Update on the boat

 We've been working a lot on the boat and getting quite a bit done.  I must say that the really hard work is being done by Brandon.  He's the brains of the operation for sure.  I clean and hand him things and think up crazy ideas that he can usually craft into something usable.  But, things are really starting to look good.

We plan to rename the boat and need to find someone to do the lettering for us.  Hopefully, it will look something like this when the lettering is done.  A new boat at the harbor is a really big deal and everyone on the island has driven by to take a look at our boat....probably about half of them have stopped by to talk to us at one point or another.  We've gotten quite a few compliments about our new blue light that Brandon picked out and installed all on his own.  I didn't know any of that was happening.  But, looks pretty cool doesn't it?

Meanwhile, I thought I would be able to just wash the cushion covers throughout the boat and and then put them back on.....that is, until I tried to take the covers off.  Well, I nearly puked.  For those that know me and my hotel germ phobia....you can only imagine how this situation was in the boat.  Then, I also had to deal with the berth.......oh that did not go well.  I had to stop and get Brandon and he had to finish.  

So, I decided we would not be reusing any of the cushions covers or cushions.  I found a website called coversandall.com and they were having a sale each time I ordered.  I was able to find cushion covers, cushions, and curtains that are waterproof, mildew resistant, tear proof, and UV protected all with 3 and 5 year warranties for an extremely reasonable price AND FREE FED EX SHIPPING EVEN TO HAWAII!!!!  So, I purchased new everything.  And, I feel much better about all of it.  

For the berth, we are actually redoing the entire thing.  We are removing all of the current wall coverings and then we will put a coat of marine paint to help with a moisture barrier.  Then, we'll install some marine grade low pile carpeting on the walls.  We've already put some on the floor in the front part of the salon and it looks really great.

New cushion for the couch on the port side.....teak oiled about 5 coats to bring it back to a nice shine.

New cushions for couch on the port side.  Again, teak is oiled properly.  Everything fits and is really comfortable.

Brandon is right at 6 feet tall. I had now idea the couch was this big!  He's already had a couple naps on this and is satisfied with the comfort level.  Proper pillows are on the way.  Also from coversandall.com.  I really can't say enough good things about this company!!

Dinette on the starboard side with the new cushions.  Everything fits perfectly if you put the table down and then put the back cushions down to make a bed.  However, we decided to order a separate cushion to cover the table and keep the back cushions where the are now when making a bed.  It will be a good place for the dogs to hang out and for me to chill out when we are out and about island hopping.

This is the carpet that is installed to cover the hatch access to the engines.  We glued everything down and then went back in afterwards and slit the carpet in order to open everything.  This is also the same carpet that we will use on the walls in the berth.  This will offer sound proofing and moisture barrier in the berth.

So, once that is done, we have some kind of retro wall paper to put up in the berth....it's white with some retro tie dye sort of looking star sort of lines....shoot....here is a pic....my ability to describe is sometimes lacking....

So, there isn't really a lot that has to be wall papered in the berth.  Even then, a lot of what gets papered ends up covered.  We end up putting this up and then probably half of this ends up covered.  But, I think at the end of the day, it will be pretty cool.  The bathroom and the galley also require wallpaper, but I don't know that we will use the same paper.  Brandon would love to go back to the original, but I think we would have to find someplace to have it specially made and frankly, I'm not sure I'm that in love with that pattern!  It's a 50 year old boat....so you can imagine how obnoxious that wall paper is! hahaha

The last thing I have to do in the berth is cut a new mattress.  I broke down and watched a youtube video on how to do thing.  I hate watching youtube videos.....I'd rather just read directions but apparently the rest of the world learns better by watching videos.  So, I've ordered (and it's already arrived) a 10 inch king size layered foam mattress.  The layers are density and then memory foam and then gel cooling layer or something like that.  So, once everything is cleared out of the v berth, I will use a sheet to trace out a template with the little v insert in it.  Then, I'll let the mattress expand fully and trace the template out onto the mattress.  Then, I'll cut it a little with a box knife and then....get this....I will use an electric knife to cut through the rest of the mattress to cut out the entire template.  There is no way this can go wrong right????? hahahaha  

