1/15/16    Friday     Stuart, FL

YIKES! A tornado watch! "...take shelter in a sturdy building..." or "...seek shelter in the lowest floor of the building..." WHAT building? I'm on a boat. How about the bilge? That's the lowest spot but that is pretty small. I don't think all three of us would fit and what a mess if we did. David and I packed some dry clothes in our backpacks, put the kitty carrier together and her halter on her, just in case we had to make a quick exit from Grace. Wait. We don't want to make an exit from Grace. That's one of the reasons we named the boat Grace, because of the Grace that has brought us this far. The storm passed to the south of us and blew itself out and away from us. I'll check in on cousin Nancy whose town was under tornado watch longer than we. We had a lot of rain and some wind but I don't think it was sustained at 30 mph as expected. And, except for the leaking skylight we were snug. Our new wind scoop doubles nicely as a leak deterrent on the forward hatch.

So while watching out for tornados (and watch spouts) we got a bunch of stuff done on the interior of the boat. We finished the planned maintenance and ran the boat to check for engine leaks of water or oil or diesel. I finished the second galley curtain and put the bright white thing up, only to decide to shorten it to fit more appropriately behind the glass storage shelf...and have more light.

We had a serious financial discussion. See me wrinkle my brow and scrunch my eyebrows. Turns out David thought we'd need to draw down our savings on a regular basis in order to afford our sailing adventure. I, on the other hand, thought we might make some small money from renting our house and living more frugally than we do at home and during the winter. Well, so far we're sort of meeting in the middle - NOT making money and NOT having to dip into savings, so far. We are spending slightly more than we're bringing in...but with the dinners of beans and rice and selling our bodies...no, just kidding...we are living comfortably, reading more, eating more lightly and selling off things we discover we don't need...and buying bicycles. I don't get it. But it's okay. Hey! January has been BIG bill month (think Long Term Care Insurance) for the last 5 years. Why am I worried this year? Because I'm on a boat and that is unusual and you know what b.o.a.t. stands for.
We also tip-toed into the conversation about such a trip again next year. Hmmmm...

Meanwhile, I'm watching T.V. in the Captains' lounge while David is riding his bike to the food store. And, footage of the FIRST football Super Bowl - before it was the Super Bowl (1965? or 1968?) - has been pasted together so, tonight, we can all watch that first game...between Kansas and Green Bay Packers, I think. And I'm not even being tongue in cheek. This is exciting news and I'm sorry that I won't stay out late enough to see the film. Apparently a man who played in that game will get his own copy of the film.

David may decide to volunteer at the boat show tomorrow. I think I'll volunteer to go to yoga since I missed again today...the tornado watch, you know. Hoping we'll get ourselves to move on in our journey early next week. 'Go West young (or old) people.'