Tiki-Touring Cabbage Key et al.

We LOVE tiki-touring. It is the act of getting out of our immediate surroundings, by any means possible and setting off to discover what is  'over there'.

WE decided, part way through the morning, today, that we would stay another night where we are currently anchored off Useppa Island, Charlotte Harbor. I don't know if it is strictly Charlotte Harbor, but going south along the ICW towards our next destination of Fort Meyers.

We left the boat around 10am, this morning after putting the dinghy into the water.
I took some photos of the boat as we were leaving. Always good to look back at our baby and see that she is secure.
No, this isn't our baby:) It is a boat that came past us this morning and looked unique enough for me to get the camera out in a hurry. We kind of expected some Vikings to appear onboard,  but were a bit disappointed to see real people! (not that Vikings aren't, if you know what I mean:) )

 

Another first, this morning. Our Grapefruit came with pips already sprouting. We had never seen this before...have you?

 Time for the Tomatoes and herbs to get their Vit. D...and they stayed there most of the day until the big black clouds threatened rain, and we took them inside. I don't want the containers overflowing and making the fly deck all dirty! We don't have the spare water to do an adequate cleanup job.

This is the photo I was referring to...looking back to make sure she is hunky dory.

 

We motored across the ICW to Cabbage key and the Historic Tarpon Restaurant and Inn, for lunch and a wander, to see what there is to see.

We parked the dinghy on the beach, as instructed by the Harbor Master.

 

The old Inn has almost every surface covered in $1 bills....as much as $50k worth, we are told! WE didn't add ours to the mix because we felt we paid enough for our meal as it was...$29.95 for a chicken sandwich for Waz, and a Shrimp Salad for me...and water was $2.50 per bottle...we bought two..duh!

 

The cottage, below, is for rental, as are a few others on the island. They don't look very inspiring, but they all seemed to be full. The fenced off area is for the Gopher Tortoise burrows. One of them is called 'Speedy'! I wonder why? :)

 

 As you know, we love the Osprey and were delighted to see that a couple had made a nest on top of the Historic Water Tower, on Cabbage Key.
This is an adult, circling overhead.

Yes, we climbed to the top to see what we could see. This is the highest point in these parts...actually in all of Florida, perhaps, because the State is so flat. As we might have said before, the highest points in any city, are the trash deposits!

 

The view to the  ummmm....west? I think I had lost my bearings by now, lol.

 The view to the ICW to the north...I do know this direction!

 This was the view to the west, for sure...

We were fascinated by these fix-it measures on the top platform of the water tower. I  think the crack needs some filler and the screws tightening, don't you?

 

 The above view is out to the ICW, again, but I was fascinated by the foliage and the tin roof of the cottage, previously mentioned, for rental.

 The same cottage...everything is pretty overgrown, as you can see, and in need of some landscaping, perhaps?

 The Mother-in-Law's Tongue is like a forest here...

It was hot and humid, but we still decided to 'do' the track around this area and see what wildlife we could find. We sure found some!!:)

Do we go left of right??

The tail of a Rat Snake, that was sunning itself on the sandy track when we approached. I wasn't quite fast enough with the camera to capture the whole thing, but this one was about 3 feet long!

 

 The Gopher Tortoise is used to people, on the island, and it did nothing more than keep one of it's beady eyes on us...

 The fall colors of the Sea Grape...lovely in the noon sun.

 These Ibis were feeding in the swamp.

 OLD shells were everywhere, and we discovered why....The island has a large number of Shell Mounds from about 6-7,000 years ago when the area was populated by about 50,000 CAlusa Indians, who populated the Charlotte Harbor area and this whole coastline before the Cubans arrived.

 The Shell mounds look like this!

The Historic Water Tower looks distinctly tropical, doesn't it? Perhaps it is the white paint?..palm trees??

 One happy first mate after lunch. It was very bright and sunny...and hot!

This Egret is the Village scrounge. He was a real nuisance and looking for food handouts, which we hate. He apparently will attack people for their hamburgers! Hmmmm....

