Friday, 16 October 2020 - I bought a few snap shackles, some "D" shackles, and a welded ring from Christina on S/V Sweet Thang.

Saturday, 17 October - Susie washed and medicated her dog because it has contracted ring worm. I marked up the dinghy seat fabric and cut a few test strips with the electric soldering iron and cutting blade.

Sunday, 18 October - Susie helped me cut out the dinghy seat cover and she disinfected her whole home, floors, furniture, all hard surfaces, because of the dog.

Monday, 19 October - I worked all day relearning how to use the sewing machine, doing a little sewing on the dinghy seat cover, and trying to figure out how to fold the fabric to form a rectangular "box end" to fit over the ends of the seat. As usual, I over complicated the process. I played with a paper pattern for quite awhile before I finally got a book the right thickness and simply folded the box end as if on a package. Now I have to figure out how to sew it up so it will stay formed properly in use. I'll have to do it by hand. There's no way to do it on the sewing machine. It's now about bedtime and a storm cell just passed over us so the weather alarm has just gone off twice. It'll wake the dead so I'm turning off the radio for the night. I hope no water spouts head my way tonight.

Tuesday, 20 October - I finally gave up on making the box-end folds on the seat. I had the folding down, but couldn't figure out how to hold all the folds in place without them unfolding before I could sew them up. I tried stapling them, but the only stapler that I have that was small enough wouldn't penetrate the fabric well enough. I tried taping them inside and out, but then I couldn't push a needle through all the tape and fabric. I could have tried glueing them, but that might have been a disaster if I was off in my measurements by a bit and I doubt that glue would have lasted very long in the hot sun and rain. For the moment, I'll just tuck the ends under the seat and let it go at that.

Wednesday, 21 October - I sewed two buttons on opposite sides of the seat cover today. The will allow me to secure the cover to the seat better by attaching a line between the two, under the seat so that no wind can blow it away. This evening I read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and still made it to bed by midnight.

Thursday, 22 October - I was going to check the sacrificial zincs in the engine room today, but as usual, the situation got more complicated than had planned on. The sacrificial zincs, one between the transmission heat exchanger and the engine heat exchanger and the other at the cooling coil for the refrigeration, dissolve in saltwater more easily and instead of aluminum or iron thus protecting the components to which they are attached. The one at the refrigeration cooler has to be cut down from the length at which they are purchased; 2" down to about 5/8". I tried to make two out of one today, which I've done before, by cutting one in half, then threading the end that isn't already threaded. In the process, the piece broke off in the die and I had to drill it out carefully to remove it. I guess I'll finish the job tomorrow. In the meantime, since we've been getting so much rain, I think I'll start reading another book this evening.

Friday, 23 October - I finished changing the zincs this morning. Actually, the zinc in the refrigeration didn't need to be replaced and the one in the Reverse Gear Heat Exchanger broke off as I was backing it out. I reasoned that the small piece that broke off would eventually dissolve as it is intended, so I didn't take the extra hour to disassemble the whole thing again, but now, after thinking about it, I realize that it may make its way to a small orifice somewhere downstream and stop the flow of salt water through the engine causing an overheating situation. I think I'd better look into it further. Later, as I was about to leave the boat to go to Susie's for the weekend, since there is another storm brewing southwest of Cuba and possibly headed this way, I thought I should install the new genoa sleeve on the sail to protect it from high winds. This is the first time I've installed it. It appears to be about a foot too long, but I'll look into that further, too. There's a VERY slim chance that I didn't get it pulled all the way to the top of the stay.

Saturday, 24 October and Sunday, 25 October - I spent a very pleasant although not too productive weekend with Susie at her house. About all we did was go purchase a beautiful, wooden piece of artwork of a school of dolphin that she found for sale nearby via the internet and Susie washed and treated her dog for ringworm once again.

