Denise & Kelly, a Cannon, and High Adventure on the Way Back from a Key

Alright, so it's a long title, but how many ways can you say, "We had company again, and everyone had a great time!" in five words or less, and still be clever.

Besides, I love alliteration.
But I digress.

Our latest batch of company, Jeff's Mom, Denise, and her husband, Kelly, arrived in the Keys the Monday after Mother's Day. They drove into town in the early afternoon and we were happy to see both of them. It had been a year since Denise had been to the boat, and quite a bit longer for Kelly. We ferried them out to the sailboat and gave them the grand tour of the big remodel, then settled in the cockpit for cocktails and conversation. They had had a big day of traveling starting early in the AM, so we made it an easy and early night by walking across the street to Annette's for a fabulous dinner.

The next morning, Kelly and I set off in the dinghy to return the rental car, do a bit of provisioning, and procure some breakfast. Once back, we spent a nice relaxing day on the boat. Lunch was light and yummy, with ham salad, cheese and crackers, and chips and dip.



We took an afternoon tour of the nearby creek and up into the mangroves and when evening approached, we loaded back into the dinghy and headed for Dockside Bar & Grille.




It was open mic night, and we had lots of friends [some with guitars] in attendance. Jeff got up on stage and sang a couple of songs...I even helped out on one, and it was a great time.




Wednesday morning dawned bright and early just as it always does. We enjoyed tea/coffee to start off the day and then moved on to mimosas made with prosecco and peach nectar. It ended up that we had another friend, Mike Ritner from Madeira Beach, arrive in town and we invited him and our friend Matthew out to the boat. Soon it was lunchtime and we went by boat to Burdine's.







Then it was back to the sailboat for a little relaxing before sunset. We had a big plan for sunset tonight, and Kelly was very excited.

He was going to get to fire a real, live cannon!

Let me explain. Around here, sunset can get very noisy. It's an event. Some people choose to blow the conch horn as the sun gently sinks into the sea. Others play trumpet. Bagpipes are not unheard of. But others, fire cannons. No ammo, no projectiles...no cannon balls. Just a big, loud, black-powder BOOM! I had talked to one of our harbor's more infamous cannon masters and asked if we could come over with our company and participate. He was thrilled to have us and further more stated that Kelly could do the honors himself.

Nearing sunset, we motored over to the S/V Gypsy Song, where Jake and Amy graciously invite us aboard. There were cocktails and appetizers and then it was time to prepare the cannon.

The black powder was loaded.

A direction was decided upon.

The sandbag was strategically placed to keep the cannon from kicking itself overboard.

Looks like we're all set!

Kelly followed Jake's careful directions and waited patiently to light the fuse.

Jake shouted a courtesy warning of, "Fire in the hole!" to alert other boaters of the impending explosion, and Kelly lit the fuse.

There was a moment of pause...then the BOOM! And when the smoke cleared, one of the neighbor's waved his white flag and kiddingly pledged his surrender.

After the big event, we were off to Dockside to meet Matt and Mike for dinner.

Now, you think something like that would be hard to top, but we had an even bigger plan for Thursday.

We were going to Molasses Key.

Once again, Kelly and I headed to shore to pick up the provisions we would need for the day: a bucket of fried chicken and 5-hour energy drinks.

Upon our return, we loaded everyone in the dinghy, including the dog, and headed out of the harbor. On the way, we stopped at Burdine's to fill up on ice and fuel and then we ventured out into the waters surrounding the 7-mile bridge.


It was a very calm day with almost no chop at all and we soon had the uninhabited Key in our sights.

We had planned for friends Andy and Suzi to meet us at the Key and we saw them in their much bigger power boat on the way.

We arrived at the island and waded into shore with all of our things.

We picked an absolutely beautiful day to sit around on an island and do nothing!













At some point, we'd eaten and drank, floated and waded, about as much as we could and it was time to head back to civilization.

We had decided that we would all ride in Andy's bigger boat and tow ours just to make better time on the way back in.

It ended up being a really good decision!

As we were traveling east alongside the bridge, we noticed what appeared to be a bit of weather looming in front of us. The horizon was dark and every now and again you could spot a crack of lightning. Andy picked up the pace a bit, but was definitely held back by our behemoth of a dinghy trailing behind us. Jeff offered to jump in the dinghy so that the rest of us could get back faster but we decided to just wait and see. Within minutes, the wind picked up, the water got rough, and big waves crashed over the bow...drenching everyone. Now fortunately, the water temperatures around here are very similar to bathwater so it wasn't cold nor too uncomfortable. I worried about about Jeff's Mom as she hunkered on the floor to try to avoid a bit of the spray and not take quite as much of a beating as the boat pounded through the waves.
I figured she may not speak to us after this adventure!