 

After that, we set off again, at full blat, I might add, for Pelican Island and Cayo Costa, which we passed on the way along the ICW. Waz had wanted to go into the cove at Pelican Island, but the channel there is skinny, and I have had enough of skinny channels. As it turns out, lots of boats our size were in there, so we would have made it, but my paranoia was a good thing, as we have more privacy where we are currently...so much so, that we were able to shower off the duck board, last night:)

 

Leaving the Restaurant

Another of the cottages for rent! nice?

 

This Idyllic scene was on the way to Pelican Island

fishermen everywhere

on the way to hunt for manatees, which we were told about by some loopers we hailed on the way into the bay. We were invited onto their boat and spent a very pleasant time chatting with them. It is a small world indeed...they asked us if we knew a good friend of theirs in NZ, and as luck would have it, we did! What are the chances of that? The friend used to be a client of ours from our Gallery:)

This pretty little bay was Manatee heaven. We heard lots of snorting and saw plenty of nostrils and body parts, but no whole mammal.

a Large Egret

yes, that is the back of a manatee..and same below

Lots of dead red mangroves, and then this new bit of green:)

Pelican Bay!

Looking at the Restaurant from the boat.

 

And that is it for now...Im going to make some dinner..fish! and spend an evening with a good book.

Ciao for today,

 

 

Every Boat needs a Paranoid First Mate!!

...No, really!!!:)

I think I actually get top marks for only telling Waz to keep to the Magenta line, ONCE!!! And that is in shallow water. We have been there before, remember?? me, the paranoid shallow water boater! yep...not much has changed!! Waz is cool as a cucumber, of course, and gives me THAT look...you've seen it in your partner?? you know THE ONE!:)

It was sad leaving our 'home' of the past 4 months on the dock outside our Hosts home , and leaving them and their 2 week old baby, Mia.
Waz and I had goodbye cuddles with baby before casting off from the dock and heading out. We turned almost on the spot, and motored off to the first 90 degree turn....


I will back up a bit here....mostly because no parting is that simple. It has taken us a whole week to prepare for the departure, and that included biking to the supermarket with the red card literally in tow (sorry, no picture!! sheesh!!). It works well, and we put the blue cooler into the cart and kept all our things cool until we got home....that was Friday (yesterday?).At least I took photos of our bikes at the supermarket...!

Here they are! sans cart, but never mind!

...and arrived 'home' to the dock and boat.

 

I told you I would bore you with bike pics:)

 

Moving right along...

 

Yes, we got the boat ready, took the covers off the windshield (they were a bit dirty!) and the day before (Thursday?) had washed down the front windows upstairs on the fly deck, and cleaned all things that needed cleaning. We put away the things that could fall over, and down and found spaces for them...miracles! We didn't know there were any spaces, left!!!:)

 

We had to buy a new flag...I told you that, so I have taken a picture with it in...this one is smaller than the last, which I like, coz it doesn't drag on the upper deck!

 

Here we are leaving our canal home for the wide open Charlotte Harbor.

 

...and this is where we are headed...but..BUTTTT! see the last post there? well, we have a right turn..90 degree turn, to be precise!. Well, we had been told to stick to the sea wall on the right, but not too close. Well, here *I* was thinking he was a bit wide (but didn't say anything....much...just..."Shouldn't we be a bit CLOSER to the wall?" when we found out super fast that we were in the sand, already. Niente problemo! He just backed her up, and then we refloated (this makes 3 groundings, strictly speaking) and went forward as we were supposed to...closer to the wall! Hard to know how deep it is out there, except that you can kind of see the sandy bottom!!!!

See the wall on the left? and the sign on the right? Now, that is the wall we came along and were supposed to turn hard left (port) to get around the sign and out into the channel. We decided, with the wind, and all, that we would just go into the next canal, do a 360 turn and then go straight out that canal into the channel. WHY didn't we do that going in???It was SOOOOO easy, and would do it again in a heartbeat. Here we are leaving THAT canal behind.

