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

Time with friends

Dear Friends and Family,

My last email was about our wedding, but I also wanted to write you about our visitors. Twenty-two people came to visit, which was really great. People arrived daily beginning on Monday, October 31st and the last guest left on Saturday, November 12th.

While our visits were limited with trying to prepare for November 5th, we managed to do some sight seeing at various beaches before the wedding and again after the wedding. We collected sea shells, explored wild life, and some snorkeled the reefs. Everyone got to see our boat, the Sanibel, and my two nieces were even able to hold a live alligator. His name is Tiny Turbo. He is 2 1/2 years old and about 4 feet long. I'm not sure how much he weighs.

We celebrated my sister, Marie's birthday on November 7th and my son, Daniel's birthday on November 10th. Although my father's birthday was in October, we presented him with his birthday gifts.

Our bachelor and bachelorette parties turned in to one big pre-party at our house on Friday night. We had drinks around a Bonn fire and stories were told to catch up with long time friends.

Jimi, Daniel and I went high speed four wheeling and then walked the swampy forest in search of alligators. We didn't find any alligators (thank goodness) but we did find some fresh tracks. We began following the tracks, but when they led in to the brush, we opted not to go (thanks goodness again).

We were so happy to see everyone, but it was very hard to give any kind of one on one attention to each person. We are hoping and planning for future individual visits.

We are now returning to our normal routine. All the rigging that was ordered came in, so Jimi will be busy with that project. I have two weeks worth of work to catch up on, as well as thank you cards to make and preparing for the coming Holidays. Busy busy we will be.

Love everyone,

Lorie & Jimi

The knot is tied

Dear Friends and Family,

Our wedding was amazing; of course, what bride doesn't say that? Even more amazing were our friends and family. It meant the world to us that each one of them traveled such long distances to spend our special day with us.

We set up a homemade bamboo arch draped with white fabric and tropical blue ribbon. Blue and orange homemade paper flowers scattered about lined a path to the arch preceded with a couple of tiki torches. Jennifer and Daniel escorted me down the sandy beach to the arch where they left me by Jimi's side. I wore my grandmother's 'old' earrings, a 'new' white sundress, 'borrowed' white flip flops, and a 'blue' shell choker with matching anklet. Jimi wore a pair of black and white swim trunks with a white button up collared shirt. Our attendants were Tammy as my Matron of Honor and Jeff as the Best Man. The sound of the waves was our music, Our guests stood all around us snapping pictures, taking in the moment and of course some were sobbing.

After the ceremony our friend, Brad, was gracious enough to take pictures of us and our family members. As soon as pictures were finished, Jimi swooped me up and ran me in to the ocean. The sun was warm and bright, but the water was a bit cold.

Our guests played on the beach and sat in the sand for the next few hours. The day turned out really nice. It was a bright sunny day. The sun kissed our skin softly and warmed our hearts.

We had the reception at our house in Englewood. Gregg and Tammy warmed the food and set everything up for us for our guests to arrive. My mother worked on the cake and cake table. We had a wonderful reception.

Our guests included

Family members:

Mom & Dad from Stamford, NE

Marie (my sister) from Beaver City, NE

Jacque (niece) and Brittany (great niece) from Loomis, NE

Jennifer (daughter) from Longmont, CO

Daniel (son) from Anchorage, AK

Jeff (brother) and Karen (sister in law) from Round Lake, IL

Robert (nephew) and Michelle (nephew's wife) from Chicago, IL

Friends:

Gregg & Tammy Risedorf from Mead, CO

Brad & Ellen Cole from Englewood, CO

Matt Williams from Ann Arbor, MI

Vicki Branaghan from Thornton, CO

Corey, Dena, Alexis & Dalton Mayo from Waco, TX

A very special thank to everyone for coming to visit and making our day even that much more meaningful.

An extra special thanks to the following:

Mom & Dad for bringing chairs, coolers, and other supplies. For all their love, support and help throughout.

Mom for making our cakes.

Marie, Jacque, and Brittany for helping with cleaning and the set up, including food preparation.

Tammy and Gregg for taking charge where needed and preparing for the reception, cooking the mashed potatoes, and just everything.

Mom & Daniel for directing the pictures.

