Observations of the 2010 Boot Key Harbor Christmas Lighted Boat Parade...

Christmas is fast approaching and the harbor has a festive look about it. Quite a few boats throughout the harbor can now be seen lit up in the evenings with strands of colorful Christmas lights. There are even a few boats decked out with lights reaching all the way to the top of the mast and down the various stays thus making the outline of a cheerful Christmas tree.

It also goes without saying that there are the usual bah-humbug individuals here in the harbor who simply can't be bothered with Christmas decorations let alone with other mundane but essential tasks such as scraping barnacles off of the hull of their boat... but let's not talk about me for now.

Well it just so happens that the annual Christmas boat parade was celebrated here in the harbor the other night. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate whatsoever and only a total Scrooge could possibly have taken any delight in the cold gusty winds.

I did however observe the boat parade from aboard my boat from some distance. From my observations there were only but a few participants in this year's event. I'd be surprised if there were more than eight or nine boats parading about the harbor.

By all accounts, past editions of the Christmas boat parade have been quite boisterous with plenty of eggnog and wife swapping going around. Uh oh... delete that last part. It has yet to be confirmed...

Nevertheless I did lend a bit of moral support to this year's boat parade. Yeah, that was me blowing the heck out of my conch shell as the lighted boats all blew their air-horns while parading by at the other end of the harbor.

The air-horns aboard those boats were no match for my conch shell. You should of heard all the car alarms going off in the marina parking lot and you should have seen the schools of fish jumping out of the water every time I'd blow on that conch shell.

No one in their right mind can accuse me of being an old fuddie-duddie and of not having actively participated in this year's edition of Boot Key Harbor's annual Christmas Lighted Boat Parade.

Happy Winter Solstice Everybody!

Freezing My Butt Off Inside a Floating Igloo...

Yeah... you heard me right. It's darn right cold inside the boat at this very moment. It feels as if I somehow inadvertently forgot to pay my electric bill on time and had my power cut off. I'm quite certain that an igloo wouldn't feel a whole lot different than this cabin which can best be described as both cold and confining.

I wish that I could tell you that we enjoyed some beautiful sunny, warm weather here in the Keys today. I'd like to tell you that I happened to hook up with some scantily clad babes and that together we spent most of the day laying out up on deck tanning ourselves while sipping on pina coladas. But no... that did not happen.

Nope... there were no scantily clad babes to be found frolicking up on deck. Neither was there any scented tanning oil to be lathered over well-toned female hard-bodies. Nor was there even so much as an occasional glimpse of a perky boobie. It was that kind of a crummy day.

Today was simply miserably cold. There was little to do other than surf the web and watch TV in the marina lounge. At least the gusting cold winds have now subsided somewhat.

A sink full of dishes... where's a dishwasher when I need one?

Once again I had a sink full of dirty dishes waiting for me to get up wash first thing this morning. It always amazes me how fast that dinky little sink can fill up with grungy dishes. Washing dishes and scrubbing pots is without question the most mentally tasking chore to be performed aboard the boat.

In any event, it's always a delight to see a clean galley once everything is washed and dried. I even took it upon myself to sing a bunch of sappy love songs while washing the dishes this morning. Among my sappy songs were... "You're Just Too Good to be True", "For the Good Times", "When I Need You", "Lady In Red", "Knock Three Times" and lastly "Baby Got Back".

Ooopps... I didn't really sing that last one... so sorry.

The rest of my day was spent patching up a hole in my inflatable and cleaning the carburetor on my recently purchased outboard . The patch went on the same puncture that I've previously messed around with. This time I stuck on gobs of super glue and a large rubber patch. I'm hoping that I don't have to mess around with that fricking hole for awhile.

The carburetor that I spent a good part of my day cleaning is off of a 5Hp two-stroke Nissan outboard to push the inflatable. I purchased the thing off of Craig's List the other day at a heavily discounted price. Supposedly the outboard had been "winterized".

It was winterized all right... as in the valve on the carburetor was frozen in place. It took quite a bit of lubricant to get that thing to respond and spring back into action. But that's okay... a little bit of lubricant and a lot of persistence can fix anything. :)

I'll check the fuel line and spark plug sometime tomorrow weather permitting. A cold front is expected to move in later today with winds gusting up to 35 mph. I'm not looking forward to the coming days of freezing cold temperatures aboard the boat.

Yet again, I just might consider an inexpensive motel room to crash in for the next day or two. It all depends on just how miserably cold it gets aboard that boat. Yeah, I know... I'm a weenie sailor and I've yet to embrace all the inconveniences that go along with living aboard a boat.

To quote a dear lady-friend of mine... "F*** this noise".

And for those of you with inquiring minds wondering whether or not my self imposed "moratorium" is still in effect, I'll have you know that indeed it is. Cranberry juice on ice works just fine for me while seated at a bar. It somehow gives off the illusion that I've indulged and purchased a sophisticated cocktail of sorts.

One never knows... I just might even catch the attention of an attractive, sensible female in need of some companionship so long as the bartender doesn't stick one of those silly little umbrellas in my glass of cranberry juice.