Surviving

It seems like just yesterday that Hurricane Mathew was in the news and Hans and I were wondering if we'd have a boat to go home to in January. After days of listening to the 'We Love and Live for Severe Weather Action News Team' happily vacillate between, 'It's gonna miss Florida', to, 'Everyone in Florida's gonna die!' and then hearing that 90MPH winds were expected to hit the boat yard at 2 AM where our Knotty Cat sits, I simply went to bed.

Thankfully, the winds were a lot closer to 40 MPH and the Knotty Cat survived although we know some stuff on deck got blown around. We'll have to wait until January to find out for ourselves the extent as no one has access to her innards.

No sooner did we get past the hurricane, than we endured the election. Again, a lot of hot wind got blown around. But it's over. Finally. Well, not really. Those crack news teams will keep us posted.

And now we get to worry about winter as we live in the heart of a snow belt. We are down to less than two months of living here and this weekend we got hit with our first snowstorm and it was a doozy. Yesterday Wilbur was happily frolicking about in 70 degree weather and today bitter cold gusts of wind were whistling up his butt. I'd forgotten what it's like to scrape a vehicle while icy snow finds its way down the collar of my coat and we fear Wilbur may not poop again until spring.

Last week

Last night. Add about 10 more inches of snow and drop the temperature to 34F.

Wilbur lying on a floor without pillows? That must be a pretty potent heater

 

But in the meantime, we have to get through that marathon known as Thanksgiving. Hans will be on the piano and once again I'll be waiting tables and we expect a thousand or so people at the inn this year. Last year I hit the floor in the morning and didn't finish until after 6PM, all without ever taking a bathroom break or eating anything. I really have no explanation for this.

We did manage to escape for a couple of days and drove across the state to see my new granddaughter. Of course she's beautiful, and such a happy, content baby. I wouldn't let go of her and held her for several sweaty hours at a time.

But, oh my, baby technology gadgets have certainly evolved over the years. Baby swings? They aren't swings anymore, they're remote controlled pod-like seats mounted on pedestals and are swooped up and down and all about with your choice of sounds: rain, heartbeats, music... The nursery? It has strategically placed cameras so the baby can be seen and heard on your iPhone while alone. Although it will be awhile before Baby sleeps there since she's still in with Mom and Dad. Baby's infant seat is so versatile it locks into not only the car, but the stroller, the jogging stroller, and the play pen. At one point I asked if Baby needed to be changed and my son opened her sleeper, took a quick peek at the front of her diaper, and said no. It seems that diapers these days have whimsical prints that change color if the diaper is soiled. Gone are the days of sniffing Baby's butt while yanking down the back of the diaper with your fingers.

It was really hard to leave but I have to say this baby is in excellent hands. We get weekly updates and plan on one last visit before heading south in January.

Hans couldn't get over the tiny fingers

More 'Life in the Country' stuff: I don't know if it was a good thing or not that Hans was oblivious to what was going on between Dear Friend and me the other day and therefor didn't have his camera at the ready. Dear Friend's doxies spend a good deal of their day yipping and yapping. Period. We've grown used to it and even Wilbur ignores them. However, the day came that the yipping escalated into hysterical screams and since I was still in my pink robe and slippers, instead of rushing to the rescue, I called Dear Friend to inform her that one of her doxies was apparently being eaten alive.

But I couldn't just stand by, so out the door I went anyway. And there in the middle of our dirt road I met Dear Friend and she was also in her pink robe and slippers. What we couldn't understand was why all three of her doxies were now galavanting and cavorting without a care in the world. And then we both spotted a very pissed off cat up a tree right in front of us. The screaming had been a result of the 'treeing' but by now the dogs were bored. The cat eventually ran away and both Dear Friend and I were relieved Hans didn't get that lovely picture of us in our robes as it was well past noon. Hey, we had to be at work later so you can't blame us for waiting until the last minute to get dressed.

 

Yum! Kittehs taste just like chicken

 

At the inn we're on a countdown til the season ends, while Hans and I are on a countdown until we leave for the boat. Life is flying by quickly.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Thanksgiving on the hook. With a spin.

 

I realize Thanksgiving is long gone (wow, it was over a week ago; an eon these days I daresay). But regardless of how much time has passed I'm going to post now or forever hold my peace (like that's ever happened!).

