Charles W. Moore

Hurting for Certain

I have now spent weeks trying to recover from the excesses of the stainless polishing episode. I still hurt all over my shoulder and neck which are know weak spots for this old guy. I have had to slow down and take it easier. So in that vein I have been using the notebook a little more.  Lots of ibuprofen going into the system after a round of Prednisone  to suppress the irritation wherever it was.

I came across this Pin tonight and just sort of connected with it.

Today we were informed that Grandson DJ has cancer of the intestine.  They operated on him and removed a section of his intestine.  After a suitable recovery period he will undergo Chemo and Radiation treatments to irradicate remenants of the disease.  We are thinking of him constantly throughout the day.

It rained all day and is still raining and will continue to rain until tomorrow.  When I checked tonight the boat was dry since we replaced the lens on the aft size 40 hatch.  The forward size 60 hatch has not been replaced yet as Holland Marine continues to work on it.

I have replaced one fluorescent light on the boat with LED’s and the experiment was moderately successful but will require a few more warm white LED’s to fill in a few spots.  I have at lease 3 more fixtures to go and the rest will remain fluorescent as I should now have spares for quite a while.  The two head bar fluorescence’s will be changed out to RED/WHITE LED’s too.  so I guess that makes 5 to go.

Just a blather

Lots of parts for the boat arrived today and yesterday. We installed the blower that arrived yesterday and it took all of our time to get her done. All that remains ist to shrink the tubing and apply the green/yellow ground.

The life in the camper is getting a bit close and we are getting on each others nerves a bit. With no place to escape, to avoid escallation, I usually go silent an brood for a while but soon forget whatever was the problem. I’ll be glad when the boat is in the water. We need good dry weather to do the teak to teak sealing so SAM can apply two coats of Cetol and we are ready.

I cannot wait to get out of this very tiny RV. I activated the Verizon hotspot at $30 per month and it seems to work very well with plenty of bandwidth and I set it up to run three devices. I posted the speedtest.net results on facebook. it was 10 down and 6 up.

A rainy day and the week ahead.

Today started with light rain hitting the camper top. I like that sound and it is soothing. A quick peek outside revealed not leden skies but some bright spots too. It was lightly sprinkling as we arrived at church and the same when we left that the end of the service. We stopped by the grocery – actually two of them. Out main purchase was some good fish but there were other items in there too.

Back at the RV we ate lunch and took our Sunday afternoon day of rest. For dinner SAM made some of the fish down at the clubhouse but not too much was going on but football so we left to eat supper back at the RV. After that I did some research on Mini Maglite 272 lumen that are not turning on correctly. I think it is extremely poor that a $24 flashlight does not even last a year. As a matter of fact the newest on does not turn on at all when you turn it on. If you let it sit there long enough it comes on all by itself in a minute or three. Pretty poor, and I told them that.

Ok, so now I am winding down the day writing in journals, blogs and more blogs. Night.

Cold tonight – a Florida Freeze Warning

We are expecting a cold one tonight here in Green Cove Springs. Even though we are on the water it is expected to get into the 20’s tonight. The heater is now on and runningalmost constantly. I may have to awake in the wee hours and turn it up from I setting to II setting. This temperature may even challenge this but we will have to endure.

Here is the NOAA Forcast:THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE HAS ISSUED A FREEZE
WATCH…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH
THURSDAY MORNING.

A FREEZE WATCH MEANS SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES ARE POSSIBLE FOR
AT LEAST 2 HOURS. PRECAUTIONS MAY BE REQUIRED TO PROTECT PLANTS…
PETS AND THOSE SENSITIVE TO THE COLD IF A FREEZE WARNING IS
ISSUED.

I started the Prednisone blister pack to try and combat the arm weakness that has plagued me for the past few days. It all started when I did three long days polishing the stainless steel and then did a lot of nook and cranny work that stretched my neck this way and that. I developed a stiff neck and then an extremely sore sholder and neck that later migrated to arm weakness. This persists but my neck feels better.

Boat work goes slow and we are now waiting tfor the 3M 4000UV to seal the cap rails to the cap rail trim. SAM has been doing this type of work so it will be new for her and will probably be frustrating until she gets the technique down. I say all this because I have to take it easy for quite a while to avoid permanent damage to nerves. Meanwhile we continue to live in the small RV that sits atop the bed or our truck. It is tight but we are managing. The boat will feel like a palace!

Between Christmas and New Year 2015

We are still land based and Inspiration is on-the-hard waiting for the lift crane operators to return from Christmas break. During the pre-Christmas days we went to St. Petersburg to spend Christmas with Martha. While there we went to marine shops to buy goodies that were our Christmas presents to each other. We left 12/27/14 for GCS. We went to see Jerry Moeller in Ellenington and Steve L on Treasure Island while in town. We did some food shopping at Aldi’s too.

Upon return we attended First Assembly in Flemming Island. It is about 15 minutes from where we are staying in our RV at Reynolds Park Marina. Inspiration has been expensive this month! If this keeps up it will be Inspiration II OR BUST.

