Monday, 1 December - It rained early this morning and when I arrived the players were standing around B.S.ing, waiting for the sun to dry the courts instead of doing the little work to squeegee the water off. Since my last experience told me that if I did, they'd just watch, I detoured to the fitness court and joined Susie and the others for the hour-long class, then went to play. The phone support that I had painted and left hanging in a tree to dry overnight had dried in spite of the rain so I finished that project. Wells Fargo's app had told me that it would send two small transfers to my new bank, Bank of America, so I checked several times throughout the day, but nothing happened. I decided to try to get my money by wire transfer, but they were going to charge me $25 to do that. Then I tried Zelle. That wouldn't let me send but $500 at a time since I'd never used it before. I thought OK, I'll just get $500 as many times as it takes to get all my money. That wouldn't work either. It gave me some bogus excuse. I ran out of time for the day's banking hours. I'll call them tomorrow.

Tuesday, 2 December - I called Wells Fargo at 9AM and found out that the two small test transfers had finally gone through and that they had already charged my account $25. I made it obvious to the poor girl on the other end of the phone that I was VERY angry and she refunded my $25. I tried to transfer all of my money to Bank of America via bank to bank transfer using the banks' routing numbers but still couldn't transfer all the money at once including the odd change. I finally figured out that I could get part including the odd dollars and change by using this method and then raising my ATM maximum to $4000 and getting the rest that way. By about 10:30 I finally got that done, deposited the cash into Bank of America and headed to pickleball. Since I was late I only got the play for about an hour. I showered using my new sun shower and met Susie, Roland, Leta, Candace, Catherine, and Kim at Dockside for the evening. I tried out my new, expensive, Eargasm earplugs that are supposed to cut sound levels without dulling the sound like rubber earplugs do. They're supposed to be designed for musicians, concert goers and rave attendance. I was sorely disappointed. The clarity was good but they let in way to much volume.

Wednesday, 3 December - Pickleball lasted until noon today with lots of new players and afterward, Maja asked me to help her with her serves so I did that for about another 45 minutes. I spent the afternoon shopping for and ordering a spare tire hoist for the van.

Thursday, 4 December - I cut my pickleball session short today because I've quit hearing my refrigeration's water pump dumping water back into my fresh water tank. It is supposed to draw water from the tank, run it through a coil that cools the returning freon gas from the evaporator, changing it back to liquid, then return the water back to my water tank. I uncoupled the water supply line at the pump and proved that the pump is getting water to it, then reconnected the line and disconnected the output side of the pump. Absolutely no water was getting through. I removed the pump from the system and plugged it directly to a 12V supply line. The pump didn't turn on at all. I just got that pump in June of this year and it's already gone bad. I can usually smell a burned up motor but not this time. I don't know what's wrong with it but will open it up after I talk to the manufacturer of the system. I called the company today but am awaiting a return call. While I was in the engine room I went ahead and changed the sacrificial zincs in the refrigeration system and the transmission's reverse gear heat exchanger. Both need to be replaced twice a year. As I was eating dinner Susie texted a said the Candace was playing this evening and that she was meeting Roland and Leta at Dockside, so I joined them there. About 30 minutes after I got there the harbor full moon dinghy drifters, about 30 or 40 of them, many in pirate outfits, showed up and the party really began.

Friday, 5 December - I happen to have the mobile phone number of the head honcho at Indel Webasto, the manufacturer of my Isotherm refrigeration unit so, since they didn't return my phone call yesterday, I called him directly. He said they'd send me a new pump as soon as they could but since they are in the middle of year end inventory, that would be next Friday at the earliest. By then all the food in my refrigerator would be ruined. After pickleball this morning I headed directly to Publix food store and purchased about 10 pounds of dry ice. The dry ice was a lot more expensive than I expected; about 40 bucks. Also, rather than wait for a new pump I thought I'd better open up the existing unit and see if I could see what is wrong. All the others I've had go bad have had water leak into the motor and burned up and smelled like it. Not this one. No burnt aroma. I opened it up and found that the motor still rotated freely by hand, but not when attached to a power source. I took the built-in pressure switch apart and really didn't see anything wrong but when I reassembled it, it worked fine again...magic. I'm back in business. I hope it continues to work for a long time. Reinstalling it was pretty easy except getting the small, stranded, negative wire back into its terminal. That alone took me about 25 minutes down in the hot and cramped engine room. I finished just in time to shower and get to the Friday happy hour at the tiki hut at the marina. Unlike the summer months when very few show up, there must have been fifty or sixty attendees. The mooring balls are really starting to fill up with snowbirds from up north.

