4/19/04  I should be at the boat in Lorain next week to work on it, I would like to get the Bimini top to see how it fits and take some measurments on it.  Do you know if the work on the bow has been scheduled.  I'm hoping to get the bottom ready for paint.  And do a few other misc things.  I've first got to go to NJ and Connecticut but should be there Tuesday or so.  Sounds good on the help rigging, I'll probably be doing a week or so of work on the boat sometime before launching.  One thing I'll probably do is make a cap for the chainplates, to eliminate that possible leak point and repair the bulkhead area in the head where they  attach.  I think the bulkhead is still structurally sound but that area is probably the worst looking on the whole boat.    The cap will consist of a thin circular stainless plate welded to the top of the chainplate just above deck level and a rubber or silicon gasket to seal it to the deck.  I'll have to find someone that can weld stainless, or somebody with that equipment that will let me do it.   If you have any idea's or if somebody comes to mind on who could help me on that project I would appreciate it.  I've got other old sails with this type of track slider, so I'll start on that project.  I'll probably make some type of storm sails also.  And I'd like to look into a roller reefed head sail too.  Eventually I might remove the port settee, and replace it with some type of very comfortable reading, relaxing, reclining type of lounging chair or chairs.  I'm also looking at lots more storage, shelves and cubby holes.  There is a lot of unused or ill used space in the boat.  Last fall you gave me three sails, 2 mains and a genoa, there should be two more head sails some where, one is supposed to be at the sailmaker, the other was supposed to be in storage. since we didin't find it in the garage, Please check around and try to find it so that the two sails are still accounted for. I set up the Bimini top and made some measurements.  I will make a first attempt at a dodger to go between it and the cabin top.  It won't be convenient to get around to the fore deck but should be nice to have on a rainy or cooler day.  I also bought a couple quad line clutches so I can run most lines aft to the cockpit.  I bought a 7 foot fiberglass dingy on the way home, it should fit on the front deck. 

3/21/05 Today it is raining.  It is a spring rain, so it is not bad, the flowers are starting to bloom, daffodils and crocus.  I went to a birthday party last weekend at a friends house in Kansas City.  I spent the weekend in the city.  I went to a famous barbecue place,Arthur Bryant's BBQ, "The standard by which all are judged" to eat lunch onSunday.  It was in a book that my friend got for a birthday present, 1000 places to see before you die.  It had about 300 places in the USA, I have probably seen 200 of them,but this BBQ place, I had not, so I decided to have lunch there, it was very good.  

I spent much of the last year sailing, I bought a 30 foot boat on ebay, in Ohio, eventually heading toward the Bahama's.  Last summer I sailed the Great Lakes till the first of October.  Then headed down the canals and rivers ending up in Mobile, Ala. early December, across the gulf to southern Florida and left the boat near lake Okeechobee. Lots of great memories, near disasters, funny stories and pictures.

4/2/05  I give a talk this evening on the sailing adventure to the local Yatch club, guest speaker at the spring banquet, people paying money to listen.  :-)  Now I just got to get them to pay me.  I guess I get dinner out of it, probably not going to report that as income. Don't tell nobody, Ok

4/8/05 I give the talk at least twice more.  My outdoors club in Topeka, backpacking and canoeing group, and to the local boyscouts.  I have too many slides so it ran long but  everybody was glued to their seats.  I had to hurry up the last half :-) because the dinner cleanup crew needed to get busy so they could go home.  I digital videotaped it so I'll be able to clean it up and have it on a web site or something if I decide too.  Unfortunately the video of me is all black, the camera keyed on the slide screen but it recorded the voice well, that was the important part.  The next couple talks I'll concentrate on the last half, so I'll have both in detail.  I imagine after cleaning it up and putting them together, it could be 3 hours.  That's long, but 8 months of lots of adventure with new interesting friends almost every day is a long time too. It's overcast outside today but the temp is good,  I need to get some emails sent to let people know I'm still alive, haven't fallen off the edge of the earth on a sailboat or anything. Still busy, nothing that I can point a finger at, just life, my normal life, no moss grows here.  I guess I've been spending a lot of time fighting a computer virus. I've got it beat down to submission but can't get it licked it keeps coming back.  At least it's not a big problem like it was toward the end of last week when I didn't have time to fight it, just beat it back down, live with it and work around it.  It's mushroom time so I'll be out in the woods for the next couple weeks, looking for morrels, very tasty.