Today 12/30/14 GCS: We spent the day today running between the Ace Hardware here and Inspiration II: Needed not so specialty Stainless Steel nuts and bolts. Wouldn’t you know that the last machine bolt to install had a thread issue and was unusable! SAM scraped Cetol and painted Cetol Natural Teak and putty’d in some rough spots on the cap rail fairing. She also re-installed the boarding ladder steps she has been painting with Cetol NT.

Polishing Stainless Steel

I have spent the past two days polishing Stainless Steel on the boat. A patina of rust had developed on the railings and stanchions over the last years? the previous owner had her. I did manage to polish the dingy davits and some portions of the aft railing. I have to say it looks good thanks to the polish I found at Advance Auto: The name is Blue Magic, s blue colored cream paste that has a smell of ammonia. I must say it really works well. However, it still takes a little muscle power. It is very gratifying work.

Today, I hooked up the ground and turned on the DC power to the boat and checked the bilge pump which hummed away. Then I tried the radio which also worked. As we were leaving the boat near dark, I wanted to check the nav lights but forgot so that will be another day.

So here I sit on the bed in the RV writing this blog line with the electric heater humming away and it is warm on this cold night. Frost warnings are out again for the 5th straight day. We actually had freezing temperatures one of those nights. Since we arrived two weeks ago we have had to have the heater on every night. I hate to see the temperatures when it gets to the cold part of the year.

Slowly, ever so slowly

Slowly, ever so slowly we are settling into our new routine. This boat has been disruptive in reality and we entered into it with rose colored glasses. The process of buying the boat took on a life of its own. I have to give the broker credit for helping us out with the later stages of the process but he definitely represented the seller. Do not use the surveyor we used. Somehow we always get the ones that are more of insurance surveyors than detailed surveyors representing the buyer.

Now we have a boat that needs a lot of work we are attacking the project and may never get out of port in the next three years. I guess that is ok as long as we are enjoying ourselves. We are in the RV right now as Inspiration II is in Holland Marine shipyard where we have spent multiple thousands of dollars for deck work, new prop shaft, reconditioned prop and dripless seal. Most of this was done to improve value and reliability. What other hammers will fall remains to be seen but as the wife says “Its a boat”. We did work on the deck rigging and got the Whisker Pole to function properly so it was one sucess for today – yea!

We had sweet potatoes and beef for dinner tonight and fixed it in the clubhouse. Pretty good food thanks to SAM. It has been unseasonably cold here with frost or freezing temperatures almost every night. Our little electric heater in the RV tries valiantly to stave off the night time temperatures but to no avail. It gets cold inside by 0700 hrs – the time of maximum coldness.

Moore later.

Florida & The Boat

We are in Florida now and working constantly on the boat. Everything we touch seems to need work. It is sort of discouraging and definitely postponing our launch. At present rate it will be January before we hit the water. I am so glad we have the RV here to live in and do not have to be in a motel!

I have been suffering from allergies or something that causes chest congestion. I have been taking benedryl morning, noon and night but it helps only marginally. I went to a doctor the other day and he had me get a chest xray but I have not heard the results yet. I will call tomorrow.

A Day on the Road

I awoke at 0400 to the howl of Coyotes: One was the long howl like a wolf and there were many yipe of happy Coyotes. The only issue is they were immediately behind the house just down the hill. Almost the same spot as Abby goes morning, noon and night. This means I can no longer put her out after dark for fear of Coyotes. This is the very first time they have come so close to the house.

We puttered around the house but got on the road at about 0715 and arrived in Knoxville at 1730. There was an hour delay as two lanes merged into one on I-75 in Kentucky. I would use I-65, as bumpy as it is, and then join I-75 just North of Dalton, GA. We are now trying to decide whether to go via I-75 to Atlanta or I-40S to I-26S but I am favoring I-75 to I-10E. It is a little shorter and at least 30-40 minutes faster.

As I write, we are in the Quality Inn in North Knoxville. The internet is good, Price is $53 plus tax and the breakfast is good too. Pets are $10 a night. It is not the cleanest place but good value. Anyway, we are on the way to the boat and found a house guest so guard our place. Moore later.

Thanksgiving 2014

We started festivities the evening before with a good meal at my sisters house. My brothers and sisters were there as well as a nephew and his children plus niece with her boyfriend. The played cards and I tried to stay far away from that but had a good time talking with family not playing cards. The food was good and lots of it so everything was great.

Today, at our house, we hosted the dinner and just before that Jess called in and we all took turns chatting. While doing that Brandon called in too. While all the talking was going on I said the prayer and feeding frenzy began which last for an hour or so. Abruptly the party was over about 1330 and the guests melted away. There was snow and slipery roads coming so everyone wanted to get to their next destination before dark and the roads became worse. It was pretty silent for a while but SIL cut our hair so that added a little noise to the house. Later we took out the voluminous garbage and tried to make the house shipshape.

Now I even have time to write in this diary that I am not too faithful in maintaining. I have had this blog for over a decade and it seems a shame to let it go even though I have two more that I write in fairly often. These two are of a nautical bend and so I get to those almost every day. Night everyone & Moore Later.