Frank is still on board – at the moment

Frank is still on board – at the moment

While we know others cleverly write a blog from the mouths of their pets, we will not attempt that trick.  Annie’s blog would put everyone to sleep – since she sleeps 22 of 24 hours simply adding variety by moving from one couch to another with the occasional trip to the food bowl or litter box below.  She does punctuate her moments of wakefulness with loud vocalizations in demand of ICE or a pat on the head – we are never sure since she vigorously hisses at most two legged creatures in her near vicinity.

Frank, on the other hand, would have adventures to relate.  Recently we are not sure if he has decided to abandon us – which would be dramatic since he is most attached to Big Steve – rarely letting the big guy out of his sight, and nightly he sleeps on Miss Julia’s head. For much of the previous two years he has made every cubby on the the boat his home but has not ventured to explore beyond our decks. Back in the Dismal Swamp however, he casually took a tour of the boat rafted off us – all while keeping an eye on the Big Steve who at the time was also visiting that boat. He did not seem at all concerned that our boat (or his boat?) had suddenly doubled in size.  We figure he could distinguish between boats and docks but now we have to keep a closer eye on him. This should have prevented his most recent adventure, but perhaps sleeplessness took a toll.    Taking advantage of a favorable forecast, we jumped out at Port Royal Sound for an overnight run to St Mary’s River hoping to make it up the St John’s River before a scheduled railroad bridge closure. The favorable weather report turned out to not be as favorable as originally forecast and the subsequent rock-and-roll is not Frank’s favorite time on the boat.  He has never been seasick like his human friends, but he does drip profusely and sticks even closer to Big Steve than usual.  So, he seems to have followed Steve out on the back deck to watch the moon rise and failed to get back in before the door closed.  When Julia returned to the pilot house for her shift, Frank was not around.  This filtered up to consciousness since she thought she heard a cat calling.  Now it is important to know that Frank’s usual sound is a small (rather unmanly) peep.  He might be thought to have no other calls unless it involves a trip to the vet.  So to hear a cat calling “meow” loudly, the last cat on our boat would be Frank – and the Princess was clearly zonked out per normal on the couch. A quick search of his usual spots confirmed that Frank did not seem to be inside and in spite of the rough water, wind and darkness, we began a look outside.  Frank immediately popped down from the fly bridge ladder and into the pilot house door. He had gone out the back door and only got back in maybe an hour later after a tour of the boat in the dark – ok moonlight – including the top level. We feel grateful that he is still on board. It does show that he has some good boating skills or at least balance even without claws to hang on in less than calm conditions. Hanging on to a fiberglass deck is a good trick which he seems to have mastered.  He did appear to be wishing to follow Steve off the boat when we stopped for a couple of hours in Fernandina Beach on their dock. Perhaps that nighttime adventure did convince him to abandon our boat home? For now he gets his favorite treat – some raw scrambled egg – as an enticement to stay.