Back to business

This is what I woke up to this morning.  And I fell in love all over again.
My Cap'n can be loud, and boisterous, and intimidating, and a total
manly man....and then there's this side of him....who loves his kids
more than anything, will literally work himself to death to provide
for his family, who plays the guitar and sings beautifully....AND
who cuddles with a Willis when he's sleeping.  I <3 both of these boys.

We started out the morning with a HARD work out at the gym.  I nearly made myself sick.  We needed to hop back in the saddle after the weekend of parties and party food.  Whew- it was rough.

We got to the hospital after 11am, and found Paps all
clean shaven, showered, unplugged and sitting in the
chair reading one of his Westerns.  Paps is back!
We had a nice long visit, talked about him taking better
care of himself (because he scared us all), traded
a few laughs and told lies....the usual.  Then we
joined him for lunch, and he ate everything on his
plate.  I haven't seen him do that in ages.  For
good measure, we got him up for a few laps
around the hospital.  He did great, and is clearly
anxious to get home to his own bed!
How 'bout them yellow sockies?!

When we got back home this afternoon, it was time to get
 busy and down to business.  If we are serious about sailing
to the Turks and Caicos in a month, we've got ALOT
to take care of in February- and we have boat company
beginning one week from today through the end of the
month.  By March 1, we plan to move Marquesa behind
Mamaw and Paps, so we are staged to leave on the
Straights of Florida side :)

And then we got busy.  First off the list was setting up
the port side flag halyard.  We now have flag halyards
on both sides of the spreaders- one for our home country
and one for the country we are visiting.  We had these
previously for our trip to the Bahamas two years ago,
but we needed to change out the old lines for new ones.

Next up- Donnie tackled the dinghy motor for a third time and she is
NOW FIXED FOR GOOD.  He replaced the shear pin at the prop,
and now she's all good to go!  

While he did that, I checked our fire extinguishers on board- all of them
are charged. Check.  I then went through the contents of our ditch bag
checking the contents and any items that have expired.  I ordered some
flares that had expired and replaced some expired dried fruit and
granola bars when I went to the grocery today.  Otherwise, the  contents
 are good- complete medical kit, solar blankets, 3 day supply of water,
3 day food rations, flare gun and flares, two Cuban reels and fishing
tackle, a hand crank radio, signaling mirror, baby wipes, 100spf
sunscreen, lip balm, spare sunglasses, orange hunters stocking hats
for warmth and to help spot us, matches, dive knife, baby wipes,
and of course, duct tape!  I pray we never have to use it.
I also have the EPIRB registration updated; just. in. case. 

Late this afternoon, we ran some errands on the blue piglet, to get some items to get us started on tomorrow's boat projects.  Donnie got a new zinc, a backstay cleat for the bimini, and some hardware for the flag halyards.  We stopped at Key Fisheries so I could inquire about hitching a ride on a lobster boat.  They're pulling pots now, and I really want to get in on the action.  It won't be happening through Key Fisheries.  They are all company owned boats with strict regulations and insurance concerns.  That's understandable.  A deck mate we talked to said their day begins at 4am, and they pull between 750-1000 pots a day- whew!  He did give us some leads on some "mom and pop" boats that I might be able to hop on.  I'll keep trying :)

Late in the day, we hit the grocery for a few items and then went to Mamaw's for dinner and chickenfoot.  I had made a meatloaf this afternoon, and we had fresh broccoli and mashed potatoes, too.  I was sorry Paps missed dinner....

...but he got discharged and home it time to watch "The Bachelor"
with his sweetie :)  They were hugged up on the couch as usual!

 

Donnie is going to CVS, Big Ron's and the gym for a run in the morning.  I am placing some more Amazon orders for the boat, and then I plan to take care of some paperwork on the list.  We saw a lot of progress already.  That's one thing I can say for both my Cap'n and I...once we set our mind to something, we don't let any grass grow under our feet.  Tomorrow, though, we're making some time for the pool.  It was 82 today, with a heat index of 88.  Now that's hot!  Time for some shut eye. G'nite y'all!

 

Yep, that's my Cap'n, cuddling Sophie, the
wiener dog from the boat in front of us.
Sophie is a sweetie, and my hubby is a softie.
(We won't let that out though; it will be OUR little secret!)