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