 

 Waz turned the boat 360 right there where the canal goes left and straight ahead at the same time..you know, the crossroads, as it were...

 Now we are out into the channel...you can just see the sign at the bottom of the right hand red triangles, and we had to turn hard to starb'd and go along the sea wall on the right...! going in, and reverse, coming out.

Just thought you should know that the tomatoes survive, still. We tried pollinating them this morning, but not sure my paintbrush method will work!

 The captain was totally chilled through all these trials.
Here he is relaxing at the wheel, while I was searching for Dolphin to keep me otherwise occupied in the shallow waters. For most of the way down the Charlotte Harbor, it was about 11-15ft deep.
We departed at around 1.45pm because of the high tide needed to get out of the shallow channels.
We weren't going far...just 2 1/2 hrs south.

 This chart shows the dotted line on the right which was the route we came into the harbor some 4 months previously. We had to almost retrace our path to get to the ICW at the bottom of the harbor. Yes, those numbers in blue are how deep it is! NOW do you understand why I am paranoid??

This was the depth when we stopped this afternoon, and that is what we are anchored in!

That is the boat, bottom left with the red/green, and that is the skinny channel we have to travel to stay floating on or bottom!..in white between the red and green flags. See where it broadens to 12 feet? Well, as you can see, it is only 7.5ft!  but that is the deepest place we could anchor on the way, for the night. As you can see, the rest of the place is VERY shallow:)

 Here we are parked just off Useppa Island  We have three other boats parked alongside, which is very nice!

Pretty late afternoon light.

The Captain enjoying a post dinner cuppa on the fly deck with the setting sun on port side.

Is this gorgeous, or what?

There is a cool breeze blowing into the salon, as I write this...it is heaven!

Watching the birds feeding, the Osprey and Bald Eagles flying, calling and circling overhead is something special. These birds included Pelicans, Great blue Heron, large and small Egrets.

I was lucky to line this boater up with the setting sun, as he went by us. We are parked about 100 feet off the ICW, so we do get some wake from all the boats going by. That has almost stopped now it is dark, and hopefully we wont have a rockin' rollin' night. At least it is cool!

This is heavy traffic along the ICW

...and the Coast Guard could have gone faster...seriously!! did they really NEED to go that fast and create such a wake? ...and then they came back again!!! sheesh!

The best photo I took...stunning colors!

 

I need to go and cover up on the fly deck, as there is a small chance of rain and we don't want everything wet, up there.

 

This morning we decided to spray some of the outdoor seats with waterproofing...why now? well, we had meant to do it some time ago, and it wasn't like we had anything else to do, on the day we were leaving, lol. Nothing like last minute!

 

 

We had Italian Sausages from the German Butcher on Hwy 41, for dinner, with a super large salad...and some onions cooked in coconut butter..yum! Simple, filling and just perfect to end the day. A cup of tea on the fly deck while the sun set, and then closing up and coming down stairs to the Salon. Waz is passed out beside me, while the stereo is playing too loud, but I don't know how to operate that thing! so it stays loud.

It is almost 10pm, and pumpkin time!

 

We miss our little family, in Port Charlotte, but we have set them up with Skype so that we can keep in touch and talk to young Mia. I have to sing her some more silly kiwi songs! That's what Kiwi Aunties do!:)

 

Well folks...time to turn in and sleep a very contented sleep. It was great being in Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda for the 4 months, but it is also fabulous to be on the water again and enjoying all the reasons why we chose to do this in the first place.  We are content!

 

Ciao for now....Fort Meyers tomorrow, after some exploring and tiki-touring in the dinghy, in the morning:)

 

 

Another licensed driver on the boat!

 

As we sat eating our breakfast burrito, this morning, the sun came through the window and hit Warren on the neck, creating a rainbow. What a lovely surprise, and we hoped, good luck at the lotto counter. Well, we cant be too greedy, but now that we have had a taste of the BIG TIME winnings (yeah riiight), we are hungry for more. Well, you Do, don't you?

