In Between the Trips

Doesn't look like rainy or snowy weather to me!

3/1/11

While Blue Bossa is safely (I hope) sheltered in Friday Harbor in either snowy conditions or continuous rain (from looking at the Friday Harbor weather report through the internet), I’ve taken a last dive (drive) down to California to finalize a lot of personal stuff (financial, taxes, health, storage, and music). For example, I took a bunch of clothes and shoes from my hanging locker that I never use, but don’t want to get rid of…to my little 5x5 storage locker in Santa Cruz! Sadly, I brought my long board down too, since I don’t think I’ll be doing any surfing going thru the inland waterways of Canada and Alaska.  I may regret it.  Maybe I should at least have a boogie or knee board on on the boat, just in case.

My current thinking is that I’m going to store my car at a friend’s property.  I just didn’t have enough time to sell the car for the money that it’s worth; besides, I’ll need something to drive when I get back in October/November while wintering BB in Alaska (Hey, here's a goofy thought: because of the heavily raising of gas prices, maybe my Prius will actually gain value....nah!) Of course, if a buyer should pop out of the woodwork, I would sell it in an instance (anyone interested?).  

After getting two bouts of bronchial infections and living in a constant cold and wet environment, my current thinking of wintering on the boat in Alaska has dried up.  What I’ll probably do (and this can change with the wind) is store the boat in a reliable port in Alaska and either come down to Santa Cruz, Friday Harbor, or….some place like Costa Rica to winter. Hmmm, maybe New Zealand. That’s the beauty of being retired…flexibility is everything, just so long as you can afford it.

Rich Barker sitting in and swinging!

Me on the left, Thor on bass, David George playing trumpet

February was a great month for playing music.  Though not many gigs, what I have had has been very high quality.  I was invited to play with Seattle’s David George (a great trumpet player, a true professional who has played 15 years in Europe, and another 5 years in Japan, both areas that seem to appreciate good jazz performances a lot more than the US) and Debbie Bevins, a very dynamic jazz vocalist - (the “Delta Diva” who has since moved up from Alabama to Seattle).  Along with Thor Hansen playing creative but steady bass, I had a tremendously good time, playing both Friday and Saturday.  Saturday was even more fun as we got Joe to play some good drums so that Thor and I could lay back a little.  Plus Friday Harbor’s Rich Barker sat in to play some smooth but inspired sax.  And Friday Harbor had a ton of people cheering us on.  Very memorable!  Thanks to George Scott for supplying the pics for our gig!

Debbie Bevins singing to the crowd

So what am I doing now?  It’s the second week being down in Santa Cruz with a lot of meetings and a big gig still to come.  Right now, I’m crashing up at the Fuhrman’s house in Bonnie Doone (a nifty community perched on top of the Santa Cruz Mountains) watching “I Shouldn’t Be Alive” on TV, where a sailboat loses it’s keel in the Gulf of Mexico, and immediately sinks, not giving enough time to setting the EPIRB or grabbing a ditch bag, which is a good cautionary note (to keep emergency stuff close by). The result is a group of 6 guys floating in a circle with pfd's (lifejackets) trying to stay alive for 24 hours and not get eaten by sharks or dying through hypothermia.  Animal Planet grinds the drama of the situation for a whole hour, with lots of repeats! In the very last second, the helicopter finds them and they’re saved.  Hooray for Hollywood!