Poobah!

After  our tiki-tour out into Galveston Bay on tuesday, we came home and put the aircon back on, once all the electrics were hooked back up at the dock mains.  We hadnt had any trouble with the aircon smells for a while, but when we started to run it again, we had a most...hmm how can we put this nicely...well, poohie smell. And that continued for the next couple of days...well, until today, Friday.
Warren has spent part of the past few days exploring various cavities and sumps and bilges etc in his quest for said smell. All for nought. No obvious reason why things are odiferous.
Sooo..today he cleaned out the front sump and venilated the front cabin, which was a bit ripe...in fact so ripe I refused to go there. One problem...we have company who need to go there at 10.30am tomorrow..more on that later...

Nothing showed up as a reason for the smell. He put some disinfectant around and dried it all out...not that it was wet at all, but...
So, we now have a lovely disinfectant smell added to the mix. We left the whole boat open to the small breeze as long as we could tolerate the heat, today, and it did quite a good job of clearing out the worst. It is still there in the background, but at least it is somewhat dissapated. We hope we wont gas out the guest tomorrow..
Ah yes...the guests tomorrow.

After refueling on tuesday, we are a bit lower in the water, by about 3-5 inches. The boat interior slopes towards the stern, which means the kitchen counter slopes that way, and things tend to want to go south, off the counter:). One of the reasons for this southward lean is the two spare propellers sitting in the Lazarette.
We had arranged with Dean and Chris to come over (well, I actually bribed them!!) tomorrow morning (saturday)to help Waz move these heavy props forward to under the guest berth (bed) where they were originally strapped down. They need to be strapped down because of their weight which could be a problem if we were in heavy seas. They are heavy, so we thought some help might be necessary to get them forw'd.
While I was out at Target today, Waz got these heavy things up out of the Lazarette all by himself and onto the cockpit floor. They sit there on some cardboard for now. Im glad he didnt actually move them forw'd all by himself. I dont need a cripple on the boat just as we contemplate moving out.

So...Dean and Chris are due at 10.30am tomorrow, and I have to make some scones and get the jam out. I have a little cream which I might whip, but it doesnt hold peaks well...not like kiwi cream! too hot perhaps?

Since eating the oysters on sunday night, I have had tummy troubles. Nothing too serious, but enough to give me cramps and feeling a bit off. I have discussed this with members of the staff here at the marina, in some depth. I am interested to know if the seafood we are eating locally is fit to be eaten. We when look at the quality of the water in the Gulf, we question the eating of ANY seafood out of it. I hope it isnt a parasite from drinking water...that is warned against in this region. The Harbormaster assures me they have their drinking water tested weekly, and if it wasnt ok, they would be out of business. This is the stuff that we fill up our holding tanks with for pretty much everything.
Lets hope it is just a low grade tummy bug and will end soon. If not, I might be taking worm tabs.

My visit to Target was prompted by the purchase of the Bread machine. Where to store it.
We have long wanted a foot stool for the salon...the newly covered chairs arent very long in the seat, which rather makes you want to put your feet up somewhere, but nowhere to do it. We had sussed out a small padded storage box (black) which is a 15 inch cube...perfectly fits under the coffee table. The bread maker also fits perfectly inside, weighing it down so it doesnt slide around under the table. So...perfect!
We also had need of some extra chairs/stools/seating. Out dinette is a bit uncomfortable with three people shoulder to shoulder, although it is supposed to seat 4. Hmmm...maybe not.
So, yesterday Waz and I had found some little folding stools which would easily fit into the back of the seats at the dinette. Herein lies the old adage, if you see it get it, coz it might not be there tomorrow.
Sure enough, the stools were not there today. In their place, were some very flat folding chairs which fit perfectly into the cavity we have saved for that purpose. they also happen to be quite comfy:)
Sorry..no photos of any of this yet.

We had a couple of things to take to the Post office in Seabrook..a rather funky place. We turned up...they asked us where we was from..Noo Zeeland!! Hey! One of our staff just returned from vacation in Noo Zeeland!!!...calls into the back of the PO brought forth the lady who had just returned. She LOOOOOOOOOOOves our country!!! Took the train from Auckland to Wellington, flew to Christchurch, back to Wgtn, then train again back to Akld. WOW! She loved every minute of it and will go again. YAYA!

