March 16th Thompson's Bay, Long Island

After coffee I headed to the fuel dock in Salt Pond to pick up a couple jerry cans of diesel and one of gasoline. Since I was there, I loaded 15 gallons of water as well. It was a slow trip back with about 300 pounds of liquids but I got there eventually.

While I was gone Kathy made arrangements for a rental car. Fox Auto picked us up at 11:30 and after completing the paperwork, we headed south. Our first stop was the bank a few miles to the south. We've received notice that our bank cards have been somehow compromised... not here but back in the States, and we needed to make a with drawel before new cards are issued.

We went to Max's Conch bar for lunch and ended up staying there talking to some folks who are in the process of building a home here.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent touring the northern end of the island. We drove up to the Columbus Monument and Santa Maria Bay.

We returned to the boat around 5pm and had some pork fried rice for dinner....

Mac and Cheese....

Boil macaroni and then let cool.... Usually about two or three cups dry.

Chop and sauté one medium onion and a green pepper. ...I always add some type of hot pepper as well which usually means that I chop about 8 jalapeno rings.

Grate about one pound of cheese... good cheddar is the best but here we use the yellow stuff.

Mix up two eggs ....and stir in one can of evaporated milk.

Combine the macaroni, cheese (reserve a little for the top) and vegetables and transfer everything to a 9 by 13 baking pan that is well greased.

Pour the custard mixture over the mac and cheese mixture.

My best guess that it cooks for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees....when it's about half done and the custard is cooking through, I add the reserved cheese to the top and then sprinkle about half cup of bread crumbs on top of that.


This is a combo of about 3 different recipes-feel free to experiment.



March 15, 2009 Thompson's Bay, Long Island

Since we have decided to stay here, we slept in until 7:00, (actually, Mike did not get up until almost 8:00-unheard of!) and did not get up to listen to weather. The weather will be.

We read, did crossword puzzles, etc. until Mike decided we should take the Windbugger propeller to shore to paint it, and then go hiking to look for the "proper" palm fronds for weaving. We also needed a good walk. The walk to telephone pole 108 is about a mile and the walk to the ocean is about the same, so it is a nice hike. The lost, or maybe not, goats bleat at you as you walk through the woods. It was pretty hot today in the stillness of the woods, but we found some great palm fronds and a great ocean breeze to cool us off before our hike back.

Mike retrieved the propeller, which was "almost" dry and we dinghied back to Sapphire to have some lunch. If anyone were watching, they may have wondered at the man holding a propeller up in the air in his dinghy-does that help balance?, gain speed?...hmmm. No, it just wasn't dry.

After lunch, Kathy worked on polishing the stainless (which does rust) for hours, while Mike cooked some pork, that needed to be cooked, into pork-fried rice. That is for lunch tomorrow because tonight he is cooking some Mahi and has made some into seviche-YUM. We had dinner in near darkness in the cockpit, and then watched the shuttle launch. It mainly looked like a REALLY bright cloud from here, but it was still very cool. (Still, not as cool as seeing it close.)

March 14, 09 Thompson's Bay, Long Island

Sorry, sorry, sorry, about not being diligent about Davey's birthday. I have been negligent about the proof reading and I always add the birthdays. It is all my fault. I have received two (expensive) phone calls to chastise me for my negligence. (I also think I missed Pam and Carter's birthdays-sorry)

We were up at 6:30 for the weather and got the boat ready for travel. Kathy leaned down to start the engine as I went forward to hoist the anchor. For some reason I went back to the cockpit and we decided to stay here for the weekend. We have four or five repairs to make and it may be best to just get them done.

Kathy started cleaning and cleaning and cleaning ...and I removed everything from the Lazarette, sorting things that hadn't been used in a while, throwing away some junk, and organizing others. (Kathy takes over) We glued the broken part of the Windbugger propeller together, which took a long time. (I am not sure if Mike told about the Windbugger coming unhooked and blasting itself around the boat and one part into Elizabeth Harbor, where he jumped in the dinghy to rescue one half of one half of the propeller blades.? I must add that we are lucky some part did not go through our dodger!)

We finished our work in time to listen to the abysmal Michigan State game. I'm sure we should have just kept working. We listened to some of the Purdue/Illinois game, until we were sure of the winner, and then watched a few episodes of the last season of the "Sopranos".




March 13, 09 Thompson's Bay, Long Island

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVEY!!!!!!

After breakfast we headed to Salt Pond, which is the name of the settlement here, to get rid of some garbage and to do a little grocery shopping. It is about 3 miles away by dinghy, but with the wind out of the east it's not a bad trip.

Or plan was to stop by Long Island Breeze for a pizza to take back to the boat for the game but their power had been out and the cook had been sent home until noon.

We returned to "Sapphire" for the pre game show. It was the Spartans first B 10 Tourney game. The game was close for the first half but they got it together for the final 20 minutes and slowly pulled away for the win.

Kathy worked on the dishes while I lined all the necessary clamps and tools to glue the wind bugger's propeller back together. It took all four of our hands but the glue job went well and seems at this point to be a success.

While on deck I working I noticed that the SSB antenna was disconnected. With further examination, the wire that attaches the antenna to the tuner was corroded to the breaking point on bottom end and had come detached at the top. With a little work we had things back together in better shape that they've been in a while.

We listened to more Basketball during our afternoon work projects but a dark we lost our satellite feed.

I made sweet and sour pork for dinner which was a little different but tasted ok...