Christmas

Season's greetings to all
Wow It's been a hectic few days here on the dock. My daughter and grandson came down from the frozen north for the holidays and we all went down to Karen's house to enjoy Christmas dinner with her and the girls. We had a great time and spent the evening opening presents and OH,ing and AH,ing over all the gifts. Everyone then descended on the boat. And started painting. Last year Cath and Nolan primed the galley and stairwell. Over the ensuing year I got a few panels painted. I also found a wall mural that I thought would look good on the curved portion of the stairwell. This year they painted with a fury. The whole galley got painted, even the book shelf. Then Nolan put up the mural. WOW. Now it can truly be called the Sun Room. The mural is of a sunset with palm fronds over the ocean and beach. We had to cut out the beach to accommodate the space but the colors match everything in the room and just brings everything together.
It's new years eve, Abby stayed over the last couple of days to hang with gramp's and aunt Cath and lend a hand with the painting as well. Karen and Emily are on there way over to spend the night and shoot off fireworks.
My new neighbor should be moving in next week. He has had a small army of workers toiling away on his boat ( Koi's boat ). He had his family down from Gainsville for Christmas. They stayed on the boat overnight, We didn't see much of them as it was very cold, mid 30s but they did wave every now and then. As soon as I get pictures on the new paint job I will post them.
I must start getting the rib's ready for our new years eve party.
Till next time
Happy New Year.
Capt. Bob

Christmas

That time of the year is rapidly approaching. Are you ready? I know I'm not.
Just got back from my annual world wide cruise around middle America. Well maybe not world wide but definitely exhausting. Some how all my trips amount to 3000 miles, and this one was not an exception. I started out driving Irene up to Lake city to visit her daughter. Then on to Tenn. to inspect my property and check in on Tenn. Log Homes to get some plans for a log home I want to erect on the lake property. Then over to Jim & Susan for Thanksgiving. I spent about four days on the J/S farm and let the dog loose twice. We went around to a few lumber mills looking foe planking for the hatch covers on the Achievement. Found another source for log homes in the process. Then off to Va. After getting lost a couple of times I arrived at the home of Paul & sue Gregory. Parents of Tinkerbell and guardians of Sam the wonder dog. it was a very pleasant visit. Tinkerbell didn't stay long for she had to go to work. After my brief visit with the Gregory's I was off to my son's house. I spent two days catching up with the kid's and collecting all of my bric A brack I had left with them when I moved onto my sailboat. I then went over to the Weaver compound in the woods to visit with my buddy Ron and his brother. We chopped down a few trees and loaded some hickory in to the pickup for the trip home. I had a job pending for the tail end of the week so we had to bug out on Tue. morning for the trip home. Not a bad trip in all but long.
It looks like the good ship Malola ( Koi's boat ) has been sold. I encountered the new owner on my return from the frozen north. He informed me he had given Koi a deposit and payed the dock rent for Dec. Looks like I have a new neighbor.
It's been very quiet on the dock since my return. Bryan left to visit with his parents in South Carolina.
The Christmas parade of lights was last night. Boats and barges of all shapes and sizes had been going down river all afternoon to get in position for the event. later in the evening they all came back with there lights blazing. Looked nice.
Not much else to tell. I wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Capt. Bob

reprise

Hola everybody
It's been a quiet week on the dock. The kid's are gone and Bryan has been pushing barges up and down the west coast. It's been raining the last couple of days. We had a wild group visit last week. Two couples from Chicago and one couple from Tampa. They are friends of a buddy of mine. I met one of the couples last year when my buddy came down to do a cruise. Last week they descended on us on there way down to Key West for fantasy fest. They showed up with food ,drink ,whiskey , and smoke and hung out until the wee hours of the morning enjoying the river scene. They were impressed. We also had our usual cast of river rats on hand as well.
We've had a few bites on the Koi miesters boat. nothing solid yet but it should move with little trouble.
It looks like we have another party on the horizon. It seems we have two birthdays coming up in the middle of the month. Bryan wants to do a low country boil. Ron wants to do a smoked fish dish and I was thinking about doing some tuna or sword fish steaks on the grill. It should be fun. The last three parties we had were heavily attended. 50 to 80 people each time. Were going to try to hold this one down to about 20 people. Lot's of luck on that I'm sure but we can try.
Not much else to report. I'll try to get pictures of the party.
Life is good.
Capt. Bob

Sad, Sad, Sad !

