A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit another Amel Super Maramu 2000. A man named Alexandre had recently purchased this boat (I think in St. Martin?) and hired a captain to deliver her to the Seabrook marina near Kemah. Alexandre had communicated with Bill via the Amel Owners Group on Yahoo! and had numerous questions about his new-to-him yacht, S/V Nikimat.
S/V Nikimat is hull#289; our BeBe is hull #387. Amel built 30 -35 boats per year at the time these vessels were manufactured. BeBe left the Amel factory 23 January 2003; so considering the difference in hull numbers, Nikimat was probably manufactured in year 2000. The hulls for all Super Maramu and Super Maramu 2000 boats are all identical. The rigging is all identical (when the boats left the factory). The boat systems are all identical. But there were minor interior differences in each model year of production. (Note: Amel stopped production of the Super Maramu 2000 model in year 2005. Hull #497 was the final one produced.) This blog sums up Amels very nicely:
Review of Amel Super Maramu yachts
It is always interesting for us to visit another Amel like ours. Every single one we have visited thus far has been different inside than ours; some minutely different and some very different. Sometimes we get ideas on how we might want to 'improve' the interior of our boat, although we haven't made any major changes yet and might never do so.
When Amel first produced the Super Maramu in 1989 the cabin sole was wooden. Later they changed to have mahogany trim and fiberglass floor hatch covers. These were first beige, so the cabin sole was wide dark mahogany trim around beige rectangles, covering the very deep and very large completely dry storage spaces that all we Amel owners love so much. When the SM 2000 model was first produced in year 2000, the factory changed to blue fiberglass floor hatch covers. That is what we have on BeBe. Lots of people do not like the appearance of the blue and mahogany floors, but we like it. When we were shopping for Amels at boat shows for 4-5 years, we decided that the blue combination was our favorite. The wooden floors looked too dark and the beige floors looked too monotonous with the beige upholstery; the blue floors added some needed color to brighten the interior in our opinions. Just lucked out that the boat we chanced to buy had the interior colors that we preferred. S/V Nikimat has the same blue. It was almost like stepping into our own boat.
We arrived at Nikimat one weekday mid-morning on a cloudy day, hoping that rain would hold off while we talked about the boat. Alexandre had already gone through all the spare parts the previous owner had left onboard and had these organized into bins stacked in the cockpit. But first we went through the sail lockers. Bill and Alexandre pulled out the stored sails and Bill illustrated how each should be flown. The spinnaker was damp so we left it hoisted up inside its sock to air out and hopefully dry on that cloudy day. The previous owner had added an inner stay to Nikimat so she is cutter rigged. We couldn't provide any comments about that rigging arrangement because BeBe is not cutter rigged. Alexandre is on his own to figure the best way to use that sail.
After reviewing the spinnaker, the foreward ballooner and poles and how to hoist and lower, various dock lines and halyards and other lines, we then hoisted the mizzen ballooner. The previous owner had already had the mizzen ballooner installed into a sock; something we had done in Thailand and really enjoy. We hoisted the mizzen ballooner to illustrate for Alexandre how to rig it; then left it up to air out in the breeze. By now it was time for lunch.
Alexandre is Swiss, but really French-Swiss. He holds dual passports, lucky man. Alexandre wanted to prepare lunch rather than go out to a restaurant. And he certainly did not disappoint!! Starter was smoked salmon on lightly buttered toasted artisan bread. Wonderful! But before the starter Alexandre honored Bill with allowing him to open a bottle of champagne with a ceremonial sword. This was a first for Bill. He had read about this procedure but neither of us had ever seen it performed. Alexandre explained how it is done.
First, the bottle must be thoroughly chilled; the colder the better. The bottle should be refrigerated a minimum of 12-16 hours or should be placed inside a freezer for minimum 2 hours. It will not work if the bottle is not thoroughly cold. Next, hold the bottom of the bottle with a cushioning absorptive cloth. Then, using the BACK of the sword, move the sword up and down several times along the curvature of the bottle; ending with a smooth movement up to the knob ring around the top of the bottle near the cork. One does not strike the bottle; nor does one hit the knob hard with the sword; it does not take much pressure to cause the thoroughly chilled bottle to break smoothly and evenly just beneath the knob ring at the top neck of the bottle. It worked perfectly! The cork went flying. We tried to fish it out of the water (pollution and all that) but could not find it.
