Wednesday, 1 March 2023 - I paid for another month or mooring ball rental today then returned to Island Time and put one of two patches on the dinghy. I put PC-11 epoxy to the patch and it needs to cure overnight. I also tried to contact my primary physician again today but AT&T and T-Mobile's networks were both down and as of 8:30 PM, they still are. No phone, no internet. I think I'll start another one of the books that Mike sent me a few months back.

Thursday, 2 March - I started to apply a second patch to the dinghy but found that the first one, PC-11 didn't seal so I'll try something else.

Friday, 3 March - I headed in to the marina about 5pm to join the Friday night pot luck group, but left around 6:15 to head to Dockside. The Ty Thurman Band performed at Dockside this evening. I got there about 6:30 and Roland and Leta Kok and about 8 others had a table right up front which is way too loud for me. Another table in about the third rom was empty and since I was expecting Phil and Carol Vachon to meet Susie and me there, I grabbed it. Eventually, Phil and Carol showed up with four others so that was too big for our table and they sat near the back. Susie arrived around 7:30 and Ted Williams joined us at the table for awhile.

Saturday, 4 March - We had another First Saturday of the Month Nautical Flea Market this morning. I only took 4 items and sold none. I lost money because I bought a half bottle of 303 water proofing fabric spray for $5.

Sunday, 5 March - Rather than tear the old patches off and start over, I tried to inject some Permatex Vinyl, Cloth, and Rubber Adhesive into the tiny leaks with all the air pressure relieved for both dinghy compartments today and will test them after they cure for a few hours. I went to Dockside for dinner, not expecting to meet Susie there this evening because she had said that she was tired of our same old routine. Phil and Carol were there and the place was packed so I sat with them. Susie showed up shortly thereafter and joined us. I was surprised and it was rather awkward because I thought she had wanted to break up with me. I ate dinner, danced not at all, and left.

Monday, 6 March - Susie and I needed to talk so we met at Overseas Bar and had a couple of drinks and I, very happily, found that I had misinterpreted her meaning about our "routine". Neither of us wanted to break up after all and everything is okay and we are still together. Whew! Thank goodness!

Tuesday, 7 March - I met Susie at Dockside for cocktails and dancing. The place was packed and we were both surprised that virtually none of our friends were there. Only Natalie passed through on her way to Skipjacks for the evening and one of the ladies that plays pickleball in the mornings was there with her husband.

Wednesday, 8 March - I got up at 4:45am in order to have breakfast and catch the VA shuttle to Miami for pre-op testing for my upcoming hernia operation on the 4th of April. We did all the testing and answering of questions that I though we were going to do on the 22nd of February. That had been a total waste of my day. My appointment today was at 11:30. I boarded the shuttle at 6am, arrived at the VA at about 9:30, checked in early, and was through there at about noon, arriving back in Marathon about 3 o'clock, easily two hours earlier than last time. We've been having great weather lately, although about 10°F warmer than normal for this time of year, but there's a 50% chance of rain predicted tonight. I just checked the water level in my tank and I'm down to about 30 gallons in my 200 gallon tank, so I could use the water, but I won't be surprised, after having checked the radar, if we only get a very brief shower or two. I reattached the water collection lines to the tank hoping I'm wrong.

Thursday, 9 March - Well, I think I finished compiling my tax information for 2022 today, Now I have to pass it on to a tax accountant. I wonder what residents in homes are doing about flushing their toilets. There have been two major breaks in the main waterline effecting the supply from about the middle of the Keys to Key West ever since yesterday morning. That means no water for cooking, bathing, industry, hotels, or anything else. No showers or restrooms at the marina. Luckily, I have water on the boat and a holding tank for the toilet, but I wonder what everyone not on a boat is doing. So far, that's almost two whole days without water. How can businesses carry on?

Friday, 10 March - Susie picked me up at 5 o'clock in the evening and we went to Havana Jack's to listen to Glenn Harmon and Bongo Bob and Bob Jeager.

Saturday, 11 March - Susie and I had breakfast at The Wooden Spoon Cafe then went to the Seafood Festival at the city park for a few hours. We had dinner at El Molcajete, then went back to her house and watched an old movie with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, "El Dorado".

Sunday, 12 March - Susie worked at the consignment store. Susie said it was extremely slow and that she only sold about $40 worth of clothing. We met at Dockside for dancing in the evening.

Monday, 13 March - I played pickleball in the morning then took the dinghy to shore in the afternoon three times, bringing 50 gallons of fresh water to the boat and pumping it into the water tank each trip.

Tuesday, 14 March - Upon returning from pickleball today I refilled the dinghy's fuel tank, secured the water jugs since I forgot to do that yesterday when I finished hauling water, defrosted the freezer to make room for new food, then went and bought groceries. I broke a new personal record on groceries again. I spent $349 this time, although part of that is because I didn't get enough canned goods last time and partly because I will be getting my hernia operation in three weeks and don't want to haul any groceries shortly after that. I'm sure I'll still need to get some groceries before that but I wanted to be pretty well stocked going into recovery for the surgery. I'm sure they won't want me to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk for several weeks after the surgery. Later, I met Susie at Dockside for entertainment.