Saturday, 6 December - Today was the first Saturday of the month so we had the nautical flea market at the marina today. As usual, I spent more money than I took in. I sold a fid for $10 and bought a boat hook tip for $3, but then I bought a brand new backup 90 amp alternator for $20. That's a really good deal if it is interchangeable with what's on the boat now. If not, I'll be selling it at the next swap meet. I got a spare or back-up Xantrex LinkPro battery for $5 and several stainless steel and one bronze shackles, too, for free. Actually, I did better than that. When I got back to the boat I found that, apparently, someone dropped two USB male to male connector cords and a USB to USB-C cord into my bag. This evening I'm going to drive Tami Shelton and Jay Klassen over to El Molcajete Mexican restaurant for dinner. I've ridden with them several times in the past so now that I have a vehicle I figure it's my turn. When we arrived at the restaurant, Jay couldn't get out of the van. The repair job that the dealer did on the inside door latch has already failed. It works from the outside but not from the inside.

Sunday, 7 December - Pearl Harbor Day - It seems as if nothing I purchase lately works as intended. A light bulb that I ordered has contacts that are one millimeter too far apart, the door latch has already failed, the expensive water proof housing for my iPhone has had the cover over the flash light fall out, the expensive earplugs that I purchased don't work nearly as well as the foam plugs that I stuffing my ears while at the bar, and another $200 water pump for the refrigeration has failed. It's getting frustrating...but I did have a good time at Dockside this evening. Lots of good musicians showed up for open mic night.

Monday, 8 December - I played pickleball longer than usual this morning then returned to the van with the intention of trying to reset the driver's side digital lock. Unfortunately, storm clouds were rolling in and I determined that I'd better get back to the boat immediately. I should have started two minutes earlier. When I pulled up to the boat I noticed that one of the lifting lines in the dinghy that attaches to the davit falls has become frayed while rubbing against the bow hatch and was in need of immediate replacement. I couldn't raise the dinghy out of the water without repairing that line. I had to get a new line and some plastic tubing to protect that new line off the boat and re-rig the line. As I was finishing up re-rigging the lifting line it started to rain and before I could haul the dinghy out of the water I was pretty wet. That two minutes had caught up with me.

Tuesday, 9 December - It either rained or threatened to most of the day and I stayed onboard and took advantage of the time to get lots of little projects accomplished. At five o'clock I went ashore, showered and headed to Catherine McCole's apartment to meet Susie, Catherine, Kim, and Candace to iron out some of the details for our skits for Roland Kok's 89th birthday party at Dockside on Thursday. We have three skits planned, all accompanied to songs played by Candace, the second entertainer of several planned for the party. Donnie McDaniel leads off, then Candace, Skinny White Boy, Ted Williams, and perhaps, Lady A, all in just three hours starting at 3 PM before Bitter Creek starts for the evening session.

Wednesday, 10 December - I skipped pickleball again this morning in order to go to the marina and assemble bicycles for the poor kids of Marathon. I was surprised at how few there were to assemble; only 14, with four more to come. We usually assemble between 75 and 100 before Christmas. After that I went to my van to try, once again, to reset the combination on the door and, again, without success. My owner's manual indicated that the default combination should be in the owner's packet and also on a label attached to one of the three sets of fuse panels. It's not in either place. There is a code in the owner's packet but apparently, not the right one. While there I thought I'd check all the fuses but they are extremely hard to access or even see. Chat GPT says I should be able to unlatch the panels and swing them down to access the fuses but I failed at that, too. I'll try again soon.

Thursday, 11 December - Today we are celebrating Roland Kok's 89th birthday so the performers are to show up around 2 pm at Dockside. We didn't get much practice but even if we don't perform perfectly I'm sure it will be hilarious. Maybe even funnier if we blow it...after all it's alive performance! Later...Well, we pulled all off with hardly a hitch and it was fun and entertaining for everybody, too.

Friday, 12 December - I played pickleball for about two hours then went to the van and, again, tried to figure out how to lower the two fuse panels under the dash by the brake pedal. No luck. I finally gave up and went to the marina to pick up the spare tire hoist that I had ordered. Later I attended the Cruiser's Happy Hour at the tiki hut to eat and BS with friends.

Saturday, 13 December - After breakfast I went to the van to install the tire hoist. Removal of the old hoist seemed easy but tricked me. When I tried to drill the four rivets out it proved difficult because the drill bits hung up in the holes and spun the rivets so they couldn't be drilled out. I started to file the tops off of the rivets but realized that would take forever. I needed a grinder to remove the heads of the rivets. I have a grinding wheel that can be used with the battery powered drill motor that I was using but it was back onboard Island Time. I thought perhaps there might be one in the marina shop so I went there to look. Negative. However, Ken on Crooked Anchor had a couple of small, high-speed bits for a Dremel tool that we thought might work. I returned to the van and tried one of them out but could tell that the bit would be ground away before the rivet heads were ground off. I finally just used a much larger drill bit at a steep angle and rotated around the head until enough of each one was thinned enough to break them off with a large screwdriver and a hammer. I had 1/4" and 3/16" pop rivets or blind rivets but the holes were 7/16". I drilled them out to 1/4" and thought the rest would be a piece of cake. The large riveter wouldn't grab the shafts of the rivets. I disassembled the riveter to understand how it worked but that took several tries and, in fact, I'm not sure I've mastered it yet. Rain was approaching and I had to put the spare tire back into the van and give up for the day. I showered and went to Publix to buy eggnog and a snack for the Christmas boat light parade party this evening at Catherine McCole's condo this evening. I felt bad for her. She was expecting about 40 people to attend and because of the rain only five, including her, were there. There was lots of food left to say the least. I ended bring almost all of the gallon of eggnog home with me. I think only 3 drinks of it were served and I had two of them. I'll be gaining weight soon, I love the stuff and would drink it all year long if it was available. A lot of work goes into decorating the boats with lights. It's a shame it rained. I'm sure that kept several boats from participating this year, but I did get a few pictures.

Sunday, 14 December - Right after breakfast I headed back over to the van to finish the installment of the spare tire hoist. I finally got the large pop rivet gun adjusted properly but the two forward most rivet holes were blocked by the rigid floor mat. I had to saw and file part of that away to get the pop rivet tool to align vertically. I riveted the hoist in place and tried to install the cable end into the hanger but it wouldn't fit. The replacement hoist has a larger diameter cable that simply wasn't going to go in the slot. I started to file the slot wider but my files were too thick. I tried grinding the slot wider with the Dremel bit that I'd borrowed but I couldn't hold it and the drill steady at the same time. I ground the bit down to nothing without making much progress on the connector. I ultimately had to go back to the boat and get a smaller file then went to the workshop to use the vise to hold it while I filed and drilled the slot wider. That done, I returned to the van, installed the cable and raised the spare to its proper place under the van. It only took me 6 more hours today. This evening I'm going to meet Susie, Roland and Leta, and their son Retired General Troy Kok and daughter, Lauren, for some dancing.

Monday, 15 December - I played pickleball until 11 AM, returned to the boat for lunch and called Indel Webasto to make sure that the second replacement water pump for the refrigeration is on its way. I was promised a return call but that never came. Later, I returned to the van and met Kody of S/V Reel Attitude. He had volunteered to help me repair the sliding door handle that the dealer "fixed", but has quit unlatching the door again. I arrived at the van before Kody and immediately started to disassemble the inside door handle but instantly hit a brick wall. The "repairman" apparently used the wrong type of screw on one of the two screws and must have stripped either the screw or what it is screwed into. Although I could turn the screw, it wouldn't back out. Kody arrived and gave it his best effort with the same outcome. Rather than destroy the parts trying to remove it, I'll call the dealer to see if they'll honor their responsibility to fix it. I suspect that will go absolutely nowhere but it's worth a try.

Tuesday, 16 December - After pickleball this afternoon I made a run to Home Depot to replace a Dremel grinding wheel that I had gotten from Ken on S/V Crooked Anchor and used up trying to modify the spare tire hoist. I was surprised to find that they didn't have one like it. I'll have to order one somewhere else. While showering to clean up before going to meet Susie at Dockside I accidentally left my baseball cap and sunglasses in the shower room. I remembered when I was only about 50 yards from shore and immediately returned but someone had already occupied that room again. I'll have to see tomorrow if they get turned into the lost and found.

Wednesday, 17 December - After pickleball this morning I checked at the marina office to see if someone had turned in my cap and sunglasses to the lost and found but they had not so I went to Walgreen's and bought another pair of sunglasses. I have other baseball caps. I also bought another shaving mirror to replace one that I had left in the shower a couple of weeks ago. When I got back from Walgreen's I took the time to run the radio through the available FM radio stations and set a few of the stations as preset buttons. I thought I might hear back from Indel Webasto about the shipment of a new water pump for the refrigeration today but I did not.

Thursday, 18 December - I quit pickleball about 10:30 and spent three hours looking for a replacement grinding wheel for the Dremel tool that I borrowed at Home Depot and Specialty Hardware, a light bulb for my reading light at both of those places, and trying to get my ignition key duplicated. Home Depot couldn't even come close and Specialty Hardware spent about an hour trying to read the transmitter that should download the parameters for the key. He couldn't get his reader to even locate the transmitter. He said it should be in the steering column but his device couldn't link to it. I returned to the boat and defrosted the freezer.

Friday, 19 December - I showered at the marina before going back to the boat after pickleball. Once onboard I tried to call Indel Webasto to see if they had already shipped my replacement water pump. I was shocked to get a recording that said that they were closed today and won't be back until after New Years Day. I don't know if they shipped it or, in fact, if they are going to ship one at all. I'm almost out of food in the freezer. Should I just buy one from West Marine for $200? If one doesn't arrive by next week I'll be forced to do so. I'm very disappointed that they didn't let me know whether one shipped or not.
                    This afternoon I cut about two inches of my dinghy's fuel line off. The inline fuel filter has been draining back to empty when the engine is not running and the filter never fills when it is running. It looks as if the engine is running on fumes all the time. In the past the fuel filter has stayed full of fuel. I assume that the hose is too long and, perhaps, the bend in the hose is causing the one-way valve in the bottom of the primer bulb is being deformed and caused to leak. Shortening the hose should take the bend out and let the valve seal as it should, if that is the problem. I don't know if that is what is really happening or not. In the past I have thought that there was an air leak in the line causing the problem but I think I have eliminated that possibility.
                    Later this evening I attended the Friday happy hour at the tiki hut. After being there for about a half hour I went to the marina office to buy a Dr Pepper, but the office was closed. They had closed early but had not told the boaters that they were going to and there were several unhappy people that had gone to the office to pick up mail and packages and found the office closed. The office has a real problem with communication with the boaters which is amazing. All they would have to do is get on the VHF at 9 am when we are having our net or put up notices a few days in advance to announce their intentions, but they don't.

Saturday, 20 December - We had another nautical swap meet today. I did better than usual. I sold an ultrasonic cleaner for $100 and acquired a mast climbing apparatus that will allow me to climb a halyard or my backstay by myself. The owner of the mast climber, about halfway through the meet just decided he is tired of hauling his items to and from his boat, announced that everything he had was up for grabs for free. He had a lot of equipment there. One fellow took two anchors, a propellor, a bunch of electronics, and more. Almost everything disappeared. I had been wishing I had one of these climbers or something similar but they cost about $400. Free was better. When I got back to the boat and inspected it I discovered that most of the system is fine but one of the two devices that actually grip a rope has a broken spring and the other spring is rusted pretty badly, too. I wrote the manufacturer to see if they can repair them but, of course, they won't respond until Monday or maybe until next year. I can wait.

Sunday, 21 December - The winter solstice, shortest day of the year. I guess I'm typing this while several of my friends in Salt Lake City are sitting at the top of High Rustler watching the sun set before making their last ski run of the day. I spent about three hours this afternoon testing the ignition coils on the Yamaha dinghy motor, checking the spark plugs and adjusting the idle speed down a little bit. In an hour or so I'll meet Susie, and probably, Roland and Leta Kok at Dockside for the evening.

Monday, 22 December - I skipped pickleball this morning and drilled out the end of a damaged boat hook handle that I'd found in the dumpster awhile back. Someone had epoxied the hook end of it in. Unfortunately I couldn't get it all out so I cut off two inches of it then took it to the shop in the marina to use the drill press to drill two new mounting holes for the new hook that I bought at the nautical swap meet awhile back. I realized that if I tried to drill it out with a regular drill I wouldn't be able to get the holes precise enough. It turned out perfect although I will admit I had to measure about ten times to get the spacing within about a one hundredth of an inch. I can measure things about ten times and get seven different readings. I got lucky this time. I now have a ten foot backup boat hook that is as good as new and it cost me just $3.

Tuesday, 23 December - For nearly two years I was going to the city park next to the marina and attending the fitness class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In the class the instructor had us perform eight different exercises in four rotations each. Those exercised included sit-ups, squats, push-ups, chin-ups, balance exercises, thrusts, planks, and others. I noticed, however, that I really couldn't do any more of each one than I had when I started this program about a year and a half ago and in fact, I've grown weaker, especially in my legs. That's a big disappointment. In the past I have been lucky enough to have had extremely good health so I've never been doubtful about my nutrition and thought that since I vary my intake of meat and vegetables, drink V8 and take multivitamins, I should be fine. Lack of ability to gain muscle made me reconsider that. I also came across an article online about protein intake and its functions. That article indicated that I should be consuming about 150 grams of protein daily. That made me look up the protein values of my normal daily meals. I was shocked to find that I am only taking in about 75 grams. No wonder I can't gain muscle. I obviously need to modify my diet.

Wednesday, 24 December - Christmas Eve - At 10:30 this morning I headed to shore to help move tables, cooking equipment, and everything else needed for preparing and serving tomorrow's feast out of the marina's building. In the past we've always eaten inside the marina's community room but for some reason, not this year. I guess none of the employees could be talked into opening up and staying for the dinner. I came back to the boat and finally got my November copy of this letter sent out.

Thursday, Christmas Day - I had planned on skipping the harbor Christmas dinner this year since Susie and I have reservations at the Florida Keys Steak and Lobster this evening at 7:45 but decided at the last moment that it would be a long stretch between meals if I did, plus, turkey is really high in protein, which I apparently need more of. It's a pot luck and I hated to go empty handed so at the last minute I realized that I had a couple of boxes of turkey dressing and fixed the two boxes up. I'm glad I went. There were lots of friends that I know there, lots that knew me and I didn't know, and even more that I don't know and don't know me. I made phone calls to Ray Nelson in Salt Lake City, Larry and Lynda Wright in Marble Falls, Texas, and to my brother this afternoon. Unfortunately, I missed my brother and had to leave a short message on his recording system.
                    Dinner with Susie was very nice. She likes the manatees that occasion the channel by here house so I got her a leather purse with a manatee on it. She got me a pair of gloves with an LED on the thumb and index finger so when I'll be working on a project on the boat I'll always have light on the item I'm working on. Pretty cool. I could have used them today while working inside the cabinet to replace wiring for the light that I can't find a bulb for. I bet I'll use these a lot.

Friday, 26 December - Since I had read the article saying that I need 150 grams of protein on a daily basis and had consumed enormous amounts of turkey, ham, beef and shrimp yesterday, I decided I'b better go to the fitness class this morning. I was amazed; my knee didn't bother me at all and I even decided to go play about an hour and a half of pickleball, too. I usually freeze two or three half bottles of water overnight in the freezer then top them off with cold water at the park's water fountain but today as I approached the fountain I was informed that there's been another break in the aged water line that supplies all the Keys with about 22 million gallons of water daily and that the fountain and restrooms were closed. I was glad I had I had the frozen bottles and a little bit more. I had to go the whole fitness class without water so I would have some for breaks between pickleball games. Of course, the restrooms at the marina will be closed for a day or two, too. I don't know what the average person on land will do for showers and toilet flushing. The harbor is lucky, most of us have water onboard but there will be a few that were planning on filling their tanks soon.
                  Upon return to the boat I defrosted the freezer and repaired part of the gasket on the number one refrigeration compartment, again. For some reason one corner of the gasket just didn't want to adhere well. I glued it with Gorilla Super Glue this time.

Saturday, 27 December - I had thought about going to the laundromat today but since there has been a break in the aquaduct I made the mistake of going grocery shopping today. I don't know if the reason was that it's Saturday or if thousands more people show up from up north because Christmas has passed, but the grocery store was really crowded. My grocery list changed significantly in order to get more protein into my diet.

Sunday, 28 December - I went over to the park fitness court and worked out for about a half hour then noticed some people playing pickleball and joined them. They were from out of town and asked for advise on where to go for dancing that evening. Of course, I recommended Dockside. It was a family and I think they danced every dance for about an hour, then left.

Monday, 29 December - I attended the fitness class this morning, then played pickleball for about an hour and a half.

Tuesday, 30 December - I skipped pickleball this morning and went to the laundromat and washed clothes and bedding. My bed is really hard to make up because I can't access but one corner of it. I have to lift the mattress and get under it to tuck the mattress protector and sheets in so I took me about two hours to install the bedding and some corner fasteners to keep the bottom sheet snug and in place. Afterward, I went to Dockside and had dinner.

Wednesday, 31 December - I attended the fitness class and played pickleball this morning. It's what we call freezing here today. A cold front followed all the snowbirds from up north and the low hit 50°F overnight and it blew about 15 to 20 mph all day. Later I went to Dockside and joined several of the boaters and pickleball players for some dinner and dancing. I left about 11 PM when the drunks took over the dance floor but watched the fireworks around the harbor at midnight from my boat.