Taking a Break!

Once again it’s budget time at the marina.  This happens every year just as I lose my summer staff and the weather is at its hottest.  Business is still brisk and every spare moment I am huddled over this computer crunching numbers. 

I have decided to take a break from computing for a few weeks.  When I get home at night these days I don’t feel like pulling out the laptop and spending another hour or two with my nose to the monitor.  I just don’t have the energy right now.  All I really want to do is put my feet up, have a cool beverage, and get to bed early. 

I didn’t want y’all worrying about me, I am fine.  I just need this time to take care of business and get through the last of the blazing summer heat.  I’ll be returning to post again after Sunday September 16th.  That is the weekend of the Leukemia Cup Regatta and I should have some good pictures to share after the event.

Because I won’t be spending too much time online between now and then, I will be turning my alerts off for now.  I’ll turn them back on again in mid-September.  In the meantime, I wish everyone the very best and I hope everyone makes it through Labor Day Weekend safe and sound.  Take care, and I’ll see you in September.

A Wonderful Contest Revived!

One of the saddest moments in my time here in J-Land was the day Judith Heartsong left the AOL journals community as a result of unsolicited advertising being insert into our journal pages.  Besides losing one of the best written and most read journals In J-Land when Judith left, the monthly Arsty Essay Contest died a sudden death and our community suffered a big loss.

The monthly Artsy Essay Contest was set up to bring writers together to share and explore their talent.  It was to encourage individuals to try and explore their creative side and to practice writing skills.  It was a contest for beginners and seasoned writers alike.  There was never anything like this contest before Judith Heartsong created it and there has been nothing like it since.  Until now!

There is life on the Internet beyond AOL Journals and we are fortunate that Judith set up shop elsewhere in the land of HTML and continued Blogging.  Time has passed and Judith has decided to revive her Artsy Essay Contest with some new ideasand expanded formats.

I really enjoyed the challenge of these contests and the ability to discover other writers through this forum.  I also coveted one of those Heartsong awards and compete I did!  Nope, I never won one, but the fun was in the trying.  So, here goes my entry into the newly revived Artsy Essay Contest.

 

The theme for this month is:

What is your favorite and most inspiringpossession? Tell us about it, and if you want an extra creative challenge... tell us about it without naming it until the very last sentence of your essay:):):)

 

My favorite and most inspiring possession first came into my life on my fourteenth birthday.  It was a gift from my parents and with it, I was told came responsibilities and obligations.  I think my mom was afraid I would be entertained by this gift for a while and then it would be set aside to collect dust like so many previous possessions through my early years.

This item required care and dedication.  One gets out of certain items only what one is willing to put into them.  To my parents’ delight I devoted myself and took the time to care for this item as it deserved.  It was not long before I wanted another one.

Oh, we have had our rough times, this possession and I.  There were periods that I was so frustrated and fed up with it that I didn’t even want to look at it again. That feeling would wane and I would catch myself staring at it fondly and imaging it in my hands as it would take me places.  Most would think that I would be the one doing the taking, yet there were times past when this possession would take me to places I never dreamed possible.

Through this possession I soared to the heavens and felt a Rocky Mountain high.  I was transported to Shangri-La and have experienced the summer breeze.  I have gone over the rainbow and have found my happiness.

Yes, as I said, I did not have it long before I wanted another one.  I was given one that was bigger, brighter, and shinier the following Christmas.  I cherished it and was devoted to it.  Since that time many of these have passed through my hands and my heart.  Some were purchased and some were traded.  Some were quite rare and my current one is quite expensive. At one time I even contemplated making one myself, however, I knew I would fret over it and did not want to subject myself to the rigors the craftsmanship would require.

There is no feeling quite like it as my hands touched this item for the first time and each time I touch it seems like the first time.  I follow the gentle curves of its body.  I feel the tightness and tension within.  I know the myriad of emotions this possession can invoke. 

Inspiration comes to me often as we spend our time together.  Through ownership of this possession I have been inspired to express myself in ways never possible to me before.

Sometime my hands shake as I caress this possession and sometimes they ache.  Aching with pain as I produce sensations of pleasure, I feelthe vibrations through my soul.  Others around me can sense my emotional intensity while fondling this item, sometimes to my pleasure and sometimes to great embarrassment.

