911 !

Searcher called me at work today, twice in a row. Usually when I'm with pts, I ignore calls, but after the second call, I excused myself to see what was wrong. She'd been calling Hubby and me. Transformer "in back of the house" blew and caused a small fire in a tree. She said there were no more flames, but the leaves were still glowing and the transformer was still arcing and sparking. I hung up, dialed 911 and explained this to the fire dept. They praised me for calling as all is dry again, and it wouldn't take much to have the entire line of trees,lawns, and perhaps houses go up in smoke. They sent a truck out immediately and left me to call FPL. They have a miserable automated voice system that leaves no room for "press __ for emergencies," so I suggested this to the live person I finally had answer the call. She seemed disinterested, so now I'll email corporate and the PSC. I truly abhor lousy service, especially where it counts.

I then tried Hubby's cell twice: no answer. So I called the office and asked receptionist if he was out. No, she connected me to his desk, and sweetly as you please, I heard, "Hubby, May I help you?" I told him of our efforts to reach him by cell, so while we chatted he checked his phone. "Six missed calls??!!" I told him not to worry, I'd already called 911 and the FD was on the way to the house. "WHAT??!!" I quickly relieved his fears, but suggested he might want to go home and move the boat. It's not much, but it still runs! Later, I called him for an update. Searcher was a bit incorrect in saying where the transformer was; it was actually next door, but still cause for concern. A power line melted and went down as well. Bottom line, nobody's house went up in flames, and while the power was out for 4 hours (obviously, FPL did not find this an emergency), Searcher was sleeping and we were at work, so it didn't inconvenience anyone.

And that's all there is to report on this end!

Boat Trip Today

or...don't go out on a holiday weekend.

Yesterday, Hubby prepared the boat and food for us to go out on the boat this morning. I set the alarm for 6, but was up in the night - a LOT - thanks to the animals. First, the cat started doing his primordial meowing, followed by a painful yelp from Molly. Max bit and clawed her. My most oft-quoted line from Steel Magnolias refers to the cat: "He is evil and should be destroyed." A couple hours later, I heard collars jiggling and went to check it out. The pungent odor of dog poo welcomed me in the main bathroom. Molly had diarrhea all over the place. Earlier, she had eaten a package of German's baking chocolate. Since she's a good size, I decided this was not enough to kill her, and I was right. I'm really glad the dogs were not in their crate; it would have been all over both of them. This way, I cleaned the floor, sanitized it and my hands, and went back to bed. Woke up half hour later thinking something was wrong, but all was well. When the alarm went off at 6, I bolted out of bed to find and clean whatever else was messed up; this time, a large urine puddle in the bathroom. I cleaned that up, and by then, Hubby was awake. He looked at me and could tell I hadn't slept well, so we compromised: I went back to bed til 10, we went to First Watch for brunch, then came home and took the boat out around 2. We decided to stay around the river and not to Boca Grande pass or the Gulf since it was late.

Hubby noticed that the steering was quite stiff on the boat. I was glad I don't steer; he was really yanking at the wheel at times. As we went down river toward the Gulf, there were literally dozens of boats coming at us returning up river. They had left earlier in the day and were going home. There's a place in the Caloosahatchee called the "miserable mile" by local boaters. Here, the river is at it's narrowest, there is a spoil island just off the channel, and all are to be on their best behavior and drive at slow speed. Problem is, there are always folks who either don't know the waterways, or just don't care. Rent the Disney movie The Boatniks for an idea of what it can be like. Miserable.

We stopped just Gulfside of the Cape Coral bridge and fished about a half hour with shrimp. Didn't get a nibble. Pulled up stakes to go elsewhere, with no bait lost, which is extremely rare. Usually there are hungry catfish to steal bait, at the least. We continued down river ("here's the determined salmon, swimming upriver") and crossed over to fish near some mangroves, but the water became too shallow and we turned around. Meanwhile, we had noticed misting, or early fog beginning to settle over the water. Hubby has boated in fog, and it's not his favorite thing to do, especially without appropriate lighting, so we headed upriver for home. I was white-knuckled with teeth clenched as speeding boaters zoomed around us in no-wake zones. Hubby was quite concerned when a huge yacht came flying up behind us; he took evasive maneuvers to get away from him, but the guy seemed to deliberately closely tail us for a few minutes. I figured he wanted to hurt his boat less than we did. It probably cost more than our house. Back in the day when housing prices were normal.

We got home safely, trailered the boat without a hitch (pardon the pun), came home and ate our picnic here. We'd crated the dogs while we were out, and they made no messes. Whew!

Hubby said "Lesson learned: don't go out on a holiday weekend." He also says the worst thing about boating are the boaters.

~~shimfee