A New Project

After being kept home a few extra days I was sent back to work.The lack of a contract for my boat led me to another boat within the company nicknamed tug matchbox.It gets this name from the size and feel of it.The boat is the smallest in the company fleet,66 gross tons,and feels every bit of it.It was good to be back at work but very frustrating being on a small boat with three other large men.Large men who don't clean up after themselves or do any regular maintenance to the tug.However after thirteen days on the tug I was sent back to my original boat which,you guessed it,is back in the shipyard.The only difference is this time we aren't working on our boat we are working on an over used,under appreciated boat in the fleet.The boat has gone five years since being pulled out of the water and looks every bit of it.These are the really tough days to be a mariner.The days when you would rather be towing a barge offshore not picking up the pieces someone else left behind.The four other guys I'm working with would all rather be doing something else besides looking like they just got out of a coal mine at the end of the day.It's one of those projects that everywhere you look it needs to be fixed.Whether it's rusty,broken or just plain dirty.There isn't anything we can do but just take it day by day.Chances are when the upper management sees the work needed below decks the boat will either be scrapped or sold,have fun with that.Either way I just need to keep telling myself it's good to have a job,I guess.Pictures to come in the next few days.

A Cruise Ship to a Matchbox

That's what it feels like anyway.After being kept home for a few days past my time off I am finally back to work.It seemed like an eternity,waking up everyday trying to figure out when I was going back to work.Well that's all over,for now,and I must say I'm glad.I'm not glad to have this awesome head cold/sinus thing and not have access to a doctor.No big deal I have survived worse.So my normal boat has been jobless since the end of last month and I was told I just needed to wait for something to pop up.So I did a bit of hunting with my extra time off and got pissed off my schedule got ruined for this upcoming hunting season.But without a job I wouldn't have the opportunities to hunt and fish in the manner that I currently do.So after six extra days home I got the called and was offered work which I accepted.Unfortunately I went from the biggest boat in the fleet,my normal boat,to the smallest one,ouch.Being on here really reminds me of when I first started working on tugs almost six years ago.Small tugs,small engines,strange crew,interesting jobs.In all seriousness everyone on board,all three people,have accepted me and have tried to make it as normal as possible.It's a hard thing to do when you open your bunk room door and it hits the door to the head.So there it is,back to work dredging in Baltimore,Md.It's good to be back,now I just need to kick this cold.

Early Fall Outdoor Activities

So it's been a hectic few weeks home,but it has all been worth it.We got the boat blind on which wasn't nearly as big of a pain as I thought it would be.The blind went together good,the instructions were adequate however we did run into a few problems.One was the lack of hardware.We were a few bolts and nuts short but that was remedied by a quick run to Lowe's.The hardware that came with it was not exactly to par but we used it and it should hold up for a season or so depending on the amount of salt water it encounters.The zip ties they give you are cheap and I had to purchase some outdoor heavy duty ones.Besides that it looks great and is easy to operate and not to heavy.The following day I headed to the mountains for a little rest and fishing.I was lucky enough to have some decent weather and caught some nice smallmouth,red eye and two rainbow trout.Those were my first and second wild,not stocked,trout caught on artificial bait.All hail the black rooster tail!This Tuesday was out early September Goose opener and I was lucky enough to get out.The weather was great,low 70's Northeast wind and plenty of birds.I missed the X by about 60 yards but we were still able to pick up a few birds.Today we will try again.I'm looking forward to a few nice hunts in shorts before the weather turns cold and the real waterfowl hunting begins in November.