But she was a trooper and took it all in stride. When in Rome, right?

We all arrived at Andy and Suzi's safe and sound, wet and salty.
The storm had completely blown over and the sun was shining.
We loaded back into our dinghy which had remained astoundingly dry during it's wild ride and headed home.

Hot showers were had by all and we capped off our night with a lovely dinner at Castaway's.

The frontpage of the next day's paper called the storm we came through, "a mini tornado" and sited some of the damage done by the big blow as two opposing fronts collided over Marathon.


The next morning was time for Denise and Kelly to leave and it was very sad to see them go.

The time just flew by while they were here!

Bags were packed and brought to shore and we enjoyed a parting breakfast at the Stuffed Pig before seeing them on their way.

We really do enjoy having you guys come and stay.


I am not sure how we'll ever top this visit, but when you come back again we'll sure give it a try!

An Island of Our Own

After the April 18th Tax deadline, the accountant -Roddy McDowell - that has done Jeff's taxes for the past 15 years gave Jeff a call and said he really needed to get away and were we up for some company.

Aren't we always up for more company?

Roddy spent time on the boat back in 2007 when he joined us in Captiva with the intentions of sailing with us to St. Petersburg. Our itinerary did not go according to plan with motor problems preventing us from traveling any further than Venice. The motor died as we limped into a slip at The Crow's Nest - never to start again. Roddy called a friend and abandoned ship while we dealt with mechanics and made arrangements to be towed to a boatyard.

For this trip, Roddy and his traveling companion, Carla, didn't get to do any sailing except around our mooring ball. Jeff went and picked them up at the docks and brought them back to the boat where we had a nice time lounging in the cockpit enjoying the view. After a bit, we set off in the dinghy so they could see Sombrero Beach and then we ventured into the mangroves of Whiskey Creek. Once back on the S/V Thin Line, we had a little snack of brie and summer sausage and made plans to meet for dinner. We decided on The Wreck up on Grassy Key. Dan Sullivan was playing, which always makes for a nice time.

The next day, Roddy and Carla came back to the boat for a bit of relaxing and then they left for Key West to see the sights. The following day, they were back to Fort Lauderdale to catch a flight home...a very quick trip indeed.

In the meantime, friends, Tony and Anne Baker from St. Pete, arrived on the scene. With them came their spotty dogs, Calvin and Chloe, and their 13 ft. Boston Whaler.

We first got to lay eyes on the couple and their adorable pups when they semi-circumnavigated the island and pulled up to the sailboat. With everyone on board, we gave a quick tour of the boat and then spent time catching up over a cocktail.

Then it was time for the Baker's to head back to their hotel and us to dinner @ The Wreck.

The next day, Tony and Anne and the spotty dogs did a bit of exploring the nearby waters. A little before sunset they came to the marina...this time by car. We relaxed on the boat for a bit and then we set off for Dockside for a bit of dinner and some live entertainment.

We had big plans for the next day!

We were going to visit Molasses Key...

Located out in the waters crossed by the Seven Mile Bridge, Molasses Key is a small uninhabited island with a nice, beachy surface on one side.

Although it wasn't the most comfortable ride, the Whaler's 50 horsepower motor got us through the choppy water.

I spotted a giant sea turtle along the way, but there was just no way to fish out the camera for a picture.

Upon our arrival, we had the whole beautiful, little island all to ourselves!
We made quick work of spreading out towels and unloading coolers and then it was time to RELAX!


The dogs caught on quick.

And that's what we did all day long.
We had snacks. We had drinks. We had shade. We had a lovely breeze.
Ahh...paradise.

We didn't have it to ourselves for very long.
A family on jet skis arrived and took up on the other end of the isle. Then a boat here and there. Even so, it was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Eventually, we ventured back to the harbor. The Baker's headed back to their hotel to get cleaned up and then we all met at Castaway's for a bit of dinner.

It was great seeing Tony and Anne and the dogs again. We hope they come back soon and often!

The Return of the Redhead

Sounds like a bad, B movie, doesn't it?

Well, Angela as a guest is nothing but an A+ in our eyes as her third trip to the S/V Thin Line continued our "bout" of company.

