Loons and Manatees

I've often posted about how much I like watching wildlife.  Being from upstate New York for most of my life, and living in the suburbs of various places, I didn't get to see much wildlife besides the occasional deer or turkey along the highway.  One of the great things about living on a boat is that I get to see it right outside our windows, and I'm not talking about sparrows at the bird feeder.

I love watching pelicans diving for fish.  They do it all day long, right next to our boat.  Pelicans have quickly become my favorite bird, displacing my much loved chickadee.  They appear to be ungainly on land...

but in flight they're as graceful as a ballet dancer.

Loons are fairly common here too.  Below is a female Common Loon.

Yesterday, Pam left to do laundry and I was at the galley sink washing dishes.  I looked outside and I saw what I at first thought was the back of a huge turtle.  As I watched, it swam over to the dock and started nibbling on vegetation growing on it.   It was a manatee.

The dogs love dolphins, so I thought I'd see what they thought of a manatee.  I let them out on deck, but not on the docks.  They immediately saw the manatee.   Chevy, the dog who goes bat shit crazy when he sees dolphins, did the same with the manatee and started barking his fool head off.  The manatee, not liking this, moved on.

I chastised Chevy for scaring the manatee away and put the dogs back inside.  As I walked up to the showers, he was back munching on the docks.   He didn't seem to mind me at all, as I quietly stood right over him, watching him as he ate.

I love living on a boat, and all the good things that go along with it.  Soon, when we move back to New York in May, the pelicans will be replaced by chickens, the loons by chickadees, and the manatees by deer. Hopefully, the ice and snow will be melted when we get there.  It's already started.  Three snowmobiles went through the ice on the Great Sacandaga Lake.   The snowmobiles are on the bottom in 20 feet of water, but luckily the riders made it to shore.

In boat selling news, as I answer inquiries about Drift Away, I'm reminded of all the projects Pam and I have completed on this good old boat.  The list is very long.  But I'm also a bit embarrassed when I'm reminded of all the little projects that I could have easily done but never got around to.  Just this morning, I answered a question about any soft spots in the floors.  Well, as a matter of fact there are a couple.  One is in the master stateroom bathroom.  That was in a bad place, right in front of the sink, and I fixed it temporarily by covering it with a piece of plywood until I could get around to repairing it.  That was three years ago, and my temporary fix worked so well that I forgot all about it until today.

I suppose that's one advantage of buying a boat directly from an owner instead of a broker.  An owner, if honest anyway, can point out all the projects that need attending to instead of buying a boat and being surprised when you find them on your own.  No one likes surprises like that.  If you know about it, you can put it on a project list.  That's what I should do.  I should make a project list.  Maybe I'll do that today... maybe tomorrow.