Barb got back to the boat at about 20h00 last night. She was driven the four hour trip from Saint John by a nice young couple who are friends of our daughter Kayt. They drove her right to the boat and wouldn't take any gas money which was above and beyond the call of duty and in return we are hound sitting for a couple of days while they stay at a hotel and go to a wedding. The "hound" is a beagle shepherd cross named Apple, for some reason, and she really is a sweet little dog. In the middle of the night she started whining and I thought that she needed to go out. You can imagine how enthusiastic I was about that at 03h00! Anyway, out we went; I in my PJs and she in her four furry little paws but although business was done when we got back she continued the whining. Then at one point Barb whistled for Peri to get up into the bed and Apple took that as her queue too and hopped up. After that she was quiet. Now the only one whining was me - a wife, two dogs, and a cat all on the inside. If something had to give it was whoever was on the outside of the pile up - me! I spent the rest of the night perched on the bunk rail and just got off to sleep in time to wake up for my last day of work. I think that this actually will be the last day too so although I'll miss the place, the people, and the income, I'll be able to really devote myself to the jobs on Nelleke.

I finally got a commission cheque from one of the businesses that I have been demonstrating a couple of on board products to during our trip. I think that there were actually a lot more folks who bought things as a result, but they don't always tell the distributor who sold them the item. I kind of suspected that would happen and don't really mind it as my intent is to let folks know about the availability of some products that we use and find valuable - one is a personalized weather service called Clearpoint and the other is a marine grade personal computer called MarineNav. You can find a link to either of them on the bar down the right hand side of our blog. If you decide to try either of them out let them know that we steered you toward them. Our commission isn't all that huge, but both have told me that they will on occasion give our customers and friends a "deal". And everyone wouldn't mind a deal would they?

The last day at the Binnacle was a bit anti-climactic. No tearful farewells, no heartfelt adieus, just grabbing my backpack and out the door with wee Mike. Perhaps they'll have need of me sometime in the future and I'll go back for a day or two, but for now, I finally get to concentrate on Nelleke.

But first we indulge in a little social activity. Barb and I visited Ron and Pye Leslie last night for another sit on their back porch and absorb the view of St Margaret's Bay and a superb dinner and great company. Ron is the fellow who was kind enough to re-arrange his teaching schedule so that he could join us for the Newport to Bermuda leg of the fall cruise. Pye won't be coming on the sea leg but she will be joining us in Bermuda. She has family and friends there. Then, later, we are also hoping that they'll fly down in the early part of the year to join us on another leg of the cruise wherever that might have taken us. Ron will be teaching in St Martin at the medical school there for a couple of weeks so that works out pretty well.