Throwing You a Bone

It's been a while for a post!

It's been difficult for me (Kristi) to feel that anything of interest to you has been happening since everything we've been doing is just a replay of the LAST winter we spent in Friday Harbor -- watching ferries, visiting the animal shelter, going to church, coffee shops, doctors and dentists.  Even our holiday visit back home was much the same, except the grandkids are bigger!

So, it's been hard for me to come up with much.  So here's a bone.  I call it a photography fail, but it's kind of interesting, shot at sunset from Parks  Bay on Shaw Island in the San Juans last April.  The light level and movement of the boat cause a blurred effect.

Maybe, since we have now been living aboard and cruising for more than a year, which means our first complete calendar year, I can do an 'A Year in Pictures' post.  I'll work on that.

2012's Last Sunset

Also want to share the view from the Anacortes ferry landing when we arrived to await the 6 PM sailing to Friday Harbor:

And half an hour later it's washing in pink.

When Cruisers Go 'Home' for the Holidays

Though we tell our kids 'You don't need to get us anything for Christmas.  We don't want any more stuff!' -- look what happens when we 'stock up' and 'fill in the spares list'!

Poor car!  We could just hear it going 'Oof!'

Cost to Cruise - Dec 2012, and a Year End Summary

We left 2012 with a Bang, so to speak.  Spending a budget-busting $6,558!  Wow.

Here is the overview for December:

We are almost $2,800 over our already higher-than-we-hoped average monthly run rate.  What happened?  Well, some of the big things:

1. Purchased a spare raw water pump and transmission heat exchange, and the Magnum inverter.
2. Moorage includes next year's Washington State Park Pass ($140).
3. Dining Out:  Kristi and I did a lot of entertaining over the holidays with Family and Friends
4. Medical includes next year's pills,
5. And Transportation has three weeks of car rental (and gas) for our trip to Portland.

This is also one of the last months I will be consulting; we did kind of go wild.  Going into 2013 will be a new frontier for us, being 99% 'retired'.

On another sad note, the Solar Modeling missed the actuals a whopping -14%!  Yes, we only got 14Ah / day vs. the predicted 16Ah.   Biggest miss yet.

YEAR IN REVIEW

There is now sufficient 'data' that we can start looking at 'yearly' averages aligned with the end of the year!  

                                        2012 Full Year review.    (Click for larger image)

Looking back over 2012, we can see that Boat Maintenance and Improvements have taken over the top spending spot (from Healthcare and Insurance).  Perhaps need to remember some of the major points:

• Haul-out in August.
• Installing Solar Panel system in May
• Magnum inverter 
• About $1,000 in filling in gaps in the spares carried.

Next year I do not anticipate any of these (Will dive on the boat to replace the zincs, the bottom paint was in great shape when we hauled and I expect it will carry over two years - even in Salt water).

We are also looking to significantly cut our medical / insurance costs in 2013 by adopting an international policy.  (Outside of finishing up our Winter 2012 stay in Friday Harbor, and Kristi's upcoming eye surgery ).  The new policy does have a side effect of forcing us out of the USA, but for the policy we are looking at (IMG's GMI Click here) only for 6 months out of the year.  Given we will be cruising in Canada in 2013, and looking to winter over in Victoria BC, this should not be an issue.  

And with consulting coming to an end, I would hope to also see Communications reduced somewhat.  We have already dropped one of the phones we carry, and are looking to cut back to only one to park our phone number in while outside the USA.  However, communication costs will really depend on how often Kristi can go between Facebook hits . . .

The rest will likely stay the same (to be honest), but as the year progresses, we might have to make some other changes.

Wearing Santa Hats

What happens when you wear a Santa hat?  People smile, nod their heads, honk their horns, wave.

But what we love most, especially with Al, is the reaction of kids!  All it takes is the hat.  There's no grey beard, or red suit, but kids' eyes get big and round, and so do their mouths.  Some even gasp.  And a few whisper 'That looks like Santa Claus!'

Al says that maybe it's the build.  But, I even had a child in the grocery store  line step around me to look up into MY face.  Yes, the hair is getting more grey all the time, but the worst of it is still covered by the hat.  

HO HO HO,  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Equal Time

Granddaughter Madalyn's Kindergarten Sing-a-long was this afternoon.  She attends a new school that I had no idea where it was!  Turns out it was on a road I used to drive to work every day!

Madalyn will celebrate her 6th birthday while school is out for Christmas, so she got to wear a crown!

Mom and brothers enjoying the show

Milo, 2

Evan, 4

Emrie's Program

One of our first 'events' in Portland was attending 3-year-old granddaughter Emrie's pre-school program.  It was a delightful evening!

Emrie's three  brothers we also in attendance, along with another set of grandparents!

Ranger

Ryker

Troy

 Emrie was very good at all the expressions and gestures of the songs:

This is Santa's belly.

These are Grandma's glasses.

I don't remember what this demonstrated...

Now that you've seen her up close, can you find her in the crowd?  (She's front and center.)

The Jingle Bells came at the END of the show!