Muddy Report 2-25-12

Man, we forgot what it's like to have a new pup, but he's so damn cute that he makes up for the bits of trouble he gets into.

Radar's finally reached the toleration level. I really think he's teaching Muddy by example, but he refuses to play with him which drives the puppy crazy. We're sure that'll change in time. Maybe it's the teacher never plays with the student kinda thing.

Muddy wants to follow Radar everywhere he goes,

look at what he looks at,

and smell what he smells.

We think the boy's gonna be a good one.
Only three accidents inside the boat so far and those were when he first arrived and he's so small they weren't a problem to clean up.
Now, if we leave the back door open, giving him access to his Little Rascal Turf, (Thanks Kasey's Choice), he'll hop out in the cockpit all on his own and do his business. This will come in handy on those long passages we're planning in the spring.
Yep, he's sleeping in the bed with us.... The whole of Crew Istaboa all wadded up in one bed. In the middle of the night I feel Muddy's little paws walking up my back and then hear a low grumble coming from Radar, who sleeps next to my head, then I feel those little paws going back down my back to the foot of the bed where he's safe. Eventually he will curl up next to Mel to finish the night.

So, Muddy is working out well. We think he's gonna be a good addition.

Speaking of that spring cruise... Our loose plans are to briefly do the Exumas, Eleuthera, and the Abacos then make a long run up to Fernandina Beach, FL to check on our Grandson's progress. After spending some time we'll run the east coast to New York City for my 60th birthday in mid June. We would like to do the Hudson River before heading up to Maine then turning around and heading back south.
We've never done that part of the world and are very much looking forward to it.

Lots of chores to do before the spring run. One being moving out of our land dwelling and figuring out what to do with all that furniture and stuff.
Boat chores are never ending as usual, so we're staying busy.

Adios,

Istaboa

Ran across this video and found it interesting. An interesting point of view. Hope you enjoy.

Back aboard

Nothing blog for a few days, I haven't been feeling well, so we'll catch up now.

It was a really quick and worthwhile trip back to Memphis. Mel got to check on her Mom, I had a heart scan with a good outcome, and we received a very strong offer on Rocky Point. All of that in about 6 days.

The Rocky Point thing has bitter sweet connotations... It's such a beautiful place and we hate to leave it, but it does need someone else that will love the place and take care of it. We think the prospective buyers will do just that.

The place explodes with color in the spring.

And the memories we have will last forever... Imagine sitting in the green room, having morning coffee and watching such touching scenes as this... on a regular basis. We watched this doe raise her fawn all summer. She was almost a pet, we would put corn and water out for her while she was nursing her fawn.

But it's time for a change and a change is coming... A very little change arrived on the 16th.
Introducing our new little mate... Muddy.




Had his first night sleeping in the bed with the rest of us last night  and did well... No crying, no accidents, and Radar didn't protest to much.
Radar still hasn't embraced the little dude yet. Kinda grumbles when Muddy comes too close and even nipped him a couple of times, but he'll come around. This pup is just too damn cute to resist.

Seems while in Memphis I contracted what we Memphians call the "Memphis Mung". Which is a bad cold that tends to linger. Luckily I caught it on the way out of town and antibiotics along with the warm Florida sunshine cured me relatively quickly. Much better now.

Finally got our plumbing problem fixed. What should have been a 2 hour/200.00 problem took almost 2 months and $2000.00. I will have more to say about Randy Brenner and Sealand in the review section. This won't be a good review for Classic Marine and Mr. Brenner.

This is a long post, but ending on a more positive note, (no pun intended) I want to post a video of an acquaintance of ours and a good friend of my brother.  Wayne Jackson grew up just down the street in my home town of West Memphis, Arkansas  and went on to travel the world playing trumpet on 83 Gold and Platinum albums. He is half of the Memphis Horns. He created that special signature Memphis horn sound that many have imitated for years. He and Andrew Love are the Memphis Horns and this is Wayne accepting the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award last week.

Adios,

Istaboa

Underwater photos of dogs

We love dogs and we love love water so this is right up our alley.

If you haven't seen it, the whole collection is here... Seth Casteel's Underwater photos of dogs.
So tonight we are in Albany, GA. More than halfway home and looking forward to being back aboard Istaboa and see all our dock friends.
Got to stop at Carroll Sausage Company and pick up a few pounds of their fine fare.

Adios,

Istaboa

Muddy Waters of Istaboa

aka... Muddy.
Mel is flying up to Winston-Salem on Thursday to pick him up and fly him home.
Gonna be interesting.

Seems we're about to enter a whole new chapter of our lives. In so many ways. We'll fill you in on the rest in a few days. 

Heading back to Stuart in the morning... will take a couple of days. 

Adios,

Istaboa

Happy Birthday, Mark Philips

Last night we surprised our old friend Mark with a party in Memphis. It was fun.

The Big Five O doesn't seem so large when it finally arrives. I have the big Six O coming up which seems completely wrong. I keep counting the years to be sure I've done the math correctly... always adds up the same. Damn!
Poking around the net and came across this video... Peter Yarrow and Richie Havens... Great tune.Enjoy.

Adios,

Istaboa

Cloud Tsunami rolls over Panama City Beach

 Saw this on the net and thought to pass it along. Pretty amazing photos. 

We were just in PCB, wish we would have experienced that. Wonder what it was like looking up from the beach?