We decided that the after school traffic was not worth fighting, so turned into Dairy Queen for refreshments (afternoon tea).  We also decided that, being Friday, we would have Chinese eat in at our favorite place, Asian Wong, on NASA Rd 1. Super food and left overs for $20, the lot.

Of course, as we were already out on the road, there were a few places we hadnt seen that required us to go tiki-touring while it was still light. The sun is going down earlier now, so we have to be quicker.
We have driven past Bal Harbour and Nassau Blvd so many times, and never gone there. Tonight we did. This is all around the top of Clear Lake. Some of the lovely lakeside homes are straight out of Hollywood, and the large vessels docked outside show that they are something 'special'.

It got dark before we got very far, but we did manage an evening walk along a board walk at the head of the lake. Lovely!
We drove in and around the lakeside homes for half an hour or more, and ended up a mile north of where we started, as the crow flies. You would never have imagined we had just spent half an hour driving in and out of roads along the lake front. We will definitely go back there in daylight. We saw only ONE modern (more kiwi like) looking home that was under construction. It looks fantastic to our eyes, but I can imagine their neighbors think it is an eye-sore!
Well, Waz is falling asleep in his chair, having put his book down, and my eyes are having trouble staying open. The mozzies are out tonight, so our shower out back will be quick-smart, I think.
More pics tomorrow of the moving of the Props...lets hope they get there without falling on someone's toes!

Photos added later...

 

Warren had these out and sitting pretty by the time I returned from grocery shopping.

A few barnacles, but they are relatively easily taken off. For now, they are going under the guest bed! Nothing live on there, anymore, so guests can sleep easy.

Speaking of critters...there has been a crab living in the Genset exhaust...well, he is either cooked, now, or long gone...we hope the latter.

 

Remember how I tell you that we shower out back??Well here is 'out back' on the duck board, or as some call it, the Swim Platform. Ours is actually a Dinghy platform, but the occasional duck does visit us there.
The stainless steel thinging out over the top of the dinghy (hmm) lifts the dinghy up and out onto the water. It also serves (under the occassional right circumstances) as a walking platform for us to get onto the dock. We cannot think of any time we might need to use this, but time will tell!

This is the dinghy platfor. The step up onto the cockpit deck is where I sit when I shower..well, until I have to soap and rinse the 'other' parts, and then I do a 'duck', in case someone with night sights is watching..ha! I hope they fall off their perch!

You can see the little shower door behind the cockpit door..see below..

 

Cold on the right and hot on the left. The shower head has an off, so as soon as yo have wet yourself, you turn off the water and then soap. You then rinse, using as little water as possible, as this comes straight out of the water tank, and we dont have a water maker...yet. It is on the Wish List!

Night night.

Baking...

Veronica makes everything...and I mean EVERYTHING in her micro-convection oven. She doesnt have a cooktop (yet), so she has to. Mind you, she has a large one, which makes it all much easier. I, on the other hand, have a small one. Not only is it small, but the LCD screen is a bit hit or miss. It isnt that the appliance is old, or anything, but the screen misbehaves, so that you only see part of the numbers and words. It can be VERY frustrating.
However...Taking a leaf out of Veronica's book, I decided to try using the convection side of the oven. At least the oven is slightly larger than the ToasterOven/Convection Oven I have and have used otherwise. I dont like baking in this little oven, even though it is convection. I suspect there just isnt enough room for all that hot air to sufficiently and correctly cook things. It is also very hot.
I have blamed the flour for some failures in baking. I had woken up this morning deciding to make some scones for morning tea...Veronica must have heard me because she called to say she was coming over!:)
So...I just made a two cup recipe of scone mix with a hard , sharp English Cheddar cheese (grated). We figgered out how to use the Convection oven (well, Warren did!) and I watched:)
So, all set to put the scones in. Because you have to use the carousel when cooking, this means that I have to have the appropriate sized cookware. I ended up putting the scones into a round tin..no matter, they just all joined together.
Bummer that we were so excited with the results that we didnt take photos...sorry!:(
Now all we need is some proper english bone china to have our tea out of, instead of Pier 1 mugs (which hold a truck load of tea, I might add) with their 'thick lips' as I say.

So..all enthused, we decided to go and look for something that would accommodate more than 10 scones, to bake with. Only problem with this is that whatever we buy has to be very versatile. No problem...we found a Pizza pan which totally fits the bill...Can bake Pizza (home made, of course) AND more than 10 scones:) Anything that needs it's bottom cooked well!

