Second Time Around

Well, my grand idea of Keith and I writing a blog together has pretty much bit the dust. All attempts at dragging him to the computer to write his share of the blog failed miserably. So, I guess, now I will be doing this blog all by my lonesome (this is a good time to head out if you only read this for Keith's posts).
We have now been in the Keys for eighteen long months. It's not a really bad place to be for so long, but I am getting real ansy to get out and continue this trip. Really.....honest.....truly.
So, I came upon a bit of good fortune, and convinced Keith that we were ready. So, with fingers crossed, it looks like we will be leaving soon. Can you see this first mate doing the happy dance?


I have already begun trying to get the cabin in order before we start again. How we managed to accumulate so much junk is beyond me. We didn't leave Texas with this much junk. I cleared out a ton of that crud from the port side in the salon - piles of stuff that would get tossed on the settee for lack of a better place to put it. I also convinced Keith to junk the old dorm-size refrigerator he bought a few years back. It had stopped working, so we used it to store extra stuff for the galley. I junked or re-distributed the galley stuff and got Keith to take the frig ashore and trash it. It is amazing how much roomier the salon looks now. 
I also got Keith to dump all of the old charts that he bought from a friend a couple years ago. Some of them were 20 or more years old! We had stored them behind the port settee, but now they are gone, and I have all of that wonderful space to use for something more worthwhile.
I also cleared the shelf above the port settee,  taking all the books, cruising guides, etc. down, cleaned, and re positioned the tv and dvd player so that I could put all of the dvd/cd's on the shelf, too. These are in plastic shoe boxes, and were previously stacked on the floor. It's not perfect, but it does look better.
I know I probably won't be done with all of this before we leave, so I'll just have to keep it going as we keep going until it's all done. 
So, I hope soon that I will have new stuff to write about, and new pics to post of different places, peoples and events. Soon....I hope.....soon. 

Peaches 1999 - 2015

Peaches Portman came into our lives in early December of 1999. We believe she was about nine months to a year old at the time.

Keith's mother, Susie, always had a dream of breeding poodles. An acquaintance of ours had a poodle that he wanted to find a home for, so on a cold night, I drove Susie over to his trailer to pick up this dog.
When the man came out with Peaches (the name was given to her prior to her joining our family), she was small, frightened and shaking. Susie took her and immediately nestled this scared little dog in the inside of her coat. When we got her home, we were able to examine the shape she was in - and it broke our hearts. Her nails were long and her hair was horribly matted in knots. She had huge brown eyes that showed genuine fear. We knew immediately that this was not a dog who had been treated well.
We made the appointment and took her to the groomers. Actually, it took about three appointments to get her cleaned up, groomed properly with her hair and nails looking good. 
She took to Susie right away. Even during the process of grooming all the extreme knots from her fur, Susie kept her close by - petting her, talking to her, and giving her the attention that I believe Peaches had never before experienced from any human. 
But with men, Peaches did not like them. If they were in the same room, she steered far away from them. If they came too close, she growled. I seem to recall that it took Keith about 3 weeks for Peaches to trust him - but she still wanted nothing to do with any other male human.
Through time, we discovered some of her history before she arrived in our household. Peaches was born in a puppy mill, cages stacked 4 and 5 high where waste and dropped food and spilled water rained down on the cages below the top ones. She was given to our "former" acquaintance who treated her so badly that when he came to visit our home shortly after giving her to us, Peaches stood between him and Susie and bared her teeth and growled like we've never seen her do in the time that we had her. We suspected that this was the reason she disliked men.

We lived in the mountains of Northern California at the time, with plenty of space for Peaches to run and explore in her newly found happy home. She also had the run of the house, but while inside, she stayed close to Susie's side. Sometimes, just a little too close.
Susie had a penchant for chocolate covered cherries. One day, she had an opened box in her room. Her bedside table had no room to set the box on, so Susie set them on the floor next to her bed. We walked in to find Peaches plowing down, as fast as she could, a box of chocolate covered cherries. Oh, was she going to town on them! We snatched them up, but not before she had eaten enough to make her sick to her stomach.

