Friday, 1 September 2023 - Six of us played pickleball in the morning and Susie finished her three day trip back from Ohio in time to miss the horrible rush hour traffic in Miami and the slightly later Labor Day rush of tourists to the Keys, the last hundred miles of which is on Highway 1, the only road on which to get here. I joined her at Dockside for dinner and dancing. It sure is nice to have her back.

Saturday, 2 September - I had forgotten that today would be the first Saturday of the month nautical swap meet until it was announced on the Cruiser's Net this morning. I went and I think it was the first time that I've neither bought nor sold anything there and come home with exactly what I left with. I didn't stay as long as I usually do because I needed to return to the boat to defrost the freezer for the second time this week. After that, Susie picked me up and we headed to Havana Jacks for dinner.

Sunday, 3 September - After we thought the rain had stopped in the morning, Susie and I went for a very short tandem kayak ride on her single sit-on kayak to get a 6 inch boat fender that had floated into the mangroves across the channel from her house. After that we cleaned up and headed over to Dockside for dinner, drinks and dancing.

Monday, 4 September, Labor Day - It rained briefly again this morning and we went for a slightly longer paddle, each of us on separate sit-on kayaks around the bay near her house, past the old apartment she used to rent before buying her current home, then down past El Molcajete Mexican Restaurant. We returned, cleaned up, and returned to El Molcajete for a Margarita each and Mexican dinners. We were glad to find out that they are not going to be shutting down for the summer like Dockside, Havana Jacks, Overseas Restaurant, Fish Tales, and Frank's that we have frequented in the past. It must have rained harder than I realized or just rained harder at the marina than where we were for the last couple of days because when I returned to my dinghy, it had about 4 inches of water to be bailed out before returning to the boat.

Tuesday, 5 September - This afternoon I replaced one of the two deck lights that I lost during the windy session that caused my sail to partially unfurl. I also opened up sole compartment 8 under the companionway ladder into the saloon to see if the flapper valve that drains the iceboxes was possibly disconnected. I actually hoped that it was. That would be an entry point for moisture entering the freezer compartment and explain why after having defrosted on Saturday and having not opened it over the weekend, it already had over an inch of frost on the evaporator this morning. Unfortunately, the valve is still attached, so I'm just as baffled as before as to how that much moisture is getting in there. That would have been a simple fix.

Wednesday, 6 September - I slept terribly last night. My back was killing me, my muscles ached, and my sinuses were blocked. I thought my muscles were sore because while kayaking with Susie on Monday, so that I didn't paddle off and leave her, I paddled backward for quite awhile. I let the pickleballers know that wouldn't be playing today. During the high winds the other day when my mainsail unfurled a ways, we got a line tangled at the top of the mast so I climbed the mast today and checked that out. There was one twist in it so I cleared that and on the way down from the mast I replaced several reflective tapes on the mast that make seeing my boat in darkness much easier to spot with a spotlight. After that, I read my sample insurance policy from State Farm and contacted the agent to pay for a year's policy. State Farm's policy is a thousand dollars less that the policy I previously had with Geico, has less restrictions, and has a $2000 deductible instead of $11,000. I've been feeling very tired today and have a significant cough, along with swollen sinuses and a very drippy nose, all symptoms of Covid-19, so I decided to test myself with the government supplied self-tests that they sent me a couple of years ago. They are, unfortunately, well over a year past expiration. I had to take the fluid from two to run one test and I don't know if it was accurate, but it indicated a strong positive for having the virus.

Thursday, 7 September - I planned on getting a Covid test at a medical facility today so I called for an appointment. The lady on the phone said I don't need an appointment, just walk-in between 5 and 6 pm, so I waited until five and went in. They wanted to know if I had an appointment. I said that I was told that I don't need an appointment. The receptionist said to wait a minute and disappeared down the hall. She returned and said that they don't have any tests...a day wasted. I'll try another facility tomorrow. In the meantime, hurricane Lee is already a category 4 storm and could possibly head this direction. We'll all be watching it with bated breath. We're all hoping it will turn to the north east before it gets too close.