Wednesday, 15 March - It is very blustery today and it was trying to rain as I headed to pickleball. It sprinkled a bit and no one showed up but me. I waited about 20 minutes while talking to a Vietnam Vet that was there changing the tires on his bicycle under the picnic area roof, then when the rain quit, I decided I might as well go practice my serves. I did that for about thirty minutes then moved to the tennis courts where they have a wall to practice against and practiced dinks. Dinks are short returns that you want to barely clear the net so that the ball lands right at your opponent's feet, making it hard to return. I returned to the boat afterward then spent several hours catching up on and breaking this blog, which covered all of November 2022 until now, into monthly episodes so it wouldn't be book length.

Thursday, 16 March - This afternoon I replaced the sacrificial zincs for the engine and for the 12V refrigeration. The Engine Zinc was worn down just right. The Reefer Zinc was still in pretty good shape. That’s not necessarily good. I had used a heavy coating of Lanocote on the threads last time and that may have subdued their effectiveness to dissolve. This time I installed them dry.

Friday, 17 March - The Yamaha outboard had my attention again this afternoon. I replaced the outboard's male fuel connector which arrived today. The old connector had been leaking a bit. This evening I'm headed to Dockside to meet Susie for some dancing to the JibSea Cowboys.

Saturday, 18 March - We had a harbor cleanup day. About 30 boaters showed up to go out in our dinghies and kayaks to get the trash and junk out of the mangroves at the edges of the harbor. Personally, I and the other person that volunteered to go with me in my dinghy pulled a large recyclable bin, a huge orange highway caution barrel like you see near construction sites along the highway, about five 20 foot sections of three foot wide aluminum home siding, about 50 feet of plastic lattice that mobile home owners use to keep large critters from getting under their homes, a totally waterlogged inflatable air mattress, a styrofoam panel with a one square foot window in it, a plastic Adirondack chair, a hatchway panel from a boat, and various other small items out of the mangroves. Thousands of items were brought in. Some of the larger items were: lots of Adirondack chairs, other chairs, a half of a jet ski, a jet ski, several deflated dinghies, several large trash receptacles and lots of items that I did not get to see, The plan was to get two twenty foot dumpsters for a two day harbor cleanup, but the city wouldn't spring for but one because they couldn't imagine us getting that much trash. We piled the one that we got to about 3 feet above the top in one day. Now we can't continue tomorrow because there's nowhere to put the trash we bring in.
                    Susie and I, Leta and Rowland Kok, and Phil and Carol Vachon finished off the day at Dockside listening to Popeye and His Easy Street Band.

Sunday, 19 March - Well, in a way, it worked out that the city didn't get us the second dumpster; it rained starting around 10:30 this morning, the first good rain we've had in awhile.

Monday, 20 March - Since it rained around 8AM, I was the only one to show up for pickleball this morning so I practiced about 250 serves then practiced short "dinks" against a wall for about 20 minutes. After lunch I jumped into the engine room to replace the impeller in the raw (sea) water pump that runs through the two heat exchangers that help cool the engine and transmission. Last time it took me all day so I really wasn't looking forward to it this time. However, since then I acquired a special tool to extract the impeller with so I thought it would be faster. Wrong, I started at 1 o'clock and quit at 7pm. Notice that I said quit, not finished. It still took me about 5 hours the get the impeller out and two more to try to get it back in, which failed. I'll try again tomorrow.

Tuesday, 21 March - After about two more hours today I finally got the impeller back in and sealed up. The impeller has eight blades on it and has to be compressed the go back in the housing. I tied string around the blades to compress them and as I was pulling the cord out yesterday, it broke so I had to pull the impeller out again and start all over. I used yesterday's experience as practice, did better and finished today.

Wednesday, 22 March - It's nice to finally have the Yamaha outboard running properly again. I can finally get around to doing other things that need to be done other than working on it. Nothing big today. I just trimmed back an aloe vera plant that I have on board, hand washed a couple of shirts and a pair of shorts, paid a bill online, and did a few other minor things that needed to be done for quite a while.

Thursday, 23 March - I've torn one pair of shorts and worn holes in the two front pockets of another so today I spent considerable time online trying to find replacements. I couldn't find what I want which is cargo shorts made of durable fabric with flaps and buttons on the pockets, not Velcro and a six inch inseam. That didn't seem like it would be too difficult, but it is.

Friday, 24 March - We had a good turnout for pickleball today; about 25 players. This afternoon I replaced two broken cable ties in the dinghy that hold a piece of 1 1/2" PVC in place vertically on the transom. That makes in easy to insert and remove the pole that holds my head-high all around white light. When I screw up and go under something that catches that pole, the ties break, not the pole. I thought that the top gasket for the Yamaha had finally arrived but when I went in to get it the package contained something that must be some kind of women's apparel. It's soft fabric configured to make two loops about a foot in diameter each. I asked several people at the marina what they thought it might be, but none of them knew, either. I met Susie, Roland and Leta Kok, and others at Dockside to listen to music by Ty, Bob, and Bob.