So, I've purchased a moisture proof and bug proof (mites and bed bugs you know cuz I just got lucky with that one) mattress cover and I'll zip it all up in that thing.  Then, we'll put it on the boat and I've sheets to wrap it all up in that.  I have big king pillows and also have moisture and bug proof  pillow covers to zip those up in and then regular pillow cases.  All dark gray.  I might not be meant to live on a boat because I'm freaking out about bugs, mildew, water, etc.  But, hey, an ounce of prevention right?  Oh and no cardboard is allowed on the boat......bugs are in cardboard.  I don't like bugs.  hahahaha  

We have this cool little grill that came with the boat.  Brandon was able to get that all cleaned up yesterday.  It looks good and it actually works.  We found all the parts for it.  Yesterday, we gathered up all of the things for the galley and worked on putting those things away.  I have a lot more room left than I anticipated.

We are working on curtains.  Brandon installed the front window curtains on the outside which I think is way better than the inside which is what was originally planned and they really look great!!

Nice and clean looking.  Keeps all of that morning light out of the boat which just saves the wood and the interior of the boat.  We have the rest of the curtains waiting to go up but we had to come up with a way to hang them.  I had a way, but Brandon came up with a better way for the sides.  So, he's waiting on the remainder of his installation equipment.  I am simply waiting on my cool turtle hooks which is what I will be using to hang the back curtains.  So, his installation will be way cooler.....but mine will LOOK cooler.....ya'll can be the judge later! haha  I mean, if we are being honest, mine installation is actually my idea at the base that Brandon improved upon and then I actually improved upon....so, whose idea is it really???  I'm saying mine! hahahaha

Today we are going to go work on the boat.....well, Brandon is going to work on the boat.  I am going to chill out with the dogs and read my book.  

Oh, we found our first trip.  Eventually, we will be about to take the boat out on our first test run.  First, Brandon has to make sure we have proper power, install the new toilet system, install new fridge, and install AC, and finish the berth......then, we can take our trip....anyway, when we do we are going to go east along Molokai to this old harbor that isn't used anymore.  It is beautiful.  I'm told it's where they got most of the sand for Waikiki Beach.  It looks so peaceful and there is rarely anyone there and it's really protected.  Plus, if anything goes wrong, someone can actually drive there.  It's about 2 hours by boat....45 minutes by car....

Brandon is definitely boat people......I'm not sure I'm totally a boat person yet but I'm working on it.....I'm good so long as I'm tied to the pier.  I don't know how well I'm going to do once we are cut loose on the ocean! haha

Adventures in Owning a Boat

 Just when we pretty much have the remodel at the house finished, then we get the boat.  It's pretty much a new project that will take a lot more time and will be ongoing.  Below, is a picture of the interior of the boat.  I've ordered all new cushions, cushion covers, curtains, and tarps.  Brandon wanted to go with a blue theme and who am I to argue with my favorite color.  The point being mainly to seal the windows to stop the leaks, re-finish and oil all of the teak, and then install the new stuff which is all waterproof, mildew proof, and has UV protection.  Everything will be hung and put back together so that we can keep the interior nice.  So, this is all going to look a lot different when we finish with it.

You can't really see into the berth.  In the picture below, you can see the basics of what is looked like about 3 years ago.  It's pretty comfortable and the cushions are still in good shape.  We are going to replace the white furry nonsense on the walls.  I found some marine grade blue carpeting with rubber backing to use to replace that fur.  I'm not sure why anyone would think white fur on a boat would be a good idea, but someone did.  So, we'll do away with that silliness.  I think that is much more practical and will bring the blue thing into the front of the boat.  Meanwhile, I've ordered dark grey sheets and pillowcases, along with 4 big new King size pillows.  The last thing left to decide is there is some white wallpaper on the rest of the walls in the room.  I could pull it down and paint or pull it down and put something else up.  The original wallpaper is actually some rather crazy looking vertical multiple colored stripes.  I leaning toward leaving the white as it is and fixing what is falling down.

I made more new friends.....you know I have a knack for this.........

Brad stopped by with some huge fishing poles that I'm sure we don't really need.  

Meanwhile, I've taking a break in order to make a new batch of bread.

These drawers are from an outside cabinet on the back of the boat.  The wood is teak and everything was falling apart.  Someone along the line someone put varnish on the wood which is no good.  You should not varnish teak.  You should only oil it.  So, I did the sanding.  Brandon put everything back together, then I oiled it.  I think the result is really good.