Friday, 8 September - I gave up trying to get a confirming Covid test this morning when I went to the website of my intended next facility and discovered that they only test for two hours on the third Thursday of each month. How useless. From what I've read, you need to be tested within the first five days of your first symptoms. Anyway, what ever I have certainly looks like Covid-19. I've had muscle aches, swollen sinuses, a bit of fever, a significant cough that has made my throat very sore and made me lose a lot of sleep, an extremely drippy nose, and an overall tired feeling that has inhibited my desire to motivate. If that's not Covid, it's close enough to have stayed in a self quarantine since I got it. Since I wasn't going to be tested, I immediately defrosted the freezer. It's been one week and there was two inches of frost on the evaporator again. After doing that, I ordered food from the grocery store since I shouldn't enter a busy store. I expected to be contacted by text when the shopper started picking my items from the shelves, again if they were out of any items so I might pick substitutions, and yet again to tell me they were finished so I could beat them to our rendezvous spot at the docks at the marina. All I got was a phone call saying that the young lady was waiting for me at the dock. Susie always orders home delivery for groceries and I don't know how she puts up with the poor service. The girl substituted small, plastic containers of 3 bean salad for the cans that I ordered that are twice the size, two 30 oz. cans of fruit cocktail for the fifteen 8.5 oz. cans of chunky mixed fruit that I ordered, and 30 large eggs in a flat, square, cardboard box for the two dozen jumbo eggs in styrofoam cartons. I won't go so far as to say that I can't use these items, but it sure is an inconvenience. That one foot square egg box won't fit in my refrigerator.

Saturday, 9 September - My Covid symptoms are going away. About all that is left is a much lessened cough and sore throat which I expect to take several days to get back to normal.

Sunday, 10 September - The weatherman and his charts seem to agree that hurricane Lee that is blowing about 100 mph is going to soon take a hard right and pretty much miss southern Florida and head north along the east coast. That's great news for us here in the Keys.

Monday, 11 September - Here's one of the things that makes this harbor great. Phil Vachon called this morning and offered to go to the store for any groceries that I might need since I have Covid. I, obviously, didn't need much since I just had groceries delivered, but since the girl didn't get any of the small mixed fruit cans, I asked them to get me ten, which they did. Also, Jay Seager on S/V Foggy called on the VHF and made the same offer. It's hard to beat a community like this. I made a quick run ashore late this afternoon and it made me realize that there was something wrong with the outboard motor again. The throttle felt mushy. I returned and decided to try to fix it before darkness set in. One of the throttle cables was not only kinked, but the cable inside the housing was broken. I had a replacement and changed it out, finishing about 10 minutes before it would have been too dark to continue.
                    Susie apparently had an interesting day. She had been called for jury duty and had to be in Key West by 8 AM. She had taken her dog, Pika, into a sitter's the evening before because they wouldn't be open that early in the morning. When she arrived, several others in the jury pool were standing around outside the courthouse. Eventually, an official came out and told them that they weren't supposed to come in today. I'll bet there were some VERY unhappy jurists. Susie wasted four hours of driving and about $75 for a dog sitter. I'm sure others had taken the day off from work, too. The were each given a phone number to call after 5 o'clock today to see when they would need to show up again, but the message hadn't been changed since last Friday.

Tuesday, 12 September - I put tools away from yesterday's Yamaha repairs this morning then opened the bilge and applied a coating of "Liquid Electrical Tape" to the wiring splices that I made on the bilge pump last week to prevent the splices from getting wet and corroding.

Wednesday, 13 September - Starting tomorrow I'll be without dinghy through Monday, if not longer. I've finally decided to have some patches professionally applied. I have a couple that I just can't get to quit leaking and one that is letting seawater into the boat. None are extremely bad but just a nuisance to have to pump the tubes up twice a day and the seawater leak is just going to continue to get worse if not stopped. I took trash to shore today and, upon return to the boat removed the gas tank, spare oil, emergency tow rope, emergency tool kit, tarp, under-seat compartment, etc. from the dinghy, then took the engine off and stored it on the pushpit rail on the boat so I'll have very little to do in the morning when I row the boat to the dock to haul it out.

Thursday, 14 September - I took the dinghy to the marina and hauled it out so that Eric Myrmel of Shoreline can finally repair several small air leaks and one ten inch edge that is leaking seawater into the dinghy. He'll be keeping the dinghy until at least Monday. In the meantime, if I need to get to shore I'll be kayaking back and forth.