 

After our breakfast we got the bikes out onto the dock and geared up for our first big trip on them. We needed to check this week's lottery (of course) and also go to the local JoAnn's for some webbing and buckle, and to get a new flag at West Marine...it has to be a sewn one, so that it doesn't fall apart too quickly.

First, the webbing. We bought a small zippered basket to hang off the handlebars to hold the stuff you take with you when riding...like money and water). It has a handle on the top, which is nice...kind of like a handbag, but not. What we ascertained while carrying this thing around, was that it would be even better if we could put it onto a belt, sling it across the body or around the waist. What we also needed was a clasp so that the helmet could also allow for hands-free working, while still attached to the body. Hence the search for webbing and buckle. No sewing needed, and instant installation. Works like a charm:)

 

 

Our two bikes locked into the supermarket bike park...just for the record!:) expect many more 'bike' photos. I wont show you the red soreness on the backside though!!! I see sheepskin soft seats or gel seats in our future!!

Here they are waiting, waiting for us to climb aboard and go somewhere. It is very liberating to have this mode of transport, and lots of fun, though we both miss walking side by side, holding hands, which is our norm. Nothing too intimate about riding single file along a sidewalk! We have been told we look like the local beach police, in our fluro vests, helmets with lights flashing (in the dark) and flashing lights on the bikes. We tested the lights out last night when we went down the neighboring road. I think you can probably see us for miles...lets hope so!!

 

I just had to show you a picture of the red hooter on Waz's bike. :)

Yesterday, Wednesday.
We had called Mark the Kiwi Diver, first thing Monday morning, and he agreed to come and give our bottom a last minute check out...or over...or under...the latter! He reported that we might not have been going anywhere, such was the growth on the props and the shafts..bah! however, he also managed to get the remaining zincs on (he missed a couple last time, because he couldn't get the old ones off) and cleaned her all up for us ready to move.

Mark is ready to jump into the murky water of the canal. His sidekick was already underwater.

 

I set up the sewing room on the Fly Deck again, and got cracking making Stef another couple of receiving blankets for the new baby (by request), having bought the fabric two days earlier...when we didn't want to stay on the rock'n roll'n boat, while the storm passed. They didn't  take long to make, and were duly delivered.

Next up was a new curtain for the Pilot House door window...through which the afternoon sun streams and heats up the whole Pilot House...and the boat in general. There was nowhere to hang it, so we had to use four of the suction cups with hooks we have in stock. Works like a charm!

 Yes, that is water damage on the bottom if the door frame. It was here when we bought our girl, and has been made worse by being unable to find the source of the leaking. We hope we have now fixed that problem, and there should be no more!! fingers crossed!

Close up!

The Galley also got a new curtain. I had taken the old one down when I made new ones for the salon, and the galley curtain was just always in the way of food prep. HOWEVER...This one is shaped and will pull back to the right, behind the utensil jar, so that it is right out of the main prep area.

This development is huge, in the scheme of things, and don't ask me why I hadn't done it a long time ago...because I have complained about the afternoon sun coming in these now covered windows, for as long as I can remember!!!duh! The Pilot House and galley are now pleasant to sit and work in now that the heat has gone, in the afternoon! yayayay!!

 

 

Meanwhile, back on the cockpit deck, his highness was taking apart and then re-upholstering the corner section of the salon sofa. This was the last piece to be done, and we wanted it finished before moving on.

The seat cushions on the outdoor seating were all wet through because we had omitted to remove them when it teemed with rain, the previous couple of days...they were drying in the sun, though there was a ferocious wind, yesterday, and we got a few loads of washing dry at the same time. Here they are sitting under the curtain, getting their ends dry.

Trying to work in and around the laundry can be a bit of a challenges, sometimes, but we are getting good at hanging things according to the activity taking place on the table and deck.

The master at work! We have done so much of this kind of thing, now, that we are pretty good at it:)

And...Voila! All done! It feels so good to sit on now...so we watched a movie last night (All the Pretty Horses, with Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz) et al, to celebrate:)

The 'sewing room' set up works well, until the afternoon sun eyeballs me...I have the sheets finishing their drying, draped over the seating, on the right, because they were in the way with Waz trying to work down stairs.

