Thursday, 9 June 2016 - Steve and I headed out at 7:30 this morning to meet Pierre and Jessy to go to see the Edison and Ford museum. It took about an hour and a half on three buses to get there, but it was certainly worth the trip. In 1885, Thomas Edison had built his winter home and workshop/laboratories here in Ft. Myers and Henry Ford admired him and wanted to associate with him, so he bought the adjoining parcel of land and house in 1916. They, Harvey Firestone, and naturalist/writer John Burroughs all enjoyed camping out using Ford's new automobiles, and fed off each other's energy and knowledge. With the advent of WWI, Edison, Ford and Firestone became worried about the fact that a world war could cut off the supply of rubber so needed by our country and their businesses that they started funding Edison's foray here in Ft. Myers into the discovery of a substitute for natural rubber that could be grown in the U.S. The search lasted many years and virtually took over Edison's life in his later years. Thousands of plants from all over the world were tested and they finally settled on what was normally considered a common weed, goldenrod. Edison hybridized it and quickly produced goldenrod that would grow to eight feet tall. Edison died thinking he only needed one more year to start production on the rubber produced from the plant, and later, petroleum products took over the lead in synthetic rubber.
                  Of course, the museum also covered Edison's other inventions, including the lightbulb, phonograph, moving pictures, and others. They tried over 700 different types of filaments for the lamps before settling on common thread coated with carbon. However, they wouldn't have had to experiment with nearly as many if they had realized sooner that it was the oxygen inside the bulbs that was causing the filaments to burn up and that sealing the bulb with a vacuum would solve the problem. That epiphany saved the day and his business and reputation. He and his laboratory workers had over a thousand patents registered before he died, all in his name, the last being for the method he developed to process the rubber from plants.
                  I was a little surprised to see that Edison's rivalry with the other truly incredible inventor of the time, Nicola Tesla, wasn't even mentioned at all in the museum. Edison and Ford were great self promotors and manipulators of the press, Tesla was not. He just wanted to invent. He made a deal with George Westinghouse that let Westinghouse electric build AC motor, which Tesla invented, at a cost of 4 cents per horsepower generated. Westinghouse made a fortune, but still complained at the price, saying it would make him go broke, so Tesla said, "OK, forget it," and never received any more royalties from it. Those royalties would have funded all his future experiments and made him one of the richest men in the world. When Tesla's Alternating Current power plant at Niagra Falls was put into service, it was done with almost no fanfare at all in the middle of night. Edison would have had every camera crew and writer in the world there to see it. Edison was ruthless. He supported Direct Current electricity, which although it couldn't be transmitted long distance and would ultimately be much more expensive, he touted it as safer. To prove his point, he had a live elephant photographed being fried alive with Tesla's AC current, then showed it to the nation as a news item.
                  The museum also has the huge collection of exotic plant life that Edison collected and grew on the grounds, one of which is a banyan tree they planted with a 1" trunk. It now covers about an acre of land. See it in the link below.
                  Of course, Henry Ford was well covered in the museum, too. Inventor of the production / assembly line for industry, he produced over 15 million Model T's between 1908 and 1927. When most cars of the time were built for the rich, he wanted to build a car for the people; the common man. He did, too. While most cars of the time cost about $2500, his Model T cost only $800, and with his assembly line running at peak performance, he went from producing 20 cars per day to 1000 per day. He was also able to drop the price from $800 to around $300 per car. Interestingly, he started out hating the rich and powerful, but, upon becoming one of them, the power he had consumed him and he would do almost anything and everything to keep from having to relinquish his power over the company.
                  For me, today was a great learning experience. As I had expected, the others in my group viewed the museum much more quickly than I did and headed back around 1 or 2pm. I stayed till about 4:30, then, with Steve's gracious directions, caught and rode the three buses back, arriving at the boat about 6:30. Without his directions, I'd probably be on the other side of the state, standing in the dark, wondering why the sun had set over land instead of water. What a great day!

