Tablets & Smartphones

I've been thinking about buying a smartphone sort of thingy just so I can use it for testing website developments. This would do the trick, I think, and it is relatively inexpensive. It's not a phone, per se, but I only need it to view the internet and don't want phone service with a data plan. Then again, maybe I should get an Apple iPod Touch.

 Archos 32 3.2-Inch Internet Tablet <----> Apple iPod touch 8GB (4th Generation)

But a full-on tablet would be neat, too. I could also use it for testing websites and applications, plus it might be handy when we have to use wifi ashore (like McDonald's in St Maarten). It would also be useful to have it set up as a GPS to use while sailing. Navionics has an app that looks interesting.

But what tablet to buy? Which have built-in GPS? We've heard that you have to be careful in buying Android tablets because many won't allow upgrading to the next version of Android and then new apps won't run on your old OS, etc.

The flavor of the month seems to be the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer but maybe I should just stick with Apple and get an iPad2. Might cost a tad more but is probably better in the long run. There's a nice waterproof case for it as well which would be a prudent investment.

Today I found this GPS Bluetooth receiver on Amazon which will be very handy for lots of you... Check it out!

Dual Electronics XGPS150 Universal Bluetooth GPS Receiver for iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone and Other Smartphones, Tablets and Laptops.

It's a real crappy day here. We actually have Christmas winds. I haven't seen Xmas winds in years as we seem to get them in February. It is very windy with white caps and the occassional rain shower in the anchorage in Gallows Bay.

Bought a Warren Zevon album (The Envoy) to cheer us up!

So it goes :)

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Caturday & First Day of ZAPPADAN

Today is the first day of Zappadan to celebrate everything Zappa!

Frank Zappa died December 4 (1993) and was born on December 21 (1940) and thus explains the dates of the Zappadan season.

Oops, it's not Caturday... it's Cunday!  Cilly me...

Way back when (hint: Carter was still president), we spent a night at the Edgewater Inn in Seattle because this hotel sounded so intriguing in "The Mud Shark"... It's true, you could get bait & tackle and fish from your hotel room but unfortunately we had a view of the parking lot and the only waterfront we had was a wet carpet from a leaky window :)

Get some ZAPPA TUNES
from Amazon and let the festivities begin !

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Caturday: Working on our boat... I hear raindrops!

Just about ready to get to work on the boat after another cup of coffee.

A friend of ours recommended the song "Working On My Boat." I quite enjoy it. You can listen to a sample HERE.

We have had 3 days in a row without rain and have been able to do some exterior epoxy work. We plan to do a bit more this morning.

What's that I hear? The pitter patter of cat paws on the deck? No, it is raining! Oh well, it is only 9am so maybe the weather will improve.

It's Caturday! Here's a picture of Willow being too cool for the room :)

They are having great fun this morning chasing each other to and fro... much frolicking...

Let the sunshine in!

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Paris Boat Show start this Saturday

Just read an article that the Paris Boat Show (SALON NAUTIQUE INTERNATIONAL DE PARIS) starts this Saturday, December 3rd and runs through the 11th.

This was always a high point of the year for us.  It is huge show and is still held in Paris, France at the Porte de Versailles in 4 pavillions. Lots of boats and equipment to see.

Love to be there... even though it is a tad chilly :)

Might be a another nice day here in St Croix. We have had TWO days without rain ...

So it goes...

Just when you thought it was over...

Tomorrow, November 30th, is officially the last day of Hurricane Season...

So what is THIS ??!!!

ZCZC MIATWOAT ALL
TTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM

TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
100 PM EST TUE NOV 29 2011

FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO...

1. A WEAK AREA OF LOW PRESSURE IS LOCATED A COUPLE HUNDRED MILES NORTHEAST OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS. THIS SYSTEM IS PRODUCING A LARGE AREA OF DISORGANIZED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AS IT INTERACTS WITH AN UPPER-LEVEL LOW. UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE NOT CURRENTLY FAVORABLE FOR SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT...AND THIS SYSTEM HAS A LOW CHANCE...10 PERCENT...OF BECOMING A TROPICAL OR SUBTROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS AS IT MOVES  NORTHEASTWARD OR NORTHWARD AT AROUND 15 MPH.

