Thursday, 24 August 2017 - Another rainy day, but I did manage to get some painting done. I painted the boom crutch, which holds the boom centered when not sailing, between rain showers. I hope it was dry enough before I painted and I think it dried enough before the next squall came through. After that I painted the compass mount on the binnacle, a fiddle , which keeps items in a cubby hole in the cockpit, the forepeak berth gap board, all the drawers in the forepeak and four drawers in the saloon. Then I added a new coat to the bottom of the door to the forward head and several small items here and there around the boat, and the top to one of my metal tool boxes. Of course, again, as soon as I put the paint brush and Cetol away, I spotted more items that need touching up. Right now, it's between rain showers, so I've started the auxiliary generator to recharge batteries for about an hour and a half...if the rain will hold off that long.

Friday, 25 August - As Hurricane Harvey approaches the Texas coast, it rained here much of the day, not that the rain here is related or attached to Harvey, but I didn't get much done here aboard Island Time. I organized a bit and cleaned some things up, that's about all. Oh! and the water tank is about topped off, too. Something I learned today is that bleach ages in the bottle. I tested the chlorine in the tank today and it was no better than before. I looked on the internet and discovered that each year that a bottle of Clorox sits, it loses about 50% of its potency. The bottle that I've been using to treat the water and wash my clothes with is at least 2 years old. No wonder my shirts have "ring around the collar." I put more chlorine from another bottle in the water and will check it again tomorrow.

Saturday, 26 August - They had a showing of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" at the park this evening. Very nice evening for the first hour, then it started to sprinkle and most of the families with kids immediately got up and left. I think this is amazing; as it started to sprinkle, I immediately got out my iPhone and opened "My Radar" app, looked at the screen and told the folks sitting around me that a light sprinkle was all we were going to get, so everybody around me stayed and it almost instantly quit raining. Ahh! The benefits of modern science and technology.
                  On the way back home in my dinghy I was hailed by a friend on one of the boats in the harbor and invited to join them for a drink. They were way ahead of me and I wasn't about to play catch-up, but I did join them. I believe I learned a lesson that evening. I let the fellow that hailed me, who is a long-time sailor, tie up my dinghy to the boat, but when it came time to depart, it was gone. There was almost no wind, but we searched in vain. The boat owner brought me back to Island Time. Lesson learned: Tie Up Your Own Dinghy!

Sunday, 27 August - I got lucky! By the time I announced that my dinghy was wayward on the Cruiser's Net the next morning, it had already been determined to be homeless and towed to the dinghy dock at the marina, then someone brought it back to Island Time for me. I sure was glad to get it back. This is a great community.
                  The home of the local police investigator has recently burned and the community came together today to have a charity fundraiser for his family's benefit at the Overseas Restaurant. They roasted four pigs and had a big dinner, silent auction and raffle. Well over two hundred people showed up and I'm sure they collected a lot of money for the cause...and it was fun. I spent from about 1 o'clock to 6 there, then went over to Dockside for a little musical entertainment.

Monday, 28 August - I had removed the formica from both sides of the forepeak berth gap board so I could apply Cetol to it and today I planned on re-gluing the formica. Unfortunately, I only had enough glue for one side, so I glued that side and purchased more glue at Home Depot on the way to the Hurricane to have pizza for dinner and to listen to Fiddle Rock play. Liz and Jan joined me for dinner and we were having a personal concert until about 10:15, when about 6 more people showed up.

Tuesday, 29 August - I re-glued the other piece of formica on the forepeak berth gap board today and was disappointed to receive a call from the VA moving an appointment I was to have there from on Thursday, 7 September to Thursday, the 28 of September. I spent over an hour on hold on one phone call to the VA here today hearing a recording over and over that said they were experiencing an unusually heavy number of phone calls and that my call would be answered in the order that it was received. It turned out that the woman just didn't want to pick up the phone to tell me she'd call me back. Arrrgh!

Wednesday, 30 August - I had an electrical technician from S.A.L.T. (Sea, Air, Land Technologies come over to the boat today to take a look at my charging system, thinking I might add a bit more solar power to my pre-existing 185 watts. He made a change in a setting on my Xantrex System Contro Panel that he says may have a significant effect on my apparent usage, so I'm currently charging the batteries and will top them up, then synchronize the system. Maybe I won't need to add any panels after all.
                  After that, I think I'll go take in a movie at the library.

            Until next time.
                        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S. Thompson

                                          Rick