June, 06

June 26th, 2006, Nancy's mother, sister and niece left today. Nancy had to work so I drove them to the Baltimore Airport and got them on their way. They stayed busy during the time here. Washington D.C. and Arlington Cemetery tour, National Aquarium at Baltimore's inner harbor (large complex of several buildings) and the Sloop-of-War USS Constellation (the last sailing vessel built by the Navy), Alexandria VA tour, Annapolis tour, Solomon's Island (shopping), Deale tour, Smithsonian Zoo to see the baby Panda Bear (the baby was born here, but will be sent to China in August per breeding agreement), finding sharks teeth and some fine dining. Niece Emma did a lot of swimming in our pool and met a new friend. Other than that we just visited. The rain and heat slowed them down a bit.

June 18th, 2006, The Job... It almost is turning out to be a full time position. I had told the Manager of the store that if someone didn't show up for work she could call me, I would do whatever it took to make her look good. She is doing it.. I worked all weekend and it was the busiest Saturday and Sunday they have ever had on Fathers day weekend. Our sales were 50% over projected. My feet are sore. Some of the differences between working for the FAA and West Marine, 1. I have to take a knife to work. I would get fired from the FAA if I did. 2. If I want a day off, I tell them, FAA would require a approved request. 3. I don't half to go through security or wear an ID badge. 4. We ordered Pizza in one day and it was delivered. FAA would not let any vendor in to deliver. 5. My family can come and visit the store anytime, FAA required a security clearance for family members paid for by me (except on special days). 6. My car doesn't need a security sticker on the windshield to park in the parking lot. 7. I clock in and out. The FAA would require a minute by minute accounting of work function throughout the day. 8. I haven't had one meeting to attend, FAA would have 1-4 meetings daily. Life is good.

Nancy is in Washington State this week. She had our grandson Trevin with her for the weekend. They had fun and everything worked out fine. This was the first time he was away that long without his mother and he did great.

I caught my first crab using a hand net. Sure is easy. Now the neighbors are letting my know when they see a crab for me to get.

This was a little boat that got in our way last weekend.

We will be having company this week when Nancy gets back. She will be flying back with her mother, sister and niece. They will be staying in the motel at our south marina and Nancy has scheduled many activities for their week stay. We will be doing the Washington D.C. tour and the Baltimore tour. From monuments to zoos and aquariums. It will be a activity filled week. This has been a little rambling, but it was the week.

June 11th, 2006, Well I started my new job, spelled J-O-B. Here I am with my new West Marine shirt and a bottle of champagne that Nancy had picked up to celebrate my new part time position. Boy, do I get a great price break as an employee, spelled G-R-E-A-T.

This week we took a 3 day weekend trip to the eastern shore and anchored in Dun Cove. It took a while to get there, 5.5 hours. We started out sailing but only averaged 1.3 knots according to the GPS. At that rate it would take over 20 hours to get there so we started the engine. We had thunderstorms in the area and shortly after we anchored in the cove, a gust front hit. Winds were 30 to 50 mph for about 30 minutes. One boat that was anchored next to us started dragging its anchor so fast that the owners, who were ashore on a doggy trip, almost couldn't catch their boat using their dinghy. Once they got to the boat, they raised their chain. I never did see an anchor. They had several in depth discussions and left the area. We had 3 other boats with us that evening. The next morning, one had dragged their anchor and were aground. They did nothing right to get off and just sat there as the tide went out another 1.5 feet. Finally Sea-Tow (a commercial towing operation) showed up (at the lowest tide) and worked about a hour to get them off. Not a pretty sight.

The cove was wonderful and gave us a few chuckles. At one point I noticed a gaggle of little old ladies wearing straw hats, on shore with their painting easels up, painting us. The other chuckle was the boat that was pulled off the grounding, re-anchored behind us. They had 6 people on board and nobody noticed that the anchor didn't catch a second time and that their boat was moving fast back out to sea. It had dragged out of the cove and finally caught something mid channel; held for about an hour and took off again. Finally when they were about to go aground on the rocky shore, someone on board noticed that they were not were they should be. They re-anchored again and as we left this morning, they were still in the same place - surprising - guess the third time was a charm. On the way back to Herrington Harbour on Sunday, we still had winds over 30 knots, gusting higher - on our bow. We took one wave that went over our bimini and several that came halfway up the dodger. We had so much salt that had dried on our dodger it was real hard to see out. We had Coast Guard helicopters and their C-130 four engine plane going up and down the bay over us on our way back. A boat was found not under command and they were looking for the crew that had gone overboard. Haven't heard if they were found. So ends the week.

June 3rd, 2006, This Tuesday I start another career opportunity. I will be a Wal-Mart greeter. No, but close. I start working

at the West Marine store in Edgewater, MD. Its about 15 miles up (read north) the road from here on the Solomon's Island road. This is a town next to Annapolis Maryland and ,in fact, people have a hard time telling that it is not in Annapolis. For those that don't know what a West Marine store is; well, it is like a hardware store for boaters. They stock just about everything from water toys and boating equipment to nuts and bolts. The manager, a friend and dock neighbor, put her foot in her mouth and asked me if I would come to work for them and I then put my foot in my mouth and said "(gulp) Yes".

Yesterday evening we had a wonderful dinner with friends, Bob and Bev from our old Texas Marina. It was great seeing them and catching up on the lake

news. We wish they had more time here and that we could have taken them for a sail on the Chesapeake. Bev was here on business and is attending work-related meetings this weekend while Bob is doing spouse things (sightseeing). We picked them up at their hotel in Washington D.C. ( with some struggles, no left turns in the entire city during rush hour) and drove to Old Town Alexandria. While there we did some shopping in the quaint old stores. We also stopped by a little sidewalk cafe for a glass of wine until it was time for our dinner. We had reserved a table at Gadsby's Tavern. This is the Tavern that George Washington would use to review his troops. His favorite dinner of roast duck is still on the menu. About 5 of the early Presidents would stop at Gadsby's. It is in the original building and is owned by the City of Alexandria with a sublease to the Inn provider. We were joined for dinner by Bob's sister-in-law and his niece. We had met Bob's brother before but not his wife and daughter - Great family. They will be moving to Turkey in a month and she had just finished her language class that day.

It's a warm day, but a little wet and blustery. It is quiet around the Marina with the "weekenders" staying home and the liveaboards lying low inside their boats. We brewed another batch of Solitaire homebrew beer, studied a little in our dive master texts, and plan to watch a movie to round out the afternoon.