Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

This is the name of the 36' Gibson houseboat and dinghy we were moored alongside. Doug and Sally have been living the dream life on this boat for 15 years. They have seen many waterways in this country by transporting their boat to wherever they want to explore next. They were able to do this because they own their own Kenworth truck and BIG boat-hauling trailer.

They talked to us about their explorations on the Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois, Columbia, and Willamette Rivers (among a few). The Erie Canal, the Bayous, the Great Dismal Swamp, The Inter and Intracoastal Waterways. The Sacramento Delta. And this year, Puget Sound and the San Juans.

What a life!

It Isn't All Play

We work hard when we are home and then we goof off when we are away. That's what a lot of people think. Not so!

Especially with a 31 year old boat. We need a master mechanic aboard (Dean), a general handyman (Dean), an able-bodied seaman (Dean), and this year a talented sign painter (also Dean). What luck to have all that talent in one person!

School for Two

One of our favorite moorages is in Reid Harbor off Stuart Island in the San Juans. We just spent a week there hiking, dinghying, boat and people watching. Many more boaters up here than last year. Probably 50 boats overnight - many more boaters than island residents!

One Saturday, the small community on the island held a fund raiser/bake sale for the school there. Well worth the hike up for hotdogs, pie, and rootbeer floats! We hiked there for lunch, another couple miles to the lighthouse, and then back for pie!

This past year the school had 2 students (siblings). In the old one-room Teacherage, there was a nice display of all the activities of the school last year, their field trips to other island's schools, and the big trip to Florida. This past year they got hit with the winter snows, and on an island with no power, they had to move into the old school house which was easier to heat by wood. We suppose the ....two... students weren't too inconvenienced.

Pp Rocks

On the back deck of our boat there are 4 nice flat rocks with the letters "Pp" . The 4 Pp's held down a newspaper that marked the spot where our dearly loved but long departed nautically smart pooch, Pogo, knew to do her business. The first P on the rock stands for Pogo. And the 2nd P stands for, well, you know.Now we have Miss Lily and she has grown up nautically deprived by being on the boat only once in her 11 months. Can she/would she adapt? You know doxies, they'll do as the please when they please. Well, darn right she did adapt as soon as she figured out we really meant it.

So the question is: do we now need to remark the rocks to "MLp"?