Thursday, 1 February 2024 - I started gathering paperwork for my taxes this morning. This afternoon there was a question and answer meeting at the marina sponsored by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Service, the Monroe County Sheriff and other law enforcement.

Friday, 2 February - I spent about 40 minutes on a FaceTime call with my health provider at the Key West VA this morning discussing the damage to my left arm and the treatment that I need to get. This evening I attended the Friday night happy hour at the marina at 4 PM, then headed over to Dockside to listen to Donnie McDaniel and Four Sheets to the Wind perform for a while. Leta, Roland, Kim, Anne, Ted Williams, and others were there with Susie and I. This is the second time in a row that I have given boaters a ride to their boats at the end of the night. Last Tuesday it was an Asian guy with three times as many groceries as his kayak could cary. This week it was Chuck, an 88 year old steel pedal guitar player and his wife Jan that had just arrived back at the harbor after having been gone for five months. I love his picking and went over to talk to him and welcome him back. He knew the members of the band and mentioned that if they couldn't find a ride out to their boat that they would simply sleep in their car until morning. I, of course, offered them a ride. Since all boats in the harbor are supposed to have occupants living on them, I'm surprised their boat hasn't gotten an abandoned boat sticker from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Service. There wore three boats sunken near them, but theirs was alright. They did observe when they opened the boat up that it had a bit of water on the floorboards, which certainly isn't good, but the simply said, "We'll deal with it." I told them that if they needed any help tomorrow to get on VHF channel 68 and they'd get help immediately. That's a great thing about this harbor.

Saturday, 3 February - Our monthly nautical flea market was held at the marina today, As usual, I ended up selling nothing and buying a couple of things, ten feet of firehose to use as chaffing gear on lines either to shore or through the hawse holes on the boat and a couple of squeeze bulbs for fuel lines. A dollar a foot for the firehose and $5 each for the primer bulbs. I caught a ride to Skipjacks with Leta and Roland and our group of three grew first to five, then seven, and eventually eleven. Ty Thurman and Cory entertained us with their music.

Sunday, 4 February - This morning started off a bit worrisome. The NOAA was predicting up to 40 or 50 mile winds and possible tornadoes along with a front that was traveling at about 40 mph out of the west. I put my genoa sleeve on the genoa so that it couldn't unfurl in the high winds and strapped down the dinghy on its davits just in time. It started sprinkling on me just as I finished. I joked that I could have procrastinated for ten more minutes when the wind arrived shortly after the sprinkling started...then came the downpour. Neither the wind or rain lasted long and the winds didn't reach but about 40 mph. I could have dealt with a little more rain to fill my water tank. I was off to Dockside in the evening for their open mic night entertainment.

Monday, 5 February - We had another band of wind and rain pass through right after I got up this morning and then two more during the day. I decided to watch the storms approach on my own radar but my chart plotter wouldn't boot up. All I got was a green screen. I spent a couple of hours trying to get it up and running, but couldn't. The micro SD memory card that runs it is missing and I can't imagine where it is. I tested all eight cards that I have and none have a working Raymarine operating system on them. I'll deal with that again later. The storms did let me make it to shore to pick up a package. It hadn't arrived yet so I stuffed about 40 of the cruiser's bags. UPS delivered the package while I was stuffing the bags. The package contained 32 AA batteries and a neoprene shoulder harness that I doubt will do a lot of good to relieve the discomfort in my left shoulder, but I'm desperate.

Tuesday, 6 February - I put the shoulder harness on and adjusted it as soon as I got back to the boat yesterday and I must say I'm happily and thoroughly impressed. All it does is hold my shoulder joint in closer to my body but I can already tell it has helped reduce the discomfort. The movement that hurt the most was reaching back with my left arm, even just to put something in my pocket, and that pain is greatly reduced; in fact, almost gone. I'm amazed and wish I'd ordered the harness two months ago. I just didn't think one could help this much and would be a waste of money. I totally admit I was wrong.
                    It was so windy that very few people showed up at Dockside this evening so Susie and I had the dance floor all to our selves for most of the dances. Lots of room to move around and no jostling or slam dancing going on.

Wednesday, 7 February - I'm really losing my memory. I didn't try to write down what I did on this day until Thursday night and now I have no idea what I did. Maybe I'll think of it tomorrow, Friday.

