Bye Bye Maggie

June 26, 2004

Sunday, June 26, 2005 - Buddy Fred's Dock, Oriental, NC
By Tom

Unfortunately, we have some very sad news, we had to put Maggie to sleep. She suffered a massive (for a ferret) stroke that left her paralyzed and rather than let her suffer, putting her down seemed to be the humane thing to do. We are both really sad about this and we miss her a lot, but truthfully I hope someone loves me enough to do it to me should the need ever arise.

We also suffered a smaller, much more minor set back this week when I fell down and broke my foot. This has definitely slowed progress on the boat work front. Instead of boat work, I am lounging about with my foot propped up inside in the air conditioning. I don't know how long I can get away with this, but I'm going to try and milk it for all its worth.

Realistically, this will probably keep us from sailing back to the Chesapeake before we head south in the fall. I don't think it will mess with our time table for heading back to the Bahamas, so we're not too worried. In the meantime, I intend to do drugs(prescribed, not illicit), eat crabs and play lots of video games.

On the work front, things are coming together quickly and we should be able to resume our cruising soon. And since so many of you have asked, here are a few words from Amy.

[Amy] : Hello.

[Tom] Thanks for that in depth commentary Amy. She is lame.

While I was on crutches and laid up, we trekked back home to my brother in laws garage and my dad and I welded up a bunch of new stainless steel parts for the boat. Among other items, we made a dinghy engine lift, a man over board strobe light holder, some new stainless steel inserts to replace the lifelines and several other odd accessories.

Once mobility is restored (my foot heals) I need to disassemble the dinghy and find/patch a hole that is allowing the air molecules to escape. We have also bought some hydro foil fin devices to install on the dinghy engine that are suppose to increase performance, extend fuel mileage and bring about world peace. I'd settle for 2 out of 3.

Ok, that's about it. We hope to leave the Buddy Fred's facility somewhere near the 4th of July at which time regular updates will resume.