A random observation.

It's no secret that owning a boat and cruising out of areas where help and parts are available teaches you 'self accountability'. It's one of the main things we enjoyed about cruising. (Having no one around to help you and doing what's necessary to repair and secure your own survival.) It's a very satisfying feeling being able to do that. The one thing I didn't expect is that it is now part of my daily life on land.

We own a small apartment building (4 units) that needs upgrading. Built in 1971 everything needs to be updated and when a unit becomes vacant we go in and rehab. it. It's amazing,, other than a few things the Admiral and I do everything ourselves. We replace the cabinets & counter tops, sinks, sweat copper plumbing, put up Sheetrock, replace the baseboards, all the electrical Edison receptacles, doors, moulding and on and on. I discovered the 40 year old natural gas heater is wasted on one unit, did some research and am at the moment installing a new gas heater. The only thing that keeps me from doing carpets is that I just don't want to put out the physical effort otherwise we'd do that as well.

Because of our experience cruising we spend extra time doing the job many times being better than a contractor would as we can't help doing a job as our lives depend on it (we're also not working with a time factor). Not trying to blow my own horn but I find that cruising and self-accountability finds its way throughout your life. We tell people who are surprised we're doing it all ourselves that "We lived on a boat for ten years and can do anything".

Only bad part is that I'm suppose to be retired and every day we're at the building working. The good part is were almost finished and the Abacos and Chesapeake Bay are only a month away.