Sept 20 -Oct 2

I'm going to lump ten days into one update since we haven't done any traveling.  There have, however, been a few highlights.

In my last update, I mentioned helping my brother resurrect his 1954 Massey Ferguson tractor.  It had not been started in about five years, so I was a little concerned that it might be rusted solid inside the motor.  But, we found a local dealer who was a neat, old fashioned kind of dealer.  This dealer is a family business that was started in 1952.  The founder's son and grandson run it today, and they are the guys behind the parts counter.  They had every part we needed in stock:  plugs, points, distributor cap, rotor, battery, steering wheel, front wheels and tires, starter switch, coil, and voltage regulator.  I had already ordered a carburetor rebuild kit online, but they had those too.  They also had advice and were a pleasure to deal with.  Over the course of a few days, we got all the parts installed and gave it a try.  At first it turned over but wouldn't start.  I started double checking things, and then realized that the key was not on.  On an old vehicle like that, the starter switch is independent of the ignition switch.  Once I put the ignition switch in the 'on' position, it fired right up.  We were pleased.

We did do a boat project this week also.  The boat is a center cockpit, with a large aft cabin where we live.  It also has two heads, one forward, one aft.  Last year, we used the forward head and the v-berth for storage.  Both were pretty packed, meaning that we had no room to accommodate guests.  We only had two guests since we left Texas, and they had to sleep on the settee in the main saloon, which isn't the most comfortable place to sleep.  The way they were packed also meant that inevitably the thing you needed would be buried under everything else when you needed them.  Now we added large plywood shelves to the forward head and the front of the v-berth so that now we can stack things much better.  The result is that much more can be put in the head, leaving room in the v-berth so that we actually could put at least one person in there comfortably.  Two if they are real good friends.  My brother's help was invaluable in this project.  Since we were kids, he had a knack for woodworking, while I could turn a wrench.  So between us, we made some shelves and fixed a tractor.

We spent another day down in Westchester County visiting my daughter and grandkids.  It was good to see them again, since it may be over a year before we see them again.  We also took a short road trip north to visit my old friend Glenn, who worked with me at IBM back in the early 70's.  We had a nice ride and got to see the beginnings of the change in color of the trees.  We are up here later in the month than we were last year. The good news about that is that we are enjoying the fall colors.  The bad news is that it' getting pretty darn chilly for us southerners.  It has been in the high 30's in the morning several times in the last couple of weeks.  We have actually had to wear long sleeve shirts, sweat shirts, and jeans.  Time to move south.

One other thing we did was go to see the new Kevin Costner movie, The Guardian.  The Guardian is about a Coast Guard rescue swimmer who was a superstar but who is getting near the end of his career.  He teaches a new group of swimmers and one stands out as the next superstar.  There is lots of very realistic footage of rescues at sea, with huge waves, and boats sinking.  Just the kind of images we need in our heads just before we head offshore.

GPS N 41-36.488 W 073-57.609  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 6315.