When Peaches came to live with us, Keith was a few months into driving professionally, on a regional route of the Western States. We found ourselves having to move from the house. Keith had made a run through Las Vegas, Nevada and thought the warm climate and multitude of activities the city had to offer would be good for us. But until we could get settled, Susie flew to Texas to stay, temporarily, with her niece; and Peaches and I became ride-alongs in the truck with Keith. It was also during this time that the company Keith worked for sold out to another trucking company. This had Keith driving further than the Western States. 
At first, Peaches didn't mind riding in the truck. We would stop at rest areas in varying States and Keith would give Peachy time to run and play. Their favorite game was for Keith to make sudden, surprise moves toward Peachy and she would run in various directions all around him, circling here and there. Then she would stop and freeze, not making a move until he did it again, and she would run around again. She absolutely loved that game!
There were a few humorous moments, also, on our travels through the various States. In Washington, in the snow, she left a "steamer" - and I do mean a steamer. It really did steam. In California, she left a "missile", standing straight up! Keith and I laughed over her creative ways of relieving herself.
We finally did manage to get an apartment in Las Vegas; and Susie, Peaches and I settled in while Keith went back to driving by his lonesome. But we weren't there very long before Susie's health declined and her daughter moved her into a care home in California. Peaches and I were back in the truck again.
Eventually, I obtained my Commercial Driver's License, and Keith and I drove team coast to coast. Peaches was right there with us, visiting every State in the U.S (except Hawaii and Alaska, of course). She loved being with us, and guarded the truck diligently. Not one soul could get with ten feet of that truck where she did not hear them and start barking. We always knew when someone was out around the truck.
But, after a time, Peachy grew weary of being in that truck. We discovered this one day when she began to "put on the brakes" when getting back into the truck. What I mean by that is, we'd walk her right up to the door of the truck and she'd stiffen up her front legs and back her body up and resist getting back in the rig. She began to hate riding in that truck.
While visiting my parents, who lived in the same area we had lived in the mountains of California, my Dad took a liking to Peaches. He had just lost his Keeshond, and he asked us if we would consider letting Peaches stay with him. We made an agreement that he would act as owner to Peaches, take care of her teeth (which were in the early stages of going bad), but if there came a time that something happened where he could no longer take care of her, or did not want her, she was to come back to us. So, Peaches found a new home with Mom and Dad.

Now, this was one of the amazing things about Peachy. Most dogs connect to one owner, and that is the one person they fiercely protect for the rest of their lives. Peachy had five owners (Susie, Keith and I, and Dad and Mom) - and she was protective, loving and loyal to all of us. She was with Dad until he passed in 2006, and stayed with Mom until she passed in 2009 (Susie had passed in 2003). Shortly after Mom passed, she came back to us again.
We were still driving long haul, but now we lived on a sailboat in Texas. Peachy wasn't thrilled to be back in the truck again, but she took to the boat quite well. And it was only a year in the truck before we retired from driving and Peachy no longer had to ride in "that big noisy contraption".
However, after we retired from long haul, we acquired a cat combo. Brother and sister tuxedo kittens, who had been abandoned on the side of a highway in San Antonio, came to live with us - and Peachy wanted nothing to do with them. No matter what Face and Elvis (later renamed Ziva) did to try to play and make friends with Peaches, she would not have anything to do with them. As time passed, she went from warning them away to just tolerating them, but she was not all that excited to have them around.
After a time, we left our home port in Texas, and traveled the Inter-coastal Waterway to Florida, straight down the west coast of Florida to the Keys. Peaches never got seasick, and her regular spot was in the cockpit, sleeping next to Keith or I as we traveled. By this time, Peaches was about 14 years old, and she did not have the energy she had once had. She had been diagnosed with arthritis in her back legs and her lower spine, and her eyesight and hearing wasn't what it once was either. She was not in pain at the time, and seemed to be content staying indoors for the most part and sleeping. Keith would take her out for exercise and potty breaks, but had to keep a close eye on her as she had a tendency to walk right off the dock. Many times we just carried her, as she had difficulty walking due to the arthritis.

But a more loving dog you could not find. Throughout the years, she would sit on Susie's lap.....or Dad's lap....or Mom's lap....or Keith's....or mine, and lay her head against us, looking up with the biggest brown eyes ever seen on a dog, and those eyes expressed the deepest love she had for us. She was gentle, kind, compassionate, loving, and protective. And she had the most amazing life - from puppy mill, to abuse, to a caring home in the mountains, in the city, on the water. She traveled the country and sailed the coast. She was a companion, and a comfort, to three people during their last days....and I believe she loved every minute of her life.......

