Day 103, Year 10: Happy Birthday, Sam
Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day; High Temp of 80 degrees F
Location: Anchored in Lake Sylvia, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Happy Birthday, Sam! Our first born grandchild, Sam, turned 8 today. My, how quickly the years pass. It really doesn’t feel like it was 8 years ago when we flew home from New Zealand for his birth. We talked to him this evening and he sounded so grown up. Heather and Jed were preparing the birthday dinner and we talked to Sam while he opened his present from us. We talked to Ollie who is fighting a bout with pneumonia. Even when he is sick, he always sounds so cheery. And we talked to Jonah who explained all about Sam’s Boston cream birthday cake. We miss them so much, but they sounded happy and excited. And that makes us happy.
Today was a work day. We drove the dinghy about a mile to Las Olas Marina where I dropped off Mark and returned to Windbird. Mark was going to help Lee and Lynda install their new solar panels. But first they had to go pick them up. Evidently L&L had been considering the purchase of a third panel, so when Mark and Lee arrived at eMarine Systems the discussions began on just which third panel and what that would mean in terms of installation. By the end of the day, Mark and Lee had returned to the marina with the two smaller panels and had one of those installed. eMarine delivered the third panel which is a monster. It will fit between the two smaller ones and should give Sea Turtle lots of solar power. But the time spent investigating the third panel took most of today, so tomorrow will be a continuation of today with the hopes that that all three panels will be installed and the wiring at least started. Then on Friday, that project will hopefully be completed. Lynda thinks she got their water tanks sufficiently cleaned out today, so they should once again have a clean water supply. And I got half of Windbird’s stainless cleaned. Hopefully I’ll finish that project tomorrow. I had hoped to do a little food shopping tomorrow, but that will have to be postponed until Friday or Saturday. Lee and Mark will need the car tomorrow in case there are supplies they need for the installation. As they say, cruising is all about working on your boat in warm, exotic places. I wouldn’t call Fort Lauderdale exotic, but it is warm and delightful. And work is getting done.
