Little rain in Marathon

Woke up today under cloudy skies. Wayne did make it with Sailor to shore before the rain started.  Early afternoon we had lots of rain. I'd say about 2 hrs. It's been a real calm day with hardly any wind. It seems weird that the water s smooth. You can ride around in the dinghy without getting wet.

Sunset with Sheet Music at left 

I took this picture before dinner. Kathy cooked tonight. Steak, potatoes, asparagus, salad and cookies and coffee. Always good.

When we returned to Bum'sRest, we received a call from Tom Cail from Canada. Good to hear from you. After Wayne brought Sailor back from a walkie, we settled in reading our books.

Saturday night in Marathon

Nice day, didn't really do much. We met Chuck & Kathy at the marina dock to go to Key Fisheries for Happy Hour for Stone claw crabs for $1 a piece. Happy Hour starts at 5pm and we were able to get 4 seats. We each ordered a dozen claws. Wayne only ate 6 of his and gave them to me. Doesn't like to pick them.  They aren't hard to pick. At least this time it wasn't freezing cold wind blowing.

Chuck having a little fun.

After we had finished are claws, we went downstairs to the restaurant to order dinner. Three of us had lobster, and Wayne had lobster bisque and conch fritters.

Foolin around

We walked back to the dinghys and were back to the boat by 7:30pm. Wayne took Sailor for his last dinghy ride walk for the night.

Finally getting warmer here!!!!!

We woke up late today. It wasn't freezing in the boat. First time in a while we didn't need to put the heat on and snuggle under a blanket waiting for the coffee to brew. Chuck, Kathy and Jazzy dinghied over to pick me up. Kathy wanted to drop mail off at the post office. I went to Kmart, while she took Jazzy to the pet store. Then we took turns going into the Public for a few items. I had my cart on wheels with me for the walk back. We aren't going to complain, but, we actually worked up a sweat today. Didn't need our sweat jackets. We should of wore are capris. Think it was in the low 70's. What a difference 20 degrees makes.

Wayne and Chuck are going to a seminar at West Marine at 5pm. It's about power for boats. Chuck dropped Kathy and Jazzy on our boat and took Wayne with him to shore. They walked to West Marine.
Kathy made homemade peach cobbler and baked it in my oven. While I played on the computer. Then she helped me fine American Idol site, so I could watch the new show. Then she read, while I cooked dinner.

The guys returned just in time for dinner. Panko chicken, noodles with chicken flavor sause, string beans. Then we had coffee with the peach cobbler. So yummy!

Can you beleive I didn't take any pictures today.

No Name Pub

This morning we received a call from Joe and Joe Jr.friends from NJ asking us if we would like to go to the No Name Pub for lunch. Yep!!! We put Sailor in his crate and Chuck & Kathy put Jazzy in hers. Off we went to the marina to meet them at 12noon. No Name Pub, it's a nice place if you can find it. That's their slogan. It's well known for the pizza. It is on Big Pine Key going towards Key West. They put $1 bills over every space available. It's the best place I have seen with the $1 bills. Wayne and I have been here before in our journeys down here. Here are some pictures of us at the bar.

I'm trying to keep my eyes open with the flash.

(Left) Joe Jr., Joe and Wayne. Chuck is next to Wayne, but moved out. Kathy has a picture of all of us at the bar for her blog. Kathy and I met a nice couple from Palm Springs, near Stuart. Brian Heiney and Jenn Clark. He ask us what are boat names were and I said, Bum'sRest. Bumm, being are last name. He put his hand out and said mine is Heiney. We had a good laugh with that. We told them what we are doing with the sailboats. Brain dreams someday he can do the same thing. Brian, don't just dream, follow your dreams. I hope you follow the the blog and keep in touch. May be some day we'll meet again. We should of taken a picture, but, didn't think of it until we were driving away :(.  Thank you for the leftover pizza :).

Thank you Joe Jr. for treating us all for lunch. It was very nice of you and sure wasn't expected.

(Left) Joe Jr, Joe and Wayne......Can anybody guess where this is????

Some body should now.......Bahia Honda State Park. Joe and Joe Jr. have driven past it plenty of times, but never stopped. We all love coming here. We walked on the harbor side beach and fish were dead everywhere.

This is a dead grouper and its over a foot long.

This iguana is in the sea grass in the harbor. Kathy and I thought he was dead. Until we watched him a while and it blinked its eyes. I think he is eating dead fish that are floating in the sea grass.

