We're on our way!

Wow! We're on our way to Florida! Well, John and Cappy and I are on our way. I can't wait to get there and meet my cousin Morgan and the new baby that I've been hearing about.

We had a cold and bumpy trip so far, but everyone is okay. I could tell the wind was not coming from the direction that we wanted it to, and that it was a lot stronger than we wanted it to be. It really gets cold at night, but I have my new Christmas sweater on to keep me warm. Cappy makes me go downstairs at night, so I won't get into any trouble, and I'm kind of glad because I can hear the two of them up on the deck talking about how cold it is up there. And they get pretty wet too, with the wind blowing the big waves over the boat.
We sailed all night the first night, so we could get across Mobile Bay before the wind shifted, at least that's what John said. Late that night, we had to cross under a big bridge and there was a giant barge coming toward us. John was driving and he pulled way over to the side of the channel (the green side, he said) to let the barge go past. But the captain of the barge wanted more room and ran us aground outside the channel. That wasn't fun at all. Cappy was mad because she said the barge captain could see that we were aground and he didn't even call us on the radio to make sure we were okay. Some people!
Anyway, after a while, we managed to get the boat back into the channel by rocking it back and forth and playing with the engine (at least that's what it sounded like John was doing), and we got on our way, again. But it was still really windy and cold. We finally made it all the way across Mobile Bay, and John told Cappy, "I'm putting Mobile Bay on my list of places I never want to see again." But I'm pretty sure he didn't really mean that.
Sometime before daylight, John started looking for a place for us to drop our anchor and take a break for a while, now that we were across the bay. But every time he thought he had found a safe place that was out of the way of other boats, the water was too shallow. So, we kept going, and going, and going.
Finally, just before lunch time, he found a nice little spot on the north shore of a place called Pensacola Bay. There were two other sailboats already there, but there was plenty of room for us. We all got cleaned up and took a nap (finally!). Before we left home on this trip, Cappy had cooked a nice Thanksgiving dinner for us, and then she froze it so we could take it with us and eat on Thanksgiving Day. That afternoon, we had our special meal. She made these funny little chicken-looking things called Cornish hens, and some dressing, and I managed to get some of the meat for myself. I love holidays!
After we got everything cleaned up, Cappy and John read their books for awhile, and I just hung out with them. Then we all went to bed really early and got a good night's sleep. Whew! I was pretty tired by then.

Great news!

I have some very exciting news, I think. I heard John and Cappy talking the other night about finally finishing our boat trip to Florida, and it looks like we might be going sooner that we thought. There's something about Cappy's work schedule that's gotten all messed up and we have to change our plans. Both John and Cappy have been very busy getting stuff ready to take to the boat so we can get her back out onto the ocean again. I sure hope it's not as rough out there as it was the last time!

From what I'm hearing, I think the new plan is for the three of us to drive in John's big truck to the place where the boat is now. I remember, from when John and I went there a couple of weeks ago to work on the boat, that's it's in a town called Slidell.

Then, after we get we get there and get all our stuff loaded onto the boat, we're going to sail it the rest of the way to this other place called Destin, Florida, where John's daughter and her family live. I will finally get to meet the little baby that came to help John sail the boat after Cappy and I had to leave him and the boat behind before in another place called Houma. And I'm really excited about getting to meet my cousin Morgan. She's a big golden retriever and I've heard that she's lots of fun.

After we spend a few days there in Destin, the three of us are going to rent a car and drive back to where the truck will be waiting, and then drive home in the truck from there. Whew! I'm getting to see all sorts of places and things that I've never seen before, and I like that.

To make sure that I'm okay to make this next trip, Cappy took me to see my doctor last Friday. After my little accident at the puppy barber shop, John took me to see her, and she got me all patched up. It took quite a while for the cut to heal, and it hurt sometimes, but now she says I'm just fine and I'm ready to go sailing again. The only thing she could find wrong with me was some gunky stuff in my ears. But the doctor gave Cappy some medicine for me and now she keeps squirting this stuff into my ears and it makes them tickle. She really squealed the other day when I shook my head and got the stuff all over her. I thought it was pretty funny, so did John.