The troupe is gone.
They packed up and left today. It's a sad night on the dock tonight. No Sam to greet me when I come home. No friends to drink with and chew the fat. I am sad.
It was a tough day for every one. Packing being the priority. Every one had an assigned set of chores. Even Me. The day went normally for most of the morning.
It began to get dicey in the early afternoon. The car had to be packed ,The boat closed, Well you know. The whole time Sam was going from the deck to the car to the deck to the car.He finally picked up his favorite toy and put it in the car and said Let's Go!
And they left.
We miss you already and wish you "God speed"
Capt. Bob

the morning after

Wow what a party
Everything worked out just fine. we went to west Hialeah to pick up the pig. It is the only USDA approved slaughter house in Miami and it was packed. you go into a pen area where the pig's are sorted by size. you give them an idea as to what size you want then a guy goes into the appropriate pen and herds one out into a scale pen where it is weighed on the hoof. If it is what you want they stamp a number on his backside and off he trots. About a half hour later he comes out a side door packed, wrapped and ready to travel.
The keg was a little harder. We tried to call "Party Keg's" all day and got no answer. Late Fri. evening Bryon started looking around for another supply. After a few calls he located a source close by who would deliver and tap the keg for us and supple cups and ice but only had Yingling in stock. We put in the order and started to relax when Koi came over. " Yingling no way, Not again" and he started to make some calls. Well it turns out that Google had the wrong number listed for party kegs. They have two locations. When we called the south Miami location and told them that no one was answering the phone at the down town store they gave us the right number. We got Miller lite and everyone was happy, except for the guy with the Yingling.
We put the pig in the box around noon,tapped the keg and sat down and waited. Folks started arriving around 1pm and I think it was about 2 am when I finally went to bed. I think we had about 55 to 60 guests. There was ample food, drink and conversation to go around. Life was good.
Lyn took some pictures and posted them on facebook. I hijacked them and will post them. It might be awhile before we have another dock party, My collaborators are leaving town. Thats all I have for now.
Capt. Bob

movie star

Looks like the show "burn notice" likes the boat as much as we do. My daughter, The blog master noticed the shot on a recant show and captured it. She looks good. My daughter also.
This is party weekend.
Our last dock party of the modern era. Koi and Tinkerbell leave in about a week. They will be missed. But party we must. The preparations begin in Ernest tomorrow. The pig in the morning and the keg at night. We have a new awning up. we will set up tents and tables Sat. morning, then hang on until it's over.
Come on out and visit.
Capt. Bob

prelude to a party

Good morning all
It's a beautiful Sat. morning on the river. Our second none storm blew thru the other day, It was a two day drizzle no wind. Not that I'm complaining. We had a crane job set up for early in the morning when this storm was supposed to blow in and I told the guys they had better bring rain gear. No need, the rain didn't arrive until late in the evening and was light but constant.

Our next big party is coming up soon. Koi and Tinkerbell will be departing in about three weeks. The party is slated for the 16th/ Oct. Again we are doing a pig in the box and a keg. Same rules apply, come one come all, bring a dish and what ever you drink other then beer. And ICE, everyone must bring ICE.
I expect the guys over this afternoon. We try to hangout every Sat. and watch the Bikini's go up and down the river. It's always best in the early evening when the boats are on the way back in after a long day of partying out on the sandbar's. They are drunk and dancing. And those Latina's know how to move it and love to show it off. I put on a pot of pork and sauerkraut last night. It slow cooked all night. This morning I deboned it and switched to warm. It's always a big hit with the crowd. I'll be lucky if I get one meal left over when they are thru.
There has been some activity down river between the Flagler and S.W. 1st street bridges. It's the site of the old east coast fisheries building. The site fell into disrepair over the years and was finally torn down earlier this year. Used to be a great restaurant. It looks like a foundation Co. has started pounding in Sheet piling along the river. Maybe a new restaurant? Time will tell.
That's about all I have for now. Hope to see you all at the going away party.
Life is good
Capt. Bob

A320 pictures

A320 simulator

I promised so here it is.