Due to some last minute planning and not our first choice of flight times, she arrived late on a Monday night during her Spring Break...or perhaps it was early Tuesday morning? Jeff went in to retrieve her from the docks and we got her settled for the night.

The next morning, we all luxuriated by sleeping late. Once awake, it was tea and bagels in the cockpit which eventually progressed to mango mimosas and conversational catching up. With good tunes playing and dolphins frolicking in the background, that's pretty much all we did all day long. We love lazy days on the boat just floating around with a light breeze and lots of sunshine. The Italians have a name for this lackadaisical state of mind: dolce far niente - the sweetness of doing nothing. I do believe they are on to something.

For dinner, we dinghied over to the newly re-opened Dockside where we ate blackened dolphin and key west pinks.

The next day was somewhat similar as we basked in the sun and did very little else. The mimosas were peach this time around and we had an afternoon snack of brie melted to gooey deliciousness and topped with a sweet fig spread.



The evening found us at Marathon Boat Yard for a campfire with our friend, Joe, and then a harrowing, high speed dinghy ride [with Joe as our driver] to Castaway's for some sushi.


Thursday was another day of abject languid-tivity.
I know it's not a word, but it should be.





But we had to eat sometime since the day passed us by without us bothering to whip up the tasty treat I had planned for lunch, so Thursday evening found us at Porky's to catch Dan Sullivan performing and dinner was Sebastian Inlet Clams and lobster bisque.





Friday morning rolled around and Jeff had to go to work.
Angela and I set out in the dinghy for the beach in the mid-AM and then headed into the mangroves of Whiskey Creek for some much-needed shade. The mimosas today were apricot mango accompanied by apricot pastries as we sat in the peace and utter stillness of Boot Key...disturbed only by the creepy, crustaceans that call the mangroves their home.


Look closely...
There were at least 3 mangrove crabs on the branch we tied up to...none of which were apparent on our arrival.


When we'd had our fill of quietude [and crustaceanal creepiness], we ventured back on over to Dockside for a quick nibble of lunch and then we were land-bound. We had souvenirs to buy and a rental car to pick up. We decided since it was Angela's last evening to spend on the boat, we'd just have a simple supper at home, watch the sunset, and turn in early...she would have to leave marathon by 2am in order to make her early morning flight. We made a quick stop at Keys Fisheries for some more seafood, and while Angela procured a car, I went to the grocery to gather the rest of the supplies for dinner. Tonight's menu would feature steamed shrimp and lobster mac and cheese.




Back at the marina, we...or as the picture shows - I - hauled all our newly bought provisions to the dinghy and then to the big boat.



Everything was all settled and my mac and cheese was prepped and in the fridge by the time Jeff got home from work.


Shortly afterward, company pulled up to the boat.

On our way through the harbor earlier, I had noticed the arrival of our friends, Mike and Carey - both retired from the Los Angeles Police Department, on the sailing vessel Carey Anne and we had invited them over for a sunset cocktail.

Carey and Angela kept me company while I steamed some shrimp for an appetizer and Mike and Jeff chatted in the cockpit.

The shrimp were tender, sweet, and delicious sprinkled with Old Bay and dipped in melted butter.

Mike and Carey headed back to their boat once it was dark, and then it was time for the lobster mac and cheese. Melted to creamy, cheesy perfection this dish is certainly a lesson in decadence. That was exactly what Angela needed to put her right to sleep and topped off her last evening on a savory note.

Getting up at 1:15 am to roust my guest and get her to shore was certainly not the highlight of the visit, but I saw her off on her way and then headed back to bed.
Next time...and there will be a next time, better flight arrangements will have to be made.

Panty Gram and a Haircut

Lately, we have had a bout of company on the S/V Thin Line.

For Donnie and Janet Chambers, it was a return visit...this wasn't their first sailboat adventure, nor will it be their last.

You may remember them from their last trip... [if not, click here] ...most people seem to remember Janet as "the one who wrote on everything" as she was left unattended on their last night and while everyone else slept, she wrote little notes with a permanent marker everywhere. We found them for weeks after they had departed and even found a previously undiscovered one while unpacking the contents of the boat during our time in the boatyard.

Fortunately for me, Janet accidentally left a pair of her under-lovelies behind and they ended up in my laundry basket, hence giving me a chance at a bit of payback.

I held on to those underwear for almost a year without ever letting her know I had them.

With less than a month to go before their annual visit, the Chambers received a "Panty Gram" in the mail. In it were drink tickets for the flight, a little Keys reading material, and the wayward underpants...now with a few notes of my own added. The outside of the envelope was decorated with a variety of my artist's rendition of underwear and in great, big letters, "Panty Gram - I see London. I see France. Guess who left their underpants..."

