For the last couple of weeks, we have woken up every morning to blue skies with puffy white clouds, glassy smooth water, and not a trace of wind.  This morning the sky was overcast, the water had small ripples, and we were showing the wind at about 10 knots. (11.5 mph)  Now the wind is up to about 15 knots, and it looks like our water level has dropped a few inches.

The marina is pretty full now.  Boats lined all along the face dock here, and in the boathouse sheds on a small canal in the back of the boatyard.  Boat owners are walking around, checking their lines, checking out other’s lines for ideas, and chatting about what we think is going to happen.

We have seen many tanker trucks pumping into the marina’s fuel tanks, probably in case shortages occur or if there might be contamination of local supplies.  Another boater here was asking what kind of range we have, since fueling stops south of here might be unavailable for a long time.  I believe we could make it to Florida with our current fuel, but we are still planning on going north before we turn around, so we can top off there.

On a different note, many people over the years have asked me why I chose dentistry as a profession.  I tell them that growing up I never understood people’s fear of the dentist – our dentist was a good friend of the family, he never hurt me, and he had pretty ladies working for him that pampered me and made me feel great! (And I had a crush on his daughter, but I can’t admit that in print)  I said I wanted to be a dentist like Bob.  Maybe I couldn’t change the whole world, but I wanted to treat as many as I could like Bob.  So last night I was very pleasantly surprised when my dear old friend Bob Homer called me to see how we are doing.  We had a nice long conversation – great fun!  Thanks for that Bob!  So now all of my patients who like me (Both of them) can know they are thankful to you too, Bob.

Here is the drawbridge just upriver from us.  It seems to be all back to normal, but with virtually no traffic on the river now, it’s hard to tell.  The massive concrete counterweights move down, rolling back on the huge rounded guides beneath them as the bridge leaves move up.  Kind of fun to watch. There are railings all around the tops of the concrete counterweights, like you could have dinner parties up there, but I don’t think you’re allowed.  And your canapés would definitely slide off if they opened the bridge.

Cherryl just took a picture of me typing… so here is a shot of a shaggy old guy blogging!