There's a lot of elbow grease needed in order to get the rest of the boat looking like this.  It will all get finished eventually.  As of right now, I have until about the middle of February because that's when all the cushions, covers, and curtains are scheduled to arrive.

We have a Boat!

 First let me start with this: January 19, 2023--we bought a boat.  1953 Uniflight, 34 foot, sport fisher/liveaboard.  It is something that we were thinking about for a long time.  Really, it was a toss up between a liveaboard boat and a pool.  If have no idea how hard it was for me to give a pool for a boat!  But, really, I thought it would be the better option.  We can now island hop and take those silly dogs with us.  Plus we are able to stay in the boat at any state harbor for something like $16 a night.  I thought that was pretty good.  Given there is so little here on Molokai, I figure the boat will be good to go over to Maui and take the dogs to the vet or get them groomed, go to WalMart/Costco, hell....I can get a good haircut!

We had a great plan as to how to acquire this boat.  We did everything we should....had it surveyed, checked out by a diesel mechanic, reviewed the prior survey, and Brandon researched the hell out of all of it.  We were desperately trying to avoid flying over to Oahu only to find out that the boat wasn't something we wanted.  We even took a tour of it via facetime!  The lady selling it seemed really nice and her name was Amy.  She seemed very sincere and honest.....despite the fact that she is a real estate agent--people are just generally don't trust.

Our plan was to fly over to Oahu on Wednesday, January 18 around noon.  One thing you must adjust to though is that Mokulele is the only flight off the island and they are never on time.  They weren't that day either.  But, we flew over to Honolulu and I arranged an uber.  

Brandon put in an order with West Marine for some things that we needed for the boat.  We had the uber pick us up, take us to West Marine, and then deliver us to Ko Olina Harbor which is where the boat lived.

Ko Olina Harbor was absolutely beautiful!  It was one of those private harbors with the gate and you have to have a key to get into the place.  They have all these floating docks and all things were organized.  It was a really nice place.  Here are a couple of the boats:

We showed up around 2ish or so.  The surveyor noticed a beam that is related to the steering of the rudders and that is had some rot.  So, we arranged to have Christian fix that for us.  We were so lucky in finding him.  He knew what he was doing and he did a really good job.  Next to show up was Shawn who was the engine fix it man.  He essentially put a couple clamps on and then changed the oil.  The labor rate he charged was quite high.  But, it needed done.

The seller, Amy, was supposed to arrange for a captain for us so that we could leave early he next morning and drive the boat from Ko Olina to Kaunakakai....which is an 8-10 hour trip.  Well, Amy, supposedly had a guy and then he didn't pan out.  Then, she had another guy, who never responded.  Then, 2 other guys said that they would do it for $800 a piece plus plane tickets back.  We passed.  Then, this dude Alex stopped by.  He said that he had some friends leaving for Molokai that night and he would be happy to captain for us and we can leave when his friends left that way we would be out there with another boat nearby.  This seemed like a terrible idea to drive through the night, but we were going to do it.

Christian was finishing the steering and there was a cable that linked the wheelhouse steering controls to the top steering controls and it broke.  So, after discussion with Brandon and Shawn, there was agreement that he would just push the pin all the way through and just keep them linked together.  No big deal.  Well, we thought it was no big deal.  

I might stop here and mention that it's already around 5 ish by this point and I'm hungry.  I discovered the Dominos won't deliver to the harbor so I'm unhappy.  So, I walk down the beach area to the Marriot and ordered up some Jameson and dinner which was Ahi poke nachos and something for Brandon that I'm certain would have been really good, but I've forgotten what it was!!!  I stood around there drinking and waiting for food.....then took everything to go and went back to the harbor.

At this point, we have somewhat of an audience at the boat.  It would seem like boat people are super nice and super nosey too!  hahaha  This worked out for us though.  So, we agreed to let Alex captain for us and got underway.  I continued to drink because I knew for sure we might just die on this trip and I needed some liquid courage to make it through the trip.  Well, no need to worry.  We had steering issues and after much talking and discussing and looking around, etc. we finally decided to get tied up to the closest dock and check things out.  Oh, and....we did fill up all three fuel tanks so that we would be sure to have enough fuel to get to Molokai.

