Not necessarily a girlie tool.

I once had a hair dryer on the boat.

We moved the boat to a 'warm' climate. Why would I need a hair dryer?

After one season of suffering hyperthermia of the skull, I decided the time has come replace the hairdryer on the boat.

Running to the nearest restaurant, public restroom looking for a hand dryer to dry your hair really helps you re-evaluate whats important.

So, besides risking freezing hair follicles, the hair dryer has since been commissioned for:

• Drying out leaking port lights and hatches for repair.
• Helping cure any sort of repair job that takes several layers to apply.
• Helping dry out any sort of canvas or cloth that may be stored below for a long period.
• Drying out the ice maker before we leave to prevent mildew formation.

I have to admit, the hair dryer probably has been used more often for boat projects than actually my hair, but that's okay.  I don't get any crap for having it now!

Florida Trip

We went to Florida to see the girl, possibly show her and got to the boat show.

So our trip was something like this.

Fort Lauderdale

Miami

Key West

Miami

Fort Lauderdale

A lot of driving involved. And rain. And once again record cold temps and howling winds. Which had the spouse in a tizzy.

We did, for once, get to spend a lot of time talking to sailors. Our buddy Bob from the marina, some South Carolina folks down at Willie T's and of course the boat show people.

Jody and Bob from Cruising Outpost are doing great.

I think the most bestest part of this trip was getting to test sail our future dream boat (Seaward 46rk).  It was quite fantastic. Actually looking through the family tree now for that lost millionaire uncle, but ancestry.com is failing me.  My parents are trying to help out by playing penny slots and playing the lottery, but I'm not holding my breath.

So, I eventually find the dream job, start learning to code as Bill Gates says, or resort to some sort of malfeasance.

Hmmm. Tough choice.

Here's some pics from the test sail.  Thank you SO MUCH, Rob Parks and Nick Hake, it was a fantastic afternoon.

The spouse is actually steering, this stopped once Nick started using the autopilot himself.

The view from the inside pilot chair.  Didn't take the best picture here.

Under sail. Eventually got the boat sailing at 30 degrees off the wind.
Pretty impressive.

We are under power at this point, long story short, Nick Hake and I are having
a conversation about...funny sounds.
Not the boat, the engine.  The engine with 10 hours on it.

I included the last picture because my my spouse, normally not a shutterbug, kept going asking me to pose.  That is my:  'Not is NOT a good time, talking to the important man now' look.

Yes, I can steer with my armpit quite successfully, so shut up.

Be careful what you wish for....

We are in a drought we said.

We need some moisture ... I think the exact word was rain.

January comes around...70 degrees.

Early February goes around...Key West 58 degrees, Kansas 59 degrees.  Oh yes it was, look it up.  Weather Underground will be happy to fill you in.

Then upon our return from Florida...more on that later.

Snow. Lots of it. Hello Winter Storm Q... and Rocky...and what a freaking minute, winter storms are named after... fictional characters? Nemo.....Gandolf (not Gandalf, that Tolkein's and therefore copyrighted...sheesh, I thought everybody knew that) Oh my, just I just reveal my inner geek? Crap.

Everything was fine at the house.  Except having to shovel the crap out.  As I told my friends, come join me for  the Alpine Incline Snow Shovel Bootcamp workout.  Guaranteed to burn 18,000 calories a minute.

No takers...weenies.

And since I'm very lazy, and my ESS Sabrina has already put in the work, here's the fun up at the lake.

Lake Perry B Dock..two guesses on what is wrong with that picture.

I hope to go up tomorrow to see what Rocky has added to the fun.  But as far as I know... MY boat is okay.  And it's all about me.

However, on the bright side, although it's chilly, it hasn't been unpleasant. For my candy ass, that's saying ALOT.  So, I've actually kinda enjoyed playing with my dogs in the backyard.  BTW--I have a malamute, this is her Disneyland, Utopia, Crack Cocaine, living high on the hog.

The dog we got from Florida two years ago?  Well, she's not so bright so this is her take.

Well, it's wet, kinda cold, but pretty soft.  Can you see me? 

Pretty boats and a pretty bird

One of these pretty boats is mine...after declutter and detailed.

Some of these boats are meant to go a bit faster.

And one is of my new buddy Isabel.

I'll let you figure out what is what.

Live updates of Key West Race Week are here: http://www.premiere-racing.com/KWRWLive/

 

Come on, you know you want her.

 

Sunsets and race boats.....sigh...

 

Bunch o'Melges

The clearer picture is not too flattering to the blog author.  We'll just leave that alone.

Really busy...being unemployed

In a move that many people probably question my sanity considering the political and economic climate...I quit my job.

Long story short.  I can get a job easy enough, I'm not afraid to work, however, my sanity...priceless.

So, let's suffice to say, my job wasn't really working out for me.  Very unsatisfying and uncomfortable at the same time.

But enough about that.

I never realized that as a voluntarily unemployed person, I would be so freaking busy.  Our house has become a weird version of Hoarders meets Pawn Stars.  This just won't do.  So, I'm on a major campaign to purge, it goes to charity, or it goes in the garage for hopefully a very lucrative garage sale.  The rest can be picked up by our local junk dealer to do with as he wishes.

However, the spouse sent me down to Key West to detail our HemiD for sale.  Yep, you heard correctly.  She's going on the market.  It'll take a while to sell her, but that will give us time to build the kitty for a bigger boat.

In between standing on my head detailing 'THE HEAD' and rubbing down every surface of the boat, I did take time to scout out the Key West Race Week set up and venture about town.

Being unemployed, for now, does not suck.

It ain't all about the restaurants

Sometimes its a good yummy grilled dog and some conch fritters and cheap Copa wine.  (I couldn't take pics of the Danger Dog (hot dog wrapped in Bacon, deep fried and served Chicago style or my regular grilled dog with all the fixings plus cheese) mainly because I was rapidly covered in all sorts of cheesy gooey mess.

Also, the fun loving owner of the Conch shack, thanks so much for the dogs!

Not as bad as I feared.

Good for absorbing alchol!

Not sure what the spouse was reading, but it was entertaining.

Dinghy Cruising

Not much wind, so we decided to goof off in the dinghy.  An extra application of sunscreen should have been applied, whoops.

Mostly around the surrounding channel and a quick buzz to the Navy marina (go away, Navy property, you must not see us playing on the beach and having cookouts)

Boat's name is Happyness. Don't look so happy.

Cruising through the mangroves.

Navy marina with their cookout area/beach over on the right.

Osprey family on a abandoned power line less than thrilled we were checking them out.