ELSEWHERE...TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

$$
FORECASTER BRENNAN
NNNN

Someone show The Powers That Be the calendar, please.

At least we didn't have any rain today so we were able to apply the finishing touches of epoxy to the mast. Fingers crossed for tomorrow, but right now we are happy campers.

So it goes!

Animal Rescue Site - Give via Facebook, too

The other day I wrote a post (see HERE) about the Animal Rescue Site and mentioned how you visit their site and press the Purple Button to give food to animals for FREE, plus there are other associated sites that have a similar themes such as free meals to Veterans, for example.

Visit the Animal Rescue Site and click the purple button

Well, there is now an additional way for you to give FREE food to animals via their Facebook page. We do not "do" Facebook but this is an excellent opportunity for those who have a Facebook account.

Visit the Animal Rescue Site's Facebook page to give even more!

What's not to like? Get yourself some warm & fuzzies :)

So it goes!

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING

One of our charter yacht friends, Marolanga, a 44-foot catamaran, told us this cute Thanksgiving story...

John & Mr Smee of Antillean
This story is not about them :)

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.

Every word out of the bird's' mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.  John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The  parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet.  Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer.  The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.  I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. 

As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Gus & Marcella

If you are interested in a yacht charter or barge cruises in Europe, visit Paradise Connections.

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Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie is a Thanksgiving classic which we will be listening to while preparing our Thanksgiving dinner... Don't have a copy??? Well, you can download the mp3 from Amazon for only $0.89. Good deal for a 15:52 song!

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE EVERYWHERE

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The Animal Rescue Site

Hopefully you have all noticed the link I have to the Animal Rescue Site in the left hand column of AllAboutBoats. Please visit their site daily and click on the big purple button to provide FREE food at no expense to you.

They sent an email out this morning to announce that they are having a PURPLE Black Friday Sale which, like everyone else, is starting early :)

 

The Animal Rescue Site - A Good Cause

I'm thinking about the fleece jacket for only $18. A couple of years ago I bought their fleece vest and I'm very happy with it.

I wonder if Bob would go for a purple watch? Sure he would... purple is cool.

Remember to click on the other charities, too, that are on the menu bar at the top of the page. Such as the Veterans site which provides free meals to homeless and hungry veterans...

Hunger | Breast Cancer | Animals | Veterans | Autism | Child Health | Rainforest

Be thankful for sites like this and give your support. It only takes 2 minutes or less (if you have decent internet service) to click through all of the buttons.

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Just a thought...

I think that it might be a good idea if police had their badge number prominently displayed on their flak jackets and riot helmets, sort of like football players, for easy identification.

They might give pause before pepperspraying a row of people like they are applying insecticide in a flower bed or striking a pregnant woman in the stomach with batons if they are not anonymous figures.

So it goes...

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MAIL CALL: New keyboard cover, Kindle, and DVDs

Yesterday we stopped by to pick up our mail. One package was my new keyboard cover and it is so pretty (it is a darker blue than in the photo below).

Bought through Amazon: Blue Keyboard Skin Compatible with Apple Macbook

My computer looks new again... although I have to put some new tape around the edge of my MacBook's top case where the edge has broken away. This is due to Apple's design fault where the two little ridges above the monitor will eventually crack the case where they touch when closed. I should have had Apple replace both of our top cases last year when they were still under AppleCare but I thought our policy had expired the year before. It can be difficult to keep track of things when you are on Island Time.

The protective cover only cost a couple of dollars... Well worth the investment to keep my keyboard clean and DRY! The skin is very thin and doesn't cause difficulties in typing. No problems installing it either. It fits over the keys without any problem. The letters on the keys below do not show through. It gives the impression that the keytops are blue. You cannot really see that it is a covering... Very cool...

I ordered mine through "Listen Up" and received it via 1st class mail within 3 days to the USVI. It came in a perfectly-sized manilla, non-padded, flat envelope.  I am very happy that it was OK because one of the DVDs we received has a big dent in it.

See the dent at about the 5 o'clock position?

My picture to show the bump on the opposite face didn't come out too well but you can see that it is definitely not playable.

