Authors Note: Any spelling or grammatical errors in the following log are the fault of the editorial staff, but since we can't afford to pay them, we let it slide.

4/22/04 - Hello readers of the Kokopelli Too log. It's been a while since any new entries have been posted. We've been mighty busy with things here in Ft. Myers. The big news is that Betsy & I have found a house in Ft. Myers that we are going to buy and relocate to .

We've also found a new home for Kokopelli Too at a marina in Cape Coral. Seems that we both are tired of winter and it's time to make a break. This isn't exactly what we planned to do. We were expecting to be heading back up the ICW about this time making more entries in the log along the way. Instead we have to make plans to pack up the old house and make the long drive south by car(s). Another new experience for Molly (and us).

5/3/04 - There was a fire at the marina at about 10:30 tonight (or that's when I realized that there was a boat on fire only about 3 slips down from us on the other side of our dock!! I yelled down to Betsy to get the cat and get off the boat. We tried calling 911 on our cell phones but they only got us Mass. 911 instead of Cape Coral. By the time we got connected, the night security guard was there and had called it in. The fire dept had the fire out about 45 mins later. Only the boat on fire and the one next door were damaged (though the pilings all around the area were singed a bit. Nice way to start your stay in a new marina.

5/4/04 - Well, it's time to pack up and head back north (by plane). The fire dept. was up and down the docks all day looking into the fire from last night. We got the boat ready to close up and hit the road to the airport by 5pm. Molly got her next big adventure - FLYING! She was very good and didn't complain at all but I'm glad it was a non-stop. We landed at Logan and boy was it chilly! Molly has spent the night rediscovering her old home.

5/5 - 7/31/04:
Betsy & I spent most of the month of May painting the condo, storing away our extra clothes and clutter, getting the condo ready for sale and then putting it on the market. It took all of one day to get 2 offers, one of which we accepted. While this was going on my mother decided to put her house on the market, so now we had 2 places to get packed up and ready to sell.
We passed papers on the house in Florida on June 18 (by mail) and got things ready to move. betsy had her jeep shipped down and the movers came a few days later and we got on the road the next day. Molly now had a new experience - a 2-day car trip to florida. We packed her in the Ford Explorer with the luggage and hit the road with the small boat in tow. It took us two days to get to Ft. Myers. The movers showed up with the furniture slightly less than a week later. Home sweet home.....

8/16/04 - Report from Hurricane Central!!

Well, we have gotten our introduction to florida weather in spades!! First we have had one of the wettest summers on record sofar followed by the arrival of hurricane Charley, a category 4 (140mph winds) monster of a hurricane.

(Note - photos from storm's aftermath on the Photo Page)

Luckily we were spared the center of the storm here by about 30 miles or so at the last minute. The track originally was headed for Tampa Bay (green arrow) and many people left there and headed inland toward Orlando. Betsy & I rushed home from our trip to Universal Studios in Orlando to get the boat and the house ready.

Koko all tied up for Charley...

We were expecting to just get the edge of the storm. About an hour before it was to pass by, Charley took a right turn and headed directly for Ft. Myers. The eye of the storm was now headed for us! We had an inner room of the house prepared to ride out the storm. About 1/2 hr later, it took a slight left turn away from us and headed up to Port Charlotte instead, sparing us the center of the storm. The forecasters were still expecting a post-hurricane storm surge in our area of 10-15 ft. This would not only flood the house but there was no way the boat would survive that (the pilings at the marina are less than 10 ft above water). Fortunately the surge only hit about 4ft in our area. The house made it through the storm without damage. We assumed that the boat was either lost or badly damaged (it was much closer to the center). When we had a chance to go to the marina the next day, we were excited to see that KokopelliToo made it through without a scratch!

Charley's path. Notice the sharp right turn after passing over Cuba.

The picture below was taken after the eye had past by Ft. Myers to the northwest. The wind had calmed down to the point where it was safe to peek out the door and snap this. You can see that the front street is flooded. The predicted storm surge of more than 10ft was yet to occur. Luckily, it didn't come and this was as bad as it got.

This is the view of the downed trees on the golf course behind the house just after the storm was done.

Sanibel Island was also spared the center of the storm but still took a pounding. Here are some photos:

Our hearts go out to all those who lost their homes or loved ones.

9/6/04 - Another report from Hurricane Central!

And here I thought I was joking when I said Hurricane Central! Our second hurricane of the season is like the houseguest that never leaves. Frances showed up in time for the Labor Day weekend and is still hanging around. Luckily for us, and not so lucky for the opposite coast, it hit the east coast of Florida first and then SLOWLY marched it's way across the state. This monster of a storm has taken 3 days sofar to get across from the east coast to the west coast and still isn't done with Florida! It pummeled the poor Bahamas for days before that. Good thing it weakened to a category 2 before hitting land here - this thing was bigger than the state of Texas when it arrived (the eye alone was 80 miles wide at one time!).
The effects here in Fort Myers were mostly tropical storm wind and some occasional heavy rain. We checked on KokopelliToo and it made it through unharmed sofar (did I mention the tail end of the damn storm is still here?).
The best part is that we are now all watching Hurricane Ivan making it's way across the west Atlantic and into the Caribbean. Yahoo!

9/9/04 - Enough is Enough!!

OK. I give! Now we have " Ivan the Terrible" heading is our direction. A category 5 monster that is sofar predicted to cross Jamaica, Cuba and then SouthWest Florida. Our only hope at the moment is that the forecast is too far out to be accurate at this point. Hoping for a big left or right-had turn on this one!

9/13/04 - Good News.

This may be a premature entry but it looks like we have been spared the wrath of Ivan. As of today, all the computer models and forecasts have it heading west of us and up to the panhandle or perhaps even as far west as Louisiana. Good news for us, bad for them. Many people from this area (especially Sanibel & Captiva) took no chances and have headed out of town. The island of Sanibel was like a ghost town yesterday.

9/26/04 - Dodged ANOTHER one!

Well, Hurricane Jeanne has just gone by a bit to the north of us. Ft. Myers only experienced 40-50 mph winds and some rain. The poor folks on the east coast haven't even recovered from Frances yet and they got slammed again. I must say that this is getting very tiresome. Not sure I should even take down teh plywood on the windows, I'm sure there's a nother storm hiding out there somewhere! At least we had a brief glimpse of the nicer fall weather before it hit.

9/27/04 - !

10/15/04 - Some things never change:

I was looking at last year's entry from our log and on this day we were sitting in Port Jefferson, Long Island listening to the Red Sox vs the Yankees in the ALCS. Now the Red Sox are playing the Yankees in the ALCS once again. The only difference is that this year we aren;t freezing our butt's off in Long Island. Hopefully this will change the outcome of the series! GO SOX!

10/20/04 - Deja Vu.......Almost:

Game seven against the Yankees...again (but we're warmer and not on the boat). Also looking for a different outcome than last year. GO SOX!!

10/21/04 - YEAH BABY !!!

What a comeback! Even sweeter against the Yankees! On to the World Series (and Roger Clemens?)

10/28/04 - AT LAST!!!!!!

Never thought I'd see that banner. I guess we're only allowed when on the 100th anniversary series and a lunar eclipse. If I thought that it would take moving to Florida to get this done, I would have moved sooner....

11/14/04 - Sancastles:

This weekend, the annual sandcastle competition on Ft. Myers Beach was held. See some of the amazing creations in the photo gallery.

12/21/04 - Happy Holidays:

Seasons greetings to all and a happy and safe new Year!

We have some new photos on the photo page. Some of the more interesting wildlife in the area. Particularly in the JN "Ding" Darling wildlife refuge on Sanibel Island.