DK the Nautical Knitter

There is a lot in a name. We found this boat about three weeks ago and it was exactly the make, model and condition we were looking for. The only problem was we had to wait two weeks to get free to go down to Florida to see her. Luckily, we put a contract on her right away, subject to inspection, so we would be the first in line to buy her, if we liked her. I am so glad we acted when we did. There were at least three other VERY serious buyers that we were able to beat to the deal. One of those buyers showed up at the boat last Saturday night to try and get a look at her and we had to inform him that she had been sold *TO US*! I couldn’t believe how sad he looked.

Anyway, Laughalot is ours now and we have already started the process of bringing her into the 21st century. There is so much to do to her. She is in great condition to sail right now, but we want to update the electronics, work on the engine, electrical systems, rigging, and plumbing. Updates on her restoration progress will be posted here.

She did come with loads of extras that we weren’t even expecting. She has a gimbaled stove/oven, hot water heater, refrigerator, brand new stereo system, wind generator, water maker, dinghy, life raft, epirb, bimini with dodger, and even an air conditioning/heating unit that works perfectly. Unbelievable!!! We were truly “laughing a lot” at our good fortune when we made the deal and she was all ours. Enjoy the photos.

The marina where she is located is at the end of a long channel that leads out to the Gulf of Mexico. There used to be a restaurant in the big building you see in the photos, but it burned on the inside and never reopened. As you can see from the photos we are in the last slip on the dock and it is so private and peaceful there. When you are looking at the building from the channel Laughalot is to the right, tucked back in the corner.

Our first weekend we spent on Laughalot was last weekend and we were surprised and excited to see all kinds of birds. We saw white herons, gray storks (or herons, not sure about that one), pelicans, seagulls, and one bird of prey who apparently is a local.

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There is a lot in a name. We found this boat about three weeks ago and it was exactly the make, model and condition we were looking for. The only problem was we had to wait two weeks to get free to go down to Florida to see her. Luckily, we put a contract on her right away, subject to inspection, so we would be the first in line to buy her, if we liked her. I am so glad we acted when we did. There were at least three other VERY serious buyers that we were able to beat to the deal. One of those buyers showed up at the boat last Saturday night to try and get a look at her and we had to inform him that she had been sold *TO US*! I couldn’t believe how sad he looked.

Anyway, Laughalot is ours now and we have already started the process of bringing her into the 21st century. There is so much to do to her. She is in great condition to sail right now, but we want to update the electronics, work on the engine, electrical systems, rigging, and plumbing. Updates on her restoration progress will be posted here.

She did come with loads of extras that we weren’t even expecting. She has a gimbaled stove/oven, hot water heater, refrigerator, brand new stereo system, wind generator, water maker, dinghy, life raft, epirb, bimini with dodger, and even an air conditioning/heating unit that works perfectly. Unbelievable!!! We were truly “laughing a lot” at our good fortune when we made the deal and she was all ours. Enjoy the photos.

The marina where she is located is at the end of a long channel that leads out to the Gulf of Mexico. There used to be a restaurant in the big building you see in the photos, but it burned on the inside and never reopened. As you can see from the photos we are in the last slip on the dock and it is so private and peaceful there. When you are looking at the building from the channel Laughalot is to the right, tucked back in the corner.

Our first weekend we spent on Laughalot was last weekend and we were surprised and excited to see all kinds of birds. We saw white herons, gray storks (or herons, not sure about that one), pelicans, seagulls, and one bird of prey who apparently is a local.

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There is a history to that statement. You see, in any of our business enterprises we have undertaken my mother and dad have always been there to help as, jokingly, free labor. Mom has always learned how to do tasks associated with the business and dad has made many of the products we have sold. When we had the quilting business and traveled the country my parents would meet us in their motor home and help us work the shows, as well as make the products we sold. We moved into the bead business and mom was there to help count all those little packages of beads. We have moved on again into the book business I really haven’t given much thought to what their roles would be now.

That is until last week. After we had the pallets of books delivered to us (previous post) we began preparing to leave last Friday on a trip to Florida to look at a sail boat. On Thursday afternoon we collected another donation of about the same amount of books that we had received earlier in the week. The books were delivered to our driveway and when we got home around 6pm we had to move them all into the house before we could pack for the trip. AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

From the photos below you can see why I want my mommy!!

THERE ARE BOOKS EVERYWHERE

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Our work on the clean-up of the Catalina 22 is finished. We worked hard to get her clean and fixed up enough to sell and now she has gone to a new home in Georgia. She is going to have her renovation completed there by her new owner. Hopefully we will get pictures of her when she is fully completed. There she goes…

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Our work on the clean-up of the Catalina 22 is finished. We worked hard to get her clean and fixed up enough to sell and now she has gone to a new home in Georgia. She is going to have her renovation completed there by her new owner. Hopefully we will get pictures of her when she is fully completed. Here are some photos of our work.

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My bike sold this week and it was time to deliver it to the new owner today. Scott cleaned her up so nice it was hard to let her go. Below are some photos of my last ride. She was such a good bike and I will miss riding her, but it is time to go look at new boats now. We are headed out this weekend for Florida to look one over. It looks promising, wish us luck.

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We had 8 of these pallets of books donated to us today. Man do we have our work cut out for us now. There are boxes of books all over the house. We are so grateful for our blessings.

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I am playing with video plugins for the blog today. Here is a video of us approaching Hoover Dam on our recent trip to California. I took this video with my web cam attached to my laptop.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQtwenHeBTY[/youtube]

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This is the latest video of my grandson William. He is such a happy baby. The woman squirting him with water is his other grandmother in Colorado. Don’t you just love his laugh?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM7s6nWhYys[/youtube]

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Sad to see it go, but ecstatic about the future…

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