Harbor side beach. It wasn't a very sunny day today.

After we left here, I asked Joe where are we going now?  Going to Burdines for fried key lime pie. He and Joe Jr split one. The rest of us had coffee.

When we got back, Sailor was brought back to shore for his walkie. Kathy cooked dinner tonight. We ate around 7:30pm. She made hamburgers (which her and I split one) chips and homemade coleslaw. Cookies and coffee. Stuffed!!!!!

Well, another great day with friends. Sure will miss you guys. Have a safe trip back to NJ.

Took this picture from Kathy's blog, the whole gang is here.

More time with friends

The winds have calmed down, so it doesn't feel as cold. Wayne put the propane heater on just to take the chill off this morning. Around 12:30pm he dinghied me in so I could take a real shower and wash my hair. The showers aren't heated, so I was frozen. Don't know what's worst. Being so hot you can't get your clothes back on or being so cold you can't get dressed fast enough. BRRRRRR..... Anyway, I got warm when I used the hair dryer.

Around 3:30pm Jim & Linda Lutz, both were in Wayne's high school class, came to the marina and picked us and Chuck & Kathy up. They rent a house for 3 months, Mile Marker 53 in Key Colony Beach. Marathon surrounds it. We went to Sparky's Landing Fish n Cocktails. Happy Hour is 25 cent wings and 25 cent peel your own shrimp. So, you can guess what we had for dinner. Afterwards, Jim drove us around the community and then went back to their place for dessert. The house sits on a canal. They, also, brought down his fishing boat, not sure the size, say 24ft. Jim does a lot a fishing.

(Left) Jim & Linda, Wayne & Patti and Chuck & Kathy

Thank you guys for picking us up and including our friends. We had a great time. Maybe we can hook up again soon,before we leave Marathon.

Things to do in Marathon today.

Up and out this morning.  First thing, at the office, to use the laundry here you have to get a prepaid card to swipe in the machines. $2 wash, $1 day. So, I had 2 loads $6 dollars on the card. I was there 3 hours doing laundry. 6 washers, 6 dryers, with one dryer broke. It was the drying that took so long at 45mins for the $l. Anyway, I got it done. I took the used prepaid card back, because, if you lose it, it's $10 they charge your bill.
Wayne and Sailor dinghied over to Burdines to fill two of the diesel fuel carry on tanks and gas for the Ginny. Ran the engine a while to make sure no oil leaks or everything else he worked on the other day was in good working order.
Of course, he called my phone 5 times, 5 voice mails. Of course, I couldn't hear it with all the noise in the laundry. I called him to come get me when I was done. Came back and put it all away. I jumped on the computer to start the blog.
We caught Chuck & Kathy coming back with her load of groceries.

While I was on the computer, Lori skyped us with Christopher & Camryn. Wayne took pictures of the computer with the kids on skype. Funny, they like to make faces, and ask to see Sailor to sing happy birthday, because, that's the only song Sailor will howl to.

(left) Camryn (4), Lori, Christopher (6), and his neighbor

Our daughter Lori, and Camyrn  (4)

My turn to cook tonight. Smoked pork chops, mixed vegs, baked red potatoes (for the guys) baked sweet potatoes (for us gals). Made chocolate pudding with cream.

Kathy took this picture of our boat tonight right before they came for dinner. As you can see the wind has calmed down today. After dinner we called Wayne, and talked to baby Lila on the phone with mommy April in the background. (watching Idol). Wayne had sent us videos of Lila, and it was in our spam. So we finally got to watch them.

Headed for the Everglades

We got a call this morning from Joe McConnell and son Joe. They asked if we would like to take a ride to the Everglades National Park. SURE!!!!  They picked us up and headed for the Everglades. We have never been there before.

We drove up Route 1 to Key Largo, then up to Homestead to Flamingo Visitor Center on the Florida Bay. Wayne and I new about Flamingo having a marina, but were told it was closed three years ago, because of a hurricane. Anyway, there is a harbor wall you can tie up to. We saw this catamaran there that we moored with in Vero Beach at Thanksgiving and been here in Marathon on a mooring ball. So it seems you can still get into here and use the harbor.

Across from the harbor is the Flamingo Hotel that is no longer open. The visitor center is very nice and have tour boats. I took a picture of the fish in the harbor. They are dying, because the water is cold.

Next stop is West Lake Trail. Joe and Joe Jr. and I walked out on this walkway overlooks a large lake.

