The Bat, The Cat, and The Tree -- Tales From the Loop (so far)

I have kept a Boat Blog for many years now....beginning way back when we had a sail boat and the Cap'n raced her offshore. So, it was a natural to keep on blogging on the Loop.

In this crazy connected world of ours, most people on the Loop keep an blog. And, truth be told, most Looper Bloggers are more diligent than I. There are Looper Bloggers with YouTube Channels and  Loopers Bloggers who Blog Daily.

And then there is me -- feeling good about blogging once a week, okay, maybe every two weeks.  I'm OK with that but it does mean that some stories get overlooked. Here are a few of them:

THE BAT:

Back in late July, as we motored out of Rogers City on the west coast of Lake Huron, and I was walking out of the saloon with Ham's breakfast in hand, I saw a black object flying towards me. It dodged around me, and I screamed: "There's a bat onboard!"  "What?" said the Cap'n above the roar of the engine. "A bat, a bat just flew into the boat," I replied, as I turned around to see the winged creature dip right, then left in the pilot house. The Cap'n with his back to me as he steered FREEDOM past the breakwall, said," I think it was a bird, and it flew out the door."  I wasn't convinced -- it had been just inches from my face and I was sure it was a bat. Yet, it was no where to be seen in the pilot house, and the incident was soon forgotten amid our excitement over the anticipated arrival of our friends Dave and Jenny the next day.

The following morning, safely docked in Cheboygan, MI I set off on foot to the local market for some provisions. Upon my return the Cap'n met me dockside. "We have a problem." he reported. Engine troubles? No Dave and Jenny? The kids? I wondered. "No, he replied, "it was a bat you saw yesterday  and it is in the pilothouse." "Where?. I asked, "In the cushions?"  "No, hanging on your rain coat."

Great.

I carefully carried my groceries into the galley and quietly placed the perishables in the fridge. Then I beat a quick a retreat to the cockpit where the Cap'n waited. What should we do, we fretted.

It has always been my theory that there is no question we can ask, no help we can request  that a busy marina office has not yet fielded With that thought, the Cap'n headed to shore.....Before long he returned with three marina employees: one leading the way, one carrying a paper coffee cup and one following, hesitantly, a few steps behind.  The last known location of the bat was shared ( raincoat hanging beside steps to flying bridge) and the trio headed up the back stairs.  While one bravely lay down on his belly placing himself nose to nose with the bat, and the others standing behind him in support, I peered over the lip of the cockpit stairs -- perfectly poised to run if the bat headed my way.
From his prone position "Batman" and we now call him, requested the coffee cup and lid and deftly scooped up the hitchhiking Chiroptera.  They later told us the bat was screeching inside the cup, but all I heard was my heart beating.
Soon the trio was heading,  single file, up the dock and around the corner of the storage shed to release the trapped mammal. Life on FREEDOM returned to normal - but one question remained: What to do with my raincoat, overnight home to the uninvited guest -- not a foul weather gear jacket, but my nice, feminine, beloved London Fog raincoat. Thought of rabies shots danced in my head.and  reluctantly I donned a pair of latex gloves, sadly scooped the coat into a trash bag and marched to the dumpster.

The Cat

You never know who you are going to meet on the dock.  After we arrived in St. Pete a few weeks ago, I noticed a black cat, with a pink collar, hanging out near the gate. The collar said someone was looking out for her, but I couldn't tell if she lived on a boat or was a marina cat. ( Rodent traps on the docks led me to believe she might be employed by the marina). A few nights later when the Cap'n and I were returning from a walk, the cat greeted us at the gate and walked with us for a bit. Not long after we got back to FREEDOM and I had my head deep in the cupboard pulling out pans for dinner, the Cap'n gave a shout. "What?" I asked. "There's a cat on board."  And there, peering into the galley was the pink collared kitty. "Shoo" I said. She sat. "Go" I said, loudly. She cocked her head.  Finally I started to flap my arms, shuffle my feet and shout "Shooo" all at once. The cat, under the silent but watchful eye of Hamilton ( known cat hater) headed for the door. After one last glance she jumped on the rail and  up to the dock, skittering away into the darkness.

