It's now Tuesday and the workmen have returned. Jason, the woolworker that is set to repair the ceiling in the main salon that was to start today has put it off till Thursday(at the earliest now). No real clue why but he did want an advance to go buy the wood he needs to do the job. He wrote down some measurement of the torn up area on his hand and took off with about $1,000TT--about $180US.

"Lobster" and his men showed up about 0900(after all it was a holiday weekend) and we discussed what we found as we took off most of the tape for the nonskid. His men(Sneezy and Sleepy) are off to get some 320 grit sandpaper to smooth out where we had some paint runs and take care of other problems we found. The work in the cockpit is now delayed for a day or two(or three--this is Trinidad after all). I gave "Lobster" the handles for the hatches he is building as he forgot to take them with him last week. Hard to make something like that if you don't have the handles(which have to be inlaid in the fiberglass)with you. He admitted that he didn't get them made over the weekend. As of this Thursday, it will be two months since he started this one month job. Loosing Moses has really set us back plus the couple of extra holidays that get thrown in and while we are making progress, we are far from getting all the jobs done. We still have to have the upholster come down and take measurements for the new dodger and bimini.

Tracy is down below Zephyr scrubbing the canvas side panels for the existing dodger as they are covered in epoxy and fiberglass dust. We had to have them up when the men were sanding or the dust would have gotten in to the boat far worse than it did. It's so fine that it works its way into the fibers of the fabric and is not easy to get out. I can hear the scrub brush going clear up here in the main cabin. The cockpit was full of it and still has a bit of residue left in most of the nooks and crannies even after we "cleaned" it out yesterday with a vacuum and wet clothes.

As a follow up to yesterdays post about Blue, she did come out on deck this morning and carefully walked around everywhere sniffing and sniffing, looking for anything suspicious. She'd look at us and meow and then carefully walk away, sniffing more. She appears pretty well recovered from yesterdays excitement.

With the workmen out on deck, I've headed for the internet room again. Working on downloading some shows and getting the first of what I'll be bringing back from the US on order. Still not sure when I'll be going home but it's best to start now, this way it should all be there by the time I get there. Tracy is meanwhile waiting for David the upholsterer to show up and get started on the dodger and bimini. I figure a good week for it to be made, and maybe longer though he will have the existing one to use as a pattern. At close to 20 years old and more restitching that I can count, it's still in decent shape but now is as good a time as any to get a new one made.

UPDATE!!! How do we feel about spending Thanksgiving here in Trinidad? Once I returned from the internet room for lunch, I found most of the deck had been sanded again. Everything but the nonskid. All the shiny places are now full of dull scratches from the sand paper. I asked the men what was next--another paint job!!! Once done with lunch, they were out on the deck, with tape and paper in hand and are now applying tape to cover the nonskid along with paper so it won't get on the newly finished area and once that is done, they are going to paint the deck again! Not that I'm complaining BUT everyday of delay cost us $20US to stay here and we are a couple of weeks already behind. With all this paint going over our new decks though, they should look great. It's the time delay that's killing us.

David the upholsterer showed up late this morning and took some measurement on the new dodger and bimini. We told him we wanted it made to the same measurement as the one already in place. I would have thought he would just take the old one and copy it. Nope, he's taking the material and laying it over the existing metal frames and measuring it, writing down the numbers and heading off to sew it. This is going to be VERY interesting.

Tracy just joined me in the internet room. She told me "Sneezy" left about 1530, that's 30 minutes later than he has ever stayed. Of course they didn't show up till 0900 and then took a coke break at 1000 and then off to lunch at 1130 and back just after 1300 so I guess that's the way the day goes. They didn't finish the taping and papering so I guess that's whats going to get done tomorrow. Since there is a 60% chance of rain and it normally comes in the morning, it will be interesting to see what they get done.