Tuesday, April 16, 2013 – Chillin’ in Cocoa:

            Phew!  What a crazy two weeks (actually three weeks).  We left Cocoa and flew home on March 26 (with no flying kitty complications I might add), whereupon I immediately caught a cold and was grumpy for the next two weeks.  Then Bob caught such a bad cold we had to cancel our flight back to Cocoa and make new flight arrangements.  But, finally, here we are back on the boat and ready to start the trek home.

            It was a good visit home though, and I enjoyed being back in our house again – except after awhile you start to realize all the things that need to be done, maintenance issues rear their head, and, of course, it’s spring and the yard is starting to wake up and ask for some attention, and because you’ve been away for so long you see all kinds of things to do and putter around about that seem like fun again – and then you have to accept the fact that you are leaving again for another six weeks or so, and you have to leave all those things unattended that are begging you to attend to them.

            But leave we did – this morning at 10:00 a.m.  I think we kept Kitty Cat pretty much in the dark about our trip back until just a few minutes before we left, when I put her in the cat carrier.  She may have suspected something early on because she somehow managed to jump up on the top of the armoire that is in our bedroom, and sat there peeking over the top with a look on her face that said, “Ok, see if you can get me up here!”  But she must have decided that her conclusion was premature, because she finally jumped down and decided that a nap in the chair in the living room was more to her liking and a safe bet for the time being.  Ha Ha  - wrong, because I was able to just scoop her up and put her in the cat carrier without her being able to protest until it was zipped up.  No wonder she was confused about what we were planning because after we packed to leave last Tuesday, we never unpacked after we had to change our flight arrangements and the suitcases just stayed on the floor in the bedroom.  Maybe Kitty Cat thought that was the new décor.

Lucy on top of the armoire

"See if you can get me up here!"

            All was well when we arrived at the boat, and the weather is georgous!  Sunny, warm and in the 80’s.  We opened everything up and there is a nice breeze blowing through the screens, and it almost seems like we never left.   Miss Lucy didn’t even think about hiding under the covers when she escaped out of the cat carrier, and she has already stuck her nose outside.   We are all pretty tired – traveling is not much fun, and we are all exhausted.  Lucy was starving when we got here, though, and wanted her lunch right away.  I’m sure she’ll sleep good tonight as will we all.

            Bob has been feverishly working on our itinerary back home, and after we reprovision the boat which will mean another mega trip to the grocery store (although I think we will be prepared for the grand total this time!), and have a few maintenance items taken care of on the boat like changing the zincs and getting the bottom cleaned, we should be on our way by the end of the week.

            I was thinking that we would take our time and visit some places that we missed on the way down like Cumberland Island, Georgia, which is supposed to be well worth a two day visit, but it may be that we feel the need to high tail it home.  We’ll see.  I think that happens a lot of the time – you start to head home, and all of a sudden you just want to get home.

            I am looking forward to having the dolphins play in our wake again and maybe catching another glimpse of a manatee or an alligator, but we had a quite a few wildlife sightings at our house during the last three weeks.  There was a skunk that found something interesting to search out every afternoon around 4:00 p.m. along our road, and of course, that is about the time that I refer to as “bunny rabbit cocktail” time when it seems like the fields and roads become a playground for the rabbits who have been hiding all day.  The osprey are back, and along with making sure their nest is just right for the upcoming family, we watch them successfully hunt and catch fish every day and enjoy their meal in the tree limbs along the waterfront.  The other night as Bob and I were watching television I heard something that sounded like two animals either in a terrible fight, or one being eaten by the other, or perhaps they had found love at last!  Who knows?  Anyway, our neighbor heard the rukus too, and couldn’t find her cat, so both of us grabbed flash lights and started scouring the woods between our two houses.  Our neighbor found her cat, but we never did discover what or who was making all that racket.  Last night we counted twelve deer in our front yard nibbling the new grass shoots and looking longingly at the fruit trees that they enjoy toward the end of summer.  They are shedding their scraggly winter coats and will soon look sleek and shiny.  We have way too many deer, but I don’t have the heart to go out and shoo them away.  This morning before we left, we saw what appeared to be an elderly fox trot alongside our house then through the waterside yard and down the stairs to the water.  It seems we have quite a wildnerness of our own right at our house!

            We are going to walk over to the Black Tulip in a little while for dinner, which is a very nice restaurant where you can really relax and have a wonderful meal.  I think I will have a nice glass of cold white wine to accompany it, and the only reason I don’t have a nice glass of really cold white wine right now is because the refrigerator isn’t cold enough yet, but we’re working on it!

            It really is good to be back!