Anyone see a resemblance here?

Hello Wilbur

Hello Friend

This is probably the shortest post I've ever written but today I was finally able to get a picture of Baby Manatee.  I took Wilbur with me and it was all I could do to hold him back from jumping over the sea wall.  I'm sure he thinks it's a a lucky pup that gets to swim in the marina every day and he soooo wants to play with his friend.

A year or so later...

We just realized that a year ago in August we gave up our apartment and with both our vehicles loaded to the point of bursting (Wilbur rode with me), we made the two day trip from Pennsylvania to Florida.  We then moved our Knotty Cat through the Okeechobee Waterway to our new stomping grounds (that wouldn't have happened this summer as the one fixed bridge in the Okeechobee is now at 49' and we have a 50' mast).  I still can't call us cruisers at this time because we're living in limbo at a marina which is basically a trailer park on the water, but we're thankful that if we have to be stuck anywhere, at least we're on our boat.

Even though it's still hotter than hell.

We were just a bit more prepared for the heat this year though; we had a sun shield type of thingy made for the Knotty Cat that covers her wrap-around windows, we bought some outdoor curtain panels from Home Depot and draped them over our boom and over a rope strung from the mast to the jib so the boat ended up looking  like a giant tent (all were removed for Isaac the No Show Hurricane),  I made hatch covers, and best of all we now have a cheap Wal Mart air conditioner** sitting over our berth hatch. Speaking of air conditioners, please don't ever waste your money on one of those horribly expensive units from West Marine.  When we suddenly headed out last year and knew we would be in mosquito territory while crossing the Okeechobee, we panicked and without doing the proper research (my job) we bought one.
We are now on our third unit.
Number one lasted from August through September (2011).
Number two from Memorial Day to the end of July (2012).
Number three from July until.... we're just waiting.  The control knobs on all of them broke within the first couple of weeks, they are noisier than hell, inefficient, expensive to run, and the first two gave a hideous last gasp before expiring.  The only reason we're still stuck with one is because West Marine won't give us our money back.  So we continue to take advantage of the extended warranty which will hopefully allow us to replace it for the rest of our lives, or until we get totally sick and tired of it.

So then our refrigerator decided (as would I ) that August would be a delightful time to go on vacation. I discovered this only after a grocery shopping trip which of course involved many items that don't do well in the heat.  I was a bit puzzled when I realized that the frost build up on the freezer compartment had diminished quite a bit and I grew alarmed when it was obvious that the inside of the fridge was as warm as the outside.
This was on a Thursday.
I defrosted the whole thing in a weak attempt to jump start it but by Friday I knew we were up that proverbial creek.

I guess that hair dryer may as well be used for something!

So while Hans was at work and I was Kravitzing around the marina, I whined about our plight to anyone who would listen.  I know one of my last posts put a 'not so nice' slant on the topic of neighbors and I now feel it necessary to post about the ever so elusive 'good neighbor'. And one of these people would be Brian from the Blue Moose. Brian is a natural born Mr. Fix-it and he volunteered in a heart-beat to check out our system. This was after he'd spent the day insulating the attic of a friend's mother and most likely would have preferred relaxing with a beer. But before I knew it he was sweating in our engine room and replaced both of our refrigerator fans that were no longer working (we never even knew they existed!) (and at a fraction of the cost if we'd gone with the West Marine model) and when we still weren't cooling by the next day he charged up our freon. A couple of tweaks later (he even consulted with Mike from Zero to Cruising) and a very cheap visit ($40.00) from Captain Ron the refrigerator guy (who verified we didn't have a a leak) we were back in business and I spent the next few days lifting the lid of our refrigerator just so I could enjoy the feeling of dry, cold air***.
I just wish we could have helped Brian a few days later when he discovered his air conditioner had broken down at the end of a long hot day. He was able to fix it but only after climbing over the engine, removing and cleaning the filter for the 'nth time, disconnecting and cleaning too many hoses of too many barnacles....

When Brian and his wife Sally leave here after Hurricane season we'll miss them (that is if we don't follow them). They are super nice people.  But then again, they are sailors.

