Our first posting gap in a while........we hope our loyal Chadian, Malaysian, and Kazakh readers will be understanding. We know, we know........this blog really makes a difference. We'll try harder. Really.
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View from the bow
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So, the World Cup is over and Les Bleues were victorious. I have to say, it was fun watching although depending on who was playing, one of our favorite lunch places (El Mundo) was either empty or insanely packed with all tables reserved.
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| Peoples of the world killing time watching football on a Tuesday morning |
And who knew that the Swiss had such a visible contingent.......although at first glance their fans still always look like a Red Cross convention.
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| Kind of a "cat in the hat" look but at least she's supporting her team |
Kirstin completed a family visit to her parents' house in Wisconsin........and returned smuggling about 100 lbs of boat parts.....the final leg in L'ORIENT's complex supply chain. Parts ordered in either Connecticut (Defender) or La Rochelle (Amel).........shipped to Wisconsin, and smuggled back in a golf bag to Bonaire. The fact that Bonaire has no golf courses has apparently not occurred to the Customs officials here.
Which brings me to my periodic longing for adoption by "Uncle Dan", who's neither my uncle (Kirstin's) nor looking to add a 55-year old wastrel to his family. But Uncle Dan is one of those rare people on Earth for whom machines large and small are no mystery..........he served as a chief mechanic for a major US municipality and worked in some similar capacity at Harley Davidson. Uncle Dan has a 3 story out-building on his property packed with engines, restored cars, snow-mobiles, etc. He has an engine hoist, fork lift, and other "necessities" of this nature. When truly stumped, I've used my rare and precious touches with Uncle Dan for enlightenment.........
Tom- "Uncle Dan, how would I change the motor mounts on my Yanmar diesel without sinking the boat?"
Uncle Dan- "Easy, just lift it up a few inches; it will take you 20 minutes, tops" (presupposing that I have an engine hoist, which based on his recommendation I later bought quite cheaply at NAPA).
Pictured below is me 4 hours into a 15 minute project.......rebuilding the propellor's hydraulic shaft brake in the engine room. I love working on the boat (I find it weirdly like a crossword puzzle), but there are times I wish I had a red "Uncle Dan" button which I could occasionally push to have him materialize in the engine room to just make problems go away. I'm certain with no orientation at all, he could have completed this project in 5 minutes armed with only a coconut, ball-point pen, and a toothbrush.
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| Still has a grin on his face after four hours... clearly some form of mental illness |
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| It works !! and with an acceptable loss of blood; victory in my world |
So next on the agenda is............what's next? Kirstin serves as Minister of Navigation and I often get clues of where she wants to go by observing the new cruising guides that appear on our boat........the latest being one for Panama. We'll have to see.........we've never been that far west but who knows? (I think Kirstin does, by the way).
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| Dreaming! |
So I've been feeling old lately. It seems like just yesterday I was throwing acorns at cars from my parent's side yard and running from the enraged motorists through the woods behind my house.....(sigh, those were the days). Now, my daughter is a newly minted CPA with a big accounting firm........and my son is turning 30 next year with a responsible career..........gulp. I even caught myself complaining about everything yesterday, in true old man fashion..."that music is too loud","why don't South Americans ever use the garbage can","why are there so many cars on this island" (the answer to that one is this massive car carrier ship - docks in Bonaire periodically and drops off more cars).
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| How can an island of 19,000 people need so many cars? |
We have met a lot of new people lately..........notably two lovely English couples on Drummer and Innamorata. Kind of makes us feel "ruling class" by association. And we've finally found Germans who apparently don't speak English perfectly........a real win for us because I get to practice my German. The only rub on this situation is that they claim to get sea-sick on cruise ships........we will prepare happy hour barf-bags on L'ORIENT for next week's meeting on the boat. This budding friendship will be short in duration if they can't control their nausea.
More this and that to come...........