4/21/05  Still working on taxes, when you don't owe them anything there are no penalties so therefore no april 15th deadline to loose much sleep over. Haven't figured out what I'm doing this weekend but I've been keeping busy, lots of outside time, and had to dig out an old video of me dancing and watch it to relearn some old steps for dance class this week.  Also getting ready to give my sailing talk to the boyscouts so making some mods to it. 

5/3/05 (written to friend wondering if I needed a job) I've done and can do just about anything mechanical, electrical or computer related, from working on Tractors to designing and building and testing fiberglass hiway bridges.  I would say right now I'm just looking for some short term design or testing work.  Just something to keep me off the streets :-) My list of previous projects stretches from designing and constructing Nasa space suit gloves to optical computerized laser fine particle measuring test equipment for dust explosion work.  I love to teach, and feel that if you give me a book I can teach anything science related.  Taught everything from engineering ecomony, thermodynamics, fluid mechanincs, graphics, dynamics, machine design, kinematics, EE for non EE's, circuit theory, and a few others that aren't right on the tip of my toungue.  Oh yeah, started out with teaching physics and holography.  I've developed a testing system that allows me to teach large lectures (200 and more students) of problem oriented type classes and get the tests back next class so the students can quickly and are actaully required to learn from their mistakes,  get them corrected and move forward, instead of finding out about them 2 weeks later and never bothering to correct and learn from them.  Hopefully this gives you a idea of what I'm looking for, basically something part time technical to recharge the coffers on the boat and then head back to sea. 

5/4/05 Singles game for the grocery store. (this came from posts I did on a singles site) I always said we need a singles night at  the grocery store, everybody goes there. Just hard to bother somebody when they are busy. I'm sure there a lots of single woman and men that would just love to talk but how do you figure out which ones. It's a much better meat Market then the bar (excuse the play on words there, or don't excuse it, just listen up).  I came up with this idea a few years back when I was president of a local singles group. 

What I haven't figured out is what kind of game to have that would make it OK and actually desirable to talk to other people and identify yourself as single. That's where you guys come in let's talk about this, maybe I'll start a thread on this topic, I've always thought it's a great idea. The store could offer coupons or something as an incentive, I'm sure it wouldn't be a hard sell, they would love to bring all the singles into their store. So let's hear it.  

I've been told Walmart does it. that don't surprize me one bit. I think the grocery would be better. But then Wall Marts have a grocery now, so they would be a posibility and I guess you wouldn't even have to be looking for groceries, could be oil or even fishing lures too.  Here's what they do, Walmart stores in Germany, red bow on cart to identify singles but no game, your still on your own to start up a conversation. I'm looking for the thing that makes people have to talk to play the game, that'll help out the shy ones. That's what I'm after here.

Aside: Bass Pro is good, love em too, and Cabello's, and Gander Mountian but just not the mass appeal I'm after here.   Concerning Cabela's,   In the old day's when I would head toward Yellowstone, I'd leave in the afternoon so I'd catch the Kearney, Neb store about an hour before closing, check out there bargain cave section, then head out west. I'd camp on an island in the South Platte just south of town in Julesburg, CO and then in the morning head toward the Sidney store and check out it's bargains, then off to Cheyene and the Trading post same thing. Sometime I'd head for the hot springs in Saratoga on the North Platte, spend a night there, others I'd get on with the trip and be in Yellowstone or the Wind River area by evening. Now Cabela's is everywhere it's not such a big deal, my house is filled with bargains, and the bargains just don't seem as good. 

