We removed the old TV and prepared the new TV for installation with a wall mount. This took most of the day. In the evening we had a telephone call from Susan Ingram letting us know they will not be coming for Christmas.

Today was an expensive day. Beside paying taxes of $3,000, a donation to the Las Vegas Philharmonic, paying Real Estate Taxes and buying a new set of Kitchen appliances and a new 65″ TV from RC Willy, our pocketbook was almost $12,500 lighter.

We managed to get the TV in the car but did nothing with it after we got home.

We drove over to spend Thanksgiving with the Ingrams. Phil prepared Breakfast which was Eggs Benedict. During the afternoon, I configured TNG for them and transferred their Gedcom file into TNG. Their Gedcom file came from an old 2000 version of Legacy Family Tree and the data appears not to have been updated since 2002.

At 1:00 p.m. we started the conference call with John & Marie, Juliet & Ray, Carol & Ken and John Larson. With us, there were 14 of us on the call which lasted almost an hour and a half.

After a very nice Thanksgiving dinner, I spent time going over the application with Phil.

We left at 9:00 am and arrived in San Pedro at 2:00 pm. The traffic was heavier than usual and there was a delay going down the El Cahoun pass due to an accident that was not even on the pass. The boat was fine and we installed the re-worked steps. The weather was cloudy in the Las Vegas area but the sky cleared after we passed Baker.

We used route 710 so we could cross the new bride to Terminal Island between Long Beach and San Pedro. This seems to be a easier route now the bridge is open.

It took us a little longer to load the car as we brought the Companion Way steps home so they could be re-finished by sanding and getting coats of varnish. The trip back was uneventful and we discovered the road work on Route 15 seems to have been completed so we encountered no traffic backups.

We left late morning to visit the Ingram’s for Dinner. This was the first time we had set the newly varnished Hatch Boards in place and they do look so mutch better. On the way we stopped at Whole Foods in the new Mall. This was to pickup a couple of bottles of wine and some cheeses to take with us.

We spent the afternoon and early part of the evening before heading back to Hilbre about 9:15 p.m.

Without going it more detail, the Hat Boards finally received their four coats of varnish and have been left outside to dry before using them on Saturday.

The three Hatch Boards were sanded and received their first coat of varnish using a foam brush. It took the one side about 3 hours to become reasonably dry so the other side could receive it’s coat of varnish.

Went to West Marine to get the varnish and also Home Depot to get Mineral Spirit. Unfortunately I discovered that they no longer sell Mineral Spirit, Paraffin, or other common cleaning chemicals in California. This includes MEK, Acetone and other products which are banned here. I had to buy an approved California substitute.

These are all chemicals which I can buy in Las Vegas. It was a bit of a surprise as I will have to now buy them in Nevada and bring them to the boat.

We drove to San Pedro and Hilbre. Everything was OK on the boat and we settled in for the weeks stay. The project this trip was to re-do the hatch boards by sanding them and giving them new coats of varnish.

I decided that I will purchase a couple of color print rolls for John’s Wedding as well as take my Pentax film camera. I checked the electronic flash will fire with the film camera and it does.

I checked and cleaned the Pentax film camera and fit it into my backpack case. The camera still has Ektachrome film in it which I will need to use up. I will also buy a couple of rolls of Ilford B&W film so I can check the flash exposure settings and to make sure everything is working correctly. I will process the film myself.

B&C Camera do have all of the films and processing materials that I will need.

Went to B&C Camera and purchased a cold show mount for my electronic flash. I also tried to get a haircut but everything is by reservation and I was told there was nothing until early next week.

I tested the cold shoe mount and everything works as expected. What I did discover is that the new 50mm fixed focus lens that I got for my Birthday does not focus well and is therefore not suitable for portraiture. I will call B&H Camera on Monday and return it or get a replacement. I will decide on Monday what to do. It is clearly unacceptable and is not tack sharp as it should be.

I went through the camera equipment and decided to acquire a cold shoe tripod mount for my External flash gun. This will allow me to trigger the main flash using the installed camera flash.

All of the camera equipment is up to date.

I also went to Men’s warehouse and bought a charcoal grey suit. I have the jacket and they have ordered the pants. These should be here on Friday or Monday and will need to be altered to fit correctly.

We left San Pedro and had a quiet drive home with little traffic. In the evening, Sue Ingram called to see how our trip was. We did stop at Peggy Sues however they were only doing take-out so we bought an ice cream and left.

Everything was fine at home.

