This is a classic song from the maritime industry. Gordon Lightfoot wrote and performed it and it was a big hit back in the 60’s. It’s about the sinking of the ‘Laker’ SS Edmund Fitzgerald in a winter storm almost 40 years ago (November 1975).
She was the pride of the Lakes fleet and it was such a tragedy when she went down. Lost with all hands aboard. It almost makes me cry sometimes when I pay attention to what he’s saying. We can never forget the power of the sea.
This is a sad song, but it’s also a good one. What do you think?
We’ve been very busy out here on the rig since I got here. We’ve already done 2 wells and should be finished up and ready to move off this one by tomorrow night. Whew!
The next one should take at least a week, maybe 2. So maybe we won’t have to move again before I’m due off. 🙂
We are working here on a ‘deepwater drillship’. It’s optimized for working in DEEP water (more than the 500m we’ve been working in lately)! Here’s one of ours, I was working on it a couple of hitches ago.
They’re nice ships, but much better to work the kinds of jobs they’re intended for.
I’ve been trying for a few years to get started in a second (or 3rd) career as a writer/photographer. I’ve been reading International Living magazine for a long time now (decades). I usually glance over the ads, but eventually I was tempted to sign on for their travel writing course.
I did it and over the years since, I’ve taken a few other courses through IL and what is now called GEP (Great Escape Publishing). I started this blog at the Boston workshop they put on back in August 2013. I figured the blog would be a good way to get my work out to the public without having to go through an editor. I was getting so frustrated at having my photos rejected and I couldn’t even understand what they were telling me when they told me WHY they rejected them.
All along the way, I’ve still been trying to come up with something that I could sell to someone. I do enjoy writing and photography, but I am also really looking for some way to earn an income without having to be out on a ship so much of the time. I really want to find a way to travel more and spend more time doing the things I want to do instead of what other people want me to be doing. 😉
I have somehow managed to have a couple of articles published online (here, here, and here), but that came about only because someone happened to see my blog and liked what I had written on here. I had never been able to get up the nerve to actually send in a formal query to a real magazine editor.
Until last trip home. I FINALLY got around to sending in an article to International Living! I had high hopes. I was really anxious too. I had written a short article (they say short is much better to start with), but I had written it about Singapore. Singapore is not one of the countries IL usually features. I thought they might like it since it was about how to eat cheap there. They DO like articles about how to save money. 🙂
I’m still waiting to hear back from them. I HOPE they willl let me know something one way or another. In the meantime, I’ve been working on trying again to get my photographs accepted on some of the stock photo sites. I’m happy to say, I’ve managed to get some accepted!
I still don’t really understand why they accept some and they refuse others. I do understand what they’re telling me now, I just don’t SEE what they’re telling me about in the photos I’ve sent. So far, my acceptance level is 40% at Bigstock, 0% at Canstock and Fotolia. I’m getting better, at first my acceptance level was only 26%. 🙂
Here are 2 of the photos I submitted. Can you tell which ones they accepted? The first one is of a temple on a lake in Bali, Indonesia. The second one is of the beach in Cancun, Mexico.
I haven’t been able to post on here much lately since I’ve been pretty busy for the last week or so. I left home last Monday and spent 2 days traveling to the rig. I got here on Wednesday the 11th and was lucky enough to be assigned to the midnight to noon watch (so I got to go to sleep pretty soon after arrival onboard).
I was just starting to get settled in, then we had drills Sunday and unlatched the BOP on Monday. We moved right over to our next well and stabbed in later that day. We should only be on this one a couple more days and then move on to the next one. So it looks like this hitch will be pretty much like the last one. Constantly busy with setting up, maintenance, moving around, rip tides to watch out for, etc. Not much time for taking care of other business.
I got news right before I left home that the plumbers will be asking around $3000(!!!) to repair the sewer issues at one of my properties. We had been trying to find a way to do it ourselves since it mostly consists of digging a hole.
I even went to talk to the city code enforcement officer about doing the job myself. He told me I could only do the job if it was my homestead and I would have to show him proof that I lived in that house. Owning it was not enough (WHY NOT???).
Since my drivers license did not have that address on it, I was SOOL (shit out of luck)!
He would allow me to dig the hole myself, which we had hoped to be able to do. Since that was by FAR the main part of the job, that would save us a hell of a lot of money. So, for the next couple of weeks at home I was trying to help find a LICENSED plumber who would be willing to do a little moonlighting. Let us dig the hole and he could just come at the end to supervise. All he had to do was be there to connect the pipes back together.
In the end, we could not find any one like that (I guess the plumbers union must be pretty strong). They all insisted that THEY must do the ENTIRE job.
So, I will have to spend an EXTRA $2500 (and up), for licensed plumbers to dig a hole (at $100 per hour and up)!
WOW! What a friggin’ RACKET these guys have going! BS your way into getting the government to FORCE people to hire you, even for jobs they’re perfectly capable of doing themselves! WOW!!
Does anybody else have a problem with this situation?
I mean, WHY the HELL should ANYONE be able to dictate what you can do on YOUR OWN PROPERTY??????
The principle of ownership implies USE of something. If you can’t use your property, the way YOU want, then you do NOT own it! Yet, you still have to pay for it, and you have to KEEP ON paying for it. Even after you have paid the full price (many times over if you financed it).
Property taxes, they mean that you NEVER really can own a piece of property.
The way I look at it is: if you want to dictate to me what I can or can’t do on what is supposedly MY property, then YOU can PAY for it, since you get to use it for what you want and I don’t get to use it for what I BOUGHT IT FOR!
Too bad there are so many busy bodies that just can’t control themselves. Our entire society has pandered to them for much too long (they should have been laughed out of town the first time they mentioned the subject!). Now, they even imagine that they are in the right (they are NOT). But there’s no fighting them anymore.
Oh wait, there IS one group that is having some success in fighting this sickening trend. The Institute for Justice does help people fight for their property rights (among other things). They’ve been doing an excellent job and I am happy to support them as much as I can (wish I could do more- so many people need their help).
