A new appreciation

Dear Friends and Family,

As Jimi works on the exterior of Sanibel, he alternates his time between the gel coat on the deck and the topside of the hull. Most of his days are filled with sanding and more sanding. He comes home daily covered in a white dust. He's a little concerned he will not have the exterior done by May, so he's increasing his time spent at the yard and recruiting help. He spent this past weekend there and I helped him half of Sunday. After sanding with him for half a day, I have a new respect for what he's doing. When Jimi would come home dusty and tired I thought I understood how hard he had worked all day, but actually doing it myself I see it differently; it's not just hard work, it's really hard work. I told him I was going to start being nicer to him - ha ha - I'm always nice, but we got a chuckle out of the statement anyhow. I can now honestly say I am very happy with our arrangement  of me bringing in the income while he works on Sanibel. I definitely have the easier end of the deal. Regardless, with the time strain I have committed  to helping him one day every weekend as needed.

My work load with Cencorp has not let up and when I'm not working I find myself putting a great deal of time in to my TEFL class, The class is coming along ok and I hope to be finished with the first half by May.

Other things to report.......we went to the Annual Charlotte County Airshow last weekend. The show was really neat. Ii was the first time Jimi had seen the US Navy Blue Angles. It was a little hot, but a great day.  Jimi was able to get some pretty good pictures.

One day this past week I discovered a 3+ foot black snake in our lanai. I watched it for a while and took some pictures and then opened the lanai screen door so it could go free. When it finally found the door and left I followed it to get more pictures.

We've gone to the beach a couple of times in the past two weeks, Jimi swims in the ocean, but it's still a bit chilly for me. I sit on the beach content to read my book. I uploaded a video to my Facebook page of Jimi body surfing the waves. Check it out. We found a secluded walking trail through the mangroves opposite side on the beach. It was a nice walk even if it was a developed trail.

As requested by many of you, extra pictures are attached.

BTW - what do you think about Jimi's Crocs? He loves these shoes and refuses to buy or wear anything else. How much longer do you think they will last?

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Where are we??

Dear Friends and Family,

The past two weeks has been a whirl wind for me and WAU (work as usual) for Jimi.

Jimi is excited to report that all the soft spots and holes on the deck are fixed and filled. He has begun working to apply the gel coat and has also sanded the top half the entire hull. This is exciting and finally, after months of the 'same ole thing', a sign of progress and accomplishment. This goes without saying "we still have a long way to go".

I, unexpectedly, spent the last two weeks in Texas. I tried to concentrate on my studies in the hotel while away, but as it turns out I spent  9 hours a day in the office and another 1-2 hours at business dinners with our CEO and Accountant from Finland. I was so exhausted by the time I returned home. Now I am busier than ever. I went from 0 to 90 in 30 seconds flat. Haha. Seriously, my work load had increased dramatically and I am barely able to find time to do my school work. I am hoping it is temporary though.

Jimi and I went out for a few drinks to celebrate St. Patty's Day. It was nice and after a few drinks, Jimi even admitted being around all those tourists wasn't so bad after all. We spent a couple of hours at the beach on Sunday taking sightings with the sextant. We first ended up in St Louis, second try we were in Colorado and the third try we were in Washington DC. It sounds to me like we've got our longitude correct, now if we can move south to find the right latitude, we'll be good.

Jimi had planned on taking a swim in the ocean, but forgot his swim trunks. Haha - that didn't stop him. When no one was looking, we dropped his drawers and ran into the ocean in his underoos. Of course then he had to wait until gain no one was looking to get out. It was funny.

That's all for now.

Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Stepping the mast

Dear Friends & Family,

Not a lot has changed since I wrote two weeks ago. Jimi is still working on the deck, however, he is making progress. He completed the repair to the internal support arch under the mizzen mast and reset the mast, actually called stepping the mast. He now continues with the port holes and other miscellaneous deck work. Jimi ordered and we received our main chart plotter for navigation, which will also handle important instrumentation, most importantly depth and boat speed in the water. He is sorting out the navigation charts we need to get them on the unit.

School is going well for me. I slowed down the last two weeks, but am hoping to pick things back up again.

Last weekend I drove to Orlando to visit my girlfriend Melody. On Saturday, we unexpectedly drove to her brother, Rick's house in Jesup Georgia for the night. It was a real honor to spend the weekend with her and her family. They laid her brother, Darold to rest on Friday, March 2nd. Darold was loved and will be missed. I wish him a peaceful rest and serenity to the family.