Monday, 26 October - Over the weekend I decided I'd better open up the raw water system and remove the broken piece of sacrificial zinc from Friday's replacement project. It might or might not clog up the engine heat exchanger and it's simply not worth taking a chance. I did that today and while I was in the engine room I decided to remove some of the rust from the engine and its attachments. Awhile back when the connector on the water maker failed, even though the water maker wasn't running, it evidently sprayed a bit of saltwater onto the engine and that is causing quite a bit of run. I removed as much as I could then sprayed the bare spots with WD-40 after vacuuming all the loose rust away, then, since I had the vacuum out, I vacuumed the aft cabin out, too. After that, a shower really felt good.
                    On Thursday evening I started reading the first of several more historical fiction novels about the battles between the British and the French during Napoleonic times, "Ramage", by Dudley Pope. I didn't get to read any since then, but finished it tonight. Thanks for the books, Brother.

Tuesday, 27 October - Once again, I defrosted the freezer.

Wednesday, 28 October - Susie took me to the dermatologist today for a checkup. It had been a couple of years since I'd been there, I think. The doctor froze a couple of places on my ears, wrist, and scalp with nitrogen and gave me another prescription for a cream to apply to my shoulders and upper back and chest. Too much sun.

Thursday, 29 October - Last night about 12 o'clock, I realized that I couldn't remember if I reopened a couple of valves on the refrigeration in the engine room the other day when I was through. I thought I'b better check, so I pulled the teak floor grating and the fiberglass hatch cover up and checked. I had returned them to the proper positions, thank goodness. On the Cruiser's Net this morning, a man said he'd come over to the boat this afternoon to look at my Bruce anchor that I have for sail. I put off cleaning the bottom of my boat so I'd be available and was on the boat all day, but he never called on the radio or came over. This afternoon I removed the genoa sleeve down and reinstalled it. This time it raised higher and fit as it properly should. I'm really glad because I thought I might have to ship it back because it didn't fit right.

Friday, 30 October - I went kayaking right after I finished hosting the Cruiser's net this morning with Mary Ackroyd on M/V Island Girl and Walt on S/V The Gloaming. We kayaked out to West Sister Rock, a small island just outside Sister Creek here at Boot Key, had lunch and snorkeled for about 3 or 4 hours and saw long and short spited sea urchins, a horse conch eating a queen conch, a large stingray, a barracuda about four and a half feet long, lobsters and, of course, lots of other fish. During the trip we also saw egrets, blue heron, an osprey, a kingfisher and other birds. Right after we got there a small but very wet squall past over and drenched us. Of course that didn't matter since we were there to get wet anyway, but it did make it so that the sea was warmer than the air for about 20 minutes. As soon as I got back, I rinsed my dive equipment and showered, then Susie picked me up and took me out to dinner for my birthday at Havana Jacks at their outdoor bar, our first restaurant meal in months.

Saturday, 31 October - Halloween - Susie mentioned to me that she wished she had a way for her dog, Sangria, to exit the water on her dock so I dreamed up a way to make a ramp that could be lowered easily by her and that would let the outer end submerge when Sangria put her front paws on it, letting her push it down far enough to get her back legs on it, too. We then went to the hardware store, bought 3 - 1X6s, 3 - 1X2s cut into 15 - 16 inch pieces for rungs for traction on the ramp, a box of galvanized wood screws, one 1/2 inch dowel, and two eyebolts with washers and nuts. We returned to her house and assembled it all just as darkness fell.

Sunday, 1 November - We were both anxious to try out the new dog ramp so that was one of the first things we did this morning. Unfortunately, the dog sank the outer end deeper into the water than I had anticipated and one of the dowels broke so I had to McGyver another retention method, but we were up and ready for another trial within about 20 minutes and it worked very well. The only thing I think needs to be improved is the slipperiness of the wood. The rungs on the ramp worked fine but her dog's feet tended to slip sideways out from underneath her as she climbed the plank. That can be remedied with some non-slip tape between the rungs on some paint with sand thrown on it.