We’re all between a rock and a hard place. Either you pay rent forever so you can never escape the rat race (and put up with even MORE restrictions on what you can do in your HOME), or you buy property so you can earn some income, but yet you are more and more restricted every year.
So, the figures you based your decision to buy an investment on are devalued every year until you wind up even worse than you would have been if you never even tried.
It’s absolutely shameful what we have allowed to happen in the USA. We used to have a free country (or at least one we could say was more free than anywhere else). Now, we are SO FAR from that idea, it is ridiculous to even mention those words together any more. They are almost opposites now (America-free).
I sure hope the sewer issues are fixed by the time I get home. I sure don’t want to have to deal any more with this ‘shit’! (But I already know I have another problem to deal with at another place- and it will also be very expensive!). 🙁
Jimmy Buffett is one of my all time favorite singer-songwriters. I grew up on the beach in Florida and his songs really captured the essence of the beach lifestyle. I loved his music then. I love it even more now, since it reminds me so much of all the things I miss so much. I can picture this ‘one particular harbor’ easily in my mind. Here’s another Song of the Sea…
One particular harbour By: jimmy buffett, bobby holcomb 1983 Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
I know I don’t get there often enough But God knows I surely try It’s a magic kind of medicine That no doctor could prescribe
I used to rule my world from a pay phone Ships out on the sea But now times are rough And I got too much stuff Can’t explain likes of me
Chorus: But there’s this one particular harbour So far but yet so near Where I see the days as they fade away And finally disappear
But now I think about the good times Down in the caribbean sunshine In my younger days I was so bad Laughin’ about all the fun we had
I seen enough to feel the world spin Mixin’ different oceans meetin’ cousins Listen to the drummers and the night sounds Listen to the singers make the world go ’round
(pan solo)
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
Lakes below the mountain Flow into the sea Like oils applied to canvas They permeate through me
And there’s that one particular harbour Sheltered from the wind Where the children play on the shore each day And all are safe within
Most mysterious calling harbour So far but yet so near I can see the day when my hair’s full gray And I finally disappear
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura (ua pau te maitai no te fenua) E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura (ua pau te maitai no te fenua) E mea arofa teie ao nei, hey now, hey now, hey now
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ua pau te maitai no te fenua [bounty of the land is exhausted] Te zai noa ra te ora o te mitie [but there’s still abundance in the sea] Ua pau te maitai no te fenua Te zai noa ra te ora o te mitie
While I was home last time I went to see what the local painting class was all about. I’ve been wanting to try it for a while, but haven’t done it because it lasts for 4 weeks and I’ve never been home to be able to start and finish the whole class in one hitch at home.
Since I was home a little longer than usual (and had to pass up the trip to Panama I was hoping to take due to paperwork issues), I called the lady who runs the class to ask if maybe I could take 1-2 classes each time I’m in town.
She was very nice and told me that would be fine, and invited me to come in to the next class just to see if I thought it would work for me.
I showed up late and just watched for a while. I met everyone there and wandered around to see what they were all working on. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. They all had their own projects to work on. Everything was very informal. The instruction is for either pastels or oil painting. I’m really more interested in watercolor or acrylic, but I figure it will still help me a lot to learn the techniques and most of those should transfer over to whatever medium I choose to work with.
The class meets weekly at the Brazosport Center for Arts & Sciences. After the painting class was over I spent a little time looking around the facilities. I’d been there before, but not for years. There’s a museum, a planetarium and a theatre. They also have a gallery where they feature art by members of the local art league. They had some really nice paintings in there, some beautiful portraits and some seascapes with birds I really liked.
I went through the museum again. They’ve really added a lot since last time I was there. They’ve always had a fantastic shell collection. It’s one of the largest in the country. They have some pretty good fossils. I noticed the megalodon jaws, (they were giant prehistoric sharks!) the minute I walked in the door. They’re hard to miss since they’re about 6 ft accross and at least that tall!
They have a really nice collection of moths and butterflies. I tried to take pictures, but I just couldn’t get any good ones with the way the light reflected off the glass. I did get some good ones of the ‘Sailor’s Valentines’. Since Valentines Day is coming up soon, I thought I’d post about them. Here’s a picture I took of one.
The Sailor’s Valentine is typically a box covered with shells formed into some sort of ‘romantic’ theme. They were supposedly by sailors who would pick up shells in their far off travels and then make these pretty little boxes to present to their loved ones when they got home. It was a pretty big thing back in the 1800’s. They fell out of style but are making a comeback now. The ones I saw at the museum are alll made by locals (not sailors) recently, as hobbies.
They just seem like a lot of work to me. I guess the sailors must have had a hell of a lot more leisure time back in the old days!! Then again, their hitches usually lasted for years rather then the month or so most of us (American) sailors have to stay out for now. The crews from other countries aren’t nearly so fortunate as we are. Some I know of have to stay for a minimum of 2 years(!!) before they’re allowed to go home. 🙁
Here’s a picture of my favorite one from the exhibit. It’s not so ‘romantic’ and could be for anything. I really like the flamingo. 🙂
I’m on my way back to work. Leaving Frankfurt now. Should arrive in Luanda around 10 hours from now. I should be on the ship for about a month, so don’t get too worried about me if you don’t see me posting quite as often. It’s hard to keep up with anything online when I’m offshore.
This is another great article from the Dollar Vigilante.
Yep, here we go, following in the footsteps of such wonderful places as NAZI Germany, Soviet Russia (USSR), and Apartheid South Africa. We absolutely MUST stop this! We do NOT need to “show our papers” everywhere we go!!!!! We are NOT slaves or animals that must be constantly tracked and under surveillance!!! Yes, ‘our leaders’ do think so, but why do so many ordinary people go along with them? WTF is WRONG with people, that they would even suggest this???
And, believe me, this will only be the beginning. 🙁
Better be prepared for some SERIOUS SHIT when they get this “law” into effect! I hope to hell I can get myself out of here before the shit hits the fan and I encourage anyone else here in the US to find some options too. The USA is NOT going to be a safe place to be for much longer. Get out while you can!
