Sailing Last Mango

I sit here on the back of Last Mango, it’s 12:50 in the afternoon and I just cracked open a  Leinenkugel’s Honey Weiss thinking how lucky I am.  By the way it's my first Honey Weiss and I really like it.  I performed a small amount of work earlier and I’m trying to decide what to do next. Go sailing in the dinghy? Go for a bike ride? Go snorkeling because it’s a bit hot today. Karen’s off having lunch with a friend and won’t be back for a while. The feeling of being lucky actually hit me yesterday. Karen and I went to the Milwaukee Zoo with friends and had “Feasts with the Beasts”. We were in the aviary and I didn’t have my cell, I looked at my watch which I haven’t worn in quite some time. I then wondered why? I had nowhere to be, nothing to do other than be enjoying my time at the zoo. I’m not sure what I thought of it. Do I long for a sense of purpose? No, at  least not at that moment or any moment I can think of. I know that many people can’t wait for the d...

This week has been a busy week that just flew by Karen and I. We left Monday to take Hannah back to school. Hannah says she’s going to miss the living on the boat. It’s hard to believe she liked living in such close quarters with her parents. Last Mango is not that big and can seem small at times. I’ll miss her too. Back to Iowa you go! We made several stops along the way to pickup stuff that we stored at Sam’s house and my parents house. Hard to believe we fit everything in the Honda Accord and Element. I will say that Hannah packs like her mom and doesn’t have too much stuff. It didn’t take long to get her moved in and she did the rest. We said our goodbyes since we will not be seeing her again until Christmas break. It took Karen about 15 miles before she could stop wiping her eyes. Then we stopped back at my parents place ate dinner and again said goodbye to them. I told my mom and dad that I would call them every other day to keep them informed that we’re not dropping...

We'll be taking Hannah back to the University of Iowa on Monday and after our return to Last Mango we will be officially be unlike most people in the United States. We will be carless. Not careless but carless, without a car. That being said Karen and I have been shopping by bike and walking. As you can see we have 2 Dahon bicycles. They're great and they fold. We've had them since 2003 and have been happy with them but now we're using them constantly. Since we have two of them we made note that we can easily transport 24 bottles of Blue Moon or similarly packaged beverage. A backpack full of groceries. 12 Pack of Blue Moon on the rack.

Many people may not know but my daughter Hannah is afraid of birds. Earlier this year she dressed for battle to scare away a Barn Swallow from building a nest in the boom of Last Mango. The past two weeks she has developed a friend who spooks her after dark. It’s a young Black Crowned Night Heron. This is the first one we’ve ever seen here in Kenosha. Here it is either looking for food or trying to escape having its picture taken. Currently it’s only about two feet tall and will not get much larger but will change in appearance quite a bit. It’s a beautiful bird and likes to stand very still until she unknowingly gets too close and then moves and scares her. They make a very loud screech quite often when flying across the harbor in the evening. They usually hang out in marshes and backwater areas. Below is a picture of an adult.