There is no other feeling like it, though, when I know that my caressing, my fondling, my gentle and harsh stroking brings pleasure to others.  It is my wish to keep this possession to the day I die.  I never want to be without my guitar.

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This Summer

This summer has caught me up and carried me away.  This has to be one of the busiest seasons we’ve ever had at the marina.  I have a good staff this year, but we are one short of what I had last year.

 

My staff is a little older and more mature this summer, so the work has been getting done more efficiently than last year even with the shortage.  My role seems to have changed.  I was more hands on in past summers, sharing in the daily grind type of chores right along with the dock crew.  Now, with the Ship’s Store and some major maintenance projects I have subcontracted out I am playing a much more administrative role.

 

My normal routine used to include me going over to the main kitchen after opening up and getting one last cup of coffee to help start my working day.  I’ve been hitting the ground running lately and that last cup now seems like a luxury item from the past.  I’m not complaining, mind you, I’m just reflecting on the changing characteristics of my job and justifying a bit why it has been so long again between posts.

 

Summer has always given me many more photo opportunities that seem to end up here in my journal.  I still take my camera to work each day, but have not been able to get out and utilize it to the extent I have done so in the past.  Here’s an example of a past situation and how I had to handle it this year.

 

The weekend after the fourth of July each year we host the Firecracker Regatta.  In years past I have taken pictures and posted an entry after the event here in Dock Lines.  It is a much different event for me now due to changes in our facilities and changes in my capabilities in the office.

 

I used to help launch the committee boats and then man the sailboat hoists to help launch the sailing fleet before the race.  After the boats left for the starting line I would have down time until the races were over and they all returned to the marina.  I would then launch a club boat and chase the fleet to get pictures of the action.

 

We have installed a ramp for small sailboats and they no longer have to be launched from a hoist.  The kids can just wheel them down the ramp and push them off into the water and go.  I now assign two strong young members of my staff to help lift the boats off the dollys and get them into the water.  We can get the entire fleet into the water in about a fourth of the time it would take to launch each and every boat using the hoist.

 

We had a very unstable weather forecast during the race weekend this year.  Saturday morning dawned with bright sunshine and calm waters.  We had a 40% chance of thunderstorms with the chances increasing as the day progressed.  There was little wind although the forecast proclaimed it would be five to ten blowing from the northeast.  The delay of race pennant was hoisted and the fleet waited and waited.

 

About ninety minutes past the normal start time the wind picked up and the races began.  I was heading to get a club boat into the water when I was stopped by the race committee and asked to put up the local Doppler radar on my computer and monitor the weather during the actual races.  We had a front system approaching and they wanted to squeeze every safe minute they could to make up for lost time.

 

For the first two races I was consulted before the start of the race and that was about it.  Then came the third race of the day.  We could see some weather in the distance and what we saw looked nasty.  I was asked to stand by and give a weather update every five minutes which coincided with the radar animation as it updated on a five minute schedule.

 

We pretty much took over VHF radio channel 68 for the next forty five minutes as I was relaying the approach of the weather front to the safety boat who then was analyzing the 36 mile radar they had onboard their boat.  The difference was that my radar showed the weather over a map of the local area and the boat’s radar screen did not.  However, the boat’s radar screen could pick up lightning strikes.  I gave them a thirty minute prediction to the storm hitting the race course, then a twenty minute prediction.

 

The safety boat wanted confirmation that the front was south of the Savannah River and heading in an Easterly direction from Garden City towards the race course.  I confirmed the position and movement and predicted fifteen minutes until it hit.  The ship’s radar picked up a lighting strike ten miles to our south.  I predicted ten minutes until arrival and more lightning was seen by the safety boat’s radar.

 

They blew the whistle and the boats beat it into the marina.  I sent four young men down to help get the boats out of the water.  The front hit exactly on the minute I predicted.

 

The race committee had known it would be close for the third race, so the course had been set right in front of the marina.  The small boats had little distance to go to get to safety and many of them got a tow by all the safety boats.  There were only four or five boats still in the water when the first lightning bolt struck within a quarter of a mile.  All the racers were already on land and undercover and then the sky opened up.  My crew, bless them, got the few remaining boats out of the water in the rain and that was it for Saturday’s racing.