I was really hoping to make some serious progress in a couple of months when I was due to get my yearly bonus from work. Got news the other day that they’ve cancelled my bonus (not all of it, just stopped earning it from end of the month- it’s a HUGE pay cut). Not just me, everybody was cut! How can they do that? It was in the contract. I guess those are only for one side to obey, the side that doesn’t have the power and money to do whatever they want. 🙁
With the price of oil so low, I guess I should be happy to still have a job. I’m sure the company knows that and so that’s why they’ll do whatever they want regardless of any ‘contracts’.
One step forward and 2 steps back. That’s what it seems like around here. I guess I should consider myself lucky that I can see what’s coming and take steps to prepare for it. It sure as hell adds a lot of stress to life tho.
I’m trying even harder to find some way to get out of the USA. I haven’t been able to find anywhere else to go that will allow me to WORK to support myself. That’s the only holdup. A lot of nice places are OK if you want to just go there to live, or to retire, or if you want to start a business. But they won’t let you work and possibly take a job from a local. I don’t blame them for that, it’s just frustrating for me when I want to leave so badly and I can’t find a way to do it.
Lately, I’ve even looking at just saying screw working anymore. I’ll just get permanent residency somewhere. I MIGHT be able to scrounge up enough to live on til I die. IF I move somewhere cheaper (and I die young). Maybe I’ll get lucky and that country (wherever) won’t deport me to the US when it really gets bad. Just got hit with approx. $3000++ plumbing bill, that kind of thing sure doesn’t help!
I was reading an email this morning about education. It was really more about the disadvantages of “public” schools (government schools).
This video was in the email. I don’t usually listen to rap music. I’ve never heard of this guy, Dave. Or his Boyinaband. I did check it out today. Just because I finally have some spare time at home and because of the recommendation in the email from TDV.
I think Dave makes a LOT of good points! No, I don’t think school should completely eliminate ALL the classics. But I DO think they spend a lot of time on things that nobody is EVER going to use.
OK, if you’re going to be an engineer or scientist, (or math teacher) then I’m sure you’ll be using quadratic equations. For pretty much everybody else, you’ll be fine if you ace geometry (or even just basic arithmetic) and skip algebra completely.
Same goes for all the other subjects: Science, English, History, Civics, etc.
Why don’t we just give all our kids a great background in those basic subjects. Up to about 4th grade, say. They OUGHT to be able to ace it by then. And if they’re some of the few that can’t, then DON’T let them hold back the ones that can do the work! Put the slow ones in a special remedial class and stop with all the political correctness that is ruining everything for everybody! Get some discipline back in the classrooms so the kids that want to learn, can learn. Concentrate on giving ALL of them a good foundation: “readin’, writin’, ‘rithmatic!” Spend the rest of the time up til High School building on those foundations with more intensive studies.
Then, after that, let the kids and their parents chose a more applicable education. Surely by High School, all involved ought to have a good idea of what they want to do with their lives. Let them opt out of todays’ standard “college prep” and take something more practical if they want to (technical or trade track).
I agree with the premise that kids are naturally curious and WILL learn what interests them. If you show them how a subject will be relevant to them, then they’re a lot more likely to take an interest.
In my own personal experience, I was very lucky to have the chance to leave the ‘public’ school system before it totally destroyed my chance of a good education. I was one of those students who always aced the tests, etc. I made straight A’s without even trying. By the time I got to High School, I had already started skipping school. Just because it was SO DAMNED BORING!
I decided I had much better things to do with my time than to take Algebra yet again! I had been taking that class (earning straight A’s) since 4th grade! No one could/would explain to me why I should waste even more of my time in that class. Nor could they say why there were no options!
People seem to think that the ONLY place you can learn something is in ‘school’. I disagree!! I’ve learned a hell of a lot more on my own, then I ever did in school.
Looked to me then (and it looks to me now), like we have a one track system. Dumb down the smart kids (and the middle of the road kids). Let the slow kids set the pace of the class. IMHO, that is a road to disaster! And just look at how bad the results are compared to a century ago! Here’s a link to an 8th grade exam from 1912. Could YOU pass it?
(I can’t. I have 2 degrees- one of them is in math).
BUT; if kids could pass it then, they COULD be taught to pass it NOW.
Now we graduate kids from High School that can’t even READ! Or do even BASIC math! I know, because I used to tutor a hell of a lot of them when they got into college. And WHY are they even allowed into college if they can’t ALREADY read, write and do math???
We really need to stop spending so much time, money and other resources on making sure (or trying to) that everybody can go to college. Somehow we’ve managed to make a college degree a ‘necessity’.
MAYBE if we got back to where a high school diploma actually meant something, like a graduate really knew how to read, basic math, basic all around education and HOW TO THINK, then a business would once again be able to trust that the person they’re interviewing for a job could learn the skills to do the job without needing a complete education after they got hired! Maybe then you wouldn’t ‘need’ a college degree to get a ‘good job’.
After all, one of the main reasons we send kids to school is so that they can ‘get a job’. Hopefully, a job that will allow them a decent standard of living. A “good job”. I don’t see why we should FORCE kids to stay in school if that’s all they’re looking for.
The other reason we send kids to school is to give them a real education. To learn how to live their lives. I think we are failing BADLY in this task. I think we should teach these lessons from the earliest opportunity and all the way up through High School.
Yes! Like Dave says; teach them about money, currency, and where it comes from! Teach them about finances, about how the stock markets work, about banking, about budgeting, about debt and interest, about how to balance a checkbook, about how to run a household.
Teach them about how to shop for groceries, about nutrition and healthy eating, about how to cook. Teach them how to grow a garden. Teach them about their bodies and how to stay healthy (and how NOT to become parents!), and how to raise a family IF you want to.
Teach them about the society they live in (and the worldwide situation), about how they are part of the community, about their rights and responsibilities. About politics and voting and corruption and how the system REALLY works! About history and how all this came about.
Teach them about the rest of the world: Geography, world events and how they relate to history and how it affects them, now. Languages, to help them get by in a changing world. Natural science and environmental studies, so they can understand how the environment they live in affects them and is (or is not) effected by them. Throw some travel in the mix, it’s a GREAT way to teach many different subjects!
