Home sweet home!

On Friday morning we finally got back to the Battery, our home port. Scott came late in the day and finished up everything on the air conditioning and re-routing some of the electrical systems. YAHOOO! Now we can focus on getting things cleaned up and organizing our supplies. (note our new mode of transportation above: foldup bikes!)

I rode my bike up to the Farmer's Market this morning and got some great stuff! We've been eating out so much due to the work on the boat that we are both ready for some great home cooked meals. I kept thinking of Sue and Chris since they are also selling at the Farmer's Market in Yellow Springs. I took a pic of my "booty" from the market: kale, lettuce, heirloom tomatoes (grown on Catawba Island in a green house), huge strawberries, fresh eggs, peas and cucumbers. Yum, yum!

We're river rats!

I haven't posted lately because we have been hanging out at Harbor North marina since last Wednesday, working with Scott to install our air conditioning. Harbor North is located on the Huron river, which is the muddiest river I've ever seen! This morning, we took a dink ride (in our dinghy) out to where the river empties into Lake Erie. You could actually see a distinct line between the coffee-brown of the river and the clear water of the lake. It looked like someone spilled a cup of coffee into a big bathtub of blue water. Really weird. Last night we took a dink ride up to the mouth of the river. There were all types of beautiful homes on the water as well as small cottages. Reminded me a lot of Indian Lake.

The air conditioning has been a long, hot project! I helped the first couple of days but quickly became frustrated with the slow progress and terrible mess! Everything on the boat was torn apart (including our salon and cabin) and stuffed into the forward head. Scott and Bill had tools and supplies scattered everywhere. The whole process made me a nervous wreck which didn't help them at all. So, today, I found a better solution. I left them to work on the boat and I came to the cool, air conditioned library to write copy for the Write On Target Web site. MUCH more productive for one and all.

Can't wait to get back to Battery Park and put our boat in order. I have no idea where I'm going to store everything, since the air conditioning and associated duct work is taking up so much space. But then, even after this short of time onboard I'm finding I don't need as much as I thought. I think this will be an excellent lesson in living more simply.

Below are a couple of pics of the messy condition created by air conditioning installation.

Shipwrecked!

News flash! The skipper, Marianne and the Professor were found today in a thatched hut located on Bay Point, off Johnson's Island.

Ok, here's the real scoop. After a full day of work, Bill, myself and our next door neighbor Mike O' Toole decided to take our happy hour drinks for a ride on the dink to Bay Point (about 2 miles across the bay). On the north side of the island, we found this incredible hut made of driftwood, logs and sapplings. We assume it's a senior class project... an impressive one at that! Couldn't resist putting my hair in pig tails to recreate the spirit of Marianne and the Professor. Had a lovely sunset cruise, although thankfully it was not a 3 hour tour!

We've moved onboard!

It's official...as of June 2 we moved onboard!

Kathy and Leo Haley (our house sitters) arrived at our home on Satuday May 31. We had a great dinner with them and their emergency contacts: Bill's brother and sister-in-law, Mark and Martha Long; my sister, Patty Minham and our neighbor Ron Curtis. I think they have plenty of backups, eh? We were also joined by our two grandson's Mark and Sam, since Jessica had to go into the hospital with a bad bladder/kidney infection. They kept us plenty busy as we packed things up the next morning to leave. Bill had a dental appt. on Monday morning so FINALLY we got to the boat Monday evening. We put everything away then toasted the sunset with champagne. We just cannot believe that we are actually doing this! After years of planning and endless checklists, we are really living aboard. Neither one of us thinks it has actually hit yet. We'll let you know when it does.

I didn't get a chance to post the pics from the weekened of May 24 when Justin came up for a trip to Put in Bay. We also met up with John and Daragh for a great concert by the Menu's (I have no idea who those people are at the top of the photo. They were at the table behind us and jumped in the photo. Folks here are so friendly!) And we got to see our favorite water taxi driver, Forest. Finally, as you can see, the sunsets at the Bay are beautiful!