Happy Friday the 13th. First one this year.

Boat repairs - there’s always something. House repairs - sometimes things stop working properly, but we let it go because we have a work around, and if it really becomes an issue, we can call someone. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work when you are cruising. You normally can’t call someone, and it seems like anytime you let a boat issue go unresolved, it morphs into something much worse. So you learn to address issues pretty quickly before they jump you. So it was with that training that Roger went from project to project at his parent’s house.

When I visited my brother, Paul, near Fort Lauderdale, he had a short list of things he wondered if I could solve. Chief among them was his generator. It started, but did not produce electricity. He developed a work around, but it was a nuisance. So I got him to take it apart and I looked at all the rusty connections. After touching a few of those wires, he started it and it worked perfectly. I tried to claim credit for fixing it, but he wouldn’t give me any. Go figure! Another strange one was the shower. One turned it clockwise for cold and counterclockwise for hot ... until one day when it suddenly worked in reverse. When one turned it to cold, one got hot water. So I took that apart which got him to play with it and finally get it switched back - after all these years. My boat conditioning led me to attack problems, whereas before, I would just ignore them and hope they went away - which they never did.

What do you get when you cross a golden retriever with a poodle? A golden poodle that doesn’t shed, but likes to play fetch and jump in the pool. It acts like a retriever, but looks like a poodle. Very nice dogs. Shown in the blog photo with wife Lori on her way to play tennis.

I am on the boat in Vero Beach. A cold front with thunderstorms is coming through on Sunday, so I will wait until Monday to leave. Roger and Tari will arrive Saturday.