Teach them about science (and math), basic principles and how it is relevant to them!
Most important, teach them how to THINK!!
NOT just how to regurgitate facts, or to pass the next test. Teach them how to go about learning about a subject. Teach them how to find the information they need to solve a problem or to answer any questions they may have. How to use logic and how to get past all the advertising and propaganda we all have to deal with constantly.
I think learning HOW to learn is the most important thing we can teach. But I don’t see much of that going on in schools anymore. 🙁
Listen to the lyrics to the song above, do you agree or disagree with Dave?
I saw this challenge from Sue over at her ‘A Word in Your Ear’ blog. The word of the week is: mural. I have a few photos of murals. Actually some of mine are a little different, most people think of murals as paintings on a wall. I have some of those, but I also have some murals made in different mediums than just paint. This one is one of my favorites.
My photo doesn’t do it justice. This mural is just STUNNING. I took this a couple of years ago when I was at the Maritime Education and Training conference at Texas A&M University in Galveston (Texas). There is more to it than just the part I could get in this picture. It’s HUGE.
It’s actually a mosaic, made of millions of little ceramic tiles. The artist Dixie Friend Gay made it. I’m not sure how long it took. There’s a better picture of how it all looks in this link. And another one to more about her art.
I think her mosaics are just incredible. I wonder that her work isn’t more well known. I think it deserves to be. What do you think?
I stumbled upon the “Where’s My Backpack?” blog and Travel Theme: Doorways challenge while I was checking my reader today. I figured I’d join in…
Those first couple (of neighbors, sitting in their doorways) were from Thailand, up in the hills North of Chiang Mai. The next bunch are from Aberdeen, Scotland. I had to go take the course for Freefall Lifeboat before they would let me go out on my new job.
And I just had to throw something nautical in the mix. 🙂 This is a photo of the interior of the boat we were practicing with all week.
Here is one of my rainbow pictures. I took this one a couple of years ago, when I was working on the tuna boat. We sometimes went in to Tarawa (Kiribati/Gilbert Islands) to unload. We would tie up to a reefer ship in the anchorage off Betio (the main town on the atoll) and have a couple of days to get ashore there.
For such a small place, in the middle of nowhere, Tarawa had some interesting history. Some of the biggest battles of WWII were fought over these islands. There are still a lot of military ruins/wrecks/artifacts from when the Americans were fighting the Japanese there (Battle of Tarawa).
I’m not really into military history or how wars are fought, but I do understand the strategy of having those island ‘stepping stones’ for the US during WWII. The US still keeps an eye on things there. When I was there once, I met up with a US ship doing some ‘PR’ work throughout the Pacific Islands. A group of military people were cleaning up the war memorial and sent a medical team to help out the locals.
At this point in time, Tarawa has gone back to it’s sleepy small town ways. I really enjoyed myself there. The people were friendly and a lot of fun. A couple of years after I stopped working over there, I read a book “Sex Lives of Cannibals” by J. Maarten Troost. I highly recommend it. I laughed SO hard. Yes, it really IS like that there. 🙂
It rained pretty hard here a few days ago. Ever since then I’ve been having problems with my bathroom. I flush the toilet and it comes up through the bathtub! ICK!!
My bathroom, AFTER the plumber finished up. 😉
It had done the same thing before a couple of times and I had it snaked out. I didn’t notice it this time til Saturday morning and no use calling a plumber til Monday.
Monday morning I called the plumber but they were swamped. Because of all the rain, they had all kinds of people calling in with problems. I had to wait til Tuesday to get someone to come by and take a look.
I thought maybe the sewer pipes were broken because of the fact that this issue keeps recurring. The plumber informed me that running a snake through the toilet is basically useless. Even if you unbolt the toilet and run the snake straight through the floor.
Well, since that’s the way we’ve been doing it in the past, I told him to go ahead and do it his way. With a BIG snake, from outside.
plumbers snake
He dug a hole to find where the pipe came out of the house so I could see where it was, but he couldn’t actually do the work at that time.
I had to wait until today for the snake job. It worked!
example of what the snake can do
I hope this one works longer than the last couple of times. At least now I know where to access the pipe from the outside so we won’t have to pull out the toilet again.
I still think the pipes might be broken. There’s more water in the hole today than there was when he dug it on Monday. We haven’t had any rain, so where is that water coming from???
All I know right now is; I’m happy to have a working bathroom again. 🙂
Lesson learned. If any of you have plumbing issues, don’t waste your time and money running a snake from inside the house!
Here’s another one of Cee’s Share Your World challenges. She always has such interesting stuff on her blog. Not only these Share Your World challenges, but lots of different photography challenges and other interesting stuff. Here are my answers to this weeks questions…
Where did you live at age five? Is it the same place or town you live now? I don’t remember exactly where we lived when I was 5. I remember we moved around a lot back then. My dad was doing contract work as an engineer for different companies. He would travel around from job to job. We lived in a cab-over camper on the back of a pickup truck. My mom, my dad, my brother, me, our dog and our cat. 🙂 We lived in lots of different places, all around the country (New York, Arizona, California, Iowa, etc). We didn’t settle down until I was about 6. That was in Florida, West Coast, near St-Pete/Clearwater.
No, it’s not the same place I live now. I moved here to Texas (Lake Jackson) when I was just barely 17. I wanted to go to school to get my USCG licenses so I could become a ship captain. This town had one of only 3 programs in the country at that time that you could go for only 2 years and come out with something really useful. I didn’t have the money for a 4 year program and wasn’t really into spending that much time in school anyway. Turns out, I did spend that much time in school, and more. It took me 5 years to finish the 2 year program. At least I was able to work after the 1st year! That wouldn’t have been the case if I had gone to the 4 year schools. Now, there are a few other programs around the country. They offer pretty much the same thing I went through, but you come out in MUCH better shape! They give you a LICENSE now instead of just an AB ticket!!
You are invited to a party that will be attended by many fascinating people you never met. Would you attend this party if you were to go by yourself? Yes, of course I would!