The champagne was fabulous. I drank too many glasses but couldn't stop myself. It was just too good! Bill limited himself to less than 1 full glass and I finished it. Alexandre also limited himself to only 1 glass. Pig that I am, I think I drank the rest of the bottle. And enjoyed every single sip! Don't remember the brand name, but it was the one with the flowers on the bottle, and it was fabulous.
Accompanying the champagne, Alexandre prepared some lovely duck breasts and Swiss style potatoes with grilled endive. An excellent lunch. And served in the cockpit where we enjoyed the ambiance of all the other sailboats, the high bridge nearby, and the view of Galveston Bay. Like a taste of being home on our own boat again. This was a wonderfully enjoyable few hours.
Lastly, Bill went through each of the bins of spare parts and identified each part as Alexandre took notes in a composition book. This took almost 3 hours. The parts were well organized and there was a good selection of what a cruising boat should have on hand. Alexandre is well stocked. There are only a few things he might want to order from Amel to complete his inventory.
Rain held off until we were 1/3 way back to Houston. It was pouring by the time we got off Hwy 225 west at Loop 610 South. Hope Alexandre was able to get both the mizzen ballooner and the spinnaker down and back into the sail locker before the rain started in Seabrook.
I took several photos of Bill opening the champagne with the sword, but I cannot find those photos. They should be somewhere on this laptop, but they are not in the photos file. If I ever find them, will post a few with this blog. Until then, my written description must suffice to give readers a mental image of the process.
We very, very much enjoyed our visit with Alexandre aboard S/V Nikimat. Maybe he will invite us again before we return to BeBe in Turkey.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Can't Stop Repairing Stuff, or finding uses for CorrosionX
Since I have been in Houston I can't seem to stop repairing stuff. Here is a list of the things I have repaired:
Those things indicated with (**) were repaired using CorrosionX on microscopic corrosion on low voltage connections inside the components. I first learned about CorrosionX while cruising from a retired computer guy who was anchored near us in the Caribbean. My problem at the time we met was a 4-year old 12 volt PC that intermittently "Blue Screened." I asked him to recommend a replacement. That is when he told me about CorrosionX (www.corrosionx.com). He suggested that I disassemble the PC and coat everything with CorrosionX using a small brush. He said to be sure that I coated every connection. I did and the PC is still working with no failures. Since that time I have used CorrosionX to revive computers, electronic devices and other electrical components. I have chalked up an 80% success rate and my $15 bottle of CorrosionX has saved me, relatives and friends of mine at least $15,000...1,000 times the investment.
CorrosionX is made by a private company located in Texas. It is NOT flammable and is not petroleum-based. It is non-conductive, but increases the conductivity of electrical connections. can be used to stop rust and corrosion on just about anything. If you are the least bit handy and do not have CorrosionX, you have too much money because you must be able to afford replacing rather than replacing.
- Main pool pump (Aaron & Lynn's old house)
- Pool sweep pump (Aaron & Lynn's old house)
- Main pool pump (Aaron & Lynn's new house)
- Pool filter (Aaron & Lynn's new house)
- Zachary's computer monitor**
- Bob & Barbara's laptop**
- Aaron's Hard Drive 4-drive Raid Array**
- Rewire Aaron & Lynn's new house's network
- Repair various electrical problems at Aaron & Lynn's new house
- Repair Aaron's weed eater
- Repair Aaron's high pressure cleaner (it is broken again)
- Repair Aaron & Lynn's electric ignition on the kitchen cook-top**
Those things indicated with (**) were repaired using CorrosionX on microscopic corrosion on low voltage connections inside the components. I first learned about CorrosionX while cruising from a retired computer guy who was anchored near us in the Caribbean. My problem at the time we met was a 4-year old 12 volt PC that intermittently "Blue Screened." I asked him to recommend a replacement. That is when he told me about CorrosionX (www.corrosionx.com). He suggested that I disassemble the PC and coat everything with CorrosionX using a small brush. He said to be sure that I coated every connection. I did and the PC is still working with no failures. Since that time I have used CorrosionX to revive computers, electronic devices and other electrical components. I have chalked up an 80% success rate and my $15 bottle of CorrosionX has saved me, relatives and friends of mine at least $15,000...1,000 times the investment.