Friday, 15 September - I rode my bike to the Community Theater's charity rummage sale today, but saw nothing there that I could put to good use. On the way back I stopped at The Sandal Factory and bought a new hat. The one I've been wearing had a hole in it that I needed to wear a bandana under to keep from getting a sunburned scalp. After that I stopped at Home Depot and bought four solar patio/walkway lights. I have three of them on deck to light up at night.

Saturday, 16 September - I replaced one of the solar deck lights that had gone to Davey Jones' Locker in the blow recently. I also finally had to replace the batteries in my outside sensor for my weather station. The outside temperature and humidity weren't registering. I think I did it just in time. The Duracell batteries were leaking but apparently had not done any harm. I don't believe I'll be buying any more Duracell batteries. I swore by them for forty years, but in the last three of four years leakage from them has ruined several flashlights and two expensive multimeters. After that I defrosted the freezer, then checked the water output on the cooling pump back into the boat's water tank. Ever since I had the refrigeration replaced the overflow outlet on the tank has been gurgling, which it has not done in the past except when the tank is totally full. It has rained quite a bit in the past weeks so I thought that might be occurring, but more recently I've used enough water that that should not be happening. The water is flowing fine so I'm totally baffled, as usual.

Sunday, 17 September - My database let me down today and I know why. Two reasons. 1. I don't really know the proper name or even how to describe it so that I could find it in the database, and...2. I only had one of them. Hardly worth listing, I thought. However, it does pay to be a hoarder. The item is a u-shaped spring with button on it that goes in the shaft of one of my kayak paddles to take it apart or to rotate the blades for right or left handed use. I looked in all the easy places, then finally looked in my collection of springs. I found a similar u-spring without a button on it and thought that was as close as I'd get, then, just as I was putting everything back into the "Springs" jar, I spotted one...exactly what I needed. After an hour of searching, I was back in business in 5 minutes after greasing this new one down so it won't rust and will, hopefully, last longer. The polypropylene bow and stern lines on that kayak were due to be replaced so I cut new lines, burned the ends, and replaced them today, too.

Monday, 18 September - I finally feel good enough and safe enough to get back on the pickleball court. I certainly would feel bad if I got someone else sick. It's been two weeks since I got sick and I feel fine now. After pickleball I contacted Eric Myrmel to see when he would be bringing my dinghy back. He responded that the glue hadn't dried yet and that he'd contact me later. About 4:30 Susie called and asked that I take her to the hospital because she was having unusual back pain but explained that it wasn't an emergency. I texted Eric and said that if I couldn't get the dingy by about 5 o'clock, we'd have to do it tomorrow. He agreed that tomorrow would be better.
                    I took Susie to the hospital emergency room after hours (5 o'clock) and they examined and questioned her about her problem, then sent her in for a CAT Scan. The scan was quickly read and the nurse practitioner came in to discuss the results. They couldn't really pinpoint the problem but did discover a couple of other minor, unrelated problems that she should be aware of and keep an eye on in the future. They gave her a muscle relaxant and some pain pills and sent us home in relief because Susie had feared that there might be liver or kidney problems.

Tuesday, 19 September - Several of the usual pickleball addicts are out of town so only two of us showed up today, Bill Green and me, so we played "skinny singles" using only one side of the court. It's great practice; every ball is coming back to you and you have to be more accurate with your shots. I halfway expected to hear from Eric early, but did not, so I went to play pickleball. He texted while I was on the court so I was unaware of it until I finished. His message said that the dinghy was at the marina and that there would be no charge. That was truly a surprise since he'd had me sign an estimate for $675 plus materials. When I returned to the marina it was sitting on the ground...and no repairs were apparent. Actually, there appeared to be a few drops of something shiny on some small, chafed spots and that was all. He hadn't repaired anything...and he'd bent the mounting tab on the seat to where it couldn't be slipped over the mounting handle as intended. What the heck?

Wednesday, 20 September - Susie's still not feeling back to par and many of the local restaurants and bars, including several of our favorites, shut down and make repairs, clean, or take their vacations during September so we aren't going out much this week.