 

While at Target, we also found a small (1 1/2lb) Bread Machine. This has been the topic of many conversations, and  because our latest store bought bread failed to satisfy us (too sweet) we decided the only way around all that sugar is for us to make our own. The raw ingredients are plentiful in the supermarkets, so we dont have a problem there.

 

And...while at Target, we also found this mix...shortcutting the time needed to make it all from scratch..AND it is gluten free! yay!

 

And just above the bread maker was this Breakfast Sandwich maker, which is a total crack-up to us...

But it makes perfect sense. Better than the pre-made sandwiches which you can buy in the freezer section of any supermarket...they DO NOT taste good! Warren ordered one way back in Feb. when we were in Florida. We wondered how those marvelous people in the cafe managed to bring it out so fast!! it arrived at least 15 mins before my toasted bagel, lol.

 

Veronica has visited again...for a cuppa, since the scones, and when she heard I was making Pizza for dinner, she has volunteered to help us eat that too...and will bring the anchovies:)

I had better get making, hadnt I?

I had better not forget to take a photo of the first pizza!!

Ciao for now!

 

 

How could I forget?

Heavens! How could I forget our dinner out on Sunday night with a few friends? Of course the big new here isnt that we had dinner, or with friends, but that we finally got to sample ...
ARMADILLO EGGS!!!

Katie and Dean had invited us to join them and Chris and Tammy at T-Bone Tom's for dinner. It was going to begin late, so we joined them there at around 7.30pm. It was hosing down at the time, but no matter.
We had a choice of seating...either outside with the crowd and the loud live music (which is there every night of the week), or inside in the original part of the restaurant.
We arrived first and reserved a table...ok..Im drawing the story out..just for fun...
They arrived not long after we had ordered our drinks. Nothing in the USA is small size...so be warned.
I ordered Iced-tea...without sweetener...but the bus-boys didnt hear the last part, so he had to go back for unsweetened. Waz had a huge glass of lemonade. Lemonade here is NZ Lemon cordial (or similar) ...not fizzy like 7-up

A couple of fellas at the next table received these large Scotch Egg type fried balls, only they were't!...They were Armadillo Eggs!
 I had to get Katie to take a photo...bless him, this fella  didnt mind one bit, and proudly held them up for the photographer...

 

This is a dismembered Armadillo Egg. Jalapenos and I dont get along, so I was in the process of discombobulating one when I took these photos.

 

We almost forgot to take this photo...a couple of 'eggs' had already disappeared down the other end of the table:)

Katie took this photo of me for the record!

 the inside of the 'egg' is bar-b-q meat shredded and minced...well, thats how it appears. It was very tasty. I discarded the jalapenos and most of the breading. Just too much food. I ordered the oysters, which came with Texas Toast..more on that later...and cole slaw. They sibstituted the slaw for the fries.

Waz ordered Chicken fried Steak...this is tenderized thin steak that has been breaded and deep fried, covered with a chicken flavored white sauce..He got Texas Toast and slaw with his fries...below

 Katie and Dean both ordered the pork chop with two sides...spinach and beans and bacon with Texas Toast. Katie ate part of one chop and decided to take the rest home for a few meals during the week.

 and...being kemah/Seabrook, there was a Pelican somewhere close by!

We didnt have room for the many lovely desserts, but next time we decided to start with the desserts and end with whatever we have room for.

I had repeato with the oysters, so wont be getting them again, and I dont think they agreed with me, being deep fried. We are so used to eating fresh fruit and veg most of the time that our bodies just dont like the other kind of food, anymore.

An excellent evening with people of like mind. Tammy and Chris have sold EVERYTHING to live on their 37ft yacht. They were much braver than us! We still have a storage locker full of our worldly possessions, in NZ. They dont know where they will end up, and I guess you could say the same for all of us present. Katie and Dean have some rough plans for their future, but all of us intend going with the flow (literally).

Our intention is to take two years to see how we like the lifestyle, and frankly, we like it just fine, after two and a half months...I will let you know this time next year when we are coming south down the TennTom rivers, having spent the summer cruising Canadian waters in the Great Lakes.

We three couples have arranged to take time out this Labor Weekend (coming) to sail/motor somewhere katie has in mind, anchor and enjoy the comraderie, the sailing/motoring and just being off the dock.

After our hour out on the Bay yesterday, we are really looking forward to this weekend.

