Our life raft was in need of service, so we took a trip up to Tampa to drop it off. They offered us an opportunity to come back when they are about to open it up, so that we can go over the entire procedure ourselves. The time to learn how to deploy a life raft is NOT when you are needing to deploy it, so we will take full advantage. Videos are available, but sometimes nothing can compare to the actual experience.
Somewhere along the line, one of this boat's previous owners replaced the galley counter with small white ceramic tiles, which is not my ideal counter material. The grout is old, and discoloured, and really hard to keep clean. We decided that replacing the entire counter was out of the question, and began to look for ways to clean it up. So I spent a couple of days scrubbing with a very stiff bristled brush to remove as much of the old crud as I could, then applied a grout re-colouring and sealing compound. The result, while still a tiled counter, at least now looks clean and new. All I need now is my new faucet installed (with spray attachment) and I'll be happy.
We have also removed the port side window which was leaking in a couple of places. All of the old caulking and silicone that had been used to seal it needs to be removed and the entire area cleaned up to make it ready to re-bed. Thankfully, the weather has been cooperating, and we are making good progress, but it's hard work and requires getting myself into some unusual positions to reach the areas that need cleaning. I have been reminded, yet again, that I am not as flexible as I used to be!
On Saturday, after several days' hard work we rewarded ourselves with a lovely dinner of grilled filet mignon, mushrooms and potatoes along with a bottle of Australian Shiraz - all served on the aft deck.
But in the middle of the night we had an unexpected visitor. Let me set the stage a bit. Our cabin is under the aft deck, with a hatch over the bed that opens in the aft deck floor. The aft deck itself is completely screened in, so we open the hatch at night. Kokomo has the run of the place at night as there is no way he can get out of the enclosure.
It was about 4 am when I felt a soft plop on the pillow beside my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Kokie looking down at me through the hatch, and I assumed that he had dropped one of his toy mice through the hatch and was wanting to play. I patted around to see if I could find it. Unsuccessful, I closed my eyes to go back to sleep, when WHAM! Sixteen pounds of cat landed right on my belly from directly above. I must have sounded like a cartoon character, as I let out a great OOOF! This, of course, woke Michael from a deep sleep, saying WHAT? WHAT? What's happening?
Meanwhile, Kokie is hunting something, sniffing all around the bed, looking for whatever it was that came through the hatch ahead of him. You have to understand that Kokie has never before voluntarily jumped through that hatch - so we knew something was up. I was thinking a little lizard maybe, as there are lots of them around here. But we couldn't find anything, so gave up looking. But Kokie didn't. For the next few hours, he sniffed around, walking all over the bed, scratching at cupboard doors and exploring all of the shelves in the cabin. We were up by about 7, and he was still hunting. There is a large cupboard that runs behind the bed, and Kokie was trying so hard to get in there, so Michael opened the door for him, noticing a small spot on the floor. He shone a flashlight on it, and it moved! A tiny frog...jumping away from the light. Kokie tried to pounce, but there wasn't enough room for both him and Michael, and now they were both on the hunt. But that little frog was smart, and retreated behind some piping. Michael eventually gave up, thinking that it would probably die if we couldn't get it out. A few minutes later, he found it again, on the other side of the room, and managed to get it to jump into a plastic box so that we could return it to the outside world.
Poor Kokie, deprived of his prize...lucky frog, back where he belongs.
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