Thursday, 21 September - There hasn't been much wind since my mainsail tried to unfurl last month so I hadn't taken the time to re-wrap the sail. That's supposed to change this weekend so I took my spare halyard, which runs up to the top of the mast and back down and wrapped the two ends in opposite directions around the mast and mainsail so it can't come out again.

Friday, 22 September - Wow! We had ten people show up for pickleball today. After the games I headed over to the marina community room to cool down, have a Dr Pepper, and check for mail. As I was about to leave, a couple of the marina employees unboxed two kids bicycles that will be given to need families at Christmas time. They needed assembly and I asked if I could help. They brought me tools and went away. That wasn't quite what I had in mind when I said I'd help, but what the heck. I'm on island time. I spent a couple of hours assembling, adjusting brakes, and making sure the derailleur would shift through all six gears properly on one and determining that the other had been damaged so badly in transit that the front forks were bent so the shocks would never work and so that it couldn't be satisfactorily assembled. There had been no packing in the single layer cardboard boxes and they arrived pretty beaten up.

Saturday, 23 September - After the Cruiser's Net this morning I defrosted again because there was, once again, about 2 inches of ice and frost on the freezer's evaporator. About 2 o'clock I headed to West Marine to get a new Luci Solar Light to use as a 360° light on the dinghy at night and, since Shoreline didn't patch my dinghy, to get some West System G/Flex adhesive to try and fix my dinghy once again. I've had several people recommend it. I thought I'd verified that they had three Luci Lights in stock, but I guess I checked at some other store where their computer thought I was instead of here, and they had none here at this store.
                    This evening, since the choices for entertainment are so slim because of seasonal closures, Susie and I decided to go off island and try Boondock's down on Ramrod Key, about 4 islands and 30 minutes away. On the way, we got to see some of the Key Deer along side the road. They're so small, about the size of a greyhound, that they are hard to spot while driving. We got there, parked, and then Susie said, "I wonder where Popeye is playing tonight." He usually posts his nightly schedule on Facebook and he's our favorite entertainer. Wow! He was playing right across the street at Looe Key Reef Resort. We pulled across the street and were amazed at how few people were out for a Saturday evening. There was a happy and boisterous group of about ten people from the Lake Okeechobee area. The band played "Happy Birthday" for one of their group, invited three of the girls to sing backup on one of their request songs, and let one of the ladies sing a song with them. We were astounded when the group left without leaving any tip whatsoever for the band. Susie and I and one other man dropped cash in the tip jar throughout the whole night. Being a musician must be a tough way to make a living. You gotta love it. Susie and I had a great time and the band came over to us a couple of times to thank us for driving "all the way down to hear them." I think we danced almost every dance.

Sunday, 24 September - Susie made us a huge breakfast while I drilled some holes in the track for one of her storm windows that should have been done during the installation, but was not. It's a hole that the locking rods run through to keep it all the way open when not in use. Without the panels being held in place, they flap around and make noise. No more. In the afternoon, we assembled two new chairs that she'd acquired from Home Depot to replace two uncomfortable, rusted chairs for the highboy table on her channel-side patio where she has her coffee each morning.

Monday, 25 September - I'm getting a bit hard of hearing so, at pickleball, I have a hard time hearing the score announced before each serve. I've asked numerous times for people to speak louder but few rarely do. I announce the score loudly and even louder if trucks, motorcycles, or ambulances pass by on the highway that runs about 50 feet from our courts or when airplanes or helicopters fly over, but others don't, so I have a hard time keeping score. I've given up so I decided to announce the score in a normal conversation voice like the others do. Since I wasn't speaking in my normal, loud voice, Joe, who is usually a nice guy, protested that I wasn't speaking loud enough and said I needed to re-serve, which I did. This happened at least three times so I tried to, once again, explain why there's a need for all of us to speak loudly on a loud court. As soon as I spoke, he interrupted in a loud voice saying that I yell at people. This happened three times. I finally yelled at him, "shut up, I'm trying to explain something," which he wouldn't do. I said that if I don't have a right to express my opinion, I'd just retire from the court; and I left. I feel bad that I let a bully make me leave the game. That won't happen again.

Tuesday, 26 September - A bit of a rainy day here so I took the opportunity ho repair a security cable that the boatyard cut off my kayaks last November in preparation for the hurricane that swept past us. Luckily, they cut the cable at the loop and all I had to do was recreate an eye and swage a ferrule back onto it. Later, I met Susie at Dockside for some dancing.