 

The captain on the safety boat made a point of finding me amongst the crowd and shakingmy hand for such an accurate running commentary on the impending weather front.  We were being monitored by other marinas on Channel 68 and they started calling wanting to know when the weather would hit them!  I never got a chance to launch the club boat and was not able to snap a single photo that day.

 

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny much as the day before.  The difference was that, although the entire fleet launched for more racing, the wind never came up and the regatta was called.  They got enough races in on Saturday to meet the official criteria for a regatta and winners were determined from Saturday’s standings.

 

I understand some nice words were said before the audience at the awards presentation about me and the performance of my staff.  I didn’t hear them, though.  I was back on duty at the docks.  Perhaps next year I’ll figure a way to get pictures again.

 

My thanks to Donna for this tag.

 

 

A New Shack

As I mentioned in my last post, my Dock Shack was torn down recently and a new structure built in its place.  This had been long overdue and, even though I was a displaced person for a few months, it was a good thing.  Here is a picture of my old dock shack in its glory days.  Notice the awning over the front of the shack.  That was my idea; there was no awning when I took this job seven years ago.

The day finally came for me to clear out of the old Shack.  A temporary pod was dropped off for me to occupy during the building phase.  I liked it, but in spite of the promise that I would have plenty of notice and time to move out of the old shack, I was informed I had an hour to move out before they were to haul it away.  So, I threw everything into some boxes we scrounged up and got out.  I also spent the next 12 weeks trying to find everything that was tossed haphazardly into those boxes.  To this day I still can’t find some of those items.  

They decided to try and move the old shack in one piece in the hopes that it could be put to some use in a new home somewhere.  I found out later that the guy they hired to haul it away lowered his bid for the job with the provision that he got possession of the old shack.  Personally, I say more power to him.  That shack had more spiders living in it than Carter had pills.  Some were poisonous.  Here they are putting a strap around the shack to keep it on the forks of the forklift.

It looked like it was going to be lifted with no problem, but that was not to be.

The shack was too heavy and everyone in the immediate area was pressed into service to hang on to the back of the forklift to try and budge the little building.

You can see here how small the footprint was that the old shack left.  It measured six feet by eight feet.  About the average size of a jail cell, I’ve been told. I can’t tell you how many thousands of hours I spent in that cell; sometimes, during the summers, six of us would squeeze in at one time if it started to rain.

They finally got it over to the flat bed truck and loaded it on.  I said my final good bye with a big smile on my face.

Then the building project began.  The job took longer than originally estimated because one of the building crew quit the day before this project was due to begin.  There was a crew of two who built this from start to finish except for the subcontracted brick work and roofing work.  Look at how small the old shack’s footprint looks as the new foundation dwarfs it.

   

The frame took on the appearance of a skeleton at first.

Then the plywood sheets that would form the outer walls were applied and it started to look like a kid’s fort or tree house project.

Next we add a roof just for good measure.

    

The building is being built up high off the ground to comply with the building codes for hurricane protection.  Remember, we are on the coast here.  So the second picture above is of the porch you step on to enter and exit the building.  In the next shot we add the insulation and hurricane proof windows.

The next step is to add Steps and railings.

Concrete siding is applied and then it is painted.

    

The finished product is one of the best built buildings I have ever seen.  The quality of craftsmanship that went into this was well worth the wait.  If I were to be stuck on this property in the path of an approaching hurricane, this is the building I would take cover in, it is built that strong!

My office is the door on the left and the Ship’s Store is the door on the right.  There is an adjoining door between them inside the building.   Here is a picture of the inside of the Ship’s Store.  Not all of the fixtures have arrived yet and nor all of the planned stock, but you can get an idea of the feeling and look that the store will have.

So, that is how my winter was spent this year.  Listening daily to the sounds and enjoying the sights of a new building taking shape.  Good grief!  It just about drove me insane!

The Great Shrimp Boat Project

 

One of the earliest entries in this journal was about an abandoned shrimp boat that had sunk in the Wilmington River.  It was near our marina right on the Intracoastal Waterway.  In the original entry, I commented about how sad it was that people could just abandon their boats like this when they are wrecked.  Click here for a link to that original post if you care to read it and see all the early pictures.