Since this was ordered through Amazon, I'm sure we will have customer satisfaction and either receive a refund or replacement. (UPDATE: Received my refund the same day I notified them of a problem! Unfortunately, the seller doesn't have a replacement)

I sure love my pretty keyboard... it is helping to keep my mind off of the ^%#&^% wifi "service".

The Kindle is also very cool but I'll talk about it in another post.

The swell has calmed down a bit this morning but it is picking up now after the RAIN! OK, so we can't epoxy because of the threat of rain, but you cannot go on to a different project that requires the use an angle grinder when the roll is tossing you from side to side. I'm more into the "safe and sane" firework mindset rather than "dumb and dangerous"... What's another day... especially when our internet service is so slow and time consuming :)

We'll go into Christiansted this afternoon and get a couple of jerrycans of water and check the mail for more DVDs.

This water is the "good" water (left) we get from the Bucaneer Yacht-less Club on the boardwalk.  A little bit brown and we need to backflush the filter as it is clogged, but it is much better and cheaper (10 cents/gallon as opposed to 15) than the water we would get at St Croix Marine fuel dock (right).  Gives the coffee a nice, rich color :)

Speaking of clean water, you might be interested in Gifts of Hope on the PlanUSA.org site
.

So it goes...

Get up Stand UP!

Today, November 16, 2011, is American Censorship Day. Read about it HERE.

This from H-Online :

"Mozilla has joined with other leading Internet organisations such as AOL, eBay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo, Zynga and public interest groups in opposing the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Also known as H.R.3261, SOPA was introduced in the US House of Representatives in October. The organisations have sent Congressional leaders a joint letter expressing their concern with the legislative measures that are being introduced."

As they used to say on Hee-Haw: SALUTE!!!

Words from the great philosopher, Mr. Robert Marley:

"Get up, Stand up. Stand up for your rights"
(listen)

and get the T-shirt:

I must say that I really admire what Makana did at the APEC dinner performing his "We Are The Many" to various world leaders and found this short video interesting. I understand how he feels. We should not be afraid to demand our American values & freedoms that the Powers That Be keep trying, and too often successfully, to take away from us.

Here's a video of the song "We Are the Many" (Occupy Aloha). Not a great video but he has a nice voice and a good message.

And to ALL of the Occupy supporters, on the front lines or not...

a giant SALUTE!

Here's some words from another great philosopher that died too young... John Lennon:

"Power to the People - RIGHT ON!"
(listen)

I'm on a rant & roll... Are you still here?  If so, check out this music video...

James McMurtry - "We Can't Make It Here"

Bob on Boat Bits mentioned this very interesting article today: The Bonus Army: How A Protest Led To The GI Bill. Read it... it's about a group of WWI veterans demanding what they were due back in 1932.  SALUTE !

SO IT GOES and the beat goes on...

Amazon : Countdown to Black Friday Sale

I've been meaning to get this in the blog so you can take advantage of some great deals that Amazon will be having for their Shop Amazon's Holiday Countdown Store

We like shopping with Amazon as we find their customer service top notch. Last week I ordered some memory for our computers and I made a mistake (yes, I admit it... sometimes I do make a boo-boo). I ordered DIMM and not SODIMM... No problem though. Circuit City gave me an RMA number and said to send it back for a full refund. Cool...

So it goes!

Caturday... So it goes...

Is it Saturday already? I didn't realize I missed "Rapture Day" yesterday. Must have been a non-event.

Caturday Sisters

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ARRRGGGGHHHH, I hate my WiFi "service"

<rant>Our wifi service in St Croix, while never very good, has again been really crappy for the past week. There was a bit of OK time on Monday though which goes to show that THEY are having problems (nothing has changed with us or our equipment and land-based users are having issues, too). Of course, if I called to let them know that something might be amiss, they would just say that everything is hunky-dory on their end... Right...

Sort of reminds me many years ago (1997-ish) when Dave was showing us how fast you could receive internet service from Cobex on St Thomas, while actually everything he was showing us was residing on his hard drive... Duh! I pointed this out to him and he admitted that was the case :)

Anyway, our Intermittent Service Provider is doing a good job of living up to that moniker today.  We are on for 2 minutes then off... on for 30 seconds and off... on... off... off... off... off... on WOW... Nope off again... VERY FRUSTRATING and "I only have this one little thing and then I'll shut down and get started on a boat project". Then you realize that ANOTHER hour has gone by... sigh

This is another reason we want to leave St Croix.

