I saw one!!!

Lake Worth, FL

A manatee! I went to yoga class at the Manatee Lagoon center and everyone was on the balcony rather than in the yoga room. Out I went, of course.

This lone manatee was just bobbing around, flapping her tail every now and then to move somewhere else.

What a treat! It's been cooler here this past week and the manatees come closer to the warm water outlet from the power plant. Perfect.

David and I spoke of going in earlier this morning to see if more were there. And David could see a manatee, too. But we didn't get off the boat until afternoon. Maybe tomorrow, as it is still cool...50s. But, no snow!

We've discovered the engine hot flash issue...stuck thermostat! I learned, after David worked most of yesterday to get the thermostat out, that this isn't the kind of thermostat that I have on my living room wall at our home on land. That would have been easy. I didn't realize one (David) had to take this hose off and that hose off and disconnect that and take this big, honking metal face off the engine and then pry out this really petit instrument that is about 1.5" in diameter and about 1.5" deep with a big spring around a copper column. It looks a bit like a gyroscope but...it doesn't work. Supposed to "open" at 160 degrees but ours opened at 235 degrees. No wonder the engine was overheating!

So a new one ordered which should arrive tomorrow. Now for the new oil test to see if the old test that came back with aluminum and sodium was a fluke or something more serious. But can't do that test until we get the thermostat and reconstruct the engine.

During one of cleaning, sorting adventures while DCW was working on the engine I found an older photo of David. 

This one taken BEFORE our attempts to cross the Gulf Stream to the Abacos.

This one taken AFTER our attempts to cross the Gulf Stream to the Abacos.

He's almost smiling.


After my yoga class yesterday and seeing the manatee David and I ubered to the Riviera Marina Tiki Bar and met some friends from the mooring field for dinner. While eating a the woman from the couple nearby asked, "Did I hear you all talking about yoga?" So the sextet of us had a wonderful time chatting and planning...the women talking dance (all of us have dancing experience in theater and stage) and the men talking about sailing and captaining.  The women are planing coffee on Monday (if we're still here) and the newest woman is going to meet me at the yoga class on Thursday.

Perhaps another manatee sighting tomorrow. This is a second pic of the first one I saw. The security guard at the manatee lagoon showed David and me photos of a group of eight that he took at another location on the Lagoon campus. Amazing.




So we're here for at least another couple days dealing with engine mysteries before we start listening to the weather again. Tomorrow, a bike trip or bus trip to town and a museum or two. And, I want to buy a new pair of jeans. Mine are comfortable...too comfortable to be worn in public...stretched out, loose and baggy and early worn out thighs from rubbing my dirty hands on them all these years...and the washings. Maybe earrings or a tee shirt?

Amelia continues to increase her sleeping schedule and she is shedding like crazy. I love how her front feet look, to me, like bunny feet. And she stretches so long. I need to trim her toenails again. She hates that but generally doesn't try to bite me. She's having trouble jumping, not the jumping but getting purchase on the slippery floor. And she's reluctant to jump down because of aging bones. I understand that.
She's totally quit offering to go outside. Perhaps the instability of balance and leg strength and flexibility. Recovery from any mis-step is iffy.

So I worry about her. Wonder if I should take her to a vet here to have her teeth cleaned. They are a dirty mess that the home vet and I knew before we left. Mostly, though, she seems content.

As am I.