To my surprise, something has been done about this and other wrecks in our area.  One enterprising individual decided to contact his local state senator and state representatives to lobby for funding and action to remove theses hazards and eyesores from our waterways.  Here is a link to an article in the Savannah Morning News about this man and his efforts.  $180,000 Proposal

 

Imagine my delight one January morning as I observed a tug and barge with a crane positioning itself adjacent to the wreck of the “Treasure D.”  I knew immediately what it was there for and was happy that the funds were finally released to remove this wreck.  I also knew it would be interesting to watch this process fromstart to finish.

 

The wreck was almost a mile away from me, so I had to rely on my telephoto lens to capture what action I could during the removal operations.  In the PIC above, two men have been lifted over to the wreck by the crane and are cutting the boom arms that hold the trawling nets off with torches.  After they are cut into pieces, the crane lifts them up and deposits them on the barge to be hauled away.

 

After the big metal parts on deck are cut and removed, the scoop bucket on the crane is used to scoop up portions of the wreck from below the surface of the water.  In the above picture, it appears that parts of the engine, drive shaft, and transmission were being lifted with other huge chunks of debris.

Within the space of about ten working days, all that was left was the barge and crane and a pile of debris that was once a sea worthy and working shrimp trawler, plying the waters of our coast.  It was hard to imagine the men that worked this ship and the life of this vessel as I gazed upon this heap of timber and steel.  I had to get a closer look before it was carted off to be dumped in some unknown location, possibly in a landfill, or even far offshore somewhere.  I coaxed a friend at the marina to carry me over in his boat while I took some final shots of this nautical autopsy and the remains of the recently departed.

     

At one end of the barge I could still make out what used to be the ship’s fuel tanks.

     

Shooting into the sun, I was still able to make out the ship’s planking that was once her hull and decking.

A working ship is a living, breathing system of engineering and equipment that takes on a life itself.  It serves as a means to make a living and a lifestyle to those who choose to adopt it as their own.  The hundreds of independent mechanisms and systems that work in concert to keep the boat afloat and in motion thrive with a pulse-like rhythm, unique in itself, that can be distinguished from other ships even of the same build.  It has its own personality and traits and is life-like to those who work these ships.

I thought about the life of this ship as I watched the silhouette of this once proud vessel fade in the background.  It was a sad ending, in a poetic kind of way.  But lest we mire ourselves too much in the romantic notions of a time gone by for this ship, it was a good thing that was done here this past, cold January. 

For, as romantic as this last picture is of the wreck that once was, it was a danger to shipping and boating interests in the region.  We can now be assured that this wreck will not capture another hapless vessel in the middle of the night and pull it down with her.  And that is the end of the story of the Wreck of the “Treasure D.”

 

Addendum:

Just a note to my family and friends and readers:  I know I have been absent from these pages for too long of a time now.  I thank those who have sent Emails and comments checking up to see if all was well.  As it turns out, I have been well, but busy.  Spring always kicks us into high gear as we get ready for the heavy boating season Memorial Day Weekend always brings. 

This year they tore down my dock shack about the same time this tugand barge showed up.  I have pictures and will share them next post.  At any rate, I was moved into a temporary office like you see on construction sites while they built me a new and modern Dock Master’s Office and Ship’s Store.  I only had ten days before the holiday weekend to move into the office and get set up and only five days before the weekend to stock, merchandise, price, and display my wares in the Ship’s Store.  Remember, we never had a Ship’s Store before, so I was starting from scratch.  I even had to design my own inventory sheets and systems of tracking inventory and sales.  No fancy professional sales software or equipment was provided.  I made it, but perhaps I’ll save details for the next post.

I keep this journal because I have come to love it and the people I interact with here in the AOL J-Land community.  I was never one to state a commitment to posting something every day.  I understand those that do try to keep a daily commitment for posting and enjoy that for them and with them.

For me, it was a way to let my Grandson have some sort of sense of who I was while I was here when he gets older and also to have fun with it.  I am still having fun with it, and will continue for the foreseeable future.  But, I have to put all my energies into my family and profession as needed and, from time to time, drift away as life happens.  For those of you who still drop by and read here as I post, my deepest thanks for hanging in there with me.  I still cannot promise a more regular post schedule but I do promise I will return as I can each time and share a little more with you.

Our J-Land Visit

Okay, I’ve resized my photos to fit in the journal and uploaded them into my FTP space for web storage.  I’m ready to share.

