At peace with the world-communing with nature

We left our slip at the Demopolis Yacht Basin Friday morning for the first time in in over a year. We were on a 24 hour shake down cruise down the Black Warrior River. The day started out overcast and cool but we didn't care, we were on the water and on the move.  About noon the sun started to peek through the clouds, soon we were enjoying mother natures fall colors at every turn in the river.  We arrived at our anchorage about 3pm.  The only boat there, we found ourselves surrounded only by the sights and sounds of nature; fish jumping, bald eagles flying overhead, a Blue Herin hunting for dinner, the rustling of the tree tops from a slight breeze and the beautiful reflections in the glass like water surrounding Laughter. The night sky was filled with stars. We lay on the bow watching the stars, enjoying  beauty and the silence of our surroundings.  An owl called out in the distance and Mark answered his call. Remarkably Mr. Owl answered and for the next 10 minutes they exchanged a conversation that neither probably understood. Our conversation was sparse as we enjoyed the amazing night sky and quiet surroundings. We felt at peace with ourselves and the world, no worries, no cares, at least for a little while.   We woke up this morning to fog.  I remembered reading about the fog in our area. It is said that the whispy funnels of fog that pass over the water are the spirits of the Indians that once lived here. I found myself smiling as I watched those whispy funnels flow across the river. Once the fog lifted we were on our way back to Demopolis to drop Mark off and spend one more afternoon on the wall before heading South.

On the Move...again

We are back and blogging again after a year!!

One of my daughters brought home a sentence completion worksheet while in elementary school. One of the sentences started with, My mom is.... her answer was, "always going". I have to admit, that wasn't the warm and fuzzy answer I would have hoped for but it was her honest perception of me. Unfortunately sometimes the "always going" seems to be equivalent to a treadmill that is set on high. If you don't keep up, you will find yourself on the flat of your back on the floor. Now that I have retired, my hope is that I can be a little more selective about the pace of my treadmill and that the "always going" will be years of adventures to come with family and friends. It is more than a year since I have stepped foot on Laughter and I am looking forward to being "on the move again" The photo below is of the inside of our van as we moved down to the boat on Oct. 10th. Peanut was on top of a new dingy and two inflatable kayaks. She liked being able to see out the window between Tom and I! No, we couldn't see out the back windows, nor could we open the back or side doors when we stopped for fear of loosing something!

Safety , Safety , Safety

As I mentioned yesterday safety is of the most importance to everyone on the water.....or at least it certainly should be. This picture is of a whirlpool caused by the lockmaster opening the intakes for the water to fill the lock chamber. There are signs galore but people still take chances and get too close to the lock gates where these whirlpools will take control of your boat and destroy it. Most of the signs I have seen at locks and dams say stay back 800 feet. There is a reason and you can see it in this picture. While we were watching this whirlpool a large spoonbill fish about 5 feet long got into the whirlpool and that was the last we saw of him as he went round and round and disappeared ....as if he were flushed down a drain. The force of this water is so strong there would be no fighting back you and ..or your boat would be completely out of control. The whirlpool was apx 10 feet in diameter...BIG...thanx again for checking in Tom

Tour of the Demopolis Lock and Dam

This is Thursday morning's tour of the lock and dam . As you can imagine it was quite infomative and very, very interesting.

This picture is the lockmaster talking to our group of seven boaters from the marina. He was really glad to see us for I think he is a little bored and even lonesome at times. We are standing on the lock wall as he is talking with us. He actually took us into his little control house and showed us how to fill and empty the lock. We also had three corp of engineers people talk with us. Two of them actually grew up in Demopolis and the third came to work here from Louisianna. They were also informative for they take care of a lot of land along this river system along with every buoy in the river from Mobile to The Pickwick Pool. They of course have a tow in front of their headquarters to work with as they do their jobs up and down the river. You would be surprised how much of the land in some areas that our government owns. This area is referred to as land management . We talked about sea level, tows and their effect on the economy, the maintaining of a lock, proper ways to address the lockmaster when locking thru, the special equipment he has in his office, safety safety and safety. Every lockmaster you meet has a great story or stories of strange things they have seen happen. The two stories we heard today were about the two boys who rode their wave runners full blast over the dam, and passed eight signs warning them to stop before they got to the dam. They were not hurt and rode them all the way to the bottom. They have sued. The other story involved a young man who was supposed to pull the rope on the outside of the lock to notify the lockmaster he wanted to lock thru on his wave runner. Instead the boy climbed the lock wall to the top and then climbed the fence and went over the razor wire and walked down the lock wall to the lockmaster requesting to be locked thru. WOW.......Thanx for checking in Tom

A Little Humor

As I have mentioned before all boating is not just fun and games. Sometimes there is work to be done and sometimes it is not pretty and alot of fun. If you turn the picture sideways to look at it you will see what technological boating instrument I am working on at this particular time. Look closely for clues. Hope you enjoy a little laugh at my expense. Thanx for checking in Tom

Returning To Normal

This big boy is a signal that the locks have been repaired and are now open for navigation. He is sitting at the fuel dock here at Demopolis Marina. The TTB is returning to regular navigation North and South. One going North could be heading for Knoxville or Kentucky Lake and even Nashville.....or maybe Lake Michigan. Going South could be an adventure for the oil is still around in some places even tho the interest has shifted to Michigan and the Kalamazoo River. The big problem with going South is that it is still hurricane season on the Gulf and you could get into some serious trouble if you were careless. Hurricane season ends around the end of November. Hurricane season is generally considered to last six months from June thru November. Once again I thank you for following the blog....Tom....P S this big boy was probably close to 100 feet long.....can you say wowser

THE WALL

This picture was taken outside the boaters lounge on the Wall where we sit almost everyday at apx 3:00 o'clock . The conversations always center on boating and are very infomative

.It is a great place to bring your questions ,someone has already faced the problem you may be contemplating and may have some great advice for you. One of the former boaters painted the WALL in it's decorative state. The lounge behind these boaters has a tv and is air conditioned. It has alot of books to choose from and a small refrig and a microwave to use. It is like our own little community here at the marina. Fans are welcome as you can see and they are located by the prime seats.