Electric Start!!

What a great Christmas! Daren got home at 2 am Christmas morning, and woke up with the great idea of driving up to Stuart (5 hours) to see boat friends Tom and Jodie, while we had a rental car. We arrived just in time for the turkey feast and got to see both of their Moms and also Tracy, who stopped by after her family feast across town. After spending Christmas night at Tom's Mom's, we went to breakfast with Tom and Jodie and got to see their Union 36, which Tom's been restoring and looks great since we first saw it 6 yrs ago! They're planning to go cruising in a year, when Jodie retires. We all went to Calico Corners in Stuart, where we found some gorgeous fish fabric for the interior cushions. The sheet slipcovers I made are looking pretty bad, but at least they're washable! Libby may not be as welcome on the new ones, but we'll see....she's such a good dog!! Daren and I spent Thursday trying to find a used outboard motor in Marathon to replace our 15 HP that we got tired of throwing money at! No luck, so Friday, we picked up another rental car and drove up to Tampa (7 hours). Daren'd found a gem online, and we needed it right away, since we were borrowing our friends' Diane and Bill (Tugnacious)'s dinghy! They were so kind to loan it to us! We got home late last night, after a stop at Bass Pro and Chick Fil-A, near our old neighborhood of Ft. Myers. Daren designed the master plan for 10,000 acres on Alico Road years ago, and it was fun to see how great it looks built out! Part of it is called Miramar Lakes with a sign that claims to be "The Number One Community in the USA"! No surprise to ME! Daren and Bill just got the new motor installed on our dinghy this afternoon! It's a 9.9 HP Mercury with ELECTRIC START!! Just that phrase makes me smile! : ) Push a button, and it starts right up....a MIRACLE! I will be the envy of Boot Key Harbor!! It runs like a top and is pretty quiet! Funny the things that make our lives better! Daren and Bill are watching football at Hurricane's so Libby and I are enjoying the computer to ourselves! Daren's home until the 10th of January, so I know "we'll" get a lot of projects done!! Next up: the wind generator! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

12-12-12

It seems like a memorable date to update the blog! The harbor's still full of boats, but a flotilla left last Saturday, Dec. 8th, including Al and Sue on "Wind Dancer". The weather's been lovely, and I just got home from the post office, where I was the only customer! I DO love this little town of Marathon!! Good pal, JoEllen, on a Marine Trader 34 (like the one we had 15 yrs!) and I went for crab claws Monday and stopped by the Purr-fect Thrift store, which is ALWAYS closed, it seems. A nice man opened it up for us, having just arrived to take care of the cats. Cats were everywhere, and JoEllen and I are, well, dog people, but we found some real treasures: small sea-life paintings and a mint-condition spritz cookie press, with all 12 templates, including the camel and dog! Funny the things that make your day! Yesterday, I baked cookies all day, but because of the heat or humidity or lack of enough flour, all the shapes looked a lot alike! But they tasted great and it was a fun project while listening to Christmas music! Daren had to go back to work last Saturday, and we drove up to Miami Friday night and stayed at a really nice Motel 6 in Cutler Ridge. We got to see good friends Don and Cheryl while Daren was home and stayed with them at their lovely time share on the beach. Libby was invited to stay here on our friends' boat, No Mas, a 41' Morgan with 2 kids and 2 dogs. She had a blast and we had a nice worry-free visit! We went to a fabulous French restaurant, Chez Paul. It was a wonderful farewell dinner before we parted ways. They went back to Missouri and we drove back to Marathon. Daren'll be home Christmas Eve, and then he's off until Jan. 10th! It's very tempting to take the boat to the Bahamas, but so much easier to stay here, and Marathon has everything! Our nearby church (New Life AG) is renting the Conch Train in Key West Dec. 18th to go caroling. There are lots of kids at that church, since they run a day-care, and it's always fun when they sing...too cute! Tomorrow night, the youth group is having a Christmas program, so there's plenty going on around here. The boat parade was last Saturday night, and JoEllen and I had ringside seats from her trawler's flying bridge. I can't believe she wants to sell that great boat, but she's a sailor at heart! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas season, too!