Tuesday, 9 March 2021 - I played Pickleball again this morning and near the end of the games, I took off the new tennis shoes that I got a couple of weeks ago and put my sandals back on because the shoes seem to be too narrow and hurt the little toe on my right foot. To my surprise another game got started so I decided to play in the sandals. They felt fine and I had no problems with them at all, so I'll be retiring the tennis shoes, even though they've only been used two or three times. Back at the marina I picked up the battery for my EPIRB (Emergency Position-indicating Radio Beacon) that I thought would be arriving at the end of the week. Actually, it did arrive at the end of the week, the front end instead of the tail end. I, also, spent most of the afternoon captioning and managing photos on my computer that I have fallen way behind on. It does make individual, or groups, of photos easier to find when I want to.

Wednesday, 10 March - Pickleball in the morning, then I returned to the boat and installed the battery that I received yesterday into the EPIRB. It's $99 but won't need replacing until August 2026.

Thursday, 11 March - Pickleball in the morning. The wind has been blowing around 15 to 25 miles per hour for days now, however, it has warmed up a bit. The temperature got up to about 75°F today. We complain about all the missed shots on the court, but I tell you this; if the wind quits blowing it's going to be awfully hot in the sun on those courts. In the afternoon, I removed the front and rear brake cables and the shifter cable from my bike.

Friday, 12 March - I was Net Controller this morning, then off to Pickleball. I arrived about 20 minutes late but still got plenty of exercise. Boy, I start off each day playing terribly, but get better as the session progresses, thank goodness. I returned to the boat and discovered that one of my stocks had stopped out. The price didn't look right. I spent about an hour researching the time and sale, then about 30 minutes on hold waiting for a broker to come on the line. After about another 30 minutes, the sale price changed in my favor by about $350. Computers do make mistakes...or are they rigged in favor of the brokerages? I wonder how ofter that happens and goes unnoticed?

Saturday, 13 March - Susie and I went to a bike shop and I bought new brake and shifter cables for my bicycle that really need replacing. We then went to the Marathon City Park and flew my two-string kite, then, later, we cleaned up and went to Havana Jack's bar and restaurant and had dinner and listened to Ty Thurman and his daughter, Liz, sing for about three hours. I think this was only about the third or fourth time since Covid 19 hit the Keys that we've been out to dinner and two of those were at Havana Jacks because it is an open air restaurant.

Sunday, 14 March - Susie and I went to Home Depot and bought some LED string lights to replace the string of tungsten lights of her back porch that keep burning out. We also went to Publix grocery store to get Covid vaccinations without appointments, hoping that there had been no-shows or cancellations during the day, but were out of luck there.

Monday, 15 March - I got some exercise this morning playing Pickleball, then, this afternoon I headed back to the marina to pay for my mooring ball rental and take advantage of their workspace to replace the cables on my bike. I figured that would take about an hour or an hour and a half. I spent three hours, and I didn't finish. I really should have taken lots of detail photos of the cable runs with my phone before I disassembled and removed them. Since I didn't, I have to figure it all out like a puzzle.

Tuesday, 16 March - Pickleball in the morning, then I refilled the dinghy's fuel tank and added ten ounces of Sea Foam, a cleaner and lubricant to the fuel. The outboard motor hasn't been running smoothly lately. I saw an almost immediate improvement it its performance. Later, I went to the project room at the marina to replace the bicycle's cables. Mike Barber of the S/V Whensday came over to talk and my attention was diverted causing me to accidentally cut the shifter cable as I was shortening the cable housing for it, so I couldn't finish the job. I need another new cable.

Wednesday, 17 March - Susie and I got up at 6:30 to be ready to sign up for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine at 7 AM online. The website now gives school teachers priority and delays others. We watched the page refreshing every 60 seconds and counting down from 100% of vaccinations available to zero without the "Book Now" button ever becoming available to us, so we never got a chance to register for the vaccine. We were hoping to both get the "one shot" vaccine from Johnson & Johnson in order for us to avoid having to go to Key West to the VA twice for me to get one of the other shots.

Thursday, 18 March - While I was at Pickleball this morning Tom Crank of Dependable Dive Service came to the boat and scraped the hull, rudder, and propeller, and cleaned the gunk off the waterline. The boat looks great; a much better job than I usually do myself. I hadn't cleaned the hull in about 3 months. I'm surprised Tom didn't charge me extra.

Friday, 19 March - I was Net Controller for the morning Cruiser's Net, then Pickleball.