Out here you could see lots of cat fish in the water.

mangrove's

Next stop at Mahogany Hammock Trail

Wayne stayed back with Sailor, dogs were not allowed on walkways.

On the way back, we stopped to have dinner at Alabama Jack's. As you can see, Sailor is under his dad's sweatshirt.

We had a great dinner and had a wonderful day with Joe & Joe Jr.

We had a great time. (Thank you for stoppiing at publix, too.)

CCCCCOOOOOLLLLLDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the coldest day ever. It has to be in the low 40's.and high winds.  The wind has been blowing all night with the boat rocking. I didn't get much sleep. Wayne bundled up and took Sailor over for a walkie. Came back and he put the propane heater on for a while. That eats up the canisters of propane so fast. We had lots of coffee and I cooked eggs and bacon. We talked Michelle on skype too.

Pretty cold when you have your reading glasses on and your breath streams them up. A little while ago I was plucking my eyebrows and steaming up the mirror. Time to turn the heat back on.

We watched a movie on the computer this morning. Michelle let us use her netflix.com, that was pretty cool. (Thanks Michelle) We only have 6 DVD's with us.

Kathy cooked tonight. We had pork cooked for hours in sauce with spaghetti, salad and strawberries with homemade custard. Very good.

This is Sheet Music just before we went over for dinner tonight.

Sleepin In on a dreary morning

We woke up to a raining, cold morning. Sailor didn't want to get out of bed. I can't blame him.  Nothing planned today. We are just staying in the boat and tiring to keep warm. To miserable to go out.

This is how you have to dress to ride in the dinghy to take Sailor for a walkie.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Wayne had a chance to catch up on emails.

We invited Chuck & Kathy for movie night on Bum's Rest, but, Kathy was in her pajamas all day and warm (same with me) and Chuck wanted to listen to the Eagles game on Sirrus. That's fine. Wayne ate his leftovers from the other night for dinner. I was happy to have a hot bowl of soup. So, after we ate we watched a DVD movie and popcorn.

Day at Fiesta Key

Dale and Rodney came over today to take us to their campground. They took Kathy and I, with Jazzy and Sailor. Dennis, Barbara and Abbey their dog, took Wayne and Chuck. Off we went to Fiesta Key RV Resort, on Long Key, Mile Marker 70.  We all brought snacks for lunch and sat around enjoying each others stories.

Dale's perfect little pop-up

Never seen this kind of set-up before with electric, water. Six campers could use this building.

Across from his site is the heated swimming pool. We are having a beautiful day in the low 70's. But, no one wanted to go swimming. Dale kept on asking if we wanted to swim.

Wayne and Sailor are sitting in front of the marina they have here.

Wayne, Sailor and I walked a bit. The Fiesta Key is surrounded by water on the bay side. It looks like it has around 600 sites. Tents, pull thrus, waterfront sites, motel rooms and efficiency motel rooms, laundry, boat ramp and marina. They even have a little restaurant. Didn't this picture come out good of the brochure? I'm getting better at this computer and camera stuff; 

Around 4pm we all packed up and headed back to the marina. Chuck and Kathy took Jazzy back to crate. Wayne took Sailor, also, to crate. Dennis and Barbara dinghied out to see inside Sheet Music and Bum's Rest. I waited with Dale & Rodney. We all jumped back into the vans and just down the street to the Hurricane Restaurant for dinner.

(Left front) Kathy, Dale, Barbara, Wayne. (Right front) Chuck, Rodney, Dennis, Patti.

Thanks, Dale & Rodney, for a wonderful day. Have a safe trip back home to Ohio.

Fun times with Joe & Jr. from NJ in Marathon

Wayne worked on changing the oil and filters,( every 100 hours), also a pencil zinc and impeller. So, Chuck, dinghied over and picked me up, and took Kathy and I, Jazzy & Sailor to shore. We walked the dogs and checked out the ball fields, but, the dogs were not allowed, only on the walk way. We tried to walk down the sidewalk on US1, but Sailor put his brakes on. I picked him up, but being 12 pounds gets heavy to carry. We turned around and I put him down. That's what he wanted, he wanted to go back and walked all the way. We looked for a tennis ball, but no luck. We then went into the basket ball/roller blade enclosed park and let them play off the leash. No one was around to tell us no.

What a handsome dude

Jazzy taking a break

After about 2 hours of playing with the dogs, Kathy called Chuck for a dinghy pickup. Wayne had already dinghied over to pick up Joe McConnell and son Jr. friends from NJ on Comfortably Numb. They are down here in Grassy Key for fishing. Anyway, everyone jumped on Bum's Rest to catch up on new news.

