Friday, 9 April 2021 - The Cruiser's Net that I was running had lots of people in the harbor needing help with projects on their boats and lots of items for sale or trade so I was about 30 minutes late getting to pickelball. I still got a good workout and we had some good, rapid fire volleys. That pickle ball flies mighty fast when you move to the net and you're standing only about 10 feet apart. Unfortunately, we'll be losing some good players this week as they either head north to their home ports for the summer or east to the Bahamas.

Saturday, 10 April - Susie and I worked on a large, built-in planter trough that runs almost the full width of the front of her house. For some reason, someone, before Susie bought the house, added a whole lot of gravel, ranging from about 1/4" to 2 inch rocks, to the soil. I brought a 3/8" gridded sieve from the boat and we sifted almost everything large enough to not go through the wires out.

Sunday, 11 April - Susie and I went to breakfast across the street from her house at Sparky's Landing and in the afternoon I sifted a bit more rock out of the planter box. In total, for the two days, I think we probably removed a couple hundred pounds of rocks from the trough. Susie returned me to the marina just in time to prepare for a 10 degree drop in temperature and 25 mph winds with a little rain.

Monday, 12 April - Well, the rain didn't stop like I assumed it would, nor did the wind. It never rained hard but cumulatively it rained enough that I wish I'd rigged my rain catchment system last night before I went to bed. The wind is still howling this morning so I'm sure I'll cancel pickle ball for today since I don't think it's going to clear up before the 10 o'clock start time and the courts will be too wet.
                    The clouds cleared off around 11 o'clock, but I had a frustrating morning online. I spent about two hours trying to logon to one of my accounts and when I did, with the help of support, the files that I downloaded wouldn't open. Arrgh!

Tuesday, 13 April - I worked on organizing my tax information today again.

Wednesday, 14 April - Today I fooled with income taxes some more and paid my quarterly estimated tax. As boaters start moving north to go home for the summer or east to the Bahamas we are suddenly getting fewer pickle ball players. We only had two courts full today, eight players. On the way to pickle ball today, I was attacked by a very good sized Tarpon. He was very aggressive. As I motored in, he surfaced and flipped his tail at me, totally soaking the whole right side of my body from head to toe and got everything in the dinghy wet, then instantly disappeared. Viscious! There are some six footers that hang out under the outer dinghy docks. Somebody that looks like me, a senior citizen with grey hair and beard, there are about a hundred of us here, must have made him mad. Maybe they grabbed him by the tail as he loitered under the docks. Last week a fellow classmate, Dan Schnaffner, from my class of '66 at Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth arrived in the harbor. We didn't know each other then, but decided to get together just for the fun of it. I took my old high school yearbook so we could remember how handsome we used to be I and met him at Dockside this evening and we reminisced about all the pretty girls, dumb guys, the teachers and classes, etc. over a couple of beers. He's been sailing about four times as long as I have, had three boats, and has covered a lot more territory. It was time well spent.

Thursday, 15 April - Today I really thought pickle ball was over for the first 30 minutes. Only three people, including me, showed up until then, and the other two were both brand new. Eventually, however, we actually got two courts playing at once. On the way back to the boat, I stopped at the marina and paid for another month of mooring ball rental. This evening we had another six games of VHF Bingo. Players were handed out six Bingo cards and everyone plays on their own boats while the numbers are called out over the VHF radio.

Friday, 16 April - I packed up a metal detector that I need to send to my brother, Mike, today after collecting packing materials at the dumpster all week. The box is 52" X 12" X 12", but the metal detector doesn't take up much space, so I needed quite a bit of stuffing. We're down to playing only one court of pickle ball since boaters are heading east or north for the hurricane season. When Susie picked me up this evening, we walked through the butterfly garden at the marina, then checked out the 5 and 6 foot tarpon hiding out under the marina docks.

Saturday, 17 April - After breakfast Susie and I went to Crane Point Hammock, a nature reserve of 63 acres here in Marathon that has walking trails with many plants labeled, an injured bird sanctuary, and the most fun, a lagoon full of minnows that, when you dangle your bare feet in, do a good job of tickling your toes as they clean the dead skin and toe jam off. It's amazing how many native varieties of palms there are there and there are also a couple of buildings created by a black Bahamian fisherman, spongers, and charcoal burners back in the very early 1900s. Actually, several were built by other Bahamian immigrants, but the others were merely huts that didn't last long. This one is built of tabby, a concrete made of coral, sand, and lime and the building is actually still in pretty good condition, although the thatched roof has been replaced. We spent about four hours there, but still need to return to finish seeing their museum.