Monday, 2 November - In the process of getting Sangria out of the water yesterday in one of the unsuccessful attempts where she couldn't be coaxed to go to the end of the ramp to get up, we had to lift her out by the floatation harness she had on. She's so heavy that the handle on the harness ripped off so today I replaced the strap, which had been sewn on top of the harness with a strap that runs in a loop through the harness. The way I sewed the strap will put the stress of the thread in a horizontal plane rather than pulling straight up on the threads. This should be much stronger.

Tuesday, 3 November - The second day in a row that we've had constant winds over 20 miles per hour here in the harbor, and we have about another week's worth ahead of us. Actually, yesterday the winds were approaching 30 mph. This morning I decided to compare the four wind meters that I have onboard with each other. I have a Raymarine at the top of the mast, which I would expect to read higher than the others. I also have two Dwyer meters and a Hall meter from my hangliding and windsurfing days. One Dwyer reads about 5 mph faster than the other Dwyer and the Hall. Which should I believe? What prompted me to do the comparison was that last night someone in the harbor asked, via VHF, for a wind check. Three people, including myself, responded and reported 23, 36, and 56 mph. I know that the wind will be different at different boats, but that seemed to be too much variation. This morning I asked on the Net if people would join me on channel 69 so we could compare readings on our boats. I had hoped that we'd get more responses, but only three others replied. Ten would have been better. Again, the readings varied considerably. I wish I knew a way to accurately calibrate my masthead meter and which of these handheld meters to believe, if any. Starting about noon, I spent about three hours towing/dragging a dinghy that sank while tied to one of the boats here in the mooring field about 300 yards to shallow water so it could be dragged out for repairs. The waves in the harbor had swamped and sank it and the same guys other dinghy was having to be constantly bailed out to keep it above water. We towed it to shore, too, but at least it was floating. The first one was standing on end and dragging bottom because the only floatation in it was right in the bow.

Wednesday, 4 November - Now Hurricane/Tropical Storm Eta is threatening to head right over us, taking a very roundabout track to get here sometime early to mid-week next week. I've been trying to sort out when and where, but with all the conflicting information from various sources, I've decided that neither the weather forecasters nor I can tell yet when, where, and how intense it will be when it arrives. It could arrive as soon as Sunday night or not until Wednesday. It could arrive as a tropical storm with 50 mph winds or could intensify back up to a hurricane over the warm Caribbean waters. I can't event tell what the waves are doing between here and there. Some predictions are for 1-3 feet, but some of the buoys are already reading 6-7 feet. What to believe? Nobody knows, but I'm running out of time to make a decision whether to stick around here or head back up to Little Shark River to hide in the Everglades again. Even if it's only 50 mph winds, I wouldn't want to be here in the harbor with all the other boats. We've already had two boats drag their anchors with only 25 to 30 mph winds. One of them came all the way through the mooring field without hitting any other boat, which is a miracle in itself. A 60 mph wind is four times as powerful as a 30 mph wind, so we'll most likely see several other boats get loose soon and a lot of damage can happen when two boats that weigh 20,000 to 50,000 lbs collide. Mine weighs 46,000 lb. and it won't want to move over if something bumps into it.

Thursday, 5 November - Well, I finally quit vacillating about whether to head to Little Shark River again or not. My main reason was that, with the shorter days we're having now, I might catch a crab or lobster pot on my propeller, have to stop, drop all sails, get out and don dive gear, and cut and untangle the lines, then be too late to arrive before dark. I hope I haven't made a big mistake. Since I'm staying, I removed the small staysail and rewrapped the genoa halyard better around the genoa sleeve than I had gotten it yesterday. I, also, put three of the five window coverings for the dodger on to protect the clear plastic. I left the others off so I won't be totally blind to what's going on in the harbor. About all I can think of left to do in preparation is to move the gas powered generator off the foredeck so I can use it while it's raining if I need to. I can usually turn the wind generator on if it's too rainy and dark for the solar panels to top off my batteries, but the high winds that are expected could ruin it, so I removed the propeller blades yesterday. I should be OK if no other boat breaks loose and rams me. I am a little nervous since this is the one storm I haven't run from. I hope it's no more severe than they are predicting. Wish me luck!