Landed in Petersburg on Monday afternoon. It's still very cold here with a 1/4 inch ice crust on any standing water. With our new Wifi enhancer (by Rogue Wave), I was able to connect, albeit slowly, to a neighboring wifi system. Painfully slow, but it will connect. At least I can stay in touch.

The boat is in good shape but dirty. I pulled the cover off her and, whew, she was filthy! She needs a bath. No more uproar below than we had anticipated.

Rule 1. When arriving at one's boat after a long absence, NOTHING will go smoothly so just assume that you'll do nothing but plan and organize for the first day.

Lots of small problems so far. Nothing insurmountable, but each takes time to solve, transportation that I don't have (other than renting a taxi to cart me around), or tools that I don't have.

Today, Wednesday, is beginning as a sunny day. Since I hired a taxi to get me to a machine shop (Piston and Rudder, here in Petersburg), I grabbed some minimal groceries. Since I don't have the fridge on, I left on deck the milk and margarine. I awoke this morning to thumping on deck and thought it was the guys working on a boat next door. Yes, they were working but the thumping was ravens stealing my milk and margarine. Damn! What a dummy!

Today is fuel line day. Wish me luck.