Thanksgiving 2017

11-23-17     It is Thanksgiving and Karen and I are here in warm Florida. Notice I didn’t say sunny. It was sunny when we arrived last week but has been a tad bit rainy and overcast lately, but hey I’m not complaining. On our way down to Florida Karen and I stopped in Memphis to sightsee and then on to Tunica Mississippi to attend a Willie Nelson concert. Karen and I both agreed that we want to come back and spend more time in Memphis and believe it or not Karen loved the Willie concert. Karen will tell you that she’s never been a fan but really enjoyed herself, I will tell you that I enjoyed myself also and was surprised how well Willie performed. Willie was standing onstage for an hour and fifteen minutes playing and singing, in my opinion he showing his age when it comes to his voice, but he is 84 years old.The Prius did great delivering us to our destination full of everything Karen and I need for another successful season of sailing and averaging 53MPG through some very windy conditions.When Hurricane Irma was bearing down on Florida Karen and I were visiting Sam and Nicole in Oregon. Both of us worried as we watched Irma continue west arriving just miles away from Mango’s summer home. Once the power to the area came back along with the workers we got news that Mango survived Irma’s wrath unscathed, we were very relieved. However just days before we left Illinois the crew of M/V Gran Vida messaged us a picture asking if Mango looked normal. I examined the picture on Karen’s phone and told Karen and “Someone’s crap landed on Mango”. Karen examined the picture more closely and noted that it was our crap on Mango but not where it should be. Gran Vida was kind enough to send more pictures and we found that Mango’s hard dodger was folded in half and the Solbian solar panel screwed to it was torn to shreds and only a few pieces remained. The dodger was to only thing left externally on Mango and I always worried about it. Karen contacted our insurer and they appeared the day before Thanksgiving, we’ll know more next week. Depending on who I speak to here the winds were anywhere from 80 to 120 MPH but I don’t think anyone really knows.

The dodger laying on Mango's bow folding in half. It's amazing
that it is still on on board.  Empty jerry cans remained on board
in the cockpit.

I can’t speak for Karen but I feel a bit overwhelmed by my “To do list”. Karen has helped prioritize the list and tomorrow we’ll really get started and should make good progress. Every year I feel relieved when Mango is set in the water where she belongs and I’m sure this year will be no different.

Mango is stored in Glades Boat Yard is located just off the Caloosahatchee waterway with Moore Haven being the closest town. This is Mango’s summer home mainly because storage fees are very low and being located well inland hurricane winds are usually not as bad as near the coasts. For those of you who are not cruisers you would be very surprised by some of the things that occur in boat yards where people are allowed to live on their boats while they repair them. Karen describes one woman as “The Queen of the Boatyard”. She’s lived on her boat here in the yard with her husband going on 6 years now. She cruises the boatyard vaping or smoking just like last year. Just the other evening I was taking a shower in the yards facilities and was greeted by a 130 pound Rottweiler upon exiting the shower stall. I wasn’t startled because the yard is full of dogs and this one appeared to be very friendly. On top of everything I was wearing only a towel so I couldn’t have done much anyhow. As I turned towards my clothes I heard a voice tell me “He’s friendly”. The voice came from a bearded short man who reminded me of Papa Smurf mainly because he appeared to spend the day sanding the bottom of his boat without any protective equipment and was covered head to toe in blue sanding dust, I’m sure his lungs were covered also. 

Local residents are not fenced in. The red one
jumped up after her heard the snap of
my iPhone taking the picture, wrong time
to be in a red vehicle.

11-26-17     Morning here at the boatyard greets us with sounds from all kinds of birds, this starts about 45 minutes before sunrise and I love it even though it often wakes me. Evenings here start at 5 or so and 2 nights ago brought us to the yards screen room. We planned on having a drink or 2 with our boatyard neighbors Caroline and Ernie only to find several others arriving in the room with a bushel of fresh oysters. Turns out Winn Dixie had a sale on the oysters and a Brit named Trace purchased a bushel to share with everyone. They were the best I’ve ever tasted and I am now proficient at shucking the little buggers. After sundown we listen to the cows calling and the coyotes howling. Karen was told by someone here that the cows make noise when their calves are taken away which happens often since they are apparently used for veal.

The start of the feast.

The end. I took the shells and dumped them in the
river. I'm told the catfish love eating the oyster remains.

11-27-17     The project list is shrinking even though I keep adding to it. Today we mostly finished waxing the hull and verified the placement of the new wind generator. Tomorrow I will pull the cutlass bearing after Mango’s lifted to remove the rudder. Wednesday Karen should receive the material for the new dodger and can get started. Karen finished touching up the bottom paint today amongst the many other things she’s doing. We capped off the evening with showers, then sat on the back of Mango and watched the sun set while finishing a bottle of wine. We have no complaints here.