Jennifer for fixing my hair.

Brad for being our 'last minute' photographer.

Ellen for talking to the hotel manager.

I know I assigned little jobs here and there to many other people, whom I may have forgotten to mention. However, I hope they know how much we really do appreciate everything.

Jimi and I realize we are both so fortunate to have such wonderful people in our lives. Thank you to all!!

Here are a few pictures.

Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Birthdays and Anniversarys

Dear friends and family,

It's been just over two weeks and I figured I better give you some kind of update, plus we have some pictures to share.

Jimi found a fairly large crack in the bottom of the bilge; it runs through the middle of the keel and the lowest part of the inside of the boat. After some initial concern, it appears to be non-structural; however, he will assess it more in the future.

He continued to align the prop shaft.

He finished assessing all the standing rigging, wires and their attachments and placed a very large order - three grand worth. It's a big expense but worth the piece of mind at sea.

It's becoming more comfortable climbing to the top of the mast. Attached is a picture Jimi took looking down. If you look closely you can see me on the bow of the boat (right side of the picture).

Jimi found a good wind generator on EBay which he will attach to the mizzen mast.

He removed the gimbal stove from the galley and brought it home. He cleaned it up and tested it in the garage. We are pleased to report it works great. He has since re installed it. A gimbal stove is a swinging stove. When not locked in to place it swings as the boat rocks keeping the burners level, so the pots don't fall. It also has rails to keep them in place.

Jimi has done a lot of research on 12 volt refrigeration/freezers. We'll plan on making this purchase from Australia. A product normally used in the outback and draws under 30 amp hours per day of electricity. It will fit nicely in the spot we have for it.

Jimi ordered 600 feet of rope. We only need 400 feet of this rope, but buying it in bulk came out to the same price.

Two weekends ago, we spent the day at Blind Pass Beach. I am amazed at the amount of new shells and shark teeth that wash up. They are so beautiful and never ending. We must have collected a few dozen shark teeth in only a couple of hours.

Last weekend we checked out a new beach and snorkel spot. This place was absolutely amazing. Jimi tried to go out to snorkel, but the visibility was poor. Instead, we explored the beach and rocks. We saw an abundance of sea life including a octopus about 3 inches long.

My dad's birthday was October 10th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

We celebrated Jimi's birthday on October 15th by going to dinner at our favorite little restaurant here is Englewood.

My parents celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary on October 23rd. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Well, I suppose that's about all I have for you right now. In the meantime take care and I'll write more later.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Progress

Dear Friends and Family,

Just a quick and short update, as requested by a few people. :-)

Progress on the boat: Jimi got the engine running just hours after last week's update. It now pures like an ornery lion.

He finishing installing the mast steps. However, the day he chose to complete the project we had high winds. Jimi was dangling 50+ feet in the air by a rope with tools in hand trying to attach the steps straight and secure. I wasn't there to watch, but I've got a pretty good image in my head. I have to look past the panic of danger and try to picture a humorous scene.

Jimi purchased a newer auto pilot system from our favorite consignment store on the gamble that he could merge it with the existing system on the boat. After playing with the electronics, it's looks at though he will be able to merge the two systems and they should work fine once installed.

He is preparing to address the standing and running rigging, also know as the cables and ropes. More to come on this later.

I am preparing for our wedding, as the day is fast approaching. We are most excited to see our friends and family. I've also been spending time advancing my skills at making embellishments with my Slice. It's fun! I've got cards for sale in a mariners trading store in Port Charlotte. I began with 10 nautical cards to see how they do. I've talked to a little beach boutique shop who is interested in taking a look at placing them in their touristy store, but I've been lazy and haven't delivered them yet. And I have another potential location that I'm also looking in to.

We went to Venice beach to snorkel and collect seashells over the weekend. It was chilly, as a storm was rolling by. Once I was finally able to get in the water I was fine, as long as I kept swimming. Unfortunately, we weren't finding many shells this time. Jimi was able to observe several larger crabs in their shells moving along the bottom of the ocean. When we  got out of the water and dried off, the sun came out and we sat for a long time soaking it up. It felt so good on our bare skin.