...and then the Baby Bear said...

Last month we enjoyed a cook out at the marina and another one is scheduled for this weekend.

And here I am in the middle, doing what I do best...
...talking.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

** I no sooner wrote about how wonderful our Wal Mart air conditioner was when it too crapped out on us.  We took it back and since it was under warranty we could have received one in exchange.  Except they didn't have any (they're now stocking electric heat logs!) and we're now back to camping out in our salon area on our 'just slightly smaller than a double bed'.  Remember this includes Wilbur the Amazing Expanding Pit Bull.

***After yet another provisioning type of trip to the grocery store I discovered that the fridge had enjoyed its vacation so much the first time that it skipped out on us yet once again without any kind of prior notice!  This time it was our freezer 'plate'. It was leaking freon like no one's business and of course needed to be replaced.
We now have a whole new refrigeration system.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I find it a bit strange though that three boats here at the marina suffered from 'fridge failure' within the same week, not to mention those with air conditioner issues. And last week we saw at least three toilets in the dumpster! You can't tell me that appliances don't belong to some sort of union because I'm convinced they all conspire to kick the bucket at the same time.  We no longer discuss our outages while on our boats and instead huddle in the parking lot in order to compare notes of failing systems.  Having once belonged to a union (and there is strength in numbers) I feel it's best to keep our appliances in the dark as much as possible.

So long, Isaac, it was nice not knowing you.

Since Isaac decided not to show up at our party we're finally getting back to normal here at our marina.

Actually, I think Isaac realized he couldn't compete with the Ryder trucks full of barrels of human urine and feces (can you imagine volunteering for that job) that the protesters of the Republican National Convention were bringing into our state, and decided to veer off toward poor old Louisiana. I sincerely hope Isaac doesn't cause a lot of damage there.

Hans worked from the boat yesterday and without air conditioning (we were still in defensive mode and didn't want to put our huge air conditioner back in place just in case it would need to come down again), it wasn't very pleasant.  There was a decent breeze going on which would have been okay except it would start raining and we'd have to close the hatches. The boat would heat up, it would stop raining, we'd open the hatches...aahhhhh, more fresh air.
It felt so good.
And then WHAM.
Rain.
We opened and closed hatches all stinking day long.

Early in the day I made the huge mistake of thinking I'd do some very much needed inside boat cleaning. After all there was all that fresh air blowing in. Then of course it started to rain. First of all, I don't do well in heat.  I grew up in snow belt country and this much I know; you can always bundle up and stay warm when it's cold. But if you don't have air conditioning in Florida during the summer, with over 80 percent humidity--you're going to sweat like a whore in church and most likely be cranky.
I grew cranky quite quickly (yes, I meant to say that), and I'm pretty sure Hans wished he'd gone into the office.
By the time I was done sponging up all the soapy water full of Wilbur hair from the floors of our galley, heads,berths etc..., I could have wrung a bucketful of sweat and tears from my shirt alone. The only thing that got me through the torture of my own personal sauna was the promise that even if it was raining, I was going to go for a swim.  But when that time came, the rain and wind had kicked up to such a degree that it just didn't make sense and I swear there were white caps in the pool. I could go on ad nauseum, but I'm sure you get the picture. I ended up taking a shower on the boat and I was a sweaty mess before I could even dry off.

Wilbur practices his 'Stink Eye' for Isaac.
"You talkin' to me, Isaac? Well, get lost, 'cause my mama is cranky!"
And notice that he's properly attired in his bow tie collar.  It's the one from  Silly Buddy the gift we received this spring from Two Pitties in the City  (the blog that made me think I surely needed to own a pit bull of my own thank you very much!).

The fun girls contemplate where they're supposed to poop if Isaac shows up (and pooping is a serious hobby for these two). 

We expected this much and more (photo from Tropical Storm Debby). Yet it never happened.

Honestly though, we're quite happy that Isaac passed us by and we were pretty impressed at how quickly everyone pulled together and got our marina 'hurricane ready'.  