 

 See the plants?   how could you not, lol!!! They all got their dose of Vit. D. yesterday and some water. Normally, with the glas all closed, it is like a sauna, or in this case, like a Hot House. We have wondered if any bees will visit our tomatoes?? Waz might have to be Bee-like and get the paintbrush out and be master-pollinator, if we are to have any fruit from the two bushes! I could do it, but I usually get my things mixed up...not that I think Basil and tomatoes will get mixed up...now THERE's an idea!:)

We finished the day successfully, and went riding, as I said, down the neighboring street, to try out all the bells, whistles and hooters and lights. All work as they are supposed to!

We took the car back yesterday morning, 6 minutes early! really!!

We had to rent it for another day, as I think I have said before, so that Waz could take his Florida Drivers test at 8.30am, at the County Building.

He says the test was OK...but..BUT...he ALMOST drove on the wrong side of the road, lol....leaving the county building parking lot:) A bit of a hoot, as he hasn't done that for....hmmm...9 months??

He passed the test, got his mug shot taken and recorded for posterity and now we have another licensed driver on the boat! Phew!

NORMALLY you cannot get a driver's license if you don't have insurance for your car. Well, we did for the rental car. BUT...this is a problem we will face time and again. We don't own property, therefore we have no REAL address in state. We don't OWN a car, therefore we have no car insurance...so this is the merry-go-around with the insurance thing ...AGAIN! Aieeee!

We got around this whole issue this time, because our boat is our legal address *yes! and because we are living on our boat (legal address) behind someone's house on their dock...which is now on record as being the 'Behind........Port Charlotte' address.

We don't know what other 'issues' we will come up against in this respect, but we can assume there will be others. Not sure how to deal with any of them, because we don't own that all important Real Estate (or rent and have a Landlord) or Vehicle. Interesting, no?


Waz has been taking the screws out of the railings along the boat sides, resealing them and re-screwing. He also got the little red cart out of it's bag and we found a way to attach it to the bikes, for our shopping expeditions later.

Meanwhile, I set up the sewing machine on the cockpit table and re-sewed the flag which we had to take down last night as one of the seams had completely disintegrated. I also took in three pairs of shorts which are much too big for me now:) Say goodbye to the rest of the day!

Well, it is now 4pm, and time for a cup of coffee. I could settle for a nap, frankly, but wont sleep later if I do that. Waz already had his nanna nap...says he was awake, but I heard his snoring..:)

Another bike ride might be in our future, today, but I think a walk, hand in hand might be nice, tonight.

Ciao Amigos...

Can you believe it?

20 pieces of sushi for $6.23!  The reason for the odd number? We bought it from a Chinese/Sushi Buffet place on the way up Hwy41, and they charge $4.49 per lb for take out ...anything! We were a bit aghast, to tell the truth! The least expensive lunch we have EVER had...(for two)! Was it any good though? Well, it wasn't spectacular, but it filled a couple of holes:) Would we get it again? maybe not, but the price couldn't be beaten:)

The photo shows what is left of the lunch, after I was reminded to take a photo:) The pieces are not large, as you can see.

Mine...

Waz's

On Saturday afternoon, while Waz was out of town finishing a job with John Dorso, I ran down to the supermarket and while there I purchased (on a whim) another lotto ticket. Waz already had two tickets, so Im not sure what made me buy this one? When we went to check our tickets on Sunday, I had dropped Waz off at West Marine, and taken all the tickets up the mall to the Publix Supermarket to check for any winnings. Waz's tickets were duds, but the impulse purchase from Sat. afternoon was a winner. We were one of 12 winners at this level.  This was the fourth win, and a couple of zeros more than that last one! Not enough to splurge on anything much, but it will be useful, nonetheless. You know it wasn't too significant because they paid me right out of the till. Anyway, it is always nice to get a windfall. The grand prize this week in the Powerball is $80 million, so of course we have tickets. It is too bad that we would have to pay taxes on any winnings, unlike in NZ where the winnings are tax free.