CorrosionX is made by a private company located in Texas. It is NOT flammable and is not petroleum-based. It is non-conductive, but increases the conductivity of electrical connections. can be used to stop rust and corrosion on just about anything. If you are the least bit handy and do not have CorrosionX, you have too much money because you must be able to afford replacing rather than replacing.
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| Bob Bradford's revived laptop |
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| Filter Repair |
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| Monitor Repair |
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| Raid Array 4 hard drives |
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| My emergency tiny bottle of CorrosionX |
Saturday, April 27, 2013
BeBe is moved and we made short trip to East Texas
After some drama (exacerbated because we are such distance from the boat), BeBe has been moved from the hotel dock in Fethiye to the boatyard in Gocek. Whew!!! Glad that is done!
Our berthing contract ended Monday 15 April, but weather was bad that day and the next so the boat could not be moved until Wednesday. The guys arrived as scheduled but the starting battery was low; at least that is what we were told via email from another boat owner docked nearby. But the guy who has been charging the batteries said the problem was that one of the red levers that control the batteries was not in the correct position. That was corrected and the boat started fine.
Then the Coast Guard guys from their base dock across the small anchorage directly in front of BeBe stopped the boat from moving. Guess we should be appreciative that they noticed that local people were manning the boat and checked it out. The Coast Guard insisted that the boat be cleared out of Fethiye before it could be moved to Gocek. They said this is the newest procedure; the transit log must be stamped cleared out of Fethiye. That delayed things so the boat didn't get moved on Wednesday. Really? They seriously are going to start making every boat clear in and out of each port? Bet that doesn't last long.
Weather was bad again on Thursday so moving got delayed again. Finally, on Friday 19 April Bebe motored the short distance to Gocek. It was raining hard and winds exceeded 20 kts when she arrived so haul-out was delayed for better weather. Riza at Emek Marin kindly hosted BeBe at his dock until weather improved.
This morning we checked with Riza and learned that BeBe is now in the boatyard at D-Marin. Electricity is plugged in and a battery guy will be out early next week to confirm the batteries are all okay. Emek Marin is a 3-generation family business. They have a huge machining facility and can manufacture anything from stainless. Emek is handling BeBe in our absence and is the Amel authorized service agent and sales agent for Turkey. Riza has been very busy all week because his father had to have surgery in Ankara and Riza is doing his dad's job as well as his own. We wish his dad speedy recovery from the back surgery.
D-Marin in Gocek
Note that Turkish is a frugal language when it comes to vowels. 'Marin' is pronounced like the English word marine. The Turks see no need to include that silent 'e' at the end of the word. Most words are pronounced exactly as they are spelled.
One day recently I met my friend Pam for lunch and made a trip down to her boat in Kemah. She and husband Larry plan to begin cruising next month and have been busy readying the boat for the first leg to Pensacola. They have the best bimini and shade coverings. Not going to sunburn in the Caribbean sun. Hope they have great fun ahead. Maybe we will meet up somewhere in the Caribbean in 2015.
Last week we rented a comfortable car for a long drive through East Texas to visit friends. First up was a visit to Nick & Margie Koutroulous. Nick & Margie were our next-door neighbors from 1978 to 1993. That was the greatest neighborhood where many friendships just clicked in a way that rarely happens. There were 6 houses of very close friends who socialized together literally all the time. We moved away in 1993.
Shortly afterward Nick retired and they purchased a travel motorhome. Nick & Margie traveled all over North America from 1994 until 2008, visiting every state at least once and Canada from one side to the other. A travel motorhome has many of the same systems as a boat, so their 14 years of adventures on land are not dissimilar to our years cruising the sea.One of the frequent social activities enjoyed by all in our old neighborhood were the Sunday morning Bloody Mary(s) with lox and bagels. Margie surprised us with a taste of the old neighborhood as we enjoyed these delights for lunch. Just like old times. Both Nick & Margie looked great. We wish them many more years of enjoying their home in the rural forest of East Texas. It is a lovely and peaceful place for retirement.
