Friday February 1: The Saga of the Sprouts Continued :-)

The sprouts continue to grow in their little self contained plastic containers - which provide the darkness needed. Steve has carefully tended his garden of little sprouts by rinsing them 2 - 3 times a day for the last few days.

It looked like it was time for the harvest!

Get the directions out and read what needs to be done next .....

First pick all of the sprouts .....

Then rinse in a pan of water. This will remove any husks that remain on the sprouts (the picture is of the bean salad sprouts - a combo of mung beans, lentils and alfalfa). Once the sprouts are rinsed well in the water, place in a colander to drain.

Then eat :-)  Not really although we did try a few today. Right now we have lots of sprouts - I suspect it's on the menu for dinner tonight!

The big excitement in the harbor today was the return of Stevedore! She had engine troubles on the way down in January so with an engine pulled and one cylinder rebuilt, Sharon and Steve were dock-bound until the engine had been rebuilt.

So Towboat US towed Stevedore to the marina for in engine install and then back to the dock here in Banana Bay - on a very windy day.

Of course all of the guys in the marina were there to assist - especially since Stevedore wanted to back into the slip.

The Towboat US guy was very good as moving this 42 foot boat not under power (the engine was in but not ready to run yet) backwards into a slip on a windy day is not an easy task WITH engines running in the boat!

Sharon did a nice job with the bow thruster to assist and in the end all was well and Stevedore was home.

It was like a friend returning home .... amazing that a group of people from all over the US can become such a good group of friends ....... at a marina in Florida.

The next project was already underway: R&R the mast and boom. We had taken it down last week so we didn't have to go the extra 3 miles to the high bridge (we can go under the 19 foot part of the bridge with the mast down).

The last time anything was done to the mast was 5 years ago when Steve totally stripped the paint, sanded and repainted both the mast (the vertical part) and the boom (the horizontal part).

It has held up well although there was a soft spot in the boom. No problem though. Dig out the soft wood, add Git-rot, fill with epoxy, sand, prime and paint.

At this point the mast is ready to be painted. Perhaps tomorrow .....