Did you grow up in a small or big town? Did you like it? I grew up in a medium size town, tho it felt small. I grew up in Madeira Beach, FL. Johns Pass to be specific. It was part of the Tampa-St Petersburg area, all of the towns ran together so it was really one large town or small city. Johns Pass was very much like a small town in itself. We had a real community. Everybody knew everybody and all their business. Everything you needed was there. We had a grocery store, hardware store, a 5 and dime, a few tourist shops, a few mom and pop motels on the beach, a laundromat, a few restaurants, quite a few bars, the Charter Boat center where a lot of people worked, the party boat docks, a couple of ice houses, and fuel docks for the fishermen, even an aquarium with dolphins and sharks until they tore the old bridge down and ‘remodeled’ the whole place.
my dads house was on the 1st finger bay, straight line from the bridge and a little to the right
the Old Johns Pass Bridge
Everything was within walking distance. School was about 3 miles away and there was another shopping center over there. If you needed anything else, you could catch the city bus and it would take you anywhere you needed to go. Yes, I really did like it, I miss how it was then, it’s changed a lot. It’s really nothing but a tourist attraction now. Just condos and tourist shops. They destroyed the entire community when they built that new bridge and replaced all the fisherman’s homes with shops selling cheap trinkets. I don’t like it at all, what it has become. It’s a real shame. 🙁
The New Johns Pass, “#1 tourist attraction in Pinellas County.”
We lived across from Dons Dock on the finger bay.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I used to want to be a doctor (I think I was influenced by my grandmother- she was a pharmacist). Then, I figured out that I really don’t like sick people all that much, so I decided to be a veterinarian. That lasted until I was shipped off to high school to sail around the world on the traditional square-rigged sailing ships. That did it, I decided to become a ship captain. I wanted to sail around the world and get paid for it. I’ve been sailing ever since and FINALLY got my Master Mariners ticket only a couple of years ago. 🙂
Ariadne, one of the ships I got to sail on for high school
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? I’m grateful that I got to spend some good quality time with my best friend. I brought over a pot of stew and we had a couple of hours of good conversation. 🙂 I’m looking forward to one more Icicle Race on this coming Saturday!
After the last couple of days, I was glad to wake up to some sunshine! I’m heading back out on Galveston Bay for another Icicle Race today. The weather report shows sunny and cool. Just the way I like it. 🙂
I went to the Sail La Vie meetup last week hoping to sign up to go sailing on Saturday. I haven’t had the time to go out for quite a while and was really looking forward to taking a leisurely cruise around the bay.
I was really disappointed when I found out that they didn’t have enough people signed up to charter a boat for the group. Luckily, one of the members had a boat entered in the upcoming Icicle Race and offered a spot onboard to me and the 2 others who had been looking to go out on Saturday.
I had never been in a race and was a little apprehensive about it all. I wasn’t really enthused about the idea of rushing around, tweaking the sails for every tiny little advantage we could get out of the boat. I’m MUCH more into just relaxing and enjoying a day on the water. Listening to the soft sound of the waves passing by and the calls of the seagulls following for scraps as we drink some wine and dispose of our uneaten chips. 🙂
I think we must have got lucky. The wind was very light to start, only about 4-6 kts and then for a while it dropped off to nothing. The whole fleet was becalmed. I’ve never been in that situation, a couple of dozen boats all drifting together, so close you could reach across to share a beer.
The wind picked up a little bit just as we were coming up to the first mark. We slid around on the inside of a big bunch of boats and managed to skip ahead of the crowd. It was pretty exciting there for a few minutes. 😉
The crowd thinned out as we made for the next mark, but as we closed in on it, the boats bunched up again. Everyone was trying to cut it as close as possible. We heard a loud bang and CRUNCH ahead of us and watched as a couple of boats tried to get their fenders in place, but it was too late. I’m not sure how much damage was done, but ANY work done on a boat is expensive!
We made that turn on the inside of another big bunch of boats and then made for the finish line. The wind was shifting so we had to tack a few times. It was a challenge to try and figure out how far to go on a tack before coming back to the course for the finish line. I think we made some time up with good estimates on that part of the race too.
As we were coming in to the finish line (between markers 1-2 to Kemah), we were cut off by another boat. They cut right in front of our bow and I don’t know how we managed not to have a collision. I don’t know what they were thinking on that boat, but as we were yelling at them, they called back to us that WE were supposed to stay out of their way. Huh????
Overtaking vessel is ALWAYS the give way vessel!
After that last shot of adrenaline, we took in the jib and headed back in to the marina. We made it home in one piece, without any damage, and I think we did pretty damn good! Capt Vic said we did better then ever before (in this race) and I know we still had a pretty big bunch of boats still out there behind us when we hit the finish line. 🙂
The weather here has been back to dull and dreary winter. Rain, rain, and more rain for the last 3+ days. I haven’t even been able to get out of the house for a walk.
I don’t mind an occasional rainy day. I have plenty to do here to keep me busy. But when it goes on and on for days, I start getting antsy. I want to go outside. I want to see some sunshine.
It’s supposed to be nice again tomorrow. I sure HOPE so. I’ve signed up to go sailing again tomorrow and really looking forward to it. Last week was a blast and this will be another race in the Icicle series.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the rain ends TODAY. 🙂
I looked at my blog this morning and I couldn’t believe my eyes! I had shot up to 72 views (from 8) in the last day. It seems like it’s been really slow lately. I haven’t had more than 10 in the stats bar for at least 2-3 weeks. I went to look at my stats page to try to figure out what was going on and saw that I had 133 views already! That’s the most ever! WTF???
Views 141
Visitors 121
Likes 3
Comments 0
This is very strange. No comments? Only 3 likes out of 141!! views? That is nothing like my usual daily activity on my blog. I’m just wondering what’s going on? I hadn’t even posted anything yet today…
Stats for January 21
Nothing Published
When I looked to see what people were looking at, this is what it showed. That doesn’t add up to anywhere near 141 (or even 133). But when I looked into it more, it showed me a whole long list of posts with 1 view each. Taking all those into account, the numbers did add up. I still have no idea what’s going on.