Brandon was able to fix the pin...turns out it just needed clicked in.  So, we all agreed we would leave at 7am to test drive it again and then get underway.  At this point, my memory fades because no one was monitoring my Jameson intake and I really just love the way it tastes.....and well....I ended up asleep around 11pm and nothing was waking me up.  Yes, we stayed on the boat.  However, Brandon was a bit of a nervous wreck over the whole thing and around 1am he could smell diesel fuel.  He goes to check it out......that 100 gallon starboard fuel tank was just leaking like gangbusters right out of the tank into the bilge of the boat.  Needless to say, he didn't really sleep the rest of the night.

By the time I woke up in the morning, around 6am or so.....all of that fuel was in the bottom of the boat.  The smell of diesel fuel is quite overwhelming!  We still had the two other fuel tanks full, but it's not exactly something you want to do is to drive across the open seas with a bunch of diesel sloshing around in your bilge.  Much discussion was had about this.  We decided to test drive the boat again.  This time.....the steering still didn't work.  Brandon ended up crawling in with the diesel and working on the steering....to no avail....we had to go back.

Once back, Christian came to us right away to help us figure out what was wrong.  He was also kind enough to be a 55 gallon drum for us to pump diesel out of the boat into.  Brandon had a little hand pump that he had to pump all that diesel into the drum and a few other buckets we had on board.

So, turns out, when Christian put the board back into the boat the rudders were sitting perpendicular to the boat.  This didn't allow for us to really get around anyway nor allow for much for steering.  Alex, who is also a diver of sorts, checked it out and saw it.  Christian tried some other things and realized he had to just take it out and do it again.  After he did that, Alex dove the boat again and gave the rudders the thumbs up for being parallel to the boat.  It took awhile, but it's fixed and we were happy.

Once fixed, it was rounding up the troops and seeing if Alex was still willing to go along.  He was and that was great.  We didn't want to make the crossing alone and didn't want to park it alone.  We left Ko Olina Harbor at 130pm and arrived Kaunakakai Harber at 930.  We had perfect wind, seas, and weather generally.

We had just an amazing day to go for a drive.  It was gorgeous.  The sunset was amazing!

So, we drove the southern side of Oahu, then out into the channel, and then over to the south side of Molokai to finally get over to Kaunakakai Harbor.  It was such long, but beautiful drive.  I stayed up top with the captain the entire time simply because I didn't trust myself to go up and down the ladder while we are under way.  I could just see myself falling right off the ladder into the ocean! So, my prince charming kept my glass full the whole trip!  

When we got to Kaunakakai Harbor, I really couldn't get out of the boat fast enough.  I was done being on the boat--since it was just such a long drive and the last hour to an hour and a half was in the complete blackness.  It was crazy.  No moon....nothing.

We did see some whales along the way.  Not many.  But, they were very close.  Being out in the ocean like that is humbling.  Then, to see this huge whale swimming very near you....even more humbling.  The vast expanse of the open sea was too much to even put into words.  Here I was with a navigation app and on a boat with a motor.  I can't even imagine what it was like so many years ago in a boat with oars and you navigated via the sun, moon, stars, seas, animals, and land masses.  Those were some brave souls who got out on the water for all of those adventures.

Once back in Kaunakakai harbor, we tied up sideways to a wall and just went home.  We were all pretty tired and a nice shower was very much welcomed.  Alex met the dogs and they were spastic over him, of course.  

The next morning we went back out to the boat so we could park it properly and get it tied down to the pier and the mooring balls.  Alex pretty much took the lead on all of it and Brandon helped out.  I went to the bakery to pick up treats for all of us and some real Molokai Hot Bread for Alex.  

We had arranged for Alex to be on the 845am flight to Oahu...which would have been plenty of time except everyone and their brother had to stop by and check out the new boat.  Next time we take the boat out, I'm going to be the one dealing with the lines and Brandon will be driving.  I'm not really sure how this will work, but I'm going to have to get with the program.  I think it's highly likely that I will end up in the harbor.  I should probably get a special helmet just for when I'm on the boat! 

We took Alex to the airport and I met the first cranky person on Molokai.  Everyone I meet and talk to has always been really nice and chill and friendly.  This lady....not so much.  She was very busy pointing out that we need to be a half an hour early because the plane boards at 830 and it was 830 right now.  Brandon and I both knew this was just nonsense because Mokulele is never on time.  But, hey, maybe she had something going on or was just having a bad day.  We were all super nice to her.  It didn't improve her mood, but Alex made the plane.