Two years ago we anchored out for the holiday (I still refer to it as the Turkey Tour) but last year Mother Nature put the nix to a repeat performance so were stuck here in the marina (Oh, the humanity!).

This year, with the weather acting up, we figured if we wanted to spend the holiday at anchor this was only going to happen if we left our slip on Thanksgiving Day in order to zip over to Boca Ciega (a whole 45 minutes away), drop the anchor, and get to cooking. Luckily, I baked our apple pie on Wednesday and was trusting my pressure cooker/fabulously new fun toy, to allow me to get a full Thanksgiving meal on the table in a timely manner.

Even though it was pretty windy here in the marina I managed to get us out of the slip without mishap (this is an important detail considering what happened later). While we were motoring over to our trusty achorage we were a bit surprised at how slowly the Knotty Cat was slogging along. Hmmm, the tide must be working against us (a favorite excuse of ours) we thought (even though the wind really should have been giving us a boost). As for me, I didn't care about the wind or the tide dammit! I had a turkey breast to cook.

Honestly, I'm really looking at the chartplotter! And I got all kinds of crafty with my photoshop stuff here.

It was extremely windy when we anchored and Hans tried to convince me that our wind generator would supply our batteries with ample juice until the next day and that I should start cooking 'right now'! I knew that no way was 'Windy' going to keep up with our activities and insisted that we unfurl our portable solar panels. The only problem with that plan is that in all the years we've had these solar panels we've never really come up with any kind of permanent solution for keeping them from blowing overboard. And so we put dinner off for an hour or so while we came up with a solution. I dug out some sailcloth, brass grommets, duct tape, and got to work. We completed one panel (we have two) and I deemed this enough to get through at least one night because dammit! I had a turkey breast to cook!

Sail cloth glued underneath each panel with brass grommets at the corners. We tied the panels to whatever was handy; cleats, life lines... We had a lot of wind but thankfully these guys stayed put.

 

I started dinner much later than I'd intended but luckily my pressure cooker saved the day (oh, don't think there isn't a huge pressure cooker post a'comin' because there is!!).

My new toy is on the left. It's magical.

 

Mashed potatoes. The real deal.

 

Hans is happy, dinner is finally on the table.

 

From start to finish I had dinner on the table in two hours. It included: turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and crescent rolls. As I've already mentioned, I'd baked our pie the day before.

 

We ended up enjoying a rather cold and windy yet nonetheless wonderful holiday at anchor, and instead of venturing out into the gulf, we decided the next day, and the day after that to just stay put. For the first time in my life, being lazy turned out to be a wise decision.

 

After a relaxing Sunday morning in the cockpit with our coffee with all the fixin's (I'll never tire of this term for coffee laced with Irish liqueur and whipped creme. And btw, Wilbur won't eat his breakfast on these particular days unless it's also topped with whipped creme; wow imagine that) we decided it was time to head on home so we started the engines.

 

Wilbur and his whipped creme topped breakfast.

 

We weighed anchor the way we always do; Hans on the electric windlass and me at the helm.

"Away!" Hans shouted, so I spun on a dime to starboard in order to head into the channel.

"Let's go that way instead," Hans pointed in the opposite direction. So I throttled the Knotty Cat full speed ahead and cranked the wheel hard to port but the Knotty Cat kept spinning on a dime to starboard as if I'd never changed course.

Hans asked me what the hell I was doing and in order to prove I wasn't nuts I gladly handed over the helm. I watched him (and not without a little satisfaction) struggle with the Knotty Cat's nonsense as she continued to pirouette about the anchorage. Hans wondered if perhaps we'd lost our transmission. He finally figured out that our port engine was working properly but the starboard engine; not so much, so he shut it down.

 

At this point my stomach was in knots but Hans was very calm. We were so busy discussing what might be wrong that we motored right into the middle of what we discovered was a sail boat race (I cringed in horror as Hans calmly crossed astern of a few of them but, once again he was quite calm) and headed for our marina. Wilbur must have sensed my unease and got into the act by pacing and panting in the cockpit. Luckily, he's docked with us so many times he knows when it's time to go below and he couldn't get down there fast enough when we approached our marina.

