Saturday December 03rd, 2016
Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat, please put a penny in ‘Sailormans’ hat. I think that’s how it goes. We rented a car for the weekend using my Enterprise points. We were upgraded from the Stanley Steamer usually used for weekend points rentals. Perhaps my corporate complaint about the tape remains all over our previous rental put a star beside my name. For $8 bucks we were given a Nissan Murano with 40 miles on it.
My only issue with the car is the colour color. It is listed on the rental as ‘ORANGE’. It is not actually orange, it is Pacific sunset… It rides nice and the beauty is you are unable to see the outside of the car from the inside. I have noticed that there are a lot of vehicles out there in variations of well… orange. By way of review, the Murano is peppy, has a cup holder or two, and is ORANGE. I have never had an orange car before.
Sailormans is a used sailboat part store down in Fort Lauderdale. They also sell new stuff but mostly it is old and some that is junk waiting for the right sailor to come along and proclaim it to be treasure. I was able to pick up some west system supplies for less than half what they are at West Marine. I needed a piece of starboard and found a pallet full of pieces available for $4 per pound. The piece I needed was 5 pounds so $20 bucks. A piece that size and thickness would be $80 or so at West Marine.
The other thing I need is a proper fishing pole for the ocean. Grant has me thinking about surf fishing. My kind of fishing, just cast it out and drink beer. You need a pole… or at least beer, perhaps I haven’t thought this through completely. Next time I will have to go with a fisherperson and get an appropriate weapon. They also have spear fishing stuff but I am wary of this type of fishing, I see self mutilation as a possible outcome.
We finished picking and poking here at Sailormans and went across the street to the Fort Lauderdale West Marine. This west marine is a warehouse store and stocks their full inventory. It is a great store albeit a very pricey $tore. We did find a finalist in Fracas new ladder. It is helpful when you can actually see the ladder rather than a picture on the googlizer. I had to get some teak plugs. I have the bit to make them but you need a drill press. Without a drill press you are vulnerable to the aforementioned self mutilation.
We had a nice visit with Harrison and the parental units last night on FaceTime. He blew his grandmother a kiss and gave me an accusing look (I’ve abandoned him). We had a nice visit until he moved on to YouTube…
Today we are going to drive to the other used part store and grab some stuff to build a bag for the Honda generator and some fittings. We hope to go to the Stuart Christmas boat light parade. The Lucy’s hosted us in Port Charlotte for their version a couple of years ago. It is much more fun to watch than participate. If I put more than one strand of lights on FRACA I have to go to the Betty Ford clinic….
more later