December 2008: Prepared...well for almost everything.

Well here we are now in December 2008.

The beginning of the month started out well with MY trip away from the boat for a boys weekend at my friends Skips new boat "Prodigal", a Morgan 46 located for now in Kemah, Texas. Since Angela got to go to the Bahamas for a "girl trip" in October I got to go to Kemah with Skip for a "boys trip" in December. Well I think she fared better than me spending her trip at Atlantis in the Bahamas while I helped Skip repair leaks and toilets in cold Kemah!! It was fun and my dad joined to help in the fun. I would post some pictures but I was busy working! For more fun on this trip you can check out Skip's blog at: http://skipsphotos.blogspot.com/

After the trip we were busy with final preparations as the plan was to go back to Dallas for Christmas, December 19-27 with family and then leave on December 30th to spend New Years in the Bahamas and start our freshman year as true cruisers.

The last week before we left for Christmas we were busy filling fuel tanks, checking off items on the to-do list and were VERY excited about our pending departure. During the week I noticed some swelling in a very tender part of my body and we decided to have it checked out. Got news the day before we left for Christmas that I have testicular cancer (same thing that Lance Armstrong had). To say we were disappointed would be an understatement at this point but we both agreed that this was just a delay in the plan and once we can we will still get underway.

As of today, December 30th we went back to the doctor today and had some good news about the tumor and have surgery scheduled for this Friday to have the "part" removed. Not sure what we will have to do from here but we hope to continue with our plans just as soon as possible.

For all that have e-mailed and called with prayer support and best wishes I sincerely Thank you! To put it in Texas terms all we can do at this point is "get er done" and continue with the important things in life like cruising the islands.

In true holiday spirit Angela has made a poem to sum up or put in a nutshell (ha, ha) our Christmas tale:

Twas the week before Christmas
and all through the boat,
the stores are all full,
and we're still afloat.

The course was all plotted,
with due caution and care
for an open water passage,
We soon would be there!

When what to our wondering eyes should appear,
testicular swelling!
The equipment most dear!

So off to the doctor
we ran in a flash,
with hopes of simplicity
and plenty of cash.

The exam was complete,
then he ordered a scan.
Just to be safe,
but it could change our plan.

Oh, horror of horrors,
it just might be cancer.
So now we will operate
to determine the answer.

After holiday in Texas,
days chilly and cold,
We're now back in Marathon
with travel on hold.

The research is done
and in the surgeon we're pleased.
It will take steady hands
to fix one of these.

Recovery is likely,
so we hope and we pray,
and we'll go on our trip,
just not today.

Thanksgiving 2008 with family

For Thanksgiving this year Angela and I were invited to my cousins David Shrader's house in Co-Co Beach Florida to spend the holiday with the Shrader clan. David is the son of my moms brother, and is actually only one of 5 sons! They all live in Nebraska aside from David and his wife Sherry who live in Co Co Beach with their kids William and Lucretia. All five Shrader sons, most of their families and my Aunt Merlyn and Uncle Duane were in attendance. It was a nice time on the beach for Thanksgiving.

On our drive up to Co Co Beach we stopped off in Miami to sell Angela's car at the Infinity dealer. Parting with her sporty "G" was harder than I thought it would be for her....but she gave it up like a trooper!!

Angela at the Infinity dealer.....it was so hard to let her baby go!!!

Once in Co Co beach we caught up with family and promptly headed to the beach.

To the left is a shot of two of my cousins Mike and Mark Shrader and I at the beach. To the right is only a PART of the group with sand in their toes!

The Thanksgiving turkey appropriately named a "gurkey" in honor of our Florida celebration!

After turkey dinner some of us went swimming at the condos pool.

Craig, Molly and Jenny (my cousin Mike's daughters). For Florida it was actually chilly and in the 60s. Luckily the pool was heated but the walk (run) back up to the condo was downright cold once we were finished!

Dan, Mike, Mark and David 4 of my Shrader cousins. Can you see the resemblance to the Captain???

It was a great time spent with family for Thanksgiving.....Thank you David and Sherri and all of the Shrader clan for inviting us up for a great time!!

November 2008: More equipment before departure

I spent the second half of November installing a few more items before our departure. The first item was a single sideband radio that will allow us to have long range communication with other vessels at sea, get weather reports, and also chat with other cruisers on "nets". These "nets" are a great way to gain knowledge about cruising grounds, ports of entry and other basic information about the cruising life from other people that are out there cruising.

There was a radio to install, antenna that will be mounted to the back stay (the wire that supports the mast from falling forward), a antenna tuner that needed to be near the antenna at the back of the boat as well as a ground plate that would have to be mounted on the bottom of the hull. After lots of research and reading I decided to try and install the unit myself........

This is me trying to figure out what I have gotten myself into as well as the final installation of the antenna tuner underneath the aft cabin bed.

This is the radio installed at the navigation station. After a week of running wires throughout the boat, the radio was finally installed and we talked to people here in Marathon as far away as New York, North Carolina and a couple of people already in the Caribbean!

The second project I worked on was to make our hatches more secure. Since we will not have the luxury of AC all the time in the islands, as we do now in our slip in Marathon, our hatches will be open most of the time. To prevent the unlikely intruder from just slipping down a hatch in our boat I designed some bars to go in the openings. Each bar has locks on it that are keyed the same and the keys are hung in each cabin, just in case someone from inside needed to escape in a emergency.

The image to the left is the new hatch bars in the salon hatches. The right photo is the bars in the v-berth......Skip you will now be safe when you come to visit!