Sailor really doesn't know Joe Jr. but, jumped right on his lap and got comfy.

Kathy took the picture, wish she was in it.

Around 5pm we all went to the Keys

 Fisheries Sunset bar for $1 stone claw crabs. Only can get them from 5-7pm Happy Hour at the bar, otherwise they cost more downstairs at the restaurant.  I tell you what, the bar was full when we got there at 5:15pm and had to wait for seats. Kathy and I were the only ones to sit. We each ordered a dozen claws to start. Chuck and Wayne only ate a few and the guys wanted to go down to eat at the restaurant. We said, go ahead, we'll stay here and ordered another dozen claws each. They were so sweet and packed with meat. That was our dinner.

 

The gang at the bar.

We are "SO" enjoying this.

After Kathy and I were done, we rejoined the guys. They were finishing up and I went to get some ice cream and coffee. Wayne convineced Joe Jr. that he likes chocolate mint ice cream with his beer. We really had a great time tonight and alot of laughs. Maybe we can meet up with them again before they leave for NJ.

Spending the day with friends

Wayne's buddy Dale, from Ohio, down camping here in the Keys, with his side kick Rodney, called us to take a ride down to Key West. They were looking for a fellow that helped them out two years ago on their sailboat. After stopping and asking quite a few people, even a radio station, because, someone said he adveritised his canvas bussiness. Luck and dettermination, we found him in Pine Key. They reminisce for a while and gave him a bottle of rum. Aferwards, on the drive back we stopped at Berdines for a late lunch. Yummy!!!

Dale on left, his buddy Rodney at Berdines

Afterward, Dale drove us to Pubix for groceries and they needed some food also. As I was in the store, guess who I ran into? Kathy. We brought her back with us to the marina, instead of walking back with all her stuff. Wayne had to make two trips back with his supply of beer and my cases of water. Dale also has friends here on a mooring ball from Ohio. We met Dennis & Barbara on Noble Hourse, a 36 Gozzard. Also, met Addy the golden retriever, which is a sweetheart with full of kisses.

We all went to a cuban restaurant. I was to full, just had a small salad and a glass of sangeria. Wayne had a bowl of conch chowder. It was nice just getting off the boat today. Kathy and Chuck had gone over to another boat for drinks and watch the sunset.

Marathon, Fla

We took the mile walk up to West Marine. Wayne needed to return the stern light for the dinghy, which we bought in September, for a replacement. On the walk back we stopped at the Keys Fisheries for lunch. We wanted $1.00 stone crabs, but now they start at 5pm to 7pm Happy Hour. Just our luck. So, we had stone crab stew. We will come back to try them this week with Chuck and Kathy.

We were suppose to met up with friends for dinner, but they never called. Hate when that happens. So, I took out leftovers for dinner. It is so cold here on the water. Wayne took out the propane heater to take the chill off in the cabin and before we went to bed. Don't worry, he turned it off for the night.

Bahia Honda to Boot Key Harbor Marathon City Marina Mooring Field

Here we are again at Bahia Honda State Park. We do enjoy this park. Wayne, Sailor and I walked back to the campground. Wayne did use the shower there this morning.

This is a little path right by the boats and when you turn

around you see the old railroad bridge.

and the new bridge straight across bay side

Chuck had to go up his mast to change his mast light that burnt out.

This was the best place to change it.

This is the entrance way to get in and out of the harbor. Yesterday we had 3ft 3ins, today we had over 4ft. You have to stick closer to the rock wall. We drawl 3 ft. I think we left today around 1pm. Here we go back out in the 20 knot winds. Waves breaking over the bow and port side got sprayed. Wayne did see a pod of dolphins. I couldn't go up to see, because, it was way to ruff. But, I kept looking to the starboard side and their they were swimming along side of the bow for awhile. They are so cool to watch. We arrived at the Marathon City Marina approx 3:15pm. Back on a Mooring ball in row O4. Wayne put the dinghy in and motor on. We are staying for 7 days. We caught up again with friends Dennis and Doris on Magic.

We saw  them on Christmas Day. They are waiting for better weather, like all of us, to cross over to the Bahamas.

My turn to cook tonight. Breaded chicken, salad, corn. We weren't to hungrey, because, Chuck and Kathy were here with Dennis and Doris and we had wine, cheese and crackers.