Hi from Port Angeles, home of spectacular summers, and dreary winters.
Finally got the deck put back together and most of the firewood in, so we packed up the boat and left. Cricket was delighted to be back on the boat and purred non-stop. Shadow, on the other hand, alternated between scared spitless and simply unenthusiastic. He had never been on the boat with the noise and the motion, and for that matter had no way of knowing he was ever coming back to his "home". As we started across the Straits (nice day, no wind) we hit 5-6 foot swells coming in off the ocean right on the beam. Very uncomfortable motion and doubly so for Shadow, hiding in the bow.
Most days, even at anchor, he spent below where he felt safe. Then about sunset he would come out in the cockpit and even walk around the deck. One night he came out as we were having dinner, and just as he was working up his courage, I managed to kick the leg out from under the cockpit table, dumping two plates of spaghetti, and smashing two wine glasses, and freaking him out anew. In some ways though, he has adapted quicker than Cricket did, and we hope he'll get better with time.
Weather was mostly cool and we didn't do much but "veg" out, other than daily walks on the islands. Almost ran out of books to read, and by the time we came home it was getting boring, but we sure looked younger when we got back. Since then we have done some hiking around here, but now we have returned to work so vacation is officially over. (When we were gone I couldn't think of a single thing I missed about work.)
I am working on an in-state travel assignment for October, but I can't say I feel real inspired. It would probably be for 13 weeks, and I would commute home on days off, but I'm not enthused about being away from Melody and the cats. And Melody is NOT enthused about driving Bubba in the snow.
This morning we had grits for breakfast. Never had them before and I don't know how what we had out of a box compares to the Southern variety, but it was the consistency of rice pudding (unfortunately without the flavor) and the color of scrambled eggs (again without the flavor). After I ate a large bowl, it began to feel like it expands like grape nuts. We had it with brown sugar, but the color and flavor could be enhanced by many choices such as spaghetti sauce or chili powder. (cheese, onion, barbecue sauce?) I think I'll stick with cream of wheat although I suppose many of the same observations apply.
I read something about yellow flowers. Melody weed whipped the dandelions the other day. Does that count? She also bought a bouquet that included sunflowers which are leaving piles of pollen everywhere.
We are trying to get the boat maintenance done, but can't do the bright work when it's foggy which is what September tends to be. Fortunately, we don't need to haul out yet even though it's been two years. So our boat work time is dramatically reduced this year.
Which reminds me, we don't have a mouse and when we came back I couldn't get to more clogs than appeared on one page, so I used the links in the e-mail notifications to read them. EXCEPT some of them, particularly Lisa's, would open to a blank screen. NSA censorship?
I'll put some pictures of this and other boat trips on this site (if I can figure out how) for those of you landlocked types who can't understand why anyone would put themselves through the misery of boat ownership.
Gotta go to work. Make hay while the universe smiles upon you.
Dave