I had another nice surprise this weekend when my friend Lilly and her family came over to our house. We played some, but mostly just hung out. Lilly is a sailing pup too, so we have lots of stories to share with each other. That's a nice thing.

So, things are very busy at our house right now. John and Cappy keep looking at these map things called charts and planning how we're going to get to Florida. I just hope things don't get so busy that I have to miss my naps!

A weekend trip to the boat

Well, I may have mentioned that Cappy has four children. One boy, Matt; and three daughters, Marty, Megan, and Molly. I just found out about this a couple of weeks ago, but apparently, every year Cappy and her daughters meet in New Orleans for a "girls only" weekend (sounds kind of silly to me). And they were going to go last weekend. So, John thought that would be a good time for the three of us to drive over to New Orleans (that's in Louisiana) and drop Cappy off at her hotel, and then the two of us drive over to Slidell to spend the weekend working on the boat. Sounded good to me.

Unfortunately, the week before, I had a little mishap at the groomer (Cappy calls it the spa, but it's really just a big ole' puppy barber shop.), and I had a big booboo on my face. It hurt a lot, and Cappy and John kept putting all kinds of medicine on it, but I was ready to do whatever I had to do to help them, no matter how badly it hurt.

So, bright and early that Friday morning, we all piled in the truck, with the back full of boat stuff, and off we went. It was a pretty long trip, so I was able to get in a couple of pretty good naps on the way. Finally, about 2:00 that afternoon, we got to Cappy's hotel and she got out with all her stuff. I was hoping to get out there too, but I guess John needed me to help him on the boat. Cappy was really excited about spending the weekend with her girls, but she was kind of sad that the youngest one, Molly couldn't make it.

There was a lot of traffic in this place called New Orleans, but after we dropped off Cappy, John and I finally got to the boat in Slidell. It was a pretty cool place. I was happy to see the boat again, and as soon as I got on board, I found my favorite spot and took another nap. Whew! Traveling is exhausting!

John and I spent the whole weekend fixing stuff and working on the engine and all sorts of other stuff. He went out for dinner at night at a place called the Tammany Yacht Club, which was right next to where our boat was. I didn't like being alone all that time, but he always brought me treats when he came back. So that makes it okay.

On Sunday morning, we left the boat and drove the truck back to New Orleans to pick up Cappy. Marty had flown back home to Austin earlier, but Megan was still with her, so we dropped her off at the airport on our way out of town. I know they really missed having Molly there with them, but they seemed to have had a really good time. They were both talking about a mile a minute.

John and Cappy and I got home late that afternoon, and I was really tired. I'm not sure when we're going back there, but they are planning to move the boat the rest of the way to Florida real soon. That ought to be a lot of fun!

On to the east (the right direction)

Turns out that Lafitte, Louisiana is the place where they used to make this kind of boat called a skiff, and they called them Lafitte Skiffs. Pretty cool, huh? John and his new crew had anchored in a spot right next to where they used to make these things.


I didn't know it at the time when she talked to John on the phone on Saturday, and neither did Cappy, but the reason John wasn't able to move the boat to Slidell by himself, was because in those lock things, they make you have at least two people on the boat -one to drive (steer) the boat, and another person to use the dock lines to hold the boat in place on these things called bollards (you might want to look that up) and then adjust the lines as the boat moves up and down with the water level. Pretty complicated stuff, but apparently, they got it done.
The day after they got to Lafitte, they went all the way to a place called the Rigolets. This is a section of the ICW (that's the Intercoastal Waterway) where deep trenches let salt water from the Gulf of Mexico in to Lake Pontchartrain. Whew! I can't believe I remembered all that. I'm not really sure why that's important, but it is.
They all spent the night on the boat in the Rigolets, and then finished their trip to Slidell the next day. John said there is a really nice marina there, called Oak Harbor Marina, and that is where he left the boat. His daughter and her family left Slidell the next day, and John finished securing the boat, and drove home the day after that in a rental car. And the boat is still there.

