8/25/2012 Thankful for a Morning Routine

I have a routine I go through every morning that I go to the marina. I don’t mean the brush my teeth, comb my hair kind of routine at home, that is a given any day of the week. I have a routine when I arrive at the marina to get my day started.

After gathering everything I’ll need while still in the truck, I make my way to # 2 golf cart. I stash my morning Pepsi, my book, my camera if I’ve taken it out of the truck, the truck keys, my tip cup and I put the golf cart key in the ignition. If the seats are wet from dew or an over night shower I’ll go to the café and get some paper towels. Of course I dry off my seat but also the back seat because I don’t know how soon it will be before I’m transporting two drivers at a time. Next, I pull from under the back seat a black plastic box that a car battery would fit into and place it on the front floor next to the go pedal. From behind the front seat I pull out the “picker”.

I unplug the golf cart and I’m ready to start the day.

The first thing I do is go to the ramp parking lot to see if any of the trucks/trailers that are already there are too big for this lot. If there I give each driver a pre-printed notice that they should be in the remote lot. When a truck with an exceptionally long trailer parks here they know they are too long but for the most part are just too lazy to park in the remote lot and walk back. It’s not all that far. It usually only takes one notice and they park where they should.

After this is done I take a ride to the remote lot to see if I have any trucks or cars parked there and if so I try to find out who owns them. On a nice weekend day I’m going to need every space available and the lot is clearly marked that it is for truck/trailer combos. Most times these stray cars and trucks belong to fisherman who are going out on the Judy V headboat and I’m able to get them to move it or they are fishing from the bank of the Inlet and I’m able to get them to park in the proper lot.

I do a quick sweep of the remote lot for the bigger pieces of litter such as empty water bottles, aluminum cans or empty cigarette packs. Noticeable stuff.

Back to the ramp lot for a thorough litter pick-up is next. Cigarette butts and whatever else I can find. After this I go to the next parking lot over which is where the boat owners who are spending the night on their boats park. Using my fancy litter picker uppers I pick up litter of all sizes.

The first thing I picked up today was a receipt of some sort.

I deposited it in my black plastic box sitting on the floorboards and went in search of the next piece of litter. It didn’t take long to find as it moved across the parking lot with the breeze. I was in hot pursuit!

Yep! A twenty dollar bill! There was no one in the parking lot this cloudy morning so I laid claim to it quickly. Uh, this went into the cotton receptacle attached to my shorts, otherwise known as my pocket. I rode up down every lane in that parking lot in case there was more flyaway money skimming across the macadam.

I only lasted an hour at work today before the skies opened up and the rain fell. There would be no boating today.

Back at home my sister-in-law and I sat out under the awning and talked about this, that and everything. Until the rain came that is.

It doesn’t promise to be a very good weekend.

Bob and our brother-in-law Pat went fishing at the rail and came home soaked to the bone. It rained pretty much all afternoon.

As I type this we are having thunderstorm after thunderstorm roll through. It looks like a flood zone as it has rained so much and the ground can’t absorb it all fast enough. I’ve been watching radar and we’re going to be having quite a night for the next few hours.

Before I close this I want to welcome a new frequent reader….Mark who shares his travels with his wife Lauree. You can read their blog HERE. We hope you enjoy the journey Mark, yours and ours!