December 22, 2012

We went back to the boat on December 3rd.  When we got back, there were even less people around than there were before Thanksgiving.  We moved the boat to a slip under cover near some other liveaboards and left to come back to Cincy on the December 12th. for the Christmas holidays.  We  got back to Cincy in time to see  our granddaughter Kate's Christmas program.  We have been busy since we got here spending as much time with all our grandkids as we can.  We spent the first week with Gina and Jim, Clara and Lindy and are currently at Cynthia and Jay's with Carolyn, Maria, and Johnathan.  These are some truly lively houses and Carol and I love it.  We are going to spend Christmas morning at Susan, Jeff, and Kate's house and all of us are getting together at Cynthia and Jay's house in the afternoon.  Also had time to visit many of our friends in the last week, both boating and non-boating.  It has been a very busy week.  We plan on heading back to the boat on Dec. 27th.  I am doing one of the few posts I have done because Grandma Carol is too busy being "Grandmotherly."

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

We made the trip home for Thanksgiving and stayed for two weeks.  We spent the first week at Jeff and Susan's house and the second week at Gina and Jim's house.  It seemed that every house had lots of germs, but we escaped unscathed.  It was so nice to be home for Thanksgiving.  After missing three Thanksgivings at home made this one extra special.  There were 44 people (my side of the family) in attendance.  Only four were missing.  There were three expecting mothers, so next year, if everyone is there, we will be fifty-one.  Thank goodness our children have such large houses to accommodate that many.

John had lunch a few times with his friends from Delhi.  I had lunch with the "Boat Ladies".  We had dinner out several times.  It seems we eat a lot while we are home.  It is evident by the number on the scale once we got back to the boat.  We are returning to Cincinnati on the 13th for the Christmas holiday.  Hopefully, we can pare back before then, so we can enjoy all of the eating events. It is a vicious cycle.

Our Rising Sun Christmas party was Saturday night at Hueston Woods.  We stayed overnight in the lodge.  The dinner, dancing, and visiting with this group of boaters was a lot of fun.  When we left there on Sunday (John's BIG 60th birthday), we went to Jay and Cynthia's house for a birthday party with our children, grandchildren, and parents.  All in all, we had a great time and are looking forward to our next trip home.

Cooler Weather

Two nights ago it got down to 28 degrees.  We were aware that the temperature was going to drop down below freezing, so John winterized the shower on the swim platform and the deck wash, out on the bow.  I guess we didn't go far enough south.  It's only November and it gets cold at night.  The days when the sun shines are still pleasant though.   

The oven quit working.  It wouldn't heat up and the water heater isn't getting the water very warm any more.  So, John ordered a new heating element for the water heater and a heating element for the oven.  Today he installed the one for the oven.  Now I can cook anything I want again.  It was strange having to think about how something needed to be cooked before buying food at the grocery store.  The water heater is on the list of  "Things To Do".  John hasn't been feeling so well for the past two or three days.  It's just a cold, but he doesn't feel like doing much.  We are both hoping that he is back to normal (whatever that is) by the time we come home for Thanksgiving.  We are so looking forward to seeing everyone over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.  I am doing very well with my Christmas shopping.  I figured that since we are going to be home for a few weeks and there are only six weeks until Christmas, I better get a move on.  There is still one more thing I want to make for a Christmas gift.   I feel pretty good about my progress so far.  Well, that's pretty much what's been happening recently here. 

November Already

This past weekend was my annual sisters' trip.  My sisters and sisters-in-law have gone away for a weekend in the fall every year for many years.  Over the years this trip has evolved to include Mom and the nieces and nieces-in-law that are older than 18.  I never missed a single one of these trips until we left on The Great Loop Trip.  I missed two years during that time.  We were gone for three years, but one year they came to where we were docked for our sisters' trip.  This year it was only my sisters and Mom.  The four of us went to Clarksville, Indiana.  We started our Christmas shopping, went to a very nice craft show in Louisville, and attended the play "Mousetrap" at the Derby Dinner Theater.  We ate a lot, laughed a lot, and played cards.  While we missed the rest of the girls, we had a great time anyway.

Before I left for this weekend, John told me that he bought me a present that was going to be delivered on Friday.  He said it was something I wouldn't buy for myself.  It's not even my birthday or our Anniversary or anything.  When I got back, he gave it to me.  It is a box of wonderful teas from Mighty Leaf Tea Company.  He was right.  I would not have ordered it for myself, but they are wonderful.  I might have to reorder them because I haven't tried a single one that I didn't like.  Thanks, John. 