On Sunday, yesterday, we took a trip up the road to Lowes Garden Store....the results will speak for themselves...

In the first container are two plants of Basil, one of Dill, one of Mint and one of Chives. All are herbs I use in cooking. The mint will probably take over, as only mint can do, but never mind...I will have to trim the roots or something :)
The second container houses two patio tomato plants which should grow no larger than 12 inches, each. They will probably live on the fly deck, when we are under way, but for now, they are on the cockpit deck. I will keep you posted with their growth:) I am now a happy gardener!:)


We have made the decision to leave Charlotte Harbor, and our gracious hosts on Saturday 12th April, all going well. It is supposed to be cloudy with showers, over the weekend, so if it turns to rain, we wont be going anywhere. Perhaps we should have left this week...The weather has been glorious.
The dial in the car registered an outside temperature of 89F this afternoon, and it is 86F in the Salon, right now. I'm sitting on the cockpit deck writing this, as it is just too hot inside.

It was 82F just after midnight, last night, when I asked Waz to turn the aircon on in the bedroom. The fan had been going full blast, but it was just recirculating the hot air. We try not to use the aircon when we are off the dock, because that means we are using diesel to fire the generator. The aircon wont work without the generator! I have been trying to get used to just having a fan on full blast, but there are limits, it seems. Even Waz had the summer covers off, last night.

Waz has just turned the dock water off and we are emptying the boat water tank to clean it out. The water has been sitting around for a few months, and we need to get rid of it. We will refill it when he has 'dosed' it and all is clean.

Before we leave the dock, there is a routine we follow. This is the longest we have stayed anywhere, to date, and one rather gets out of the habit of doing certain things. I have not made lots of things a habit yet, as I haven't had enough continuous experience to do so. With that in mind, I am reviewing what I do know, and yes, getting somewhat anxious...again...about all the shallow water we still have to travel to get wherever we are going. I am rather hoping I can learn to relax and just let it all 'happen'...good luck on that one!!

We thought our car was supposed to be returned on Wednesday 9th April, but when we checked (fortunately) the rental agreement, it said the 8th! Bah! So, off we went to Avis to check it out for another day..why? Waz has to sit his Florida Driver's License in it at 8.30am, 9th April!

We also need the car to go all the way up  Hwy 41 to Walmart and pick up our bicycles, when they tell us they have arrived. We were told that would be the 8th or 9th, so let's hope that information is correct.

In light of our Lottery win, we decided to eat breakfast out, this morning, so hoofed it to Jon Ski's Breakfast Restaurant....it seems that they are the only folks who get our orders consistently correct. We really aren't that hard to please, but Waz does like all the breakfast protein to be thoroughly DEAD before eating it. That means HARD poached eggs, DEAD bacon and anything else that might moo, cluck, snort etc. I ordered the Crab Cakes Benedict, per usual...no muffin, toast or hash browns, thanks. Yummy!!!

This is our last hurrah, for a bit. We are planning to anchor-out for most of the trip to the east coast, so we have at least 4/5 days where we may not be touching terra firma. Even then, we will not be moving into an anchorage unless we need to take on water and pump out and get more fresh food supplies.

Speaking of pump-outs...no more drama's for a while, thank goodness. Thursday 10th will be our last one with United Site Services. We have also ordered our Kiwi Diver, Mark, back some time this week to check the various orifices for barnacles etc, because we cannot have any inhabitants in the various in-takes and out-lets for the engines.

After breakfast (most satisfying), we tootled up the highway to the Library, where we visited, yet again, the Friends of the Library book shop. Here we perused the aisles for books worth reading, stayed a while looking at those we couldn't accommodate on the boat, and finally, at around 1.30pm, went out the door. This is where the sushi entered our consciousness. Right across from the Library driveway, is the Buffet House!

