Yard Period

Barco is now in the yard with reduced availability for any mission requirements.

Beautiful morning for boating, I was underway at ten after nine. It was too soon that I was in the Ortega River and approaching the boatyard, where three fella's were ready to put the Barco in the slings and haul her out.

There was much scraping of the underside, plenty of barnacles called the hull home.

Leaving Pirate's Cove

Heading North.

Nice and slow, no rush.

                                   

Downtown.

Eco-System.

Scraping away at the barnacles.

Yuck. Crunchy crustaceans.

Go fast boat with manatee mangler props.

I leave the Barco in their care.

Have a fine week!

Lovely weather has returned!

Once again, our temperatures are in the very 70's and the backyard flora doth rejoice.  I do dig the Florida winter, I do!

This is telling me that in thirty days hence, I shall freeze as the Barco departs for the Keys. It is always that way but we have a generator and heat with plenty of jackets, so don't worry about us.

Monday we bring the Barco for some annual maintenance which includes the bottom. Engines will have all fluids and filters removed and replaced and I shall wax the hull myself! We should be back in the water by the next weekend and I will make the boat ready for voyaging, if that's what you call a twelve hundred mile journey. Think of it more as a road trip. Only slower. Walking slow.

Have a fine weekend!

When we snoop the net...

We find some real gems. This photo has been lost for over thirty three years, and I find it on some guy's  page on 'together we served...', I didn't even know this fella!

Behold the fourteen year old me at my first summer camp; Camp Pendleton. Thou shall embiggen with thy clicker;

Front row center, with red arrow.

I was in First Platoon. Our Drill Instructors are the first two with green helmets, on the lower left. GySgt Thoma and SSgt Benson.

The hard lookin' Asian dude on the lower right is Eric Loya. We were Sea Cadets in the Hancock Squadron back in 77-78.  He retired from the Corps a few years ago with over thirty years as a SgtMaj. He won't talk to me because he thinks I'm a traitor for leaving the Marines and going into the Navy. I guess he's right. Woulda, Shoulda and Couldas, they mean nothing in the long run.

Wish I could relive that ten days because it was the best part of being a youngster, getting to play Marine.

Memories...

Update:
Watch the video at the link for more info on the Devil Pup Program. I had no idea of how well known some of my fellow Devil Pups were, but I'm sure in the future there will be plenty other great graduates of that camp.

http://www.devilpups.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=25

Hey, Jihad Gene! I'm sure there are some potential Devil Pups who frequent your store... Pass the info on to some of those youngsters, it may change their lives for the better!

Here are the distances planned

The mileage charts are as such; (All ICW) and these are proposed stops less Biscayne Yacht Club, which is a great place for fuel.

Jax to:    St Augustine         56 nm   approx. 7 hrs

              Daytona/Halifax   109 nm approx. 13.5 hrs

              New Smyrna        124 nm approx.  16 hrs

              Eau Gallie            193 nm approx.   24 hrs

              Stuart                    274 nm approx.  35 hrs

              Lauderdale            344 nm approx.  43 hrs

              Tavernier               430 nm approx.  54 hrs

               Marathon              481 nm approx.  60 hrs

All times are if Barco goes direct without stopping. I plan on staying at yacht clubs along the way for the free night, but anchor where it is fair.

Predeployment Planning

Back at the boating thing, again...

Looks like the next expedition will  begin with a trip to Black Creek, 22-25 February, there we visit the Ira Farm for three nights of fun and frivolity. After that weekend concludes I will return to the Yacht Club for a massive field day and loading with provisions/fuel for a  departure on 27 February for Daytona/New Smyrna. After a night of rest we shall then journey for either Eau Gallie or further South. Then it shall be another day to Lake Worth/West Palm. Another rest and then it's on to Lauderdale/Key Biscayne and Barco should see a change of passengers, maybe the Spousal Unit will fly down with a friend on a private conveyance. This should be two nights... When she leaves to return home the Barco will head for Elliot Key and then on to Marathon. We will dock at Marathon Yacht Club or the City Moorings for a few days, maybe wait for the return of She Who Will Be Obeyed for another couple nights in the warm Florida Keys. After we get our minds straightened out,  we will decide on the return North. I am planning on a three week trip but my hard return shall be by just after Palm Sunday, 25th-28th of March.

A very bold endeavor!


The 29th of March we will have relatives coming in from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, they have one week to boat down to Hontoon Island and return to Jax. Seems they are looking forward to bass fishing and alligator watching, and that's exactly what they shall get.

Wow, a mission!

Stand by for action!

Celebrate the upcoming event!

