Merry Christmas From Geco Snapper

Guess this will be my last post for the year of our lord 2008. I will be spending the Holidays restricted to the boat, thanks to a crew member that got into a fight when in town. Thing is he was not even working for the same company that I work for and has been dismissed from ever working on this boat again.

The good news is when crew change takes place I should get home in less then five hours, bad news is I am less then a three hour drive from home during the Holidays.




Before we got restricted to the boat we did get one day out as a crew. Went to a place called the Spot for lunch, unfortunately it had to be a dry lunch ( no beer ) . Still it was a nice break from the normal on the boat lunch and longer too. We are all hoping that the powers that be allow us to take another lunch off the boat Christmas day.

I was also sent to a small boat course to learn water rescue using a FRB ( Fast Rescue Boat ). As luck would have it the entire time spent in the boats was during three of the coldest, wettest, and foggiest days we have seen so far. At least I still had my winter coveralls from two years ago. We do not have any on the boat because all were turned in last yea, when told we would not be in cold weather. I kept mine just because, and glad I did.

Thats about it for me, will soon be time to go to work on this the 24th day of Dec. 2008. You all have a Merry Christmas now...

At Port Galveston

Returned to the Snapper Dec. 1st this time for five weeks, opps five weeks and a day. Lucky us we had the day of crew change moved just in time for us to stay and extra day, this after we are already scheduled to be here for X-mas and New Year.

Have to say one thing about being in Port, we get to work day shift 6am to 6pm so we are on an almost human schedule. Down side is it is hard to get into a grove so the time goes by slow. We are trying to get the boat upgraded and ready to go back out around the end of Feb or early march. We all hope to be back in production soon staying in Port is costing us money, no production no bonus.

Photos are all taken from the Snapper at pier 41 Port Galveston Texas, lovely place to spend time.

I have not been traveling lately except to and from work because I have been the pet sitter while Kay goes to Mexico to learn Spanish, think she may really want to move they. Really not sure I want to live in Mexico. So will have to look for some land or small home this next time home. Would be nice to also find work that does not take me away all the time.

That is about it from me for now, not sure when I will post again... All depends on how I feel, this is more for me to vent then anything else. I still do not think it is read by many, only know of two, three counting me. LOL... Enjoy life and stay safe, life can be fun...

Took another GPS road trip today and the photos show what was found. DID NOT find what the GPS said I would but came across several interesting places that to me made up for the error???

Beach Day

Today I took a drive down to Galveston to take a walk on the beach. First Shelby, Spencer, and myself took our morning walk then took a drive. Stopped about 30 miles down the road for fuel for both myself and the truck. Then back on the road to the South. 

Once in Galveston I drove around looking for an RV park that was still open and did not look like just a paved parking lot.  Found two RV parking lots open, but nothing that I would want to stay at. During the drive I saw several things I wish I could have gotten photos of but I never have figured out how to drive and take photos at the same time. The one photo I really wanted was a sail boat sitting at a gas pump. Funny things was the station was open, the boat just had not been moved out yet. I drove past several times looking for a spot to stop but luck was not with me. Not even able to pull into the station because it was so busy. Maybe next time????

When I gave up driving around I found a section of the beach that was still open and had parking places so I pulled off and took the dogs for a walk along the waterfront and even on the beach. Both dogs loved the walk on the beach, and tried to catch some of the birds. 

Then and now

Another overcast day and not in the mood to go on another road trip until the sun comes back. So I thought I would do something on two of my best friends, Shelby and Spencer. Shelby is an older Lab, not sure of her age because we got her from a rescue group. When we got her she weighed at least 130 pounds and would not play or come to you to be petted. 

 she tops the scales at 90 pounds, will play when she is in the mood and can not get petted enough. She has now been with us for four years and our best guess is she is between 10 and 12 years of age.  She is one of the most loving dogs I have every known. The one thing she does that we have not been able to break her of getting into the trash when left home. So we try to make sure we toss out the trash before we go out without her. 

 for the little guy, Spencer the black shiz.... He came to us as the result of winning a lottery sort of. I had brought a ticket but did not win, however a friend of mine did win but because of work and family could not take him so asked if I could. Well you can guess my answer, fell in love with the little fur ball the second I first set eyes on him. Six weeks old and not yet eating on his own, he was taken away from his Mom too early. The first few weeks I was hand feeding him and when he did start to eat on his own he had to get in the bowl to do it.  

 is is still as loving as he was the first day, but is now a tad large for a shiz, tops the scale at 16 to 17 pounds, I was told he should have been between 12 and 14 pounds. He will be 4 years old Feb. 7, 2009 and as I said has been with us since he was six weeks old. He took to Shelby from the first and Shelby took him in as if he was her pup. I believe Spencer became house broken and as well behaved as he is because of Shelby. Shelby was house broken from day one and very easy going so when Spencer came along he learned from her how to behave. 

I could not asked for better buddies  on walks or just hanging out watching television or when on the computer. Hope you get a kick out of the before and after photos.

Road Trip

Today I took a road trip using the new GPS system for the truck. First was a drive to a nature conservatory that was only 45 miles from the RV park we are at. Took the dogs for a walk then into the truck and off we went. Following the instructions from the GPS it only took one drive by to find the entrance , not bad...  The one problem I had was when I parked the truck and checked out the signs I found out I could not take the dogs on the walk with me. Why is it dogs are not allowed in the woods yet humans that trash the place are allowed??? 

Any way took a walk of 4 plus miles and did not get what I think of as so much as one good 

photo.  The river was flooded and the path I wanted to take was underwater.  

Second place I tried was to be some gardens. This time the GPS took me on a wild goose chase. When it said I was at my locations I was in the middle of some run down area of the city with nothing and I do mean nothing that looked like a garden of any type..  So me and the dogs headed home after a day of driving and very little of anything else.. Sometimes you win and sometimes not.. Today was a draw... 

Returned to boat

Back on the Snapper Oct 6th. She is a mess... Seem Ike caught her in the open and knocked out power and tossed her around for a day or two. So when she did get towed back to port the crew at that time were sent home and nothing was done to fix things for over a week. When I got back the other crew had onle been back for a few days and lots of work was needed. So we worked at port for 9 days to get ready to go back to work. Left port yesterday afternoon and glad to be gone. Was not a pretty place to be. Now wwe will see if all that work was enough to go into production or will we have problems??

Adios Mexico

Today we leave Mexico to return home. So for todays post it will be only photos of Kay or myself taken during the trip.