Garmin is Money

Some of you may remember that I had strange power issues with my Garmin 5212 last year. Well, about a month ago I called Garmin and explained my problem to them. Despite being a month over on my two year warranty, Garmin agreed to fix or replace my bottom machine/gps. I sent it in two weeks ago, and today, I received a brand new unit! You can see it above, pictured on our porch, with the screen sticker still on it. I can not say enough about this fine machine. It has terrific clear radar, a vivid fishfinder, and the gps is top notch. The best part is its intuitive touch screen interface. Now I am extremely impressed with Garmin's customer service too.

Progress

Yesterday, the boy had his first experience of the season on the boat. I figured he would not tolerate his life jacket or being stuck in such a small area, and, as always, he proved me wrong. All day long he kept urging me to put his life jacket on him to go on a boat ride. I think we went out on the boat twice and we had to drag him off each time.

Gayle took the kids to Falmouth today! Yeehaw. What a pleasure to be able to get stuff done. Did a bit of school work and then went down to the boat. Got the radio working and re-installed it in the overhead drybox. I also got the livewell running and secured. Tied up more gear too.

Then, I took Jonne Trees, Our local television station's master video guy, out to Burnt Island to scope camera shots for a student's film.

My electrician, Howie, dropped by too and took out my Garmin so I can send it back.
Anyway, it was a lovely day of progress and I am now looking forward to the family's return.

the ladies

Iz did a great job running the boat today. I felt comfortable leaving her in charge and she seemed to really enjoy having the wheel. It does help that there are few lobster buoys in the harbor to avoid right now.
The water temp was a chilly 43 degrees but the air temp over the next few days should help. The boat is running well and I can not wait for the fish to arrive in force. Over the next few weeks I hope to hear reports of Stripers beginning to show up in some of the rivers of Southern Maine. It would be lovely if we had warm water and fishable numbers by Memorial Day. Of course I won't be fishing over Memorial Day because Gayle is off to Cartagena, Columbia for a wedding.

Back to Blogging

Time for me to get back to my blog. I apologize for not updating in so long.

Time to get myself, the boat, and the business back into gear. The picture above shows that my dock is being put back into the water. Other signs of the changing seasons are present in Boothbay too. Businesses in town seem to have more activity and buds on the trees are making tangible progress. I would say the trees look a few weeks ahead of last year.

So, I will be sending a newsletter out to former clients in the next few weeks. We will probably get the boat uncovered soon too. I need to update the Garmin 5212 to its latest version, paint the bottom, and re-install my radio, and off we go. Another fishing related task will be to hit LL Beans, where, as a member of the Maine Guide Association, I get 33% off. I am going to be purchasing 5 Shimano Stradic Reels for fishing light tackle and other saltwater goodies.

We had a great string of warm weather. Its now cold and rainy. Hopefully, we get some more heat, so we can get those water temps up, and get our season started. I can not wait.

A More Detailed Update on My Wife's Condition

Gayle's surgery was a success. Dr. Sisti was able to remove the vast majority of the tumor. At the same time, he preserved the facial nerve, and partially saved some of the Cochlear nerve.

As a result, Gayle will be free of the numbness and facial weakness she has been experiencing for months and the tumor will never threaten Gayle's life again. The size of the tumor left behind will not need surgery and if it did grow, which is unlikely, they could radiate it.

Preservation of the facial nerve means that, hopefully, the only long term effect Gayle will have is the loss of hearing on the affected side. But, because Sisti preserved some of the Cochlear nerve, Gayle will retain a little of her hearing and might benefit from improvement in hearing aid technology sometime in the future.

At 5:15 today, I was able to get in to visit Gayle. She was out of it, nauseous, in some pain, but expressive. It was quite an effort for her to open her eyes which she forced herself to do when she heard my voice. She looked at me and made me switch sides of her bed. In a silent somewhat pained way she asked me to talk. She reacted to my news of Tom and Bess and Ralph hanging all day with a partial smile. Then, I tried to tell her about all the people calling,texting,and writing on Facebook and she definitely smiled again. Big relief.

Smelting 2010 Dresden, Maine

Hoops and stuff

What could be worse than going 2-11? Going 2-12. In just a few hours, we play Georges Valley, a team we lost to while I was investigating possible surgeons for my wife's Acoustic Neuroma in New York City. I have watched the video of that game several times and we should definitely get a W tonight. Put all sharp objects away if we lose.

Soon, I will get it together and write something down about Costa Rica. Considering what a terrific experience I had, one would think I would have shared more about it by now. Oh well, life has been nuts lately. Anyway, I promise to write about it soon. For those of you who love to fish you must go. Its unreal. I embedded one of our fishing videos below. If you have been following Sweet Action Charters on Facebook you will recognize it.