View 2 Women Rallied Behind Beautiful, Wartless Witches
It looks like a few people did searches that brought them to me, but that only gives me 8 viewers.
8Search Engines
7Google Search
2 google.co.uk
2 google.co.uk/search
2 google.com
1 google.es
1AOL
These are the blogs where people came to visit me from today. Happy to have the interaction, I liked all of those blogs! I’m on bloglovin, but nobody ever seems to look at me there. I think this is maybe my 1st one that showed up here in my stats. I hope that’s a good sign. 🙂
Interesting to see what people were searching for to bring them to my blog. I’m still amazed by how many people are searching for “moonshine”!
ViewsSearch
2 seamans mission limassol cyprus
1 peach pie moonshine
3 Unknown Search Terms
I always like to see where people are from. I wish more people would tell me more about themselves in their comments, but the little flag widget I have on my sidebar and the stats map are nice to have. They give me a clue. I wonder what makes people from some places come visit my blog. Most of my visitors are from the USA, UK and Canada. I guess today some seamen must be due into port in Limassol (Cyprus) and looking for news about the local Seaman’s Center there. That gives me an idea. I should put a link up for those things! 🙂
ViewsCountry
132United States
3United Kingdom
3Spain
3Cyprus
Here’s another interesting stat today. I’ve still got lots of views for the moonshine recipe. But also a few for Halloween recipes (little late for that, but I’m always up for sweets). 🙂
I’m glad to see some of my older posts are still holding some interest. 🙂
I’m looking at the posts where I’ve had the most comments. I’m trying to figure out if there’s any common theme that seems to get people more involved. If there is one, I’m not seeing it. I do remember pissing off a few people bad enough for them to quit following me over some of the more political posts (one of those is listed below- war on jobs). Too bad. 🙁
Seems like the categories people like to look at are the things I am posting a lot about, so that’s good. Sometimes it’s hard for me to categorize things, they’ll fit into more than one place, so I label them with more than one label. 🙂
149 lifestyle
98 blogging
80 Uncategorized
69 History
65 art
64 maritime
63 things to do
60 travel
52 video
40 economy
And I FINALLY made it to over 500 followers on WordPress!! It seems like that took forever! Actually, I only started this blog the end of August last year, so it’s only been about a year and a half. Facebook has given me the most “followers”, but I don’t really count them since I can’t seem to get it to go to my BLOG page and not my personal page. Most of those people aren’t paying any attention at all to my blog posts. 🙁
I really haven’t figured out how to use twitter or tumblr yet. I still have NO clue as to how to really “promote” my blog to get more followers or how to ‘monetize’ it. I’m still at the learner stage and having fun with it all. I do hope I’ll be able to figure it out at some point. 🙂
Total WordPress.com Followers: 597
Total Email Followers: 12
418Facebook
162Twitter
24Tumblr
If any of you have any ideas about any of this, please feel free to comment. Any of you had any weird stats today?
Here’s another challenge from Cee’s Photography blog. I only manage to stumble on her posts every once in a while. I’m not sure why. Maybe I need to check into my reader a lot more often. I have a hard time keeping up with everything online tho.
Today I saw another of her Share Your World posts and so I’m going to do it. 😉
Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest? I guess this means someone still alive? Someone real? That’s a hard one! My first choice would be God. If there really is one, I would really love to have a conversation- in person- and not have to wait til I’m dead! But, since that is apparently out of the question, I’ll have to pick somebody else.
But I think I would most like to meet Jeff Berwick, the Dollar Vigilante. I would LOVE to talk to him about what’s going on in the world. How to escape from all the CRAP, and just find a way to enjoy life. Find a way to escape the traps set for all of us here in the US and get OUT! Find a way to avoid being used and abused and live MY life on MY terms! Yeah, I think Jeff would be my #1 choice for a dinner guest. 🙂
When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else? I sing to myself (usually along with the radio) all the time. Last time was yesterday while I was driving back from the grocery store. To someone else? I used to do karaoke a lot. That was probably the last time I sang to someone else (the audience). It was a while ago. I haven’t had the time to go out much lately. Probably over a year ago now.
If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be? The ability to eat anything I wanted and stay a ‘normal’ weight. I gained a lot of weight very quickly when I was a kid (still really can’t figure out why), and ever since I have tried everything I can think of to lose it. I can never manage to stick to any kind of diet for more than 2-3 months since they never seem to give me results anywhere near the amount of effort I put in (diet and hours of exercise). I know how I am supposed to eat, I just don’t like eating that way. I don’t like ‘healthy’ food, I like junk food. I can’t imagine spending my whole life just eating things I hate, forcing myself to be miserable every day, all day long. I’m not that sorry about the fact that I’m fat. But if I could have ANY ability, that would definitely be the one I would pick.
What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about? I can’t really think of anything. I think humor is a good way to deal with most things. Even most ‘serious’ things. The latest outrageous attack on free speech (Charlie Hebdo) is a good example. “Terrorism” is serious, right? I think one of the best ways to fight it is to ridicule it. Or ignore it. Either way works for me. But since ‘our’ leaders have decided NOT to ignore it and instead take away OUR freedoms, then I think humor is going to be the more effective way to deal with it.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? I’m grateful I got home from work. Safe and sound. No pirates, no ebola, no injuries on the ship, no delays at the airport, no lost luggage, no issues with the rental car. ALL good. I found out last week about the “Icicle Races” and I’m looking forward to going sailing next weekend. 🙂
I never heard this before. I was looking around on youtube for some more ‘salty’ type music and stumbled on it. I think both the singing and the video are beautiful.
And it actually does remind me of the elves. 🙂
I just went last week to see the latest move (The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies). I loved the actors, the scenery was gorgeous, the story was good. I was really more into the characters in this movie than the battles, the “big picture”. This one is supposed to be the last, but it left me wanting more.
I LOVE that story (the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, etc).
