Beer Pilferage and the Jedi Mind Trick

September 8, 2005

Friday, September 02, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Amy

Well, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has hit North Carolina. We paid $40 for just over ten gallons of gas to refill our "loaner car." A neighbor also called to warn us that there are apparently roving thieves stealing jerry cans and siphoning gas out of boats on docks. This is nothing compared to what the folks in the Delta are going through, but it does shake my faith in humanity a bit. What jerks.

Anyway, our air conditioner pump showed up today. Shocking news...it worked! Thomas got it installed and all the humans and ferrets did a victory dance. The ferrets had surprisingly good rhythm.

Steve & Sally invited us to dinner again. We brought Caribbean jerk shrimp and enjoyed their spicy chili and several bottles of good white wine. A good time was had by all.

At about 10 PM, we returned to the boat ready to relax into sleep only to find that the OTHER air conditioner had stopped functioning. As Thomas would say, Shitty Death!

I played a slightly buzzed version of Nurse Houlihan, getting towels and tools, while Thomas crawled around under the starboard settee. At some point, he decided it best to swear at the thing alone. I went to bed, and he stayed up until 1 AM doing varied diagnostics. The conclusion: a bad water pump. What a surprise!?

I guess that's the nice thing about catamarans--two of everything, one of which is usually broken. Oh well, a battle for another day..

Saturday, September 03, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Tom

F!#$!ck raw water pumps! I hate them all.

As Amy indicated yesterday, it was in fact the other raw water pump that took a dump last night. As I figure it, we had dueling air conditioners for almost 6 hours. It was good while it lasted.

This is a holiday weekend and as such I will not be able to even order another pump before Tuesday, so we will probably have one sent to my dad and he can just forward it to us with our regular mail drop. I can't say I recommend air conditioner pumps from Teal.

After our early morning pump activities,I spent most of the day working on our new extra large, super deluxe, genuine accessory shift knob, mega cool shade panel. It sounds impressive, which is good, because basically it is a flat sheet with string.

I made an extension of the back of the bimini to help keep sun out of the cockpit when we are lounging about at anchor. I know, I know, it's a tough life, but somehow I manage.

Hopefully, you now see photographic evidence of our canvas extension on the right, but as I have not yet taken these pictures, you may not. Hey man, what can I tell you, those are the breaks.

This evening we hung out with Steve and Sally and watched the evening news as seems to be becoming our regular routine whilst here. We got back to the boat just in time to listen to the Nascar Busch series race on our new XM radio.

I may have mentioned it before but we have had a Sirius receiver for two years or so, but they lied and said they would have Nascar this year, so since they have forsaken me I budgeted for a dueling XM receiver as well. Now I have my satellite options well covered.

I am so lame.

Sunday, September 04, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Amy

As you can see, Thomas and I have decided to alternate days in our logs. Many readers were commenting that I was only a figment of his imagination, and I guess he decided to prove them wrong.

I mention that to distract you from the lack of content in this log. "I have no memory of that, Senator." Being tied up at Steve & Sally's, logs seemed less than essential, and I never wrote one for September 4. Now I've blanked out an entire day. It does, however, seem safe to assume that:

--I got up late by Thomas's standards. (On time being like 4 AM to him.)

--The ferrets did something cute and funny in the morning.

--I obtained a scoop of Death by Chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone, fighting the holiday weekend crowds in downtown Oriental to do so.

--We had happy hour at Steve & Sally's and watched the evening news, etc.

--Thomas listened to the NASCAR race if it was a Sunday and not a Saturday night race.

I have a vague recollection of going to Tin Can Alley, actually called the Southern Palace, where I was subjected to a lecture on wooly mammoths from a guy so drunk he could barely stand. But I know that place is closed Sundays, so I guess Thomas omitted this exciting tidbit from a different log.

Anyway, that is the best I can do. Take it or leave it.

Monday, September 05, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Tom

Today we were invited over to Sam and Boone's house for a small Labour Day party. We managed our invite by the virtue of being in Steve and Sally's back yard. We have met Sam and Boone before and they seem like nice people.

We arrived at their place around 1 and we had the usual festive cookout happening. Lunch was chicken and cheeseburgers on the grill. Miss Pat showed up as well as some weirdo dude also named Tom.

He is some kind of retired coast guard or something and he spent the entire evening trying to get me to let him do a courtesy inspection on our boat.

Yeah pud monkey, inspect this! I finally had to tell him just to leave me the hell alone. Some people just can't take a hint.

We wrapped up the evening with a couple of stiff belts of some nice 12 years old single malt that Sam had just brought back from Ireland. A good time was had by all.

In other news, I have been noticing an alarming trend lately. It seems that every once in a while several cans of my carefully allocated beer stores go missing. I have commented on this to Amy and she just tells me that I am drinking more than my alloted share.

I now have photographic proof of beer pilferage on board Team Dream Catcher. You will notice the fuzzy little masked bandit at right trying to act innocent and cute while obviously casing my beer. Allow me to assure you that he is in fact one of the most devious and clever criminal master minds of our time.

It almost looks like he is trying to use the Jedi mind trick on me. "These are not the beers you are looking for." (Star Wars reference) The force is definately strong with this one.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Amy

Alas, today is our last day of comfort at Steve and Sally's. That meant mega-laundry at their place while I awaited the FedEx guy, who delivered our 200 gig hard drive loaded with MP3s from Thomas's brother. Cool. Thomas did something equally important on the boat, but I forget what it was. Then it was off to the grocery store and back to Steve and Sally's for drinks, which turned into our eighteenth going away dinner at their place. No dishes to do! This really is the lap of luxury.

Of course, NOAA is now calling for the Winds of Death for tomorrow, so our departure is less than definite.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Tom

We awoke to the sound of wind screaming in the rigging. Noaa's forecasted doom and gloom showed up and we were both shocked and amazed that they managed to get one right. Way to go boys, do it again tomorrow and that is called a streak.

Given the weather, we elected to stay here safe at Steve and Sally's.

I spent the day on my computer alternating between oppressing the peasants in one game and starting fist fights at center ice in the other. A most productive day indeed.

I did manage to squeeze in a trip to the hardware store for some small bits and pieces, but I could not work up the energy to install said parts. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, It sounds like we may be able to leave. Armed with this knowledge, happy hour was kept to a 3 drink maximum up with Steve and Sally and we were in bed by 8:30

Thursday, September 08, 2005 - Oriental Harbor, Oriental, NC
By Amy

Steve and Sally can't live without us!

We departed their cushy digs this morning and had a wonderful sail down the ten miles to Oriental. We did four to five knots under head sail alone in good wind and gentle, following seas.

To our surprise, there were about a dozen other boats out racing. On a Thursday morning? Doesn't anyone work?

Oh yeah. Us neither.

The town dock in Oriental boasts free WiFi connectivity via the adjacent coffee shop. I spent the afternoon jacked in. It also has a camera that posts a photo to the web a few times an hour. Steve and Sally spotted us online, and they were so bereft by our departure they drove down to see us.

After a bit of visiting (not much to say after 3 hours apart), we got them to drop us off at the grocery store. We walked back, and the six block trek was enough to whip up an appetite for ice cream (it doesn't take much). I wonder if eating enough Death by Chocolate will really kill you.

Happy hour was at the Toucan, the waterfront bar. We returned to the boat and chatted with our dock neighbors on Nati. They're a German couple living and sailing in this area. Dinner was excellent: shrimp, potatoes, and zucchini in olive oil and garlic all on the grill. An evening drink at the Tiki bar and off to bed.