I'm just incredibly thankful that we came back on a day when the wind was basically non-existent (compared to the day we left!) because otherwise I'm not sure how we would have backed into our (tight) slip on one engine. We were also fortunate that our neighbor was working on his boat and was able to hail the neighbor on his other side to give us a hand. I have to admit, Hans did a calm and admirable job of docking us.

 

The next day as soon as I left the boat to run errands, Hans started up the engines. I'm pretty sure he finds that he can concentrate on the job at hand much better without my yipping at him the whole time. Anyway, when I got home he was quite excited to share this discovery with me; apparently our Knotty Cat is quite the prankster, because the starboard engine now goes forward when shifting in reverse, and in reverse when shifting forward.

Our trusty diver getting into the water to check the propellors.

 

It turns out, our propellors are old, and tired, and need to be replaced. We have feathering props and the one on the starboard side was solidly froze up in a contorted angle (probably like me when I attempt yoga). New propellors have been ordered and they will be of the boring 'standard' kind as opposed to the fancy schmancy feathering kind. Feathering props run around $3,000 each. Not happening here!

 

Once the new propellors arrive, a diver is supposedly going to replace those big stinkers here at our slip as opposed to being hauled out at a boat yard.

 

Why do I feel like that sounds too easy? Probably because I've been there, done that, way too many times.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Just when you think you've got it all figured out...

...you don't!

And right now I'm pretty much on my last nerve.

First of all (and probably the least of our problems) my computer died. Just like that. And every picture I've ever taken is stuck somewhere in its innards. That leaves me with attempting to use Blogsy until I can get it all figured out. I don't like Blogsy and I'm almost certain to have a meltdown before this post gets published. The fact that I just spent about 15 minutes trying to find new AAA batteries in our nav station via a dying flashlight in order to get my bluetooth keyboard working, does not bode well for a peacefull evening. I need two batteries, I found one, I'm holding my breath, and Wilbur is hiding in a corner.

We've been gifting the Knotty Cat with all kinds of pretties this summer. I wrote in my last post that we installed a new holding tank. And there's nothing like contorting your body in all kinds of unnatural positions in an airless engine room while trying to aim a heat gun on uncooperating hoses to make you feel real good about deciding to live on a boat. I sometimes wonder if yoga got it's start at sea.

And then there's the wind generator. Hans has been just itching to get one of these buggers for a long time and one night he finally bit the bullet and ordered one. Oh my, he couldn't wait to install it and with great pleasure he took a vacation day from work to do so. We arranged for an electrician to arrive first thing in the morning in order to make sure it was wired properly since the whole Knotty Cat electrical/battery system is still a bit of a mystery to us as too many chefs have created quite a stew behind all the panels. The wiring was done lickety split and then Hans and I were faced with getting that big stinker up in the air. It may have been October but it was hot and sweat was pouring off of us in no time. There was a point in the afternoon where I'd have taken bets that this project would not be completed by sundown and I'm pretty sure if our neighbor hadn't had a day off work Hans and I would either be divorced or dead. Neighbor had replacement screws and nuts for the ones we dropped overboard, he had the proper saw that ate through the stainless supports we needed to shorten, he gave us a lot of advise, and basically saved the day.

It's not his fault the damn thing doesn't work!

A couple of weeks ago we headed out to the Gulf with hopes of testing our new toy and it was obvious from the get go that it wasn't working. It has three settings; charge, free wheel, and brake. It misbehaved for all three and the only time the amp meter worked was when it 'dropped' way below zero and then swooned. A defective switch was the opinion of our electrician and we had a new one overnighted. The new switch was installed but guess what? No go. It still doesn't work. The latest verdict from our electrician is that the generator itself is defective. At this time I have no idea where this is going.

So anyway, like I said we anchored out. Keep in mind this was after it took Hans an entire day to change the oil and transmission fluids in both engines. The only reason it took so long is because it's been nearly two years since we've had to do this and for the first time we had to bleed air out of the system. After we got back we noticed quite a bit of water sitting in the port engine room and decided it must have happened during the oil change when Hans probably stepped on the dripless shaft seal (expensive stuffing box replacement).

So last weekend we headed out for a day sail with some friends (where we discovered the wind generator is strictly ornamental), enjoyed (sarcasm) a day of lumpy seas, and after a surprisingly smooth landing in our slip, wondered why the hell the port bilge pump was going off at thirty second intervals.