His obituary:http://www.newcomerorlando.com/obituary.asp?src=value&obitid=55393&name=Darold+William+Chrysler&city=Orlando&st=FL

Jimi and I went to Sarasota this past weekend to buy more teak (that stuff is expensive) and pick up some boat parts at the marine surplus store and then spent some time at the Siesta Key Beach. It was nice to get out. The weather on Saturday was absolutely beautiful; however, on Sunday it was cold and windy. We took the car to the car wash to clean it up. Jimi will list it on Craig's list.

That's all we have for this update. More later.

Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Sanibel is a work in progress

Dear Friends & Family,

Jimi is still working on the deck: cutting, filling, grinding, sanding...repeat and repeat and then moving on to the next spot. He's also working with Teak, which is our main wood source. We made a trip to Sarasota on Saturday to pick up enough to replace some worn pieces he took off the deck. After going back and forth between covering the deck with gel-coat or paint, he has decided to use paint. We think this will be the best decision.

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We found a speedway not far from our house and planned on going last Saturday night, but at the last minute we were both feeling overwhelmed with things we needed to do, so we didn't go.

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I enrolled in and started a class from a school in the United Kingdom. When I am finished with the course, I will be a certified TEFL instructor. This will allow me to gain employment nearly anywhere in the world teaching English to Foreign learners. After I receive the basic certification, I will take another course to specialize in young learners. Even though the classes are not accredited, the certificate is recognized worldwide. Each course is equivalent to about 2 1/2 college classes. I am excited to be in school again; however, I am expecting those ups and downs.

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I finished my Valentine cards and just wait now to mail them. I had to take a break from our wedding scrapbook to get them completed, but I am back on the wedding album now. I really want to have it done by the end of February, but I'm being pretty picky. I've already thrown two pages away and started over, because they were not wedding album worthy. :-)

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We don't have anything else to report on. I just wanted to check in with everyone. Hope all is well with you.

Love,

Lorie & Jimi

Deck work

Dear Friends and Family,

Three weeks have passed and its time to give you a quick picture of what we're up to. Just as you have heard many times before, we aren't up to much and yet we are up to a lot.

Jimi is still doing deck work. At first he was going to complete the job in sections, but has now decided to do it in its entirety, This involves removing everything from the deck. All fittings, hardware, winches, cleats, and rails that surround the boat. He will then paint, apply non skid and re-bed all the hardware. This should stop most future leaks and make for a dry boat. He estimates this to take a couple more months.

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to a BBQ by our boat yard neighbor, Gary. He and his wife live in New York, but are here working on their own boat. They stay with a friend of theirs who is the Captain of a cargo ship carrying relief food to Somalia and the rest of Africa's East coast. We were astonished to meet this guy and listen to his stories. What an incredible and dangerous job he has. At the same BBQ, we were introduced with and exchanged numbers with other large sailing boat owners. Particularly Bill and Linda who own a 52 foot Endeavor and invited us to crew for them sometime in the future. We are looking forward to that day; it just can't come fast enough.

We are doing fine with only one vehicle. Sharing is not so bad.

I'm still putting together our wedding scrap book album. I had to put it on hold until I am through with Valentines Day cards.

Not much to write about,yet we wanted  to check in. Hope all is well with you and your family.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

We enter in to a new year - Welcome 2012

Dear Friends and Family,

We had a wonderful Christmas. After opening our presents, we skyped with our family in Nebraska and watched them open their presents. It was so touching - I cried through most of it. My parents and I think this may have been the first Christmas apart since I was born. Being able to skype felt like I was almost there and we really enjoyed it.

We went out with some new friends. We were invited by a guy Jimi met at the boat yard to go to a sports bar to listen to a well known local band, We shared the evening with him, his wife, and the boat yard's manager. We watched, listened, and danced staying out until 1am. I'm proud to say us old people can still "hang" once in a while.

For New Years, we went out to dinner for sushi, and came home to watch TV taking the Cole's approach to New Years and leaving it to armature's night.

Because it is so expensive to register vehicles in Florida and because I only drive about 10 miles a week we decided it was not worth it to register two vehicles. We transferred insurance and registration to the truck and saved at least $500.

I'm finishing up my 2011 scrapbook and hope to have it published on our blog in a few days. Every time I made a new card design, I also make one for my portfolio. Well my portfolio is now hundreds of cards thick. I have taken photographs of each card, which I will load to our blog and I will begin using or giving away my stock.Let me know if you want any.

Sanibel update: We purchased a self steering wind vane locally off Craigslist. There are a variety of styles, this one is called a servo pendulum. They are used as a sort of mechanical auto pilot during voyages or longer sails. It uses no power but instead uses the wind to adjust course. JImi will go through the unit, clean it up and rebuild it. As typical, these are very expensive as much as 5,000- $6,000. We opted for the "needs work" model for $1000.