Leaving Nick & Margie's house we continued north on Hwy 59 and then veered NW towards Athens. Yes; there is an Athens, Texas. Some of the names of Texas small towns are distinctive -- like Sour Lake and Gun Barrel.
The most notable thing one notices driving through the tiny East Texas towns are all the churches; maybe 98% of which are Baptist. Occasionally we ran across a Methodist church or Assembly of God, and even one Roman Catholic, but by far the vast majority are Baptist. Usually the smaller the town the more fundamentalist the church congregation. It really is a different world than most of the USA and deserves its popular name of Bible Belt.
Another thing one notices while driving through East Texas are pastures and pastures of cattle, with a few pastures of horses. Typically, each pasture will house a single breed of cattle rather than a mixture. I recognized Angus, Hereford, Charolais, Brangus, Brahmas (Bremmers to us Texans), and even a small herd of Longhorns.
One pasture puzzled me -- a pasture full of zebras. Why on earth would someone raise zebras? What could possibly be the market for zebras?
We arrived at Bob & Barbara's house shortly after sunset. Barbara has been my friend since we were 4 years old. This year marks 60 years that we have been friends with one another. She and Bob downsized several years ago from a large ranch to a small 15-acre spread southeast of Dallas.
Their home is so relaxing and a pleasant diversion from urban Houston. It is located near Cedar Point Lake, a large man-made reservoir, a very pretty lake with lots of nice homes built along its shores. Being located so close to Dallas this must be a popular place for weekend lake homes for people with lots of money to spare.
Barbara & Bob have a horse or two; a swimming pool and pool house; a ranch-hand house where their groundskeeper resides; and let neighbors use one pasture to house a mare and young colt.
They also have 3 large dogs and a tiny one, plus a cat -- all of which have free roam of the grounds and the main house. Made Bill and I wish we could again have a dog. But we won't be doing that while living on a boat because it just is not fair to the animal.
We stayed with Bob & Barbara for 4 nights. Didn't do much except visit and catch up, which is exactly what we wanted to do.
One night they treated us to a lovely dinner at a restaurant 45 minutes away which is owned by some famous Dallas Cowboys football player. The grounds were lovely and the meal delicious.
Another evening Bob donned his chef apron and prepared a wonderful dinner of chicken piccata and linguine. He doesn't cook often, but when he does it is great. I plan to attempt to duplicate his recipe once we are back on our boat.
We are again back in Houston and just whiling away time. Bill continues to improve a tiny bit each day and hopefully soon will be fully back to his pre-surgery physical condition. We are both anxious to get back to BeBe and start cruising again.
Our berthing contract ended Monday 15 April, but weather was bad that day and the next so the boat could not be moved until Wednesday. The guys arrived as scheduled but the starting battery was low; at least that is what we were told via email from another boat owner docked nearby. But the guy who has been charging the batteries said the problem was that one of the red levers that control the batteries was not in the correct position. That was corrected and the boat started fine.
Then the Coast Guard guys from their base dock across the small anchorage directly in front of BeBe stopped the boat from moving. Guess we should be appreciative that they noticed that local people were manning the boat and checked it out. The Coast Guard insisted that the boat be cleared out of Fethiye before it could be moved to Gocek. They said this is the newest procedure; the transit log must be stamped cleared out of Fethiye. That delayed things so the boat didn't get moved on Wednesday. Really? They seriously are going to start making every boat clear in and out of each port? Bet that doesn't last long.
Weather was bad again on Thursday so moving got delayed again. Finally, on Friday 19 April Bebe motored the short distance to Gocek. It was raining hard and winds exceeded 20 kts when she arrived so haul-out was delayed for better weather. Riza at Emek Marin kindly hosted BeBe at his dock until weather improved.