Aha! It must be the dripless shaft seal! Only it wasn't. We finally figured out it was a repeat of the disaster we encounted in the Intracoastal a couple of years ago. Only this time we were lucky enough to be sitting in a marina with shore power and not sitting in some remote anchorage.

We've no idea why this has happened again and it's really putting the kabosh on our Thanksgiving plans as it appears we'll need to be hauled out.

Again.

Gee, it looks good doesn't it?

"Awe! Say it's not so!!!!" Wilbur cries. "The Knotty Cat rules all!"

If all else fails and life appears bleak, post a picture of a helpless pit bull modeling yet one more baby hat.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Turkey Tour (Day Five), the Grand Finale

We were very fortunate that there was a restaurant at our marina that was open today otherwise we would have left the dock with no ice. I have an ice maker on board but it certainly doesn't churn out enough in a few hours to fill our coolers for two days.  One of the waitresses told us they had more than they needed and I think we ended up with about 20 pounds.

Once underway Hans started playing the 'I wonder if we should anchor somewhere else' game. This went on for awhile and then I reminded him that I had a Thanksgiving dinner to prepare and he'd better get us to Three Rooker Bar like we'd planned.

Or else.

He got us there.

So here's a confession.  I've never cooked a turkey in my life. All of the 'turkey' holidays of my past have been spent at my parents' house and last year at a friend's house. Wouldn't you know I'd wait until I'm living on a boat with a 2 burner stove to try to pull off my first Thanksgiving dinner.  

And just so you know, Wilbur gave our holiday dinner his seal of approval.  

How do I know this?

I'd unwrapped, rinsed, and dried our 5 pound turkey breast and placed it atop our refrigerator (which just happens to be right beside the companionway steps to the cockpit).  I should have known better.  I'd only turned away for a moment and when I turned back, Wilbur (who's known these days as Wilbur GetOffTheRefrigerator instead of Wilbur GetOutOfTheGarbage) had one fore paw on the steps, one on the fridge, and was wildly running his tongue a mile a minute over the turkey skin.

I jerked it away from him and rinsed it again. Since I'm not one to worry about dog germs (or I'd be dead by now) I'm pretty sure a hot oven will kill even the most nasty ones.

A watched turkey never cooks

Hans (through the to-go window) relaxing while SOMEONE ELSE slaves over the stove

Wilbur is in danger of fading away if that damn turkey doesn't get done soon

Let's eat!!

All is good

I nearly placed a Rest In Peace wreath on that turkey before I stuck it in the oven because I surely knew there was no way it was going to be able to cook it all the way through.
But it did!
And my mashed potatoes were great. Not gummy or pasty at all.

But best of all, Wilbur got to lick out all kinds of pots, pans, dishes (a huge aid to me when it comes to dish washing), and had his own helping of turkey. He disappeared into our berth right after dinner and is now fast asleep under our quilt.

I called home and talked to my family and made sure everyone got enough to eat (family joke as my mother is the best cook in the world and could feed a small nation with her leftovers), and to brag that we didn't have to grill hot dogs for dinner.

We are very fortunate and this has been a great Thanksgiving. What a wonderful world it would be if everyone else could say the same.

Turkey Tour (Day Four)

We were quite happy to leave our anchorage and head north for Tarpon Springs.  We've decided to spend the night at a marina as we're not really finding an ideal place to anchor.  Anyway, the day before Thanksgiving is usually pretty festive and we'd like to enjoy walking around.

A chilly Wilbur thanks God that my hoodie isn't pink.

This particular waterway isn't called The Narrows for nothing. Look how close these markers are.

Going past some charming sights in Tarpon Springs on the way to our marina.

You can't see it but I'm holding a real alligator head (yuck) and asking Hans which of us has bigger teeth.

Poor Hans

Hmmmmm, I wonder if he went out of the channel?

I love a pet friendly restaurant and Wilbur does too!

We had no idea Tarpon Springs had a Greek origin and I didn't feel like I was in Florida at all; it felt very European most likely because we aren't sweltering in the heat anymore.  We also didn't realize that a huge sponge industry got its start here back in the early 1900's.  And let me tell you I've never seen so many sponges in my life. Thousands. From the tiniest that would fit into the palm of your hand to the largest that could fill a bushel basket. We had a nice time wandering around and I ended up buying some heavenly smelling goat milk soaps (from Bath Etc) for Christmas presents. What's really great to know is that if I ever want to go back it's less than an hour car drive away!!