We're not done yet though and I'll be glad when December rolls around.
Except I hate Christmas shopping.
I'm not happy unless I'm complaining.

Hurricane Isaac, where are you??!!

Thanks to all the hype about Hurricane Isaac, we're completely stripped down and naked.  But the question of the day is, 'Where the hell is Isaac anyway?'
We usually sleep in on the weekend but today we were up early in order to batten down the hatches.  I decided to add a load of laundry to my ice run/Kravitz trip as I'd really hate to go down in a storm without clean undies.  During these sojourns I noticed a newcomer had arrived. It was a sail boat that had taken quite a beating at a neighboring marina and the owner decided we offered a bit more protection.  His very new bow sprit was demolished and his jib hangs oddly. But when he left today with a casual, "See you later,"  we couldn't help but notice he'd tossed out but one lonely little fender and his jib is still hanging by a thread.
The polar opposite is the boat next to him. This particular cruiser is usually full of banter and always joking but yesterday he was a bit grim as he literally tore his boat apart and announced that we were sure to be evacuated and he wasn't waiting around for it.

I have to tell you that gave me a little pause.

A huge cabin cruiser that resides at the far end on the sea wall left yesterday morning with a boat full of party goers. As they ran the gauntlet of those of us choosing to remain, they shouted out that they were going out to meet Isaac (Ha Ha) and we were all left wondering just what was really going on. They never did come back and word has it that they were going somewhere else in order to get hauled out because during Tropical Storm Debby they'd been bashed against the wall far too much for comfort. At least that's what they said. I have to kinda wonder if they didn't appreciate the fact that Wilbur chose to take a huge dump right beside their boat (in the grass and anyway Wilbur has been pooping there long before they ever brought their boat in here) during one of their on board parties which included a lot of snotty teenage girls.

Across the way, the boat with the hurricane ready tarps got ship shape very quickly after a severe tongue lashing from the marina owner and by noon or so we were all ready for Isaac.
Sally (from Blue Moose) and I decided to take advantage of whatever nice weather we had remaining and headed for the pool but then Hans showed up and announced that it had started raining in Pass-a-grille. I got out, took a good long shower in the bath house and washed my hair.
Once back on our boat we awaited the big blow.
We ate Publix fried chicken.
I had two Wilbur Wow Wows and worked on a crossword puzzle.
The rain stopped.
The sun came out.
The boat got hot (we now have no air conditioning).
I got pissed.
The radar showed that we were currently being slammed with a huge amount of rain.
We were bone dry.
I went back to the pool.
An hour and many laps later it started spitting rain.
We went back to the boat, again.
The rain stopped.
Sally and Brian, and another couple we know stopped by for an impromptu cocktail party and with the same question on their minds.
Where the hell is Isaac?
I've finally figured out that Isaac is a blow hard.  He's the 'Party on Down Dude' who's really just full of his own hot air.  He's the 'Big Man on Campus' and after assuring all us low life hangers on that he'll be showing up at our party, has really just chickened out.

We were so desperate for entertainment during our Getting Schnockered While Waiting for Isaac Soiree we actually stopped talking long enough to watch a fellow livaboard across the way get on her boat.  I'm ashamed (not really) to admit that we all hoped for a repeat performance on her part where she takes a misstep and falls into the water.
This would have been spill number five but alas it wasn't to be.

Maybe next time.

Hans ridding our boat of its many layers of sun protection.

"I think it's time to start cruising again."

"Where's my sunscreen? I have tender skin you know!"

It's late Sunday night and I'm amazed at how calm things are here.  We fully expected to be under siege by now. 

Of course there's always tomorrow.

Tropical Storm or Hurricane Isaac

I was so hoping hurricane season would end this year without us becoming directly involved with one. But I guess that's not going to happen. We were surprised at the force Tropical Storm Debby exerted and I have a  funny feeling that Isaac scored himself some steroids and intends on showing us exactly how a proper storm should behave. Poor old future storm Joyce started forming right behind Isaac but when he started roaring and pounding his chest Joyce grew depressed, lost her momentum, and headed north out to sea.