Yes, Ron Paul is right about this (as he was about so many other things). Most Americans refuse to open their eyes to this truth (or about the rest of them). They seem to be either just slogging through the daily grind with no time to think or anything else. Or they’re completely convinced that the OTHER mainstream political party is the cause of all the problems in the world.
Truth is that BOTH the mainstream political parties are in reality the SAME and they ARE the cause of most of Americas problems. Try getting people to see the truth to that, keep on banging your head against the wall.
Yes, we ARE living in a police state! Thanks to Ron Paul for all his work, from another head-banger. 🙁
I just got home from the ship Friday and the weather here has been cold and miserable. Damp and dreary, drizzling and gray. Yuk!
So, I decided to cook up a pot of my favorite beef stew. It’s great stuff to have when it’s cold outside. It’ll fill you up and keep you satisfied for a while.
It’s one of the very first things I learned to cook (if you don’t count sandwiches or macaroni and cheese from the box). 😉
I remember the first time I made it. I actually had quite a bit of help. I had recently moved out of my dads house and rented a little efficiency apartment from him across the street.
I was working on the party boats down the block and a couple of other jobs too, plus going to school so I wasn’t really into cooking all that much. One of my jobs was as a dishwasher at a Greek place on the corner. They let me eat there for free, so that took care of dinner most nights. The other job was as a galley hand on the party boats. I sold ready made sandwiches and drinks to the passengers when they wanted a break from fishing and helped with things like getting lines untangled, baiting hooks, and cleaning the decks. Part of the deal was I got to eat (and drink) for free. That was only on the weekends.
I was a lot more into partying back then and never thought too much about groceries (tho I sure never went hungry). I made enough to live on but had to live cheap. I remember I would buy a loaf of white bread, a small jar of miracle whip and a package of baloney and that would do me for the week. With maybe a couple of cans of soup (and some beer) in there too. 🙂
One day, some friends of mine, fishermen friends I knew through my dad, came by and asked me to cook them up a pot of stew. They asked me since most of the guys didn’t keep a full time place of their own. They stayed on the boats mostly and there’s not a lot of comfort to be had on those little snapper boats. Sometimes they would rent an apartment from my dad, but only if they were going to be in for a while (and if they felt like they had the money to spare from more important things like having a good time). My dad used to get so mad at me for letting them come over to clean up or store their stuff, but that’s another story…
So, they came by. Storm’n Norman, O’Brian (OB), Bucky, and Danny, with a hunk of meat, some potatos, carrots, onions, and a BIG bottle of Lambrusco (the secret ingredient). We would check out the progress, throw in some stuff, stir it up, add a shot of wine, then pass the bottle around. I’ll never forget cooking up that pot of stew. It smelled so good! It was delicious! And I still make it the same way.
No recipe. Same secret ingredient. Maybe not quite so much of it tho. 😉
I think of my old fishermen friends every time I make it and wish they were still around, but I left Florida a long time ago and I never hear much of anyone over there any more. It’s all changed so much. Most of what I grew up with is long gone, including the people. 🙁
If you want to try to make a pot. I’ll give you the start, but it’s mostly just a few basics and then throwing in whatever’s around.
Capt Jills Favorite Beef Stew
1-2 lbs beef (chuck roast works great) (cut into large pieces)
1-2 large onions (cut in half and then thick slices)
1-2 large Idaho potatos (cut into 1-2″ pieces)
6 carrots (cut into 1-2″ pieces)
2 stalks celery (cut into small pieces)
6 beef boullion cubes
1 tbsp (real) butter
1-2 pkgs brown or mushroom gravy mix (to taste)
1-2 pkgs frozen veggies (depending on what’s around)
1 cup (or more) red wine (I use Lambrusco)
Throw the butter in the pot with the onions and stir it around a bit. Then throw in the meat to brown. Season it up with some Worsteshire sauce, onion salt, garlic, celery salt, Mrs Dash, pepper, or whatever else you like for seasoning. Once the meat gets browned, add a little water (couple of tablespoons) and a couple of shots of the wine (I like to use Lambrusco). You can add the boullion cubes and celery any time.
Once the meat starts to get tender, add the carrots and potatos. You’ll need more liquid now, so cook up the gravy in a small pot and add it to the stew once it thickens up. From now on, you can add whatever you want. I wait to add the frozen vegetables til near the end, since I like them to still be nice and bright colored (and not mushy). I usually add a package of mixed vegetables, maybe a pack of cut green beans, maybe some green peas, just depends on what I have in the freezer. Sometimes I like to add fresh mushrooms.
I add a little more of the wine right before dishing out the stew, that way there’s a real taste of it in the stew. I may also have a glass along with the stew and not just in the stew. 😉
Yeah, I know I’ve been doing a lot of political posts lately. I hope it’s not getting to be too much of a downer. But one of the main reasons I started blogging was to try to get a discussion going (with me or with others) about all the things politics is doing to our nation and our world.
I’ll move on to another subject soon, I promise. 😉
This video is kind of long (16 mins). I thought John Oliver did a great job of injecting some humor into a subject that is really pretty sad. Super sad when you think about it. All those millions of people having their lives ruined, just so the powers that be can say that they are fighting the war on ‘drugs’. As this video on asset forfeiture vividly shows, it is NOT a war on drugs, it IS a war on US.
This whole asset forfeiture thing is just one way they fight their war against US. The very idea that they have the right to tell a person what they can put into their bodies (eat, drink, or otherwise consume) is a humongous fraud and a HUGE violation of the principle of individual liberty that this country was founded on.
The principle that the ONLY legitimate function of government was to PROTECT those liberties that we ALL were BORN WITH simply by the fact that we are all human beings.
Here’s my entry for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadowed. These pictures show the shadowy stalls and the people who work (and live) in the “Bird Market” in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It was such a fascinating place. There were all kinds of things for sale there. Birds, bats, reptiles, rodents, etc. And pretty much anything else you could imagine. These pictures don’t really do it justice (but I only had a crappy little point and shoot with me).
Here’s my entry for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadowed. These pictures show the shadows in different ways: shadows on the ground, a person in the shadows, a shadowy place (graveyard). I took these pictures in the famous Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires. I really loved it there. I’d go back any day!