We tidied the boat in the morning, sanded the table again and applied a new coat of polyurethane before driving over to see the Ingrams. We took the PCH all the way and it was interesting to see the crowded beaches with only some people wearing masks.

We arrived at 4:30 p.m. and as we had stopped at a Trader Joe’s on the way to pick up some wine an cheese, that is how we started the afternoon. In the evening we had Rice and Chill and played a Dice Game.

We got back to the boat at 11:30 p.m.

As usual, West Marine screwed up and go the wrong tint for fiberglass. I needed tint for Gelcoat so we had to drive to the Long Beach West Marine to get what I needed. Before we left, I sanded the table top and gave it a coat of polyurethane. This way it had time to dry while we were gone from the boat.

On the way back we stopped in Long Beach and had lunch at Shenanigans Irish Pub. By the time we got back, the table was almost dry. In the afternoon, I made up a fresh batch of Gelcoat with the remaining white tine and repaired the scratch in the hull. I also sanded the bow area that Anita dented when breaking the bottle at the boat christening. I also was able to sand and fill the stern damage from Lake Mead when Anita let the line go.

West Marine had no white tint so I ordered one to be delivered tomorrow. Today the boat was washed and polished and some of the cushions were cleaned. I will finish the gelcoat repair to the hull tomorrow.

A 40′ Tartan moved into a slip not far from us. The owner Ralph is the brother in law of Murray who is across the way from us. Ralph was caught by the Covid pandemic as they were in Mexico about to sail to the Marquesa Island when access to French Polynesia was closed. They bashed back to LA.

I needed some wax paper for the gelcoat fix and so went up to Vons to get that and a bottle of pasta sauce. Because the wax paper had a non-stick surface, it is supposed to work just as well as mylar for covering the patch so it can set. The kit has only one small square of mylar and there would not be enough to do all of the chips that I wished to fill.

In the afternoon, I made my first batch of gelcoat and used the tincture white. The comments I saw on the West Marine about how little they give you of the coloring agent were correct. Big tube but little white coloring to mix in the gelcoat.

I filled some non-critical chips and have left the gelcoat to set for and hour and a half. We will see what happens.

It worked well an was easier than I expected. One or two of the chips still need a bit of filler but overall, the process has worked to my satisfaction. I will need to buy some more white tint for doing the hull chip. I also tried the Turtle Wax heavy duty rubbing compound on the waterline stripe and it seems to have worked for removing the stains.

I had a discussion with Brian next door as he had built a new dodger and bimini and he was here with Jenna fitting it. He has algae in his fuel tank which is why he has not taken the boat out. He is now retired and no longer has his dental practise.

We drove down to Hilbre with light traffic taking only 4.5 hours, even with a stop. Weather was clear but gusty, probably due to the cold front coming from the north. Our neighbors Brian and Jenna arrive a couple of hours after us. Roger was also on the dock and our other neighbors, Alex and Mariah were out sailing but returned shortly after we had arrived.

This morning I went to see the Doctor. Everything is normal and there are no changes. I will see her again in 6 months.

I put a list together for the items needed to repair the Gelcoat on Hilbre and purchased them from Home Depot. We also sent extra photographs to Sue Ingram for the book she is putting together.

I did the first transfer from my main computer to the laptop of the WEB and other than changing the Localhost port on the laptop to 3308, it has worked fine. This was in preparation for going to the boat tomorrow.

We spoke with Juliet via Skype as we needed to solve the dinner for Friday night before the wedding. We will get a hunk of meat and order sides locally with Juliet bringing a salad. This will take responsibility away from John & Marie and make their lives simpler; one less thing to organize or worry about.

Most likely we will order meat here in Las Vegas and take it with us to Colorado as this will be simpler than trying to do it there. We have plenty of ice chests that will be fine for this purpose.

I discovered a few errors in the photographs I took due to resizing selected pictures for the Sailing Blog. While I did not loose any, some photographs have been reduced in size from the originals.

Anita had been out with Carol Larson looking at wedding dresses and finally managed to find one but need a different size. A new one has been ordered.

I sent my Casio Blue Angel Watch for repair on 29 March. As it was taking too long I asked them to cancel the order on 11 Aug and today, I finally received it back from the repair facility in Torrence, CA. The watch was bought on a Carnival Cruise on the Carnival Spirit on 1 November 2004 and cost $265.99. The repair was going to cost $434.93.

The Hilbre WordPress site I installed on my main computer appears to be working OK although I may have lost some photo links. I had to reconnect a few to get them to display.