A few months ago I called Choice and asked them if I could do a trial day on their service (they have one hotspot in this area) and if I like it to then put that day as credit towards a month (it is something like $10/day & $60/month). But they just didn't seem to understand. And, since we (and many other people we know) had such a bad experience with Choice in Charlotte Amalie two years ago, I just don't want to waste another ten bucks for nothing but more frustration... but maybe it will be good... maybe...

But, what if I hit Choice on one of their good days (because Broadband_VI does admittedly have the occasional good day) and I sign up for a month and get typical lousy service?

The last time I called Broadband VI about their lack of service the technician suggested I use AT&T or Sprint! What does that tell you???

So, I guess we'll stay with the one whose "reliability" we can count on until we can blow this pop shop and get out of Dodge.</rant>

So it goes...

Favorite things: I can see clearly now...

One of my favorite things is a fresh pair of contact lenses. I opened my contact case and my right lens wasn't there. Oh well, it has been more than 5 weeks so it's a good excuse to start a new pair.  Ahhhhhh, nice!

I was going to write more but, once again, our internet "service" is very slow and keeps dropping out. Thank you Broadband_VI. And, it is not just us (as they seem to always blame the user) but I've spoken to land-based users who also experience extreme slowness and lack of connectivity to the internet.

I have more important things to do than just press Refresh and rebooting my router in hopes for an improvement...

Let's see if this will post... It didn't post.... It's now Thursday... More rant soon come :)

So It Goes :)

Dennis Ritchie dies & Anchored boat towed by whales

I've come across two interesting articles this morning.

Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011: Computer scientist, Unix co-creator, C programming language designer.

Read more here.

This is a nice tribute in SmallDog's blog. It is the first article after the introduction to the newsletter.

and something strange...

Glenn Wilson and Nerida Higgins were enjoying a quiet evening moored in their yacht off Australia's Queensland coast when the whale got their boat's anchor rope in its mouth and dragged them out to sea. 

Read more and see the video HERE.

One more cup of coffee and then it's time to do some boat work.

So it goes...

Sint Maarten New Telephone Country Area Code

Monday, October 10 2011, marks country Sint Maarten's first birthday. It came into being as an autonomous country within the Dutch Kingdom on 10-10-10.

Sint Maarten & Saint Martin

A new telephone country code went into effect on September 30th. The country's new dialing code is 1-721. The old 599 number will go out of service on September 30, 2012.

To call Dutch St Maarten from the USA, for example, dial:

• New prefix: 1 721 + seven digit telephone number
• Old prefix: 011 599 + seven digit telephone number

To call the FRENCH side, you need a different code... bien sûr !

So it goes...

Sensible PFDs (lifejackets)

We needed new PFDs (lifejackets).  Our inflatable PFDs with harness that we bought back in our European days, died a few years ago. I wore mine constantly during our transatlantic crossing and it was very heavy and chafed.

A couple of years ago we bought new inflatables with harness which are nicer but, as they are not USCG approved, we have had to buy this sort to be legal.

We also have a pair of these in our dinghy. I must make a cover for them soon because they don't last long exposed to the elements and UV.

Today, I'm excited because we have bought a pair of new USCG approved lifejackets, the MTI Calcutta Angler PFD.

These are cool because they have pockets and the fit allows movement. Here's their blurb:

This all-person-fit jacket is all-equipped for kayak fishing! Sized to fit slim to super-sized torsos, with cool open sides, and adjustable front buckle straps that can be loosened for quick ventilation. Five pockets for holding all sorts of fishing gear -- 2 big tackle-box cargo pockets with 2 interior pouches, plus an exterior mesh pocket. D-rings front and back, a lash tab, and a pin-on retractor holder for attaching accessories like pliers, a fly-patch, or net. Reflective trim for safety and hook-resistant shell fabric.

If they only had a built-in harness...

So It Goes...

JetBlue airlines: NEW routes: San Juan to St Thomas & St Croix

Jet Blue airlines announces that starting December 12, 2011 it is launching twice daily service between San Juan, PR and St Thomas, USVI and daily flights between San Juan and St Croix, USVI.

