Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Pets in the Drink. It's All Tied Up at Three Apiece Now.

Pam and I spent most of yesterday working on her website, www.Beach-Bum-Bling.com.  She wrote narrative for the pages, and I took photos of her sea glass jewelry.  Yeah, I know, it was almost like having a job again, except with a nice view out the saloon windows of boats.

Jack Northrup commented on yesterday's blog that we're not cruising if we're tied up to a dock for weeks at a time.  He's right, I suppose, but this blog isn't just about cruising.  It's about living aboard as well, and this is what live aboards do.  Sometimes we moves, and sometimes we sits.  Sometimes we sits too long.  But we're not alone.  There are other live aboards here at Isle of Hope Marina too and that can make things fun.

As I said, I spent most of yesterday working on Pam's website and figuring out the proper lighting to photograph her sea glass jewelry.  I'm a total novice.  It was difficult and I didn't like the results I was getting at all.  I wanted light from behind to show off the sea glass, but I needed light from in front to illuminate the silver wrappings.  I finally sorted it out by mid-afternoon and then took a hundred or so photos of her work.  I had two or three pics of each piece and used Nikon's software to crop and edit each one and upload it to the eShop.  A long and tedious process.

Finally, time came for Pam to take over the laptop and write descriptions of each piece.  I tried to, but my efforts were along the lines of "This is green and white sea glass with silver wire decorations".  It was not up to Pam's standards.  So Pam took over the laptop and I went fishing.  Avid followers of this blog know I do this primarily to entertain the fish, but this time I came up with a nice 16" spotted sea trout.  I kept him on a stringer, but since C Dock was barbequeing steaks for dinner (thanks Bill and Patty!), I eventually decided to let him go.   I'll catch him again for dinner tomorrow.

It was late afternoon and I fired up the grill and tossed on the steaks.  C Dock was stirring.  Gene, as usual, was washing his boat.


It's springtime in Georgia and pollen is everywhere.  Gene washes his boat everyday to get it off.  I think pollen makes Drift Away look better, and I do not.

Soon, Gene and Bill and Patty were on Drift Away enjoying the warm Georgia sunshine and happy hour.  The dogs were ecstatic to have company, of course, and were up everyone's butt.  Live aboard Tom joined us for happy three hours as well.  As the sun set and we all very mellowly took in the view, we noticed that our  live aboard cats were on the prowl.  Tipper, from Kindred Spirits, was checking out a very fine yacht named Panache down the way.  Gertie soon departed Drift Away to do the same on neighboring boats.  It's what cruising cats do.

The evening wore on, and everyone was well fed and well lubricated.  Gene left first, soon followed by Tom.  Shortly thereafter, I heard some commotion from the end of C Dock.  Gertie was running down the dock towards Drift Away for all she was worth, followed by Tom with a flashlight.  Gertie bounded up the steps and onto Drift Away and disappeared inside.  Tom came over and explained that he got aboard his boat and surprised Gertie, who was on it.  She saw Tom and panicked.   She dashed down his boat and onto his swim platform.  She tried to make a right hand turn from there onto the dock.  She didn't make it, and plomped over the side and into the water.   Being a cat, she was out of the water in a nanosecond.  How, we don't know, but a swimming cat has a lot of adrenalin and motivation to get out quickly.



Pam toweled off Gertie as best she could, but as any live aboard will tell you, there is nothing funnier than a wet cat.

Now this part of the story is true.  I even took a pic because I couldn't believe it.  Look back at the photo of Pam holding Gertie.  See her collar?  Look at the pic below.


Her collar is sitting on the floor as she cleans herself of nasty salt water.   No, no one took it off her.  Somehow she did it herself.  It is unbuckled and cast aside.

Sometimes, my pets frighten me.

So the pets-overboard score is Chevy 3, Ruby 3, and now Gertie 3.  Thankfully, it is also Pam zero and Dave zero, but our time may be coming.

4 comments:

  1. I'm still waiting for Chevy to "chase" the dolphins! Any word on the Whaler???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Still waiting on the mechanic to show up. If I go out for any reason, I'm buying a can of carb cleaner and having a go at it myself.

      Delete
  2. Dave,

    Post the year & HP of the Outboard "I'll Google It" So I can see exactly what you have... I'm sure it's a easy fix to get the gas flowing-- I'll be happy to walk you though it... Buy the Carb Cleaner anyways if you go out... I'll assume you have plenty of rags...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Most of the cruising friends we know don't end up in the drink until they are trying to get out of their dinghys and onto their swim platform or the dock. So the best is yet to come!

    ReplyDelete