20090618: moving on the water

this evening we were cruising upon the water! finally! we went up and down our little inlet of the bay. we went into some water that was 4 feet deep, and cricket has a 6 foot draft! then we went under a bridge that had a clearance of 25 feet, and cricket has a mast that is almost 60 feet off the waterline! good thing for us we were not in cricket, but rather or little dory, which actually floats! it was fun to cram the three of us into little jimminy and move about the water.

earlier today jerr bear and i ran bunches of errands, while captain, cook, boatswain, cockswain, and purser pam did bunches and bunches of necessary bookwork down in the belly of the ship.
we (ben and jerry) went:
-to the dinghy on the hard to repair the mouse hole
-to the hardware store for this, that and the other thing (actually, they didn't have the other thing)
-to the liquor store for some ship's grog
-to the gas station for gas for jimminy
-to the grocery store for the other thing
-to the marine store for some line (a fancy boating term for rope... there is no rope on a boat, just lines)
-to the bathroom for... wait. i guess i don't have to go into every detail...

we all went and had a lovely visit with our friends upon the sea-wing, john and vern. they have a big motor boat that has a real living room with couches, floor lamps and big pictures in frames on the wall, and a 747ish cockpit and another cockpit and a 90+ year old sleeping down below. wonderful conversation. lots of learning about life on the chesapeake. the walsh's are very fine, giving folks! papa jerry shared his pickled fish recipe with them, and they fishing tips with us.

then we went to put the dinghy together, launched her four feet down from the sea wall, watched in nervous support as papa jerry mounted the outboard, checked the oil in her, filled the fuel tank (and a little of the bay) with gas, and pulled and pulled on the chord to try to start her, all on a tiny, unstable, inflatable rubber boat. oh my. he really wanted to do all that. he was more excited to get that little thing going than i was! it was all worth the trouble when the three of us were putt-putting down the river, waving to all the folks, waving to us from the unwatery shore!