Jimi continues with the deck work. The cock pit sits waiting for the final paint and non skid. He's repairing another area from the bow measuring approximately 2' x 1'. He removed all the hardware, set up new locations for the cleat and the wind lass and filling any old unused mounting holes properly. The life line on the bow of the boat has been removed for these repairs.

Looking forward to what 2012 will bring; our final year on land for a long time (hopefully).

God bless and love to all.

Happy 2012

Lorie & Jimi

PS: Thank you for the wonderful Christmas cards and gifts!

The Holiday's upon us

Dear Friends and Family,

It's been five weeks since I've written, probably my longest stretch, and I figured I was overdue. Quite a lot has happened, so I hope I don't forget anything.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Jimi cooked some ham steaks, I made green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, heated some rolls, and a small pecan pie for two. It was simple and very delicious. Rest of the day we spent decorating our small three foot Christmas tree and enjoying each other's company.

The day after Thanksgiving I realized I only had five weeks until Christmas, which meant three weeks (to allow for mail time) to complete all my presents. I had 31 gifts to make and 4 to buy. I'm proud to say that all my gifts were homemade including the wrapping paper and tags. I was excited to get started and even more excited at the outcome. I'm anticipating this could be our last year to do a large Christmas, so we're going out with a bang. And, that's what I've been doing for the past few weeks.

We had visitors from Cencorp here for two days and ate diner both nights in Sarasota. The second night, we ate at a place called Yoders, which was featured on the Food Network's Man vs Food show. It was pretty tasty. We were also delighted to meet up with our long time Colorado friend, Spartek for a few hours.

Jimi has been hard at work on Sanibel. He nearly finished the standing rigging except for the forestay. It is delayed because the roller furler needs some additional attention. The roller furler will allow us to reduce sail by rolling the forward sail on an aluminum extrusion. He is still working out the details to connect it.

He removed the radar from the mizon mast and cleaned it all up, but he has not been able to test it yet.

He took the spreaders down, added some support, cleaned them up and re-installed them

We ordered and received an ARB 12 volt refrigerator/freezer. It is designed for off road vehicles and will work perfect on Sanibel. He began installing it to it's permanent home in the galley. This will be one of those projects he'll work on as he's waiting for other projects.

Between projects he has sanded much of the interior's old varnish from the teak and will continue to do so during down times.

He removed the forward hatch, ordered a new acrylic lens cut to shape and re-installed the hatch with a nice tight seal.

We purchased a life raft from a local ebayer, which saved on shipping costs. It's a few years old, but has never been used. We'll inflate it for pressure testing and repack. It is a 6 person off shore raft.

We ordered and received our main anchor for the bow. It's a 60lb Manson Supreme. A new generation of anchors able to hold fast in hurricane force winds.

Now that the rigging is under control the big project is the deck work. The decks are made with sandwich construction of fiber glass, wood, and fiberglass. When water gets in, the wood rots. These are called soft spots. Sanibel has some soft spots and Jimi must cut away those areas and repair. He began with the cockpit, which is the worst area. He removed the top skin, removed the wood core and replaced with new wood and fiberglass resin and re-attached the top skin. This will be an ongoing process for a while. This process is done in stages and each stage needs time to cure. There is also quite a bit of sanding/grinding to be done in between each step. The reason water gets in between the layers is due to poorly mounted hardware. Jimi will remove and re-bed most of the hardware for this reason.

He began ordering electronics for the solar and wind generator systems. That's where we're at with Sanibel.

A week ago, Jimi noticed Molly cat limping. She was mostly unable to use her back left leg. After several hours of  watching her only get worse, we took her to the vet.It turns out she had been attached by another animal. Both of her back legs were chewed up pretty badly. They kept her for the afternoon and when we picked her up both her back legs were shaved and she had several stitches. The vet gave us ten days worth of pain meds, antibiotics, and ointment. He said they we digging around with her tendons, etc. and she would be laid up for a few days. For the next two days  she couldn't walk or stand. Poor kitty was a mess and I felt so bad for her. She is now feeling much better, but until her wounds heal completely she isn't allowed outside and she's really mad about that. hehe

This past Saturday night, we watched a boat parade in Punta Gorda. The boats were decorated with Christmas lights and other festive decorations. They traveled through the canals of Punta Gorda; music blaring and lights glaring.. Spectators lined the vacant lots of the canals or any other free space. Homeowners held their own parties and watched the parade as well. The parade organizers encouraged all spectators to bring noise makers to cheer on the participants. We brought our conch shell and brass horn. Jimi relished at the opportunity to use both and while Jimi was cheering on the boats, our neighbors were cheering on Jimi. It was a lot of fun.

That's about all we've got now. I'll try to write sooner next time.

Love everybody.

Lorie & Jimi