Thursday, 8 February - It's been quite awhile since I washed clothes so today I gathered all my dirty clothes up and headed to the marina's laundry room. I dropped my two bags of clothes off there then went to the office to pay for the digital laundry card to be filled. I hate their system. The machines don't take cash. You fill the card up with however much money you need to wash at $3/load and dry at the same amount. I have to guess how much I need and there is no refund if you don't use up the money on the card. I simply don't think that is right. Anyway, I didn't have the right card with me and upon returning to the boat, I can't find it here either. I'll be hand washing a few clothes by hand real soon here on the boat. Washing them is easy but rinsing uses a lot of water and drying things in 80% humidity is tough. Around 4:30 I returned to shore and listened to a variety of musicians from the harbor. They gather at the tiki hut once a week to play.

Friday, 9 February - I had washed about 5 shirts, some underwear and a couple of pair of shorts today and hung them up in the cockpit to dry. Glenn Harmon and his band performed at Dockside this evening. He plays mostly blues, which I am not enthralled with, so I hadn't planned on going, but Leta and Roland Kok said they'd save me a seat, so I went.

Saturday, 10 February - My freshly washed clothes are still damp and they're still hanging in the cockpit. Ty Thurman, Cory Young and the band played at Dockside. Susie and I really like them. Dockside's calendar indicated that they'd start at eight o'clock and I knew there would be a good crowd so I arrived at about 6:45. Roland and Leta beat me there and had a double table full of people seated with them in the front row. I don't like to sit that close because it is WAY too loud. I walked over to say hello to the group and Roland pointed to a table two rows back and there sat Leta all by her self, saving a table for Susie and me. Super thoughtful and considerate!

Sunday, 11 February - Finally, my clothes were dry enough to put away. It's Super Bowl Sunday so the harbor had a pregame pot luck buffet with lots of great food. I got the opportunity to eat the biggest barbecued chicken leg I've ever seen. It had to be over two and a half inches in diameter at its thickest point. What the heck are they feeding these things? The game started at 6:30 so I left the party and headed to Dockside to dance with Susie. Dockside only has one TV so the place was almost empty. The band played for fewer than twenty people for the whole evening which was just fine with us; plenty of room on their small dance floor.

Monday, 12 February - The masthead lights that I ordered over a month ago arrived recently but bad weather has kept me from installing them. The weather was nice today so I thought I'd go up the mast and install them. Since I hurt my left shoulder a couple of months ago I really haven't gotten much exercise and it shows. If I have help going up the mast, which entails merely taking up the slack in a safety line as I climb the mast using steps that are installed on each side, I can usually climb the mast pretty quickly. Today, I that I wouldn't have to spend much time at the top exchanging the old lamps with the new so I decided to go it alone. To do so I use two short safety lines attached to my harness and boatswain's chair. I have to unclip one safety line as I take each step and re-clip it to the next step above me on the same side of the mast, then step up and move the one on the other side as I step up with that foot. This process slows me down considerably. I got to near the top of the mast today and once again realized that I couldn't reach high enough to safely change the lights out. The mast needs one more step up. With an assistant I can have them use the winch to lift me the last two feet but without one I had to climb back down, reversing the use of the safety clips as I defended. I could really feel it in my legs I'm so out of shape. It may rain tomorrow so I may have to put the job off for another couple of days.

Tuesday, 13 February - Fat (or Shrove) Tuesday - Mike Wagner and Beverly Fowers had their annual Mardi Gras party at the dock where they keep their boat, S/V Queequeg. They ore not in the harbor, up a canal and tied to a quay at a private home. They merely rent the quayside space to tie up to but have the homes yard to treat as their own. Mike's a good singer and guitar player and always entertains us with a few songs while we're there. Later, Susie and I went to Dockside, which was really packed with out-of-towners.

Wednesday, 14 February - Valentine's Day - I wanted to make one more attempt to make the $640 genoa sleeve quit vibrating the whole boat before I sell it so I called the manufacturer and he gave me a tip that as not in the videos that they supply. He said to slacken the genoa sheets and haul on the genoa furling line after the sleeve is installed to make the sail and sleeve continue to rotate which will twist the sleeve, flattening out its surplus folds. That took about 2 hours. It sounds simple, but wasn't. I hope it works. Now I have to wait for the wind to blow to know if the changes did any good. This evening Susie and I went to dinner at the 7 Mile Grill.

Thursday, 15 February - At 8:30 this morning Jeff Gordon came over and borrowed my two kayaks so he and Sheila could take their visiting friends through the mangrove trails after they all go to yoga. Later this morning I drove Susie in her car to Key West and back for some cardiac testing. She has had some unusual sensations lately and just wanted to make sure she doesn't have anything wrong with her old ticker. After the tests the cardiologist said her heart is fine and gave her some other avenues to check out for the mysterious sensations.

