Thursday, 23 January 2020 - I can't believe it! After losing the soles on two pair of sandals and pulling the heal straps out of another last week, I pulled out a pair of practically new New Balance tennis shoes last night as I headed to shore. I put them on, took about 5 steps and the soles fell off both of them. One layer of the sole's foam has just disintegrated. I don't think I'd worn those shoes but about 5 times total. I thought I might be able to re-glue them, but now I don't think so. The foam in that layer of the sole is just crumbling. Nothing is going to adhere to that.

Friday, 24 January - Good timing for once! The Chaco's sandals I ordered came in today. I tried to order another pair with a coupon that Shoes.com sent me, but apparently I bought the last pair of size elevens that they had in this model. I had gotten luck when I ordered the first pair. I paid about $40 for this pair and all the other colors were $104. I have no idea why there was a difference in price. I, also, can'd believe rubber sandals cost $104 - and more these days.

Saturday, 25 January - This evening Susie and I went to hear Adrienne Z perform at the Overseas Pub and several other boaters from the harbor were there, too, including Jerry Daniels and Pete and Dee Schwarz. I usually see Adrienne Z performing solo, but last night she had a backup band with her. I actually prefer the solo act. The accompaniment tended to overwhelm her amazing, soft voice.

Sunday, 26 January - We had a 60th birthday party for Vickie Barber at the tiki hut today. It was about as formal as anything gets down here in the Keys. Everybody, probably about 80 people, wore all black clothing to honor the occasion and it was a pot luck dinner with entertainment by harbor artists on keyboard and saxophone. After the birthday party, Susie and I went for a dinghy ride out Sister's Creek to East Sister Rock on the ocean side of the island with me driving on the way out and her bringing us back. The sax player from this afternoon is very talented and also showed up at Dockside's open mic night at about 8 o'clock this evening. Dockside finally seems to be taking off as an evening's entertainment. This year, as compared to pre-hurricane Irma, they have some pretty good food to go along with the music. It seems that as they attract more patrons, better musicians want to play there. Last night, Susie and I showed up about 6:15 for a 7 o'clock opening and the place was already filling up. We tried to save seats for Bob, Ellie, Jeff, and Sheila, but we either filled them with other friends or they got absconded with by other patrons. By 8 o'clock the place was rockin' and it was almost as if they had a big band. On stage were musicians playing bass and rhythm guitar, fiddle, drums, keyboards, saxophone, and harmonica. All that seemed to be missing was a very good pedal guitar (steel guitar) player that has been playing lately and, perhaps, a trumpet. Great music and a great time, as usual.

Monday, 27 January - I'm definitely enjoying the weather since it has warmed back up and the wind has died back to normal levels.

Tuesday, 28 January - I spent much of the day doing paperwork, which I hate. Such is life, I suppose.

Wednesday, 29 January - Susie and I went to a party at 2 o'clock at Mike and Bev's dockside boat, Queequeg, then at 5:45 we went to see the movie, "A League of Their Own", about the 1940s women's baseball league. Next we went to the Hurricane for open mic night entertainment and saw Roland and Leta, Pete and Dee, Gary ?, Jeff and Sheila, Catherine McCole, and several other people we know there.

Thursday, 30 January - I defrosted the refrigerator this morning, then installed the new pass-through window that I had ordered a week or two ago. After that, I took the canvas deck awning to shore and spread it out in order to mark it and count the grommets that I want replaced with stainless steel rings and webbing.

Friday, 31 January - Susie picked me up about 6 pm and we went to the El Molcajete Mexican restaurant for dinner, then next door to listen to Ty Thurman play guitar and sing at Barnacle Barney's. We saw all the usual suspects there: Mike and Bev from S/V Queequeg, Roland and Leta on KoKoMo, Rick and Mary from M/V Dark Star, and about 6 or 7 others. Just as we were about to leave, Bob and Ellie texted us for the Hurricane and said that there was a good reggae band playing there, so we drove the mile to join them there. It started raining pretty hard while we were there, forcing us to wait until the front had passed, then we took Bob and Ellie back to their dinghy and called it a night.

