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!