These are some shots of two simulators we installed at the Airbus training center in Miami.

update

Hello all
It's been awhile. I've been busy. We finished both simulators at Airbus. I will post those pictures when I download them. The Koi Miester is going home. He has been transferred to HAWAII of all places. Well that's home. They will be missed. Besides loosing two good friends I'm loosing my dog and cat. BUMMER! Bryon might move his boat into the slot, as we call the cutout , where Koi is docked. It's going to change life on the river.
Speaking of life on the river, Last weekend we had a couple of collisions at one of the restaurants across the way. one gentleman came up river at a moderat clip, exacuted a neat U turn and smartly smacked into one of the 4"X6" pilings and snapped it in two. He also destroyed his bowsprit and anchor. He proceeded to tie up his boat, walk right by the destroyed piling without once looking at it and go in and have a seat at the bar. The very next day a bout a 36' searay pulled up to Garcias with his family and went inside. About an hour later one of those really nice italian smoke gray hulled cruisers came up river, exacuted a neat U turn and sideled up to the dock very smartly. then for reasons unknown to anyone he slammed the throttels full forward and nose to nose climbed right over the Searay. Well the outcome was what you would expect. Both boats destroyed there anchors,railing's and bowsprit's. the Italian boat got a very large hole in it's hull and the Searay's deck got separated from the hull. Not a pretty site. Nothing sank, and everyone finished there dinner.
The Mayor has been on the campaign trail lately. he and his entourage came visiting and raised quite a stink on the river with there antics. Nothing serious, just a lot of fooling around. He is always a welcome site and we love it when he shows up (he brings cigars) We wish him success in November.
I hope this spat of storms stay offshore. We really don't need anymore grief here in Miami.
That's about all I have to contribute today. Stay well and enjoy life.
Capt. Bob

Rain, Rain, Rain!

Mon morning and it's still raining. It's been raining for three days now and they say it's going to rain until Wed. The only advantage is the temperature. It's at least 10* cooler. The plants love it.
We went to Sandra's big 40 birthday party Fri. evening.They had a dinner party for friends and family at Garcia's across the river. Sandra came here to the dock and we all rode over in one car. When we arrived at the restaurant only a few of her friends were there so we sat at the upstairs bar for a drink. When I sat down the bartender and waiter both looked at me and said " It's the capitan from the big boat, welcome, welcome! " I couldn't belive they knew who I was. I got the same reaction when I went down stairs as we were leaving. The cooks in the kitchen all commented how they always see me having coffee on the back deck and read my paper. Felt good. Sandra had a great time. She had about 25 friends and family turn out to celebrate. The party moved back to the dock and party central after dinner. About a dozen party goers came aboard and we sat around and drank until about 1 AM . I had to shut it down around then because I had a meeting at Airbus in the morning.
Did I mention it was raining?
Life is good.
Capt. Bob

T. S. Bonnie

Wow what a none storm that was. The media kept talking about our impending doom, the tremendous onslaught of wind and rain moving our way. well it rained for about two hours. the winds of the previous week and a half were more severe then what we got. The only victim was my awning. I don't think Bonnie actually did the damage. I had noticed a few seam strains in the sail ( a 30 year old jib from my Morgan) and had tried to put some sail tape on the most vulnerable spots. In the week before the storm our winds were consistently in the 25 to 30 mph range and the awning was flapping around a bit. I was finally working, (customs released our simulator) so I wasn't home. Koi called around 6pm to inform me the awning was down. It had blown out at the head and knocked over everything in it's way. A little clean up was in order no big deal. Now I have the dilemma of what to do about no shade. For the first part of my stay here on the river I didn't have an awning. It was for my sons 50th B'day party that we decided to launch the awning. Well now we have gotten so used to it we actually miss it . I have contacted a few canvas shops for prices on a replacement tarp. The dock looks naked without it.
We had to cancel a dock party yesterday, I had to work. We'll try to re-schedule for next week.
Our usual complement of river rats will assemble this afternoon to ogle the bikini clad Dennison of the deep and of course have a drink or two.
We should finish this simulator installation next week and I'll try to get some pictures for the blog. It is really an attractive piece of machinery. Looks like the storm trooper helmets from Star Wars.
That's about all I have for today. Life is good.
Capt. Bob

