July 29th

Happy Birthday Brother Eddie. :-) I won't get to call you but still want you to know I'm thinking about you and hoping you have a great day. You are officially a year older than me now, which suits me just fine. I'm sitting at the dining room table, on the boat, in Alaska, looking at a table full of chocolate chip cookies. I have a dessert waiting to be finished at the end of the table and some toast I'm making into croutons. Pulled pork is in the crockpot and I will be making a pasta salad and a corn casserole later today. I try to get a bunch done in the morning, take a lunch break (nap if I'm lucky) and then finish up the cooking later. Also need to vacuum, Brad actually vacuumed the other day, wonders of wonders. :-) Told him he did a great job and anytime he feels like pushing that monstrosity around he's welcome to it. Crazy thing has to be adjusted every time it gets used, if the hose has been jostled around at all, the beater bar won't work and there is no floor suction. I hate vacuums. Noisy, dirty things anyways. Got to enjoy the bath house at Baranof yesterday morning. For some reason I woke up at 6 am, after yesterday's blog that's hard to believe isn't it? Decided I might as well beat the rush, so grabbed my things and walked up the dock and the boardwalk to the baths. Met a lady coming back but didn't see anyone else waiting in line. Just walked right in, got the hot water filling the tub and proceeded to soak. Ahhhhh, so warm and cozy, stinky like sulfur but felt wonderful. Got back to the boat and was starting breakfast when Brad said, Let me know when you want to go up to the bath house and I'll pull the swim deck closer to the dock for you. Ummmm, hey Brad, I already went, been back awhile. The look on his face was priceless. First, he didn't know I had gotten off the boat. Second, he knew getting up early was not my favorite thing. Third, he couldn't imagine how I managed to jump off the boat. He said, Didn't you have a hard time going off the side? That must have been a stretch for you. Me - Yeah it was but I made it. Brad - Good thing, you would have gone straight down and there's no way up from there. Yep, I remember Minnie's story well so always try to be cautious when I climb up or down from the side. I've tried to listen to Minnie's experiences and learn from them. She went off the side of the boat, her foot slipped and down she went, right between the boat and the dock. She said it was so black and dark plus she shot straight down fairly deep. By the time she surfaced the guys were there to help her out but if they hadn't been there, she said there was no way she could have pulled herself out of the water. Scary. Really wish she would have started a journal all those years ago cuz she has alot of stories.