that it will be installed a week from today. We will see.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Fort Matanza

John and a big cannon

Today John and I toured Fort Matanza. We took a free ferry from Matanza Park to the fort. This fort was built to protect the back side of St. Augustine. They were never fired on and never had to fire on anyone else. Mostly, the young soldiers would go there to practice firing cannons and muskets. It sounds like there was more drinking than anything else going on there. A storm blew up with lightning, so they made us get back on the ferry and go back to the park. When we left there, we stopped at JT's Seafood Restaurant for lunch. It rained really hard the entire time we were at JT's. The rain sounded so cool hitting the metal roof of the building. Their power went out briefly, which took out the televisions. Up to that point we had been watching the storm on the news. By the time we got back to the marina, the rain was finished and the temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler. That was REALLY nice.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

For the last few nights at Happy Hour, we have been eating salted in the shell peanuts. Suddenly, there were several squirrels hanging around us. So, we would throw a couple nuts to the squirrels. They are so funny, chasing after the nuts and eating some of them, but burying some of them as well. We couldn't get over how close they came to us looking for more nuts. They would kind of sneak up on us until we moved, and then they would scatter away quickly. They chased each other up and down the trees, entertaining us the entire time we were outside. The peanuts are gone. They came to Happy Hour in search of more, but were disappointed. They still put on a show for us though. We may have to get more nuts at the store, but we should probably get unsalted nuts because we don't want to be the cause of a bunch of squirrels with hypertension.

John and I went driving along the Flagler Beach again today. It's back to normal with lots of people swimming, sunning, and surfing. Hopefully, there won't be any other hurricanes this year. Our hearts go out to everyone who had damage caused by the storm.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

I am so upset. I've lost my prescription sunglasses. John and I each got a pair when we were home at Christmas time. I absolutely loved them. I could read the charts easier and could see to drive both the boat and the car better. We have both looked everywhere we can think to look. We went back to the places we've visited since coming back here on Tuesday. St. Anthony, I'm relying on you. Hopefully, they will turn up when we put the boat back together after it's fixed. If any of you have a special relationship with St. Anthony, your prayers would be appreciated.

Today was spent doing paperwork and looking for sunglasses. A lot of little things were checked off of my To Do List. None of it was hard, just making myself sit down and do it. We are hoping for a cold front to come our way. It's been really hot and uncomfortable. Summer in Florida. Come January we'll be singing a different tune. Well, until tomorrow.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Jonathan

Kate

Lindy


Maria's 5th birthday party

Carolyn's 5th birthday party

Clara

Waves were hitting the bottom of the pier decking

Glad our boat was on the ICW

Thanks to all of you who called to make sure we were okay. Hurricane Irene didn't bother us at all. The winds were not bad; there was very little rain; high tide was higher than normal, making it a little harder to get on and off of the boat. Other than that, it was just another day in the life of our boat with the missing fuel tank. We went to Flagler Beach today to see how high the waves were. We did not see anyone surfing, but lots of people were driving around with surf boards hanging out of their cars. On the news, they said not to surf because of the rip tide being so strong. I'm putting pictures of the waves on the blog along with one of each of our grandchildren taken when we were at home. My computer is finally, pretty much up to par, so I should be able to do this.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

It is now 9:00 P.M. and the wind has picked up a bit. It is high tide and the wind has blown extra water into the marina. So far, so good. One of the docks here is a lot lower to the water and has smaller boats on it. The people here are concerned that these boats or parts of these boats may end up under the dock. John and I walked the docks about 30 minutes ago and all was well. So far we haven't had any rain, but I believe it is coming. John will probably get up numerous times during the night to check on things, especially our lines.

Tuesday,August 23, 2011

Our plans have changed again. Irene is heading for the Florida coast where our boat is currently docked. Therefore, we drove back to Palm Coast, Florida yesterday. We arrived at 3:00 A.M. We cannot move the boat because it is so torn apart, waiting for the new fuel tank to be installed. They had to move the water heater, the air conditioner, the starboard engine, and disconnect the generator to get the fuel tank out. They left it that way because it all has to be out of the way to put the tank back in. So, we have no water, air conditioning, and the drain for the galley sink is blocked. It is uncomfortable being on the boat.

It sounds like it's going to be another 3 weeks before the tank is ready to be installed. We are trying to decide what to do (where to sleep) in the meantime. Norm and Sue have been very gracious and offered their V-Berth to us to sleep in. We are trying to see if we can reconnect at least one of the air conditioners. And Debbie (marina manager) said they have an arrangement with the condos right across from here for a special rate for cases like this. We are weighing our options.