I sat in a room, at the vets, that created a peaceful and serene atmosphere - oriental decor, the sound of a gentle flow of trickling water, in a chair designed for comfort. Peaches had already been given her sedative to calm her into a peaceful state, and she was wrapped in a large, soft blanket. She was not feeling any pain. The doctor had told me that, along with arthritis, blindness and deafness, she had also developed diabetes. I talked to her even though I knew she couldn't hear me. I walked down memory lane with her - from the time she came to us until the time we sailed away on the water. I told her how much she meant to me...to Keith...to Susie....to Mom and Dad.....and I thanked her for all the joy and happiness she had given us. I held her close, and I kissed her forehead as she took her last breath. It was the most difficult, heartbreaking, precious thing in my life. 

Balanced Once Again

Okay, so we've had a bit of a rough summer. Major breakdown in our communication, relationship, etc. etc. etc. The only thing that didn't break down was the Sue. We spent the last part of the summer coming to a balance, resolving personal issues. If you can find a couple that has lived in close quarters for as long as we have (8 years in a truck and 8 years on a boat. Some of those years overlap, by the way) and not have the down and dirty, drag out fights and disagreements, then I would say that you have a couple of brain dead people. I mean no insult to that. What I mean is that you have two people who are not individualistic, cannot think or act for themselves, but rely heavily on being one individual in two bodies. Keith and I are far from that. We met in our later years, not our younger years. Both of us were pretty set in our own ways, and we have butted heads on more than one occasion to keep our individuality and our set ways.
So, we passed the crisis, and we are now back on track.
Looking back on these many drag out arguments,  I can honestly say that I have no advice, at the moment, for anyone on how to resolve conflicts or avoid them altogether. Living in such close quarters and being around one another 24/7 is bound to bring on that feeling of "a bit too much". But, like any other couple, we just have to muddle through it.
So, as I try to get Keith to blog again on this blog, you will have to put up with my ramblings.....again. At least every few blogs. Because, until he starts blogging, I'll be posting various video's that I've taken over the years of our various sails and such on the Sue.
The previous post is the first one.
FYI - I posted another link to a new blog on Sailblogs. The previous one was member deleted (although, I think you can still view it) and I had to open a new member account to continue from the first blog. Sorry 'bout that folks. It's the fun of internet technology.

Covering a few years - like from 2011 to 2013, this is various pictures of our trip encompassing the entire Gulf Coast. Well, for Keith, anyways. From Port Isabel to Rockport, I drove the car and our boat creatures. I did the same from Rockport to Kemah. But, from Seabrook to the Keys leg of the journey, we had sold the car and traveled the route together, except for Carrabelle to Placida, which I traveled on land while Keith and his friend brought the boat down to Placida.

Beginning the Transformation of Moonlight Sue

OK, it's me again, you know, the imaginarian, and I've had a lot of time to come up with all kinds of things to make over our boat into one that is as unique as can be.
 First was the color scheme. I had already had enough of white boats. I mean, inviting someone to come over and telling them to just "look for the white boat" didn't make much sense to me. And this is important, I don't conform well to everyone's standard protocol. "Normal" just isn't part of my lifestyle. So I settled on jet black as the base color scheme, and designed the rest of the colors around that. Black is not that hard to complement and Interlux Perfection Fighting Lady Yellow seemed to be just the right shade to do just that. More on all the flak I took for choosing black later, and on some things, well, I would agree.
     One morning, as I was looking over the general appearance of the boat, I was disgusted with the the lovely shade of "chipped white paint"on the mast. "This is where it starts " I thought and made an appointment with the boatyard to remove the mast. 

