Dirty Gertie Jumps Ship

Dirty Gertie is a six month old kitten.   She's named Dirty Gertie because she's an orange tabby with black markings on her ears, top of her head, and backside like she crawled under a leaky old car.  Since she moved aboard a few months ago, she's ruled the boat.  Both dogs are afraid of her, and Charlie the three legged siamese doesn't stand a chance.   When Gertie decides she's going to tackle Charlie, she tackles him.   When she decides she's going to chew on Chevy's tail, she chews on it.  When she decides she's going to cuddle up on the couch with Ruby, she cuddles.

I can imagine Ruby thinking "Don't....  move.... stay... perfectly.... still...".

Gertie is very strong minded.   When she decided she was going to jump ship, she jumped ship.  She's never been off our boat at the marina in Stamford, but something is different here at the service dock in Norwalk.   There's a 70 foot yacht next to Drift Away.   It's about the same age as our boat, but much nicer.   I was sitting on the aft deck the other night admiring it when I saw Gertie strolling down the dock.   I yelled at her "Gertie".   She spun around, looked at me, stuck her tongue out and put her paw to her nose and wiggled her fingers at me and then jumped about five feet onto the railing of the yacht.   Being a responsible adult, I did what any of you would have done....

"Pam, your cat is on the yacht next door."

"What??!"    Pam ran over and stuck her head in the railing and called Gertie with her cute little sing-song voice.  "Geeeeertie.   C'mere Geeeeertie!  Gertie Gertie Gertie!"   Gertie climbed farther away on the bow and smiled at Pam.  

I tossed Pam a bag of cat treats.   Pam shook it.

Gertie loves cat treats.  It was her downfall.

Pam caught Gertie and put her back on the boat.   But now that she knows that there are other boats besides ours, boats that are much bigger and nicer, she gets off the boat every night to explore them.  Last night I saw her on a 40 foot sailboat and a 45 foot sportfisherman.    Who knows where she goes when I don't see her.

In boat news, the electronics install is almost done, and I just moved the boat to the fuel dock, took on 200 gallons of diesel, and then back to the service dock. I didn't hit anything, but I put a big dent in my wallet.