This is what we aren't doing today, and I think Randy's more than glum about it now and again. I know he's bored and antsy: he shaved his beard off a while ago, and he's been busily growing it back just as fast as he can.

Our friends Janet and Bill have beaten us to the sold-the-boat champagne. Their Brewer 12.9 sold this week to a real charming fellow from away. Janet was so pissed with him at the end that she took all the toilet paper off the boat when they left.

Maybe there's something positive in the air, thoughts of spring and sailing season, because we've had six new enquiries in the last three days. Randy's been spending a lot of time on the phone talking about the boat, not a problem for him, and I've been sending off lots of photos to various places around the planet. Now we'll see. I'm not dusting off the champagne glasses until we're rather further along in the process.

More excitement. We went to the dump today. Dropped off the old water heater that died last week. These trips get sort of expensive: we had to get the truck fixed, mucho dollars again, so that we could pick up the new water heater and then head to the dump with the old one. You should see us in our work clothes (eccentric stuff I can tell you, some rustic plaid involved, and one pair of purple work gloves), Randy with two weeks growth of beard, stooging around the dump in a truck covered with muck. Hot stuff. At least we have all our teeth. So far.