Cappy had to be at work on Monday morning, so she and I left the place called Houma, Louisiana early on Saturday morning to drive back home, and John stayed on the boat waiting for someone to come to help him get it to where he wanted it to be. His younger daughter was going to fly to someplace nearby named New Orleans, and then she was going to drive to where John and boat were, and help him move the boat to a better place. He said something about the boat being too exposed and too out in the open where it was. So he and his daughter were going to sail the boat to another place called Slidell, where it would be safe. But that would take at least two days, maybe longer.

Not too long after we left Houma, Cappy got a phone call from John. They found out that his daughter couldn't come until Monday, and that meant waiting a long time. Anyway, after a lot of phone calls back and forth, it turned out that his other daughter and her husband and baby, were going to drive to Houma from Destin, Florida (which is where we were supposed to be going in the first place) and help him move the boat.

I wish I had been there to see it, because I really like babies, and now there was a baby on the boat. John moved the dining table to make room for her playpen, and they made room for all their stuff, and off they went on Monday morning.

They made it all the way to La Fitte, Louisiana. They tied the boat up somewhere there, but didn't have any electricity for air conditioning or anything else. the next day, they went through these things called locks that kind of "lock" the boat inside some walls and then raise or lower the water level to match what's on the other side of the lock. Then they open up the doors on the lock and let you out into the gigantic Mississippi River. Wow! I wish I'd been there to see that!

Another day in the wrong direction

I'm not sure what time it was, but it was very early when we all heard someone from outside calling, "Hey! Hey! Sailboat! Anybody there?"
John groaned a lot, but got up and went to the door (companionway) to see what all the ruckus was. There was this big, scary looking man standing on the shore and he was yelling at John, "You can't tie up here. This place is not safe! You have to leave!"
Oh, dear, not again. John wasn't very happy because he said he had wanted to have some time that morning to look at his charts and to plan a new course (that's the direction that we go), but now he didn't have time to do that.
So, John and Cappy got dressed and untied the boat. Then we went back out into the water. They said this water was called the ICW, which means the Inter-Coastal Waterway, and that it would take us to our next stop. We spent several hours on this ICW thing, and we saw a lot of other boats and some more of those barge things. John and Cappy kept talking about how we were going the wrong way, but we didn't have any choice because there was no place anywhere else around where they could tie up the boat.
I have to admit, the ride was kind of nice. I didn't get knocked over or tossed around even once. I even managed to take a couple of naps. Sometime that afternoon, we would up in this place called Houma, and there was a place there for us to finally tie up our boat and even turn on the air conditioning. Awesome!
John got kind of mad because as soon as we got the boat tied up, this man came up to him begging for money. That wasn't good. But he went away and didn't come back again to bother us.
We had a nice evening there, complete with air conditioning and lights and everything! John and Cappy went into town and had dinner, but they left a good dinner for me before the left. When they got back, we all went to bed early and had the best night's sleep in a very long time.
The next morning, Cappy and I got into a car (They called it a rental car.) and she and I drove home in it. She didn't want to leave John there, but she had to get back home so she could go to work on Monday, and John wanted to get the boat to a safer place. So, the two of us left for home, and John stayed with the boat, ,waiting for his daughter to come from Rhode Island (another place that I don't know what it is) to help him. We didn't know it at the time, but that wasn't going to work out so well.