That concludes the past week. All is well here in Florida. The weather is getting cooler - 60's by night and low 80s by day. And we haven't had much rain in the past week.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Just working away

Dear Friends & Family,

We've done nothing of great excitement in the past two weeks. At least nothing to top our last update (moving Sanibel). Jimi has worked hard everyday on the boat. On most days he gets up in the mornings, drinks his coffee and grabs a bite to eat. He packs a lunch and heads over to the boat yard. I do the same except I head over to me desk.LOL Sometimes he has projects to work on at home and spends the majority of his time in the garage. For this update I will briefly tell you what he's been working on.

Besides cleaning out the inside of the boat from our trip, the first thing he did was remove the outboard motor bracket. That made quite a difference in her look. She looks a little more like a respectable sailboat and not so ghetto. He also constructed a cover or awning over the cockpit to provide shade and keep the rain out. He says it has made a nice difference.

He designed about built 32 mast steps by hand. He purchased bar stock aluminum, made a jig and bent each step himself. Doing it this way cost us $3 per step verses buying them already made for $20 per step. He installed about half of them until he dropped his Makita from 30 foot up. However, a little attention and JB Weld and it's working good as new again.

The big focus was the engine. Six years of water dripping and mild steel rotting, he removed everything from the engine he could to better access the damage. He ordered fuel injectors, a starter, rebuilt the transmission and put everything back together. He brought it back to life for the first time in six years. It runs and looks like it will survive, but it's not quite purring, so he'll continue working it. In addition, it needs to be wired in, a cooling system added, and a fuel system built because it was not the original engine to the boat.

He found and rebuilt a windlass (motor to pull the anchor up) off Ebay.

He scrubbed the top side of Sanibel to be able to access any damage. I helped him scrub her bottom side over the weekend. Now all Ghetto is gone and she looks like a whole different boat. We're like prouder parents everyday.

He completely removed the helm (steering wheel and pedestal). He rebuilt it in the garage and spent several days painting it in the lanai. It's looking really good.

Numerous trips to Home Depot and ACE Hardware. In most cases ordering parts on line has proven to be cheaper and he does that too. UPS comes to our house almost daily.

We found a great mariners trading store. They sell used items and most of the time the prices are really good. They have all kinds of little parts we would never dream of being able to find. They also sell a lot of books and nautical items that are fun to browse.

This email does not do justice for the work Jimi has done for the past two weeks. Reading it, it appears he hasn't done much, but he has and he's been so busy and working so hard everyday.

We did make it to the beach on Sunday. The wind came from the North and was cooler than we are used to. I stayed out of the water for that reason, but enjoyed my time reading. The waves brought us piles and piles of new shells and Jimi collected a few dozen shark teeth in less than a few hours.

We also made our way to the jewelry store and bought our wedding bands one evening.

Jimi says he'll give updates periodically and he promises to even put in a guest writing. That's all for now.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

A Fish Called Sanibel

Dear Friends and Family,

I have finally gotten around to writing you about our trip down the river.We spent four days on the river motoring Sanibel West across Florida

.

Our adventure began on Wednesday as we rushed to get everything together. We went to the grocery store buying enough nonperishable food for a minimum of four days. We piled everything we thought we would need in the living room and dropped the car off at our final destination.

Early Thursday morning we loaded the pickup and made the three hour trip to Indiantown. This is where the hard work began. We had about two hours to get the boat ready before the marina employees would come get her, but we had an entire days worth of work that needed to be done. Jimi worked aimlessly, while I filled the gas cans and put things away. He removed the battery from his truck hooking it up to the outboard motor and he got the bilge pump working. For a brief moment we discussed and considered cancelling the 'put in' and rescheduling it for the next day. But we decided to push on and go for it. We were scheduled for a 3pm 'put in'; the boat crane showed up at 3:30, giving us a little extra time.

And then Sanibel felt the water on her back bone and belly around 4 pm. After six years of dry dock and neglect she sat there floating like a proWe were so relieved. Not once during the trip did she take on any water. She is solid and we couldn't be happier.

.

