Christmas and our cross-Florida travels

Day 42 - 48 (Sun, Dec 24 - 29): The Holidays… we had a great time this year connecting with new and old friends. On Christmas eve, we packed the car with goodies (a new mermaid for Rosie, Dobbie and snacks) and headed south to West Palm Beach. We arrived at Rosie’s house mid afternoon. We had a great evening talking about our adventure thus far and old times with Rosie, Aldona, Jovan and Mieki. All creatures “great and small” seemed fine and happy. Puffy and crew were in great shape. I am a little worried about Harry Spotter. He is a senior citizen (he is 12 yrs old and the experts say green spotted puffers live 10 yrs) and his heath looks a little worse. But, all good for now. Emma is in rare form. She is loving her new “outside” freedom. She is catching butterflies and lizards. She has really adjusted. Admundson is also doing well. He had an incident and received a nasty cut on his shoulder but it has healed and he is wearing his Smite (bragging scar) with pride. All good and we can’t thank Rosie enough. She has done an amazing job helping "everyone" transition.

Now for Mr. Dobbie. He was in rare form. He really didn’t bond well with the other cats so he was cranky. Christmas day we woke up early, had a nice cup of coffee and talked. Then, someone left the outside door slightly ajar. We thought (except for Rosie) that he had gotten out. We spent the entire day roaming the neighborhood and remote areas looking for him. I walked and walked, uncovered snakes, lizards  and any number of neighborhood cats but no Dobbie. I kept recalling how my brother’s cat, Sammie managed to find her way back to his apartment in Ft. Myers from Captiva island. I thought for sure Dobbie was on his way back to the Cape. He loves his boat and has completely embraced her. He is simply not happy when he is off the boat. Well, we determined that he was not around and decided to have Christmas dinner (a traditional Lithuanian feast). About 7:30pm Mr. Dobbie strolled out. He had been tucked up in closet shelf. He had to have heard us calling…I am sure. Had we looked in the closet multiple times… yes. But all was good. Dobbie was back!

After Christmas, we headed back to the marina and Gaia. We wrapped up some projects that needed to be done prior to our crossing and tested the tolerances on our new shaft and cutlass bearing repairs. All were within tolerances, so one thing left… take Gaia out and test her in the ocean.

On Wed., we headed to St. Pete to see Brad, Gina, Rachel and Bryan. And, to get our new drivers’ licenses. Fun at the DMV… It is always so nice to be with my family. I hope we get to spend more time together in the future. I so love the time we have together. Rachel is beautiful. She is turning into such an amazing woman. Gina and Brad were great. Mr. Bryan was m.i.a. He had a painting class. I can’t argue with that, now can I?