     The day came and the forklift moved into position to set the lift straps under the spreaders in preparation to lift it off the shoe ( the mast is deck stepped). As they began to lift, the whole deck lifted and I yelled for them to hold (yes, all the shrouds and rigging had been disconnected). The mast was not splitting away from the mast shoe so I had to resort to unbolting the whole shoe from the deck and that enabled the whole thing to lift up. After I cut the wire to the lights and the VHF radio, the mast was removed to the yard and laid across saw horses.
 Oh, by the way, did I mention that I had never done any thing like this before and was clueless about how to proceed from here? 
     Well, how hard can this be? It's just a big aluminum pole with some wire in it that should be replaced as the wire is all black inside the covering (badly corroded). All I have to do is to slide the luff tracks out and replace the wire, right ? Simple! I'll just take this big hammer and 2x4 and knock the shoe off the bottom of the mast and....... IT's NOT MOVING! After a few minutes of pounding, I feared I would break the casting and resorted to asking the yard manager what to do. He said that heating the mast might do it, but I knew that could soften the aluminum at the foot of the mast so I opted against that. After a couple days of brainstorming I knew I had but one option; cut the shoe off the mast. 
     I had to make this a straight cut, so I wrapped tape around the mast 1.5 inches above the shoe and began to saw. The shoe eventually fell to the ground and I picked it up to peel the mast end off the shoe. I was totally astonished at how much corrosion had accumulated there! There was NO WAY that shoe would have come off any other way. But now the mast is 1.5"shorter than it was. What can that hurt, right?
     I proceeded with the rewire, complete with new steaming/deck light, anchor light, VHF antennae, and new VHF cable. I did everything right and slid all the luff tracks back in. By the way, THEY all slid in and out quite easily.
     After three coats of flawlessly applied Jet Black Perfection, I was now faced with a dilemma; all my standing rigging was now too short. What to do?

      I used to be a profile mill machinist and when we saw we were taking too much off the part the common solution was to shim up the pattern with the appropriate amount of masking tape thus moving the tracing stylus out, adding material to the part. So I fashioned two blocks of 3/4" teak wood to the shape of the bottom of the mast shoe, and using longer bolts bolted the shoe to the deck, effectively raising the mast assembly 1.5". Now the standing rigging would work.
     After installing bullet connectors to the wiring (so I wouldn't have to cut them if I had to drop the mast again), the mast was re-stepped, wiring reconnected and rigging re-tightened. I turned on the VHF radio and it worked - as did all the lights.
      I was quite proud of my newly rebuilt shiny

 BLACK mast. But this would not be the last time this mast would come down.

.  

Miscellaneous Ramblings of the Early Years

Okay, so I said Keith was ready to post again - and I wasn't fibbing about it. BUT, this situation is part of that "La Vida Loca" I was talking about in my earlier post. Essentially, it goes like this:
Me: Are you going to post on the blog tonight?
Keith: Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I need to do that. Yeah, I'll do it.
Me: Okay 

This short conversation is followed by Keith getting out his favorite snack and drink and turning on the tunes or the tv. Of course, this is after he gets back to the Sue in the late afternoon from being on shore all day. He snacks until dinner, has dinner and falls asleep watching tv.
My new strategy will be to get the blog page set up for him to type in whatever he decides to type while I make dinner. Stay tuned to see if that works out or not.

In the meantime - you get me again. Alright, alright - I can hear the groaning through the speakers on the 'puter. Sorry, can't be helped.

Getting settled in PI after our permanent move from Nevada was really easy - and I mean, easy. Port Isabel (and South Padre Island) had a very relaxed and "laid-back" feel to them. I remember thinking that it had the same "feel" as San Diego back in the ancient age when I was growing up in "America's Finest City" (no, really,  that's how they described it - in San Diego). Also, the Queen Isabella bridge from PI to SPI reminded me of a mini Coronado Bay bridge. Another similarity was it bordered Mexico, as did San Diego. The only difference was San Diego is a huge city and PI was small (one main highway) and intimate (cozy). Yes, I felt right at home in PI.
I also felt right at home on the boat. After about 6 years (give or take) of living in the truck, the Sue was a palace.  I could stand up straight and walk more than two steps! Of course, getting in and out of the truck was easier for me than getting on and off the boat - especially when it was low tide. Several years later, when we were at a marina in Seabrook, Texas there were times in the day I couldn't get off the Sue at all during low tide. 
There were some things on the boat that I didn't like, and until it was changed (ie.....torn out and re-built), they were real frustrating irritants. 
One of these was the cabinet above the stove. I'm sure Keith will talk more about this cabinet when he gets around to talking about the changes made in the cabin (stay tuned for about 5 years! heeheehee), but right now, I'll describe this shelf in one expressive word - AAAGH!
This cabinet was two long shelves. The closest shelf surface sat lower than the furthest shelf. Neither shelf was made for convenience in either storage nor retrieval.  I tried using it for dishes and cookware; than canned and boxed food.  No dice. The cabinet was a menace. 
The sliding doors were enough to make me take a hammer to the whole thing. Actually, they didn't slide at all - not placed in the cabinet's wood grooves. The "handles" were just indents in the dark plexi-glass doors. So, the whole schameel was to get your fingers in the indents and slide the door - about 1/2 inch. This is where it would abruptly stop and break a finger nail as your hand was wrenched from the door's "handle". Repeat process until door is opened completely and your fingers have no nails left at all.  I was never soooo glad to see that cabinet gone!
The other major irritant that sticks out in my mind was the nav station chair. It was a stand alone chair that swirled - only it didn't swirl. Keith tried everything to get it to swirl, but it was old and worn out. I was glad to see that chair go, too.
As we had to deal with the old and horrible cushions in the v-berth and starboard settee (which we had laid out as a bed), Keith picked up some memory foam mattresses. Ah - memory foam. The best invention of the past century! There's nothing like a cushy cushion to cush the tushy while sleeping - and the gentle rocking of the boat, too, made for a good nights sleep. Take any of life's conveniences from me - but don't touch my memory foam!

