I can't believe it has been a month since the last blog... so, to quote the very falsetto Marvin Gaye... "What's goin' on?"
Well, Southport, NC absolutely must turn off their fiberglass magnet so we can leave. To be fair, though, we haven't been in Southport the entire time... Holding Pattern has been, well, in a Holding Pattern. She has been here but we have been in Ohio for two weeks for a funeral/mermorial service and to remove our landlocked belongings from the house that will be sold...what an adventure in itself.
We have not owned a car for three years now and driving occurs very rarely; so a 13 hour drive was an adventure in itself...70mph instead of 7 knots and, of course, a good torrential rain through the windy mountains (English can just suck...windy with a hard I, as in curvy...not the soft I as in a heavy breeze blowing through the hollers...)
(Editors Note: I now realize that 99% of our talk is bout windy days not windy roads...but then there are windy rodes (boaters will understand the last pun as long as they pronounce it with the hard I...oh, man, I've got to stop this)
While in Dayton, Ohio we had a wonderful visit with family and were quite saddened to see that while we were in town, over 4,000 jobs were cut from multiple businesses...that's hard to see. It made us very thankful the our expenses are very low and we can sort of control how much (or little) we spend...a little fuel, phone, and food. Those are our three...everything else is optional (phone is not optional, I am horrified to say.) On the bright side, we went to King's Island, the roller coaster park we grew up with and had a fantastic day with Heather's family getting the shizzle scared out of us. After one ride that had corkscrews, loops, twists, turns, water, fire, and lots of screaming I told Heather, "That reminded me of that trip from Masonboro to Beaufort last year" I'm glad we both have a very inappropriate sense of humour.
We didn't have to worry about being spoiled being in a house... we arrived post-estate sale so the home was void of a bed...bedding, yes...bed, no. So we borrowed an air mattress with an unfortunate leak...when one of us would wake up delfated the other was awakened and the bed was refilled with air...this happened about 2-3 times per night. We did try to find the leak but it was in the felt-top and the ugly beast never did rear it head... Oh, yeah, the sewer backed up while we were there (happens about twice a year as I hear it...) and the hot water heater went on the blink. We did, however, get to see a mama cat give birth to six kittens which was cool.
The cats went with us on the trip...asking someone to watch them for 2 weeks was out of the question as was putting them in a kennel or such. Ours are resilient felines, thankfully, but they did not take well to the house. They like to go outside (on deck only, never off board) which was out of the question at the house with a boxer on one side, some barky terrier-type critter on another, and a Jerry Springer Spaniel on yet another...plus we paid very little attention to the girls as we were buisier than a three-legged cat trying to bury a mouse on ice, so they sought us out continually.
But we're back, no worse for the wear, and getting ready to head out again. Getting things put away, getting the fridge and freezer back on-line. As soon as we got back the reefer decided to go on the fritz, finally we found a bad ground wire, thankfully an easy fix.
We are very lucky to have friends like John & Mary on the trawler OZ. We met them down in Vero Beach, FL this winter and they stay here at South Harbor Village during the summer. They have been so generous running us around town and ringing us whenever they go into town to ask if we want to go on a field trip. They took us to Wal-Mart, on a tour of Southport, and asked us to go to Wilmington with them...and we got a nice ferry ride (thankfully the language has separated those two words....ferry and fairy...I think this would be a different blog had I gone on a Fairy Ride...
I think it is late enough that this has gone from a useful blog to a strange rambling... tomorrow is the last day, we may leave here Wednesday, only time will tell.
Like Mary on OZ says, "It is what it is." I like pragmatic people.
Next time, look forward to the tale of us nearly getting arrested by an off-duty, plainclothes officer for walking on a 2 lane road to get to the park...it is a tale in and of itself that ended in an official reprimand for Barney Fife.
Oh, yeah, it's late so my fingers are uncooperative and proofreading is non-existent. |