We finally decided we're going to spend Thanksgiving at anchor at Three Rooker Bar.  We motored past it on our way to Tarpon Springs and it has a pretty view of white sandy beaches and promises of a good holding in everything but east winds (and it's been north winds this whole week).

While we were motoring along today I peeled and cut up a bag of Macintosh apples.  Hans told me we had two hours before we were due to arrive at our marina so I popped my apple pie into the oven (I use my loaf pan for pies).  A couple of minutes later we made a turn, the current gave us a huge push and Hans informed me we would now arrive in about 40 minutes.  

All ended well though because the pie finished cooking shortly after we docked.

A heart is a lot easier to cut into a pie crust than a turkey. This is my pie in its pre-cooked stage.

I still use my nearly 35 year old Betty Crocker Cook Book and needless to say, the pie chapter pages have the most stains.

Turkey Tour (Day Three)

Once we finally got to our Anchorage in Mandalay Channel and dropped the hook we decided instead of getting up early the next day and heading on to the next anchorage all of 2 hours away, we'd just stay put and enjoy the day.

  

For anyone wishing to go to Mandalay, go at high tide (we went in 2 hours after low tide and left 3 hours before low tide). Where our charts showed 13 feet we saw 5,  where they showed 7 we saw less than 3. Steer very clear of red markers 10 and 12, and follow the narrow channel on your chart plotter.

This trimaran was having a blast in the 15 or so knots of wind whipping around the anchorage.

Enjoying the strong winds

Captain Hans takes it easy

Wilbur and I relaxing in the cockpit

My new best friend sitting at the stern. A GENERATOR!!!

We played rummy (I won!), Scrabble (I won!), drank some very good coffee (with Bailey's of course), napped, and then ran our new generator for a while so I could make ice (anyone who knows me knows I need coffee and ice) and just generally get to use power while anchored.

We were worried that Wilbur might not like where we placed the generator since it's right behind his potty patch .  We were happy to find that need over rode fear and I have to admit I laughed when from where I stood in the companionway it would appear that Wilbur was literally kissing the generator as he hunched up to do his business (always with his back to us, he likes his privacy!).

Next stop, Tarpon Springs.

Turkey Tour (Day Two)

Part II of our Thanksgiving Day Sojourn.

Hans comforts Wilbur after our running aground.

After spending the night at anchor thanks to our 'unexpected' (though who ever expects it especially when you draw but 2 1/2 feet?) running aground,  we motored a whole 4 more hours before we dropped the hook in Mandalay Channel.

  

And don't think it wasn't fraught without anxiety yet ONCE AGAIN!!!  

Honest to God, I'd like to know how anyone manages to navigate about the ICW or the GIWW these days.  After having consulted our Cruising the Gulf Coast Skipper Bob Guide Book, I told Hans that the Mandalay Channel would be an ideal anchorage for us. 

We had no sooner left the GIWW channel toward this fantastic spot than we passed another sail boat.  The captain frantically waved at us so we hailed him on our radio.  He was very obviously nervous and confessed that this was his first time (on a boat? as a boat owner? in this waterway?) and could he follow us?   He told us he drew about 4 1/2 feet.

"But of course!" we enthusiastically answered and we told him we'd let him know if we saw anything less than 5 feet.

After serpentining our way through the channel we started to register depths of 5 feet, then 4 feet, and Holy Crap! less than 3 feet!  We radioed these crazy depths back to our new friend and he profusely thanked us.  "He's gonna wish he'd never met us," I remarked as I knew we were sure to run aground yet once again.  He called back and let us know he was going to hang back until the tide started to come in.

We never did see him again.

When we dropped anchor without running aground we were so thankful we said 'the hell with leaving here tomorrow, we'll just stay put for a day." 

And we did.

This always gives me the hee-bee-gee-bees!!

When we passed this particular hulk we were in 2 1/2 feet of water. 

Who needs a boat when you can walk?

Cooler Weather = Outside Boat Cleaning

Right around November the first someone threw a switch on the weather here in Florida and we went from what I refer to as 'ankle sweating weather' to 'the most fantastic weather ever'!!  We now have breezy mornings, hot sunny days, cool comfortable evenings, and no need for air conditioning!!

