big front moving through

I got up yesterday morning, and armed with a Cuban coffee and guava pastele, I made fast tracks to Key West.  When we got home from Springer's last night, Donnie noticed the screen of his phone was cracked.  An hour drive down, an hour in the Verizon Wireless store, and an hour ride back, and he was back in business with a new phone.  Good thing we had insurance on it.  That's the second time we've replaced it.

While I was gone in the morning, Cap'n finished up Ragtime, took a look-see under Reflection, and both boats are good to go.  By the time I got back at lunch, he needed the car to go on a Fix It job.  He was called back by a lady on Sombrero who had a list of items for him to install, fix, and what not.  She is wanting to put her property in the rental program, and she needed to get her place up to snuff.   Donnie also filled the scuba tanks and met with the welder both yesterday and today.  The welder called again just a few minutes ago, and we'll be able to pick up the new bow and chain plate later this evening. Hooray!

Let me just say that I am so proud of my husband taking on some jobs to make some much needed money.  He has always prided himself in providing for his family, no matter what it took.  Though the kids are all grown, he's still doing just that for me and Willis T.  So, thank you, honey.  You're appreciated more than you know :)  We've got the cash to cover the bow plate- thank the good Lord.

By the time he got back, a front was quickly moving in,
and I had steaks that needed to go on the grill.
The heat index was in the mid-90's Tuesday afternoon,
and the temperature was dropping quickly.

Willis was unconcerned about the weather, as we are
safely tucked up in the marina.  The catamaran that
is now out on the wall has been bouncing all over the
place!  I counted 16 fenders they had out; we don't
even own that many fenders.  I don't envy them.
That NW wind is killer out on Paradise Pointe.

I attempted to blog last evening, but between the lousy connection,
the storm, and a Willis on my laptop, that didn't get done. Dern cat.

This afternoon, Cap'n got the Fix It job all done and was paid, and he got the parts ordered for the blue piglet which should be here in 2-3 days.  (Thank you, Len, for the leads on scooter parts- it cost us less than $20 bucks for everything).  I got the shade cloth ordered for Marquesa for when we store her in just eleven days.  At this point, as soon as we get the bow plate back on, the rigging tuned, and the anchor light replaced at the top of the mast, we are outta here.

Well, there is the TINY matter about the weather, though.
As the front has continued to blow through today, the
wind was clocked at a steady 22 knots, with gusts even
higher.  I ate some ginger this afternoon just thinking
about beating into it if we were out on the Gulf today,
sailing to Marco Island.  We will wait for it to clock around
and abate a bit before we can comfortably take off...

Cap'n is off to West Marine at the moment, to get the last items needed for the installation of the bow plate.  It's time for me to head to the galley and rustle up some chicken tacos for supper. 

G'nite y'all!