Sunday, September 13, 2009

WE'RE NUMBER ONE!

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The dinghy enabled me to do my own annual boat service


Here I replace the drive oil with 75w90 synthetic gear lube



That little bite out of the exhaust was there when we bought her


Smile and guess which one of these sacrificial zinc anodes is new



After greasing the prop shaft, the duo props went back on and I was done.
I even replaced the Volvo decals all around the drive

On Sunday, 9/13 we awoke to a beautiful calm and clear morning


24 hours of rain gave way to a bright clear sky, reflected in our backyard canal


The low boy loading deck was underwater with a very high morning tide


Looking north up our canal on Sunday, 9/13/09


Minnows enjoyed swimming atop the dock for once



Home in Port Charlotte
High of 88, rainy weekend

We just got back from our friends' house, Chuck and Ruthie, where we spent the first of many football Sundays to come. Our Cardinals came out flat on offense and dropped their home opener but the defense gave hope for the season.

Yesterday we received 2.75 inches of rain and the tide was much higher than expected. The low dock has a low boy loading deck and it was under water for a few hours this morning. I took advantage of the chance to fish for a while but the only fish I saw were the minnows pictured above.

Friday I fertilized the grass and got rain all night Friday and all day Saturday; just what you want in the days after dropping nitrogen on the turf. That should carry me through the end of the year and keep me mowing twice a week through October. The thick green grass is worth the added labor.

I put the final boat maintenance pics on here for all to enjoy. I am pretty pleased with how the project came out but next time I will spend more effort removing old paint. Live and learn, they say.

Money Magazine has come out with their best of 2009 and named the number 1 place to retire as Port Charlotte, Florida. How about that? The article cites our affordable waterfront living, easy access to a wide network of healthcare providers, recreational opportunities and of course Charlotte Harbor. So now I'm in the best place to retire. . . all I have to do is figure out a way to actually retire someday.
Hurricane Fred made it to a Cat 3 before he fizzled out. There is still some remnants of Fred out near the Cape Verde Islands (3,000 miles away) and those remains are mixing with a new tropical wave. It will be interesting to see if it reorganizes and gets a new name or if they call it Fred II, the return!
The coming work week will take me east across the peninsula to Broward County (Delray Beach)Palm Beach County (West Palm) and then north to Fort Pierce. I will leave Monday and return home on Thursday.

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