There aren't very many people around the harbor since the first of the month.  Pickwick State Park has been working on replacing their docks and, apparently, one (or more) of them has been finished and open for boats.  Several boats left our dock to go there.  Several boats have left for Florida.  Loopers have been passing through here and we enjoy talking with them, but they don't stay more than a night or two.  It's a good thing we have each other to talk to.

That's it for a week or so.  Hang in there.....

Saturday, October 27, 2012

It's been a little more than a week since our last post.  John ordered a reconditioned detail sander because he wore out his old one.  He received an email saying it had been shipped and so a couple of days later, we walked up to the office to pick it up.  On the way, we ran into Tony the service manager.  He asked us what two people living on a boat would want with a weed whacker.  We thought that was a strange question.  He said that a package came for John that says weed whacker on the outside.  Sure enough, instead of a detail sander, he received a weed whacker.  After emailing back and forth with the company, it was discovered that the person who ordered the weed whacker got the detail sander and vice versa.  They shipped us the sander with a label to send the mistake package to the correct person directly.  We got a giggle out of that one.

We visited Shiloh Battlefields again.  This time we bought the CD that narrates the driving tour.  However, they have changed the order of the stops and so far, we have not figured out how to visit each stop in the order on the CD.  We need to go back to the visitor's center for clarification on that.

Two days ago, I fell down the four steps going into the aft cabin and bruised my back.  OUCH!  It's slowing me down just a bit.  Then, the next day, John did the exact same thing.  He cut his knee in his fall.  What's up with that?  The steps aren't any different than they have ever been before.  Oh well.

Yesterday, we finally met Cathryn and Bob on our "sister ship" Next To Me.  We have been playing leap frog for a long while.  John has been reading their blog and emailing them.  They arrived at Aqua Yacht Harbor yesterday afternoon and we went to Freddy T's for dinner with them last night.  We thoroughly enjoyed meeting them and hope that our paths cross again sometime.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

We have been busy keeping the boat in ship shape in case someone wants to come to see it.  John took the van to the dealer to have the air conditioner worked on again.  The freon keeps leaking out and the last time, they put a dye in so that if it happened again, they could tell where it is leaking.  Well, it took them an hour and a half to find the leak because it is leaking all the way in the back of the van.  When the trailer hitch was installed, it was rubbing on the A/C line and rubbed a hole in it.  So, the new line should arrive tomorrow and, hopefully, this will be the last time having the air conditioner serviced. 

I have begun making Christmas gifts.  There are so many really good ideas on Pinterest.  I am excited about some of the ideas I've gotten from this source.  I intend to make a lot of gifts, so the work is started.  No time like the present. 

A couple of days ago, John and I visited the Buford Pusser Home and Museum in Adamsville.  I thought he was a fictitious character made up for the movies, but he was very real.  He was truly amazing.  One time he had part of his face blown off, his chin hanging off of his face.  After many surgeries, he looked pretty good and could even talk.  His wife was killed in an ambush.  He was shot in that ambush as well.  I don't know how he could keep going and doing the job of sheriff. 

We also went to the Savannah River Museum.  It is a typical museum.  It has archaeological displays from around the area.  There are displays about the steamboats, including the Delta Queen.  There are also displays about the Battle at Shiloh.

I am looking forward to going on our "Sisters' Trip" in a couple of weeks with my sisters and my Mom.  We are going to the Derby theater in Clarksville, IN to see "Mousetrap".  It doesn't matter where we go, we always have a good time together.

Monday, October 8, 2012

We were home last week in Cincinnati to visit.  We spent time with our children and grandchildren.  We visited our parents.  I had lunch with my sisters. We attended movie night at Lighthouse Point Yacht Club (our home port).  We had a wonderful time, but now we are back on our boat in Iuka, Mississippi.  Our next trip home will probably be over Thanksgiving. 

 

These are all of our grandchildren.  We so enjoyed spending time with them last week.

 

While we were home, it came to my attention that you might be interested in some statistics of our trip.  The trip took us from October 15, 2009 until September 7, 2012, almost three years.  We bought 4884.3 gallons of diesel fuel for a total of $ 17,781.28.  We spent $22,775.09 on mooring.  We spent $ 34,854.22 on maintenance and repair.  We put 1145 hours on the generator and 1154 hours on the engines. We cruised a total of 9117 miles and went through 135 locks.  Whew!  It makes me tired just to think about it.  We thoroughly enjoyed the entire trip.  We met tons of really nice people everywhere we went.  We are both so glad that we were able to do this trip of a lifetime.