This morning we checked with Riza and learned that BeBe is now in the boatyard at D-Marin. Electricity is plugged in and a battery guy will be out early next week to confirm the batteries are all okay. Emek Marin is a 3-generation family business. They have a huge machining facility and can manufacture anything from stainless. Emek is handling BeBe in our absence and is the Amel authorized service agent and sales agent for Turkey. Riza has been very busy all week because his father had to have surgery in Ankara and Riza is doing his dad's job as well as his own. We wish his dad speedy recovery from the back surgery.
D-Marin in Gocek
Note that Turkish is a frugal language when it comes to vowels. 'Marin' is pronounced like the English word marine. The Turks see no need to include that silent 'e' at the end of the word. Most words are pronounced exactly as they are spelled.
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| Pam inside the well-shaded cockpit |
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| Pam & Larry's boat |
Last week we rented a comfortable car for a long drive through East Texas to visit friends. First up was a visit to Nick & Margie Koutroulous. Nick & Margie were our next-door neighbors from 1978 to 1993. That was the greatest neighborhood where many friendships just clicked in a way that rarely happens. There were 6 houses of very close friends who socialized together literally all the time. We moved away in 1993.
Shortly afterward Nick retired and they purchased a travel motorhome. Nick & Margie traveled all over North America from 1994 until 2008, visiting every state at least once and Canada from one side to the other. A travel motorhome has many of the same systems as a boat, so their 14 years of adventures on land are not dissimilar to our years cruising the sea.One of the frequent social activities enjoyed by all in our old neighborhood were the Sunday morning Bloody Mary(s) with lox and bagels. Margie surprised us with a taste of the old neighborhood as we enjoyed these delights for lunch. Just like old times. Both Nick & Margie looked great. We wish them many more years of enjoying their home in the rural forest of East Texas. It is a lovely and peaceful place for retirement.
Leaving Nick & Margie's house we continued north on Hwy 59 and then veered NW towards Athens. Yes; there is an Athens, Texas. Some of the names of Texas small towns are distinctive -- like Sour Lake and Gun Barrel.
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| Backyard swing at Barbara & Bob's place. Could there be a more peaceful setting. |
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| Side drive at Barbara & Bob's going back to ranch hand's house & horse pastures. |
One pasture puzzled me -- a pasture full of zebras. Why on earth would someone raise zebras? What could possibly be the market for zebras?
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| Barbara & Bob's comfy living room |
We arrived at Bob & Barbara's house shortly after sunset. Barbara has been my friend since we were 4 years old. This year marks 60 years that we have been friends with one another. She and Bob downsized several years ago from a large ranch to a small 15-acre spread southeast of Dallas.
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| Tiny part of lake |
Their home is so relaxing and a pleasant diversion from urban Houston. It is located near Cedar Point Lake, a large man-made reservoir, a very pretty lake with lots of nice homes built along its shores. Being located so close to Dallas this must be a popular place for weekend lake homes for people with lots of money to spare.
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| The pool house; could be a guest house. |
Barbara & Bob have a horse or two; a swimming pool and pool house; a ranch-hand house where their groundskeeper resides; and let neighbors use one pasture to house a mare and young colt.
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| The mom |
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| Her full-grown daughter |
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| Bob cooking dinner |
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| Barbara got stuck w/dishes |
We stayed with Bob & Barbara for 4 nights. Didn't do much except visit and catch up, which is exactly what we wanted to do.
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| Bill just standing around |
One night they treated us to a lovely dinner at a restaurant 45 minutes away which is owned by some famous Dallas Cowboys football player. The grounds were lovely and the meal delicious.
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| Chef Bob |
Another evening Bob donned his chef apron and prepared a wonderful dinner of chicken piccata and linguine. He doesn't cook often, but when he does it is great. I plan to attempt to duplicate his recipe once we are back on our boat.
We are again back in Houston and just whiling away time. Bill continues to improve a tiny bit each day and hopefully soon will be fully back to his pre-surgery physical condition. We are both anxious to get back to BeBe and start cruising again.
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| Judy & Bill |
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Podcast interview with David Anderson
We recently participated in a podcast interview with David Anderson. This podcast covered our costs of cruising and some discussion of piracy. Here is a link:
Podcast interview
Be forewarned, we talked a lot so this podcast is kind of long at slightly over 1 hour.
