Where's the Water?
20 January 2014 | Bayland Marina, Baytown, TX
Jill
Sorry for the lack of holiday missive. We did have a nice holiday here. Adler is at the age when Christmas is it's best. He understands time well enough and has enough memories to really anticipate the fun. He loves everything he gets and enters in to all the traditions with enthusiasm. I did take a couple of pictures that I'll put in the Texarkana gallery to wind out my 2013 photos.
So why haven't I written? Well, first this is still a sailing blog, and we did not get to the boat until this weekend. Second, despite all the good things, being in Texarkana for another Christmas was hard. It got cold. Bud and I both got sick. Adler had two weeks and a day off school, so I was pretty busy Adler watching.
But we're back at the boat now. And Jamie agreed again to watch Fuzzy for us. I'm not sure that Fuzzy will make it back to the boat another time. Every time we bring him I think that he'll just sleep through the five-and-a-half hour drive, but he never does. And he is getting so feeble that we are afraid to give him that kind of stress. He doesn't move backwards anymore. I don't think it's a physical disability, but rather a mental lapse, but for whatever reason he walks into dead ends and gets stuck. The other day he managed to get stuck in a rose bush! I let him wander in the back yard because the temperature was fine and I thought he could use the exercise. After about 10 minutes I heard a little "yip" from outside. Following his little barks I found him up against a low branch of a rose bush with the thorns across the front of his neck. Poor little dog.
We got another lesson in Galveston Bay this weekend. Last time we were here we tried to leave the marina and got stuck in low water as we left the dock area. This time the water was even lower! It seems the water is often low in the winter when the prevailing southeast winds of spring and summer are not pushing water up into the bay. Instead the frequent fronts bring northwest winds that push water out. I took this photo of the instrument read-outs at the nav station. The water level is 6.8 feet at our dock. This was a bit past low tide on the first full day we were here. Friday, when we arrived, it was even lower! Our friends on Kooky Dance said they were recently aground in their slip and they only draw five feet.
Still, we got a weekend at the boat and it is a great tonic for me. We went out to an excellent Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant in downtown Houston with Scott and Tamera from Kooky Dance on Saturday. Bad news for them, but good news for us is that they have decided to postpone their departure until next fall, so we'll have many more months to enjoy their company before they leave us.
On Sunday Bud's friend Bruce, from his years in Houston way back in the mid-70's, made it down to visit. He lives on the northwest side of Houston, probably about 45 minutes away. We had a great visit, I forgot to take any pictures, but we parted with promises to get together again. Maybe I'll remember next time.
Not much work got done this visit. Bud tried to work on varnishing the washboards from the companionway and the grab rails on the cabin top, but he was having a lot of trouble with the varnish. We called to consult our friend Tracy, who redid all the brightwork on their new old boat, Silk Purse. Her conclusion was that with highs in the lower 60's and lows in the 40's it was just too cold for the varnish to dry. She recommended a book on brightwork by Rebecca Wittman that I have already ordered.
And that's our life; golfing, which I'm no better at than I ever was, Adler watching, which is getting better and better as he grows, Fuzzy watching, which is getting more and more sad, and occasional trips to the boat to revive us.