The third annual voyage of Oreneta, dec 05

Hello all,
We are off again, finally. We’ve had a few hurdles to leap on the way out of here. Indeed in some ways it was rather hard at times. The biggest one was that the house had not rented. Sound familiar? Not only does that not allow us to go, but it costs us quite a bundle while it sits vacant so this was fairly important to get done. Fortunately we got it rented just now on the 8th, and the new tenants take possession on the 15th. I am deeply relieved on that note.The boat also sustained a direct hit from Hurricane Wilma, and a number of boats went over in the yard we store Oreneta in. Fortunately ours was still standing and nothing fell on her. Indeed she is so small, I had more of an image of her sailing through the air like in the Wizard of Oz rather than meerly falling over. Anyway, there was a week or so there when we weren’t sure we had a boat to head out on, but we found out later, and at this point we know that there are no major external structural problems, which frankly goes a long way. I haven’t e-mailed in ages because I was feeling a little blue as the weather turned colder and colder, and there was no end in sight. Also there is an element of waiting to write because you might have news soon.
Halloween here was a huge success, the children were vastly excited. D was a witch, and a very cute one at that. Although I think she intended to be a bit edgier than she was in the end. N was a person carrying her chopped off head, which was quite successful, she was quite freaky and ghoulish and alarmed small children which was what she was aiming at. They got GALLONS of candy, which they are still eating despite my “get it over with” policy of gorging yourself at any opportunity after a meal is eaten. They are having a grand time with all that. I think they will be OK about leaving school. There are aspects of it that they like, the friends mostly, but there are chunks they don’t. Chiefly the long hours at school and for N the volume of homework. On the boat, they acomplish as much in about an hour and a half or two hours as they do in a day, plus homework. Life is busy here getting organized to go, there isn’t that much to do, but I am working as well, and X doesn’t get home till nearly 7 so I am a little short of time I can get things done in. Not for long though, I’m looking forward to the sanity of being away again.
So, that’s my story for now.