Friday, September 30, 2011

C-11 days and counting

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

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