I hope the mailman got a chuckle out of it.

After the long drive from the airport, we finally managed to coax Janet into dropping her jeans and giving us a peak.

This was only the start to the great time we had while they were here.
First off, we headed back to our mooring ball...quite the momentous occasion for Jeff and I after being in the yard for so long. Then we spent most of our time floating around, looking out for dolphins, catching some rays, eating our fill of seafood, concocting new rum cocktails, and watching the sunset. One of the most exciting events that happened was a storm that blew in during the middle of the day bringing with it gale force winds. Jeff and Janet had the misfortune of being out in the dinghy while Donnie and I remained dry inside the sailboat.


The storm didn't last long, but it was quite a blow.
Jeff and Janet made it safely back to the boat, albeit soaking wet.
They got dried off while I made shrimp po' boys for lunch - left-over shrimp sauteed with carrots and celery, topped with a slice of cheddar cheese and a creamy mustard sauce, all on a bakery-fresh bun.
The sun came out and all was well again.
After sunset, we headed across the street to Annette's for dinner.

After another day of floating and sunning, Janet did something rather unexpected: she made an appointment to get her haircut at Salon Blanco with my friend, Jen.
She said she was ready for a change.

Come Friday morning, I thought sedation was going to be necessary to get her through the ordeal, or at the very least, a box of tissues for when she burst into tears. But, she got through it like a champ and loved the results.


I think it's the perfect hairstyle for her and looks fabulous!




With the weekend, came the Seafood Festival - an event I look forward to all year around. Once again, Janet and I volunteered to work the front gate...which gets us free admission and our matching t-shirts. The food is always excellent and there's live music all day long.

And with that, came our second set of company.


Meet fellow Louisvillians, Coley and Karin McDevitt.

Coley had to make a business trip to Fort Lauderdale and made arrangements for his wife, Karin, to meet him so they could drive down and spend a few days in the Keys. In the short time they were here, we were able to go to CastAway's for dinner, the Stuffed Pig for breakfast, and the Seafood Festival for Howard Livingston. Sunday, they planned their own catamaran outing in Key West, complete with snorkeling and kayaking, and Donnie and Janet tagged along.

Monday morning had Karin and Coley headed for the airport.

We all met for another breakfast at the Stuffed Pig and when they headed North, the remaining four of us went South to Bahia Honda where we did a bit of beach combing and exploring.

Next stop was Veteran's Beach located at the far side of the 7 mile bridge.

Then it was back to the boat to grab the dog and the dinghy and do a little exploring of Boot Key.
We pretty much wore ourselves out and ordered pizza for dinner.

This time around, the Chamber's stayed longer than they ever have before, and once again, it was over much too quickly. Tuesday came around and it was time for them to catch a flight. We had one more meal together - breakfast at the Wooden Spoon - and sent them on their way.
We miss you guys and hope to see you soon!

We're Back....

D-1 is no longer "Out of Service."







D-1 is no longer unoccupied.












We're back on the ball!




We took the short trip from Marathon Boat Yard to Boot Key Harbor this morning and tied up to our mooring ball.

We've had our celebratory champagne and are having a nice casual day floating around the ball. There's about 15 knots of wind blowing a nice breeze out of the south and it's currently sunny skies and 83 degrees.

Dolphins just swam by the boat - much to our delight.


We also have company...Donnie and Janet are back for a visit...good times are sure to be had.



[Details to follow...]


Life is good.

Memory Lane

On April 1, 2009, I boarded the motor vessel Yachts a' Fun and left Boot Key Harbor. My traveling companions and owners of the boat, Dominick and Valerie Lichioveri, had left their home in Maryland on November 1st [2008] and headed south with the hopes of crossing to the Bahamas. They landed on mooring ball G-1 of the City Marina a few days before Christmas. We waved in passing - we were on mooring G-2 at the time - and promised to meet for cocktails Christmas Eve. We were fast friends from that point on.

We rang in the New Year with Dom, Val, and their dog - Prince, and the rest of the winter months were spent swimming off of their boat, cooking dinners, and exploring the area. We spent my birthday rafted up together at Bahia Honda. We went to the flea market in Big Pine, spent a day in Key West, attended the Pig Races, volunteered at the Seafood Festival, and hosted a St. Patrick's Day get-together complete with corned beef and cabbage and green jello shots...just to name a few of the fun days we had together.

