And Sometimes Things Just Go Wrong...

How Todd and I spent most of our summer.

On June 8th, Todd and I were washing Ocean Breeze.  I was standing on the gunnel in the cockpit (the side of the boat at the end of the boat).  I wasn't watching what I was doing, took a step and ended up in mid-air.  The next thing I knew, I was laying on the cockpit floor looking up at Todd.  Not good!

The summer began...and ended in less than 10 days.  I tore my right rotator cuff along with the supraspinatus and bicep tendons.  I had surgery to repair all the damage the first of July and spent the rest of the summer in an immobilization sling and making friends with the Physical Therapy Department.

Day of surgery...July 11th, 2013.  I didn't see the boat for another 2 weeks.

We did get over to Put in Bay on South Bass Island while our son and daughter in law visited in August.  Ocean Breeze stayed at Bay Point and we took the Jet Express (fast ferry service).

Todd, David, Brigette and Paula Sue at the Northern Most Point (The Keys at Put in Bay, Ohio)

I was finally able to work the right arm pretty well, to we took Ocean Breeze to Put in Bay over Historic Weekend, September 5th through the 9th.

Ocean Breeze moored just off Gibraltar Island.

The HMS Denis Sullivan.

The Re-enactment area during Historic Weekend is huge.

Perry's Monument, a declaration of peace after the bloody battle of Lake Erie during the Battle of 1812.

We heard musket and cannon blasts all weekend.

Sunsets were quiet and beautiful.

  We've tried to come up with a way to get Ocean Breeze to Cape Coral this fall.  The timing is too short to get her prepared mechanically and my shoulder is still healing.  So we've scuttled the idea for this year.

Our plan is to do Great Loop #2 beginning the end of July 2014.  Until then, I will try to blog intermittantly through our fall, winter and spring adventures.

Some Weekends are Quiet...

Todd and I haven't had a weekend in Findlay since early December 2012.  The weather looked iffy and we decided it would be more fun to spend time with our friends.

We had a burger bash at our house Thursday evening (oops, no pictures!).

We went wine tasting Friday evening at our local wine shop...

...the Wine Merchant...

...followed by the specialty at the W.E.T...

...the Queen Veal sandwich with beer.

Saturday we were back at the Wine Merchant for beer tasting followed by dinner at Cheddar's.  We finished off the evening with wine and a picture tour of Ireland with good friends at their home.

Sunday began with services at Trinity Episcopal Church...

...our long time church here in Findlay.

So good to see our church family again.  Good friends had us over to their home for breakfast after services.

Todd and I looked at each other this afternoon and felt so blessed...

• with our wonderful neighbors and friends here in Findlay
• our good friends at Bay Point on Lake Erie
• and now our new friends in Cape Coral

We keep questioning if we can physically manage going between all three places. However we don't want to give up all who are close to us.  Looks like we'll just keep wandering between the three.

Season #9...Splashdown!

I've had many requests to start the blog again for folks who don't use Facebook and want to watch our Lake Erie activities during the boating season.  It all starts with getting Ocean Breeze into the water.  Many, many thanks to the manpower hours from our technicians that keep the old gal running.  Rory and Clay from Mike's Dockside, Marblehead, Ohio know OB inside and out...better than we know her ourselves.  Next up are the fine staff at Bay Point Marina and Resort who transport her to and from the water, year after year after year.  They too are a great group who take excellent care of our Ocean Breeze.

So here we go...season #9 in Ocean Breeze, season #28 in boating and enjoying adventures on the water.  Last year was difficult with Todd's problems in his neck.  Our season was short and mostly spent at our dock.  This year looks more promising.  We plan trips to the Lake Erie Islands, we are considering going into Lake Ontario and the 1000 Islands area, and there is a possibility we may take Ocean Breeze down the Atlantic to Cape Coral in the fall.

Lining up the lift to take Ocean Breeze to the well.

Getting the straps ready to lift OB.

The lift begins the trip to the well.

Pretty good looking old gal...that Ocean Breeze.

A shot of her cute little rump...well, a stern shot.

Setting OB up over the well.

Splashdown...season #9 starts.

Great Loop Date 04.14.2011: To The Moon, Alice...

Thursday (April 14, 2011) Todd and I made an early start and drove the rental car from Titusville to the Kennedy Space Center.  We opted for a tour package that would let us tour the museum area as well as take a bus out to see the space shuttle Endeavor on the launch pad.  It would have been amazing to be able to stay in Titusville for the launch however, it had been moved to the first of May with the possibility of being delayed even longer.  With only Endeavor and Atlantis left to fly in the Space Shuttle program, we knew this tour was important.  We were not disappointed.

Upon entering Kennedy Space Center, we were in the Rocket Garden.  A walking tour with narration starts every 15 minutes.  It looked a lot like the Rocket Garden at Huntsville, AL. but was much more thorough.

The Saturn 1 Rocket was the United States' first heavy-lift dedicated space launcher.

Todd's only chance to send me too the moon!

Soyuz Space Capsule still in use to send astronauts to the International Space Station.  This will become our astronauts transportation to the ISS after the Space Shuttle Program ends.  The astronauts ride in the round ball at the end of the capsule.  It is designed such that it will literally bounce on the ground when it lands in the USSR after re-entry.

The robot from Lost In Space.  That's Todd beside it....not Will Robinson, although Will is probably about the same age (but not nearly as handsome)!

Mission Control in the early days.  It's the Mission Control most of us older folks remember.

Being transported out to the launch pad was so exciting.

 

The Orbiter Endeavor is encased in the service structure on the launch pad.  The enclosure protects it from weather and the environment.  It rotates away from the orbiter hours before lift off.

Shuttle Vehicle Assembly Building.  There are actually doors on both sides.  They assemble the rockets and the orbiters in this building.

The Shuttle Transporter.  It will make one more trip to the launch pad with Atlantis.

These are two tracks from the Transporter.  They are huge!

Soon these track marks will be history.

Launch Pad 39B was already being disassembled.  The Shuttle Program is coming to an end.

The barge that brings the solid rocket boosters back from the ocean.  They are cleaned and reused.

Mission Control and the Media Viewing Area.

The Dignitary Viewing Building.

The side of the Vehicle Assembly Building we are used to seeing in the news.

The Space Center is also a habitat for bald eagles.  This is a mother with her new chicks.

The Saturn 5 exhibit is nearly a duplicate of the exhibit at Huntsville, AL.

 

They did have a very nice presentation depicting the evolution of moon exploration.

Lunar Orbiter from the Saturn 5 Program.

Moon Rock sample.

Back outside we were able to walk through a Shuttle Orbiter Simulator.  This is the cockpit.

Directly behind the cockpit is the Shuttle Cargo Bay.

The Shuttle Arm that delivers the payload to the International Space Station.  It has also been instrumental in Satellite repairs.

The solid rocket boosters flanking the orange external propellant tank.

The Shuttle Simulator.

Todd and I absolutely got what we paid for....the best part of the tour!



It's the end of an era.  All of the orbiters will have new homes.  The Atlantis will stay in Cape Canaveral.  The Endeavor will be at home in Los Angeles, CA.  Discovery is going to Washington DC (actually outside of Dulles).  The Smithsonian is giving up the old Enterprise and she will go to the Intrepid in New York City.  We look forward to seeing Atlantis up close on our next Loop, as well as Enterprise in New York City.

In the meantime, space historians will write that on July 21, 2011, Atlantis, on the final flight of the space shuttle program, landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center. On July 22, 2,800 employees there were to receive layoff notices.