Wednesday, 27 September - I got up at sunrise this morning determined to get the worst leak in the dinghy repaired since the "pro" wouldn't fix it. He was, I thought, my last resort. After tearing the bad patch off the leaky tube and trying to clean up the spot to replace the patch, I started thinking maybe it's time to have the tubes on the dinghy replaced. The dinghy is a 10 foot AB dinghy with an aluminum hull, 17" tubes, and a bow locker. The hull is in good shape and I'd heard that the tubes could be replaced for a reasonable price. I got online and found the closest places that replace tubes are in Fort Lauderdale, about 120 miles away. One of the places said I would be better off buying a new boat because the price difference isn't too great. Okay, how much to replace the tubes and how much is a new one? $4,500 to replace the tubes and $7,000 for a new boat. $2,500 seems like as significant difference to me, but they both are more than I care to spend. I guess I'll try a little harder to patch what I have...again. The epoxy I'm using takes about 7 hours to cure and I didn't get it applied until about 3:30 so I won't be using the dinghy this evening as I'd hoped.

Thursday, 28 September - I thought I was going to quickly finish patching my main leak in the dinghy today, but no. It's in a spot that I can't just let all of the air out of the tube, flatten the tub, and clamp or weight the patch on. I had to rig something else up. I got that done and had the epoxy and other tools ready, then went to get the hypalon fabric to make into a patch. It's nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere on the boat at least twice and the most likely places numerous times. I looked in every cabinet, drawer, locker, lazerette, bookshelf, under the floorboards, and I even looked in the places it couldn't possibly be, and I was right, it wasn't there. I had rolled the several pieces of material together when I took the dinghy in to be repaired and I suppose that I might have left them there and he didn't return them, but I don't think so. There are several other possibilities: They might have fallen off the counter into the trash and I've thrown them away, I might have placed them on the bimini top when I returned and they blew off the boat, or, most likely, I'll pick something up or open some door in a few days and I'll go, "Oh, that's where I put those!" I spent about 3 hours looking for them then decided I needed a break, went and got some lunch, and picked up a light that I'd ordered from West Marine that they had notified me had arrived. I spent the rest of the afternoon searching the boat for the lost hypalon again. No Luck!

Friday, 29 September - I had to use PVC material instead of the Hypalon that I can't find, but got the patch applied by about 11:15 and will let it cure for as long as I can today, but I do need to go to the marina and pay next month's rent. I'll only put about 1 PSI in that tube to get to shore instead of the normal 4. The leak sealed overnight. The patch is to keep the sun from ruining the epoxy adhesive and to add strength to the repair. When I was about to return to the boat from the marina Jay Klassen called and invited me to join him and Tami for dinner at El Molcajete and since I rarely turn down an opportunity to have a good Mexican dinner, I accepted. After filling myself with good enchiladas and having an enjoyable dinner, I had to hurry to meet Susie at Dockside to dance to Popeye's band.

Saturday, 30 September - When I went to my dinghy to return to the boat from Dockside I was truly disappointed. The tube had lost lots of air and I had to pump it up. I decided to deal with it in the morning. I just can't believe it could still leak, but I've thought that before many times. This morning I was in no hurry to be further disappointed so I got a late start. I collected all the tools ready to start over. First on the list was to spray the soapy water on the patch to see where the air was leaking out...it wasn't! Praise the Lord. Ok, where is the leak? I disconnected the pump and sprayed the valve. Lots of bubbles. Yay! I decided to see if lubricating the valve with Vaseline would seal it up. It did not. I laid down on the floor of the boat for a closer look and discovered what appeared to be a thread sticking out of the valve. I pulled it out but it's not thread. I don't know what it is. I got tweezers and pulled a bunch more out. I have no idea what it is or how it got in there. Everything that goes in there has to go through my pump so I took it apart to inspect it. Nothing in there. I lubricated it and put it back together. Still baffled. It must be something that was put in there during manufacture. At least the valve doesn't leak anymore...for now. I felt good enough to go ahead and put another patch in another spot that I had sealed yesterday that will also add another layer to a spot that gets abrasion from the retaining strap that I install when out sailing with the dinghy on the davits.