Addendum December 31, 2023:

The Jacksonville Jaguars shut out the Carolina Panthers 26-0 today! … right here on the shore of the St. John River.

Backup QB #3 C.J. Beathard and offensive and defensive teams did a commendable job.

They still have some work to do to secure their playoff spot next week. But, odds are with them to secure the division and their second playoff slot in as many years.

I am active in several different “forums” or on-line chat rooms focused on cruising etc. In them it is common for people to ask questions of the group, then different “experts” weigh in with free advice, often times this exchange is very valuable.

Occasionally a healthy “challenge” to an answer is posed by someone who disagrees.

In the past week or so, someone challenged my suggestion to occasionally hit one’s water tanks with some bleach… especially if you’ve been transiting some rural areas where well water is common.

I wrote that I occasionally “hit” my system with a half cup of bleach … especially if we have been transiting rural areas.

I was challenged on that dosage suggestion. So, I did some research.

Things that vary are the concentrations of the sodium hypochlorite in the household bleach one buys. Reportedly, 6-8% is typical. The size of one’s fresh water tank(s) also varies.

When I googled around to get the right dose, I learned that 1/2 teaspoon can treat 5 gallons of drinking water. The sources were authoritative government sources like the EPA and some state agencies, as well as some businesses in this field. Their answers varied a little but they were all in this same ballpark.

Shellerina has two 65 gallon fresh water tanks. So 13 teaspoons of household bleach should treat 130 gallons; 13 teaspoons is approximately 2 fluid ounces. So, I learned that a quarter cup instead of a half cup would be the right dose for OUR system.

Now, if I am regularly drawing water from these tanks, and re-filling them every week with “city water” I probably don’t need to add ANY bleach at all. The fresh water system is not stagnant, and it is being replenished with treated municipal drinking water.

We used to live in Maine, and we had a drilled well. After having it serviced, the vendor would “shock” the system with a LOT of bleach. They said, “When the smell of bleach goes away, it is OK to drink again.” Pretty un-scientific… but he was the professional, and went with that advice. If we smell chlorine at the tap in our boat, we don’t drink it, (or water the herb garden plants! LOL). Rather, we flush it out for a few days taking showers and doing dishes etc.

Related:

We “never” hook our boat up to the marina’s pressurized water system. There are two reasons for this. First, I want to keep drawing water from my own tanks to keep it fresh!

PLUS if we were to leave the boat for any length of time, and a leak in our system could cause an unlimited supply of city water to fill my boat; I am not comfortable that my only line of defense would be my bilge pump(s). Any number of things could contribute to that line of defense failing to keep up with the endless supply of pressurized water flowing in!

Lastly, we actually make a habit of having a 2.5 gallon jug of spring water aboard over our sink. We use it for making ice cubes, coffee, tea, and re-filling our water bottles. This habit dates back to the “old days” of winterizing our systems with pink non-toxic anti-freeze, etc. Even though we have not winterized in years because our seasonal migration patterns have changed. The old habit remains!

OK… one more tip. Do not fill your fresh water tanks from a fresh water hose near the pump out station! You have no idea when and if their hose has been inserted into a boat’s pump out port to “flush” their black water tank clean. If you gotta fill up there, simply hook up YOUR own hose to their spigot.

Gotta get my projects done!!!

Well, I made it into the pool [80°] and hot tub [104°] before the sun went down. New horn and new FWD bilge pump all installed! 100%

Each year here at Ortega Landing, slip holders put out a “spread” of holiday cheer or food for all the other slip holders to visit and sample the goodies.

Addendum: Dec 23. Everyone in the marina has been congratulating Shelly as her chili was voted the “Best Dish” award be all our dock-mates who participated. Very exciting!

“Devastating” news on the AGLCA Forum this evening. Jeremy Fowler has died suddenly today, way before his time, leaving his wife Kristi, and kids, and the whole Looper community in grief and disbelief.

https://shellerina.com/2021/09/07/jeremy/

More details to follow…

When I was in my 20s there was a local pizza restaurant close to where I lived. It seemed to get more than its share of traffic, the parking lot always had a bunch of cars coming and going. Some of the cars were really nice, some more “average” looking, some kinda run down. The pizza was good, but nothing special.

Well, I eventually came to learn that the owner was a bookie, and a lot of that traffic was of “customers” that were not coming or going for pizza! Mondays and Fridays were the busiest!

That made sense after I learned this as there was a lot of money visibly changing hands with the owner with no food in the mix! Nor was the cash register being used.

This is our third winter stay at Ortega River area aka “Fairfax” here in Jacksonville FL.

There is a similar business in the neighborhood that I’ve always been suspicious of. I’ve driven by this place dozens of times … maybe hundreds of times. Lots of traffic, cars of all varieties coming and going all the time! It appeared to be a small little used book store. Nothing flashy; almost looked a bit run down by my first impressions. But there was a lot of comings and goings! “Gotta be somethin’ illegal goin’ on there!”

Well, today I drove down to pick up our mail, and coming back, I had a half hour to kill before a scheduled business call. So, I figured I’d stop into this small place of business to see what the “story” was with this very suspicious storefront in our marina’s neighborhood.

Well, I was amazed to find the largest super-store of used (and new) books that I have ever seen anywhere. Before Amazon ever existed the “Mecca” of places for bookstores used to be Harvard Square in Cambridge MA. I loved spending whole days perusing each and every bookstore in Harvard Square. Similarly, in the 1980s and early 1990s there was a goldmine of bookstores on the dock in Yarmouth Maine called Harbor Books. It had so many little rooms and turns… the place went on and on forever. The staffs at these types of places were the BEST!!!

There were people coming and going the whole time I was there. The staff was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and they were not afraid to dicker a bit for the used book I really wanted. There was no subject of non-fiction they did not have covered, and the novels were all expertly classified and categorized.

There is something at this bookstore for everyone!

There was no sign of book making or drug dealing as I suspected for a year or two since tying up in the marinas nearby, both Lambs and Port 32 Ortega Landing.

So, I now have a new favorite place to come hang out that is walking distance from all the marinas in the neighborhood! Unfortunately, we don’t have room for a “library” on-board…

Publix, West Marine, SuperCuts, BofA, Chase, AND the best book store on the east coast, all walking distance from the marinas of this Ortega River area!

Never judge a bookstore by its cover! <wink>

As we prepare to push off in a few weeks for our round trip tour of the St Johns River here in Florida, our great friends from Maine, Richard & Mellisa St John joined us for breakfast and a tour of our typical winter surroundings here in Jacksonville FL.

“We brought our kids up together!” Is how I best described our friends to other dock mates whom we passed by today. We worked and enjoyed many years together as volunteer scout leaders and the like… helping each other out as our young offspring matured into adults.

Technically they are no longer married. So I guess they are having an affair… long term!

Jacksonville Fans?

These are the top NFL league-wide standings as of 7:00pm this evening.

The Chiefs play a bit later tonight, and the Jags play tomorrow night. Both teams should theoretically win these games. So, we’ll see!

We used to be Patriots fans. Today they lost their 5th game in a row… shut out 6-0. Five straight losses hasn’t happened since 1995. The Pats are next to last at the bottom of the list just above the Panthers.