4/2/2006 I've recently bought a larger sailboat, a 38 foot Hughes, and maybe planning a trip around the world, first will be a shakedown for a couple months around the Bahamas, then after a month or so back in Florida making all the changes I've deemed necessary, up the east coast to Nova Scotia. If things are still going good, maybe a right turn and head for the Mediterranean. All this because I bought a 13 foot sailboat for $45 at a yard sale while I was in school and then came up with a dream of sailing my own boat to the Caribbean. Dreams, what would life be without them, if you stop dreaming you might as well stop breathing. I'm still looking for somebody to share some dreams and make some memories.

 4/28/2006  I made it out to Oregon, I actually had a date in SF but not with a SF gal, she was from Baton Rouge, met her on line, we did the Mardi Gras thing in New Orleans, Mobile and Baton Rouge and then she was flying out to SF to a conference, I drove out there in an extreme hurry, 2 days from Mobile to SF, with a stop for lunch with an old Singles in Agriculture friend at a little Mexican restaurant north of San Antonio. Neat restaurant, Franks Bait and Taco shop, he's on my email list now. Anyway did a week running around north California and then finally south Oregon and picked up my year old ebay backup generator for the boat. Now back in Kansas, and soon Heading off on the boat to who knows where, might even do the 4 year round the world. Got friends living in my house, emptying the mail box, so I'm free to go, only need to come home if I need a new supply of different outdoor toys.

5/12/2006 I'm in LaBelle, Florida right now, I spent a little over a week in Mobile. Helping a friend with a 65 foot aluminum military PT boat. It's got three big Detroit diesels in it and then another 30 Kwatt diesel generator. The generator was giving trouble, not getting enough cooling water through the seaco ck (not misspelled, they bleep that word on here) and strainers, either sucking air through leaks or just too much restriction in the small line leading to what was originally a 15 Kwatt generator. I suggested a section of sight tube or clear line going to the engine to know if it's an air problem. Take note that's a good idea for any engine with raw water cooling, think I'll have to add that to my boat. We were going to take the boat to the Pensacola wood boat show but had trouble and had to turn around. 

I also got to ride on a shakedown of a new cigarette boat they had just bought. Also all alluminum, it had two almost new 350 hp Yamaha outboards on the back, it was making some noise from one of the engines. We couldn't quite figure it out while on the water but after pulling it out and pulling the plugs it was pretty easy, one of the pistons wasn't moving, no compression when you held your finger in the plug hole and cranked it. Either a broken rod or wrist pin, lucky no holes in the side of the block, amazing it ran as well as it did. They might get luck and be able to fix it since the piston was down a 1/2 inch in the cylinder the skirts might have protected the cylinder walls enough to be able to just put in a new piston and rod. The boat still went close to 70 mph on the water with a broken engine, it'll be a good ride when fixed. Speaking of a good ride the PT boat would do about 45, it was no dog by any means, faster than designed since it had much less weight, no guns or ammo. 

I also got the lead keel from the boat I salvaged down there sold, still have the mast to sell, it's good condition and from a 25 foot Cal sailboat, if anybody needs one. I've also got the engineering project of designing an 80 foot tall spiral staircase on the bluff east of Mobile bay. Same guy as the boats, he's got a house on the bluffs there. He wants stairs to the beach below the bluff, think I'd hang them from the top on three cables and just use the bluff to keep them from swinging.

Have a great day, still looking for the gal that wants kids and maybe wants to sail around the world. The world is negotiable, the kids not.

 6/22/06 Still in Labelle, got the varnishing done on the old sailboat today, I've been having fun down here, went kayaking on lake O for a day, met some local kayakers at a restaurant here in town one morning, introduced myself and the next thing I knew I was invited and they even had a extra kayak loaded up and all ready for me to use. I also spent a weekend camping and sea kayaking in the mangrove swamps on the west coast of Florida. I also went birding a couple times with the local audubon group, there are lots of interesting birds down here that's for sure and some of them know how to fly.

Still in Labelle, got the varnishing done on the old sailboat today, I've been having fun down here, went kayaking on lake O for a day, met some local kayakers at a restaurant here in town one morning, introduced myself and the next thing I knew I was invited and they even had a extra kayak loaded up and all ready for me to use. I also spent a weekend camping and sea kayaking in the mangrove swamps on the west coast of Florida. I also went birding a couple times with the local Audubon group, there are lots of interesting birds down here that's for sure and some of them know how to fly.

This week had an interesting thing happen, but I can't remember it.... I woke up and had lost 5 years or so, went to the hospital, they checked me over nothing obvious, a nursing teaching friend from back in Kansas put her students on it and they came up with TGA, Transient Global Amnesia, actually pretty common but nobody can remember it... LOL. If you Goggle it you get 155,000 hits. Basically you lose a period in your memory for a short period of time, normally a day or two. I knew something was wrong that morning and told my friends. I couldn't remember where I was and how I got here. I knew I had sailboats but when asked some questions I said it was the year 2001, and Clinton was President. I had something similar happen about 10 years ago, I was home alone, and remember emailing friends about losing a memory cell, one I just used, about cells dieing all the time but this time it was one I just used. I had a bunch of recent memory that I couldn't tell if it was dream or real, but I could tell you every last detail about it. I figured the memory cell that said this area was real had died. The memory was about a weekend camping trip, I deduced it was real because all the camping stuff in my living room had a smoky smell. I didn't know if it was Friday and I dreamed about camping because I was getting ready to go or if it was Monday I actually did go and it was memory. I had really bad night sleeping the night before that event, the camping trip was cold and wet and the tent leaked most of the night. If I remember right, I came home Sunday morning, went to bed and slept through the middle of the day, woke up in the late afternoon with the memory problem.

The brain is an interesting thing.

6/22/06 I just really sat down and reconstructed the 10 year ago event. figured it might help with diagnosing this one, I wrote it in a email to my sister an air force nurse and my friend the teaching nurse and her class. It went like this.

I was camping for the weekend in the late fall in eastern Kansas with a Topeka, KS backpacking group called prairie packers. We where south and east of Topeka, it had rained most of Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, the tent had leaked and water puddled on the floor, it was a miserable and cold night with not much sleep. we broke camp first thing Sunday morning we hiked out and I drove home, about a two hour trip. When I got home I unpacked the car and called a friend that lived about 15 minutes away. He was an old student of mine, but only a few years younger, Mike from Junction City, that I often had Sunday dinner with, and played thinking games similar to Risk or chess. We planned to meet in an hour or so, I was going to take a shower first. When I got out of the shower I didn't know what day or time it was. I had a memory of the camping trip but did not know if it was Saturday morning and I was getting ready to go on the trip and I had dreamed about how the weekend would turn out the night before or if it was Sunday and I had actually lived through what was in my mind. I could tell you anything about the camping trip but did not know if it was dream or reality, I only lost one piece of information, I even knew about the phone call to my friend. I went to inspect my camping equipment and it smelled smokey that told me it was not a dream and it was Sunday. I reasoned that I had just witnessed a brain cell dieing, something that probably happened all the time but normally not one that you had just so recently used. This was the brain cell that told me this area of the brain with the camping memory was memory and not dream. I called my friend again, explained the situation and that I was heading his way, and if I didn't make it by a certain time he should come look for me. I gave him the route I planned on taking and even told him the gas station I was stopping at to fill up with gas. I had no problem getting to his place, have retold this story a couple times since then and chalked it up to a first hand example of how the brain works and can forget things. It might be related to what has happened this week. That time I only lost one bit of information, not a whole day.

For somebody interested in the medical side of this my sister the air force nurse came up with this info. The Dr .I spoke with discussed 1.) Lacunar Infarct, 2.) TIA, 3.) SIADH and 4.)REND(I am not sure what kind of cerebral event this is?). I would not take a guess at which shoe fits? Global anemia seems to have patients with a history of migraines from the research I have looked at. ( that's not me, no headache problems-- Jon)

It would seem that if he is having a cold sensation he may have something going on in the brain stem region where the temp regulating system is working. The part of the brain that involves memory is known as the association areas, that is what makes us individuals. They believe that memories of things, such as what you did last summer, involve the "hippocampus" (Greek for seahorse), part of the temporal lobe on the floor of the lateral ventricle. This area seems to collect information from areas of the cortex and puts them together. People who have damage to the hippocampus cannot form new memories. If he had an infarcted area (small clot, stenosis, blockage of some sort) It would make sense that it would be in this area. He should take 325 mg of Aspirin per day. Which would be 1 tablet. Blood thinners and clot busters are the usual treatment and prevention for strokes in the absence of a hemorrhage which they ruled out when they performed the ct scan (Did they inject dye when they did the scan? I am guessing not. Dye would give a better impression of blood perfusion. Small vessel blockage would not show up on a routine scan from what I understand.