 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq: JBLU), Puerto Rico's largest carrier, today announced that it will launch San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport's (SJU) twice daily service to St. Thomas (STT) and daily service to St. Croix (STX) International Airports - the airline's 69th and 70th destinations - on Monday, December 12, 2011, three days earlier than originally scheduled. Customers seeking a jumpstart on a vacation to the U.S. Virgin Islands can also save money on flights today through 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, September 23, 2011 at www.jetblue.com/new, where trips are selling for as low as $39 each way for travel through February 15, 2012.

JetBlue's schedule between San Juan and St. Thomas, effective December 12, 2011:

SAN JUAN to ST THOMAS	ST THOMAS to SAN JUAN
Depart - Arrive 8:25 a.m. - 8:53 a.m. 3:15 p.m. - 3:43 p.m.	Depart - Arrive 9:30 a.m. - 9:59 a.m. 5:30 p.m - 5:59 p.m.

JetBlue's schedule between San Juan and St. Croix, effective December 12, 2011:

SAN JUAN to ST CROIX	ST CROIX TO SAN JUAN
Depart - Arrive 2:25 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.	Depart - Arrive 4:04 p.m - 4:44 p.m.

Read the full JetBlue press release for Puerto Rico to USVI flights.

JetBlue's inaugural service between Boston's Logan International Airport (BOS) and St. Thomas will operate for the winter season with five weekly departures beginning December 15, 2011 and will operate nonstop on the southbound flight and direct via San Juan on the northbound flight to Boston.

JetBlue's schedule between Boston and St. Thomas, effective December 15, 2011:

BOSTON to ST THOMAS	ST THOMAS to BOSTON
Depart - Arrive 9:35 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.	Depart - Arrive 3:20 p.m. - 7:29 p.m. (+1 stop SJU)

• Flights operate 5 times a week effective December 15, 2011
• Northbound flights will operate via San Juan, PR

Read more about Boston/St Thomas here.

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Check out our Nautical Greeting Cards and More store We only make a few pennies on purchases but everything helps and we appreciate it!

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Roseanne Roseannadanna & Tropical Storms

As Roseanne Roseannadanna would say,

"Well, it just goes to show you, it's always something. If it ain't one thing, it's another".

Well, here's one thing...

Invest 98L - Sunday, 18 Sept 2011, 2pm models

And another!

Invest 99L - Sunday, 18 Sept 2011, 2pm models

Saw these this afternoon and I thought I was gonna be sick. So I says to them, "Hey Weather Guys, what are ya tryin' to do, make me sick?".

Oh, Gilda... those were the days! Miss your humor...

So it goes...

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Scored at the animal shelter thrift shop

Every time we walk up to Pueblo Supermarket we stop by the thrift shop which benefits the St Croix Animal Shelter.

A couple of weeks ago we came across a sextant and navigational tools that you can read about in Bob's Boat Bits.

This weekend we found an almost pristine Jimmy Buffett hat which will replace the one pictured below that we bought at the 2007 Tunes on the Dunes concert in Anguilla for $20. Our new treasure cost only 40 cents!

Definitely a well loved hat!

That was such an excellent day. Can't believe it was over 4 years ago! Fortunately the event is documented in a DVD/CD set. If you don't have it, you can order it from Amazon.  We are in it if you know where to look :)

Jimmy Buffett - Live in Anguilla - DVD & CD Combo

A double CD and an 82-minute DVD were recorded LIVE at the Dune Preserve, Rendezvous Bay in Anguilla, in Bankie Banx's backyard and the site of famous Moonsplash Festivals. The CDs include 30 songs, all of your favorites, plus some special in-concert rarities like Domino College, Waiting In Vain, When Salome Plays the Drum, King of Somewhere Hot, Treat Her Like A Lady, and Distantly In Love.

It Goes So well with a pitcher of margaritas!

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Tropical Storm Maria... Bye!

Well, TS Maria was certainly a challenge for those weather folks and quite frustrating for those of us in her projected path.

