There's no place like home

Dear Friends and Family,

There's no place like home. In my case I have two homes and can always say "there's no place like home" and mean it. I arrived home last Saturday night around 9:30pm. Jimi put me to work right away on Sunday...lol, not really. We had to do a few things to prepare Sanibel for the hurricane. Since he used the actual anchors to tie her down and one of those anchors was anchored in the middle of the road, we tied a bright red gas can to it, so no one would drive over it.

We also removed the solar panels and tied down any other lose items. Later that evening the hurricane turned away from us and headed West. It's always better to be safe than not, right?

I've stayed home these past few days working on home projects to do with the cockpit and saloon cushions. While I was out of town, Jimi ordered the fabric for the cockpit cushions and the other night we found fabric for the saloon cushions. Jimi ordered special thread which will be used on anything not inside the cabin. We are waiting for that to come in.

Jimi says the electrical is almost complete and he has a good handle on it. He's having trouble with the battery chargers. He's purchased two so far (we only need one), but none of them are working.He continues to troubleshoot trying to figure something out. He wired up the wind generator and the solar panels. Both are producing plenty of electricity for our needs, even on cloudy and calm days. The refrigerator is wired in and working as it should. All of these little things he gets done are exciting for us. To finally knock something 'complete' off our list, as simple as it may seem, is such an accomplishment. One thing at a time and one day at a time.

He's about ready to begin working on the plumbing: sinks/faucets, drains, toilets, water tanks, sewage tank, the water heater, and misc.

We have roughly 3 months to go. I'm sure I've said it before and I'll say it again "it's going to come and go quite fast". We've got to begin clearing the house out. We have things to sell on ebay, decide what we have room for to keep and haul off the rest. This will be a part of my home projects.

An alligator had made a home in a ditch just a few blocks from our house. We unsuccessfully tried to get a picture of him a couple of times. As soon as we drive or walk up, he scrams. Finally on the third attempt Jimi snapped this picture.

Here is a  picture of our new dingy.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi