the countdown begins

First of all, I want to give a shout out to our Carissa....she's has just 27 days left in that God-forsaken place.  For those of you that have joined us daily in covering her in prayer for her safety...I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I would also ask that you remain diligent in your prayers until she is safely home again.  I just want her OUT OF THERE and back home to her husband and Reggie dog.  It looks like April 1st is her last day, but I will let you know if anything changes.  She will return stateside for just a day or two for her debriefing (I would guess), then she is back to Germany for some R & R with Austin, PTL!  Those kids deserve some time together. Finally.





The wind did finally lay down later this afternoon, but I'm not sure it got above 62 today. There was still a cold biting breeze out of the north. The cold weather was a good excuse for me to give the inside of the boat a thorough cleaning this morning. If I had wanted to work on my tan, I'm sure I could have up at the pool, out of the wind, as it was bright blue sky most of the day.  The good news is that tomorrow it is suppose to get up to 77 (it's about time!) so I will be at the pool for sure in the afternoon.  Better weather tomorrow was a really good reason to get my chores done today- my momma didn't raise no fool!

I've got to hand it to Cap'n, since it was a cool day, he got two more coats of wax on the topsides of Marquesa.  She's finally beginning to shine!  I oiled the teaks topside, and with her new canvas and sails, Marquesa is looking all dressed up for a party in the Bahamas :)  I'm going to set to work on the stainless tomorrow, unless I get a better offer from Cap'n.  No, really.  He said something about going fishing out of the dinghy tomorrow afternoon.

Late this afternoon, Cap'n started going through all of our dive gear to make sure everything is in working order.  Elliebug gets here a week from today, and we plan to make a sailing dive trip while she is here.  We hope to get out to the Dry Tortugas, as she has never been there.  If we can't get a weather window, then we'll aim for Looe Key instead.  Ellie's BC hose was sticky and needs some work.

Cap'n also check all of our regulators and the tanks.  One needed a new fitting and we needed some O rings, so we took a trip to Tilden's Dive Shop to get what we needed.  Cap'n also needs to check the band on his Rife spear gun, as it may need replaced, too.  We're getting closer!

We did our usual Monday night routine.  I had made a pork roast in the crock pot for BBQ at Mamaw and Pap's.  After dinner and dominoes, we watched The Bachelor while I did laundry.  (Go ahead, give me crap, it's my guilty pleasure!)  Once everything was all put away, I was ready to call it a night, but you-know-who was in my spot.  Dern cat.  Guess I'll go see if I can curl myself around him and call it a night.  G'nite, y'all!