Finally, I can stand up straight again

We spent the night on the boat, and finally got some sleep. It had been quite a while since any of us slept (Well, I may have grabbed a nap or two.), and we all just sort of passed out when our heads hit our pillows (Yes, of course I have my own pillow.). By this time, it was pretty much almost daylight, but we didn't care. We just needed to sleep. A few hours later, I really had to go to the potty, so I politely asked Cappy (using my woo-woo-woo voice) to take me to the cockpit. She wasn't very happy about it, but she got up, threw on some clothes and carried me up to the cockpit/restroom. While I was taking care of business (and let me tell you, it was so good to do that standing straight up and not being tossed around), she was looking around and stretching and she saw this car not too far away on the side of the canal that had something written on the side of it like "POLICE." I'm not really sure what that means, but it must be important because it got Cappy's attention. Then, this man wearing all black got out of the car and waved at her. She waved back. Then he started yelling at her. At first we couldn't hear what he was saying. But finally, we could hear, "What's the name of your vessel?" (Vessel means boat.)
Cappy yelled back at him, "Morning Star!"
Then he yelled back at her, "The US Coast Guard is looking for you!"
I'm not really sure what that meant, but it couldn't have been good, from the look on Cappy's face. Anyway, she and John talked for a few minutes, then they pulled the big anchor thing out of the water and we turned the boat around and went back the way we had come from. I had heard Cappy ask the man in black something about getting fuel, and he gave her directions where to go to get some. So we followed his directions, and sure enough we found this really big gas station, and the man in black was waiting there us. He made Cappy and John fill out a bunch of papers and asked them a bizillion questions, but when our fuel tank was finally full, he let us go and even gave us directions where to go from there.
Turns out, the place we had wanted to get to, Grand Isle, wasn't going to be a good place for us afterall. So we had to change our plans - again! We wound up going north from this big-boat place called Port Fourchon and up this really pretty "bayou" call Bayou Lafourche. I found out that a bayou is sort of lazy sort of river thing that boats can use, sometimes, to get to where they need to go. It's not very wide, and it's not very deep, but it goes in the right direction.
So we spent the whole day going up this bayou thing. Actually, it was really kind of nice. There were trees and all kinds of plants and stuff all around, and there were some very pretty houses, and I even got to take a nap or two in the peace and quiet.
We finally got to where we were going (and I'm not sure where that was) sometime after dark. We couldn't find a good place to park, so John pulled the boat into a space between two big boats called barges, and he and Cappy tied it to some big stick things coming out of the water. They said they were pilings, whatever that is.

The next day, Monday, things started to get bad. We had gone about 150 miles away from land, and we were supposed to make a big turn, or tack as John said, to go in the right direction to Florida. But there was something about a "head current" and strong wind "on the nose" and we just couldn't seem to get going in the right direction. John and Cappy tried to tack several times, but the stupid boat just wouldn't go in the right direction. They kept trying all day, and I could tell that neither one of them was very happy about it.
That night, a really funny thing happened. John was down in the basement, I mean cabin, taking a nap, while Cappy was driving the boat. I was downstairs with John, but I was awake and I could see what was happening upstairs. All of sudden, this fish flew out of the water and hit Cappy right in the face! Then it fell into the cockpit by her feet and she kept jumping around trying to get it away from her. I never saw anything like that before. I thought it was a whole lot funnier than Cappy did. When John heard about it, he thought it was pretty funny too.
We spent the next two days still trying to get to Florida, but nothing seemed to work right. They kept trying to turn the boat and get closer to where we were going, but John kept saying something about currents, and wind, and slilding sideways. Apparently, those are not good things.
Finally, on Wednesday night, the wind was really blowing and the waves were huge. John told Cappy to put me down in the basement with my life jacket on, and he told her to put hers on too, and to bring up some things called harnesses and EPIRBs, whatever those are. Cappy was really in a hurry when she was putting my life jacket on me, and I could tell things were bad. She disappeared back up into the cockpit and I could hear them yelling, because the wind was blowing so hard that they had to yell to be able to hear each other; and I see them moving around and doing all kinds of stuff. And they were both tied to the boat, well, John said they were "tethered" but it looked like they were tied up by long leashes to me.
Sometime, in the middle of the night, this other boat, a really big motor boat called a work boat, called us on our radio and said that they couldn't see us on their radar and that we should be very careful because there were all sorts of other big boats out there and lots of these big building things called rigs. Earlier, I heard John and Cappy talk about trying to make it to a place called Grand Isle to get away from the bad conditions, but now they were saying that there was no way we were going to make it that night. The waves were so big that sometimes we couldn't even see over them. I could tell that both of them were kind of scared.
Then, this nice lady on the big boat, it's name was Bee Sting, told us that if we would follow them, they would show us the way to a place nearby where we could take shelter from the weather. So, we followed her for a couple of hours and finally got to a place that was not on the big ocean. They called this place Port Fourchon, and the wind was a lot calmer and the waves were almost gone. Boy, I was so relieved; I could finally stand up and walk around without getting tossed across the boat. We couldn't find a place to park the boat, so we would up putting down our big anchor. That's this big, heavy metal thing that John dropped into the water while Cappy drove the boat. It sank into the mud at the bottom and held the boat still. Pretty cool!
Oh, by the way, I found out later that those EPIRB things are some sort of little electronic things that can tell the U.S. Coast Guard where you are, in case you get into trouble out on the big ocean, and then they can come find you. Awesome!

