Where did September go?

Fishermen's Village Marina

September has flown by as we wind up our stay in Punta Gorda. People are always asking us what in the world we find to do all day on a little boat. I guess they don't realize our backyard is huge, beautiful and full of things to experience. Our days and weeks have zipped by and all of a sudden it is nearly October. It is time to get Wrinkles back in sailing trim and head back out.

We scheduled our haul out for October 4th at Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage where we will spend roughly 3 weeks working on Wrinkles. Our work list keeps growing, so we will certainly be busy there. Sweat, sore muscles, and band-aids are in our near future.

Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage

Red line shows our route.

 

 

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Mermaid Figurehead Progress

First mermaid figurehead scale model.

Mike just finished a couple of small scale mermaid figureheads in preparation for carving the full size version for Wrinkles. It won't be long now before he starts carving Wrinkle's very own mermaid figurehead.

Second scale size mermaid figurehead.

Mike doesn't plan on adding the tail onto the full-size mermaid. He added it to make this one easily wall mounted. A tail would likely be broken off in strong seas. The first version is pretty close to his original drawing. We'll post some pictures in our " Mike's Carvings" page if you want to see some other angles.

Scale is a little too big, but location is about right.

 

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Ouchy!

Carving by the water.

Mike decided to sit in the shade near the water and work on a mermaid carving. It was a really nice spot to relax and enjoy his project until he decided to see why his foot felt like it was getting sunburned. When he looked down to take off his left Croc shoe it was covered in tiny red ants. He quickly moved and got all the ants off of his foot and shoe, but the damage was already done.

Fire Ant Bites

Welcome to the lovely work of Florida's fire ants. Sometimes even paradise has teeth.

 

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Back To The Boat

I found my wife and we are now back together in Punta Gorda. It felt good to step back on Wrinkle's deck and feel the slight heel of her starboard rail as she accepted us home. A huge thank you to our special friends and family members who shared our many ups and downs during this odd trip. Hopefully that adventure has now come to an end and we can concentrate on prepping Wrinkles for the next leg of our adventure.

THE PLAN:

We have a few projects to work on while we are still in our slip at Fishermen's Village Marina. These projects should keep us busy until we sail over to Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage on October 4th. There we will put Wrinkles on the hard before adding some bottom paint, finishing the teak work, adding a radar system, remounting the rub rail, sewing new cushions for the cabin and lots of other smaller jobs. We hope to be put back in the water by November 1st.

Once we are afloat again we expect to do a two week shake down cruise around Charlotte Harbor. There are some beautiful anchorages there just calling our names. Our next step would be to head out into the Gulf and turn south. We roughly plan to go to Marco Island and one or two spots in the Everglades. Finally a run to Boot Key Harbor in Marathon by Thanksgiving. We have never been to the Keys and hope to explore the area by boat, dinghy, bike, bus and taxi for the winter season.

 

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Has Anyone Seen My Wife?

Brenda at the helm.

I seem to have lost my wife. I know we traveled to Illinois the last week in July for a week of sailing. Then I'm sure she was with me when we took the Amtrak and a bus to Madison, WI. We spent a few weeks seeing family, friends, doctors and a dentist. Let's see what else was there? Oh yeah, our son's house blew up and a tropical depression thought it might go mess with Wrinkles. I think this is where I lost Brenda.

I flew down to Punta Gorda to storm prep Wrinkles while Brenda stayed in Madison to help out Matt and Kelley any way she could. We have rarely been apart for more than three or four days in the past 35 years and I don't like it. Brenda is scheduled to fly back home to Wrinkles and me on Sunday. Well, Brenda will be there, but I won't. I am now in Columbus, Ohio so I can attend Aunt Lu's funeral. This amazing lady lived to be 102 years old. Karen, Peter, John and I will attend the service and celebrate her life this Sunday.

So now I am going to fly back to Punta Gorda on Monday to finally see my lovely wife again. Well, let's just hope nothing else decides to keep us apart any longer. There was a lady sitting right behind me on the flight to Columbus that was one of those marathon talkers. You know the ones, they barely take a breath for two hours and say, "I" a lot. Well she did say one thing that was worthwhile. She said, " Wouldn't it be nice to be in love like when we were 19 again?" It made me smile as I said to myself, "Yes, yes it is."

 

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Hello From Wisconsin

Hello from Wisconsin! It has been an eventful couple of days. The kids met with the bank and they are approved for a mortgage!! That made them both very happy. They met with a realtor/friend of the family last night and there are several houses in their price range. More smiles. Over the next few days I hope to preview the houses while they are working and then set up follow up showings for the ones that make the cut. They were able to have access to their home today. With the help of Jim and Joni, their trailer, JJ, Matt and I we were able to retrieve vast amount of their belongings. Really the only things that we didn't take out were a couple couches, the dishes, one bed and some bedding. Everything else is in a very full storage unit.

Joni supervising the loading.

Kelley had her first day with her new kindergarten class and came home smiling. I don't know who had more fun - the teacher or the students. She's off to a great start.

We are are so thankful for all the offers of assistance. The outpouring of support speaks not only to the character of those who offer, but also to Matt and Kelley. They are loved! Thank you everyone!

 

Jim and Matt securing another load.

It was strange being here in Wisconsin while Mike was in Florida with the boat preparing for a hurricane. We have found over the years that there are times in a marriage that you need to divide and conquer obstacles in your path. I just wish we didn't need to be on opposite ends of the continent to do that. This is the furthest we have ever been apart. And while I am happy to be here...I sure miss Mike. Thank you Mike, for recognizing that I needed to be here, probably more than I realized.

 

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