Today we were kept busy readying our Knotty Cat for what's sure to be a hell of a blow.  We took down the Home Depot patio curtains that we had draped over the boat in order to provide a bit more sun protection, re-secured our dinghy which is currently upside down on our bow, and bought some washing machine hose to put on our dock lines for chafe protection. Tomorrow we'll take down the bimini and dodger (which we did not do during Debby because we didn't know she'd hang around so long), lug our air condition down below before tons of rain sneak around its horribly inefficient tarp, and move our car to higher ground.  Oh yeah, I also emptied our dock box. You might recall that during Debby our dock box was flooded and all of Hans' hockey gear got soaked.  His gear is now in plastic bags and stacked in the car.

Since we're relatively new to this whole live aboard life (it's been just one year this month) I found myself Kravitzing around a bit more than usual as I was curious to see how other people in the marina were preparing for Isaac. I expected to find everyone in a panic and braced myself for the most dire of predictions (kind of like the cruiser's forum in real time) and I was almost disappointed to find that everyone was pretty calm.
Today we all looked like a bunch of worker ants; tarps, biminis, dodgers, jibs, a lot of main sails, cushions, potted plants, dinghies, etc... have been removed.  We didn't remove our jib but wrapped the jib sheets around it a couple of more times and we have an in-boom furled main so it too was left alone.
By coincidence our marina's palm trees got trimmed this week and now with everyone's boats getting stripped down we resemble a poor depression kid with bad summer buzz cut.  Hans thinks everything looks clean and neat.

During my ice run/Kravitz trip this morning I came upon a sight that both horrified and delighted me, and I knew I had to go get my camera. I immediately made a pit stop at The Blue Moose and told Sally (the better half of that live aboard team {sorry Brian}) what I'd seen. Of course she wanted to go with me and after dumping the ice in our cooler I informed a pouting Hans that he could most certainly start taking down our many layers of curtains without me since a photo-op was awaiting me.

Look at this (and while I took tons of pictures these ones turned out best).

Hmmmm. Hurricane ready?

Honest to God the owner of this boat showed up yesterday, declared it 'Hurricane Safe', and then left.

While I was taking pictures of it a puff of wind (that I didn't even feel) billowed the tarps out in an alarming fashion.  

Check out the frayed fringe on that back pole. The rest of the tarp is held in place with a couple of small bungee cords.

Wilbur loves going to 'the front' (that's what we call the bow when we talk to him).   Hans is removing our Home Depot Curtains.

Wilbur is not looking forward to having his schedule upset and as far as he's concerned Isaac can kiss his very cute butt.

Life at our Marina with neighbors

This post addresses the age old issue of 'neighbors' and I have an odd  feeling that even if I  live long enough to find myself residing in a nursing home I will still find myself living next door to a pain in the ass.

For some reason I've had far more experience in the neighbor department than most people would ever want starting way back when I was a small child and we lived next door to a mean drunk (I still have vivid memories of the night he decided to straighten a crooked bullet with a hammer). Back then we thought that calling the police would put a stop to the harassment he heaped upon us (music blasting outside our bedroom windows at 3 AM, fish, fireworks, and bricks thrown into our pool during the night, and that time he tried to run my mother down with his truck).  But at the end of the day our calls for help just seemed to add fuel to the fire and my parents put up with and suffered through the most unbelievable abuse for over 40 years until the idiot finally died.

While my parents were putting up with this continuing nonsense I got married and found myself living next door to Gladys Kravitz (these days when I take my daily walks around the marina, I tell Hans I'm going Kravitzing). Let me just say I can't imagine approaching a neighbor to announce that I didn't recognize a car that I'd seen in their driveway a day or so earlier and expect an answer, but Gladys did (too many times). And to this day it pisses me off that I actually felt the need to answer her questions.