We stayed docked for a while, but then Jimi noticed weather heading our way and decided we had better get going to make it to our first destination. Just ten minutes down the river it began raining. It was a turental down poor, common for this area. Jimi looked so cute at the helm, soak and wet, as I watched from the cabin below. I wish I had taken a picture. Then it quit as fast as it began. Before long we reached our first bridge The bridge had a 51 foot clearance and our mast is 50 feet. It would be close. We were very nervous, but had no choice than go for it. We sat there speechless looking up wondering if our mast would clear the bridge. Once it was over, we just looked at each other in disbelief. We made it. Up ahead was our destination point. We veered right to tie up to some dolphins on our starboard side until we realized we were no longer moving. We finally figured out we were stuck in the mud. After several attempts to free ourselves including Jimi getting in the alligator infested waters, we settled for the evening and scheduled a tow for the morning

.

.

When we woke in the morning going about our morning rituals, we realized we were moving a littler free er than the night before; just a little sway here and there. We suspected we could free our selves and we did. I cancelled the tow and we headed on. Just ahead was the lock to Lake Okeechobee. Jimi radioed the lock master, who opened the gates for us to pass. I felt like I had just been released from prison. We went from the small river lined with trees and alligators to a vast free world of open space. What seemed like just minutes after passing the lock, the engine shut off and continued to behave poorly. I would restart it over and over again, but it was not happy. Not knowing what was wrong, Jimi changed the fuel tank and fuel line out. That did it. We had no problem with the motor again after that. It was tense however. Going through the lake we had to stay in the channel and without any kind of speed we had no steering. So, every time we lost the motor we lost any control we had.

We got through the shallowest parts of the lake with ease. We were gracious enough to give a ride to hundreds of "love bugs". It took us about five hours to cross the lake

.

We went through a total of 5 locks, two of which were unique and brought us an array of anxiety and intense feelings. I call them 'fish tanks'. We entered the lock when instructed by the lock master and he closed the gates trapping us in a life size fish tank. Then they would drop the water level. In the first 'fish tank' lock they dropped it eight feet and the second ' fish tank' lock they dropped it 2 feet. Then they opened the opposite gate and we were free to go. Let me just say the second 'fish tank lock' lock went much smoother than the first. :-) The other three locks were gates that the lock master would open for us. We also passed under several bridges that had to be opened for us and some already opened. The railroad bridges mostly stayed open unless a train was coming; however, the highway bridges we had to radio ahead. The bridge master would stop the bridge traffic, open the bridge and let us through. It was really neat. We were lucky enough to get through all the locks and bridges quickly; upon arrival except for one, which we had to wait about an hour before they opened it.

Considering our experience and equipment, the trip went very well. The few hick ups we had hardly seem worth mentioning.

Sanibel weighs 20,000 pounds. Our purpose for the trip was to get her close to home so Jimi could begin her refit. We only had the skeleton of this sea worthy vessel. No instrumentation, other than a hand held GPS and some paper navigation maps, no lights or power to speak of, no running water, stove, refrigeration, and most importantly, no engine. We used a small outboard motor, which could get us up to 6 mph in some places, but had no stopping capabilities. Putting it in reverse did not have the effect a suitable size engine would have. Nevertheless, the outboard motor would get us from point A to point B with careful planning and watchful eyes.

On our final days as we traveled between the barrier islands in the Gulf, dolphins were all around us. A small pod swam along side our boat for ten minutes or so. I hung my arm and hand down the side as they swam with us. My hand was less than two feet from touching them. They blew their blowholes and let out some squeaks, They are beautiful creatures who swim with grace and ease

.

After 73.5 hours we docked at All American in Port Charlotte.

The scariest part of the trip was when we went through our first "fish tank" lock. We were instructed to tie up on the starboard side, but when we couldn't get the boat stopped we landed on the port side. Or maybe the scariest part was trying to keep Jimi from swimming with the alligators.

The most frustrating part was trying to anchor in the river on our second night - but after many many attempts, we did it. Or maybe it was those pesky hitchhikers - the "love bugs". I spent hours swatting at and killing them. They seemed harmless; didn't bite or anything. They just wanted to hang around and became very annoying.

The saddest was the cow who fell down the bank of the river and was stuck in the mud. We circled around trying to scare him to free himself, but he was obviously too exhausted.

The most exciting were the dolphins and the most rewarding was our accomplishment. We did it and we did it as well as could have been expected, if not better

.

Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi