Sunday, December 6, 2015

November: Eau Gallie, Melbourne, Vero Beach, Melbourne

Saturday, October 31

Friends from our sailing club back in New Bern arrived and anchored nearby. That afternoon Brian, George, Doug, and Tom walked to town. That evening the adults met at a restaurant on the water called Squid Lips for dinner.

The next morning our friends left to head on down to Vero Beach, FL where we would meet up with them closer to Thanksgiving.

The first week of November was filled with school work, time at the library, jobs on the boat and at my parents house.  The main boat project was the replacement of the opening windows in the boat.





Brian also replaced the bathroom sink at my parents.

We trekked over the Eau Gallie causeway bridge several times to go to the beach.

Saturday, November 7

The boys and I were at my parents having lunch, when my sister-in-law called and invited up up to Titusville to see their new house. We loaded up in two cars and drove the 30some minutes to see them.  They were finishing up a garage sale. We toured the house, then all headed over to Woody's BBQ Restaurant.


Week of November 8-14


Monday and Tuesday I spent at my parents helping declutter and take donations to Salvation Army.


The coming up weekend was a boating convention called a GAM put on by the Seven Seas Cruising Association.  Our friend Ben, who we had met back in Annapolis over the summer, arrived for the Gam and and stopped by for a visit.  Wednesday morning he invited Brian and I to his boat to go over charts.


Thursday afternoon, the boys left to spend the weekend with my parents. That evening we attended the first informal seminar of the Gam.  It was on going to the Bahamas. Everyone who has been, keep encouraging us to go. After listening to more indepth talk, we made a final decision not to try and go this year. 

About 30 boats came in for the Gam


Several dinghy's tied up to the dock
The Gam was held at the Civic Center

Friday and Saturday was spent sitting in seminars covering a multitude of sailing topics. Engine maintenance, Emergency situations, Rigging, Sailing to Cuba, and much more.

Sunday morning there was a Flea Market, and in the afternoon a picnic for the HAM Radio folks.  We are not in that group right now, but have many friends who are.

Week of November 15-21

The boys continue to do school each weekday morning. Mom picked me up to grocery shop Monday.

Tuesday morning we pulled anchor and moved about 5 miles down the Indian River to anchor near the Melbourne Causeway bridge.  We dinghied to shore and got pizza for dinner.

Wednesday afternoon the boys walked to my parents and ended up staying overnight.

Friday morning we moved the boat to the other side of the bridge for better wind protection.  We were greeted by a water jet show.



Saturday Nathan and I went to Mom and Dad's to make bierocks and do laundry. A big rain shower started soon after we got the clothes hung on the line.  Usually in FL rain showers are short lived, not this one.  We ended up taking everything to the laundry mat located in the park and used the dryers. Then loaded everything up and went back to the boat.

Week of November 22-28

Sunday afternoon Brian and I walk to my parents for a visit and a short goodbye, as we were leaving the next day to go to Vero Beach for Thanksgiving.

Monday we had the anchor up by 7am and arrived in Vero at noon.
Our club friend, Doug, heard us calling the marina and met us in his dinghy and led us to our mooring ball.






As a surprise gift to us, Doug, Ben, Tom and Ollie each paid one night for a total of three nights we could be on a mooring ball and have use of the marina facilities.



After getting settled, we went to shore and walked to the beach. It was too chilly to get in, but always nice to see the waves crashing from the boardwalk.



Tuesday evening we had all our friends over for dinner as a thank you.


Vero Beach offers a free bus system that we took advantage of for checking out the town and picking up supplies.

Wednesday I made a couple pumpkin pies and a pan of scalloped potatoes for the Sailors Thanksgiving potluck the following day.  We try not to have too much glass on the boat to prevent breakage, so I only had one traditional pie plate. So I improvised and used my 8x8 aluminum pan.

That evening our friend Tom drove us to Little Caesars for pizza for dinner.

Thanksgiving Day
Early that morning we moved off the mooring and anchored on the other side of the bridge.



At 10am we met to help set up the River House community center where the dinner was to be held at 2pm.  There were so many helpers it was set up before we arrived.  We staked out our table and visited with those around us.

Dinner was delicious and there was plenty of food for the 200 sailors.
After the meal, there was a Jam session/sing along out on the patio.






That evening back on the boat, the phone rang. One of the many people we had been introduced to called to invite our family to their boat the next morning.

Friday morning we dinghied over to Tamure and were treated to a slide show of Scott and Kitty Kuhner and their two sons on a four year circumnavigation back in 1987-1991.





Back on our boat, we decided to move again and anchor back behind the mooring field in a protected channel.



Saturday morning I got word from my mom that she had taken Dad to the ER.  After much testing, he was admitted to the hospital with congestive heart failure.  Not being able to be there was hard. We made plans to move the boat back to Melbourne at the first weather window.  If it had been truly life or death imminently, I could of had a friend drive me up.

That afternoon, we went to the Vero Beach Art Museum, where it was free admission that day.  There was a special gallery of Lego sculptures.





This one reminds me of Nathan.




Friday afternoon, we had taken the bus to town and bought a turkey and a few other groceries. As much as we loved the Sailors Potluck, we missed having turkey leftovers. So we bought the smallest one we could find, which was still a 13 lb bird.

I managed to squeeze it into my pressure cooker and once up to pressure, it only took 40 minutes of cooking!

So Saturday night we had a second thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, except pumpkin pie.





Week of November 29-December 5

Sunday was just spent mainly on the boat. A true day of rest.  Brian and the boys took turns going out in the kayak.  Mom let us know that Dad's heart was beating at 30%.  As alarming as it sounds, my friend later explained to me that the heart only beats at 50% anyway. So the 30% is based out of 50 and not 100%. This is because the heart is divided into two sections, half pumping blood in and half pumping blood out.

Monday was back to school work for the boys.  Brian and I went to town for last minute provisions. We were planning to leave the next morning to head back to Melbourne.

Mom let me know that she had signed the consent forms for Dad to have a procedure to have a heart catheter put in to see what exactly is going on with Dad's heart.

Tuesday morning we left a little after 6:30am. It took an extra hour because we were going against the current, but we still made it back by noon.  Mom let me know part way there that the surgery had been cancelled, due to Dad not cooperating.  To me, it was a huge relief.

Once anchored, mom picked me up and I went to visit Dad.  He looked good. Sitting up in bed, eating a sandwich.

Wednesday morning mom picked up Brian and I at 7:30am.  We wanted to be there for when the Dr. came by on his rounds. I talked with Dad and asked him if he would ever want surgery to check on his heart and then additional surgeries to fix whatever they might find.  He said no.  At 86 he has lived a long, full life. We want to honor his wishes and not force anything he does not want. My mom, brother, Shaun and sisters' all agreed. With no consent to ANY surgeries, there was no need to stay in the hospital.  We requested they begin discharge proceedings.

The Dr. came in and understood and by 11am they were wheeling Dad out the door.  He was very happy.

Back home, Dad resettled back in his chair, we started a load of laundry, then headed back to the boat to the boys.


Thursday mom picked up Jacob and I. Jacob stayed at the house with Dad, while she and I went grocery shopping.

Back at the boat we moved across the river to be more protected from the strong winds predicted over the weekend.


It rained all afternoon, all night, and part of Friday morning.  We had left the dinghy in the water. (We had begun lifting it out of the water on the side of the boat on halyards.) The dinghy was so full of fresh rain water we decided to do laundry.  We figure there was at least 50 gallons, since we filled our 5 gallon bucket about 10 times.



That afternoon, Brian, Nathan, and I walked 5 miles to the Red Robin Restaurant for Nathan to get his free birthday burger. We then met Mom and Dad across the street at Steak and Shake where they got milkshakes. From there it was back to their house to put together a birthday dessert, then abck to the boat.


Saturday was Nathan's 10th and my 41st birthday. We spent the morning at the beach, back tot he boat for lunch, then we all walked to Mom and Dad's for haircuts and birthday dinner.


That's what we have been up to for the past month. 
Thank you for your patience with me in taking so long for a blog update!