Pensacola FL Sailing Blog – sailingnightwatch

EYE ONE October 31, 2016

Yea, that was the big thing last week. Started taking eye drops on Monday. That helps elevate the blood pressure as one anticipates Thursday’s surgery. Thursday we are at the surgery center at 7:30. I am nerves.

First I have a phobia about needles. One of the first things they do is put a needle in your hand. Should be easy. The lady says that sticking people is all she does. Should be easy…. Cannot find the right vein in my hand. OK lets move to the inside arm. By this time she is into the bag of rusty bent needles. The lady has not helped to lesson my phobia.

Secondly, you are awake during the surgery. I mean not get up and walk around wake, but you can hear, see and follow instructions. No pain. Good thing. Following instructions was enough.

This Thursday is eye two. I do not want to meet the needle lady again, but the surgery was OK.

I always want to know what is going on to the most detail. They do a good job of giving you reading material about what is going to happen. What they missed is what recovery is going to entail. Right after surgery your eye is extremely dilated. You can see light and you’re in a semi-darkened room. The difference between the old and new lens is amazing. My white had become an egg shell color. Now the white with the new lens is really white.

Then Friday morning I woke about 4 A.M. I could not make out anything out of the new lens. I could tell there was light and darkness, that there were lights in the clock and thermostat. Could even begin to see individual numbers. I am not a happy camper. I get up and reread all the info that they give you about what can go wrong and what they do. It is not what is happening. I did get maybe a hour more sleep. With daylight I could see some, but would need the other eye to walk around and do steps.

8:30, I am on the phone and talk to nurse Ruth. She is the answer lady. I start to tell here and she interrupts and says your eye is still dilated. We talk for another couple minutes and it is obvious she know more of what I am seeing or not, then I do. She spends half the time telling me bench marks of what is suppose to happen and not happen. I feel better, but still could not see much. Tonight I can see better out of it then I can out of the other eye which was my good eye. I am ready for Thursday.

Couple things are a pain in the bute. I can not lift more then 25 pounds. I sorry, I live on a boat. Everything I do you lift 25 pound for some reason. The other is I can not have my eye below my waste. Like do not bend over to pick something up. Try doing that. It is amazing how often one bends over. That is to be for 3 weeks after surgery. I have projects to do every day. Have to do the projects to keep the boat ready to go. I have ran out of little projects. Today I varnished the edge of the cockpit table. That was the big project for the day. I did convince the mate that the garbage weighs 25+ pounds. Do not know how long that will last. Almost wanting to take that back. I would have something to do.

Sunday, the mate leaves for Colorado. I know she is going to look hard for a place to live near the grandkid. I just hope her brain is working better then her heart. The reasons other then just the added expense of the condo are still valid.

WOW BIG CHANGES, AND NOT IN THE EXPECTED WAY October 24, 2016

The particular condo we were looking at sold. No problem, there are several exactly like it on each floor. With its sale, my daughter a realtor who did not sell it but was able to find out the details of the sale. One of the shocks was a special assessment that was about 20% of the total price. Plus they want the extra money on close. That would be a major hit to our retirement. The assessment is used to put new roofs on the buildings and redecorate every unit. This is done about every 5 years. That killed that deal.

We also had the boat cleaned up like never before. It really looks good. Makes you want to stay. Plus it is paid for. Where we are located is reasonable and a very nice neighborhood. It has been our home for 19 years. Can you believe.

Then we find that where the daughter and family have been living is over. They are looking at a house about 30 miles away from where we were going to buy. Not good.

One of the considerations I did not like was the lack of medical facilities in the area. There is a medical clinic in Telluride, but no hospital. They can set arm and legs, but not set up for strokes or heart attacks. You are a hour away from a full hospital. Today I am in great health, but am 72. It can’t go on forever, maybe another 40-50 years, but not forever.

Another concern was the cost of living in Telluride. It is ridicules. You would have to take a day and go to Denver to shop for normal closes and things for your home.

All right, you know what’s up, we are trying not to sell the boat. We have a contract with the broker and we have given notice on wanting out of it. We also raised the price to the insured value. If the broker could find someone to pay that amount, we would sell. No one would give us that much in the future. We would have to take the money and run.

I feel for the mate. It is not fun loosing a dream. But she is going to Telluride for a week. I will be home recuperating from my cataract surgery. One this Thursday, one the next Thursday and then she is off for 7 days.

Therefore it looks like my dream is some what together. No long range cruising, we can get out more, once we have the boat back together. Still planning the trip to Pensacola.

The water maker is working up to specs. Most of the paneling is back up and varnished. We still have to replace the paneling around the basin in our stateroom. There is a leak somewhere in the overhead. We believe we have found the leak, but want a good rain storm as a final test. We believe         it is one of the bolts holding down the main sheet track. It has passed the hose test, but the leak is very close to the mizzen mast. Could be coming from there. Hope not.

This week I am working on the bright work. I got a couple coats of Bristol on the cap rail today. I will do the cockpit cap rail tomorrow. It is nice to work in temps about 80 degrees. Our first real cold front of the season.