Saturday, 17 February - Wind and spirts of rain started around noon. I was hoping for more rain to add about 130 gallons to my water tank. My MFD (Multi Function Display or chart plotter) won't boot up and I spent the day trying to figure out why. I'd really prefer to NOT have to send it back to Raymarine for repairs.

Sunday, 18 February - I spent more time with the Raymarine Chart Plotter today but still couldn't get it to boot up. The wind blew intermittently and rain threatened but, again, not near enough rain made it into my tank. I collected about 20 gallons. When I got up this morning the battery monitor was blinking "LO" and because of the overcast skies and on-and-off winds, the batteries only charged up to 85% today so I broke out the Honda generator for the first time in three and a half years and charged the batteries back up to 94% over 3 hours. I was glad to see the generator start up after all this time, but I thought it should have fully charged the batteries in the amount of time. I think it needs some attention after all this time sitting, covered, on deck. The fill neck looks quite gummed up with enamel from the the gas than's been sitting in it all this time.

Monday, 19 February - I've been getting so little exercise since I hurt my left shoulder that, as I mentioned on Monday, I'm terribly out of shape. An exercise class was mentioned on the Cruiser's Net yesterday and today that I thought was going to be a one-time introductory class on using the exercise equipment that was installed about a year ago at the park, but it's going to be ongoing and instructed by one of the ladies in the harbor. I decided to go and was surprised to be the only male that showed up. Me and 12 girls! That's OK by me. There are seven stations at the workout area and at each one you're supposed to do two different exercises for 30 seconds each, then move on immediately to the next. Fourteen different exercises. She ran us through all seven stages three times. I must admit, I was more than tired at the end. I had forgotten to bring water and got quite light headed at the end. I'll probably get a little sore, too. I expected that. I'm out of shape and that's why I went. Afterward, I moseyed over to the pickleball court to say "Hi" to friends and was surprised to see how few of the players I knew, but it was good to see the ones I did know.
                    As I started tho outboard this morning I noticed that the clear inline gas filter wasn't filled to its usual level and I thought I might not make to shore and back without running out of gas. I was running right on time for the exercise class so I didn't have time to fill my gas tank. I grabbed an extra and headed over to the dock slowly to conserve gas. I made it in and, after the class, headed back very slowly, taking care to go directly up wind of Island Time in case I ran out of gas. I ran out of gas just as I was reaching out to grab the block and tackle on the davit. Perfect timing.

Tuesday, 20 February - Much of today was spent trying to get my E7d Raymarine Chart Plotter to boot up again, but without success. In the evening, I thought I had a second chance to visit with Steve Luta and his wife Ingrid at Dockside but it was cold, windy, and they'd spent the day at the Porpoise training center, so the begged off when I called them to see if they were coming. As a backup for me, just about 250 yards up the street is Skipjack Resort where about 20 of Anne Mullet's friends, many of which are friends of mine, were having a going away party for her and Donnie McDaniel and Four Sheets to the Wind were playing. Susie is still feeling very poorly so I went to join the party. On the way back, when I tried to turn on the 360° light at the back of the dinghy, it failed to come on. This week's rain has ruined the second "waterproof" Kizen light. Each one just lasted until one rain storm. I also cleaned the water collection system's prefilter today. I thought the water tank should have filled better than it did during this last storm. If I don't remember to empty the filter chamber and dry the filter each time it quits raining, the filter quickly starts growing algae within itself in the sunshine. I did learn something this time. If I remove the filter and try to blow through it and there should be virtually no resistance. I had to blow pretty hard to get air through this filter so I'll replace it before the next rainy session.

Wednesday, 21 February - This morning I opened up the pod that holds my Raymarine Chart Plotter, checked to make sure in was getting at least 12V from the power supply, tried several times to get it to boot up unsuccessfully, then called Raymarine again. It's sounding more and more like I need a new plotter. They want $200 to open it up to inspect it and $525 flat rate to fix it, if they can. Of course, it's well out of warranty and they certainly don't have any more of the same units. They have 3 or 4 series out since this one came out. They told me that I need to replace this one with an Axiom 7DV if mine can't be fixed. They cost about $800. I tried to find an E7d like mine used online today but couldn't find any in working order. Late this afternoon I went to West Marine to see what they have. They have about 40 different models and makes but no 7DV. They have a 7RV but they couldn't tell me the differences. Their salesman knew very little about them and they had no brochures about the different models. I did determine that they accept Micro SD cards like mine and that all the controls are by touch screen. The card slot is on the back which means that to access it I'd have to remove the seven screws on its mounting pod and open it up each time. That wound be a pain in the butt. I also couldn't toll if I could simply take my E7d out an simply mount the Axiom in the same mounting holes. I think the chances are slim. That means I'd need a new $200 pod.