Saturday, 25 March - This afternoon I caulked the holes that the cable ties pass through in the transom and this evening I went ashore to join in in the festivities at the marinas tiki hut: hot dogs, BBQ ribs, potato salad, etc., before a showing of the movie "Captain Ron". a favorite amount boaters.

Sunday, 26 March - I replaced the old fall on the dinghy davit's block and tackle today with some of the 1/4" nylon line that I scrounged from the retractable swimming pool cover in Salt Lake City when we replaced the cover several years ago. This project used 65 feet and I still have about 150 feet left. It's hard to have too much rope on a boat. I also did some repair on one of my kayaks. I found that kayak after hurricane Irma and the previous user had dragged it around by the handle on one end so much that it wore through the hull on the other end. I patched that with a small portion of a medium size boat fender several years back but the fender material has started cracking. The kayak is made of HDPE plastic, as was the fender, and so is a milk jug, so I cut a milk jug into thin strips to use like I would solder with my soldering iron. I have a flat blade for the soldering iron and it melts the plastics together to seal up the cracks. Unfortunately, the two compounds of HDPE have different melting temperatures so, although I'm getting the cracks sealed, it looks pretty rough, but I think it will hold the water at bay when I put the kayak back in the water. I wish I had my old PTEX gun for ski repairs onboard. I bet it would be great for these repairs. It worked like a hot glue gun and injected PTEX through the center of the heat plate so I smoothed it as I made the repair. I'm to meet Susie, her mother, and her sister at Dockside this evening. It's 84 degrees here today and I just got a notification for the weather in SLC that they are getting more snow. I know they've gotten more than 720 inches at Alta Ski Resort so far and 200 inches are currently on the ground now. It sounds like the best powder conditions in many years. Enjoy, guys!

Monday, 27 March - Pickleball this morning,..pickleball this evening. While at pickleball this morning Kevin Smith , whose beautiful sailboat, Buck It List, was on the hard on jack stands that blew over and was damaged beyond repair during hurricane Ian, came by and indicated that he's looking at another vessel here in Marathon. In the meantime, he needs a place to stay for a few days so I offered to have him stay on Island Time. I'll be having hernia surgery next Monday and will need someone to look after the boat for awhile, so this will be good for both of us. This evening we had a pickleball tournament at the park. My partner saw our first opponents and was ready to concede, but I said, "Don't give up before we start", and we beat them. They were considerably younger, tall, good players, too. We won our second game, too. Our next competitors, two tall, twenty somethings, beat us 15 to 2, and that was the most points anyone had scored against them. We got a "bye" in the next round, then had to play them again and they "Pickled" us, 15 to 0. That put us tied for second place so we played the team they had played last and we won, putting us in second place over the team we beat. Those two young guys had us all totally out classed, but it was a fun tournament anyway.

Tuesday, 28 March - After pickleball this morning I paid for another month of mooring ball rental then returned to the boat and replaced a couple of snaps on the dodger that needed replacing and were easy to do so. There are others but I will have to remove the dodger, which takes about an hour to remove and two to three hours to replace, so those can wait. I met Susie, her mom & sister at Dockside for dinner and music. Her sister will fly home to Ohio tomorrow and her mother will be staying at a rental house two doors down from Susie's for several more weeks. She's such a sweet lady with a great sense of humor but has a hard time getting around.

Wednesday, 29 March - As I was about to leave pickleball this morning, Kate and Doc Neises, upon hearing that I need to get new house batteries for the boat, volunteered to take me to Advance Auto Parts this afternoon. I immediately returned to the boat and within the hour had the four seventy five pound batteries removed from the starboard lazerette and loaded into the dinghy, then headed to shore to meet Dec. Within the hour I was back onboard with new batteries to reinstall. The connecting studs are a little different on the new ones so it took some modifications to the hold-down bar and about 3 hours to get them reinstalled. Since all the power was shut off on the boat during that time I took the opportunity to defrost the refrigeration again, too.

Thursday, 30 March - This afternoon I'm reading up on the instructions for the Xantrex Link Pro, Xanbus System Control Panel, and the Victron Connect Solar Controller, all of which control or monitor the batteries, to try to determine why my $1600 batteries wouldn't hold as much charge as they should. Since they get topped off daily by my solar I had hoped they might last 6 years instead of 3.

Friday, 31 March - I spent most of this afternoon, again, going through the Xantrex instructions and checking all the settings in the two devices. There must be about a hundred settings in the two with buttons on each that have numerous steps to get where you need to change a setting. In fact, I just counted the settings on the Link Pro. There are 66 settings and only three buttons on it to make the changes. Lots of the terms are unfamiliar to me, too, so I have to really study the manuals to figure out what I'm supposed to do. I've done this before, but the last time was three years ago when I bought the last batteries. I called Xantrex to ask some questions, but the support technician, who is very knowledgeable and who I talked to 3 years ago, interrupted our conversation, saying that his daughter had an emergency at school and that he'd have to call me back. I'm willing to wait. He's very good at explaining things.