How has his diet been in the past? Iodized salt? Thiamine difienciency? (can cause issues, usually seen in alcoholics, don't know Jon to drink that much.) Mosquitoes? Tic bites? Weird rashes? (Nope none of these probably fit, mosquito, tick maybe, alchoholic nope, a couple beers on Friday and Saturday night before CW swing dancing for 5 hours straight, but not for 6 weeks now, the last 6 weeks has been a glass of red wine in the afternoon about 60% of the time-- Jon)

If you have any ideas feel free to pass them on, I'm all ears. 

My sister told me my seahorse might be out of wack.

Have a great day, I will, even if stuff like this happens, it's all part of life, might as well enjoy the ride. Jon

10-28-06   Last Saturday I drove through fall, I left Charleston where the lowest temp so far was in the high 40's and the days were still often in the mid 90's  to drive through the hills of TN and KY with the beautiful trees and then the next morning home in KS I woke up to ice on the water bucket outside and 22 degrees.  Quite a shock, I enjoy the cool though, the heat you can't do anything about, but cool you can always dress warmer, and it makes you feel like doing things to warm up.

The boat is anchored out in Charleston harbor, at least it was when I left it there last Saturday, I'm home now, everything is OK here, I've got to get rid of some cars to make the county happy.  Basically I'll clean up some of the junk that has been accumulating for the last few years, I can get rid of VW rabbits, Some aerostar vans, some chevy vans, and some lincolns and it won't hurt too much. All the british stuff and other sports cars and old pickups can stay for now. 

I've been dancing a few times since getting home, basically I've been taking a vacation for the last week, going dancing again tonight, and playing cards and pot luck with the singles group tomorrow.  the next day is my birthday, haven't made plans for that yet, but I'm sure we'll figure something out. Tuesday is another dance night and Wednesdays I play texas holdem poker so no moss is growing on my feet.

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11-24-06  I am going to go to Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and then back to the boat in Charleston, SC. 

Iowa is where a niece live with her family, the man she married was a student of mine here at college.  She is the daughter of my brother that lives in Arkansas.  We will have a late Thanksgiving meal there on Saturday.  My brother and his wife and I think all of his kids will be there. 
 
After that I go to Michigan to get a kayak that was stolen from me two years ago.  It came up on eBay in June and I had the police go recover it for me.  Then I will probably go to Canton, Ohio and visit my cousins that live there.   Falling Waters, West Virginia is the US Coast Guard office where I will do the registration paperwork on the new boat.
  
After that I go to the boat In Charleston and will work on it for a week or so and then sail it to Florida.  Then I will find a ride back to Charleston and get my car, after that who knows?  That's too far in the future to predict well.

11-26-06  I am at my niece's house in Iowa.  I have been playing a lot with her two little boys, Issac is 3 and Tyler is 5.  I also played pool (billiards) for most of yesterday afternoon with my brother and his oldest son Fritz and Fritz's girlfriend Michele and my brother's daughter Jenny's boy friend Tracy.    My brother and I went for a long walk in the woods behind the house yesterday with the two little boys.  I enjoy playing with the boys.  I also read books to them before bed last evening.  The weather here is overcast, but not cold for this time of year, when you walk you don't really need a coat but if you stop you do. There has not been very much wind.  Today Mike, Amelia's (brothers other daughter) husband and Tyler went for a walk in the woods again.  Mike was a student of mine in engineering at KSU. 

We had a huge meal yesterday evening, today we have been eating the leftovers, most everybody but me has gone home, I will leave later in the evening and drive to Muskeygon Michigan. to pick up my recovered stolen kayak. 

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11-29-06   I'm at my cousins in Ohio, I will leave tomorrow morning and go to West Virginia.  I got my kayak from the police the other day.

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12-5-06  I have met a bunch of new friends, they are all boat people, that restore and build wooden boats.  The boat yard that is closest to where I anchor my boat is a club of people that have and work on wooden boats.  The allow me to park my car there, and leave some stuff, like my inflatable kayak that I use as a dingy to paddle out to my boat every night. I met these people because of a welder friend that I had contacted when I first came here to buy this new boat, he has a shop around the corner from the boat yard.  I stopped in to say hi the first day I was here, and he introduced me to the group, then I ended up talking and staying most of the night playing poker.  At one point I was winning about $30, I finished the evening loosing about $8, that's not bad for a evening of entertainment, sometimes you win, sometimes you loose.  The next evening (Friday) they had a big party fora guy that was celebrating his birthday, he also has a boat he had just finished and was putting in the water on Monday.  We had all kinds of food, and for the firsttime I got to eat oysters, that were collected that morning, boiled in the shell and we opened them and ate them (called shucking.) We did this again last night.  We also have a bonfire on the beach and sit around talking and drink a few beers. 

Saturday and Sunday I worked on my boat and yesterday I helped the guy with the new boat launch it and then take it to his dock.  I also met a couple that has a boat very similar to mine, that is anchored next to mine. They are form Florida, but are staying on land since they just had a newborn.  They have a rowing dory that I wanted to try out, it rowed very nice.  I will probably make one very similar to that except I will make mine it three pieces that will nest when taken apart to save space.  It will make a very good, sea worthy dingy, that will haul a lot of gear and/or people and will store away in about 4 feet by 5 feet.When I first paddled out to my boat, it was just as I left it, still a mess, LOL, only difference, lots of bird shit on it.  Looks like it moved about a 100 feet, drug the anchor in a storm, no big deal, it could have been if it blew a different direction and a little bit more though.  I was very glad when I got back here and saw my boat still in the same place and was even more glad when I saw nothing was messed with or stolen off it.

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12-9-06  I'm working on my boat, it is anchored out, I have to kayak a 1/2 mile to shore then drive to the library to wait in line for a computer, that is slow.  I have one hour to use it and much of that is spent waiting for the screens to come up.  I need to write the emails before hand on my laptop, but I haven't got the power up on my boat yet, so it's dark in the evenings when I would be able and would desire to do it.  Also it's been cold here, yesterday morning I set a new record for me, I kayaked in weather that was colder than freezing, I had never done that before. The boat stays about 50 degrees even when the weather drops below freezing for the night.  It is well insulated above the waterline and the water temperature is still around 56 F. It gets heat from the water, the hull is not insulated below the waterline for that reason, it would keep the boat warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. A 50 degree cabin temperature is a little cool to be typing, eventually I will have a wood stove in the boat, but that is still on my other boat in Florida.  I bought the batteries for the boat the day before yesterday, I need to get them out to the boat, probably later today, then I can start to debug the electrical system, I have mainly been spending my time fixing little things and sorting out all the stuff on the boat. 

A typical day for me starts with waking with the sun at 7AM, I eat a breakfast of milk and cereal, the milk is powdered I mix it in the bowl, with cold water and then add the cereal, often Raisin Bran, or Grape nuts.  I then start work on the boat, which for now consists of sorting out everything into like items and finding a good place to store that on the new boat.  Normally about noon after working most of the morning fixing something, painting or storing stuff away I might kayak in to my car, maybe to get a tool, or maybe to go to a friends house to his machine shop to build a part I need.  I will often have lunch on shore, maybe at my friends or maybe make a sandwich and eat some fruit.  I often need to go shopping to buy something to fix part of the boat or to get some food. 

Last night being Friday night some people from the boat yard gathered and we made a fire, then we went into the building and played cards, I normally don't gamble, but they wanted to play poker, so I played, I normally do quite well, because the other guys normally drink too much and I don't, so that my thinking and calculating ability that is normally much better is even more improved compared to them and that gives me even more advantage.  I don't mind gambling, even if I loose, when I know I loose money to friends, instead of a casino.

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12-11-06 I've been sorting through all the stuff on the boat, such as my collection of spare bolts and screws and extra parts. I need to know what I have and where it is. I'm working on my boat while it is anchored out.

The last couple days I've been putting the interior back together, since I had to tear it all up to do the welding on the boat.Today I finally got the power turned on in the boat, so tonight I will not have light by candle, and I had a hot lunch on the boat for the first time, I finally spent some time on checking out the propane stove and oven and made the small repairs that where necessary since it had not been used for 8 years.  My next step is to debug the running lights and other things that makes sailing the boat legal, such as the radios.  Then I need to check the navigation electronics, the GPS and radar units, depth finder and speed sensors, both wind and water and other things that make moving safer.

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12-18-06   It's Saturday lunchtime, I'm sitting at the boat yard kicked back on chair typing this letter on my laptop.  My friends are a little late, I figured the best way to guarantee they show up is start doing something like this.  Last night we played poker again, it's a standard Friday night thing here at boat yard.  We play dealers choice and rotate the deal. It's quarter ante and when we play Texas holdem we play a little different we have everybody ante and have a $2 limit on raises and bets, we still can get quite good size pots.  With other games there is no limit and $20 bets are not unheard of, I've made a few myself.  The first night I lost about $30 and then we played Saturday too, I donated another $8 or so, since then I've been doing much better, and I'm now ahead about $50.  That first night I was introduced to many new games, many are completely luck, lately we've been playing more games where being able to calculate or estimate the odds helps.  We think we played some Omaha last night, three cards down and then like Texas holdem after that.  Often when other people deal they have too many wild cards three, like 2's 4's and 8's or two cards in your hand that add to 7 or thirteen, basically then the game if it's 7 card, is going to be won or often split by having 5 aces, 5 kings sometimes wins, queens and your chances drop considerably.  Not much odds calculating going on there.  Then they play a game called follow the bitch,  it's 7 card poker, queens are wild and the card that follows a queen face up is wild (that changes if a new queen comes up.)  One other twist is the low spade in the hole of the players that haven't folded splits the pot.
Last night I folded a 3 of spades when the 2 was face up, I was guaranteed a split but had forgot that rule.  I was not happy, such is life of a gambling man, $20 bucks down the tubes.  Normally I'm not a gambler but I'll do it with friends, when I know if I loose a friend wins, it's entertainment.  I normally think I have an advantage, if odds are involved and drinking is rampant since I don't drink as much, but it's still a GAME of CHANCE.

I'll probably be ready to head to Florida next week, I've got the batteries in the boat and the electric system is mostly figured out.  I also have the propane system up so I can cook food and heat some water for baths and such.  The water system is still mostly torn apart, so many 2 liter pop bottles filled with water will be my fresh water supply.  I should also have the two 55 gal collapsible drums filled, but they are mostly for healing the boat over to fit under the low bridge east of Okeechobee.  I have yet to see how much the boat heels with them hanging on the swung out boom.

I have a cell phone but it's never on, it's for me to call, it's a track phone thing from a company called net zero, buy minutes before hand, basically I've got a 14 months of service and 1800 minutes for $200.  I also have an internet answering service, that's the number I'll give out.  It's 785-370-4232, should be good forever.

You'll hear my voice saying my name and asking to please leave a message.  If you do I'll get an email telling me about it with time stamp and your phone number and I can go online and listen to your message.  That's free and if I remember right it's from net 10.  That's pretty good for me, since email is my only real method of communication.  I should be able to have very limited text based email with amateur radio on the boat at sea.