Thursday, 22 February - I reassembled the pod for my chart plotter and reinstalled the cover inside the cabin for all the associated wiring, got cleaned up and headed off to Burdine's to meet Steve Luta and his wife, Ingrid for a late lunch. He's the very first sailor that I met after having departed Palmetto, where I bought Island Time. He lost his sailboat Asilomar in hurricane Ian last year in Fort Meyer's Beach and is now on M/V Sam MaGee. Since I had to go to Burdine's I decided to get gasoline for the dinghy and generator while I was down that way. Leta Kok called and said let's go to Dockside to listen to Candice perform so I met her and Roland, and eventually 6 more people there for the evening.

Friday, 23 February - I attended the 10 AM exercise class with all new exercises. After that I walked the 50 yards to the pickleball courts to just visit, then went to the American Legion for lunch. In the afternoon I went to Safe Harbor Marina and visited with Stephen and Ingrid and toured their new boat. In late afternoon I headed over to the tiki hut at the marina to visit with other boaters at the weekly happy hour.

Saturday, 24 February - It rained a bit early this morning but turned into a beautiful, cool, sunny day in the 60° range. When I bought gasoline recently I discovered that one of the 5 gallon jugs had a leaky cap so I set it aside. I repaired that today and returned it to its proper place on the deck. Because Susie is still sick, she let me know that she'd really miss going to see Popeye at Dockside tonight. I joined Leta, Roland, and Kimberly Brown-Stamp there for the evening's entertainment and dinner.

Sunday, 25 February - It was another beautiful, cool, sunny day today, but in the low 70s most of the day. I took the ATN Genoa Sleeve off the genoa today. I really think it's causing more wear and tear on the standing rigging than it's worth. This evening it was back to Dockside in the dinghy to meet Roland and Leta and listen to the open mic night performers.

Monday, 26 February - The ten o'clock exercise class was good today, The instructor, Melanie, had all new exercises for us and we did each for 45 seconds and went through the 7 stages four times each. I, again, walked over to the pickleball court to visit. I met an older gentleman there that I had played against in Key Colony Beach up near Susie's a couple of years ago. At that time it was easy to see that he was in pretty bad shape. He could barely move forward at all so it was easy to drop a ball short to make a point. That was, however, the only way to make a point on him. He seemed to barely move but you couldn't get a ball past him. I was impressed. Today I noticed that he was hobbling, but for a different reason. He's recently had knee surgery and hasn't recuperated fully yet. When he does he'll be pretty unstoppable.

Tuesday, 27 February - I got up early to be at my first physical therapy session at 8 AM, but was still a few minutes late. The taxi took 30 minutes to pick me up. Most of the session involved tests to see what my strength and extension limits are with my arms, then only about three exercises. I'm sure there will be more next Friday. This afternoon I went through all my eye glasses and sun glassed to determine which to keep and which to get rid of. I'll keep the sun glasses that are polarized and the eye glasses that are still usable and give the others away. I must have thirty pair onboard, many of them sun glasses left by the previous owners. I also spent about an hour and a half cannibalizing one pair of glasses to repair another. Those tiny screws were hard to get out and one broke off. Later, I went to Dockside for dinner, but didn't stay long.

Wednesday, 28 February - My brother's birthday. Happy birthday, Mike. I've been trying to sell my ATN Genoa Sleeve because it flutters in winds over about 15 mph and shakes the whole boat. I'm concerned that the vibration may be wearing out all the fittings on the standing rigging. I have tried several methods to make it stop shaking without success. The manufacturer had made a suggestion that didn't work either so I contacted him again today and said that I think it has to large a circumference and he said to ship it back at their expense and they will cut it down from 30 inches to 22.

Thursday, 29 February - I defrosted the freezer today and as I was doing so, Jeff Gordon on S/V Nautilus, one of my next door neighbors, came by and helped me repair a hole in one of my kayaks. The kayak is one I found after hurricane Irma and couldn't find tho owner for. It was probably a rental and had been dragged from one end across the ground so much that a hole was worn in the other end. I had patched it several years ago with remnants of an old, leaky boat fender that fit the curvature of the hull but the sun has taken its toll on the plastic leading to another leak. I went to the marina today to see if anyone has received goods in a box that the genoa sleeve will fit in and found that one of my very next door neighbors has just received a new Honda 2200 generator in a box that will be perfect. I called him and he said he'd save it for me. Larry also said that he needs to get out of the suit that he just got married to Sheryl in before he gets the generator onboard. Congratulations Larry Cox and Sheryl on Wind Dancer!

            Until next time.

                        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S. Thompson

                                          Rick