Moving aboard...sleeping, eating, and other things

Keith has assured me that he is ready to blog again, but I'll do this post first.
After reluctantly agreeing not to stay in the motel again on our home time to Port Isabel, mainly because I wanted the use of the motel's wifi service, I began to stay on board the Sue. Naturally, I prepared myself with a new internet connection - a wifi card from Cingular (which was later taken over by AT&T). So, now I could be on board and stay in touch with fam and friends through the internet, and do my genealogy research, also, on my home time away from work.
It did not take long to adapt to living on a boat. It was, actually, quite easy. I think the only two major factors in adapting was very minimal space when cooking and using the head. Actually, using the head was almost non-existent. Neither Anchor Marina nor South Point had any type of pump out system. Keith solved the problem by bringing aboard the porta-potty that we used in the truck. If I recall correctly, Anchor Marina had a shower, but when we moved over to South Point and joined the Yacht Club there, we used the Club's showers. 
Cooking on the Sue, at first, was also nearly non-existent. Keith had to replace the stove that was in the galley first. I did use the top burners on the original stove, though. I also did a lot of meals in the slow cooker, too.  A majority of time, until the new stove went in, we just went to the local fast food joints around town.
Once the new stove was in, it became an experiment to cooking meals. The stove was on propane and the oven consisted of a strip of propane flames on the "floor" at the very back of the oven. Essentially, all of the major heat stayed in that area. Cooking times consisted of two-three times longer than average times and a lot of turning the dishes around for even cooking. Prepping was also a lesson in organization and patience what with the small areas in which to work, so I learned to use any space in the cabin that I needed. 
Most of the time, I would decide what to fix the day before, what I would need and the area's I would use. Chopping and mixing were done in the mid - to late afternoon on a TV tray. 
Why not the table in the salon (like most boats have)? Well, we did have a table, but the support pole for it was not the proper base for the table. The pole that we had caused the table to severely lean from one side to the other. So, the table was kept in the low position and made into a bed for me to sleep on after I discovered how difficult it was for me to get in and out of the v-berth at night when I needed to use the head. We used tv trays for eating meals and the Nav station for computer and other "office" business.  The trays and Nav Station also doubled for extra work space for cooking, too. 
By the time Thanksgiving rolled around in our second year on board, I was ready to do the first home-cooked holiday dinner we had had in years. While driving team, we would head back to Vegas for Thanksgiving and have our holiday meal at one of the many casino buffet's in town. Of course, there were a couple of times we didn't make it home and ended up at some truck stop restaurant for our Thanksgiving meal. It wasn't too bad a meal either. I've always been thankful and grateful for the truck stops and their attention to making life easier for the driver with the services they provided for us.
So, anyway, back to that first Thanksgiving on board the Sue. My first consideration had to be the turkey. I decided on a 12-13 lb. bird so that I could freeze the leftovers and than take it on the road with us when we got back in the truck. However, I did not trust our oven to thoroughly cook the bird (and it would take a LONG time to do so, anyway), so I started to explore alternative options for our main course. I settled on an electric roaster. It would not take as long as the oven, browning the bird is minimal in a roaster, but it would cook it through and through. Using the roaster itself was not a problem either, as we were hooked up to shore power. I used the slow cooker for the green bean casserole, and everything else was done on the stove top. 
Organization was the key to it all, really. The bird and green bean casserole had to be started first. Of course, I do an ambrosia salad on Thanksgiving every year, too, and it was always prepared the day before. Pies were store-bought at that time. I didn't discover I could bake the pies in the roaster until years later, and we didn't get off the road in time to do them anyway. I barely had enough time to defrost the turkey after getting home off the road. So, once the bird and casserole were cooking, it would be a few hours before everything else had to be done. So, peeling potatoes, and cooking up the gizzards was used for that time frame. So, I would pace myself and organize - turkey, green bean casserole, gizzards, potatoes,  Stove Top stuffing (because of time and space limits), and the gravy and rolls last. I would even put out a tray of crackers, cheese and pickle slices for Keith to munch on before the dinner was ready.Since that second year on the Sue, I have done Thanksgiving (and Christmas ham dinners, too) on board every year.
No, it wasn't that difficult to adapt to living aboard. I have lived in houses, apartments, cabins with no electricity or running water, motor homes, and trucks with sleepers. Living on a boat was just one more place to add to the list. 

