Holding Down the Fort

Maggie has gone away on a big old jet airliner, to the far off Eastern European land of her birth, Poland. She has not visited with her family there in a very long time so I am glad she was able to make the trip. Unfortunately, I was unable to accompany her. It is difficult to find an appropriate sitter for the boys and our two boats, so I stayed back to hold down the fort. My hope has been to get loads of work done on the boats and my old truck, but with the rain steadily falling, I am held up below deck making the most of it with Chopper and Billy. We have been missing Maggie terribly but we are managing to keep ourselves occupied with a lot of reading, cooking, cleaning, and documentary watching.

Today, like an old friend, the Black Crowned Night Heron returned to our marina. He is one of the last waterfowl to return from warmer climates back to his Summer fishing spot here in Baltimore. I watched him in amazement all last summer as he would patiently wait on the swim platform of our neighbor's boat for an unsuspecting fish or snake to swim by. Today he sat perched on the bow rail right outside the window drying his feathers in between rain showers. These are rather rare so it's neat to get to be so close to him. He looks a lot like a creature from a Pink Floyd video. Gosh I miss Maggie.