BILLY CHRONICLES
Something big is happening.
Forever Mom and Dad are piling things in the middle of the living room
and loading up the car and promising me that they were coming back to get
me. Get
me where??? Where are we going??
Finally with the last carload of stuff, including all my
toys, snacks, food, dishes, blankies and me
we headed down to the floatie thing called THE
BOAT.
It wasn’t a bad thing.
I was happy to see all my stuff sitting on the big bed called THE PIT and my dishes were where I like
them on the boat. In fact…..I was so
good, I didn’t even cry or bark when my Forever parents left me down below while they went off to eat
dinner. We were staying on the boat the
night before we left so that we could get an early start.
Somewhere around 2AM I had to go out; Forever Mom lifted me
out of the down below and I had some
new places to sniff and mark. When we
got back on the boat … which by the way I’m a pro at it … I didn’t see any
reason to continue to sleep in the pit
because when I go do my business in the morning at home, I get into my Forever
Parents bed and sleep the rest of the morning.
To me this was no different … what’s 2AM anyway … so Forever Mom lifted
me up to into the V berth and I snuggled up on top of her legs. She kept squirming until finally I landed at
the very “V” part of the berth….hence the name V berth!
Thursday we headed out of the slip and that was scarey. The good
news is that I’m always within six inches of Forever Mom and she doesn’t mind if
I sleep up against her or in her lap while she’s reading a back in the
cockpit.
Once I got used to the engine
sound and the fact that the boat moves from side to side when other boats pass
us, and the rigging makes noises so I had to keep an eye on the mast …. Once I
got used to the fact that I really wasn’t going to get any real sleep because I
had to stay on alert in case I needed to help ….. I enjoyed the trip.
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| Helping Forever Mom at the Helm! What a Boat Dog I AM! |
As we were making our way north approaching the inlet, this
funny-looking boat came up right behind us and drafted our boat. It was fun to watch them paddling away
keeping right up on our stern. We took
the channel north and they kept going to the inlet and thanked us for the
ride!
Most of the trip was
uneventful. The day was beautiful and
sea gulls were following us on the stern.
We went by a big boat moored alongside the shore that was someone’s
home. They had interesting looking
laundry hanging on the side. Looks like
the boat had been there a while.
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| LAUNDRY DAY! |
Finally we arrived in Palm Coast for our first night. I was really happy when the boat tied up to
the dock because I had to go pee pee really, really bad. But I was a good boy and never asked to go
ashore all day long during our trip.
Again, I had many new places to sniff and mark. Forever Mom took me to a big field where I
could run my legs off. Boy was that
fun. Forever Mom and Dad went to dinner
with an old high school buddy of Forever Dad’s who has moved to Palm
Coast. They were gone a long time but I
just slept on my big PIT.
This isn’t a bad life.
My people are always nearby and I can stretch out to catch up on my
sleep! Of course, now the V-berth is my
new bed but we make it work. I claim my
area in the middle, making sure my legs are stretched out as far as they can go
and Forever Mom and Dad just find space around me. Yes, life is good!
Friday we had a lazy morning, I got to run again in the field and we left
mid-morning to go to St Augustine. This
is where we are going to spend New Year’s weekend. Got to St Augustine around 4:00 and I just
hopped off the boat, marched down the long, long docks up to the dog walking
area. Wow, lots of smells to sniff
here! Lots of people on boats travel with
their dogs too so I met lots of new dogs, some friends, some not so much.
Apparently there were lots of boats on the dock that my
Forever parents knew because they tethered me into the cockpit and took off to
party. I didn’t mind though, I just laid
up on the bench and watched everyone going by.
Eventually I took naps.
New Years Eve day my Forever parents took me into the
historic St Augustine for my socialization lesson. They said I needed to learn how to walk among
crowds and people with dogs without expecting everyone to come up and greet
me. They were very pleased with my
behavior. I’m quite the gentleman. We walked down the streets passing folks and
I didn’t even pull on the leash.
For
lunch they picked an outdoor restaurant.
Along with my Forever parents lunch order was a bowl for me to drink
from. They don’t know that I know how to
drink water, directly from the faucet.
I
don’t need no stinkin’ bowl! I laid
down in the shade while my Forever parents ate lunch, never once trying to visit
other people eating or getting something from my parents. I’m quite the dog!
After lunch we continued to walk through the historic
district and then crossed the street to this BIG FORT. It had lots of green to run on so I had a
great time walking around the Fort. We
were down by the water when the cannons went off …. That wasn’t fun! It was loud!
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| LOTS OF RUNNING.....TONGUE HANGING OUT....FUN FUN FUN! |
This town is so doggie friendly!
As we were leaving the FORT, A Ranger came running over to give me a
treat and pointed to a large bowl behind the ticket office with nice cold water
for me to drink. It tasted great!
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| ARE THEY REALLY GOING TO SHOOT THOSE CANNONS? |
We walked back to the boat where I hopped on and took an
afternoon nap. It was a busy
afternoon.
At night all the lights come on. I can see the Bridge of Lions from Spindrift
and it’s really pretty at night.
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| SPINDRIFT - SECOND FOREVER HOME |
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| BILLY'S VIEW |
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| JOLLY ROGER SITTING OFF OUR BOAT. LOTS FOR BILLY TO WATCH. |
Since
we were on the fuel dock where the dockmaster’s office is, there were lots of
boats coming in for fuel , or to register for a mooring ball or a slip. So I had lots and lots of people to watch all
weekend. There were fireworks around 8:30 on the beach but we could see them from our boat. They kind of scared me and I barked at them, but that didn't make them stop!
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| DOG WALK AREA AT NIGHT |
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| BRIDGE OF LIONS |
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| ST AUGUSTINE HARBOR AT NIGHT |
We decided (my Forever parents … I just go where they go) to
leave New Year’s Day rather than staying an extra day because it’s supposed to
the COLD on Tuesday and it takes us two days to get back to New Smyrna.
We woke up to fog. Really, really dense fog. Could hardly see the bridge.
A couple of the power boats left as the fog was lifting. The rest of us stayed until the fog cleared off which wasn't very long.
Eventually New Year’s Day cleared and it was nice, sunny and cool.
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| BRIDGE OF LIONS |
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| St Augustine Light |
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| All Seems Well ... Getting ready for my nap! |
We went all the way to Daytona Beach getting
into a slip at the Halifax Yacht Club around 7PM. It was really, really hard to get off the boat
here. The dock was way up high and I
couldn’t jump it. Forever Dad had to
lift me up there and that wasn’t easy.
I’m getting heavier – probably over 35 lbs now.
Monday morning Forever Mom got me up onto the dock and we took
a long walk through a park along the ICW.
I met a lot of people who were “camping” in the park, everyone was
getting up to start their days. We left
Daytona and before I could finish a long nap, were back in our slip in New
Smyrna.
It was a great weekend.
I think I’m going to like this lifestyle. Getting up on the docks are a challenge but
Forever Mom and Dad will have to figure that out. I’m sure there is more they want me to learn,
but so far it’s going to be OK.
Signing off:
Boat Dog Billy
Billy Chronicles
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