I do have to add that one of the most difficult aspects is the rocking. It's not the extreme rocking while on the move, but that gentle rocking when in a slip...or at anchor....or on a mooring. Even when wide awake, it's like being in a giant baby cradle. If you don't move around, keep busy, go topside occasionally, it puts you to sleep just like a baby in a cradle. It surprises me that I don't see more cruisers always yawning!

Boat Creatures Around the Boat

So, now we get to those creatures that make their home around the boat. Actually, if you just arrived at an anchorage, dock, slip, mooring than technically it is their home and you are just visiting them.
There are many of these types of boat creatures - alligators, manatees, dolphins, pelicans, sting rays, crabs, ducks, herons and a plethora of other creatures we have yet to encounter on our travels.
Even though one may feed, hold, cuddle, pet their boat creature who lives on board, it is better (and, sometimes, the law) to not mess with any of the boat creatures around the boat. Talk to them, take pictures if you desire to do so, but don't attempt to feed, pet, touch or swim with them. Even a docile looking creature such as a dolphin can get his "fin out of joint" and inflict injury.
On our entire trip thus far, I have yet to encounter an alligator or a manatee. Keith has seen both, but not I. Manatee's, apparently, make appearances in the morning hours after sunrise. I admit, those are not my favorite hours of the day. I'll wake up around 9'ish and Keith will come down into the cabin and tell me all about the "huge manatee that was swimming around the Sue" - no picture, no rushing down to wake me up so I can rush up and take a pic. So, I now have this insatiable goal to see a manatee. Maybe one day <sigh>.

When we first bought the Sue we would take her out on day sails. Once the sails went up and the motor shut down, dolphins loved to swim with the boat. Port Isabel was great for "sailing with the dolphins". There was something very peaceful, and almost spiritual, about cruising along in the company of such graceful and playful boat creatures. 
While in Seabrook, my favorite boat creature were the ducks. Now, we did feed them crackers or day-old bread. During breeding season, we would get a Mama Duck and Daddy Duck with their passel of ducklings paddling around the boat every evening around 5 pm waiting patiently for their bread or crackers. I laugh when I think about it. They were a close-knit brood until feeding time - than it became "every duck for himself". They would chase each other away to fight for that bread or cracker crumb.

The inhabitants of water and sky are interesting creatures. If one observes them for any length of time, you can get a sense of character and individual personalities in them. They are far from helpless, as some have surmised, as they forage for their own food and provide themselves with shelter. They even, at times, find their own unique way of entertainment. I enjoy being around these boat creatures as much as I enjoy being around our on board boat creatures. 

Boat Creatures Topic on the Terrible Twosome

When Peachy arrived on the Sue in 2009, she had one year to enjoy living aboard as the only pet until the terrible twosome arrived in 2010. Of course, I'm talking about the brother and sister tuxedo cats - Face and Elvis (whose name was later changed to Ziva by Keith. So, from this point on, I will refer to her as Ziva).
Face and Ziva, along with their sibling (I called Ashes) were found on a stormy night in San Antonio by my daughter and her friend. They stopped along the side of a deserted road when they saw a number of kittens wandering around wet and frightened. Out of all the kittens, which was obviously an abandoned litter, they managed to catch three.
Ashes was adopted right away. She was a beautiful two-tone tan kitten. When the three arrived at my daughter's house, Ashes was the obvious protector of the three of them. Face. likewise, was obviously the runt of the litter, being much smaller than the others.