After my divorce I moved into a new house where my retired neighbor insisted on mowing my yard even though I was thoroughly capable of mowing it myself. He ignored my protests and deep down I knew nothing good would ever come of this situation so needless to say I wasn't too terribly surprised when Mr. Good Deed turned on a huge hate campaign ten years later when I put up a For Sale sign. In his opinion I was selling out, I was in cahoots with a couple who owned the vacant lot next to me, and  I didn't give a damn about my neighbors. Honest to God, he thought a huge corporation was going to snatch up my tiny little lot and the whole neighborhood would then go to hell in a hand basket. I know this because he showed up at my work place one day and screamed at me in front of all my co workers. He also erected a barrier of sorts along the back perimeter of our properties consisting of old tree branches woven together in a makeshift fence. The reasoning behind this still puzzles me but I'm pretty sure he was hoping I'd knock it down. Of course I didn't and I still can't believe my house finally sold. I do admit I harbored a nasty desire that the new owners would park a few rusty vehicles and perhaps an odd refrigerator or two in the front yard if it would only piss off Mr. Good Deed.

Then I moved to The Big City where Hans and I lived together for a couple of years.  We really didn't know our neighbors very well but they certainly made themselves known to us thanks to the constant police presence in our neighborhood.  Never in a million years would I have thought that I would actually find myself side-stepping gun wielding policemen (more than once) upon returning to our apartment from a store run and I felt like a relic from the old west and  prayed they wouldn't shoot my purchases out of my arms before I could flee upstairs. And right before we moved away we watched as the coroner's office hauled a body out of the back yard of a house from across the street. I was more than ready to leave.

We eventually arrived on the west coast of Florida aboard our Knotty Cat and were barely settled in when my newly carved Halloween pumpkins that I had sat on top of our dock box were tossed into the water and my recently purchased potted plants stolen.


And I met one of our new neighbors, Joe.

Initially I felt sorry for Joe. Joe was upset because his girlfriend had been forbidden to set foot back in our marina 'just because the owner found her smoking in the bath house'  and could I believe someone would throw a homeless cancer survivor out into the street? But I soon discovered that the girlfriend was a nut case (and that Joe's mother is the one who didn't want her around. By the way, Joe was well into his 50's) who though supposedly homeless was able to afford a cell phone and cigarettes and enjoyed stealing Joe's vehicle on a regular basis including Thanksgiving morning. The girlfriend continued to visit Joe and they would have hugely loud fights and would then be stunned when the police showed up. 
Every single time. 
Then there was the morning the young couple who lived next to Joe discovered him in their cockpit with his arm deep in their beer cooler. Upon being caught 'red handed' Joe played the fool. "Oh my God! This isn't my boat? How embarrassing! I can't believe I did this! But anyway, I'm out of beer so do you mind if I take one?"  It wasn't until a few months after he'd been evicted that another live aboard couple realized that Joe was most likely the culprit who'd stolen all but one bottle of beer from a case they'd left on ice in their cockpit. 


But, my relief of finally having gotten rid of Joe didn't last long when he was replaced by a whole new neighbor.

A neighbor who felt the need to hail us at 11 PM, far too often, in order to impart some valuable piece of information upon us such as how many knots the wind was going to blow during the night. I finally learned to quickly close our cock pit door as soon as I smelled the cigarette smoke that always preceded another unwanted visit from Neighbor.

Neighbor thought he knew much more about 'boat stuff' than we did and succeeded in completely screwing everything up the second time Hans sent me up the mast. It was a Saturday morning and we finally had the proper bulb and o-ring for our steaming light (or so we thought), and a new bolt for our radar. 


Up the mast I went and out came Neighbor full to the brim with commentary. 


Now, I'm terrified of heights and Hans being aware of this was very carefully hoisting me up the mast  manually as opposed to using our electric halyard since he knows this gives me an odd sense of control. This was more than Neighbor could handle and he fairly danced about his boat with impatience and shouted instructions to both of us. Hans assured him that this was a simple routine for us and that we were just tying up some loose ends and then did his best to ignore Neighbor.
Then I discovered the replacement bulb for the steamer light was too small and the o-ring too big. And the bolt we'd bought to replace the missing one on our radar was the wrong size too. I shouted this information down to Hans and we decided we may as well give a bigger bulb we'd found on board a try. But since I was already up the mast and didn't feel like coming back down only to go up once again we were debating on how to get that particular bulb up to me.