At various times they had her going below us, just to the west, over to the east by St Martin, even more so to the east missing all of the islands... and, of course, right on top of us passing over St Croix.  Prediction of windspeeds up to 70MPH with it becoming a hurricane on the other side of Puerto Rico and, my favorite, the forecast where she was to fizzle out and possibly be downgraded to a lowly tropical WAVE... not even a TD :)

This didn't happen.  She stayed a tropical storm but we were pretty much unaffected. We've had a few non-TS days like this over the summer where you have some swell and a bit of wind. My type of storm... a non-event! We appreciate it, Maria.

From Wunderground.com
Sunday, 11 September 2011, 09:14am AST

We made our storm preparations and don't mind that it was "for nothing".  Not so... We got provisions, water, fuel, charged up the 48V battery bank, straightened up the boat, threw things away, etc... Not a bad thing at all.

The bad part about preparing for a storm is seeing that your neighboring boats are once again doing nothing. One guy, who we'll call "Homer" called us at 5pm the evening before the storm is to hit to say he'll be out at about 6pm to sort out his mooring and can we give him a ride to his boat. Leaving it a bit late, aren't you? He said he didn't come out the day before because he didn't feel like it. We told him that we were busy laying out another anchor for OUR boat but we'd help him tomorrow after we finished our preparations. He laughed and implied that that was too late (is that MY fault or PROBLEM???). I just said we're busy, bye, and hung up.

I could rant on about this but I will refrain.  Bob has a bit about it in yesterday's Boat Bits. I will add that the second anchor that was deployed for his boat (Homer stood on deck while Bob did the work) was a lightweight Bruce that Homer only paid out a total of about 35 feet of chain (15 foot depth + 4 feet to bow roller = how much chain on the bottom?). Chain does no good on the boat, as we thought everyone knows, but...

Fortunately the storm gave us a pass.  Bob has definitely earned some good Karma points helping this guy, even though his real motive was that it was helping us.

No more ranting...

Bob has made some lovely Sunday morning blueberry waffles. It is a nice day. Life is good :)

So It Goes !

Tropical Storm Maria... No need to stop by

It looks like Tropical Storm Maria has not turned northwards as early as they thought it would.

Je n'aime pas the new projected path... Right over us!

Stormpulse, Sept 8, 2011, 11am

Hopefully, she'll continue to head west and give us a wide pass when she does get around to hanging a right.

2pm update... I like the degenerating into a tropical wave part... after that ???

So it goes...

Pelican perch

Shortly after sunrise, our cats came bounding onto the bed to peek out the forward deck hatch as we had an intruder...

When the pelican flew off, you could see that he had an impressive wingspan of at least 6 feet and was much larger than either Buffy or Willow. So glad that they were inside.

Here's an interesting boat that passed by us on Sunday...

I don't know what the modifications are in favor of, but it looks a bit top heavy to me. Lots of perches for pelicans though :)

So it goes...

Are there Sirens in the Virgin Islands?

Why are there boats ending up on the rocks this summer in the Virgin Islands?  These are not hidden reefs and they happened to people who are familiar with the area...

Photo by Promenade St Thomas Source story

Photo by SeaTow VI Daily News story

Now there's this...

Photo by Clifton Skelton/BVI Platinum News

Ship Runs Aground At Wreck of the Rhone; Site Closed
BVI Platinum News, Aug 29, 2011

Very strange...

Oh yes, I forgot... We lost an oar out of our dinghy the day before TS Irene. It was lost during the night. We're sure that nobody swam out just to steal our paddle. Must have been alien abduction, then :)

So it goes...

Tropical Storm Hurricane Irene & TD 12

Well, Tropical Storm / Hurricane Irene is now past but we now have Tropical Depression 12 to keep an eye on.

THEY say it will pass a couple hundred miles to the northeast of us but it is still far, far away and these things seem to come and go as they choose.

We walked up to do some grocery shopping at Pueblo on Saturday so we went to MacDonalds for lunch.  The TV was set to a popular news channel and the talking head was doing a 30-second interview with a couple who were going to stay at their home in NC during Irene. The interviewer told the couple that over 200,000 people were going to be without electricity and asked how would they survive. She said that restaurants would be closed (OMG, how does this person live?). The happy couple responded that they had stocked up on non-perishible goods and have a generator so it wouldn't be a problem.

I was also surprised the other day when I read an article on Lifehacker which reported that you do not have to, and it is better NOT to, store your bread in the refrigerator.  Doesn't everyone know that??? 

So it goes...

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