November 11-14, 2015 … more lessons to learn

a Limpkin strutting his stroll on Mikes lawn

I was working on the deck and I got a shiver ..., in 90 degree F. temp  .. I looked beside me and the resident crocodile was making his rounds .

Joe made us this cockpit table, maple and cherry wood .. thanks Jody for the stainless parts to mount it

our Canadian flag is up and now the U.S. flag .. I guess we are just about legal to transit 

the Limpkin on Mikes boat …

our shade cloths that I made at home …  they just about look professional 

okay the house battery issue .. we already two days ago replaced our 6 year old starter battery  .. the house batteries, which are only one year old, where not holding a charge  … here we are installing 4 new house batteries .. what happened was that over the summer with the solar charging the batteries, it over charged them and the fluid evaporated out of the batteries .. with no one to check them for 6 months it fried our new batteries .. another lesson learnt 

we are staying on a canal called Schooner Lane

Moses in the Bulrushes flowers around a tree .. these are house plants back home

my birthday gift from Joe .. hand carved Pelican, made from Florida swamp Cyprus 

we attended a pot luck at Turkey Creek Yacht Club, guest of Mike and Sharon

November 7-10, 2015 learning a lot of lessons , these days

mold on our inflatable life jackets .. we still don't know what we did SO wrong

vinegar and water got most of it off

both sails are now on .. and they came out of the boat with no mold

Happy Birthday to me … we went to an authentic Mexican home grown restaurant for supper

later that night Mike and Sharon took us to a local bar, which is on the canal system, for a few drinks

a regular at the bar

Joe re drilling holes to hold the new Rocna 15 anchor 

small lines to not buy for the sunny south

2nd Birthday visit to the bar, by pontoon boat this time .. so cool

our hosts …Mike Ashmore and Sharon Ramage

and another close up of someone wanting supper served NOW

our transportation

it sure is a lively place every night of the week

this is what happens if you don't return to your boat

we where given a papua , to our amazement it is a star when you open it up to eat .. locally grown

it was a bit over ripe, our mistake, but very good

of course the red/fire ants knew I was coming and the 2nd day I got bit twice .. good for me there was no reaction and inflammation 

and to my scare and terror, I encounter 2 invasive tree frogs in the boat … Joe is not any where within shouting distance and I had to capture (not easy) and remove  … Wonder Woman would be proud of me .. ha ha

more food is loaded, this year I'm organizing a bit different .. all meat in one container, same for canned veggies and canned fruit … some are kept out for use in the next month 

last year we heard on the radio, amongst Christmas Carols a message saying " Don't be a victim, buy a gun " .. which we are for sure shocked at … this is another statement

Joe is helping Mike Ashmore, put on his sails …

maybe I didn't mention this before, but Modaki is on a private dock in the middle of Florida.. our friend Mike Ashmore which has a home in Meaford, Ontario, and his partner Sharon Ramage, Owen Sound, let us leave our boat here for the summer … lucky for us they also have a home across the canal, that we are staying at while we prep the boat for departure … therefore we still have a bed that we can walk around .. lol

in Florida, even in November you get up at sunrise and start to work .. by 10 am, it is too hot to do anything … trust me, I know

okay we are having battery issues, more on that later

installing a new fuel line from the new tank (6 months ago), to engine

the humidity is rusting everything 

it is now 11am and too hot to work, so we have a cold shower and hop in an air conditioned car to head to Labelle, 30 min away to do errands … rain coming down north of us

November 1-6, 2015 returning to MODAKI

Walkabout, took us on a tour of Washington D.C. , this is the back of the White House

Washington (pencil) Monument

State House, under construction

helicopters landing at at the Pentagon

Randy and Joe

one of the two meals we made from the Blue Apron, a mail order meal in a box

Carmen and I prepping the meal

Walkabout, Carmen, Randy and Coco … their new boat has some major issues and they will not be returning to the  Bahamas, the winter

next stop was at Fort Pierce, Florida to see Other Goose, Rick and Susan Schultz, from Owen Sound

we arrived at about 4pm to Modaki .. lots of mold inside

and enough outside too

the black is the soot from the burning of sugar cane 

some of the lines had to have a lot of soaking and cleaning

some of the small lines disintegrated from the sun

a bar of soap partly eaten, we have not found the nibbler yet … lots of Gecho's on the boat

the damp rid we installed, where completely full and probably should of been replaced every month

we worked from 8 - 1:30pm cleaning inside and out, most of the mold is gone now

oh yeah it is extremely hot and humid these days, 30 F, with humidity 35 F

this is last years picture of Ed and Nancy from Ithaca, New York, we stopped in to see them and spend a night .. and we hope to stop in to see them next spring

October 27- 31, 2015 last minute get togethers and packing the car

thanks to our family and friends for lots of suppers and get-togethers in the last few weeks

Jamie and Martha Nicol (Project 50) …. Val and Jody Bourerlein, Sue Allison and Tilak Fernando

little Carter helping dry the dishes

the tradition, Spring and Fall cleaning of McTeer and McTeer 2 cars.  A good mother and daughter time spent together

starting to pack up the car … we put the spare tire and jack in the back seat, thank goodness we didn't have to use it … the new Rocna 15 anchor, situated in the middle of the car

cleaning of Joe's workshop, to make room for the outdoor furniture

the trunk is packed, note the box in the middle, after we got to Ithaca, New York, things must of shifted and the trunk opened on its own 2 times, while we where on the 4 lane highway .. we only lost one thing, the laundry soap

by this point we realized that the car was packed too full .. 

we where relieved when the US Customs just asked a few questions, and waved us thru, I would of not wanted to repack