Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI
18.20.016N
64.55.440W

Words like could, should, might, probably, theoretically - don’t fill me with a whole load of confidence.  So this evening, when those are the words my dear, darling husband, the Tweaker in Chief, was using to convince me of his latest tinkering idea, I was a bit more absolute in my answer. 

The poor dear is bored out of his mind.  Yesterday he ran the water maker, tweaked the sump pump a bit, called a refrigeration tech to have them come check our system (even though I think it works just fine), called and tried to make an appointment for me with a dentist (I'm really tough on crowns), checked the back of his eyelids for light leaks and finally, welcomed Gerry and Nicky when they came for a visit out of sheer boredom themselves.  When we’re all together, we can find all kinds of things to talk about. 

Today, we started with Dale running over to the dinghy dock to pick up the refrigeration techs, Chris and Bob.  Believe it or not, Chris was from Little Rock, Arkansas.  He says there’s not too many of us out here from Arkansas.  In any event, he attached his lines and gauges, had me empty out our freezer (might as well do a complete defrost while its empty) and then declared that it was fine, no freon was needed.  Then Dale took him over to Gerry’s boat and went through the same motions with the same conclusions.  Except that Gerry’s system is different than ours and they need to decide whether to get larger solar panels to support their current system or a new compressor for their current system that doesn’t require as many amps to run.  After that was done, Dale took them back to the dinghy dock and returned to help me load up for our every other week run to the laundry. 

Even the weeds are pretty here

Nicky has always said that Tuesday is the day to go and she was right.  We walked in and found washers without any problems.  We’re old hats at this now and soon we had the machines loaded and churning.  The guys went over to the supermarket for sodas for Opal and were back in time to help fold.  We returned to the dinks and loaded the laundry into them before heading back for Chinese take out to eat in the marina park. 

Once back at the boat, Dale grabbed the aero-garden that he had tried to convert from 110 to 12 volt-when a zap! and puff of smoke later, it blew up.  I really didn’t pay too much attention when he started tearing it apart, as he often salvages parts he thinks he can use for other purposes.  This time though, he started with the “you know, I could” wire the pump from this one to the one that works, so that the pump in the one that works, might function for both of them.   Uh huh.  No.  
We don’t need the light, just the pump.  No.   
Theoretically, it should work.  That’s what you said before the 1^st one blew up.  
I’ll talk with Gerry about it. 

My kids tell me they love to hear about the Tinker Twins but I’m telling you, if they destroy my last aero garden, there are going to be 2 big splashes in the Charlotte Amalie Harbor.