Our iSotherm freezer box thingy, better known as our faux-Engel or lately a P-o-S, has been making us a bit crazy with its inability to consistently regulate itself, often transforming into a massive power hog. Of course, this power hogging seems to happen at night when we can’t see that our house batteries have dropped below 12volts. We’ve tried setting it to Eco mode to conserve energy, but then it gets too warm. The last straw was when the ungrateful schemer put our behaving house freezer under its spell and we woke up to a low voltage house battery and a house freezer at 26 degrees that had been running for hours but not getting colder. Lately it hangs around 20-22 degrees which is acceptable for warmer water and air temps.

Fortunately the Russ-of-all-trades has a trick up his sleeve to nudge the house freezer into working properly and we think we’re good to go for another month or so. Cancel that- try only two days before it stopped at night again. The only answer for the faux-Engel is to consume all the food (can you say “have our son with us for 3 weeks?”) then switch to use it as a fridge; a mode that suits it much better. Or perhaps, as I think I’ve mentioned before, as a contribution to Davy Jones’s locker.  In this case L is for lucky we didn’t experience a major meltdown- the freezers, not us. Ha.

Monday we rode in style in Cort’s yet-to-be-named harbor taxi (little inside joke) to St Francis for lunch then over to Hamburger Beach/Big D’s/Monument to gaze upon the uncleared acreage; building permit pending.

The property is set back a couple hundred feet from the beach with a row of breezy Casuarinas offering limited camouflage. And would you be surprised to learn that the project is behind schedule?-by U.S. standards not Bahamian of course. A foundation was expected by now, but with no building permit just yet, the wheels churn very, very slowly. Maybe by next fall mon.

Later that afternoon we learned we’d be dining on lobster for lunch, but even one large tail can’t feed three so additional salads were prepared; not just by me!

Wednesday would be the last day until Monday when we could easily and safely dinghy across the harbor without getting tossed about like salad with salt water dressing. Wednesday in George Town is propane day, when Clarence brings the truck over to Eddie’s Edgewater and the guys line up with empty tanks to be filled on the spot. (this isn’t the only way to do it just the easiest and perhaps most economical)

Over the past few days we’d been filling our water tanks, planning the last two trips today. We’d also purchased and dumped 15gals of diesel into our starboard tank (at $5.25/gal); as running the genset two-three times daily was sucking down the juice big time. Did I mention our power hog faux-Engel?

Met up with Cort at the market and soon we were driving north on Queen’s Highway on the left side of the road, the driver seated on the right. Way too weird.

Got the laundry started; not sure the last time I used machines without having to insert coins. Come lunch time we fell into our natural roles and managed to prepare tuna salad, spinach salad, fruit with yogurt (cheated- it was left over from Tues) and G&Ts in real glass. Sweet

An important order of business, seeing that Christmas is a week away, was to decorate and acquire a tree. This was an amazing event to watch unfold. Using items found inside or outside the house, a tree, complete with stand and tree skirt was erected within 30mins. The only purchase was the light set.

The branches wouldn’t stay upright very well, so we found a large plastic mixing bowl in the kitchen, filled it with moist sand. The crate fit snugly over it.

After this picture was taken Cort placed a few conch shells on the table at the base of the crate. Pretty good uh? Looks even better in real life- my iPhone doesn’t take the best quality photos.

Worked up an appetite after that strenuous tree raising so we headed a couple of miles north to a relatively new place, Prime Island Meats & Deli where they have stateside quality meats, salads, baked goods and deli meats.  You’d think we hadn’t seen U.S. meats in ages, rather a mere month. But this type of market is a rare find in the Bahamas. If I showed you a picture of the cuts of meat you find in nearly all Bahamas markets, you would understand. We snagged a piece of freshly made lasagna for $5, fresh sausage, and not frozen from prehistoric times boneless chicken breasts.  Cort scooped up a small frozen turkey for Christmas; wife and two grandkids arrive Sunday so he has been preparing.

Somehow we got back to the boat in our overloaded dinghy in calm seas (oh that harbor can get nasty) and felt very lucky to have a friend with a house, car and boat in George Town.

Thursday through Monday are forecast to be windy enough to keep us boat-bound much of the time. What better opportunity to bake, make ornaments and get a certain someone’s bed cleared off so he has a place to sleep come Monday night 🙂