New Home

Just moved into a new place April 3ed, 2009.. Been a strange move to say the least. First we were told that the place had no restrictions, and that the tital was clean and clear. So we made an offer and it was accepted, so far so good. At first the closeing date was set for March 31st and we agreed. Then the fun starts.

After the home inspecton was done and the seller moved out, we were asked if we could a week early. We thought about it and said sure no problem. It would give us an extra week to get things done before I go back to the boat. So we check out of the RV park we are staying at and pack up to go drive five hours North to stay at a Park closer to the city we will close in. The day we are leaving the share pins lifting the feet on the RV snap and have to be replaced before we can hook up and go. Now we have to run around to find replacement pins to fix the problem. After 3 hours and several trips into town we are hooked up and ready to go.. Opps, phone call from the realter... we can not close... the sellers never filed papers in court after the farther died, so the tital is not clear after all. Then we get a fax telling us that hay, you do have some restrictions on the property. After talking about everything and being told we can still close on the 31st we decide to close on the 31st. It is now around 2 pm so we decide to drive up the next day.

At first we only scheduled a few days at a state park hoping all would go well and we would close on the 31st... No such luck, got called Friday the 27th and found out the papers had not yet been filed, so it would be the 31st before and could be filed at this point. Now we will have to extent our stay at the park again, we can only stay until the 3ed because it is already filled past that date. Realtors told us that if the papers are filed on the 31st we "might be able to close on the 2ed of April.

Good news papers got filed on the 31st and we close on the 2ed.

Good Bye My Friend

March 23rd 2009, I lost a shipmate and friend. This today will be my way of saying good bye. T.A.P. was a person that was easy to like and very hard to be mad at, he teased me out of many a bad mood when I was working on the boat. He could see the funny side of life when I could not, but had a way of showing it to me even when I did not really want to see it. He laughed at my jokes when nobody else did.

One of the strange parts of this is I am not sure if he thought of me as a friend or not. We never got together off the boat. He lived in LA. and I in TX. He worked for Marine crew I for Seismic.

I see him working and laughing, sometimes joking about how easy it would be to get hurt doing what we do. We do our jobs knowing we could be hurt or worse but try not to think about it until something like this happens. What went wrong that day??? was it the hook, the line, rogue wave, or just bad timing??? We may never know the answers to why it happened. All I know at this time is that the small boat he was in capsized, everyone and everything was tossed out. People were caught under the boat, three came out and were picked up one was not.

Coast Guard searched for him for over 72 hours, covered over 800 sq miles, never recovered him.

So goodbye my friend goodbye..

Happy Birthday Spencer

Hello all,

Today was Spencers 4th Birthday. We

had a small party with Ice Cream ( DOG TYPE ) and extra food. Great time was had by all, well almost all..

Final day at the BBB

Not going to write, letting the pictures do the talking. Great time was had by all..

Decker Creek B&B&B

DECKER CREEK BB&B 

Today we took it slow and easy, breakfast and then stayed for two plus hours just talking. Took dog to a city park near the river for a walk, then back to the cabin for a movie, dinner and the final walk of the day. The weather is getting colder only in the 40's today for a high. Clouds coming in and it almost looks like it could snow, but the forecast is just for overcast and cold.. 

Decker Creek B&B&B

Another great day at the Bed&Breakfast& Biscuit. As normal my day stared with an early morning walk just before the sun came up, then it was off to breakfast. 

The dogs love to visit with the owners, I think Shelby looks forward to being petted by Byron and getting treats from Pat.

 

After breakfast it is outside for social hour for the dogs. This is good for Shelby and Spencer who get very little interaction with other dogs. Shelby does very well for the most of the time, Spencer on the other hand stays close to me, even the six month puppy is three times his size. He is so cute trying to hide next to me most of the time.

Once social hour was done I took the dogs out on a ride. Plan was to go to PetsMart then an outside Cafe. Afternoon temps did get into the mid 60's but we did not find the Pets Mart and ended up at the McKinney Falls State Park. 

The dogs and I ended up hiking around Williamson Creek and doing the Homestead Trail. At the time I did not know it was a loop trail and when it started getting late I was just about ready to turn around when I noticed the old McKinney Homestead ahead, that was our starting point. 

The dogs loved the stops at the water to drink and rest, by now Shelby is more then ready to lay down and take a nap. 

However we still had just over a mile to go to get back to the Truck. Once back at the BBB both dogs were ready to call it a day, We had dinner watch some television, read a bit and off to bed. 

Time is flying for me and I am haveing a good time and relaxing.

Day two at BBB

Day two at the BBB started off with an early morning walk, it was that time of day when the Sun is not yet in the sky and the moon has not yet gone down, yet it is light. 

 

After the walk we went to breakfast with the owners. At the moment I am the only guest here so breakfast turned into a two hour visit. The food was excellent, but the best part was being able to have the dogs with me and having them interact with the owners dogs.  I only wish I had taken my camera with me so I could have had 

photos of all the dogs together.

After breakfast I took Spencer and Shelby on a long walk around the fifty areas that the BBB is

on. Both dogs were given time to explore without me concerned about cars,trucks,other dogs, or other people being around. IT WAS GREAT!!!!

The day ended watching a movie as both dogs slept, poor babies were exhausted, not used to two hour walks. The last walk of the day was just around the cabin to allow them to relieve themselves before it got too dark to go out. 

Tomorrow I hope to go to town and visit one of the Cafes that allow dogs on the patio, it all depends how cold it is..

Taking a large dog on vacation

Have you ever tried to travel with a large dog? If so then you know just how difficult it can be to find a place that will let you have one that is more then 50Lbs..  

Anyone that may have read my blog before knows I work on a boat for four to six weeks at a time  and live in a small room ( about the size of a large closet ) , so when I get off I like to go some place to unwind and relax. That is when having Shelby our 90LBS Lab becomes a problem. I have been looking off and on for a place I could go that is far enough away from the SKP park to feel like I am free. 

I think I may just have found such a place It is a B&B that is set up for having your pets along and is run by people that used to try to take they large dogs on vacations with them. 

I arrived yesterday at noon and so far have found taken the dogs out is really nice, no cars or trucks to worry about, dogs can sniff and play without me having to worry about what someone is going to say. 

The cabin ( not just a room ) is wonderful. I even have a small kitchen and made myself some real soup. Days are predicted to be on the cool side so the soup will be really good.  

Guess that will be all for today, will try to post a little something each day. Until tomorrow.

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...