Every day.  And it's fantastic!

The only downside is Wilbur and I can no longer hide out below board eating bon-bons, watching old movies, and napping, all the while blaming the intense Florida heat for the fact that the outside of our Knotty Cat is just plain filthy.

But now that the weather is cooperating I can't use the heat as an excuse for my slovenly ways. I can't whine to Hans that just navigating my way through a day means sweating through the lightest of clothes and even while sitting still sweat rolls down my back unless I sit right in front of a fan. And I'm not kidding when I tell you that just standing at the bow for the half hour it takes me to fill our water tanks once a week during the summer is beyond excruciating.

Honestly, the summer here is that bad.

So I've actually (almost) enjoyed these past two weeks as I've mopped and scrubbed the decks and have used about a gallon or so of mineral spirits to remove the inky black tar left behind from the oozing edges of our roll up solar panels (I've since wrapped those edges with UV resistant foil tape). And you just haven't lived until you've used an entire box of Q-Tips to clean just one locker. I've also skinned my knuckles scrubbing out too many lazarettes and lockers of their summers worth of dog hair, grit, and grime.

Gross indeed, but I did it mostly sweat free and that works for me.

Unloading the lazarettes in the cockpit.

Wilbur stands guard over our belongings.

Wilbur's swimming pool put to a whole different use.

"Phooey on all this boat cleaning! Where are my bon-bons and  DVD of The Return of Lassie?"

Next week is Thanksgiving already and Hans finally has a weeks vacation due him.  We are going to spend it  cruising up the coast and will celebrate the holiday at anchor with Wilbur.

I've never cooked a turkey (actually I bought a turkey breast)  in my life and I'm hoping as Wilbur is so smart he'll be able to lend me a paw with it!

Thanksgiving in Florida.

I love Thanksgiving and I believe it may be my favorite holiday of all since the only thing that's ever been expected of me during this time is a healthy appetite. This will be the first Thanksgiving in over 50 years that will not be spent at my parents' home in western Pennsylvania.

I have to admit that if I'd been given the option of living anywhere in the US, Florida would have been at the very bottom of my list. And arriving here during a horribly sweltering August only reinforced my opinion.

But now that we've been here for a few months I've found my opinion has changed. I really don't need six months of lead gray skies, endlessly cold dreary dark days, and worrying about whether I'm going to have to dig my car out from under three feet of snow that playfully fell during the night.

Instead, I wake up to sunny blue skies, take Wilbur to the dog park nearly every day during the week where we've met tons of wonderful people and playful poochies, go on bike rides with Hans to the beach on the weekend, sit barefoot in my cockpit every evening reading a book until it's dark, and then grill our dinner.

Now, I'm not bragging here, it's just that I've found myself adjusting very well to our new surroundings and for that I'm very grateful. However that could very well change when hurricane season rolls around again.

And I think I've figured out something very interesting. I've always associated Thanksgiving and Christmas with wintry type weather (like I said, over 50 years! Really?!) and perhaps if we'd moved to a different city in the north, I'd be feeling homesick, but since I'm so far removed from all that, reality just hasn't kicked in.

It doesn't feel like Thanksgiving here at all and in my opinion it could very well be July right now.

After having my Halloween display vandalized I was unsure of what to do for Thanksgiving.

I still haven't bought any new plants but I did cover our dock box with a fall themed plastic table cloth and adorned my tacky pink flamingo with an Indian headdress.

I found some feathers at Michael's and fused them to a scrap of fabric with Wonder Under. I then hand sewed it to Pinky's head.

A bit of a closeup.

Maybe I'll be more creative at Christmas but only if I can figure out a vandal proof idea for my decorations.

I'm very happy to announce that this year Hans and I received an invitation to a Thanksgiving get together with a friend of Hans' from his college days at CMU in Pittsburgh. It's been several years (and possibly decades) since Hans has seen Mark but we're very much looking forward to celebrating this holiday with an old friend and his family, and tons of their friends.

Poor Wilbur. Visions of Sugar Plums may be dancing in his head but he will not be stealing and eating pumpkin pie, shrimp, or butterscotch creme pie this Thanksgiving.

But don't worry about the little man, I have a feeling he'll be treated to a big peanut butter and biscuit stuffed kong.

And as always we'll leave the NFL station on for him so he can keep track of the games while we're gone.