update page

8/3/2000

Due to popular request -  I've added this page for updates! If you want, you can bookmark this page and just check here periodically for what is happening for me. 

Nov. 3, 2000.  We get LETTERS!  Lots of Letters!!  Folks have been writing and asking if I've sailed away or sunk in the marina!  Really, folks, I'm just fine - and still in Kemah!! I have been working - and that takes me away from my problems at hand!! I am working full-time at a mindless job - but it's fun and gets me out with the locals!  For the first time in over 3 years, I have some lady friends!! I go in at 3:30 and work until midnight - so it keeps me off the 'puter in the evenings. It's just 5 minutes from the boat - so keeps me off the roads at night.   The weather in Texas is GLORIOUS!!  Thanks for your concern!!  

We WERE in Watergate Marina in Clear Lake shores, Texas.  But after the recent visit by the DUTCH owners - they decided they didn't like my little boat - as it did not meet their "requirements" - whatever the hell they are!  Nobody here in the marina seems to know!!  So, they have requested that I leave by the end of April - EVICT is the word!!

Don't ever believe that God doesn't pay you back for your transgressions!  I spent YEARS telling and sharing Dutch jokes - and not very nice ones, either!!  And after all these years, it's getting back at me!!! 

(Do you know how to save a Dutchman from drowning???  NO?  GOOD!!!)

As of Tuesday, May 30, the boat is gone from Watergate yachting Center.  I am now settled into Marina Del Sol. They seem to be nice folks, and the tenants I've met so far have said this is a much better place to be than Watergate!  

 I just want to get out of the MARINA life and get out sailing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    

As you can see - those of you who revisit this site to see what I'm up to - I've had LOTS of time to mess with this page and have changed it considerably! (I added some new photos, too!)  I've done some writing and messed up this page again!!  I also dug out my sailing recipes and have added some here.   ..................................maggie  

7/4/2000  I finally found someone who  has the nerve to go out sailing with me!  We didn't go out on the 4th - too much traffic on Clear Lake!  It's like I-45 out there on holidays! But my friend, Doug, from Michigan, came down for the holiday, and along with Jerry, my water buddy, we spent the day catching blue crabs off the boat!!   By the end of the day, we had about a dozen of them.  The ROUGH part was learning how to clean the buggars!! You really have to be a ruthless character!!  But, I was reminded every time one got crunched, it was all worth it at eating time!! When it got dark, we sat on the boat, watching fireworks exploding nearly overhead!  As soon as those were done, we watched them across the lake in 4 different locations, one after the other - and a couple of them at the same time!  What a thrill it all was!!  During the fireworks, the crabs are cooking in a spicy boil!  That was a real treat for me - and it's good that it was dark and we couldn't see the carnage we were inflicting!!  But - as I was told - it was all worth it!  MMMMM.

7/8/2000  Jerry and I took out the boat!!  Bless his heart, he is not a sailing person, but he surely did handle this boat well!  I'm still unsure of myself in docking and undocking the thing! It took us two hours to get from the marina out to the bay.  I did lose a bumper - it just sort of 'fell off'!!  We spent a few hours just bopping around in Galveston bay, enjoying the sun and lack of wind! We traded a few remarks with fellow sailors, and started back so we'd be in by dark.   No problems!

7/15/2000  Here's something I have told Nobody!  John Jacob has been missing for a couple of weeks...actually, more like 4 weeks.  At first, I figured he was just being a tomcat and running around the neighborhood, and would return shortly.  It then ran into one week, then two.....I just sort of gave up on him.  Two neighbors here had told me that they each had cats come up missing here, and figured some critter was getting them!  Well, on Saturday, a neighbor from Watergate stopped by the boat.  He said that John Jacob was back over at Watergate!  He had set up housekeeping with his little black girlfriend...who was BIG pregnant!!  Now just HOW he found his way there by land, I'm not sure!  We came here by water! But how do you think that makes ME feel?  My own baby - leaving his Mom for some comely little cat?  Well, one of my MALE friends told me that when the babies are born - he'll leave her and come back home!!  We'll see!  I haven't been able to find him whenever I've gone there looking!

7/15/2000.  Jerry came down from Houston and we took out the boat again.  Well, we TRIED!  We backed out of the mooring, the engine sputtered.  We started forward, it sputtered and died!!  We sort of had momentum heading for another dock.  So Jerry yelled directions and I steered an "S" course, and we eased into a dock just a few hundred feet from where we started!!  Had water in the oil!  We figure it was a head gasket. But since it was such a beautiful weekend, we just sort of enjoyed it and a few cold beers!  On Sunday, a neighbor towed me back to my proper dock!! 

7/30/2000 Earl came over after we got out of work early.  We tore the engine apart.  (I say 'we' - it was Earl!  I sort of found and handed tools!!) From what we could determine, the seal in the impellor was all mushed up. So, when I get a few dollars ahead, I'll take the mess to the local boating supply house and see if I can get it replaced.  Then we'll try it again!!

8/3/2000  Well, I'm out now looking for a real job!  Since I've been working here a little bit and meeting folks, it doesn't seem quite so alien to me!  I'm really enjoying this area.  I interviewed for a job as a sales assistant in a new home business.  One of the homes I would have been sitting in was a half million dollar home - with a closet that was bigger than my entire boat!! I really don't think I'd like doing that - it would be very depressing to sit there all day, then come home to my humble abode!!

I've just about decided to stay put here in Houston area for another year! I really haven't had much luck in finding a sailing partner and this is as good a place - or better- than a lot of places I could be!  We can sail year round, I LOVE the weather and having a few friends makes all the difference in the world! I'm comfortable on the boat, love living on the water - and think I can find a decent job.  Bob has  found another engine for the boat and I just might think about replacing the one I have for one larger.  It could only be a help.  And I can take my time in finding a suitable partner, and next year, I'll be able to draw Social Security.  As it is, LIFE IS GOOD!!

(This is all subject to change on a moment's notice!!)