Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Today is not just about big meals and good food;  It is a day to reflect on our blessings and to remember all that we have to be thankful for.  For me, this has always been a day to reflect on loved ones, family and friends, who touch our lives in so many ways.

 

My thanks today include the many friends and acquaintances I’ve made through this journal.  How lucky I am to live in an age that made this virtual community possible.  J-land has proved to be a community beyond the virtual boundaries where real and tangible friendships have been forged.   May you all enjoy the warmth of family and good friends today.  Yes, Happy Thanksgiving, J-Land.

 

I’d like to take a moment to right an oversight and give credit where credit is due.  When I posted my Halloween entry for trick or treat, I credited Donna at D’s designs for the graphic I used.  I forgot to give credit to Dona at, "Blue Skies and Gentle Breezes," for the Halloween theme colors and fonts used.  The instructions for the J-Land trick or treat series was to copy and paste the instructions into your post.  I was reading Dona’s journal at the time and copied and pasted from her page and completely forgot to give her a mention in my post.  Sorry Dona, it was not intentional. 

 

Just to make sure I don’t pull the same mistake again, my thanks to Donna over at, “This and That and Hockey!” for the graphic I used today at the top of this posts.

 

We have been busy at our household this fall season.  I spent an entire weekend cleaning out one of our two storage units, a holdover from the days when we lived aboard the boat we owned at the time.  I was able, with Paulette’s help, to consolidate into one unit and cut our storage expenses in half.

 

About that time Paulette decided to do some arts and crafts to sell this year.  That meant that I would be involved, of course.  We finished up just in time for the first crafts show we had booked into and have at least one more weekend of selling scheduled in the near future.  Yes, this fall has been a much busier season than I would have normally anticipated.

 

There have been a couple of interesting events at the marina since my last post.  The first one was an opportunity to get a few shots of the Coast Guard Cutter Anvil.  This is the tug and barge the Coast Guard uses to maintain the navigational markings in the Intra Coastal Waterway and in bays and harbors up and down the coast.  This work is critical to the safe navigation of these waters by commercial and recreational vessels.

 

This first shot shows the name on her stern.

 

 

The Anvil passes by here several times a year as it goes up and down the waterway.  I have always been just a little too late to get a good shot of her in the past, even though I really had wanted one.  The other day she stopped right in front of the marina to take some core samples of the bottom of the waterway in this area.  I was off to grab my camera in a flash and got a great series of pictures.  Here’s one more showing her in all her glory.

 

 

I have posted shots in the past of interesting things I have had to pull out of the water at the marina to dispose of.  I will probably never run out of these kinds of things to show and tell here.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a tree floating in the side creek part of our marina.  I couldn’t do anything about it that day due to the tide, current, and time of day.  The next day I looked for the tree and did not see it.  Whew, I thought, and started walking my rounds up and down the docks.  It wasn’t long before I spotted this tree again.  This time it was floating towards the dock at a higher rate of speed.  I watched as it hit a portion of the dock and immediately got wedged, half under the dock and half out.

 

 

I launched the tiny club work boat and got a line wrapped on the tree.  The boat was too small to pull the tree out from underneath the dock.  Thank goodness the tree lodged itself under the dock right next to our hoist system.  I was able to carefully dislodge the tree using the hoist motors.

 

 

We loaded the tree onto our work trailer and hauled it off to the back part of the property.  We’re going to let the tree dry out, then cut it up with a chain saw and stack it up for firewood.  Its a black hickory tree and will make fine firewood once it is dried.

 

 

Well, that’s about all I’ve got to share for now.  I’ll try not to let so much time elapse before my next post, but I’ve promised that before and life always seems to step in, presenting me with new situations that keep me away from the keyboard.  Take care and God Bless!  Oh, and once again, Happy Thanksgiving!