Saturday, 11 April - Susie and I finally decided that since there have, so far, only been 3 or 4 cases of the COVID-19 virus discovered on the whole island, and since we both have been very careful to stay away from others during the recent past, and since neither of goes anywhere onshore other than for her to come get me, we're going to spend time together again. She gets her groceries delivered to her home and disinfects them very carefully. If the virus spreads significantly locally, perhaps we'll change our minds again. I spent the day with her listening to music and watching episodes of a very well written and produced TV series, "Madam Secretary", of which Susie had seen none.

Sunday, 12 April - I, again, spent the day with Susie, watching some more of "Madam Secretary" after I repaired the gate on the fence to the dock that runs the width of her lot behind her house on a canal. I wish my boat could be brought into that canal, but the opening to the canal is too shallow. If I could, I'd be tied up right there behind her house.

Monday, 13 April - Researching the stock market over the weekend, I discovered a stock that I was very sure was going to take off today because the company has discovered a way to dissolve plastic so that it can be recycled back into its original state. Up until now, clear plastic like bottles is a lower grade after recycling and has to be repurposed into such items as fabrics, opaque bags, furniture, etc. Their process breaks it down quickly and returns it like virgin plastic. Last week, before I read the article about the company, the stock was at about $7.50/share. I tried to get in at $12. It opened at $13.50, so I upped my offer to $15 this morning, but was too slow. I knew it would go up today, but I didn't know how high, so I was a little reluctant to chase the price higher. At about $17, it jumped to over $30 and it went to $50/share and closed at $30. I think I missed a chance of a lifetime. I was trying to buy 1000 shares.

Tuesday, 14 April - I worked in the engine room today replacing the sacrificial zinc for the refrigeration and in the process discovered the a brass fitting for the water maker had broken allowing the input hose for the membrane to drop down and drain. I don't know how much of a problem that is going to cause. It may have let the membrane dry out. If so, it's going to cost several hundred dollars to replace.

Wednesday, 15 April - I paid for another month's mooring ball rental today then returned to the boat and replaced the sacrificial zinc for the engine that is mounted between the reverse gear heat exchanger and the engine's heat exchanger. It broke off inside the pipe again this time. Perhaps I am not replacing them often enough, causing them to be extremely brittle. That probably cost me about an hour and a half because I had to remove the bronze pipe that it is mounted in and break it out from the inside, not just back the plug out and put another one in. After that, I cleaned the engine's seawater intake filter. I think the new, stainless steel filter is doing a much better job of keeping sea grass and weed out of the cooling system than the old plastic basket that I replaced last year.

Thursday, 16 April - My plans for today were doomed. Yesterday, S.A.L.T., Sea Air Land Technologies, had suggested I go to Marathon Boatyard for the fittings I need for the water maker, but today when I called them, they say they don't deal with them at all. Apparently, the high pressure pump hose fittings I need are from the hydraulics industry. They suggested that NAPA now might have them. NAPA is down near Susie's, so I'll try them tomorrow or Saturday on the way to or from her house. About all I did today was fill the gas tank on the dinghy and lubricate the tilt lever on the outboard motor.

Friday, 17 April - After I ran the Harbor Cruiser's Net this morning, Mary Ackroyd came to my boat in her kayak and we went to Vanishing Lake in Boot Key again. That's always a unique experience since there are so many ways to get lost, or at least confused in there. It's a real maze and most trails look totally different coming and going. That's what makes it interesting. Last week when Skip and I went in, we did so on a dropping tide. I thought the tide would be rising today but it wasn't. It was dropping for about half the time and at its lowest, we were only about four inches off the bottom of the lake and the seagrass was so thick that we actually gave up, stopped for lunch, and talked for about 45 minutes to let the lake refill a bit. Like last week with Skip, Mary and I got so confused in the trails that we made another trip back into the lake after we exited to reconfirm where we'd been.

Saturday, 18 April - Susie took me to NAPA Auto Parts today to get the fittings for the water maker. They had one fitting in brass and I thought the other was in stainless steel. I had wanted both in stainless. The one I thought was stainless was merely steel when I tested it with a magnet, so I didn't want to install it.

Sunday, 19 April - Susie and I spent the day at her house, part of the time trying to figure out why her air-conditioning unit isn't putting out cold air.

Monday, 20 April - Susie took me to the hardware store this morning to get a replacement for the steel fitting I got at NAPA on Saturday, then I returned to the boat to install them. For once, it was an easy job. The remainder of today was spent downloading, installing, and familiarizing myself with a stock trading application that I used to use and paid several hundred dollars per year for. TDAmeritrade, my brokerage firm, bought that company out and, supposedly, lets their clients use it for free now. Unfortunately, the program they supply is significantly less powerful and different. I had thought I might be able to step right into it without having to re-learn much, but that wasn't true.

Tuesday, 21 April - Again today, most of the day was spent refamiliarizing myself with the stock program and watching the market.

Wednesday, 22 April - Most of today was spent, again, refamiliarizing myself with the new stock program and I traded a couple of stocks.

Thursday, 23 April - I spent the day with Susie and scraped the barnacles off the swim ladder on her boat dock. Upon returning to the boat, I had dinner, then spent about 3 hours preparing a list of groceries with brand names, sizes, and quantities in anticipation of ordering online from Publix or having some of the volunteers here in the harbor do my shopping for me. It's not that I can't do it myself, in fact, I think it's more time consuming and a lot more hassle to do it this way, but it sounds safer to have someone else do the shopping in the store. When I go to the store myself, I don't need to know or write down the specifics, I just get what I know I want. Online, they don't have all their products listed by any means; for instance, I know they have jumbo eggs, but not online.

Friday, 24 April - Shortly after conducting the morning Cruiser's Net, someone got on the radio and announced that there was a boat aground on the grass flats near Dog Island here in the harbor so I, and several others headed over to assist. I looked at the tide chart and sure enough, he had run aground at the worst time possible, high tide. I was the first one there and, although he had already called Towboat US, I suggested we try to get the boat off immediately since the commercial towboat might not show up for quite awhile. I had brought about 100 feet of 5/8" line with me and we tied it to his halyard so I could take my 15 hp dinghy out perpendicular to his boat and pull him over on its side. He was in about 4 feet of water with about a 5 1/2 foot draft, so leaning him over would bring his keel up off the bottom if I could pull him over enough. I got ready out beside his boat, but just as I started trying to pull it over, another boat that was supposed the pull him forward, started pulling his bow around and eventually rotated the boat 180°. That totally ruined any chance I had of heeling the boat over at all. I was doing good just trying to keep anyone from getting tangled in my line or, worse yet, running over my line, which I'd had to let go slack. Luckily, about that time, Towboat US called and said he was only about 5 minutes away...so we untied and just let him pull the guy off with his twin 250 hp outboards.

That's about as exciting as it's been here since "social distancing" has started. At least it let a few of us get off our boats on this 90°, sunny day. I hope you're having a good time.

            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