Yikes! I don't know a lot about all this sailing stuff, but I'm pretty sure things are not going too well on our big adventure. I keep hearing John and Cappy use words like "nightmare" and "disaster," and I don't think those are good words.
Anyway, we were all excited when we left the marina back home because some of our boat neighbors, Jo and Jim and Ann and Dick, came down way before daylight on Saturday morning to tell us good-bye, and one lady even brought us coffee, tea, and muffins. I didn't get any, but it sure smelled good. It was super windy when we left, but we were finally on our way to Florida. You might want to look that place up on a map and see exactly where it is; but it must be a pretty cool place, because everyone was all happy about it.
That first day, things didn't go very well. We had some problems with one of our sails, the jib. John said it was too big for the kind of wind we had, so we, well, he and Cappy, changed it out and put up a smaller one. But then he said that one was too small. And apparently, the one that they wanted to put up, hadn't made the traveling team. It was back home in the garage. Oops. Then there were some other problems and things that needed to be changed, so we turned in between two islands (Galveston and Pellican, John said), and they did a bunch of stuff to the boat. But when we started out again, they said the wind and the waves were too much for us to go off shore (That means to go out into the big ocean.), so we went to this marina in Galveston to spend the night. They said they would see how things looked the next morning, and then decide if we were going or not.
That afternoon, John got a call from one of their friends, and when the friend found out that we were in Galveston, he said that he and his wife would drive down and we could all go to dinner together. I was happy for John and Cappy, but I knew that just meant that I would get left alone on the boat again while they went out. But you just won't believe what happened. These friends of theirs, turns out their names are Mike and Carolyn Payne, went by our house and picked up the jib that we needed, and then they drove all the way down to Galveston with it, and they brought their new dog Lilly! I was so excited. Lilly and I hung out on the boat with our people for awhile, and then we ALL got in the car and went to a restaurant. I couldn't believe it! Lilly and I both got to go with them and we just hung around the table while our people ate and all these other people kept stopping and petting us. Now I see why people like to go to restaurants so much. I was sad when Lilly had to go home later that night, but we had a really good time together. It's nice to have a new friend.
The next morning, we left and went "off shore" and it was pretty scary. At first, it wasn't too bad, but in the afternoon, the wind got really strong. We kept going, but the boat was really heeling ( That means leaning to one side.) really badly. It was hard for me to walk, so I just laid down on the bench in the cockpit and took a nap. It was funny how the color of the water kept changing. At first, it was kind of murky brown; then it changed to a really pretty green color; and then it changed to this really awesome dark blue. That was when the giant fish things started jumping out of the water and swimming all around the boat. Cappy said that they were dolphins, and not really fish at all. They sure looked like fish to me. They were smiling and having a great time playing in the water. I think I'd like to be able to play with them sometime, but we didn't have time then.

Getting ready to sail away

Wow, things have been really busy around here lately. Cappy and John decided that we are going to go on a big sailing adventure all the way to Florida, where ever that is. So we've been working really hard to get the boat thing ready to go. It's been so crazy around here that I can hardly even find time to take a nap. I still try to stretch out on the sofa every now and then, but it's never for long.

Since Cappy has been gone so much lately, I've had to help John with a lot of the boat work. We put on a new sail and new green bag thing to cover it up with; then we put on a new boom (That's just a funny word for this long pole thing that lets the sail sit on it.). We even had to work on the engine. Now, that's an odd duck for you. It's bright blue and has lots of parts and pieces; and it makes a lot of noise. I can't quite figure out how it works, but John knows, so I guess we're ok. Thank goodness I was there to help him.

When Cappy was home last weekend, I had to help her sew some things. She was making some new sheets to cover some of the bed cushions. I could tell she needed help, so I laid on them and tried to hold them down for her. I just do what ever I can to help out.