 

Jeanette had planned her trip to the United States many months in advance and contacted me around Christmas time saying she would be in my area and perhaps we could meet for a cup of coffee or something while she was in Savannah.  The trip was original going to happen in March, but there was a snag on the part of her agency and the trip was rescheduled for the last part of April. 

 

I wrote back to Jeannette that, of course, I’d like to meet her and Andy while they were visiting and set about planning our day.  I made arrangements over a month ago to borrow a boat from a friend so that I could show them the area from the water.  I asked her if she would be interested in a boat ride and she said that would be great.

 

I want to say right now that Andy is a great guy and I really enjoyed meeting him and spending the time with him.  Andy does not do online journals and did not want to be in any of the pictures.  He let me take a couple of shots of him with the understanding that they were for my own collection and not to be shared online.  So, you won’t be seeing Andy in any of these pictures, but he was a big part of this day and I know you would all like him if you got a chance to meet him.

 

This first shot is taken through the driver’s side window of my pickup truck as I pulled up to the hotel to pick Jeannette and Andy up.  Andy saw the camera in my hand and ducked out of the shot with but a second to spare, LOL.

 

 

This next shot is of Jeannette and I at the marina with the docks in the background.  I should have taken off my hat for this picture.

 

 

This next one of Jeanette who is sitting in the seat next to me while I am drive the boat.  You can tell she is enjoying the ride.

 

 

Andy was kind enough to take my camera and get this shot of Jeannette and me together on the boat.

 

 

I shot this next shot of Jeannette as she was trying to get a picture of a container ship that passed near us as we approached the Savannah River.  The shot next to it is of the ship she was trying to shoot.

 

 

 

 

When we left the marina, we went out the Wilmington River to Wassau Sound and cruised the beaches on the south shore.  At that point we were in the Atlantic Ocean for just a few minutes as we turned north and before entering the sound again on the north side, checking out the beaches on that shore.

 

We turned into the Bull River and headed west, back in the direction we had come, but on another river that would take us close to the Savannah River.  We could see the huge container ships and tankers as they made their way in and out of the Savannah River, so I turned into the Savannah River for a little while to see the ships up close and personal.

 

 

That last picture was slightly blurred, but I think you get the idea.  This tanker was heading right for us.  We ducked over into the Wilmington River again and headed back to the marina where I got these two shots of Jeannette.

 

 

 

After we got the boat berthed and secured, we headed for my house to meet Paulette, Sandy and our cats.  I let Jeannette hop on the computer to check Email and do a short entry into her journal “Welcome To My Travels.”  We had been on the boat for three and a half hours.  I looked at my watch and the theme song from, “Gilligan’s Island,” went through my mind.  You know the refrain:  “The Three Hour Tour.”  I laughed because we had returned safely, unlike, “Gilligan, and The Skipper, Too!”  Here are couple of shots of Jeannette safely ensconced on my recliner posting her entry.

 

 

 

We capped off the day by grabbing Paulette and going out to eat at a local restaurant.  I must say that it was an enjoyable day from start to end.  I felt as though we all had known each other for some time and really enjoyed the time we spent together.  We met that morning as online acquaintances and parted that evening as friends.  I love it when there is a real life story with a happy ending!

 

 

 

A J-Lander Visits

It has been a while since my last post.  This was unintentional and to my friends and family that are Emailing me to see if I am okay, yes, I am doing just fine. 

I get extremely busy every spring trying to get the marina in shape for the coming boating season.  I am pretty tired in the evening during this period and fall behind on my posting.  So, the situation is normal here and all is well.

Some of you know that I have been looking forward to meeting my first J-Lander.  Jeannette (Jlocorriere05) has been visiting the U.S. from England and her journey brought her here to Savannah, where we had a fun day together yesterday along with her mate Andy.  I'll be doing a post later today to show our visit in pictures, but I thought I'd post a short video we took yesterday just saying "Hi!" to J-Land.

I alway find it interesting to put a voice along with a face to those I encounter through my journaling.  In that regard, we made this video to show you.  Still pictures of our adventures will follow in the next post.

Just an note:  I have edited this now to try and make the video brighter.  I got the video brighter, but the audio was unrecognizable so I put it back to the original.