November 5, 2008.

We’ve gotten our repair estimate and the figure is a lot more than we were hoping to hear. A lot more. But it is what it is. We really don’t have a choice but it’s gonna sting. It’s also going to take a bit more time than we had hoped but we’ll just have to make the best of it. If you see me selling pencils at a stop light; buy several and don’t hesitate to tip.

Carol & Ken had lent us their Jeep to make it easier for us to get around town. Last night we were invited to the home of some friends for dinner. So we left the boat just after dark on our way to the car. Just before we got off the boat Christy handed me the car keys. I considered not taking them because I didn’t want to be borrowing the car in the first place. I started to stuff them into my pocket and settled for sticking them in the pouch of my sweatshirt as I was going to make Christy drive anyway. As I jumped down onto the finger pier I watched with resignation as the keys very neatly slipped from my pouch and fell into the cold dark water.

It wasn’t just any bunch of keys either. Besides the keys to the car and house there was the fancy electronic car unlocking fob. Great, just great. Christy got our crab net from the stern rail. The handle was only 6 feet long and since the water was 9 feet deep and I’m standing on the dock 3 feet above the water there was no way it’s going to help. So I ended up using some duct tape to tape the net to one of our boat hooks. That’s when we realized just how strong the suns rays are. I dipped the net into the water and we were amazed when I pulled the net from the water. It had almost completely dissolved. The sun had degraded the nets material to the point that it actually disappeared when it got wet. Unbelievable. We called Carol and she arrived with the spare set of keys and we headed off to dinner.

Dinner was fantastic and the company was great and we had a great time in spite of the fact that I had the specter of the lost keys hanging over my head.

This morning I got up and found our big ass magnet and did a little fishing. In the space of ten minutes up came the keys. YES. I figured that the electronic opener was crap but at least we could return the keys. I gave them to Christy to rinse in freshwater. When she was done she opened the battery door on the opener and IT WAS DRY INSIDE. It was waterproof, YES.

Then I came in and promptly spilled an entire glass of soda on the keyboard of my laptop. I dried it off as best I could and Christy went to work on it with a can of compressed air in an effort to dry it out. In the end there was no hope and the patient died. Crap. Christy had one more trick up her sleeve though. She called IBM and found out that the laptop was still under warranty. So it will involve sending the unit back to them, but it should work out for us.

So our last couple of days have been like a ride on a roller coaster. Lost the keys, found the keys. Killed the laptop, found out all is not lost. Broke the boat, found someone who can fix it………no wonder roller coasters make me want to vomit.