New but Failed Technology!

Now for the short version of a long story!

Gateway Laptops are a complete failure as Ion-izing Water Filters.....they treat the water good enough but don't last very long while doing so thus making them un-economical as a means to improving water quality.

The girls showed up late in the afternoon on Thursday and we pulled out of Beaufort Creek after finally untangling the anchor from an old mooring line we had snagged. The run out to Lookout was interesting....we got beat up pretty good with all sorts of stuff finding its way onto the cabin sole. Frady did fine until all that commotion started at which time he sought safer and quieter places. Katie snuggled him for most of the ride.....lucky fellow!

We spent a good weekend in the Bight, the girls surfed (what there was of it), braved the presence of a fairly large Shark, gathered clams and the like for fish bait. We caught a few Croakers and a pretty two foot long shark. The Curry I made on Saturday turned out really good.....brought tears to some eyes!

We dropped Katie off on Sunday and headed back to Edenton. Shannon was a great help running into the creek at night well after dark and while surrounded by Thunderstorms. I would have hated to do that by myself!

The day I drove Shannon to Wilmington....I returned to find the Deck Hatch over the dinette table to be un-dogged and the Laptop filled with rain water. It had drowned while I was gone.

A week later....with a nice new Sony laptop....back on line.

Rumours of my death are a bit premature!

Shannon drowned my Laptop.....and finally got the new one up and running a few minutes ago.

Will catch this up over the weekend!

Almost A Good Night's Sleep!

After getting anchored and sorted out for the evening....sat up for a bit watching the Full Moon shine and caught up on phone calls. Shannon and Katie are on schedule to arrive today for their weekend at Lookout. Both are bringing their surf boards.

Fell into bed....nice breeze blowing through the cabin....but did have to swap ends as the Moon was shining brightly on the pillows when I first went to bed.

About 1AM the tide changed and the boat swung about on the anchor and fetched up with a jerk that woke me up from a very sound bit of snoozing. I got up and checked all was fine....had a few minutes quality time with Frady and fell back in bed.

At 6:15....a single, agressive, irritating Fly found me. He was one of the non-biting kinds but pestered me silly until I finally just got up and started coffee. The irritating little bugger followed me into the main cabin and continued his aggravating ways. As always....if one persists in fomenting evil....there is a price to be paid. A rolled up newspaper cured the problem! Said fly is off to feed a fish in Beaufort Creek. There was no "words" said over his burial beyond "Do your duty for God and Country....support your local wild life!"

Marine Life in Beaufort, NC.

Awoke this morning and took the opportunity to clean boat....and sort out a bit of a mess that had accumulated in the past week or so. It makes it so nice when you can walk on carpet instead of dirty underwear and smelly Tee shirts. Frady was beginning to spend most of his time above decks as he sensed the presence of a Billy Goat down below I think.

Pulled into the Morehead Yacht Basin for fuel and had a nice visit with Mike the Dockmaster. Always good to see him and catch up on gossip. Looking at all the mega million dollar Sport Fishing boats I felt like the Klampetts in Hollywood. After fueling I motored over to Town Creek Marina with the intent to anchor there for the night. The sailing school was in session and had set up shop in the anchorage and channel right at the marina. Trying to stay out of their way....got Luna stuck on a mud bar. As the tide was rising.....about a half hour later I was off and headed to the Fort Macon Coast Guard station as my alternate anchorage. In a weak moment I decided to run into Beaufort Creek and spend the night there. After a couple of tries at finding a spot....I gave up and drifted off down the creek until I found the end of the line of sailboats and set the anchor, fired up the Gennie....and cranked up the air conditioners!

Now as to marine life at Beaufort....usual schools of bait fish jumping out of the water....some Porpoises snorkling around....birds dipping small fish from the creek....and two boatloads of the scuzziest floatsam I have seen ever. They were moored out on the creek in small sailboats....both of which looked like derelicts. One fellow made Charlie Manson look sane.....and just one look at him convinced me to find another place for the night. The other boat load were self appointed mooring monitors and boat handling critics. I suggested their time would be better spent if they showed some interest in a bar of soap and some hot water as their expertise at giving boat handling instruction suffered from a poor professional image.

Perhaps later I shall take the Dink for a run and see if I can wear out my Fish Billy. It would improve the ambiance of the Beaufort Water Front and exorcise some demons that have been building up of late. The good ol' days of Nightsticks, Lead Saps, and ample opportunity to vent frustration through the use of Applied Psychology. Some people just need an ass kicking!

Cape Lookout tomorrow night!

Great Day!

Awoke at Oh Dark Thirty....had a quick cup of coffee and arm wrestled Frady over the bowl of cereal....I gave up and shared it with him.

Really foggy as I pulled into the Alligator River Canal but with lots of optimism I knew in my heart it would lift quickly as I could already feel a bit of wind stirring.

Wrong!

I got a couple of miles into the canal and it did get foggy....like really foggy....like hug one side and sorta see the bank as it slid by at three knots or less. The radar and chart plotter worked great and in an hour or so the fog did lift to a bearable visibility. Part of the run was like flying instruments in a helicopter.....let the autopilot drive and just punch buttons and monitor the radar and moving map.

The wind was perverse today. Every time it picked up to being usable for sailing and far enough off the bow to make it work.....there was a course change that put it right smack back on the bow.

