Friday, February 20, 2009

Boat Best Friends: Pets on Boats

I'm woosing (?) out again and pasting an email that was sent to me from a very good friend who lost her best friend about a month ago. The email happened to be very timely because some other friends on the boat "Second Look" lost their mate "Mandy" last week. I keep trying to think of a better term than "lost" but none of them fit. And after all, maybe lost is the most appropriate term since we hope we will find them again someday. Thanks Patti, Matriarch of the Abaco Cruiser's Net.

This explains why I forward jokes:

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"

"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.

"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.

"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up."

The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.
As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

"Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in."
"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.

"There should be a bowl by the pump."

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.

"This is Heaven," he answered.

"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."

"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell."

"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"

"No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind."

Soooo...

Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without writing a word.
Maybe this will explain.
When you are very busy, but still want to keep in touch, guess what you do? You forward jokes.
When you have nothing to say, but still want to keep contact, you forward jokes.

When you have something to say, but don't know what, and don't know how, you forward jokes.
Also to let you know that you are still remembered, you are still important, you are still loved, you are still cared for, guess what you get?

..... A forwarded joke.
So, next time if you get a joke, don't think that you've been sent just another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of today, and your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile.

You are all welcome @ my water bowl anytime

I have a lot of things ping-ponging around in this old noggin of mine right now. We went to Mexico to explore an alternative winter residence and found the most gorgeous house at an obscenely low price (compared to the Bahamas)and then we came back home to our friends and an unbelievable 50th birthday party for our friend Doris on "Exit Strategy" and the next day met up with one of our best friend couples, Janet and Gary of "LeeAnn" and we are wearing ourselves out trying to decide. House or Friends? In today's economic climate I think I'd rather invest in friends. I'd love to hear from friends that gave up boating to see what they think. Norm and Ami?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Boat for sale

No it's not mine, but we have extended our visit here in Mehico for a couple of extra days just to look at additional winter accomodations. Notice I said additional, not alternative. I just can't get away from the tortillas and frioles and cheap beer.

Some friends of ours have turned into CLOD (Cruisers Living On Dirt)and are looking to give away their boat to a good owner. JUST KIDDING! Whooee! I bet Pat blew some blood vessels on that one. Some of you might have sailed with Pat (Paco) and Dori over the years, if you have you won't forget them. They are now selling Sol Y Mar. They are the only owners and I can vouch that you won't find a better maintained boat. I know she just got new batteries, like last week and they are now in Bequia waiting for a window to bring her to the states. Anyway here is the link for all the info. Hey Paco, do I get a finder's fee?

http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/11648
It seems blogger no hablas English. It keeps saying,"No se encuentra el blog que busca" so let me know if you guys can't link to the site. And hey swab, bring me another Mohito.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Hi guys,
I've jumped ship! But just temporarily. We are taking a short vacation from the boat to visit Jeff's brother in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We have been having a blast exploring Mexico and I can't wait to tell you about it. If you think there is no more undiscovered beachfront in the Western Hemisphere, you're wrong. We found a place with gorgeous untouched beachfront on the gulf and they are only using it to to beach their fishing boats. Can you believe it? The locals kept asking us how we found the place, at least that's what I think they were saying. We were the only non-Spanish speakers in the whole village.

But before I blog about our trip, one of my new readers, Mike from Ohio, wants to know how we (I'm including the rest of you first mates and captains in this)jumped the hurdles to go cruising. One of his questions is about health insurance and since, as our fellow cruisers in the Abacos know, we had to Med-evac the cap'n out a couple of weeks ago to West Palm for an all-expensive, no frills stay at the elite Good Sam hospital, I have a few suggestions. And I hope we get some suggestions from others. Thanks for getting me back on track, Mike. When I started this blog the purpose was to answer and get suggestions from other first mates but my readers appear to be shy. Now keep in mind, I know quite a few of them and they're not shy at all. I still want to know how to keep my dishrags from stinking to high heaven since I can't just throw them in the wash machine if any of you have a suggestion.

Hopefully, I'll be back chewing your ear off on Monday.

P.S. We really need to import good tortillas to the Bahamas.