The guys here down at the boat yard are great, many nights a week we've got a bonfire on the waters edge and somebody brings some kind of fresh seafood they just caught or collected, we've had steamed oysters more times  than I can remember, If I make it back here on the 30th to pick up my car we are all going out collect some and crabbing have a big feast while watching football and drinking a few, probably a few too many.  The boat yard is a collection of younger guys mostly involved in wood boat construction and their friends, the next dock over is a shrimp and sea food market and ice house, many of the shrimp boats dock here and the captains often join us.  A couple days I woke up thinking I might get to know one of the captains real well.  It was pea soup foggy when I rowed out to my boat late the evening before.  Had a little trouble finding my boat.  Anyway when I was awoken at 3 in the morning to the sound of a diesel engine and a person yelling "Turn right, Turn right, sailboat dead ahead," It got my attention to say the least. I'm anchored out a little closer to the channel than I would like but when I anchored I was searching for 12 feet of water (6 foot draft and 6 foot tide) with a long stick and I was in a hurry.  Since then the boat has moved about 50 feet in a strong blow but it's securely anchored and still out of the channel so I haven't been in a hurry to move it.  The last couple weeks I haven't had a steering wheel, I finally got all the pieces to adapt the new one built and installed a couple days ago.  The shafts, keyways and thickness where different sizes, so I now have a system of three adapters pieces but it's good and secure. Luckily the replacement wheel had a bigger hole and key and was thinner, so no modifications where necessary to it, just had to build pieces to fill up all the gaps.  That was mostly done by machining with power and hand hack saw and filing.  I want to get a small machining center for the boat basically an 18 inch lathe, small mill and drill press built into one machine, then I can easily make stuff like this.  I'm lost without a shop at my disposal.

I got a very neat forwarded email from my friend Judy back home, Recording a once in a millennium event on film.  At the time they didn't know the risk they where taking.  Finding a new island, go to my good stuff page to see it.  I'm trying to not spoil the surprise, every sailor needs to see this email, and everybody else would probably be interested too.  http://www.jheld.mysite.com/index_2.html  Thanks Judy.

Still the friends have not showed, not a big deal.  Many of the boat yard people have come and gone.  Last night after the card game I went home with one of the guys, he offered a hot shower and a movie and sleep on his couch.  It sure was nice to take a hot shower instead of a luke warm sponge bath on a 50 degree boat.  I need my wood stove, that'still on my other boat, just to take the chill off.  The boat is well insulated topsides and the water is 56 degrees so 50 is as low as I've seen in the cabin.

I've been frequenting a Goodwill clearance store in north Charleston, this is where all the excess donated stuff gets sold and stuff that doesn't sell at the normal stores around town.  They sell most of there stuff by the pound.  I've been finding very good clothes at 79 cents a pound and yesterday I found a good pair of cowboy boots, like new, but had a slight problem with and inside heel pad, my old ones where getting where they needed new soles and heels.  In the last couple weeks I've also bought a couple pair of hiking boots and a some Bass sandals.  Yesterday I also found a pair of topsiders boat shoes.  All these are in like new condition, a couple shirts and pants too, even got some more kids toys, glassware, candle holders and X-mas decorations for the boat.  If your ever in Charleston, you should visit this place, it's on Rivers, just north of 526 on the west side of the road.

Last week I also went to a used boat equipment store also on Rivers, just south of Montague on the east side, I bought a lot of stuff I needed for the boat and a couple books, one is the repair manual for the new diesel,I still need to find one for the little 8Hp yanmar. I bought a flare kit, shore power cord and a spare depth sensor thru hull, that's what I needed right before I launched the boat, I ended up paying real money for a bronze one, this $5 new plastic one would have been just the ticket, I'm ready for next time now.

Sometime I need to attach the picture of the place in south China that I decided I will go to,it was on the wall of the Chinese buffet I ate at (it's also on Rivers, LOL), I'll want to see if any friend of a friend might be able to tell me where it is. (it's on the bottom of the trip report1 page, I found out where it is by searching on the internet)

This week I also visited the tall ship that they are building downtown with my welder friend.  The ship is the "Spirit of South Carolina", it's going to be beautiful, many of the people here at the boat yard are working on it.  It will be launched on the first Saturday in March, it'll still have a year of work left before it sails though. 

Still left for me to do on my boat, hook up the navigation lights, check the instruments, electric bilge pumps, hook up the radio antennas.  I checked out the radar today, it works but not as good as expected, might be operator failure, since this is the first time I've messed with radar.  Well that covers a lot of my life in the last week. My friend finally called they'll be here in an hour.

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