November 23-30, 2022 Marina oyster roast, projects, and baby Cassius

11-23.  We heard from our niece, Katie Zeller Murphy this morning.  She and Brad had a baby boy at 12:20am.  He was 8 lbs, 8 oz and named Cassius (pronounce cash-us) James Joseph Murphy.  Mom is doing fine, and Cassius is on oxygen.  I guess that’s common in Denver with the elevation.  

big sister Memphis

11-24. The marina had a nice Thanksgiving dinner for us.  They provided turkey, dressing, potatoes and gravy.  The boaters brought the sides and desserts.  I made scalloped corn casserole, not something we make for the 2 of us, but a family favorite.  I played cards for awhile after eating.  Then we joined others on our dock for a few drinks at the top of our dock.  Nice day.

family Thanksgiving in SD

11-25. We had a women’s lunch today with a bloody Mary bar.  Everyone brought drink fixin’s to share.  Always a hit.

11-26 We enjoyed listening to college football playoffs today.  Also fun pictures from the Murphys in Denver.

 

11-27  Brunswick landing Marina had an oyster roast for us, steamed or raw.  Dave offered a young girl $5 if she would try a raw oyster.  She took him up on it, but couldn’t make herself swallow it.  He told her she could spit it out if she made a dramatic show of it.  He just loves teasing kids. 

They had live music and a portable ax throwing truck at the marina.  It was fun to try.  Dave also talked a young friend of ours, Lilly, into throwing the ax and trying an oyster for $5.  She actually ate it.  Good thing there are kids around to entertain Dave. 

Gary, Jason, Barbara

 

11-28. I was dismissed from my Physical Therapy today.  Now the hard part, keeping up with my therapy everyday to avoid back pain.  
We spent the day washing the deck and putting up our canvas and isinglass.  I did some cleaning of the isinglass that wasn’t done after Dave completed sewing the enclosure last year.   Always something to complete the job.  
11-29. We found a small lizard on board the boat, only about 3 inched long.  I thought we should capture it and get if off the boat.  Dave figured it would eat bugs and leave on his own eventually.  So we have a pet.   Actually, I don’t think I ever saw him again.  And we didn’t name him so we wouldn’t get attached.

11-30. Dave was cleaning the raw water screen and filter for the Yanmar engine.  When the water wouldn’t run though it as it should, he decided to change the impeller for the raw water intake.  It had 2 torn fins, so good to find before leaving the dock.  While he was doing all this, he discovered a leaky drive shaft seal.  So, now the research began for fixing that.
Dave actually wants me off the boat when he is working on the engine.  The companionway stairs are lifted, so you can’t come and go.  I obliged by having lunch with a girlfriend, Nancy.  Then we went shopping and picked up groceries.  I think we had more fun than Dave.

more precious photos of Memphis and Cassius

November 16-21, 2022 Pete's 35th birthday in Key Largo with Sherri and Bobby

11-18 Pete had a few days he could take off together, so we made the trip to Key Largo for a long weekend.  We have been wanting to visit our niece, Sherri Zeller Hanson and Bobby for some time.   We left about 9:00 and arrived in Key Largo about 5:30.  Driving through Miami on a Friday afternoon is not fun!!  We walked to their favorite neighborhood bar/restaurant, The Catch.  We sat outside and enjoyed music by Adam Musik. He sang and played guitar to a lot of cover songs (other people’s songs).  Fun night.  Great food and atmosphere.  Plus we could walk home.  Sherri and I got in their hot tub and Pete played guitar for us.  Fun night!

 

 11-19 We spent a lot of our “fun tickets” last night.  So Dave watched football, Sherri and I enjoyed the pool and hot tub.  Pete and Bobby rode e-bikes to the Big Chill, another favorite hang out.  Sherri and I joined them later by car.  The same guy was singing and playing guitar, Adam Musik.  We regrouped, picked up Dave and went to Sharky’s on a canal for dinner.  I had awesome coconut grouper bites.  Dave and I headed back to Sherri’s after dinner.  Dave, Sherri and Bobby went to another bar with live music.  Sherri is always trying to get Pete a gig in the Keys.  