We laughed.

The Tree 

As were were heading south down the beautiful Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway there were several stretches with no marinas, affording the Cap'n and I the treat , and Ham the agony, of anchoring. In mid-October, one day north of Columbus, MS and just south of the Amory Lock we dropped anchor in the Canal Section CutOff of the Tenn Tom. The anchorage is actually in the Tombigbee Waterway which twists and turns its way south from near Bay Springs Lake all the way to this point. The Tenn-Tom Waterway was created to provide a waterway more conducive (ie less twisty) to barge traffic as an alernative to the Mississippi.

We set the anchor at the first curve just after 1 pm and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in the October sunshine -- a welcome relief after a rainy weekend.  The anchor held firm in the modest current - small amounts of debris floated by, but nothing to cause alarm. 

We both got up a few times during the night to check our location, and look at the stars. All was good the last time I checked about 4AM. Knowing we only had a few hours of travel ahead of us, we "slept in" to 6:30AM the next morning. Lying in our bunk I could hear some debris hitting the hull as it floated by, and then the boat seemed to wiggle, ever so slightly.  A few minutes later I climbed up to the saloon, glancing out the window to port as I went by. Shore was a whole lot closer than I had remembered, a whole lot closer -- as in, we were on the beach. @#*&##@**^#  grrrrrrrrr.

A glance out the windows to starboard  revealed large amounts of debris streaming by -- rafts of tree branches, stumps, grasses. It was like the Mississippi all over again. The heavy rains a few days earlier had washed all sort of things from the shores well north of there into the river and they were just now making their way past us an into the Tenn-Tom.

After bundling up in our fleece jackets we ventured to the bow to assess our situation. This is what we saw:

To Port

To Starboard

A tree had come steaming around the bend, and with the force of the river behind it,  pushed us towards shore. A 40 foot tree -- roots and all --now firmly attached to our anchor chain!  The anchor, mind you, had not moved. It was still firmly in place in the center of the river where we had placed it the day before. There was enough scope ( length) out on the chain that the tree caused FREEDOM to swing to shore.

Another what to do? what to do situation.  The Cap'n tried to move the tree by pulling in the anchor chain. The tree moved -- but not much. Meanwhile more and more debris was getting caught in the tree -- logs, branches, grasses, etc.,

About 7:30 I called TowBoat US, silently praising our decision to keep our unlimited towing coverage.  After giving the operator our Lat and Lon location she revealed that they did not offer service in that area. <deep breath>  but that she would look for someone and call me right back. Twenty tense minutes passed  before she called back to say she had found someone to help us -- but they were about 40 miles away and she wasn't sure how soon they could get there. They had to trailer their boat to the nearest ramp, launch it and then travel about 20 miles down river. It could be a while.  The amount of debris was increasing on the river and in dam on the bow. We proceeded to pace about the boat.....

A little bit of everything floated by.....

I don't recall how long it took for the tow boat operator to call, but I do know it wasn't until 10AM that he came steaming up the river to save us.

He circled the boat once shouting to us over our engine "I've never seen anything like this before!"  After consulting with his work mate they circled again, lassoed the tree pulled it off, and sent it down river. They made it look easy.

Taking away the tree.  Not a big tow boat -- but a powerful one!!

 Another circle captured a menacing tree stump that had been stuck in a whirlpool just feel from our bow,....

.... and then they came back for us.  That was a little harder, but with a line securely attached to the stern and a lot of engine power soon we were back in the middle of the river and ready to pull anchor.

With a shout and a wave "See you in Columbus!" our rescuers were off. Before long we were too - moving quickly with the current down the Tenn Tom, right behind the tree and the stump.........