Podcast interview
Be forewarned, we talked a lot so this podcast is kind of long at slightly over 1 hour.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Surgery follow-up and miscellaneous
While waiting between various doctor appointments in January we got away from Houston for a few days and visited Bill's brother and sister-in-law, Theo and Teresa, for a few days. They live in College Station, less than 2 hours drive away from where we had been staying in Houston. We have numerous close family members living in Houston and spread our time here being hosted by one after another. Saves us from hotel expense and we are very grateful. Since this visit is so extended (rather than our usual 4 weeks home annually), we were beginning to feel like we were over-staying our welcome with the Houston family members. So when the opportunity presented itself to visit Theo and Teresa for a few days, we jumped on it. It was really nice to have quiet time to visit with them. Usually we only see them on Christmas Day at our large family gathering and rarely have time to quietly visit and catch up on each other's lives.
Teresa's latest DIY project is making a tee-shirt quilt for their daughter. I had not seen one of these before, but apparently these are becoming popular with young female adults. They use tee-shirts from high school and college and make a quilt preserving memories of drill teams, yell teams, sororities orchestra or band or whatever activities they participated in during high school and college. What a cute idea. One can simply ship all the tee-shirts to a company to design and make a quilt -- for what I think is a very high price. But Teresa enjoys projects so she was doing this job herself. This is a photo of the layout she decided would be the best design. I'm sure the finished product looked great. And probably has more sentimental value to their daughter since mom made it.
One day while there we toured the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station. Theo had been in charge of the building of this beautiful library. We had visited Theo at the construction site several times but this was the first opportunity we had to visit the completed library.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day leisurely reading all the plaques on the displays. Found several quotes of President Bush that particularly impressed us.
Bill and I each greatly admire President George H.W. Bush. Our country needs more men like him.
We returned to Houston for Bill to have his final diagnostic tests prior to surgery and got the surgery scheduled. Lucky for us, our son and daughter-in-law (Aaron & Lynn) purchased a home close to the medical center. This home has 2 master bedrooms suites and they generously offered us the use of the downstairs master suite while we are in Houston for months. We re-possessed our old guest room furniture that we had loaned to Bill's sister near Dallas when we first moved aboard S/V BeBe and began cruising back in 2006. Found a bunch of framed photos and paintings that previously decorated the home where we lived prior to moving aboard S/V BeBe and used those to make our new space feel like home.
It is so fabulous to have our own space with our own furniture. This makes a difficult situation much more tolerable. Hope we don't interfere with the kids' family life too much over the next few months.
We moved into Aaron & Lynn's house about 10 days prior to Bill's surgery. I spent days cleaning the house preparing it for them to move in. Gave us something to do besides worry about the upcoming surgery. The kids moved in during the weekend Bill was in the hospital and I was there with him. Bill came home to our nice suite and didn't get involved with the moving at all.
Aaron & Lynn have chosen not to have TV in their home because they never have time to watch it anyway. But with Bill recuperating and stuck in the house so much, we wanted something to occupy his time. So we connected a Slingbox from our other son's house and a WD Live Hub in our temporary bedroom and can watch TV that way. Trey had an older large monitor that no longer worked. Bill got on Ebay and ordered capacitors. Our grandson Zachary was assigned the job of replacing the capacitors in the monitor. And for a whopping $10 we now again have a functioning nice monitor which can be used as a television. Just think, most people would just toss that monitor when it could be repaired for basically nothing with just a tiny bit of DIY know-how. And by a 12-yr-old kid, at that. Glad our grandson is learning basic repair and that everything does not need to be disposable.
We had to visit MD Anderson Cancer Center to pick up something a couple of days ago so the doctor did Bill's 6-week post-op check-up 2 weeks early rather than make us come back again on 28 March. So glad the doctor did this early because the pathology results of the removed prostate and the latest PSA test put our minds at ease. Turns out that Bill had 3 tumors in the prostate gland. Two tumors were aggressive high-grade cancer in a region of the prostate where tumors are not usually located, and 1 aggressive medium-grade cancer in a region where tumors are commonly found. One of the high-grade tumors was what is called a Focally Positive Margin, which means it was less than 1mm from the edge of the prostate. There was some concern that the cancer might have invaded the urethra. However, the post-op PSA test was so low that the doctor's believe that they got all the cancer.