For now, it is wednesday night, and Im about to put my new walking shoes on.Today we went to the Tanger Outlet Mall on I45, just south of League City, and found another pair for Waz at the same store we bought the last ones. The daily special was 'Buy one, get two others for free'. So we did...well, they arent free, but you cant beat $33 each for these lovelies:) we wont need to buy sandals for at least another year, all going well. We also bought a crock for me to put all my kitchen 'things' (large utensils) into and free up the cutlery draw where I could never find anything because it was so full of 'stuff'...which is now in the crock, and Im very happy:)

Time to stop procrastinating, and hit the road. We might just go and rally Veronica and get her out for a walk. Lovely evening out there. I took some photos of Waz enjoying a cuppa on the fly deck as the sun was sinking...will post that tomorrow, I promise. Walking NOW!

 

 

 

Re-fuelling Day, 27th August, 2013

We had decided, last week, to make tuesday of this week our refuelling day. Arbitrary? I think not. This coming weekend is Labor Weekend when all the nutters will be out in their boats, and the fuel companies all put their prices up to make the most of the last big weekend in summer.
We called South Shore Marina, further up the lake to find out their price...good thinking 99! They quoted us $4.10 9/10. Armed with this figure, and not wanting to motor all the way to Sth Shore Marina, we drove over to the fuel dock at OUR marina. This would normally  be our evening walk, but as it was 95F outside, we drove in airconditioned comfort:)
The young man who had given us a favorable quote  last week was on again today. Tyler said the dock could  only do $4.35. We winced, of course and said what he had quoted us last week and that Sth Shore Marina had not changed their prices so far this week. He told us a new load of fuel had been delivered and that was the new price. Bah! I said....well, we will have to take the boat up the lake!!!
"Let me put in a call to the owner", he said...and went off to do so...knowing we would go elsewhere if they didnt match the $4.10. He came back and told us the owner said Ok, but he wouldnt normally do that. They wanted/needed the business and we promised to put no less than 500 gallons on diesel into our girl. Waz said we were only sitting on 1/4 full, before fuelling up.

The store at the Fuel Dock.

We drove back to the boat...took all the cockpit curtains down (bright and hot without them!!!) and made ready to leave. The first thing we did, after disconnecting he shore power, was to take off the Bow line that caused us trouble last time we went out.
The last time we had been out anywhere on her was July 25th! too long.

Waz made a perfect get away, and I have to say I did pretty well on the ropes:) It gets easier the more I do it.
 We are in pretty tight confines here, I have to say, but Kathleen, our large Lazzara neighbor had exited not long before us, with no trouble at all.

There was a slight onshore wind blowing, which would blow us onto the fuel dock. Waz made a fairly tight turn from the Creek, onto the dock...perfect:) Tyler had been radioed ahead of time and was expecting us. He got the ropes on the front of the boat and I roped the stern.

All the curtains are down and everything stowed ready for take-off. The back doors port and starboard are kept open to allow easy acccess to the Duck Board, from where I jump off onto the dock...in this case, port (right side looking back). Kathleen is the large boat at the right rear.

Just arrived at the fuel dock and the nozzle is engaged. We were pumping for about 1/2 an hour.

 

 

Here is our girl at the fuel dock. It is hard to get good photos of her normally because we are jammed in next to other large boats, so it was nice to get a better photo of her, even if the pump is in the way.

I also took this opportunity to show you how much space we have on the cockpit deck. the doors at left that are open go down into the Lazarette and behind that into the Engine room. So, underneath the whole of the cockpit deck, is another room altogether. Housed in here is the washer and dryer, much storage, and the entry to the Engine room. Warren has put rubber matting on the floor throughout because it is a kneeling space. You cannot stand upright down there at all.

The (white)stairs on the far side take you up the side of the boat to the front...likewise there are stairs on this side for the same reason. The stainless railing on the ladder, takes you directly up to the flydeck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After refuelling...(520 gallons), we didnt particularly want to go back to the marina, so we took her out under the Kemah Bridge, and into the Channel that takes you to the Shipping Channel and the Galveston Bay.

 

 

Waz, , sitting pretty in the Captains seat.

 

 

 

The sea was a calm enough 1ft swell, and the breeze was lovely.

Looking back to our wake from he captains seat. Nice to have all the 'glas' open and letting the wind flow through. We still have to affix the life ring to somewhere upstairs on the flydeck.

