Our Final Weeks in St. Petersburg

Since our last update we have been working hard to cross projects off the Captain’s long list. After Todd got the engines put back together, he tore into the VacuFlush toilet in the aft stateroom. Although frustrating at times, it was a successful experience and we have a fully functional head again and that’s a beautiful thing!

Staining the inside of the front hatch.

Todd also spent a couple of days decorating Cathy’s dock with colorful floats he found and brought back from the Exumas in 2009.

The weekend of February 19th, longtime boaters Mike & Mary Hall paid Cathy a visit on their way to the Keys to visit friends. Their boat, “WhatDazeIt?,” is currently docked at Eagle Cove Marina in Alabama on the Black Warrior River so this was a road trip for them. Lisa & Steve also came over to join the festivities.

It was a beautiful weekend to hang by the pool.

Steve, Todd & Mike relaxing in what Cathy calls her Key West area.

Lisa wraps her 17-year-old dog Lucky up in a towel after he took an unexpected dip in the pool – twice. Poor Lucky’s eyesight isn’t what it used to be!

Lisa, Mary and Cathy chatting poolside.

Todd and Lisa partnering in a game of bags. Not sure why they’re both on the ground?

I’m rich, I’m rich!!!

Ms. Davis sacked out on us – again!

After our weekend of fun, we forced ourselves to start on the sundeck wing doors. Cathy’s next door neighbor, Ted, helped Todd scrape off the old varnish and sand the doors while I started scraping the varnish off the door frames. What an extremely time-consuming and labor intensive project that turned out to be!

Don’t let this picture fool you, the Captain did most of the work!

On Sunday, February 27th, Don (another neighbor and friend of Cathy’s) invited Todd to go fishing with him. They were hoping to catch sheepshead but only came back with one nice sea trout.

Captain Don at the helm.

Don & Patty join us for fish tacos featuring Todd’s sea trout.

A familiar position for Cathy. When she isn’t at the office or meeting with clients, she’s working at the couch.

For Cathy’s birthday, we hired a tree service to trim five of her palm trees. An interesting process to watch, especially on a windy day!

Notice how the guy’s feet are no longer on the ladder in the second photo? Yikes!

The weekend of March 5th, also Cathy’s birthday weekend, Cathy invited Jim & MaryAnn, friends from Apollo Beach, and Don & Patty over for more poolside fun. Todd’s sister Jennifer also came over from Orlando for the party.

Sampling Jello shots in the kitchen.

Cathy shares Jello shots with the young studs across the street who were also having a party.

And Todd shares Jello shots with the cute coeds!

Speaking of shots, here’s one for the guys!

Jennifer and Todd poolside. Can you tell they’re related?

Everyone enjoying another beautiful sunny day.

MaryAnn & Jim (front) sitting next to Patty & Don.

Cathy getting ready to refill her tiki torches.

Cathy blows out the candles on MaryAnn’s famous Kahlua cake.

Another night of fun and games on the lanai.

Then it was back to work. We finally finished the wing doors and frames and hung the doors, and even though they were a TON of hard work, they really do look beautiful.

Stocking up in preparation of our upcoming departure from land.

We also took “Life’s2Short” out for a spin to make sure everything was in proper working order with the new heat exchangers, transmission coolers and oil coolers. When we came back to the dock, we pointed the boat in the opposite direction so the Captain could wax the other side. He then spent most of a day giving the boat a thorough bath while I tackled the dreaded cleaning of the inside of the flybridge canvas.

Over the next several days, Todd spent countless hours waxing the top side of the boat. We’ve both commented that “Life’s2Short” probably looks as good now as she has since we’ve owned her!

Patty came over early Saturday morning to get things set up for the annual neighborhood garage sale. Even though Cathy wasn’t keen on participating, Patty more or less roped her into it by bringing her garage sale goodies to Cathy’s house to sell.

Cathy with next door neighbor and wing door assistant, Ted.

On Sunday, March 13th, we borrowed Cathy’s car and drove to Tampa Bay Downs for a final day at the horse track with Lisa & Steve. It was a gorgeous day to be outside, even though the ponies weren’t very good to us.

And they’re off!

No napping, Lisa!

We have been busy these past few days making final preparations to leave the dock for points south. Our first stop will be Sarasota where we plan to meet up with several boating friends to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Among them will be Bob & Stephanie on “September Song,” Steve & Diane on "Aurora," Norm & Vicki on “Tide Hiker,” and Joe & Julia on “Sea Pearl,” all of whom have been on the blog several times over the years.

Having been at the dock now since November 26th, the Captain is more than ready to do some cruising! After Sarasota we will continue south to Ft. Myers Beach for a few days and then on to the Ten Thousand Islands in the Everglades before turning back north. We had kicked around the idea of going to the Exumas one last time before putting “Life’s2Short” on the market but have decided to stay closer to home.

Yes, “Life’s2Short” is now officially for sale, boo-hoo. She’s not listed with a broker yet as we would like to save both us and a potential buyer broker fees.

Our plans beyond the Ten Thousand Islands are fairly loose but we will probably be back in the St. Petersburg area for a brief visit around the middle of April before continuing a leisurely cruise north along the west coast of Florida and then west along the Florida panhandle to Mobile, Alabama. After that we will head north on the Tenn-Tom Waterway with a stop in Demopolis, Alabama, to visit friends before continuing north to the Tennessee River for the summer – IF “Life’s2Short” doesn’t sell between now and then!