Bill's next follow-up visit is scheduled for 27 June. If the PSA test remains at basically zero as expected, then we will be on flights back to Turkey on 1 July to resume cruising. While in the hospital the few days after surgery, Bill ate a Chinese meal. His fortune cookie:
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| Design layout for Kristin's tee-shirt quilt. Thanks, mom! |
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| How I wish our current President understood the concept of team |
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| 'Nuff Said! |
We thoroughly enjoyed our day leisurely reading all the plaques on the displays. Found several quotes of President Bush that particularly impressed us.
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| Note the reversed colors. Red used to be the color for Democrats and blue for Republicans. And Texas was very much a Democrat state back when there were Conservative Democrats. How times change! |
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| Taking responsibility rather than blaming others |
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| Every country has the right to retaliate against terrorists. Good for Bush for standing for what was right rather than bowing to pressure from the UN countries of that time. |
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| Terrorism started a long time ago. We should have paid more attention instead of considering attacks as separate instances with separate reasons. |
Bill and I each greatly admire President George H.W. Bush. Our country needs more men like him.
We returned to Houston for Bill to have his final diagnostic tests prior to surgery and got the surgery scheduled. Lucky for us, our son and daughter-in-law (Aaron & Lynn) purchased a home close to the medical center. This home has 2 master bedrooms suites and they generously offered us the use of the downstairs master suite while we are in Houston for months. We re-possessed our old guest room furniture that we had loaned to Bill's sister near Dallas when we first moved aboard S/V BeBe and began cruising back in 2006. Found a bunch of framed photos and paintings that previously decorated the home where we lived prior to moving aboard S/V BeBe and used those to make our new space feel like home.
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| Elisabeth watching our "TV" while Bill rests and recuperates the first week after surgery. Love having our old blue leather wing back chair and our own custom-built mattress once again. |
We moved into Aaron & Lynn's house about 10 days prior to Bill's surgery. I spent days cleaning the house preparing it for them to move in. Gave us something to do besides worry about the upcoming surgery. The kids moved in during the weekend Bill was in the hospital and I was there with him. Bill came home to our nice suite and didn't get involved with the moving at all.
Aaron & Lynn have chosen not to have TV in their home because they never have time to watch it anyway. But with Bill recuperating and stuck in the house so much, we wanted something to occupy his time. So we connected a Slingbox from our other son's house and a WD Live Hub in our temporary bedroom and can watch TV that way. Trey had an older large monitor that no longer worked. Bill got on Ebay and ordered capacitors. Our grandson Zachary was assigned the job of replacing the capacitors in the monitor. And for a whopping $10 we now again have a functioning nice monitor which can be used as a television. Just think, most people would just toss that monitor when it could be repaired for basically nothing with just a tiny bit of DIY know-how. And by a 12-yr-old kid, at that. Glad our grandson is learning basic repair and that everything does not need to be disposable.
We had to visit MD Anderson Cancer Center to pick up something a couple of days ago so the doctor did Bill's 6-week post-op check-up 2 weeks early rather than make us come back again on 28 March. So glad the doctor did this early because the pathology results of the removed prostate and the latest PSA test put our minds at ease. Turns out that Bill had 3 tumors in the prostate gland. Two tumors were aggressive high-grade cancer in a region of the prostate where tumors are not usually located, and 1 aggressive medium-grade cancer in a region where tumors are commonly found. One of the high-grade tumors was what is called a Focally Positive Margin, which means it was less than 1mm from the edge of the prostate. There was some concern that the cancer might have invaded the urethra. However, the post-op PSA test was so low that the doctor's believe that they got all the cancer.
Bill's next follow-up visit is scheduled for 27 June. If the PSA test remains at basically zero as expected, then we will be on flights back to Turkey on 1 July to resume cruising. While in the hospital the few days after surgery, Bill ate a Chinese meal. His fortune cookie:
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