Sunday, 18 April - Susie and I were going to go to the Stuffed Pig for breakfast but ended up at Porky's instead. After breakfast we walked around the docks to see what other services they have. They offer jet sky rides, parasail rides, sight seeing tours, sunset cruises, fishing boat rentals, and even have rooms to rent.

Monday, 19 April - While going back to my boat from Susie's and then returning to the docks this morning to go to pickle ball, there was a school of mullet in the marina harbor this morning. There were so many that they seemed to fill the harbor. The tarpon that have been hiding under the docks were having a feeding frenzy.

Tuesday, 20 April - This evening the boaters had an evening Cruisers' Net about hurricane preparation and different options for storing a boat or riding out a storm. I had planned on going to Susie's, as usual, but Diesel Don asked me to comment or answer questions since I've run from hurricanes here several times, so I stayed on the boat to join in on the conversation.

Wednesday, 21 April - I needed to get the metal detector sent off to Mike, so Susie picked me up at 4:45 this afternoon to take the box to FedEx. We went to her house, had dinner, then fixed a drawer on a small table so that it can't be accidentally pulled out all the way, dumping it's contents, then we spent the evening watching TV at her house.

Thursday, 22 April - Since I can't remember what I did on this day, it apparently didn't exist.

Friday, 23 April - The tarpon have been feeding on the school of mullet all week and either they've just about eaten them all or the mullet have finally started getting smart and leaving. At any rate, there are very few mullet still in the dock area and there are some VERY fat tarpon still chasing them. The mullet are about a foot long and the tarpon about 5 to 7 feet.
                    We aren't getting enough pickle ball players to have a full court game any more, but each day, another new player or two shows up, so I try to teach them how to play, hoping they'll continue to return. Everybody that plays enjoys it, but it's getting pretty hot on the courts.

Saturday, 24 April - Susie and I went over to Specialty Hardware and bought a few items including some jute string to make some trellises on her wooden fence out of for the Moon Flower and Morning Glory vines that we had planted to grow on, then came back to her house and strung them on the fence.

Sunday, 25 April - Susie and I clipped and sheared her dog, Sangria, after planting more seeds that Susie had soaked overnight. The zinnias that we planted previously were doing quite well and had already grown to about 8 inches high until Sangria ate them today.

Monday, 26 April - I picked up a package of books that Mike, my brother, sent me at the marina, then this evening we had a dinghy drift in the harbor by the light of the full moon. Right after the dinghy drift, about 20 of the drifters went over to one of the boats here in the harbor that was showing the comedy "Captain Ron" on the back of his boat on a big screen TV.

Tuesday, 27 April - During the Cruisers' Net this morning, a fellow asked for help with his refrigeration. When no one offered assistance, even though I have only had experience with my own, I said perhaps I could help after pickle ball this afternoon. He called about 2 o'clock and I went to his boat. The problem appeared to be merely a need for a boost of refrigerant and I had a few ounces left in a can of mine. We used up what I had and it appeared to be just enough to bring his freezer back to life and freezing well.
                    Later, at Susie's, we checked out the greenery we've planted. All but two types of seed we've planted have done pretty well. One hasn't come up at all and the other, Marigolds, has only produced four plants so far. I'm not worried about those. They'll produce plenty of seeds to replant. The morning glory is doing great. We'd started it up the jute trellis and several of them have already reached the top of the six foot fence she has.

Wednesday, 28 April - Last week, on the way to pickle ball, I noticed some beautiful morning glory growing on the fence at the Middle Keys Electric Company that is behind the marina, then, yesterday, I noticed that they were spraying weeds on that property. Today, I saw that they sprayed the fence, too, so I stopped and harvested about 50 of those seeds for Susie.
                    This evening, Tami and Jay Klassen dropped by on their way to El Molcajete Mexican restaurant and invited me to come, an invitation at which I jumped. On the way there, I asked if I could have Susie join us and they said "yes", so she met us there and we had a great dinner and wonderful conversation. They are both very intelligent and well educated and have been sailing a long time, so time spent with them is always enjoyable.

Thursday, 29 April - This afternoon I replaced the rusty chain that I have the engine on the dinghy locked on with. The lock itself, a combination lock, needed significant cleaning up to be able to turn the dials, too. Even though the chain and lock don't get drenched with salt water often, they still get lots of corrosion on them.