April 12th: Back to Marathon

 

When I left 3 weeks earlier, I told Mychael to stay on my boat with his girlfriend. His sailboat was still anchored out and there were numerous systems issues. He wasn't particularly bothered because as he said, "I leave for work in the morning and just come back to sleep!" I knew Adriana would much prefer my boat. They stayed on my boat and upon my return Adriana had thoroughly cleaned everything. 

The day I returned Mychael was finally able to get a slip for his sailboat. The next day I helped him retrieve the three anchors holding his boat. It took quite a while because the wind and currents spin the boat around so all three chains were wound together. I drove the boat forward while he hauled them up a little at a time. His windlass wasn't working so it was all by hand. He finally got everything secured and was ready for the 4 hour sail around to the ocean side and then up the coast to get to his dock. It was pretty windy and getting late but it is a sailboat and he planned to sail all the way. I took my dinghy back to my boat and he and Adriana headed out. 

I called him a couple hours later and he had just crossed under the bridge to the ocean side, but his mainsail had ripped! It was an old sail. That meant he was going to have to motor at 3mph instead of sailing at 7mph. In addition, there were 5 foot waves. The boat is 41 feet and can handle that but it is not fun. He finally arrived at his dock at 1:00  AM! Exhausted but happy to finally be at a dock.

Mychael and Adriana at their new slip

Reflection, Hospodor's boat

Boats always have issues. My friends George and Pat Hospodor asked me to come along on their boat for a test run before heading out for the season. It's always fun to be on the water so of course I said "Sure". We did not go very far before the port engine was overheating. We limped back in and George decided to change the impellers in both engines. The impellers drive ocean water through the engines to cool them. When he looked at the old ones they looked worn and tired. Probably what caused the overheating. 

Another test cruise. Port engine still overheating.  Mechanic said it was most likely the heat exchanger. Salt water runs through a heat exchanger that allows the engine anti freeze to be cooled without getting salt water in the engine. When sitting, the salt water in the heat exchanger can grow bad things and get clogged. So George had the mechanic come to clean the heat exchangers. While he was there he inspected the water pump and told George it was on it's last legs. He wouldn't recommend going very far. So, $700 later George had a new water pump. It's no wonder people say BOAT means break out another thousand.

When I returned to Marathon my focus was on preparing the boat for the Rahn's visit from San Juan Capistrano. Mychael came over to adjust the idle speed of the engine. We had noticed it was not running quite right. Fortunately, Mychael is a good mechanic and he adjusted the throttle cable. He also noticed that the valves were knocking a little. He said he could adjust them. Great! I also wanted to check the torque on the head bolts as preventative maintenance. Both tasks required removing the valve cover. When we do that the valve cover gasket needs to be replaced. Fortunately, we always carried a spare. All went well. I was hoping for some calm weather so Mychael and I could take the boat out for a test run after the repairs.

House Bank Batteries

Next I decided to test the inverter. The inverter powers the 110 volt system while we're not on shore power. It converts DC power to AC power. I unplugged the shore power and tried the inverter. It didn't work. After investigating, I discovered the 4 batteries for the house power bank were worn out. Not surprising, it had been 4 years since they were replaced. They are quite heavy and difficult to remove and replace. Two of the batteries are under a shelf so very little space to work. I had done the previous installation but I was thinking that perhaps it was not a good idea to strain myself. Once again, Mychael to the rescue. He is 33 years old, relatively small so he fits in tight spaces and he's quite strong. He agreed that it was not a good idea for me to do it. I told him I'd get the batteries and he could take it from there. I picked up the new batteries and put them on the boat. That I could safely handle. 

Adriana detailing my Nissan

While we were working on the batteries, Adriana, Mychael's girlfriend and Detailing assistant, said she could get some grease off of the back seat of my car. I didn't want Craig or Karen to sit in it and knew Mychael would have a good grease remover.    After spending several hours with Mychael working on the engine, we walked out to the parking lot. Adriana was doing a complete detailing of my car, inside and out. 

Excellent Detail job

I never knew it could look so good!

I picked the Rahns up in Key West Saturday afternoon. It was great to see them again. We basically relaxed the first day. Time for recuperating from travelling. 

The  days later Mychael came and swapped out the batteries. Watching him struggle assured me I made a smart decision. The house battery bank was now functioning properly, but the inverter still wasn't working. Not a big deal as we weren't going to be spending a lot of time without shore power.