We also have to get the boat ready on the outside for all of the wind and rain that we will get even if the hurricane misses us.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

This past week we have been at Jeff and Susan's house. We have gone out to dinner with our friends Charlie and Joan, spent a day with Mom and Dad Sagel, went out to dinner with Jeff, Susan, and Kate, had another couple of doctor appointments, went to Cindy and Jerry's house, went to Christina's bridal shower, and visited with Mike and Linda. John has (the last) doctor appointment tomorrow. We were supposed to go back to Florida after that appointment, but since the new fuel tank hasn't been assembled as yet, we decided to wait for another week. The current plan is to leave here Saturday morning and go to Lake Cumberland for the houseboat show at the State Dock. We intend to stay overnight in a rented camper at Cumberland Point RV Resort where Gina and Jim have their camper. Then we plan to leave there on Sunday morning to go to Florida. We are, however, watching Tropical Storm Irene. Hopefully, we won't have to drop everything and head back to a huge storm.

Update on the tank: The starboard tank is out of the boat. Al had to move the starboard engine, the air conditioner, and the water heater to get it out. The fabricator had to order the aluminum to make the new tank. We are hoping the new tank will be ready to go back in within the next week. After the starboard tank is installed, the fuel in the port tank will be pumped into the starboard tank and a camera will be inserted into the port tank to see if it needs to be replaced as well. We were told that the cause of the leak was defective metal.

Monday, August 15, 2011

On Friday we spent the day with John's parents. We played bridge in the afternoon and then went to Manor House for the seafood buffet. It was really good, but I ate too much. It's always good to spend time with Mom and Dad. In fact, we are going back there on Wednesday.

Saturday, we went to Lighthouse Point Yacht Club (our home port) and were treated to an overnight trip with Dave and Donna on board Relax-a-tive, to the Rising Sun Yacht Club outing. We cruised to Smuggler's Cove on Craig's Creek and got to visit with a lot of our boating buddies from home. On Sunday, we celebrated our twin granddaughters' 5th birthday. The party had a rainbow theme and at the end, when people were leaving, there was a rainbow outside. It was like a birthday gift from God.

We have something to do every day from now on until we leave next Monday to go back to our boat.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

We camped until Tuesday, being fortunate enough to get out on the water Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. It was so much fun rafting the boats together and swimming. Our grandchildren all seem to enjoy the water. Tuesday evening we went out to dinner with Mike and Linda. We were planning on going boating with them this weekend. However, they have their first grandchild due to arrive over the weekend. Dave and Donna were kind enough to invite us to go with them to the Rising Sun Boat Club outing Saturday overnight to Sunday.


Wednesday we spent most of the day with my Mom, taking her to the eye doctor and then to Lens Crafters to get her new glasses. (I really like her new glasses.) She baked us a fresh, sugar free peach pie.


Today Jay's new granite counter tops were installed. They are beautiful. His kitchen is coming together quite nicely. John and I had lunch with Patty and Paul, and then moved our belongings to Jeff and Susan's house. This is the third and final leg of our visit at home. The time is going by much too fast.

We got word about our fuel tank yesterday. Apparently, the tank has rusted from the inside out and needs to be replaced. That was not what we wanted to hear, but it is what it is. We are waiting for the call about what it will cost and when it will be fabricated.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

We have moved to Jay and Cynthia's house for the 2nd part of our time at home. Every family has had some flu symptoms - cough, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, and / or fever. Jay's family has been hit the hardest. It seems to be gone, for the time being anyway. All of our children and grandchildren are camping together. It's so much fun going out on the boats and just being together. The weather is cooperating quite well. It was even cool enough to have a campfire tonight. Oh, and the campground had "Water Wars" today in the campground. Everyone brought
water guns and water balloons. Jim even brought a 3 person water balloon slingshot. We're spending a lot of time laughing our heads off.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

We have been busy, busy, busy since arriving in Cincinnati. Friday I went shopping at the Outlet Mall in Edinburgh, Indiana with my sisters, Mom, and Gina. We had a great time. Everyone bought something. On Saturday, we went to Jeff's house for the 3rd quarter birthdays. All of my brother and sisters were there except Jerry and Bridget. We are getting our doctor appointments out of the way. We each have one more before we go back to the boat. Sunday Gina had John's parents for dinner, so we got to spend a little time with them.

Today the work is supposed to begin on our boat. Also, John is watching to see if any of the storms are going to be hurricanes and hit the area where our boat is docked. That would really stink if one or both of us have to go back to the boat because of a hurricane. We have so many more things planned for while we are home. It's just wait and see.