How Do You Like My Perfume?

Tuesday, June 30

Morning dawned with rags and buckets at the ready.  Dan’s plan was to start at the beginning of the engine room hatch and work his way forward and around both engines.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the mess.  Everything in the engine compartment was covered with black soot. The starboard engine and the ceiling above it were the worst .  

The rest of the engine room was black too; but not quite as thick.

Dan took two buckets of fresh water down with him and started cleaning with Simple Green.  I rinsed buckets and gave him fresh water as he worked.  He was down below from 7:30 in the morning until 6:00 that evening.  He was covered in black soot.  Luckily we had packed some latex gloves; they helped protect his hands somewhat. We were also fortunate that it wasn’t quite as hot as the past few days had been.  He was working in jeans and a t-shirt to try to protect his skin from sharp edges down below that like to attack skin.

See that black rag on his right?  We threw away about  eight of those.

He can still smile.

While Dan worked down below; I decided to prep some of the food we picked up at Costco.  I cut up the beef brisket we bought and put half of it in the crockpot.  I sautéed a big package of mushrooms and made up some mushroom swiss burgers for the freezer.  I browned up the remainder of the ground beef and froze it for some future meals.

Yes!  The electric frying pan is a necessity!

While I cooked I discovered that many of the cabinets and lockers in the cabin were sooted up as well.  I wiped out all the lower galley cabinets again. It seemed to be hit or miss as to which ones were dirty.  The vanity cabin in the master head seemed to be the worst.  Of course it had the most stuff in it.  Everything had to be removed; wiped down and the cabinet wiped out before it could all be put away. I swear my skin has a very subtle aroma of Simple Green from all of the cleaning I've been doing.  Sniff, sniff, how do you like it?

I made us some lunch and Dan took a short break.  I had a couple more hours of inside cleaning and then I was going to off load my bike and do a couple errands.

About two o’clock I took off for the post office and a souvenir store down by the beach.  My mission was to buy some postcards and stamps to send to our grandson Matthew. On my way back from the beach to the post office, the left crank arm with my pedal fell off my bike.  I searched in vain for the hex nut that held it on.  I tried riding with one pedal for a while but it was really awkward.  I was a little spooked to fall; because I had taken a nasty spill on my bike a few weeks ago.  The stitches in my elbow had finally just healed up and I was no longer scabby.

I walked the bike to the post office and got my stamps.  I remembered seeing a bike shop on the opposite side of Beach Blvd.  I just needed to remember if it was East or West of my position.  I guessed right!  The mechanic at Bird Leggs bike shop put my crank back on.  No charge! While I was in the shop waiting; yet another crazy storm blew through.  It seems like Jacksonville gets one every afternoon.  After texting Dan that I was safe inside; I waited till the worst of it went by and then headed back to the marina.

We had originally planned to go out for dinner that evening.  I took one look at Dan at lunchtime and realized I was going to be cooking.  That beef brisket in the crockpot would workout great. I added some potatoes and carrots to it and we feasted.  We still had plenty left for our planned roast beef sandwiches for the next couple days. Dan had spent almost eleven hours scrubbing. He was sore, dirty and smelly.  His only agenda was an ice cold beer and a shower.  Dinner was a bonus.  It was another early bedtime and we were sound asleep soon after.