Laying out

Good Friday, April 10, 2009, Naples Yacht Club

We used to plant our garden every year on Good Friday. That was back when we had lots of time and no money. Strange but I think we are getting back to that point again. Let’s hope the stock market will come back and we will have the good times again. This is going to be a strange Easter. It will be the first Easter in our lifetime we haven’t spent it extended family. Paul and Michael are headed to Mother’s house to help her cook for the family gathering. Michael in the true Deal tradition showed up on the boat this week with a cooler full of food to take to Sycamore. Made his so mother proud!

All of Carole’s buddies need to be here to help her shop in downtown Naples. I think she and Michael enjoyed wandering thru the shops in downtown. I don’t know if she wasn’t in a buying mood or just didn’t find anything she liked but she came back with the $20 she had when she left. Thank goodness Miss Kaye wasn’t here. It would have been a different story!

The day has been beautiful. We have all “laid out”; if you are from the south you know what I mean. Carole and Michael when to the beach and worked on their tans. I laid out on the dock cleaning and waxing the boat. The docks here are floating docks, which lets you get to the side of the boat. After several weeks of banging thru waves and not being able to access the sides for a good scrubbing the hull was looking pretty scrummy. At least one side is looking good. Tomorrow we will turn the boat around in the slip and I can catch the other side.

Almost all of the locations we have visited, we have been “on the wall”. On the wall is an expression that means you are tied along side a pier or a wall. Since you can only tie to one side, you are depending on fenders to keep you from rubbing up and down on piles. Even with double and triple fenders we are getting scrapes and marks on the hull. I know Surprise will be glad to get back to its slip in Pensacola and not have to deal with piles anymore. By the way, I was going to title this section “dealing with piles” but I thought that might be a little too graphic.

Since this is Easter weekend there is one other item to report. It is actually a prayer concern. You know in Pell City we don’t gossip but we are certainly willing to share a prayer concern with anyone. After all, if you don’t know about someone’s trouble how can you pray for them. We got an email from our friends and former pastor Paul and Kitty Messer today. We have been very concerned about them for the past couple of years. Paul has struggled with what God wanted him to do with his life. From all indications, he has found new purpose in life and is looking forward to each new day. They are serving a missionary in Senegal. It is a very different and challenging assignment but I think Paul sees it as his way of helping people. I am sure they would appreciate your prayers. I am encouraging them to start a blog of their work there. Maybe they will and I can share the address with everyone.