There was many months I spent away from home on the ocean or on the road. Naturally we find things to occupy our minds. Mine was listening to eclectic styles of music. When alone, I listen closer to what is really said in those songs. Here are a couple tunes that speak to me about our current situation with our gubmint. Written by Canadians, no less.

This particular song has been on my mind the past few days, so I shall post it in honor our President's inauguration coming on Monday.



I can understand if you don't like the singer's voice, but I think it adds to the feeling of indignation. Just read the lyrics with the music turned down. The song is from 1975 but the song writer is a Randian prophet who seems to have foreseen the events and times we live today.

Our betters, The D.C elites are really getting out of control, trying to say that if we don't go waaay deeper in debt our country will somehow collapse. Also the media tells us that it is Congress' fault we don't have a budget when the Senate has failed to put a budget out since 2009. Illegally, of course.

The people are getting weary being urinated on and having politicians tell us it's raining. It takes incredible nerve for millionaire politicians to say that the wealthy aren't paying "Their Share™".

Here is another political piece from 1977, the song describes frustration with 'The hypocrites are slandering the sacred halls of truth, ancient nobles showering their bitterness on youth'.



The last line is most poignant;

"Can't we find the minds to lead us closer to the heart?"

Musical rant off.

I still miss this guy. I even miss his opponents of the time, like Tip O'Neil and the like. Those guys at least had our best interests in mind and not running a continuous reelection campaign.

Leadership; D.C has none.

Not too much to report.

As the title succinctly describes, we are bereft of any ideas to bloviate about. Glad we are at Friday, I just wish we could have made some plans to occupy our three day weekend. She Who WIll Be Obeyed  has a meeting in the State Capitol on Tuesday and Wednesday which got scheduled yesterday.
Darn it! If we had a few days notice we could have rented a beach house at St George island for the next five days and had a good time.

It's all good, the weather has taken a decidedly colder turn last night and we had some other pressing financial issues earlier this week which renders the frivolous spending of a thousand bucks on a rental quite moot. We could, but won't.

Tonight we do the Yacht Club and take the weekend as it unfolds. Perhaps a boat trip, maybe a bicycle trip. Either way we have a good time because it is what we do™.  Plus, this weekend marks 23 years of  unbridled fun and happiness since this weekend was when the two of us met in Pensacola.

Ha!

There is a new reader in Fort Lauderdale; A particularly nice young lady who is a member of the Little Ship Club of London, and is keenly interested in sailing boats and all that. I will provide links for her to read a bit about some other members of that club who joined us on a trip across the Atlantic.

http://maogwaicat.blogspot.com/2009/11/wildebeest-wildly-wends-way-westward.html

http://maogwaicat.blogspot.com/2009/12/underway-in-atlantic-day-two-thru-four.html

http://maogwaicat.blogspot.com/2009/12/atlantic-crossing-days-four-through-six_07.html

As for everyone else; Class dismissed, have a fine (and safe!) holiday weekend.

Back Then.

Mo' recent

Panama Canal Edition.

Update:
Just realized that I shouldn't leave people hanging tied to a sea anchor in the middle of the Atlantic. Here are some more links to old posts;

First Morning on Sea-Anchor

Off and running like a herd of turtles.

Two hours on; Four hours off

The Weather is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful.

What does a person do when bored?

A great Florida weekend!

Well, mostly. The Spousal Unit has been afflicted with that flu and spent most of the time coughing and feeling a bit ill. She said she enjoyed the time on the water.

Here is a video of Sunday's ride home.



I had an easy interview with the personnel manager of a Ship Firm based out of Miami.  When I gave her copies of my documents and DD-214, I believe I saw love in her eyes...

As she looked over the stack of papers she said, "You are ready for work, aren't you, most of my applicants don't have all the paperwork." "Hmmpf"!

"I will be sending a contract proposal (but don't accept the first one, think of what you want to be paid...) for both local and overseas types of work, we have a skipper who is retiring soon."

So I smiled and thanked her for her time. Walking away with greedy thoughts, maybe we can get a job out of this boating thing and I hope I might see some good stuff coming from this. But I still don't really need the work, so I will give some crazy numbers in return with my counter offer. One never knows, right?

A good weekend and so far, a good Monday, too!

The joys of wandering the Worldwide Web

Just about everything up-loadable to the web is well along the way. Perhaps our civilization will end when everything is electronically available. Possibly for our own good, of course.

Looking back forty years, our cultural betters in Hollywood and New York periodically decide we need proper learnin' about how things should be. First up, we get Don McLean's navel gazing, catchy classic American Pie. (I'm sure Don McLean dug the money and all that but he would have rather we enjoyed some of his more cerebral, timeless, mo' bettah stuff).