Saturday, 20 March - Susie and I went to Key West so I could get a Covid 19 vaccination at a 2:45 appointment at the VA there, but we went early so we could visit and tour Fort Zachary Taylor, the brick fort built here before the Civil War and that served for over one hundred years to protect the coast of Florida and the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico during that war, the Spanish American War, WW I, WW II, and the Cuban Missile Crises. When we arrived at the VA facility for my appointment, much to my surprise, the gate was locked and there was no guard on duty. I must admit, I was a bit upset that I hadn't been notified. However, there was a sign on the gate saying there was a vaccination program going on at the Key's College for veterans today, no appointment necessary. That was only about a mile away, so we drove right over. Within about 45 minutes, I walked out with a Band-Aid on my arm and a tiny hole in my arm from the Janssen, or Johnson and Johnson, one shot vaccine. That part, at least, was a pleasant surprise. We won't have to drive the hundred miles for a second inoculation. I wish Susie could have gotten a shot, too. She still hasn't gotten one at all. The temporary facility at the college hoped to vaccinate about 700 veterans today and was running very efficiently.

Sunday, 21 March - I must admit, after having heard from or about others that have been vaccinated, I expected some reaction to the vaccine, but so far, I have had absolutely no negative reaction to the Johnson & Johnson vaccination that I got yesterday afternoon; no sore arm, nothing. I don't know if that means my immune system is tuned to perfection or totally worthless.

Monday, 22 March - Still absolutely no reaction to the Johnson & Johnson Covid 19 vaccination. I hope it works. After Pickleball this morning I returned to the boat and had lunch then returned to the marina's workshop and finished installing and adjusting the shifter cable and brake system, then lubricated the bike well. I think it's in top shape now.

Tuesday, 23 March - Pickleball, then worked on my income taxes for 2020.

Wednesday, 24 March - Pickleball, then, since there were a couple more 1099s that I hadn't received, I contacted the companies and had them email them to me. Now I think I have all the information gathered to get my taxes done by someone that knows what they're doing.

Thursday, 25 March - I guess I ought to quit mentioning Pickleball since I'm playing every weekday, so I guess I'll only mention it when I miss it for some reason. Actually, the season is about over. The temperature will soon be too hot to play since the humidity is so high, plus, the harbor is quickly losing boats as the snowbirds either move north or over to the Bahamas; and that includes Pickleball players.

Friday, 26 March - I was the host for the Cruisers' net again this morning. During the net yesterday a fellow asked for help getting his boat's chart plotter to recognize his sim card after he updated the charts on it. I told him that I might be a "last resort" helper if he couldn't find anyone else better qualified. He called this afternoon and it appears that we have the same or nearly the same model and brand chart plotters, so maybe on Monday we can get together. He said he lived it Dallas and I told him I grew up in Fort Worth. He said he went to high school. We discovered that we both graduated from Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth in 1966. Small world. I hope I can help out a fellow classmate.

Saturday, 27 March - Susie and I replaced the 25W incandescent light bulbs in a string of forty lights on her back porch with 2.5W LEDs today and the LEDs are much brighter, dimmable, and only cost 15 cents more each than the incandescents that kept burning out. LEDs have come a long way in just ten years or so. We later walked over to El Molcajete Mexican Restaurant for dinner, but were too late. They closed at 8pm and we got there at 7:45. That seems too early to close on a Saturday night to me. Anyway, we then walked back to Susie's, walked across the street to another restaurant and it had an hour waiting line, so we went back to Susie's, got in her car and went to one more. The parking lot was full and there were about 30 people standing outside, so we went home and had Stouffer's Chicken Pot Pies and watched a movie.

Sunday, 28 March - This evening Susie and I went to Sunset Beach Park in Key Colony Beach where she lives and listened to the band "Three Sheets To The Wind" play from 4pm to 6pm. We saw Leta Kok and several other people that we know who were there for the music, too.

Monday, 29 March - I spent several hours this afternoon battling with my computer. For some reason it decided to quit communicating with my iPhone using WiFi, Bluetooth, or USB cables. I finally got it to reconnect, but don't know exactly where the problem was. It all started while I was doing something that, at least to me, seems totally unrelated; reformatting three small 8GB thumb drives. My laptop can't read them, nor can it erase and reformat them.

Tuesday, 30 March - Dan Schnaffner, the high school classmate that contacted me last Friday still hasn't reconnected with me and I'm wondering what happened.

Wednesday. 31 March - Susie took me to the grocery store early this morning so I was able to get my grocery shopping done before cooking breakfast, listening to the Cruiser's Net, and Pickleball. This afternoon I scraped most of the bottom of my dinghy to get a few barnacles and the marine moss off while it was hanging on the davits. I can't reach the far side while it's hanging there, so I'll need to turn it end for end and do the other side soon.