Saturday, 1 February - Susie and I went to a car show that was supposed to have about 60 old and new cars at the Overseas Pub across the highway from the marina, but only about 15 cars showed up before it started to rain and, shortly thereafter, all those left. We went inside and had lunch and again saw Roland and Leta, Gary and others.

Sunday, 2 February - Superbowl Sunday - I covered the terminals of the four house batteries that are in the starboard battery compartment with rubber terminal covers that I got at the last marine flea market at the marina a few weeks ago. Later, Susie came to the marina and I picked her up at the dock and we went for a dinghy ride around the harbor. It was a beautiful, sunny, but cool and breezy day, but still nice for a ride. As a land lubber, she's had a hard time getting it straight in her mind where things are in relation to the harbor and to the land and its roads. After that, we headed to the Dockside Bar for their Sunday night open mic entertainment, hoping we could avoid the yelling, jumping up and down, and attention getting that the football "fans" will be producing this evening.

Monday, 3 February - Refilling the gas tank on my dinghy and decanting a gallon of two stroke oil from a gallon container into quart containers for storage on the dinghy was first on the list this morning. Afterwards, I biked to Home Depot for a gallon of two-cycle oil to replace the one I just emptied so I can put it in the lazerette without having to pack everything back in and then unload it again. We have three manatees in the inner harbor. They move south to avoid the cold weather. There are two adults and a calf. It's amazing how they sleep. They float with about 2 inches of their backs out of the water and come up to breathe about once every four or five minutes, only sticking their noses out of the water.

Tuesday, 4 February - I finally coordinated with Mark Brewer on S/V Born Free and got him to sew 5 stainless steel 1 1/4" rings with webbing on the canvas foredeck awning to replace several grommets, one of which had already torn out and the other four which were showing signs that they would in the near future. Later, Susie picked me up at the docks and we went to Dockside for their "Country Music Night" entertainment. This was their first night for country music, but will now have country music each Tuesday night. We occasionally hear country music at open mic nights at the Hurricane and at Dockside, but the lady that was the lead singer of this band was far and away better than we'd heard up until last night.

Wednesday, 5 February - Today I discovered a bit of information that is important to me about replacing the chainplates on a CSY. Chainplates are literally plates or straps of steel that are bolted to the hull of a ship to attache the side (shrouds) and fore and aft wires (stays) that hold up the mast to the mast. My chainplates are of unknown age and may need replacing, but maybe not. The only way to know is to remove them, and by the time you've done that, since they are so hard to access, you might as well go ahead and change them out. While I had the boat out of the water a few months ago, I got an estimate to replace them for $8000, but passed on the offer. This evening, Susie and I are going to a movie and then to the Hurricane for their open mic night musical entertainment.
                    I tried to send this file to my server today, but the connection has failed so I can't send it.

Thursday 6 February - I tried to send this file via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) today, but the free FTP program, Filezilla, which I have been using for several years. Crashed several times. I tried to replace it, but the authors are now requiring usage fees. I figure I've used it for free for long enough and like the program, so I purchased it on the Apple App Store. It wasn't a plug and play. The settings apparently from the old app to the new weren't recognized, so I had to fill them back in. Either the new program is screwed up or something else on the server at my domain host is. They're going to check it out and I'll have to wait until this is resolved to send this out.
                    This morning at 9 o'clock, Sheila and Jeff, I, and two their guests headed out for a romp through the mangrove trails. I hadn't done that in awhile. It was a nice trip and the only things that I really noticed that were different from before were that there were significantly fewer mangrove crabs on the mangroves and significantly fewer Cassiopeia jellyfish in the lakes within the boundaries of the island. Perhaps that is because it is winter, although it's back up to 80°F after having been down into the 60s for a couple of days. Tonight we are forewarned that we should expect winds up to forty miles per hour. That out to cause some problems in the harbor. People will be losing things off their decks and dinghies, kayaks, and boats will surely be set adrift; it never fails. I don't know why people can't learn to tie things down with good knots; a cleat hitch or bowline should hold anything securely.
                    This evening, Susie and I are going to go to the library to listen to a guitar folk music concert by a duo that I have heard a couple of times before, the Kennedys.

Friday, 7 February - After hosting the Cruiser's Net this morning, I finally got the FTP problem resolved using what in my opinion is a poor workaround, but at least I can get this sent out; so here it comes...

            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