We had started watching The Mandalorian when I was at the Rahns' home before I left so we resumed watching the series. We made plans for the rest of the week.

April 6th: Trip back to California

 

I decided to take a trip back to California. I am planning on spending the summer in Canada so it would be a long time before I saw Matt, Wendy and Rebecca again. 

I was very glad I came back for three weeks. I still love California! The beaches, the weather, the people, the food, the hiking, are all very enjoyable.

Stairs to Solana Beach

The day after I arrived I rode my bike down to Solana Beach. The weather was perfect. I ride my bike about 5 miles to the beach and then walk the beach. I also climb the stairs for exercise. The view is great from the top and plenty of exercise is included.

Florida is also beautiful but the highest elevation in Marathon is 5 feet! I don't get to see the water or beaches from high up.

Along side the stairs, part way up, are some very pretty flowers.

At the top is a nice garden with huge Yucca plants and more pretty flowers. You'd never know it's winter!

I spent some time with Matt and Wendy. No projects, just a relaxed visit with good take out food from the Himalayan Restaurant in town. We also did a Facetime movie with Rebecca. I was planning to go to Studio City later in the week but just me. 

Karen's monkey sculpture

At Christmas I had told my San Juan Capistrano friends, the Rahns how great the buttermilk brined turkey I made was. Turned out they had a small turkey in the freezer and invited me to come up and make it with the buttermilk brined turkey recipe. It turned out delicious. I doubt that I'll ever cook a turkey differently in the future. 

I saw Karen's new monkey sculpture in her vegetable garden. It's certainly unique!

I also appreciated Karen's new dish towel.

I stayed over night so Craig and I could take a nice bike ride to the ocean. We were also checking on a friend's 41 foot trawler. It is a very nice boat!

The interior of the boat is very spacious and well kept. Everything was fine when we checked on the boat. I would have loved to take it out for a ride!

We decided to stop for lunch at BJ's Cafe just across from the marina. I had an eggplant Ruben sandwich which was delicious. It also came with clam chowder. Food options in California are wonderful. I didn't think to take a picture.

Thursday I continued north to Studio City where Rebecca lives. It's always fun to visit with her and the dogs. As usual, there was a list of projects. Nothing too major this time and also as usual things were added to the list as time went on.

My favorite grocery store in Encinitas is Lazy Acres. Their seafood and meat are outstanding. I brought a rib roast with me to Rebecca's. It turned out great!

Anise cookies

While I was at Encinitas my landlords invited me for dinner. They are a wonderful couple and Mara is an excellent cook. I thought about what I could bring and decided anise cookies would be a hit. I made some at Christmas and had given them some. They really liked them. The problem was I couldn't find anise oil. I finally found anise extract in a baking aisle so I thought I'd give it a try. Bad idea. It just isn't the same. The cookies weren't terrible but definitely disappointing if you know what they are supposed to taste like.  I brought them to the dinner but promised a better batch once I received the anise oil I ordered on line. I ordered the anise oil delivered to Rebecca's so I could make them up there. They need to sit overnight before baking so it takes some time to make them. They turned out great.

The first project was to tighten the big screen on the side of the garage. I used a heavy twine to attach it the first time and the twine had stretched. This time I made a number of adjustments and fastened everything with wire and the screen is better than ever. We enjoyed watching the Mandalorian on the big screen that night!

Old air conditioner

The next project was one that kept getting put on hold during previous visits due to other priorities. There was an old air conditioning unit that cooled the workout room behind the garage. We replaced it with a window unit but never got rid of the old one. It was quite old and the coolant had all leaked out. Still, it was too big to fit into the trash bin. Fortunately, we have a good saber saw with a great metal cutting blade. It took some doing, but I took apart as much as I could and then cut the case into small pieces. I was able to get everything into the trash bin. Fortunately, an automated device on the trash truck picks up the barrel and dumps it. It was quite heavy!

London and the dog door

Another project that was never completed was the outside molding for the dog door we installed. We ran out of the wall inserts used to hold screws in stucco, so there was only one screw holding it in. That was probably two years ago! It is now well secured.

Whenever I visit Rebecca, I always walk the dogs in the morning. It's a very nice residential neighborhood. The dogs are always excited for the walk and it's interesting to see the variety of landscaping and architecture. The roses this time of year are huge and beautiful. Many people have very colorful flowers around their yards. Here are just a few.

