So many things to do, But HOT HOT HOt

It has been an eventful week. June 29th was the first anniversary of our departure from Muskegon. I can still see Meghan and Eric waving good bye. Of course we only made 30 miles of the 4016 miles in our total trip. Those miles are strictly on the water and don't include numerous road trips we took along the way.

This week Tom got our manual bilge pump working. We received the parts for the davit and he repaired that  numerous other small tasks. Friday he and Josh (future son-in-law) went to pick up our car in Fort Myers. He should be back by Monday.

I have worked at creating shade covers for the boat. Yesterday it was 106 degrees at 1 PM and our small air conditioner could only keep the interior warm. I bought some material and I am experimenting. If I can keep direct sunlight out of the cockpit and off the air conditioner it may work more efficiently. I also hosed down the boat as soon as the sun went down. That helped cool down the haul. I think the struggle will be staying cool this summer. 

I love our new home. Waterford Marina is sail boat friendly and has excellent amenities. We have a pool with it's own entrance to Sun Dance Grill. Sun Dance is our on site restaurant where members of the marina get a discount on food and non alcoholic drinks. They also serve pool side. There is plenty of parking in the shade, which helps a little. We are close to the laundry and shower facility, which are blessedly well air conditioned. They actually have four of these facilities on site so that most residents don't have to walk very far. 

The pier we are on is mostly live-aboards. I am not the only one who hibernates coming when it cools down in the evening. I have started to go to the pool around 6 and get in a good 45 minutes of water exercise most nights. 

This weekend I made two trips into Houston, to find craft stores and just explore. I found a fantastic bakery, Gourmet French Bakery http://www.fgbakery.com/ where I enjoyed their lunch special.

I also found Merribee Needlearts http://merribee.com/. What a shop, and customer service !!!! Karuna Snood helped me get threads, supplies and canvas to restart my Heron project. Her shop is filled with needlepoint canvases, and a yummy selection of yarn. If you are in Houston and a love doing craft projects, this is a must stop.

I also stopped at Nimblefingers and found a few things. 

Another adventure was the routing of the GPS. It apparently did not want me on any thoroughfare that did not have stop lights. I saw parts of Houston .... well they aren't in any tourist brochure. Also yesterday was Houston Pride day. I was stuck for 2 hours in a six block area where there was a Gay pride festival and parade going on.  It was a very interesting 2 hours.... to be honest I would have chosen another route if I had known.

We are spending the Fourth with Jennie and Josh .... Wedding plans continue.... I found my favorite Starbucks.... Life is good.

Tom check our dock lines

Cool Hands new home

Office is on top with a small meeting room, Ice Machine, Change
machine and letter mail for each pier is set out underneath.

Our laundry and shower building. Above each one
is a picnic area with a gas grill

Pool and hot tub area

Flowering trees, they are in Reds, whites and
a variety of pink shades. I still have not
gotten a name for them

One of the many birds that visit us. We have lots of fish 

My new cooking pot. It is a Thermos Cooker.You fix
your meal in the liner on the stove. Heat to 160 degrees,
cook for about fifteen minutes then remove and
insert into the thermos..... no electricity... no heat radiating
from the outside of the pot.
Depending on what your cooking, like a slow cooker, 4 to 8 hours
later you have a meal. I cooked beans and 8 hours later they were
still at 160 degrees, done and delicious. It did not heat up the boat.
HOORAY.

a Houston Traffic circle