Friday, 10 June - Calm, smooth waters this morning. It's nice to have the water this calm, you get to see anything that surfaces. This morning there are porpoises and manatees in the anchorage. There are everyday, I'm sure, but with the calm water, you actually get to see and track them. The manatees typically only stick their noses up for a second or two every three minutes or so. However, with the water this calm, you can still see where they are by the disturbance their bodies make on the surface when they are in shallow water. Pretty cool.
                  I went to the post office to pick up a check from the consignment sailboard shop this morning, then to my boat at dry dock. I walked across the yard just as the wind switched and I got onboard just as the rain hit. Perfect timing. The rest of the afternoon was spent organizing one of my floor compartments and entering the contents into the database. A lot of the time was spent measuring the 25 extra v-belt drive belts for the engine and trying to figure out what they fit on.
                  After dinner, Steve, Pierre and Jessy, and I went over to Time Square to listen to music by "High Tide."

Saturday, 11 June - A lot of time today was spent trying to figure out which of the spare V-belts for the accessories on the engine fit where, There are many sizes and different manufacturers may use the same part number for belts of totally different sizes, varying as much as 4 inches in length.

Sunday, 12 June - I did absolutely nothing on my boat today, The two Steves and I had breakfast on Monaghan's boat an about 8am, then walked over to the beach, had a margarita at noon, then over to Bonita Bills for an afternoon of music by Two Hands One Man Band. He asked for requests, but we hardly had to ask for anything; he plays the music we like without having to ask. That's the way it ought to be. Back to the boat for a good East Indian dinner. Beautiful weather, good company, and good music. What more can you ask.

Monday, 13 June - Today I discovered where the sacrificial zinc for the 12v DC refrigerator was and replaced it. I had been intending to take the pump apart, but ran out of time. After all, it's Monday - jam session night. I quit early to go over to the marina and take a shower. It turned out that Steve Monaghan had returned because his car had thrown a fan belt and needed to be worked on, so he had to take the day off from work. He finished working on the car and returned to join us for the jam session. Actually, we got there a little early and it's a good thing we did. We got a great table, then filled it because Pierre and Jessy joined us, along with another friend of Steve Luta's, John Coriell. The music was great, as usual, but, unfortunately for me and Steve Monaghan, a little too much blues was played. I go for the rock and roll. The blues aren't bad, just not appreciated as much as the rock. But wow, there are some great pickers, drum players, keyboards, sax, trumpet. etc. I've been trying to get Pierre and Jessy to show up for about three weeks. Last night Pierre said, "Why didn't you tell us about this sooner. It's great." I think they'll be back next week. Steve Luta and I finished out the night wearing our newly earned "Electric Glasses." Ghost gives them out to the regulars and they get worn for the last two dances of the evening. Fun! When I got back to the dinghy, Steve said, "Thank God you're here, Some woman was trying to get him to take her and a dozen of her friends back to their hotel in the dinghy. I think that would have been a little crowded in my four man dinghy.

Tuesday, 14 June - Steve was to have his daughter and grand kids over today, so I helped him move the boat over to a dock so they'd have easy access. While there, we saw something pretty unusual, a rainbow in a clear blue sky, a rare treat. The rest of my day was spent on the boat doing inventory of one of the six storage compartments behind the starboard settee that contained electrical items, some of mine and some that were left by Rick and Gay George, the previous owners. Most of the items, I know what are, but a few, I don't. There are some 200 ampere fuses. I know what they are and what they do, but I really don't know where they go, but at least when one needs to be replaced, I'll know where to find them.

Wednesday, 15 June - More inventory today on another compartment. I'm not supposed to work on the boat, so this is a good way to make use of the time waiting on repairs. I talked to the rudder repair facility today and he's still waiting for the bronze rudder stock to be manufactured, but he knows that they are working on it as of today. He said he'll need six days to complete the rudder after he receives the metal from the machine shop. I also talked to the boat yard people. They are almost ready to start working on my boat, but can't do much till the rudder comes in. There's no use starting to paint until the rudder gets here because it will need to get painted, too. The other work shouldn't take long, replacing a cleat and adding a short piece of metal from the end of the skeg over the end of the rudder so no lines can get in between the two. I'm surprised that's not standard procedure.