Parties and progress and paperwork

It appears that we will be receiving the alternator tommorrow. Jackrabbit convinced the Balmar people to send the alternator directly to us, instead of thru them, and they are sending the regulatory separately. This guarantees a busy weekend, and I just realized that replacing the alternator would also provide a good opportunity to check the engine SW pump impeller, so I will get to test Bill Beck's advice about using the special needle-nosed pliers.

I think I will also be doing some exploratory surgery on the main roller-furler. Our neighbors furler seems to slide on the boom much better than ours, and I wonder if we may be missing some internal rollers. The only way to check is to take it apart...

We ordered an "official boat stamp" yesterday, to stamp official documents like crew lists, etc, when we clear into countries. We have heard that officials seem to like these, and they are not expensive. It should be ready this afternoon.

The local chapter of boat people in the marina held a pot-luck party last nite, and we went along, providing box wine and wrap-sandwiches. A good time was had by all, but we did not exceed the levels of celebration achieved during the Superbowl, so we all slept well, and woke up feeling good. Overall, a successful party.

Taxes and paperwork are taking up some considerable time right now. I don't know how people who are not literate in government and its ways can do any of this, and I suspect it is all a conspiracy by the lawyers and accountants to generate work for them. Hopefully, our accountant and lawyer friends will not take offense at this remark. We are also still dealing with paperwork related to jlm's mother. Bills for medical care in the spring of 2006 are still being cleared, and now Medicare won't let us into her account (because she has died). I wonder how they think that the executor of the estate can resolve outstanding debts without access to their documentation.

We will make a run down to Palm Beach tommorrow for some medical tests, a Costco run, and more kitty litter. They are using about 1 box every 3 weeks, which means that we have to have 4 boxes on board to get to Guadeloupe in May. The food situation is a bit better, but we still need more wet food. And now that we have restarted Zabelle on her antibiotics, she is more lively and eating a lot more. The devil-duo has restarted running thru the boat in the AM. They desparately want to go ashore somewhere.

Back to taxes...