After dropping off our captain, we went back to the wharf and just piddled around a bit.  This is when we met even more looky loos who had to know about the boat.  Apparently, a new boat in the harbor is a really huge deal.  Everyone wants to see the boat, check out the boat, know about the boat, meet the owner, know about the owner, etc.  

We met so many new and interesting people on this little adventure.  The folks at Ko Olina Harbor were fabulous.  Christian the amazing fiberglass guy.  Shawn the mechanic.  Alex the captain.  Joe, Alex's friend and all around great guy...brought us extra fuel filters so we had them for our trip....just in case.  A guy called Moe who was awesome--actually, he might be the one who gave us the filters....just jumped in and started checking out the engine and talking to Brandon about making the trip and how the weather was perfect and not to worry about a thing.  All of these people.  They are boat people.  People who know the sea and have lived on and around the sea forever.  They were all so eager to help us and advise us.  They didn't know us at all.  It was just amazing to me how willing they all were to help us out.  We couldn't have accomplished this without them and I will never be able to thank them enough.

Then, we continued to meet such nice people at the Kaunakakai Harbor.  Mike, the owner of the Albatross, two slips down from us.   He and his wife are leaving the island to sail around the Pacific, again.  He was really nice and helped us out in guiding the boat in that night as we pulled into the harbor exhausted.  Ernie, who owns this huge black boat that he lets his son in law run a whale watching charter on.  Turns out his wife is from the Belleville/Fairview Heights area!  He knew where I was from and we talked about that for awhile.  Such a small, small world.  He spent the rest of the time talking boats and boat owners mostly with Brandon.  We were able to kind of get a lay of land there on the wharf.  I will say that you should believe me when I tell you there is nothing to do on Molokai.  The big excitement is for people to drive around the wharf!  I'm pretty sure half the island drove around the wharf and stared at us.  Then, we met the guy two slips north of us and his name was Brandon as well.  He basically drives boats for a living.....both here and in Alaska.  

All of these folks have led such interesting lives.  How I would love to sit down and just talk story with each of these people....get their entire stories, photograph them in their natural environment.  Heck, Alex was on his way back to Oahu to help crew a $20 million sailboat and then after that, he's off to Fiji later.  I think all of this would be amazing and make a wonderful compilation book.  However, that could be just because I'm a giant nerd.

Now, we are back to "normal" life only now we've added in the boat project.  I started this post on Saturday night.  It is now Sunday.  We've been back to the boat to start off loading all of the junk on the boat and get things more organized.  I'm looking at a lot of sanding and oiling of all of the teak wood inside the boat.  I'm also looking at re-doing cushions and curtains, etc.  We have to organize dishes, soap, trash bags, etc. all the little things you need when you live somewhere.  You just don't want to have a lot of anything because there is no room.  So, creative storage ideas are also a requirement.

Oh, and we've started our Hawaiian language class.  It's fun but hard!  Thank goodness this is just a free, conversational Hawaiian language class.  Otherwise, I'd fail for sure!  It's definitely an adventure of its own though considering the many and varied people that are in that class!

Aloha!

Mahalo for reading and I hope you enjoyed.

It's just everyday life.....in paradise.

 We've been here on Molokai since the end of August.  It's really an experience like no other.  The people here are wonderful.  You just have to get out of the house and meet them.  I volunteered to take pictures of the Molokai Little League.  Unbeknownst to me, baseball is a really huge deal here and they hadn't been playing since COVID started.  This was the first year to be up and running again.  The kids were great and meeting all of the parents was really wonderful.  Everyone was friendly.  I will be the first to admit that I couldn't remember the names of everyone and a lot of the names were difficult for me to pronounce.  But, I really enjoy learning the little bits and pieces of new language.  And, it's really great when one of the locals helps me out with it!  

Like I said, the kids were awesome and so much fun.  You could really see so much improvement through just one month of watching the games.  I hope they will let me photograph them next you and I'll be much more organized.  Honestly, I had no idea was going to be photographing over 200 kids when I volunteered.  My brain had no idea how to handle all of that! haha  One super neat thing that came from this project was that I had one of my photos published in the paper:

Meanwhile, we've continued working on our bathroom and in the yard.  I took great care of some weeds that I thought were baby monkeypod plants.  I did this for over a month!  I had ten little pots of a weed...a particularly invasion, nasty, hard to get rid of weed.  But, hey, we all make mistakes right?

