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!