My daughter could not find a home for Face and Ziva, so I called Keith and presented my case for taking on these two orphans. To my surprise, he agreed and I brought them home with me.
As much as Face and Ziva, who were most likely in the 6-8 week range in age, wanted to be friends and play with Peachy, she wanted nothing to do with them. She even "warned" them away if they got to close. In time, Peachy learned to tolerate the two, and even, on occasion, they would all sleep side by side.
Face and Ziva adapted well to living aboard - so much so that I believe, in their mind, they owned the Sue. They had specific times for sleeping (kitty nap time), when they wanted their treats (kitty kandy), and when they wanted to play (anywhere between 2 am and 5 am).
Okay, so if they wanted to believe they owned the boat - fine. If they wanted their treats at a specific time - fine. If they wanted to sleep - so sleep. BUT when play time consisted of chasing each other (with occasional tackles) up and down the companionway at 2, 3, 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning - all bets are off. It became a battle that Keith and I lost until they were old enough where play time consisted of staring at each other until one swatted the other with a paw and they tusseled on the settee for a short time, eventually retreating to opposite corners and falling asleep.
I will talk more about these two little minions in later posts. They were a great source of entertainment for us over the past few years - and a great deal of heartache, too. 
If you are wondering if they ever landed in the water on occasion - yes, they did. Not as often as you might think, though. Each of them (Face, Ziva and Peachy, too) took tumbles into the water about 3-4 times each. Fortunately, we were there for almost all of them - and when we weren't there (for the cats, anyway, as they wandered even when we were away from the boat), we were close enough to shore for them to get there and make their way back to the Sue. In time, the terrible twosome learned the advantages of not taking chances when jumping from the Sue onto a dock. Peachy never left the boat without one of us with her, but we did learn to keep an eye on her. Peachy's eyesight isn't what it use to be and there were a couple of incidences where she walked right off the end of a dock or right off the bow of the Sue without noticing it was "the end of the road" (so to speak). Even at her age, she's still a good, strong swimmer!
Next blog, I'll talk about boat creatures that hang out around the boat.

Let's Talk......Boat Creatures

We've taken a break from our "normal" blogging because Keith's been busy with other business. So, guess what? You get me again!
I've been trying to come up with a topic that won't interfere with the chronology of our blog and confuse the crap out of everyone. I thought, maybe, talking about boat creatures would be a "safe" topic.
No, I'm not talking the creepy, crawly things that can settle themselves into the bowels of a vessel (although I might talk about one way they can get there thanks to "other" creatures!). 
The creatures I'm talking about are our pets. One kind are our "family" - dogs and cats, for the most part. They are the ones that travel with you wherever the wind takes you. They are our companions, protectors and boat guards.
There is another group of boat creatures. They are temporary, for the most part, and only stay for a short time (an hour, a day, a week, etc). They hang out around your vessel. They are dolphins, manatees, stingrays, ducks, pelicans and any other creature of water or sky. 
We started out, after buying the Sue, with no boat creatures at all. We were still driving team coast to coast and pets just weren't in the picture at that time. But, in 2009, we got back our dog after the passing of my mother. So, let me introduce you to Peaches.
Peaches is a Toy Poodle originally owned by Keith's mother (the namesake of our vessel). We're not sure when Peachy was born, but our best guess estimate is somewhere around the Spring of 1998. 
Peaches has had quite the life. She was born in a puppy mill and came to Susie from a person who treated her "unkindly". In her lifetime, she has lived in the mountains, desert, small towns, and big cities. She's traveled all over the country with us in the truck, visiting almost every State in the Union. She's been in weather as high as 114 degrees and as low as -9 degrees. Now, at the approximate age of 16, she has sailed the Gulf Coast with plans to continue her life's adventure to the end.
I think the most extraordinary thing about Peachy is her comforting nature. Her personality, body language and expressive eyes had brought great comfort to not only Susie in the last years of her life, but to my parents as well. Even now, with poor eyesight and hearing, arthritis in her back legs, and only a few teeth remaining, she will sit in Keith's lap (or mine) and cuddle up while showing you her love and gratitude. It is absolutely amazing.

On my next post, I'll talk about our "terrible twosome' - brother and sister tuxedo cats we brought home to keep Peachy company (or drive her crazy).