January 30th Kelly and I take a walk

It is still cold here, which means it is not getting into the high 70's. Kelly and I went for a walk to wee if we could find an Alligator. We did not but we did see some birds, a manatee and a Iguana.

Today Day 157 we went to Key West

Today we went to Key West. It was in the words of the cashier at Publix "It's FREEZING". The temperature in Miami never got to 70. While "cold" it was a beautiful sunny day. The trip took about 3 hours with the trip home about 3.5 hours. The marina pictures are of Galleon Marina where we where suppose to stay for a week. Key West was not as congested as we thought, but other then that it was pretty much what we expected. Trish is really getting tired of the walker which she must use for about three more weeks wt least.

Key West

Trish's ankle on the mend

As you know Tuesday we went to Doctors Hospital and had the stitches out. I forgot to show you pictures of the ankle before the removal of the stitches.

Jan 27 our last visit to Doctor's Hospital

We went off to Doctor's Hospital and had the cast taken off. We are now booked to come home Tuesday Feburary 10. Our trip will continue at the end of April.

Tomorrow we are off to Key West. For now I have included a couple of pictures from happier times.

Some more pictures January 25. I can't believe it's a month since Christmas

First Trish is feeling a lot better today. The ankle still hurts and she is still not allowed to put any weight on it, but she definitely feels things are headed in the right direction.

I went for a walk and finally saw an Alligator. A large one about 50 yards from shore and a smaller one right at the shore.

Then I walked over to the dam and saw a number of Manatee.

Jumping fish

Today I took a walk to see if I could see the elusive alligator. Once again no luck, but I did find an interesting sight. I found about 10 to 29 fish jumping. I did not get a very good picture because they would jump the stop and start over in a new position in about 5 minutes. These are the best I have.

January 22 Day 151 Waiting for final Doctor's appointment

We are now just waiting for the doctor to take the stitches out and tell us we can go home. Since we have been travelling in nice to great weather for the past 5 months we have no idea what will meet us as we get off the airplane in about 10 days. None of us are looking forward to Toronto weather, but we are all looking forward to seeing everyone.

Today I took a walk wearing a light shirt and shorts. It is hard to think of wearing long pants let alone a sweater or coat. On my walk i got some good pictures but first lets see how Trish is coming along.

 Manatee

Miami in the distance

January 11 friends come to visit

Last Sunday our good friends Barbara and Roland Ross came to visit. Roland has just retired and was relishing the idea that he had no set date for returning to Toronto the cold. We got the marina to pick Trish up in a golf cart and drive her within 12 feet of our table.

It was wonderful to catch up with news from Toronto and to welcome another couple into the retirement fraternity. I of course should have posted this a week ago but

Trish is home and feeling some better

Kelly and I went and got Trish from the hospital. While we where waiting for her release we went out and bought two bags and locks for three.

Trish is still in pain but says it is getting better and did have a good sleep last night. The appointment to take the stitches out has been postponed till January 27th or a week from Monday.

Finally things are progressing

Before the operation we talked with Dr Hodgkins who said it took a lot of convincing to get the Insurance company to agree that Tris should not travel with a compound fracture. He said they finally agreed and here we are.

After the operation he said that everything went as expected and that Trish should be able to travel after he takes the stitches out next Friday. 

It is 2:30 now they have just found a room for Trish who will spent the night in the hospital. Hopefully tomorrow the pain will be more under control.

Picture of Christopher Hodgkins

Trish with nurse Doug, a boated and Kelly.

View from room

Trish on a shopping trip

Things going better and The University of Miami

This morning we got a call from our "insurance company". They said that if the decision had been made last week it would have been to go home. Since there was no certainty the operation would be done at home before the weekend we had better have it done here.
I assume from their attitude if we had phoned when the accident happened we would have been told to go home for the initial xrays. I do not know what the xray could show which would be worse then a compound fracture of the ankle. We are not finished with this company claiming to sell health insurance.
Trish is now waiting to see a GP for a physical requested by the , anesthesiologist I hope I spelt that right. While we wait yes that's right wait we are now out of the hospital I have come across the street to The University of Miami.

Monday January 12

Today we are sitting well Trish is lying. We wait for our health insurance company to decide if the surgent is correct and the compound fracture requires surgery.

Both Trish and I are finding their ineptitude and insensitivity very stressful. It seem their medical staff get paid extra or are at least able the keep their jobs if they refuse claims. 

We are waiting for the final decission so at this point I will not mention their name, but there is at this point a very real possibility Trish will be flying home alone to get delayed surgery in Toronto. It appears we paid over $4,000 so as someone in Kitchener could tell us that if Trish really needed surgery there was an airport in Miami.

More to follow

Saturday January 10 Day 139

We were suppose to be in Key Largo today for a week. Instead we are still in Black Point Marina. Trish saw the Sergent on Thursday. He did a C T Scan and decided it would have to be an operation.

He wanted the swelling to go down before he operated so the operation will be this coming Thursday. We will stay here until Trish gets her stitches out on the 23rd. We will then go to Fort Lauderdale for my sister's visit. We will put the boat somewhere and come home. At the end of April we will come back and bring Irish Mist home.

We will miss The Bahamas, but the rest of the trip will be intact.

Here is a picture of the ankle and Trish's new ski boot.

Good morning from Culter Bay/Black Point

We now believe all problems with Irish Mist are fixed and the oil, filters and impellor are changed.

We will remain here for awhile to fix Trish's broken ankle. Hopefully we will see a specialist today. Yesterday we had an X-ray done and a temporary cast put on.

More to follow.

time for an update and some Animal Pictures

The never ending saga of our pumps continues. As I have said we came in on Saturday with a leaky macerator pump. then we discovered the fridge/freezer pump was not working. As we replaced it with the wrong kind of pump by the way we blue a fuse, but did not know it.  It took a while to find the blown fuse and when we did the freezer still did not work.

Yesterday two refrigeration guys showed up and took a look. The decision was we need a new compressor unit. I called Seafrost in New Hamshire and ordered a compressor unit and the proper pump. These items are to arrive today and the refrigeration gentlemen said they would have us out of here by Friday.

Meanwhile it is really hot. this morning when we woke up it was 66, but with 100% humidity it felt like 80. I decided to take a walk to find Manatee. I found no Manatee but did find the following.

A school of fish

A flock of birds.

Two Iquanas

Problems with Irish Mist continue

Last Thursday we discovered the forward Macerator Pump was leaking. We have not used it but it was it was leaking. The leak was very small but needed to be fixed. 

When we could not find a place in The Keys to go untill next week I decided to find a place to get the fix done. I called Black Point Marina who said they had room and a machanic. We booked two days.

Barry fixed the Macerator leak then worked on the refrigeration. We bought a pump we thought would work at West Marine. After finding a blower fuse we got the pump going. The fridge is fine now but still have a problem with the pump and the freezer.

Hopefully the freezer will be ok and while Barry is changing the oil we will find the correct pump.

More to follow.

Some where now here is the fredge/freezer pump.

Saying Good By

All good things must come to and end. Trish and I had the best time of our lives with all our children and their children and love ones. Trish and I consider all to be our children. We have never been happier with our lives and family.

Christmas 2014 Dinner

A wonderful time was had by all