Poor Neighbor went nuts.

"Oooh! oooh! I know! I know!" And then he was on our boat. While Hans tried to calmly explain what we were going to do, Neighbor kept shouting, "No, No! Listen to me! Listen to me! Shut up! You're not listening to me!" Hans had found the spare bulb and taped it to our boom so it would be within easy reach for him, and he'd tied off the halyard that was holding me in place. While Neighbor leaped and jumped about and continued to shout, the wind started puffing a bit. From my perch up above these conditions combined to cause the mast to start swinging to and fro and my heart to pound.

Me:  Would you guys hurry up and do something, I'm moving around too much and anyway I'm getting sunburned.

By now Neighbor is swinging a huge thick line like a lasso and thinks he's going to loop it over one of the spreaders.

Me: It's getting windy up here, would you guys hurry up?

Neighbor is in a frenzy of throwing and wants me to shut up.

Me (noting with great alarm): Hey, I'm sliding down the mast!

Neighbor: No you're not.

Me (still sliding): YES I AM! What the hell are you doing!

Neighbor: You're not moving.

Me: I'M SLIDING!!

Neighbor: Oops, I stepped on the winch handle.

And in order to step on the winch handle this meant he'd jumped up on our boom during one of his tossing efforts. This also meant that he'd somehow dislodged the bulb Hans had taped to the boom and it was now gone.
Hans cranked me back in place and told me to try the original bulb one more time.
We discovered that a tiny little bulb when dropped from a great height will shatter into more pieces than you can imagine.
I didn't bother to go back up the mast until after Neighbor was finally evicted and in only a few minutes I calmly and successfully replaced the light, the o-ring, and the bolt.


Someone recently asked me if we're enjoying the quiet these days now that Neighbor is gone and I had to admit that while I like not having to peek outside before leaving the boat anymore, it's almost boring.

But I've no doubt new neighbors will arrive as they always do and I can get back to some serious Kravitzing. 

Good riddance Debby.

Tropical Storm Debby became one of those events in our life where reality far outweighed expectation.
However, I have to say I only appreciate this type of experience when it comes to things like vacations.

Here at our marina we've all agreed that we were pretty complacent about this storm and we consider ourselves very lucky that we didn't sustain any more damage than we did. It doesn't help that our weather forecasters are huge fear mongers and they practically salivate every time a cloud squeezes out a drop of rain.
Which happens nearly every day.

One of our dog park friends cracked us up when he shared a news story he and his wife saw on TV awhile back. It depicted a weather man in full foul weather gear standing next to a (very poorly anchored) stop sign that was flapping madly in the breeze as he announced that residents were fearful and gearing up for a siege of terror.
I've no doubt the poor guy was mortified when right in the middle of his spiel a woman wearing flip flops and carrying a cocktail strolled into the picture and very calmly meandered right past him.
I like the way she was gearing up.

So you can see why people get so complacent when it comes to storms here. After a while we all get sick of Chicken Little screaming that the sky is falling.
However, I do have to admit that Debby did get the better of our SEVERE WEATHER TEAM and even they underestimated her power.



This is the sidewalk that goes around the whole marina.  This is what it looked like when poor Hans tripped getting onto the boat and ended up on his back. (I promise I'm not still laughing ;-)  )

One liveaboard said that in the 6 years he's lived here this is the first time this has happened.

This picture was taken of the bay on Sunday during the storm.

Poor little awning.  It looks like road kill

We thought Debby was on her way out of town and pretty much out of the picture but on Monday night she picked up the marina work shop awning (that was bolted to the cement floor) and tossed it over the fence and into the pool.








We are really hoping that Debby hasn't set a trend for the summer. But all the same we're going to try to be a bit more prepared the next time.

Which will probably be pretty much every week.