I did discover the mistake and found actual baby monkeypod trees.  Now they are potted and I'm taking care of them.

Monkeypod trees are a really great tree.  I don't know if they are native or not so I won't comment on that.  But, I do know, they like the sun and they are drought resistant.  That is very helpful here. They grow these great canopies 100-200 feet and create this cool area.  It is really wonderful and the best place to sit.  I'm working on planting several all around the house.  They will create the cool areas and then the wind will blow that cool air to the house.

Because I live on the desert part of the island in Kawella.  I learned from a local that Kawella means "the hot".....it is always hot here and we don't get a lot of rain.  So, I have pretty much failed at my desire to grow vegetables.  But, I'm working on a solution to that as well.

I've had much more success with the succulent type plants and things like that:

And, I've started a cactus garden area down in the front corner of the yard.  I have more stuff to add to that even though I don't really like cactus.  But, that's okay.  Those are generally good plants for the area.  I even have one plant that attracts flies.  So, I'm planting it far away from the house and maybe I won't get many flies! hahaha

I've gotten back to cooking.  I made some brioche buns and they were good.  I'm making bread in the bread machine and by hand....as well as my own pizza dough.  Oh, and the banana bread!  Good grief.  Can't forget that because we have banana trees and I have an over abundance of bananas!!

We had some excitement a couple weeks ago.  A grandma and her two grandkids were driving down the hill.  We aren't sure what happened, but she lost control of her vehicle and slammed right into our power pole.  I mean to tell you, she sheared that power poll right off.  We happened to be outside and saw it and immediately, Brandon (former first responder and firefighter), jumped into action worried to death that the scene was going to be bad.  Amazingly, grandma was out of the car within 10 seconds and had the grandkids out 2 seconds later.  Everyone was fine.  Turns out grandma was very sore from the seatbelt.  But, kids were great.  It was a Honda CRV I believe and the airbags!  Holy cow there were a lot of them and the car looked terrible.  But, none of them were hurt at all.  Brandon was worried because he's been to accidents like that before where the results were so much worse.  I gave grandma a couple days and then took her and the kids some banana bread (with chocolate chips) to them just to make sure they were all okay.  What I found most disturbing about it all is that the 911 dispatcher didn't seem to really be on it and the fire and police that showed up just didn't seem to know exactly what to do.  Maybe it was because the electric company got the power turned off right away so there was really no rush and they weren't worried.  I don't know.  I just know the Illinois response is much different.

We were out of power from about 430pm until about 230am.  But, the power company cleaned everything up and got everything working again.  So, that was all good.

We participated in a Holiday Craft Fair.  I put together a bunch of my images and put together a price list, cards, and a drawing for a free photo session.  I was just hoping to get my name out there a little more.  There are quite a few photographers here and different folks selling their work.  So, we'll see how it goes.

We've made some new friends......

People friends too and been visiting with them.  Brad and Cheryl have been wonderful to get to know and have a lovely lanai to sit on in the evening!

This is actually in the backyard where we are.....rainbows are everywhere here and they are still so amazing!

Brandon went up the mountain with Brad to hunt some deer.  He came back with the notion that we needed a Jeep.  He said there was just no way we'd be able to go up the mountain without one.  So, we got one!  It's hilarious because it has a lift kit on it and huge tires.  I have a hard time getting in and I slide out on my butt.  However, everyone loves it, especially the dogs!

Brandon keeps calling it mine and I've been the driver so far.  I'm not exactly sure why.  I really enjoy being chauffeured everywhere!!! haha

The tradewinds are blowing like crazy right now and right this minute, it is the perfect temperature.  This afternoon it will get hot, but the winds will still be blowing.  So, it won't be terrible.  You're laundry dries super fast on the line here!!!  

We end every day with a drink either under the monkeypod tree or on either the front or back lanai....just depends on what we want to look at for the evening.  We spent one evening watching the whales for over and hour and that was really cool.  They were breeching the water, blowing water, and you could see their tales splashing.  You didn't even need binoculars.  I just thought how unbelievable that I'm living somewhere that I can see such a thing from the front lanai.  I'm truly blessed.....as are these silly dogs that cause us so much grief every single day....like it's their job!