Thursday, April Fools Day - Dan Schnaffner connected with me during the Cruiser's Net this morning and explained that he's having dinghy engine problems, so when he gets that problem solved, we'll try to solve the problem of why his chart plotter won't display his charts properly.

Friday, 2 April - I was Net Controller this morning, which made me a bit late for Pickleball, but I played pretty well. Before I returned to the boat, I stopped at the marina office and stuffed about 50 Cruiser's bags with pamphlets and fliers to be handed out by the office staff to new arrivals as they check into the marina.

Saturday, 3 April - K-Mart here in the Keys is closing and I thought there might be some slim chance that they might have Pickleball paddles, but, of course, I was wrong. Susie and I went there to see what they had in their close-out specials and I bought a couple of items and she bought about a dozen, or rather, I should say, she bought it all, refusing to take my money. We also watched a couple of manatees in the canal behind Susie's house and they came right up to Susie where she her feet dangling in the water off the dock.

Sunday, 4 April - Except for the large, very expensive homes here in the Keys, almost no one here has lawns and that includes Susie. We planted several packages of seeds in pots for the outside of her home today. Another manatee was in the canal at Susie's today. It's not a problem here at Marathon, but they say about seven manatees die each day from starvation in upper Florida because pollutants from cities' industry is killing the seagrasses the manatees eat.

Monday, 5 April - This afternoon I finished scraping the bottom of the dinghy as it hung from the davits.

Tuesday, 6 April - When I arrived at the dinghy dock this afternoon, Jessica, a marina employ approached me and asked that I help an incoming sailboat tie up to the docks since their employees were already gone for the day. It was easy although they threw me their bow line first and they should have thrown me the stern line to begin with. By throwing me the bow line first, it made the bow come to the dock and the stern swung out. The stern line would have simply stopped the boat. The two men aboard are only here for one night, then off to Key West.

Wednesday, 7 April - My brother, Mike, called the other day and said he's in need of a metal detector to find hidden metal in his back 5 acres that have already caused $500 worth of damage to his riding lawnmower. I said if I could acquire a box to ship it in, I'd ship him the one I have. I got one today, It's a bit larger than I need, but will do if I can't find one more suitable. Now I have to find suitable packing and insulation for it. I'll need quite a bit. The odd shape of the detector means there will be lots of empty space in the box.

Thursday, 8 April - At Pickleball this morning, I asked the fellow that is now leading the kayak trips through the Boot Key mangroves where he was leading the trip this Sunday. I mentioned the trail to Vanishing Lake and he didn't even know where that was, so I offered to show him this afternoon, but mentioned that it shouldn't be done at low tide because the lake "vanishes" when the tide goes out. When I got back to the boat to get ready to go, I checked the tide level and, sure enough, we were at low tide. Before I could even call him on the radio, someone else got on the VHF and said there was a boat sinking here in the eastern anchorage. I called him on the radio and told him the situation and that I was going to postpone the kayaking and head over to the sinking boat to lend a hand. The owner wasn't aboard. One other person had beaten me there and had already installed a small bilge pump and it was gaining on the leak. I was really glad. I had brought my new water pump that I got to pump my fresh water onto Island Time from the dinghy, but realized that, as filthy as the bilge water on that boat was, I'd never get the pump clean again. Another boat showed up with another pump, but with the same problem; a new, clean, fresh water pump, and he didn't want to use in unless it was absolutely necessary, either. The boat we were on was newly purchased, but filthy. I can't imagine living on a boat like that. It was a twin engine power boat and the engines hadn't been run in years. Floorboards were missing, hatches were soft and broken. The exhaust pipes for the engines are disconnected and most of the hose clamps are rusting away. The drive shaft was disconnected from the transmission and the gears of the tranny were all rusted up. The bilge was terribly filthy with lots of hairballs that will clog the bilge pump, although that hadn't happened today. The bilge pump wasn't anchored or weighted down, so when the water got high enough, the pump floated instead of switching on until the pump hit the bottom of the floorboards. When the water then went higher, the pump finally switched on and it was running when the first fellow arrived. We wedged the pump against the bottom of the bilge, let in drain the bilge again, and looked for the leak, but couldn't locate it. It's probably leaking around the prop shaft on the port side. The oil pan on that side was totally full of saltwater. It looks like the boat hasn't had any maintenance done on it in years and I'd be surprised if the girl that just bought it knows anything about boats. Nobody in their right mind would buy a boat like that. She probably thought, since it's at anchor and she doesn't have to even pay for a mooring ball, it would be cheaper than paying rent on an apartment. I think it's only a short matter of time before that boat sinks for good.