party pic's

Hola
It's sunday afternoon on a quiet windy day. We are all recovering again. Yesterday started out slow and built from there. By the time Koi got home we had 10 people on the boat. As always everyone showed up with something. Beer ,Ribs ,flank steak. more beer , Mojitos, salsa, chips, It seemed to never end. Sandra finally showed up with her camera. With help from Koi we downloaded them and I will post them a little at a time.
Still no help from customs. It's been a week and we still can't get our simulator out of the port. It looks like we will be on standby next week as well.
Not much else to report. enjoy the pic's
Capt. Bob

Some pic's

It took a few days, And I haven't gotten all the responses I had anticipated but I'm sure they will come in.
Tinkerbell's Mom Sue , the trouper that she is sent in the only pictures to date. I found out my camera didn't save my shots. I'm not sure why.
Enjoy.
It's a dreary day here. Dark, overcast. smells like rain. We started an installation at Airbus on Mon. and to date we have not unloaded the first bit of freight. It seems that one of the containers has a printer in a box that is not FCC approved. Now, we have a $15,000,000.00 flight simulator. A 10 men 1 woman English crew plus my 4 man rigging crew and a crane with operator standing around waiting for 8 trucks and trailers full of simulator that customs will not release from the port because it contains an unapproved printer the size and type you all have on your desk top. Isn't bureaucracy just great.
Things are slowly getting back to normal here on the dock. all our visitors have gone home. We have cleaned up the dock ( well sort of anyway ) and are planning on our next great adventure.
Life is good.
Capt. Bob

recovery

Wow !!
What a weekend. It started to get hectic around midday Sat. and continued to build. Koi picked up the pig in the AM. It was still warm when he got back to the dock. We hung it up to finish bleeding out, then filled him with marinade and packed him in ice. I converted a table into a beer tap and Bryon went out for the keg. All seemed in order.
Sunday dawned and everyone got really busy. We set up the rest of the tables, put up a big tent, and made a few ice runs. we had 7 coolers filled with beer, soda, and ice. Mostly ice. I picked up 280# myself and everyone was required to bring ice. The keg was tapped early, (we needed our refreshment) the pig went in the china box at around 11.30 and the party was on.
Our flier said noon till. Well they started arriving at 11.30 and kept comming till well after dark. At one time I took a casual head count and came up with 65.
The food was terrific. We had such a variety , it was amazing. Diane showed up with a bushel of steamers so we melted some butter and steamed. Koi and Bryon took the little boat loaded up the dogs and a cooler and went across the river for a bushel of oysters. Life was good. The pig came out about 3.30 and was promptly chopped into little pieces. The feast was on.
We got a little rain late in the afternoon, not hard nor long lasting and it didn't dampen the party in the least.
We had a great time hollering at all the boats that had the audacity to pass by without displaying an American flag.
I promised pictures and will post them as soon as I get them downloaded. I'm not the swiftest when it comes to those sort of things. More to follow.
Capt Bob

party weekend

It's Fri. evening and it's raining like hell.
What a day it's been on this dock today. Tinkerbell's Mom and Dad are here for a visit and I have never seen such energetic people. They have been cutting and chopping and trimming and hammering and just fixing anything that needed fixing and even a few things that didn't. But alas it does truly seem that it's going to come together. It also looks like we are going to have a pretty good crowd. If all the people show up that told me they were coming we will have a blast. Tommorow we do the final set up. Koi is set to pick up the pig in the AM. and Bryon is set to pick up the keg in the afternoon. We are setting up tents, umbrellas. tables and chairs.
I promise to have pictures soon. Hope to see you Sunday.
Capt. Bob