We took our sushi up the highway  to Murdock Circle, where we turned into the Sun Trust parking lot and parked in the shade of a lovely Live Oak tree. We enjoyed our lunch with all the windows down and a nice breeze to boot! We continued on around Murdock Circle to Sam's Club where we had quite a long list of foodstuffs to purchase. The bill wasn't as bad as I thought it might be...one ALWAYS spends more at these bulk food establishments!!!...and we went back down the highway to the Publix Supermarket near home, for all the little things we didn't want in bulk, and came home.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about the trip to the German Butcher!! This was the very first stop after breakfast! How could we forget?

We had so enjoyed our Kielbasa last week, that we decided it would be the perfect food for easy cooking at the end of a long day on the move. They have no fillers and are made the traditional way! We bought 12 Kielbasa and 12 Italian Sausage, to put into the freezer. We also bought some gorgeous pork chops...one lot for the freezer and one lot for dinner tonight. I am going to caramelize the last of the fresh pineapple with some sweet onion to go with it. We also have fresh berries, for dessert! I had better get on with that, it is almost 6 pm. (later...pork chops were FANTASTIC! sorry..no photos...too hungry and didn't remember as Waz was still emptying the water tank and the faucet was open in the kitchen the entire time I was cooking....

The news is on, and none of it is good...not sure why we bother, but we have been enjoying the Netflix. Our latest movie, was Girl on a Bicycle...a French movie...so much fun:)

Now after 8pm. Just been next door to visit with Stef and one week old today Mia. She is more active and alert today and appears to be feeding well. She is so tiny...just under 6lbs! and I love watching new babies do weird things with their tongues and faces.:) I guess I am also grateful I don't have one! Too little sleep, too many 'things' cluttering up the house, etc....One could say I have entered the pre-Grandparent phase of my life. It is a good place to be:)

Well, time for a cuppa and put the feet up. The temp is down to 82F, and we only have the fan on at the moment.
I think I have said this before, but it has to be said again....There is a good reason that Southern Women keep their youthful skins...it is called HUMIDITY!!! Don't knock it until you try it...if you can tolerate the high heat and high % of water in the atmosphere.

Ok, that's it for now....Night, night.

Upholstery Heaven

Or, should I make that RE-upholstery heaven?

Last night, before shutting up, the back deck looked like this...

The edge of 'my' customary seat was damaged, so Waz glued a long piece of leather from something we had discarded elsewhere but kept, that was the same color, onto the back so that when we stretched it, it wouldn't come apart. The glue needed min. 24hrs to cure. I had gone to JoAnn's, just down the road, to do a recce on leather glues, and came home with a variety of 4. Thankfully they took 40% off the total with one of their in-store coupons! phew! I also had to buy more batting to wrap the foam in, as we had rather underestimated the amount needed. 4 yards didn't go far!

 

Taking apart these corner seats is rather interesting. Putting them back together is even MORE interesting:) especially when you have added a layer of 2 inches of foam.

 

Now that we are on a roll, we are anxious to get the last, and corner piece finished and complete the L shaped sofa. All these seats come off to access the pantry underneath them...

 

Yes, there is also 'stuff' behind the seat, as you can see. Tissue boxes and Glad Bags, paper towels and other larger items.

 

As you can see, the edges of the leather are rather worn. Bear in mind that this boat was built in 1999, and this is the original seating, so some wear and tear is obvious.

 

What does it look like, the result of all this industry?

 

Waz's seat next to his computer

and mine on the other end...the quick get-away seat...or Jump Seat, as I call it.

We just have the corner seat under the red cushions to redo next. After that, we have  4 seats on the dinette to pad, and voila...like new! well, almost. They will need recovering at some stage before we sell the boat, but the carpet also needs replacing, and that isn't going to happen any time soon either. It is fine as it is for our purposes, and when we feel the need to make like new, we will do it!

 

We are enjoying having greater comfort, especially at night when we tend to sit the most.

 

We are off to dinner with the new parents, right now, so I will leave you here and go and enjoy some relaxation, with a long walk to follow.

 

Night, night!