 

By Natalia Jimenez, msnbc.com

Helicopter pilot Mike Schaeffer was wrapping up a tour when he spotted this incredible weather phenomenon along the coast of Panama City Beach, Fl. on Sunday. As soon as he landed, he alerted Panhandle Helicopter owner JR Hott of the "cloud form waves," and together they went up for a better view. They moved quickly knowing that it is only in very specific weather conditions that this beautiful effect occurs. While the online community has dubbed this a "cloud tsunami," Hott disagrees with the popular moniker:

I wouldn't call it a "cloud tsunami." The term tsunami implies a natural disaster. The event, while it can form quickly, moves gently and slowly. It isn't something that happens with more than a gentle breeze.

While the images appear non-threatening and peaceful, as an experienced pilot, Hott has been trained to treat all fog and clouds as if they are solid objects. He and Schaeffer were very careful approaching in the air to get a better view. Fortunately, because of the location of the condos, they were able to approach the cloud waves from the side and did not place themselves in the direct path of the fog.

Meteorologist Dan Satterfield explains this occurrence on his blog:

Cool air offshore was very nearly at the saturation point, with a temperature near 20ºC and a dew point of about 19.5ºC. The air at this temperature can only hold a certain amount of water vapor, and how much it can hold depends heavily on the temperature. If you add more water into the air, a cloud will form, but you can also get a cloud to form by cooling the air. Drop the temperature, and it can no long hold as much water vapor, so some of it will condense out and a cloud will form.

Hott will see this happen a couple times a year, but Sunday's visibility was especially clear and he was able to make all these pictures in only five minutes! He is more amazed at the attention his pictures are getting, rather than with the event itself. "This is not so much a study in photography, but a study in how something can go viral," he said. Hott posted the photos to his company's Facebook page and suddenly he was getting requests for the pictures from all over the world. He is happy with the attention, hoping it inspires some to take a tour with him along the coastline.

Road trip to Memphis

Oh shit!!
Why are we here?

Back in Memphis again.... Long road trip... We made a mistake leaving Stuart when we chose the shortest route on our Navigation System. They should have said Scenic Route That Takes Forever. Anyway we left Stuart heading for Mexico Beach, Fl on the panhandle. Our route took us across the state then along the northern gulf coast all the way around. Even though we thought it would never end, it was cool passing through some of the old fishing villages like Carrabelle and Apalachicola. 

Radar takes it all in stride.

Went by to see Mel's brother in Mexico Beach. He took us out to dinner at Killer Seafood. It's a funky little Seafood diner/beer joint on the outskirts of town that's a local fave. It's all fresh and really good.

Soft Shell Crab... Panhandle Style

Very Tasty!!

So, other than a tiring run, it was largely uneventful. 

Although along the way——Some of you may remember my rant about Mr. Chase Camacho and Florida Yacht Interiors.  Yes, there will be another update.

He called me as we were driving. It's kinda funny, I thought he would be pissed about the painfully honest review I wrote about him and his company, but that didn't bother him. He was furious about my pointing out the humor in his picture with the 2 Bikini clad girls at one of his "charity events". Not sure why... it was his picture he posted on the internet, I just reposted it and added a bit of tongue and cheek satire.

So I guess it's okay to trash his company, his service, and his product, but make fun of his charity... and you make him mad.

Okay Chase... after thinking about that a bit. I apologize if it appears I was making light of your favorite charity... I was actually poking fun at you, not your charity. As a matter of fact, I will even put a link here and let those who read this make up there own minds. Here's the link. http://www.getkidsfishing.org/ 

It's actually a nice little site and they do seem to want to take underprivileged children out fishing and show them a good time.  

Also... Chase, if you would care to rebut my review, I post comments without editing them.

So in the middle of this boring run north through Alabama, Captain Chase, you livened things up... and for that we thank you.

Ever day has a little drama I guess.

Adios,

Istaboa

You never know what you'll see

In South Florida.

Drove down to West Marine for some supplies and 12v LED light bulbs and parked in front of this car. Trippy little thing. Had no name on it. I thought maybe Chinese, but when I got home I posted these pics on Mobli and a nice fellow informed me it was a 2CV by Citroen. French.

j

Cut from Wikipedia:

The Citroën 2CV (French: “deux chevaux” i.e. “deux chevaux-vapeur [fiscaux]”, literally “two tax horsepower”) is an economy car produced by the French car manufacturer Citroën between 1948 and 1990.^[1] It combined technological innovation, utilitarian looks and simple bodywork.^[3]

In 1953 Autocar in a technical review of the car wrote of "the extraordinary ingenuity of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T Ford".^[4]

Anyway, not much going on with Crew Istaboa. Wrestling with boat-fixers still. Seems we have a marine plumbing problem that no matter how much money and time we throw at it... it and the boat-fixer just won't go away.  I'll post a detailed account in the Marine Services Review section when it's over. (And thanks everyone for checking out this new section. over 400 hits in the week it's been up.)

Superbowl Sunday!!
Going for the Giants. Eli is kind of a home boy. Quarterbacked at Ole Miss, his Dad, and his brother have been in our lives forever.
So whatta ya expect.

 Do it again, Eli!

Go Giants!

Incredible video

The Salty Cs Crew sent this over.
Chances are you've seen this (over 2million view)... if not, it's worth your time.
Amazing and kinda funny.
Thanks, Traci and Mike