I mean Buenos Aires, not specifically the graveyard. 😉
I don’t watch all that many movies. But when I’ve got a long plane ride, I might watch one or two. I usually have a hard time finding one I think will be worth the time. Since I can never sleep unless I’m lying down (or I’ve been up for over 24 hours and just too exhausted to stay awake any longer), I’m apt to try out the in flight ‘entertainment system’ on the plane.
My flight home from Luanda to Frankfurt was 8 1/2 hours long. Then I had another 10 1/2 hour flight from Frankfurt to Houston. I didn’t really see ANYTHING worth watching at first glance. I flipped through the choices again and again, searching for something to keep my mind occupied (the book I was reading just wasn’t holding my interest).
I finally decided to try this film. It’s not something I usually would have watched. I usually prefer science fiction/fantasy, horror, or really silly comedy. (I also watched the ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ this trip home.)
I’m glad I did decide to watch the ‘Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’. It really was pretty funny. Not in an ‘in-your-face’ kind of way, but in a more subtle kind of way.
The idea behind it- of a fantastic retirement home in a faraway, exotic, cheap and affordable location- was very interesting to me. I’ve been looking for that myself in real life. I watched the movie to see how the characters dealt with the different things they’d come across in daily life in a foreign country.
I loved the movie. The actors, (Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton and Dev Patel), all did a great job. I especially loved the way Muriel (Maggie Smith) grew into her new life. The director (John Madden) found the perfect settings and put it all together in a wonderful way. I really enjoyed myself. I laughed a lot, I even cried a couple of times. I’ve always wanted to visit India and this film has given me even more reasons to go. 🙂
I have a couple of friends I really hope I can get to watch this movie. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes an adventure, travel, learning new things, new cultures, about life, about yourself. I thought it was very inspiring and worth sharing.
Let me know if you’ve seen it already and what you thought.
I just did a post on what I’ve been doing last year. Now I think I’ll write one on what I hope to be doing next year (other than ‘retiring’ from work and spending all my time in a hammock under the palms on some bright tropical beach with a couple of cute cabana boys fetching me umbrella drinks between our frolics in the clear blue ocean waves). 😉
My major project this year is to get myself located in some other place. I NEED to get out of the United States of America. Most people won’t understand why (it’s political), but it’s been a goal of mine for a long time now. The feeling that I’ve had that I need to leave is just getting stronger all the time.
I’ve put it off for a lot of reasons, #1 being the lack of available work visas (and a trust fund). If I didn’t still have to work to support myself and pay my bills, I would have already moved years ago. I recently found out that Panama has a new visa program and so I have been trying to find a way to get down there to check it out.
I had planned to take a trip down to Costa Rica for a blogging workshop last May and from there head over to Panama to get this whole process started. But I got a new job at the end of May and had to cancel that whole trip. 🙁
Since then, I’ve been trying to get to Panama and haven’t been able to. I had planned to go after I got off the ship this trip, but at the moment I have no idea when that will be or how long I’ll have off. All plans are on hold until I can make sure of my work schedule.
Other than going to Panama, to investigate moving there permanently, I hope to travel more this year. Last year I went to Las Vegas, Korea, and New Orleans for vacations. I wound up going to Aberdeen, Scotland and Luanda, Angola for work. I did get to look around Aberdeen a little bit while I was there, but I haven’t seen anything of Angola except the airport and the drive to/from the hotel.
Seoul Korea for the travel writing workshop
There are so many places I’d still like to explore. My #1 travel goal for this year is… Antarctica! It just looks so amazing and I love the fact that the animals are still unafraid of people. I want to get there soon since I’m afraid that the ‘authorities’ will be restricting access even more than they already have. I’d love to take a small ship cruise down there where you can get up close and personal with the landscape and the animals. I hear there are even opportunities to meet some of the people who work down there.
I’d also like to hike up Mt Kilamanjaro and do a safari while in Africa. I hear Botswana is really great for that. Kenya or Tanzania sound good too. The guys from South Africa on here tell me I should go visit their country. 🙂
I’d love to visit India. I’ve always been fascinated by the art and architecture from that region. I think the culture is very interesting and the landscape and wildlife look like it’s a place I really have to spend some time.
I’d love to cruise the Nile and see the Pyramids in Egypt. I love all the history there.
I doubt I’ll even get to go to all of those places I just mentioned, so I’ll leave off on the travel wishes for now. I also want to get a few other things done this year. 😉
I want to finish working on the house I’ve been replacing the rotten siding on for a couple of years now. 😉
I want to get out sailing more often this year. Maybe even get another little Sea Snark so I can go out by myself without having to go all the way up to Houston. I’m so glad I found Sail La Vie so I can go out sailing with them whenever I’m home and have the time, but they almost always go out sailing from Kemah onto Galveston Bay. I hate having to spend 2-3 hours driving just to get out of the house to do something different!
I want to learn at least basic Portuguese so I can communicate better with the people I work with now.
I want to find more time to work on my art. I like to draw, paint, etc. I’ve seen some classes I can take locally, but never seem to have the time to make it to any of them. Problem is, they’re usually for 4 weeks or more and I’m never home for that long. Maybe I can just go to 1-2 classes? Here’s a picture of a pastel drawing I did while I was out on the tuna boat.
I want to learn more about photography and find the time to work on my photos some more. I want to get signed on to (and accepted at), at least ONE stock agency.
I want to work more on my writing and improve my style. I really need to figure out how to describe things better. I have always been just a very straight-forward person, both in writing and in person. I don’t know how, but I need to learn how to “show, not tell” when I write. I want to get off my butt and at least ASK a few editors to take a look at my articles!
I want to do better with my blog. I’m still learning. I haven’t been able to stick to any kind of ‘editorial calendar’ like I was trying to. I’ve had a really hard time keeping up with other bloggers in the challenges or even keeping in touch at all.
At this point, I have no idea how much (if any) of all that I’ll be able to accomplish this year. My list of things to do this year will probably wind up just like my list of “things to do today”, or “this time home”. Never finished, but never ending. 😉
