Who ever thought a Honda could be so loved?

Vero beach - Here I sit blissfully plugged into an outlet on the boat and using my computer for a s long as I want ! We are cool this morning in the high 40's but now in the 50's so I am making a big pot of chili to share tonight with 2 of our neighboring boats. The day after we spent 1/2 a day trying to get work done at the library we ran into some great friends from last year - Teri and Neal - we originally met them here in Vero but really got to know them during our month in Stuart. They invited us for dinner. Boats ~ everything about how to live aboard is always the topic of conversation. Teri and Neal have a new boat - a beautiful dark blue bigger than their previous boat - the subject of power came up and my frustration with the need to be on the computer so many hours a day - Voila - they were selling a Honda 1000 generator because their new boat needed a 2000. We borrowed it the next day to decide if we wanted it or not and if it would work with our battery charger ampage ( if i get the technical stuff wrong - it's ok - I've tried to get Don to blog and he just hasn't yet - so stuff like what kind of boat Neal has will stay as blue for now ! ) It charges our batteries without having to run our diesel motor but in addition it provides me with electricity on the boat, it's unbelievably quiet and it burns 1/2 gallon of gas in 8 hours or something like that. In my book ~ things are looking up.
I have been really busy with my cottage rentals work and it takes hours on the computer to keep after every inquiry and work on the web site and the web advertising - it all takes lots of time - this is my busiest time with the reservations so I put the blog aside to be sure to keep http://www.baysidecottagerentals.com/ (If you click that link you wll have to push the back button to return to the blog ) up and running and taking every opportunity to get every reservation possible. We are behind last year but pleased so far that there is as much activity as there is.

So many other things have kept us running it seems. In addition to spending a whole day figuring out the generator thing, I came back to Vero to discover Tiller is famous - more people know him than us. Don has made lots of friends and now we have invite after invite. My brother Charlie is married to a wonderful person - Julie - her parents also arrived this week. We had a very nice dinner and visit on their boat last night ( Mike & Georgia ) They have a wonderful enclosure in the cockpit of the boat so even with the 30 knot winds we were warm visiting outside.

While I was away Don started taking Tiller to shore and given he is on a leash creates quite a stir. He just loves everyone and tends to snub is if others are around. Greg & Mary aboard "Southern Cross" are now our raft mates and they let Tiller rule the roost over there as well. He hops in and out of the dingy and if others come along side he'll hop right in.

This morning just as I was turning on the gas for coffee a couple came alongside to say hello - a friend in common, Martha Story - sent them our way. Anne & Don are their names - they came to say hi to "Killer" It took Don a minute to get it - "Tiller" - the westsail has a tiller not a wheel - not sure anyone would neame thier cat killer - but anyway - wonderful to meet another couple from the northern Neck of Virginia - one of our favorite places - the story of how we met the Story's is a good one and I'll post that one of these days. As you can see we are keeping busy and aren't the least bit lonely !