What the human doesn't know...

I have decided that The Human can't be trusted to tell the full story of how us, The Rulers (known to some of you as "cats" - gross!), are taking this transition.  So, while I suffocate the human as she sleeps, I know I have her knocked out long enough to let you know how life is for me, Madam Curious (or, as The Human so grotesquely calls me, "Lil' MC"), and my brother, Baron von Munchhaussen (like he has earned a title - whatever!).  Since our lives have been relatively short, I suppose I can do the condensed version of our lives.

Every boater dreams...

After my last post, a fellow (and much more seasoned) sailor suggested that posting our list of needs and wants would be a good idea as there may be sailors (or other people) reading this blog who just happen to have what we need laying around wanting a good home.  Also, we realize that the more our needs are spoken to the Universe, the more we get what we need - in fact, we just acquired netting we needed to surround the deck for the safety of the cats for FREE!  This netting can run $2/foot and we needed at least 75', so just by paying attention and speaking up, we have saved 150 very precious dollars!  Blessed be and thanks to God/dess for providing!

However, as this is also documenting the full journey of As Yet Unnamed Boat, I want to make sure to capture the changes we go through, both on the boat and in our Personal Priority List.  So, while this is a prayer of sorts, it is also my documentation of our journey!  In other words, no bad mouthing the greedy little kids! ;-)

Living aboard - first impressions

So, there are a couple of new situations and characters to add to this fun adventure, a situation I see happening so much in the future!  However, one thing that will hopefully remain somewhat stable throughout our upcoming year will be our boat, barring the changes we know we need to make on her.  I thought I would write a short blog just outlining the general description of what the layout of life is like right now.

O.K., let's begin with the boat's current situation:  Our boat, which is unnamed as yet, is 32' long, 10.5' wide, and has a center cockpit, which we found is a fairly rare layout for a boat (especially one this length).  "And what  does a center cockpit have to do with anything?" you may find yourself asking.  Glad you asked!  With most boats, when you step onto the stern (the back) of it, you are stepping into the cockpit; with our's, the back end of the boat is an aft (rear) cabin and our "stateroom" (what any bedroom on a boat is called).  This means that our bed, one closet, and a sink/porta potti area with bathroom cabinets are separate from the rest of the boat, giving it a true "bedroom" feeling as opposed to sleeping in the same area where we cook and "live".

The center cockpit

The back end (or "stern") or our boat

The big leap!

Eric, Cory, and The Wonder Dog, Jamie

When I was three years old, my parents, my brother, our dog, and I moved from El Paso, Texas where we were wearing shorts and t-shirts to Vermont... in January... during the coldest and snowiest winter Vermont had seen in 77 years - literally.  We moved back to Texas on my fourth birthday, six short months later, after my dad determined that maybe this Texas family did not need to live through another northeastern winter.  I sort of remember a moving truck and have the faintest memories of new things to come because we were moving again.

As Rob, the cats, and I drove to Florida this past week, 4'x8' trailer in-tow, I was overwhelmed by this memory (or, due to lack-of-concrete-memory, "knowledge" may be more fitting): at 26- and 25-years-old, my parents were moving their six- and almost-four-year-old (oh, and The Wonder Dog) from one end of the country back to the end they had just left in search of income and a comfortable, stable life.  The first morning we woke up on the boat was Rob's 36th birthday, my 35th will be in seven months - we are literally a decade older than my parents were and we just moved with a spouse for the first time in either of our lives, no kids yet, running away from an unstable economy and lack of jobs, looking forward to adventure and an unknown future.  And, yet, the part I kept getting caught up on was that I am a wife moving with my family (the cats help round us out as a true family) across the (bottom part of the) country.  That part was blowing my mind!