New playground equipment being installed

Studio City does a very nice job with the parks. We walked past one of the parks and saw they are adding very fun looking playground equipment.

New Gate sensor

Probably the highest priority for this visit was to install a new sensor for the gate leading to Rebecca's garage. The old one had inadvertently met an early demise due to a run in with a Jeep Liberty! The sensor sticks out into a tight space on the driveway. The new sensor was to arrive Friday, which it did, Friday afternoon. Too late to start a new project. We still have the same rule, no cutting or sawing after 5 PM. Too many do-overs result when I'm worn out!

So Saturday morning, after of course taking the dogs for a walk, I worked on the sensor. The electronics in the control box are quite extensive. I was surprised at how many circuit boards, wires etc., were inside the unit. The unit is clearly capable of a lot more than just the gate, so my job was not that difficult. 

I just needed to install the new sensor and reflector on the wall and connect the 4 wires to the main box. 

Rebecca's automated gate

As usual, it took longer than expected to get the new box connected to the wall, align the reflector on the fence across the driveway and thread the wires, but it all went well. The gate is important because it keeps the dogs from escaping. They wouldn't really run away but they would enjoy exploring the neighborhood a little, violating the leash requirement.

A project added to the list was the laundry room. That also was a started but never completed project. We stacked the washer and dryer to make room for shelving. But we never got to the shelving. While I was working on the gate, Rebecca went to Home Depot and bought the shelving brackets etc. 

When I removed all the old brackets off the walls, I suggested we fill the holes before installing the new shelves. Rebecca said she'd really like to paint the room before we installed the new shelving. Made sense to me. So while I filled the holes, Rebecca went to buy the paint. It was a good call. We needed to let the paint dry, but I said I could finish Sunday morning before I left.

Old back yard fence 

While I was working on the laundry room, Rebecca was working on an addition to the fence in her back yard. When we installed the fence to provide privacy from the two story apartments behind her house, we left the North end lower than the rest, thinking that would be okay. We also had limited artificial green ivy to attach to the fence. 

In a former project, we had installed the ivy lattice on top of the fence along side of her driveway. Her neighbor just built a new house and put up a new high fence. So Rebecca was able to reuse the extra ivy lattice to improve her back yard wall. Since we had to wait for the paint to dry, and she had everything ready for installation, we went ahead and finished the wall. It looks much better.

Newly added to back yard fence and Trevi

We enjoyed Saturday night. We ordered take out sushi which was great, and watched TV.  Then I took a nice long bath in Rebecca's wonderful tub. It felt good after crawling around two days working on projects. 

We both took the dogs for a walk down by the river Sunday morning. The area is fenced in so Rebecca can let the dogs run loose and play. They really had a good time. The flowers are very colorful.

Here is a video of the dogs racing around. They are extremely fast when they want to be. It's fun to watch them play together.

Installing shelf brackets

We returned to the laundry room project. The room looks much cleaner and lighter. I installed brackets for adjustable shelves on the west wall and the South wall.

Next I cut the shelf board for the microwave. I told Rebecca she could take it from there and went to pack up.

Shelf board is too long

But then, as I was getting ready to leave, I saw her placing the shelf board on the brackets. They were too long. I had put everything away but that was not acceptable.   

So we finished the job of cutting the boards as London finally lost interest and slept. We cut the boards to the appropriate size and Rebecca was ready to organize all her cleaning supplies.

 

 Rebecca sent me a picture of the finished laundry room when I returned to Encinitas. Another successful project.

Monday morning I returned to the YMCA to play some pickleball. It was fun seeing my pickleball friends after 3 months and the exercise felt good. It was a beautiful day so that afternoon I walked down to the beach at Swami's. Those stairs also afford a very nice view.

Ocean view from the Swami's Beach stairs

I also visited the San Elijo Lagoon this week. It's a great place to walk and see birds. Before I rode my bike there, I enjoyed this unique sunrise from my balcony. The sun poked through the clouds at just the right time.

Snowy Egret

I was able to get a few bird pictures. I like the snowy Egret's bright yellow feet. I'm told they wiggle their toes to attract fish! Not sure what kind of ducks these are but fun to see. Also saw some Coots but couldn't get a good picture.

Snowy Egret

I will be heading back to Florida April 12th. I'm looking forward to the Rahn's visit April 23rd. We plan to cruise up the west coast of Florida.