First ve haff zee good news. Zee good news is dat the prop iz here. Zee bad news iz zat it costs more zhan zee original estimate.

When Lew ordered the prop for us he was told that it was going to be a six week delivery. When he objected it turned out that there was a means to get one but at a higher price, but the price mentioned was only a couple of hundred higher. So we were anticipating a $700 price tag, but when it arrived yesterday they named $1200 as the price! Lew was really upset and you can only imagine how I feel about it. Granted we will get a $300 trade in for our old prop but Holy Cow. Now we’re stuck. For two pins I would tell the marina to tell this clown that he can keep his prop but then we would be looking at further delays, so we have decided to eat the extra charge and be on our way. Apparently it turns out that the extra cost didn’t come from the fellow that Lew deals with but rather with the people that actually cast the prop and the ones that bored out the shaft. Still?! I have mentioned to Lew that he needs to have some mechanism in place where these folks are either held to their original estimates or at the very least will call with an updated price if there is a significant change. I could tell from the look on his face as he approached me yesterday with that particular piece of news that he really wasn’t enjoying being the bearer of expensive tidings.

At any rate, we have a scheduled haul for prop replacement tomorrow so we should be good to go on the weekend weather permitting. I don’t want to leave on Friday (Barb is hoping to borrow the loaner car to make another laundry trip into Gloucester) and Saturday is supposed to be OK weather but then Sunday will be crap and Monday and the rest of next week should be OK. Maybe we’ll leave Saturday and go straight through to Annapolis and hang out there Sunday and leave for Chesapeake City on Monday and see what the weather will be for the rest of the week.

The weather witches were calling for scattered thunderstorms again today so we had something to look forward to. Yippie! But instead we have had a day of sunshine and really warm temperatures. Every day we go and at least have a wade in the pool. Yesterday it was only a wade but on the previous two days we actually swam to the amazement of the locals who make no secret of the fact that they think Canadians are nuts. Oh well. It’s a great way to cool down on a hot day.

We have ordered and received some engine oil, as well as spare filters, Raycor, fuel and oil and put in an order for 50’ of G40 galvanized anchor chain for our secondary anchor which should be here tomorrow.

Today I got to go up the mast to replace the steaming and deck light. What fun! At least it is only part way up the mast in the bosun’s chair with heat gun, crimper, drill, electric cord, screws, etc. Adding the steps a couple of years ago makes it a lot quicker and much easier for Barb to trail the line and help me up. I was also able to discover why the old light didn’t work. The line at the deck was broken. Sheesh!

Barb has been really busy all day besides helping me up the mast, she has been making some line bags to hang on the lifelines to store various and sundry lines that we use. The first was an adaptation of a fender bag that just wasn’t cutting it in its original job so it became the home for the 300’ of ¾” double braid that we have on hand in case we need to deploy the sea anchor or the drogues. Then she got busy making up similar bags in which we will be storing our dock lines. Most people store their dock lines in the lazarette but we have so much other stuff in there even after the culling that we have done on this trip that there just isn’t room, so the line bags. They will live on the lifelines and also act as additional splash clothes.

Tonight, Wee Mikey is cooking and we are having Chicken Cordon Bleu, buttered carrots and baked potato. Yumm, if I do say so myself. Although the CINC Home Fleet has insisted that I confess that the Cordon Bleu was not of my personal making. Rather I bought it at a Fresh Market. I did select them though!

We have asked for the bill so that we can have our heart failure in time to recover for our departure