Party Party

The 4th is rapidly approaching!
Yes it looks like we are going to have our 2nd annual 4th of July Miami river dock party. Last year it was relitively small , Only about a dozen friends and neighbors. This year it looks to be a bit larger. It seems that the dock scene has become party central. Whenever someone wants to have a party they petition the boat folk to hold it on the dock. Well I don't mind telling you I love it. We always have a great time, We have plenty of food , drink , music and fun. I always end up with a fridge full of food, deserts and dip's. This year we are doing a 100# pig and one or two kegs. It will be pot luck, everyone brings a little something, we all have fun.
Come one come all. Don't be shy. Bring your swim trunks , you can swim in the river if you dare.
The last big one we had was my sons 50th, plus we celebrated two other birthdays as well. We had the boat's rafted up 3 deep on the river ( the tug boats didn't like that too much ) And at one point we counted 85 people on decks and on the dock.
Hope te see you here.
Capt. Bob

Fathers Day

Fathers Day on the river, It's been a gorgeous day.
I have gotten calls from all my children, Friends and acquaintances even my netwerk sent me a fathers day wish. My youngest daughter took me to lunch at a very nice Organic bistro on Biscayne Blvd. then we hung out and chilled on the poop deck for awhile. It's been relitively quiet today, other then the circus of restaurant docking's across the river not much else is happening. What a relief. It's good to have a quiet day every once in awhile. Life is good.
Capt. Bob

Hello all
Not much going on today. It's been raining yesterday and today. Not continuously of course but the storms have been pretty good. The rock barge went out today, loaded to the gunwales with huge coral rocks. As they went by I got a huge wave and an all encompassing gesture pertaining to the immense pile of rocks. It's only humerus if you know the story behind it.
Last week when my daughters were visiting, the barge was returning empty and I pointed out to them the type of load he went out with. Well! then my daughter says " I guess he got his rocks off" and we all laughed . I told her she should holler that to the crew as they went by. There was no way that was going to happen. The two of them then convinced me it was my responsibility to shout out the proclamation. Well I did . And to our surprise the crew took it very well and returned with the fact that they were in fact on there way to "Rock On" to which we said touche.

today

Hello
I got a little help from the blog master today. Couldn't find my way out of a wet paper bag. But all is well now, I have been awakened.
It's a really great day on the river today. Not a lot of traffic. The city is working on a beautification of the river project. Last week they had some sort of a symposium with all kinds of scientist and dignitaries who traveled up and down the river on a tour boat to asses the viability of commerce and industry on the river. They took a lot of pictures and wrote an article for the Miami Herald.( I know there is a way to link to that article but I don't know it ) Today we had a visit land side . They came by and checked out the property and told us they were going to beautify the street and put in new sidewalks. We'll see.
This boat just seems to attract attention. I was checking Email earlier when a small boat approached from across the river. A couple who I saw come in for lunch at Garcias restaurant came over to inquire as to the "HISTORY" of this fine vessel. I was only too happy to inform them. They said they would stop by again and asked if they could get a tour of the boat. It's a very familiar experience, we got this all the way home from Pittsburgh and were only too happy to oblige.
More to follow.
Capt. Bob

Update

Hello all
Well it's been awhile since I posted anything. The state of the economy has kept everyone kind of in a flap, me to it seems. But we can't dwell on that can we?
To give you an update, We are berthed on the Miami river between the Flagler st. bridge and the new 5th st. bridge. The facility is the old National fisheries site. It's a three building complex. The up river building is occupied by an artist, He uses it as a studio. He just finished some sculptures made of steel for a show in Scotland. The middle building is the landlord's office space. and the down river one is just used for storage. We have a very small community going on here. Bryon lives on a 37' sailboat, Me on the big iron boat , and Koi, Tinkerbell, Zoe, and Sam on a pearson trawler. It's gated, secure and comfortable. We have a couple of comercial fisherman who also share the docks with us. they fish for the resturant/fish market across the river.
Life on the river progresses at a slow pace. There is a lot of large freighters that ply the river. We now have three tug Co's hauling them in and out .The two resturants across the river generate a lot of boat traffic on the weekends and it can be a circus watching them dock at times. It helps fill our day's.
We have been slowly getting the boat spiffed up. Two of my Nephews came down and painted the starboard side of the boat. My daughter ( The Blog master ) Catherine and My grandson Nolan spend the Christmas holidays with me and have undertaken the chore of painting the interior. So far they have painted the sun room and both crew cabins and have prepped the galley. We have hung a few painting's . Things are looking up. I have included a few Pic's
Enjoy.
More to follow, I promise
Capt. Bob.