Work Work, Play Play

Vero Beach Public Library
No LL

In the past couple of days we've had time for work and for play.

We held a Balderdash tournament at a picnic area on shore Wednesday afternoon. We had 8 players, and we all had fun. Balderdash is a really fun game. So far, we haven't seen anybody who didn't have fun playing it.

Wednesday evening we were invited over to Blue Topaz to share birthday cake with Reg and Teri. It was Reg's 61st birthday. They told us that every year for the past 11 years, that Teri makes a birthday cake for Reg from her special recipe. Everything was made from scratch. It was delicious. After the cake, the four of us watched movie at the Blue Topaz drive in. The drive in is actually the cockpit of Blue Topaz. Reg sets up the laptop and the speakers on top of the hatch, and the audience sits around the cockpit. The weather was perfect for sitting outside at night. Cool and clear, with a new moon.

Yesterday, I went to the mall shopping for new cell phones. Our contract was up on the old one, so I wanted to see what we could find. I'll write more about that later.

Also yesterday, with the help of Libby and our friend Stephan, I went up the mast in the Boatswain's chair to do some repairs. I wasn't very successful. I installed the part in the radar that I though was causing it to not work. It didn't help. I tried to replace the bulb in the steaming light, but I didn't have the right size replacement bulb. I replaced the bulb and tried to rewire the anchor light at the top of the mast, but it still wouldn't work. I think we need a new light fixture for that. So, my score was zero for three on that trip.

This morning, I used paint stripper to remove the blue paint from the top decks. The blue paint we had there wasn't holding well, and keeps flaking off. We must have done a bad job in preparing the surface before the last repaint job. Therefore, there is no choice but to strip it off and start from scratch.

Our daughter in law, Cheryl is starting a business making decorative scented soaps. She just placed her first batch in a store on consignment. Congratulations Cheryl!

We just got a package in the mail from Jenny. Now we have no further excuse for staying in Vero, so I think we'll leave here next Tuesday and start heading north.