Musings After My First Day Back at Work

--Blogpost written by Bob

After my first day back at work following a month-long sailing trip, I can attest as to which life is real (a question Maggie and I pondered many times during our trip)--it's the sailing life!  I worked the entire day today (at my job as a mechanical engineer) without knowing what is was like outdoors.  The air-conditioned environment of my office prevented exposure to the sun, it's warmth, the breezes, the outdoor sounds (birds and fish jumping) to which I have become accustomed.  When I came home to the boat (another area of question lately), it was easy to acclimate back to the sailing life as I had my own little (though lonely) happy hour because Maggie was away at the beach attending a family reunion of sorts and couldn't be with me.

Last night's sunset from the cockpit

Today, Jim Brady died, at 73 years old. (For those that don't know or may not remember, Jim Brady was Ronald Reagan's press secretary who was shot in the attempt to assassinate Ronald Reagan many years ago.)   It was a reminder that my life has an end point and I del like I have to go cruising soon and for as long as I can OR spend the remainder of my life in a typical completely insulated environment.  (I guess this attitude is appropriate for someone of my age soon to retire--but for everyone else, keep working!)

We've had a little ant problem on our boat lately.  In the process of researching a solution to this problem, I learned that ants have a lifespan of only 2 weeks.  After leaving several poisoned (Terro) areas this morning, the only ant I saw this evening was on the outside deck--I didn't see a single ant below.  This was quite a triumph. Tonight, I will leave some poisoned food for the ants on deck.  But getting back to the subject of life, an ant colony is a continuum of ants all serving the queen ant.  Since the (army of) ants take (poisoned) food back to her, I'm sure she is not feeling very well this evening.  I'm glad we have more brains than do ants but, apart from being shorter, is their life any different from most of us humans who follow a daily routine?

Terro really works on ants!  I placed about six of these little cardboard patches with liquid
poison on top around the boat where I typically saw ants.  At one point last night 
there were a couple dozen ants on this one patch and tonight
only a few stragglers remain affixed to this patch.

Like right on key, a big sailboat just arrived in our marina from the US Virgin Islands...and our boat gently rocks in the very slight wake it produced.

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