Not to let history or the chance to cash in on mindless record sales rest, we get some musical genius sales-dude who decides to re/write the latest in history for the over-fed/under-read peoples of western society in 1979 and we get this;




Yes, I do the Rock. Here's the lyrics. We deserved this. Really.

 Ten years later, Billy Joel decides to skool the nabobs with more about the popular revisionist history of the fifties, sixties and eighties. After all, he didn't start the fire, now did he? All these useless disconnected one liners, posing as teaching moments.

1989 was when I gave up on popular music. It had to happen. I don't miss it, except when wandering the dark hallways of the web.

Back to the classics. Ravel's Bolero done in a different way, Live;



Go see Buck for some Eydie. It's worth it.

Link to da funny

Bored again on the webz, I was looking at Shorpy, which led to me going on a search engine for cheap wines. I came to this little gem called Bum Wine dot com.

My first wander about concerned some of the more popular wines like Night Train and Thunderbird. But what caught my eye was a description for a wine called Cisco. Here is a small excerpt;

"...The FTC also forced them to drop their marketing slogan, "Takes You by Surprise," even though it was entirely accurate.  Read the FTC's full investigation on their own web page at this link.  Since those days, Cisco is harder to find outside the slums, although the FTC's demonizing of the drink only bolstered its reputation for getting people trashed.  Anyone who overlooks the warning and confuses this with a casual wine cooler is going to get more than they bargained for.  Cisco will make a new man out of you.  And he wants some too."

Heh.

I do remember the days of the koolaid flavored wines. Yechh. Except for Tickle Pink... the chix did dig dem some Tickle Pink!

Very Quiet Around Here

Well, we made it past the first week of the year and the jade is still strong in my attitude. Or would I mean that I am still jaded? Funny, I don't have any green jewelry that looks rough...

 There does not seem to be much promise of America losing the common malaise, even the left side of our citizenry seem not to be as happy as they should be after winning it all. I guess so far, just enduring the mess in the best way we all can is about what the national mission ordains, forget any meaningful leadership emanating from that cesspool of privilege in Washington D.C.  So in a revolutionary spirit we will Make Do. This requires good food, pleasant company and hopefully, better weather. Oh, by the way; The weather will improve in a couple days to a warm weekend, which is forecasted to be in the 80's! Oh yes, we shall winter in Florida style...

This morning, when I saw the Weather-Dude mention the warm front heading North from the Caribbean, I immediately made the proclamation that there shall be boating at the end of this five day working period. Not 'will' (According to NATOPS Will indicates futurity). So there; I don't care where we go, we shall GO.

Like crises is to gubmint, the gift of good weather shall not go to waste. Or is that waist?

At the striking of Noon, today,  I shall be with Mom J Cat and we will visit the local Doctor-joint. After the deal is complete I shall spend the evening in her home watching her favorite tv shows and making sure she has food, appropriate beverages and perform regular Cat care/staffing. It's what we do. Everything will be clear in the next few days, believe it.

Television watching has lately been a favorite activity. I have watched more films in the past couple days than I have in months. Netflix streaming is sooooo fun. Sunday, I watched a relatively new film from the UK called, "Centurion". Nothing new about watching films, just not at 0600 on Sunday mornings, before coffee.

Another notable film we watched afterwards was titled; "Switchback", starring Dennis Quaid and R. Lee Ermey. Whatever happened to the Gunny? I have always been a fan. I guess Ermey's stance on the Democrat Party is out of step with the cool people and has made him less than employable in Hollywood. Same with any other Conservative actors with the exception of maybe Tom Selleck.





At least the Gunny is still working. And so is Magnum.



What the heck did I do before Netflix? Hundreds of films and tv shows for $8.95 a month. Hulu is another channel for the same amount of loot, and the Spousal Unit loves to watch all of the Gordon Ramsey shows on Hulu, and there are plenty of those.

The two of us have been up every morning at 0515, and we do the neighborhood walk for our regular exercise. It's good to see the dark streets in the briskly cool air in which we get the ol' blood flowing before starting the routine at 0600.


Off and running like a herd of entitled turtles!

Please watch the film at this link.

https://vimeo.com/52009124

I may have discussed this a few years ago, but it is important for you to see what sort of forces are at work molding public opinion,  and who these deciders may be. That film articulates clearly and points out the sources of their information.

Nothing like open light and air to wreck the plans the parasites and vermin have to ruin our good deal here in America.

Have a fine Thursday!