Thursday, December 25, 2014

December 18-20, 2014 GA cooking and boat prep

On Thursday, we called Dave’s mom to get the recipe for Hap’s pork chops that he would do in the oven.  We had been to a little local grocery store this week that was owned by Mexicans.  They had every part of the pig available in the store.  Dave said “everything but the squeal.”  And they had a lot of packages that were around $5 value, but you could pick 5 marked packages for $20.  I let him pick the pork knuckles for a pork and beans dish and the pork chops, but convinced him to get two different fish (swai nuggets and flounder) and a breakfast sausage. 

We made the pork chops on the stove top then placed them in our Wonderbag for the day.  If you haven’t read about this bag before, it’s a bag that works like a crock pot with no energy source.  I am always the one trying to include vegetables in our meals.  When I asked Dave if he wanted a vegetable, he said  “You know that's your decision, I’ll give you a private moment so you can talk to yourself about it.”  Don’t know why I even asked.  They turned out perfect.  I don't think either of us said a word to each other until our plates were clean.   

Friday, I spent a day with the 24 hour flu while Dave guarded the gangway of the boat on his computer at the table.  Didn’t want anyone else getting it :)

Dave also spent time this week preparing the boat for the prop/shaft work we will have done here in January.  First he decoupled the shaft to be able to find out what our maximum RPM's were on this engine.  It needed to get to 3000rpm's and he was able to do that.  The prop has to be set to the engine's max speed.  This prop was set to our old tachometer.   And then he made sure the decoupling bolts were able to be loosened before we have the work done in the boat yard.  Sometimes mechanics have to spend a half day just getting them to loosen.  He had no problem.  He used a crowbar, "his little yellow friend", under the motor mount to be sure the motor wasn't causing the vibration.  We'll find out what else we can do as prep work before January 6.  Dave was told that if you had a crow bar on board, you would be able to get anything of any weight to your boat, even if it was an inch at a time. 

On Saturday, I took the marina bicycle to the Winn Dixie about 2 miles away.  I wanted to pick up a few things to make some fun Christmas treats and whatever we thought we would need for Christmas.  Next time I do that, I will carry one of those baskets and stop when it gets full or too heavy.  I filled my backpack and could barely lift it onto my back.  Plus I had a bag hanging off of each handle bar.  Luckily I was in a parking lot with lots of room when I tried to mount the bike and had room to swerve.  I almost called Dave to meet me part way.  But once I started moving, it was fine.  When I arrived at the marina, I noticed one of the bags had a hole and it would have just been a matter of time before I started loosing things. 

I made Chex mix and some Christmas candy from a recipe I saw on FaceBook.  It was with almond bark, pretzels, peanut butter and pieces of Heath candy bars.  We made lots of friends on the dock that night.  There are several single guys on boats that loved something home made. 

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