 Pete being goofy

11-20. Today was actually Pete’s 35th birthday.  We went to Bass Pro, where Sherri’s son Jaxon works.  A fisherman offered fresh snapper to Jaxon, so Dave and Bobby cleaned it to eat later.  It was fun to see Jaxon, too.  

 

 

We went boating with friends of theirs because their boat was in the shop.  We picked up a friend of their’s at the home of Jimmy Johnson, the football commentator who used to coach the Dallas Cowboys. Of course, I can’t remember his name, but he worked for the Dallas Cowboys in some capacity, I think PR.  We had lunch at Hog Heaven.  Great food.  Dave and Pete took an Uber back to Sherri’s for $50!!    
The rest of us took the boat to the “sandbar”, which is a shallow area that a lot of boats anchor at and play in the water.  It was a little chilly, but I got in.  

 

 

Then we returned to Sherry’s and had a great snapper dinner.  We used some of it to make ceviche.  Sherri and Bobby really liked the way I made it.  We had pumpkin pie for dessert to celebrate Pete’s birthday.  He’s always liked pie better than cake.  

11-21 Monday. We packed up and went out for breakfast before leaving Key Largo.  Yes, it was a work day for Sherri and Bobby, so we wanted to clear out, since they both were working from home.  We ate at the Hideout Restaurant, a little diner type of place.  There were fun decorations and sayings.  My favorite was a picture of a chicken saying “what’s your super power?  I can poop breakfast!”.  Driving north or south through Florida seems to take forever.  The only thing worse is sailing the length of the state.  We stopped at our favorite restaurant in New Smyrna Beach, the Garlic.  We had been here once before with friends.  When we come through by boat, we want to go there, but it’s difficult with out a car.  It was just as good, or better, than we remembered it.  It’s an Italian restaurant with unique decor that feels like you’re in a garden with many small rooms.  The only problem was that we couldn’t enjoy the wine with about 5 hours to go to get home.  We made it home by 11:00pm.

the specials are written on dry lasagna

November 13-16, 2022 Porchfest

11-13 Sunday. Porchfest was held today.  It’s a local yearly event in the historic district of Brunswick.  There are about 15 front porches that have local musicians playing from 1:00 to 5:00.  Most of them have musicians changing every hour.  Pete played guitar and sang on a porch at 1:00.  We borrowed a wheel chair from another boater for Alice to use.  They were also from Wisconsin.  Her parents had just visited and she bought one for her father to use.  Now she just wants others to use it as needed.  Very nice.  
We set up lawn chairs for Pete’s hour.  Many friends from the marina joined us.  He sounded fantastic, as always.

 

After he finished and packed up his gear, we walked around to other stages, and wheeled Alice.  We found the food trucks and had some good eats.  

 

We stayed until about 5:00.  Pete came by the house that evening to visit with his Grandma.  Great day.

11-14 We hung out together at the airbnb most of the day.  We had a fun shrimp dinner at the house that night and Pete joined us again.  
11-15 Tuesday We have to leave for Savannah early Wednesday morning to take Dean and Alice back to the airport.  So we packed up most of our belongings today and took them back to the boat.  Alice and I stayed at the marina and played cards with my friends at their usual Tuesday card day.  Everyone enjoyed having Alice join us.  Dave and Dean took Pete’s sound equipment back to the storage unit and ran some other errands.  They picked us up to go to Wille’s Jewel’s BBQ for dinner, our favorite BBQ.  
11-16 Wednesday. We left the house by 8:30 am for Savannah.  They had no issues with their flights and were back in Minneapolis in plenty of time to make the 2 hour trip to Cumberland with Debbie.  
I spent the day unpacking our things from the airbnb.  
Dave made rope handles to attach to the dodger.  We felt like we could use extra hand holds when boarding the boat.  He spliced the rope he needed.  That’s a good craft to know as a boater.