Our inverter is re-installed and operational! No more electrical cords snaking all over the saloon and staterooms, no more having to make do with only half our lights, and no more plugging stuff in to an extension cord then having to switch the extension cord to some other appliance.
And we'll finally be able to sleep in the master state room. We've been sleeping in the mid-ship guest stateroom ever since we moved onto the boat 2 weeks ago because Joe had to have our bed (in the master stateroom) at a 45 degree angle in order to hook up the "house" batteries (located under our bed) to a portable battery charger.
Now that we have full power, the ice maker is trying to work, but it appears we'll have to have our appliance repair friend Larry Simonson from ARCH Services out once again to see what's ailing it. We have a somewhat small refrigerator, so our plan is to keep our beverages on ice in a cooler in the cockpit. But if the ice maker isn't working that means we have to buy ice all the time--a nuisance when we're cruising.
Today we got just about everything settled into its final resting place for our cruise. And more stuff was hauled up to the car to be distributed to our daughters, the Goodwill, or the dumpster. There's still some tweaking to do, but like any home, we'll have to live in it a while to figure out the most efficient places to store things.
Tonight our good friends Linda Besk (Edina Realty Real Estate Agent Extraordinaire) and Bob Turrentine (Captain Extraordinaire) came for dinner and a tour of Paradise. Bob and Linda and the Veda L (Trawler Extraordinaire) are the ones responsible for getting us really fired up about cruising on a trawler. The Veda L is a gorgeous Kadey Krogen 48 foot North Sea trawler. Here's Linda's blog: http://lindabesk.blogspot.com/ Be sure to check out the amazing photos she has taken of their adventures on the water. They're the folks we turn to for advice on just about every aspect of cruising and living aboard because they have such a wealth of experience. While Bob and Joe were looking at and talking about engines and anchors, I was pumping Linda with questions about what to use to clean teak, what kinds of cardboard are okay to bring onto the boat, suggestions for storage, how to convince Joe that I need my sewing machine. =0)
Not only are Bob and Linda willing to share their experience, but Bob even brought and cooked the entree for our dinner tonight! Bob made lobster tails for us that they brought back from the Bahamas last winter. Joe and I got a personal lesson on the proper way to cook Bahamian lobsters--turns out they should be sauteed, not boiled. What a fabulous dinner! Can't wait to use that technique on lobsters that we get this winter.
Tomorrow's Saturday and even though we're retired, I can't seem to get out of the habit of shopping on the weekends, so tomorrow I'll be hitting the crowded stores with lists in hand.
The excitement is building as we get closer to Tuesday, October 11th.
MaryJo
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
C-14 days and counting
Two weeks from today (on 10/11/11) we will leave Stillwater, MN and begin our 12 month Great Loop cruise, so I decided it was high time to start a blog of our adventures aboard Paradise. It's a cold, rainy, gloomy day--perfect for staying indoors and accomplishing not only the start of this blog, but also some other tasks that aren't nearly as much fun.
Joe is changing the oil in the engines and I'm going to line all the cabinets in all three heads so I can haul the new towels out of storage and put them where they're needed. We're also getting some laundry done, and I hope to finally unload the last of the storage tubs by finding appropriate places to put all the things we've brought aboard. I'll probably find more things we kept that we don't need, and we'll haul them to the car to await donation at the Goodwill. It seems like we've already gotten rid of about 25% of what we initially brought on board.
We're still having inverter problems so the master stateroom remains torn apart and we have electrical cords running everywhere. With any luck, that will all be taken care of soon.
In the next few days, I'll make a master list of provisions we'll need, compare that to what's already on board, go shopping, then bring it all back to the boat and try to figure out where to store it all.
My right leg seems to be doing well (no pain) and I continue putting limited weight on it, using crutches, and getting in & out of the boat and up & down the boat stairs on my backside. My last doctor appointment in MN will be Oct 10th when the surgeon expects that x-rays will show sufficient healing of my femur to allow full weight on my leg. He said at my last visit that I'll probably still need to use crutches for a while until my muscles rebuild from their 5 month vacation.
Need to get working so I'll close for now.
MaryJo
Joe is changing the oil in the engines and I'm going to line all the cabinets in all three heads so I can haul the new towels out of storage and put them where they're needed. We're also getting some laundry done, and I hope to finally unload the last of the storage tubs by finding appropriate places to put all the things we've brought aboard. I'll probably find more things we kept that we don't need, and we'll haul them to the car to await donation at the Goodwill. It seems like we've already gotten rid of about 25% of what we initially brought on board.
We're still having inverter problems so the master stateroom remains torn apart and we have electrical cords running everywhere. With any luck, that will all be taken care of soon.
In the next few days, I'll make a master list of provisions we'll need, compare that to what's already on board, go shopping, then bring it all back to the boat and try to figure out where to store it all.
My right leg seems to be doing well (no pain) and I continue putting limited weight on it, using crutches, and getting in & out of the boat and up & down the boat stairs on my backside. My last doctor appointment in MN will be Oct 10th when the surgeon expects that x-rays will show sufficient healing of my femur to allow full weight on my leg. He said at my last visit that I'll probably still need to use crutches for a while until my muscles rebuild from their 5 month vacation.
Need to get working so I'll close for now.
MaryJo
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