I finally got my finger removed and got the necessary photos taken to finish off my e-booklet. Not that I have done the final proofing of the booklet itself but at least I have some shots of the drogues that Barb and I have been making. That's what my incredibly expensive but beautiful model is holding in the photo for today's post. If you look closely the one on the right in the picture is smaller and has less components to the basket webbing. It is the "Baby" version of the drogue and is intended for yachts of up to 10,000 lbs or 5T. The other is the "Teen" version and is for boats up to 30,000 lbs or 15T. Nelleke weighs in at 28,000 lbs so she could do with the Teen but for safety sake we intend to use them in series; the design allows for that. They both store together in a 1'x 2' dry bag with the swivel blocks hanging on the outside ready for use. I'm quite happy with them and at $100 each for materials they are a lot less expensive than the commercially available variant which does not allow for putting them in series.

We went out for some more Christmas shopping today to pick up a few small things and got out of the house early enough that we missed the mobs and were done and home by shortly after noon. Other than buying the Christmas hooch as I discussed briefly in yesterday's post, I plan to delay any more shopping for Barb (she's all that I have left) until Kayt comes down on Thursday so we can do it together. Speaking of Christmas hooch, did you notice the comment to yesterday's post from Pat? In it is provided a recipe for another Christmas drink which looks really good! It means that we will be buying another bottle for our Christmas stash so we can try it. We already have the ice-cream and 7Up.

I also neglected to mention that the other day Peri went in to have his stitches removed that were all that was left from the surgery to lop off the growth that he had on his neck. Other than a slightly bald spot where they had shaved him he now seems none the worse for wear although Barb did tell me that as they were bringing him out from the back room where they had removed the stitches he was giving them a severe talking to. She wasn't sure if he was complaining or congratulating them on a job well done but finally we can pat him on the neck without having to fondle that lump Merry Christmas Peri! On an aside and please don't tell Peri but we bought him a collapsible dog crate while we were out this morning. We already had one of those lumpy plastic ones but we were worried about where we would store it when we got to the boat. These were 40% off and will do great for someone like us, a RIOD family (Retirement Income, One Dog). We are keeping the rigid plastic one for when Barb and Peri fly over to Europe to meet me after we have taken Nelleke across from St John's to Cork, Ireland. The collapsible crates are not acceptable on the flight.