We've seen some odd things in our time here in the yard. Like the guy today who walked over to his car, opened the door, and took a piss right there in front of the office. Twice. "It kind of blows my mind", Louis said. "I mean, why would he do that? The bathrooms are just around the corner...about 30 paces away". Go figure.

There's our neighbor, Joost, (in the photo) who's using an acetylene torch to melt the lead out of his keel. Apparently his boat is a bit stern-heavy, so he's lightening his load by taking some weight out of the keel! I suppose the fact that the keel (beneath the boat) is ballast for the mast (above the boat) isn't a concern? Guess he'll find out...

And then there's "the blue man"- this really nice yard worker, Ellison, who gets some of the nastiest jobs like sanding bottom paint, the ultra-toxic stuff you put on the bottom of your boat to slow down barnacle growth. He's sanding away wearing just a tank top and a dust mask! No long sleeve shirt. No hood. No respirator. He walked by covered head-to-toe in blue paint and I thought maybe he was heading to an audition for The Blue Man Group. By the way, this is the same job Louis did last year wearing hooded Tyvek coveralls, shoes, a respirator and glasses. The only exposed parts of his entire body were his eyebrows. And they tingled for a few weeks. Seriously.

And how about our shower the other night? Louis and I shared a stall so our friends, Gino and Mel, could each have their own. Gino's a big guy, plus, they had just that day been put in the water after 5 months working in the yard. Anyway, right as Gino's about to end his shower, we hear him say "naah, I'll hold it - I gotta pee over the rail tonight!" It seems he was going to pee right there in the shower, but the excitement of their boat finally being on the water and being able to pee over the side just got to him. Guess it doesn't take much to excite you after 5 months in the yard!

But nothing quite beat the sight I saw in the nasty unisex boatyard bathroom yesterday. This woman had pulled up a couple chairs in front of the sinks and was reading a book, right there in the smelly, hot, mosquito-infested bathroom. That's odd enough, but she had her computer with this HUGE screen propped up onto another chair! It was like having a big-screen TV in the boatyard bathroom. Weird. Really weird for Louis, as he went in later to "do his business". He's sitting there making his daily deposit with this lady basically watching TV and reading a book, just a few feet and a stall-door away from him! That's enough to send the average Turtlehead running the other direction. But not for Louis - he just sat there quietly and went about his business. (Fortunately, there were enough poo-tickets in there for him and he didn't have to ask the lady to pass some extras under the stall...a common occurance in these bathrooms).

So, UFO's we don't have...but strange sightings? You betcha!