Now anchored at Cedar Creek just south of the Neuse and getting ready for a well deserved dinner.

Cellular reception is fading in and out.....thus good reason to call it a night!

Next stop Morehead City/Beaufort for fuel and a slow day to catch up with boat stuff.

Underway Again!

Awoke to a foggy, damp, looks like it is gonna rain day....but it never did! Got up early and filled propane tanks, bought a bit of Dink Gas and hit the Bayside for Breakfast. Since Big Bill left the Bayside has lost it's allure.....I can cook an egg better than the folks running the place now. Seems the Church folk banded together and Big Bill hit the road....seems the kitchen was a bit crowded and it became a "She Goes or I Go!" deal and Bill went. That is bad news for those of us who enjoy a really good breakfast out sometimes.

Nice run today, all power and no sailing as the wind stayed politely on the nose all day....even when I changed course a couple of times. Go Figure!

Forecast is for the same winds for the rest of the week so this will be a motor trip to Morehead. After that it will be good sailing with the winds out of the Southwest....3-5 foot seas....but some chance of afternoon Thunder Bumpers marching in from the Gulf Stream.

Early night tonight as I want to be up and gone by daylight. Frady is on watch as he slept all of the day when he wasn't glaring at me with looks that could kill. He got over being shanghai'ed about dinner time tonight. Funny how that works!

Boats and Sailors need to be on the water and away from the dock.....things look better from out here!

I'm Going Crazy!

Some folks would say I have already gone crazy....some would probably argue I have always been crazy....but at last I, myself, think I am sliding over that line between being being merely annoyed and actually being driven crazy by politicians and the American Media.

Perhaps it was the several days of being cooped up on the boat with a bad head cold, compounded by the arrival of August with its soul killing heat and humidity that brought this on as I had plenty of idle time to contemplate the situation extant in American Politics. Reading the Winston-Salem Journal Editorial Pages surely played a part in my demise.

A few of the things that worked on my only nerve recently.

Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Majority Leader blamed the Media for the deadline on the Obama Health Care Bill. I guess the Dimwit missed all the Obama Press Conferences, speeches, and Town Hall meetings where Obama urged haste and said the Bill had to be on his desk by the August recess.

Nancy Pelosi....pick anything that Witch said! God but she likes to call other folks "Villians"! It scares me I pray for the continued good health of Obama and Biden....but only because Nancy is in line for the front office! Where's Japan Air Lines when you need them, Clancy?

The Obama Health Care Bill itself.....Lord God Almighty...when the Democrats cannot agree on a Social Program structure and Bill then how can the Republicans be blamed for being the hold up?

Obama, clearly stating he did not have the facts, calls the Cambridge Police out following the arrest of Skippy Gates, then tries to weasel out of his gross mistake, and can not find it in himself to apologize for slandering the Officers, then compounds that by suggesting a beer or two will make things good.

Michael Jackson dies from an overdose of illegal drugs, the rotten little pervert, and the whole world mourns his passing and makes him out to be a Saint.

We get "Cash for Clunkers" and the government cancels the program despite millions of dollars of dealer advertising yet to be aired....then turns around and adds twice as much money to the program telling the dealers to keep selling cars, all the while knowing the new money has to be approved by Congress which might just not happen! What if we had not bailed out GM and Chrysler and thrown all those Billions of dollars into a "Buy a New Car Now!" program....would not quite a few taxpayers derive some direct benefit from that along with car dealers, mechanics, auto parts suppliers, detailers, tire shops, and the auto makers along with DMV licensing, property tax collectors, and others that feed off the auto industry? Perhaps the UAW would not have been as happy but then....oh....right....that is why!

Chris Dodd, up to his nostrils in ethics violations, gets Obama's express support for his re-election campaign in 2010. Remember the new Hope and Change mantra where Obama swore to clean up Washington Politics?

Charlie Rangel, also up to his nostrils in corruption and ethics charges, actually bragged "he" was the one who called for his own investigation by the Ethics Committee. Yeah, right!

Obama, anticipating his up coming staunch defense of Skippy, refused to rush to judgement on the Iranian government's gunning down protesters who were claiming rigged elections. Granted, most of the civilized world did take exception to the gunfire and murder. Must be Obama is a bit immune to those complaints coming from Chicago and the Daly Machine. After all, the Iranians were not interrogating terrorists guilty of truck bombing vegetable markets or masterminding the 911 attacks or cutting off Danny Pearl's head.

Right! Enough! Any more of this and I will be making up a hangman's noose and eyeing the yardarm on Luna!

When things get this way....I resort to a good dose of Michael Ramirez or Mallard Fillmore cartoons and the demons seem to fade away a bit.

Trip to Lookout delayed....lots of storms, wind, rain, and a pair of empty propane tanks on the boat. Grocery load out today, top off water tanks, fill the propane tanks tomorrow morning and away we go.

Frady missed on his timing and took off this morning at about 0430....having awakened me twice for morning chow. First time at 0355...which coincided with a head call. Then at 0425 when he nibbled on my hand and told me the half day old canned chow I put in his bowl was not acceptable and I would open a new can forthwith and with all due haste, deliver said fresh chow into his dining gear.

Cats are not demanding creatures....not at all!