Dog Days

Dog Days of Summer

Some days are more trying than others.  These past few weeks in New Bern have been hot… and humid beyond what either Shannon or I are used to.  These are the dog days of summer.  We have had to make a conscious effort to slow down, to be more patient, and to take breaks.  We have discovered that the middle of the day is probably the worst time for us to attempt to conquer any boat project, unless it involves the water hose.

Dog Days of Banjo

We brought the Banjo Boat Dogs, aka The Stooges, out to meet Banjo and, so far, they are doing remarkably well.  Having come from a much calmer environment at the house at Lake Norman, we can only imagine their excitement amidst all of the new sights, sounds and people.  Also, the challenges of figuring out how to move around the boat.  These are the dogs days of Banjo.  Already, they have been out to lunch at Chipotle, have been taken for walks around downtown New Bern, and have even made trips into PetSmart and Lowes Home Improvement.  We love dog-friendly places, especially in this heat.  As they acclimatize further to the boat, we will be able to trust them to be more self-sufficient, but for the time being, we are taking every precaution to pamper their transition in every way possible.

For those yet to meet The Stooges, here they are in order of seniority:

Sagira: The alpha of the pack and is the “friendly one.”  Laid back with an affinity for bird watching (and chasing), Sagira isn’t much for tricks other than to roll over so you can scratch her belly.

Obi: The wanna-be alpha but is more of a “people puppy.”  Obi loves everyone and wants to be friends with everyone.  Obi is the “smart one,” has never met a stranger and is always willing to learn new tricks (with the right food motivation of course).

Venus: She is the Omega in the pack and is the youngest.  Venus is also the “shy one” who enjoys serenading us with her hound-dog style song.

They are our sweet puppies, and although they are getting up in age, they are adventurous and great companions.  All three were rescue dogs.

Puppy Upgrades Aboard Banjo

One of our relatively high-priority projects is to figure out a way to shallow the slope of the companionway steps.  We have seen some low-tech solutions to this problem such as in this post from Practical Boat Owner, but nothing commercially available.  As an interim measure, we are likely to create a tread extension similar to the one in that post with a more long-term solution to follow.

We have still been moving items around… a LOT, inside the boat.  And this morning, I went locker by locker, hatch by hatch through the boat collecting serial numbers, model numbers, amperage counts, thru-hull locations, etc etc for the boat from the cockpit forward.  There are many items that need to be re-labeled, and items such as sea-cocks requiring markers to indicate their positions of open/closed.  Add that to the list.

But the heat…

In all, aside from some heat-induced moments of “snippy,” and some extremely slow marina internet, we are very happy and having the most wonderful time.  We are itching to get the boat out of the slip and to go sailing, and I am already eyeing the coastline for anchorages and must see destinations along the North Carolina Coastline.  We are looking forward to the upcoming visits from friends and some time to find some new adventures.

Shannon and I are waiting on the delivery truck from Amazon containing our new Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs), the ResQLink+ made by ACR, and our new communication headsets, the Sena SPH10-10 that we can use for docking or general communication without having to holler back and forth across the cockpit.  We are super excited to try out these new products and we will make sure to write up our review once we have tested them.

As for us, we are going to call it a night.  Busy days ahead.

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