We had a really fun thing on Saturday. I knew something big was coming up because Cappy and John bought me a cool new shirt, gave me a bath (ugh!), and got me all dressed up. Then, they took me to the boat and all of a sudden, there was this big party with lots of people all around. Everyone was happy and having a good time, and they were paying a lot of attention to me. I liked that a lot! There was lots of food and things to drink. I didn't get much of either, but I did get a few bites of food and a nice big bowl of water. And, I learned that "bon voyage" means "good-bye" or "have a good trip" or something like that.

I have a new home and a new name.

I remember that day when Cappy and John came to the place where I was living. My old family couldn't take care of me anymore, so they sent me to this big place in Houston that had lots of other pups staying there. I was kind of sick when I got there, but the people there took real good care of me and I got well after a while. They fed me and played with me some, but it just wasn't the same as when I had my own family. I was there for a very long time, or at least it seemed like a long time. But then one day, the lady who took care of me told me that there was a couple there who wanted to meet me. She took me outside, and there were Cappy and John. We played and talked for awhile, and I liked them a lot. I guess they liked me too, because they took me home with them that day to live with them for ever and ever. I was so happy!

Cappy and John lived in a nice house with a huge back yard. I loved to run as fast as I could from one side to the other. There were some big dogs who lived on the other side of the fence, and they would come and talk to me when I was out there. I liked that a lot. For some reason, Cappy and John thought that I needed a new name. They said that the one I had just didn't suit me very well, so they decided I was going to be Elmo. Actually, I kind of like that name; so, I'm Elmo now.

Well, it didn't take very long, maybe a week, for me to learn about this "boat" thing. I kept hearing them talk about it, and then one day we all climbed into John's big truck and we drove for what seemed like for ever. Then, when the truck finally stopped and they opened the doors, I saw things I'd never seen before.

There was water everywhere, and there were these funny looking wooden things that were sticking out into the water. I followed Cappy and John down one of those wooden things, and then I saw the strangest thing of all. There was this big funny-shaped thing sitting in the water, and it had all sorts of poles and a jungle of other stuff all over it. They told me it was a sailboat, what ever that means. But I really didn't care because all I wanted was to be with my new family, where ever they went.

This sailboat thing was tied to the funny wooden thing that we were standing on, so John picked me up and carried me onto the sailboat. Then, he opened up this kind of a hole thing and took me down through it to sort of a living room place. He said that hole was called a companionway and that the living room was a salon. Hmmmm. OK.

Next thing I knew, John set me down on a sofa and disappeared back up through the hole and I could hear him and Cappy moving around all over the boat and making a lot of noise. Then all of a sudden, there was a loud noise coming from somewhere in back part of the boat, and the whole thing started to move. I didn't know what to do. I'd never felt my house moving before. I was kind of scared, but after a few minutes, Cappy came down to the living room, uh, salon, and got me and took me back up through the hole thing and put me down next to her on this funny little bench place.

I just sat there for a couple of minutes, and then Cappy put this awful, stiff jacket thing on me. It was pink with white polka dots, so at least it looked pretty cool, but it wasn't very comfortable at all. She told me it was a life jacket and that if I fell into any of this water that was all around us now, it would save my life. So I guess that is a good thing. Anyway, I didn't seem to have a choice about it. I was going to wear the stupid thing, and that was that.

I sat there next to Cappy for a while, sort of pouting about the whole situation, then I happened to look up, and that was when I saw it. I'm a pretty worldly pup, having moved around from place to place a bit, but I had never seen anything like this in my whole life.

There were these giant white flappy things all over the boat! They were stuck to the big poles and every now and then, they would start flapping and making a lot of noise. When ever that happened, John or Cappy would grab some long rope things and play with those until the noise stopped. I guess that noise wasn't a good thing. I heard John mention to Cappy something about sail trim. But I never saw either of them with any scissors or anything else they would have used to trim anything. I finally figured out that those white flappy things were the sails that they were going to trim, what ever that means. Such funny words, sights, and sounds. I hope I get used to it all soon.