Spring arrived and their talk turned toward heading home. We hated to see them leave and even came up with a plan to "buddy boat" with them up the East Coast.

But then a position became available at the City Marina and the staff coaxed Jeff into applying. Needless to say, he got the job, hence putting an end to our travel plans on the sailboat...but not necessarily an end to mine. I decided to accompany them on their trek back north with plans to fly back to Marathon when the trip was over.

Our first day out of the harbor on the open water got us all the way to John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo. It took us the whole day to get there by water. Jeff hopped in the car and met us there in an hour. We stayed at Pennekamp for 3 days due to high winds and when it came time to throw off our anchor lines and head for the mainland on the fourth day, Jeff headed back to Marathon and his new job.

You may ask what brought on this stroll down memory lane?

Valerie and Dominick arrived in Marathon this past Tuesday. An opportunity arose for them to deliver a motor home for a friend and they jumped at the chance to flee from the cold and head south.

We were quite happy to see them and our time together has been spent laughing and reminiscing about our Winter of '08 and the trip of '09. I kept a travel log of our month long journey and got it out to look at it for the first time since I wrote the pages almost 2 years ago. The journal is a fair account of our daily accommodations, the weather, miles traveled per day, but mostly it talks about the food. I can tell you what we ate for almost everyday of our voyage.

In No Name Harbor, we watched the dolphins and had popcorn for dinner.

At Crandon Point, the starboard motor failed and we had to wait for a part. We ate clam linguine while wicked winds picked up blowing white caps across the bay.

Next day we arrived at Los Olas after traveling 48 miles and going under 21 bridges. We did a load of laundry and walked down to the strip for a slice of pizza.

We anchored the next night at Phil Foster Park in N. Palm Beach where we cooked corned beef and potatoes and took a rogue wave at 4:50 am.

The next day was Vero Beach with dinner at the Riverside Cafe. The next day, after a hair-raising bus ride into town, we made alfredo with chicken and broccoli.

From there, we were off to Melbourne to stay put for the Easter weekend. We dyed eggs and checked out a couple of the local eateries.

Our next stop was the 7 Seas Marina in Daytona where we sat out some bad weather. We made the best of it with a walk to the beach and a trip to the liquor store. We had BLT's for dinner.

The next day found us in St. Augustine where we explored the historic city and took in some live music. The next day we headed to the spanish bakery for breakfast then toured a few of the old homes and their gardens and found a quaint little park with a huge jasmine arbor that had just come into bloom. We discovered a little Cuban restaurant right on the water front that had great food and the most excellent margaritas.

Underway and leaving St. Augustine at 8:18 am, we arrived at our anchorage in the Brickhill River [Georgia] by 4 pm. It was quite the adventure when Dom sheared a pin on the outboard while going to shore and had to row back. We had grilled brie and black forest ham sandwiches with baked apples for dinner and saw wild horses in the morning as we weighed anchor and headed to Savannah.

A boat repair kept us in Savannah for several days, but we didn't mind. We made good use of the marina's courtesy car and explored the waterfront nightlife, shopped for provisions, found the oldest living live oak [over 900 years old!], and sampled the local BBQ.

Charleston was just a hop, skip, and a jump away on the ICW [Intercoastal Waterway] and we spent our first evening sitting at the bar at Hank's drinking dirty martini's and eating rock shrimp, calamari, and shrimp and grits. The following day we explored the city market - where Valerie thought shea butter was something she should eat and found out differently while I giggled hysterically at her faux pas.

Lunchtime found us at Hyman's Seafood where we split a pitcher of Long Island Ice tea and ate fried green tomatoes, she crab soup, and hush-puppies. We toured the Provost Dungeon and had drinks at the Blind Tiger in their beautiful and ancient courtyard.

We left Charlestown and went "outside" - meaning we didn't travel the ICW but went out of the harbor into the open the open water of the Atlantic. We hauled ass to Cape Fear, North Carolina, but it took us over 200 gallons of fuel to get there. Once docked at Southport Marina the journal simply states, "Dominick grumpy." Probably the fuel bill.

So Val and I took our leave, found the Indian Trail Marker Tree -estimated to be over 800 years old, and then the Cape Fear Restaurant where we split a bottle of wine [Pinot Evil as a tribute to Dominick's mood] and ate caesar salads topped with grilled steak.

Next stop was Swansboro where we had steak fajitas for dinner.

Travelling 91 miles the next day, we pulled into a quaint, little marina in Belhaven, NC, and ate dinner at River Forest Manor, a Victorian mansion built in 1899.

