A Case of the Sundays

So Sundays are my Mondays. The start of my four day work week. And because I've just had three days (four days this time, because of the holiday) off, it's usually my most disjointed day on the boat. More things go awry on Sunday than most any other day of the week, at least for me. Nothing horrible, just enough to make me sigh and look forward to Monday (my Tuesday).

I left my coffee cup at home. Not my thermos, which would, in fact, be the end of the world as we know it (and no, I wouldn't feel fine, thank you very much REM). But my coffee mug, which I not only drink my coffee out of, but any further hot drinks I may want. And it was a very wet and cool day, a few mugs of tea would have gone a long way.

I dressed like an idiot. I didn't think about the fact that "steady rain" was forecasted for the afternoon. I wore a long sleeved shirt and a hoodie. And the hoodie basically acted like a sponge to every single raindrop it came across. Thus the desire for hot tea.

The water levels had been super high, then steadily falling, since I last worked. We look at a chart of the water levels at Salem, and since I'd last worked, on Tuesday, water levels went up 5 feet, and then back down 2. The water levels make a big difference in how I land. The currents pull the boat different in different currents. Plus, we adjust where the low water line (that's the underwater cable) is tied to land, and also how loose or tight that line is. It's like driving a totally different boat. I feel like I spent all day yesterday figuring out the landings, and I still, a day later, don't feel like I've nailed them consistently. That drives me crazy. I'm trying to figure out what other things to adjust, or what to adjust more or less, so I can get back to consistent landings.

The grossest part about yesterday? https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2538654838624&l=f48c0cab21 sorry, it's a link not a pic, I'm on the boat and having a hard time uploading. But you shouldn't need to log into facebook to see it. It's a picture of a COCKROACH. ON THE BOAT. So far, I've only found one inside the cabin, but tons outside. I'm sure it's the garbage they're attracted to. The garbage situation here is wonky. We have a very small can in the cabin, and when that's full, we tie up the bag and put it into a much larger bag inside one of the storage areas. Eventually, when that larger bag is full, we get the boss to take it back to the shops and throw it away. Problem is, we don't create all that much garbage, so a bag full of bags of garbage--lots of food waste--is sitting on the boat, a delicacy for roaches. It seriously grosses me out that they like to hang out on the outside of the windows. So when I look up to look for cars, or to watch the landing, I'M LOOKING THROUGH ROACHES. They're not the huge urban roaches, but still, they're roaches. I don't want them at all, cause they're sneaky little buggers and I'm terrified of them hitching a ride home with me, then I'll have roaches in my house!

Since I started writing this blog post this morning, I've gotten my landing mojo back on the east side, still working on the west. And the boss came down, took the garbage, and gave me a thing of nasty chemicals to spray everywhere. He gets it. Its gross. He said he's considering getting a dumpster up on shore, which would be so awesome. We could take the garbage out daily and have it off the boat altogether.

It wasn't an awful day yesterday, just a case of the Sundays.