PROJECTS CONTINUE, but, thought we would take a break to talk about other things.  Just want to post a few pics about this beautiful place, Ft. Myers.  Most mornings we do a four mile walk along McGregor Blvd. passing  the beautiful homes and grounds of the Ford & Edison Estates (a favorite tourist attraction here).  The flowers are just starting to peak along the walk - Bougainvillea is having a very good year and because we are from the north we don't get to enjoy many of the flowers we see here and unfortunately, we do not know their names either.  The following pics are from our morning walks.

Beautiful Bougainvillea hedges.

Thousands of palms line McGregor Blvd. - the nickname for Ft. Myers is City of Palms - streets and sidewalks are always kept very clean. It's a groundskeepers dream or perhaps nightmare.

Henry Ford/Thomas Edison's Winter homes on the Caloosahatchee River

Purple Bougainvillea on the Ford/Edison grounds.

Philodendron growing around a tree. I love it!

Pretty Pink tree - sorry don't know name.

 nor do we know the name of this red flowered tree.

It's like walking in a botanical garden and it's free.

Izzy's new favorite birds to chase - what happened to my pheasants?

Plant update - we are now up to two.

Well, technically we have three - but this one really doesn't count - does it? We brought it along with us from home - I thought it would satisfy our need to have plants on board - guess I was wrong.

All Izzy wants to know is when are we going to play ball?

After a full day of walking, playing ball, boat projects and docktails, Izzy and Mom usually fall asleep watching TV ( Ok, in our defense - Jeopardy doesn't even come on until 7:30 and the news is not on until 11:00 - we are Central time zone people).  We often awake wondering why we have a crick in our neck/ear. 

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This past weekend was the Edison Festival of Lights Parade.  Although disappointed in the parade (they need to take a lesson from the Holidazzle parade in Minneapolis) the fireworks were incredible (See above video).  Fireworks always bring out the kid in me, also dolphins playing in our bow wake and oh, yes, puppies - you need to check out Istaboa Waypoints new puppy, Muddy Waters.  Welcome Muddy!

Updates on boat projects to follow. 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

A WEEK IN REVIEW - in other words we've been too busy to blog.  So just to catch you up on a few things - here goes.  One of the projects that Deb wanted done this year, was new covers for the saloon and pilot house cushions.  Well as of last Saturday, that project maybe on hold for another year or two - our neighbors at the marina just sold their American Tug (a record breaking 30 day turnaround), and invited us on board to help celebrate. One thing lead to another and we are now the proud owners of their 10'6" AB dinghy (not part of the American Tug sale), complete with autohelm, bench seat , electric start, 20HP Yamaha engine and bimini top (they made us an offer we couldn't refuse - I mean seriously couldn't refuse). We had been kicking around the idea of replacing our tried and true Apex, but just couldn't justify the dollars.  Chalk this one up to being in the right place at the right time.

Now comes the hard part - figuring out what to do with our Apex dinghy and researching the best way to hoist this heavier dinghy up top to the cradle and then installing the new system.  Looks like "the list" will be set aside, again - for a little bit at least.

Celebrating Deb's birthday on the 7th. - Guess what she got for her birthday - just what she's always wanted - a new dinghy, hmmm. (I think I've been hoodwinked). Can't wait to see what I get for Valentines Day - I'm thinking a winch/hoist. 

Forgot to post this picture with the battery box project - Rick is shrink wrapping the battery cable ends - didn't notice until I was looking back thru the pictures -  it appears he enjoys doing this nearly naked - just saying careful with that flame buddy.  Also notice plants are starting to show up in the cockpit - this is some one's cast off Christmas tree Rick rescued from the dumpster. Hoping to keep our plant intake to a manageable amount this year - we will see.

A few small projects got done this week - Rick, put on his electricians hat and installed a new fan in the head.

Then became a plumber for the day and disassembled the toilet to install a new bowl seal - always a task to look forward to.  

  

Repairing leaky hoses - and cleaning out the lazarette - basically trying to remember what was stashed where when we left Broulee at the end of March last year.

Deb defrosted the freezer. Our new Vitrifrigo refrigerator/freezer, although very energy efficient, requires manual defrosting - so once a month it's ice cream for breakfast - life is good.

On Friday we had lunch with our new found friends, Chris and Gail Wilkinson - Krogen wantabees.  They live in the area and follow many of the trawler blogs - it was great visiting with them and sharing some of our experiences aboard Broulee.  Best wishes to them in their journey to make the decision to become live aboard boaters.  

Another good week, however, looking forward to getting on the move.   

AND NOW MAYBE WE ARE MOVING ON TO THE NEXT PROJECT -  PERHAPS SOMETHING ON THE LIST?  The batteries arrived on Friday, note - 12 old batteries needed to be removed from the engine room (63 pounds each) then 12 new batteries (63 pounds each) needed to get back into the engine room.     

Old batteries coming out.  Guess that gym membership is starting to pay off!

To get the starboard batteries out required opening the hatch in the saloon - monkey man

climbing over engine to battery box.

Here they come - battery guys - yeah!

Thanks guys - they at least helped get the new ones on the back deck.

And now 12 more back in!  No workout at the gym required today.

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Pretty new batteries, all clean and cozy on starboard side. That's a girls version of this story. 

New batteries in the new box with new battery cables - good job Rick, your incredible ability to make improvements to this boat even though it takes longer then predicted (secret is, but don't tell him, I have learned to always add a month to his estimate) you rock.

Izzy, supervising the engine room activity.

New walkway and battery box secure - I believe that's a wrap!

Now lets hope it all works.

Sunday, took a day off to participate in the Fort Myers ArtFest - basically lots of people and lots of great stuff.  We have more recently learned restraint - our new mantra is "IF IT LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING WE NEED - WE REALLY DON'T NEED IT. ( We constantly need to be reminded of  that storage space back home of stuff we really needed).

Advertised this year was Italian Style street painting.  The 2012 theme is Animals of the World.  Teams from Lee County High Schools and professional chalk street painting artists create beautiful drawings on the pavement. For most students this is their first time painting with chalk on the ground.

Sadly - someone allowed cars to drive over them - why?

Next project to follow.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL - well, at least the battery box is now in the engine room where it belongs, day 23 (but who's counting) update. Our friend Doug, back in Minnesota, is dying to hear the latest on the battery box saga.  Would like to say it's a wrap, but it seems to be more of a challenge then either one of us thought it would be or maybe it started out to be just a battery box and has grown into something much bigger, (i.e.) rerouting fuel lines and Racor filters; trying to locate 4/0000 cable; driving to Port St. Lucie (2 1/2 hours) to borrow a battery cable crimper from a friend and, well, it is what it is. We are now patiently awaiting delivery of the twelve new batteries.  These are pictures of more recent progress. 

For several days the cockpit turned into a paint booth.  Now mind you, we have a dog with black hair, who needs to travel thru this area to go pee - hmmm, don't know how that black dog hair got in your white paint!

New box and remounted fuel filters.

Yeah - it's in, and mission accomplished - look at the nice little walkway to the back of the engine room.  Lots of detailing yet to happen, but for Deb, it's out of sight and out of mind.

During a lull in the action (waiting for paint to dry) we decided to attend the local Celtic Festival - here are some highlights.

His shirt says - It's a kilt.  If I wore something under it THEN it would be a skirt.

Seriously?

and, of course, dancing.

and more, kilts.

Also, a British car show.

We did have an ulterior motive for driving over to borrow a crimping tool - we wanted to check out the marina where Wayne & Carol are staying.  Their marina is part of the Club Med operation - looks inviting.

That's all we have for now - more updates to follow.