The following day found us in Elizabeth City where we were greeted by the famous "Rose Buddies" [i.e. retired old guys with nothing better to do] who promptly alerted the mayor of the arrival of several vessels and threw us a complimentary wine and cheese party.

We spent the next night rafted up with several other boats at the Great Dismal Swamp visitor center and continued on into Virginia and into Chesapeake Bay. The end was near, but the Chesapeake is a big body of water. We called it a night at a small marina on the west side but we were up bright and early the next morning because we knew we could arrive at our final destination by noon if we got an early start.

It was May 1st...exactly one month from our departure from Boot Key Harbor...when we arrived in Whittman, MD. All of Dom and Val's best friend's greeted us at the dock with baskets of goodies and bottles of champagne. A welcome home dinner was planned, and we were left to unpack our things and settle into the house.

I stayed a view more days with Dom and Val. They showed me St. Michael's, drove me out to Tilmon Island, and took me out for a traditional crab dinner.

But it was time for me to go home.

The day of my flight arrived and Val, Dom, and Prince drove me to the airport in Baltimore.

I've missed them greatly since then and we think of them often.

So imagine our surprise and delight when they called to say they were headed our way!

We have had a great time the last couple of days. Dom has been helping Jeff with a few boat projects in the yard and Valerie and I have done the shopping and meal planning...just like old times.

The night of their arrival, one of our favorite local musicians, Dan Sullivan, played at the RV park where they are staying. It was a good time watching the 2 of them tear up the dance floor.

Yesterday, we had breakfast at the Stuffed Pig, and after dropping Dom off with Jeff, Valerie and I drove to the beach and waded in the warm surf. We watched the sunset and threw some horseshoes before grilling some burgers and calling it a night.

Today, the boys are off to the boatyard again and us, girls, are relaxing at the motor home.

Tonight, we'll watch another sunset and share another meal.

Tomorrow I will be sad to see them go.

I can only hope that when I become a septuagenarian I am still following whatever path life maps out for me whether it be waterway or highway and that I am just as spry and spunky, fun and funny, and as ready to roll as these two are.

Love you, Dom & Val!

Rehab for Boys and Dogs

I think the dog needs to go to rehab.

[Amy Winehouse sings, "No, no, no..."]

As of late, he has been totally addicted to peanut butter...totally.

It all started when my friend, Angela, came for a visit last spring break. She brought Janus 2 toys: one made of fire-hose which she deemed "indestructible" until she watched Janus shred it in front of her very eyes; and a KONG. She picked out the "Extreme" variety made for voracious chewers, and it IS indestructible. In his previous life, Janus had an orange KONG that was used as a training device.
This one is just for fun.

At some point, we started putting peanut butter and a dog biscuit in the center...the KONG is made to do just such a thing...and he received this treat every evening to give a dog something to do.

We created a monster.

He now starts "asking" for the peanut butter-filled reward each afternoon.

He barks. He looks at you. He wags his tail. He cocks his head. It's all real cute... to start with.

His "asking" becomes more aggressive as you tell him it's not quite time.

He barks louder. He cries. He whines. He growls.

Try to ignore him and he will get the KONG and drop it front of you [or ON your toe]...over and over and over again with the crazed eyes of a junkie.

The best thing to do is to prepare the KONG early in the day and stick it in the fridge...this slows him down a little and is easier on the metatarsals.

Last night, I simply cut to the chase and shoved a dog biscuit in the practically empty jar of peanut butter...which I dubbed "creamy crack 4 dogs."

When he started to eat the actual jar, we took it away.

I'm telling you...rehab may be the only answer.

In other news, Jeff is doing a little rehabilitation of his own.

He had surgery on January 28th to try and fix a repetitive motion injury to his left elbow. It had been bothering him for quite a while and was gradually getting worse but he put off the procedure until the boat was back in the water.

On that Friday, they knocked him out, made an incision, moved the tendon, scraped the area clean, and sewed him back up. He woke up wanting a hamburger, which I got him on the way home.

He had strict orders to wear the arm in a sling and limit it's movement for the first week and a 1/2. It was very, very sore.

After his first follow-up visit, he was allowed to remove the sling and start stretching and extending the arm.

He just came back from the Doctor's office with reports that he is doing just fine and that the arm is healing as to be expected.

It's still sore, but better, and he's able to little things around the boat...within reason, and the incision is dwindling to a slight scar.










So, that's my boys in rehab...

...on the S/V THIN LINE