Monday October 27: Finally - Winding Down and Preparing to Leave Jacksonville

So it's true and the proof is in the picture, right? Caught just sitting around, relaxing. And it wasn't even 4 pm yet :-)

Today was decreed to be a 'take a break afternoon.' No more getting ready and being crazy. Time to revise plans: spend tomorrow (Tuesday) here finishing up putting things away, getting the holding tank pumped out and basically just finishing up all of the little things that needed to be done before we take off.

Backing up a couple of days: the report on the new Sharp Microwave Convection oven is VERY positive. The salmon with dill sauce was the best ever. Not sure why but my thought is that the new oven made a big difference.

And the brownies? They'll get my vote everytime!!

The oven is definitely a keeper and will eventually replace the built in oven once we get to Banana Bay and truly have time to deal with the change over in cooking appliances.

Last big job was completed Saturday afternoon: redoing the Raptor bed liner on the forward and aft cabin deck tops. Again - just redoing what was originally done shortly after we purchased the boat 9 years ago.

Easy enough - just takes time.

Remove the hatches, sand the surfaces, wipe down with water, and tape off the teak trim.

With brush in hand, I trimmed the edges and Steve again followed up with the roller.

Job done. The last of the Raptoring for now at least!

The flybridge plastic finally went up. There were issues with getting the frames up with the high tides so we had to wait until the water came down in order to put the top up completely.

Better than hoped for results. Steve was able to get all of the fasteners along the bottom of the  front and sides snapped down. It was only in the back that we'll need some extensions. Because the canvas is now 2 layers of sunbrella, it isn't nearly at "stretchable" as it was originally.

But I look forward to not getting rained on through the canvas!!!

The new microwave and TV are now securely fastened. No losing of any equipment to giant waves for us :-)

My job for today? Made a quick repair to the washing machine 10 times more difficult - all I had to do was to drop the new door switch - and watch it fall all of the way down to the bottom of the inside of the washer! Sadly the part wasn't metal so no hope with a magnet.

Next try a yardstick with a wad of duct tape stuck on the end. Sadly that didn't work either ..... so fine. Take the back of the machine off and reach in and pick up the part - which then took all of 3 minutes to install.

Some days ....

So our car turned into a pumpkin today as our weekend special was up. But not before Steve made one last trip to Winn Dixie and came home with WHAT???

Chips made with beets?? I'm thinking he is really going to enjoy these because there is no way I'm even going to try them. I mean I did the beet burgers some time back and that was as far as I can go. Sorry ....








On a cute animal note: the neighbors had some friends out over the weekend to watch the airshow. They brought the cutest little monkey - actually it was a marmoset. The friend raises them and apparently this little guy needs to eat every three hours!

Sounds like me lately ......

The plan is set: finish up tomorrow and head out first thing Wednesday. We'll be in St. Augustine in a day or so.