 

We said, if we lived in this area permanently, we would probably get a sailboat. This one was being sailed single-handed, and about 30ft long. Lovely! A sailboat would be perfect, as the Bay rarely gets more than a 2ft swell. The tanker behind her is in the middle of the shipping channel that goes up into the Port of Houston, left. This ship is returning to the Gulf of Mexico, through Galveston Bay.

The Bay is very shallow for the most part...see the chartplotter..can you see the numbers in black?? those are the feet of water we are in! The green arrow is our boat. The white shaded things on the screen are the 'spoil' grounds. Probably where the channel has been dredged and the spoil from the machine has been dumped on either side of the channel. Easy to run aground on those things!! The Bay is littered with hazzards.

Chartplotter showing how deep it is in the Bay.

 

 

Veronica's neighbor took an unscheduled detour to get to a friend's restaurant, out somewhere in the bay, and ended up stuck on a sunken barge. He has a 55ft SportFisher, Viking, which is a lovely craft. The Coast Guard were called, and tow boat (TowUSA) and he was hauled off at a cost of $6,000!!! Not only was he hauled off, but in the process they managed to saw through the hull (fibreglass) and almost sank her. We met Tommy the other night...he said the insurance company just paid out $85,000 to repair the damage!!!! She is now back in the Marina, but he now has her for sale. She has a gorgeous hull and a new paint job too!!:)

 

 

This is an unmanned oil well-head. We dont know if it is still functioning, but you can see the lines of birds on the wires and dock...Pelicans!

 

This is another well-head.Again, it is hard to tell if it is still working. The whole Bay is littered (literally) with these things.

 

If you look really hard (click on the photo and it should enlarge), you can see the Port of Houston on the Horizon, left, and in the middle is a huge refinery. At night it looks like it's own city, it is so lit up.

These three brown Pelicans were preening themselves and each other, on one of the green signposts.

Of course I had to take a better photo of the Kemah Boardwalk sign on top of the revolving viewing platform. We laugh about this...This area is FLAT!! yes, FLAT>>>> and when you go up in this thing, all the way to the top of the center  scaffolding, you actually dont see a whole lot.

Just as an aside...

A couple of portly fellas parked their cars in the marina parking lot. I was walking past and said hello. On my way back I observed that they had walking stix...you know the kind, and were putting sunscreen on etc. I asked where they were going??? Well, next summer, the two of them have made a pact to climb a mountain in Colorado. The ONLY place they could find a 'hill' to climb and get some sort of semblance of appropriate exercise, in the Houston area, is the Kamah Bridge. The bridge peak itself is probably 70ft off the water. So, that's what they did for an hour. They looked VERY florid on their return. They told me they take an hour to get here, so perhaps they live close to the center of Houston.

We notice there are a LOT of people who do the same thing...runners, walkers, cyclists, all go up and over the bridge, and then repeat it several times.

We are not brave enough to walk the bridge, because there is NOTHING that separates you from the traffic doing around 50mph. The shoulder is the only place to walk and it would be no more than 6ft wide. I have seen parents guiding their kids (little ones too...4/5 ish ) over the bridge on bicycles. Brrrr ..not me...too many people here drive with their cell phones stuck to their ears!

 

Like I said...nowhere to go, really...did I say that? hmmmmmm. Well, it's the truth. Going out and back is fine...gives us a nice time out doing what we love, wind in our faces and the gentle purr of the Cats below decks. We came home about 2.30, and then had to think about lunch. Fotunately I had boiled some eggs the other day, so made an egg salad and we had that and tomatoes and lettuce sandwiches around 3pm. Better late than never.

In the process of this excursion, we had figured a few things out, and set off to remedy them. Silly to leve the marina at 3.30pm...and school is back in, so we had that added to the traffic mix.

 We stopped at Blackburns Boating/Yachting supply store...a valve handle broke off when Waz needed it not to, so he bought a few to replace and have as spares. That was the second one to break, recently.

Our next stop was Academy, again. This is quite a journey, and more so in heavy traffic. We deviated into a Starbucks for a frappucino..small ones!!...and then back on the road to the superstore.

Our quest this time was a foldable cart. We had seen one the other night that had been retrofitted by a fisherman...exaxtly what we were looking for. He told us where to get them, and we sought and bought. YAY>..it folds up and fits into its own bag. it is now safely stored in the Lazarette.

Back home and we are pooped. A bit sunburned, waiting on the dock for the fuel to finish....and ready for bed now.

Ciao for now...

Lazy Sunday

As I couldnt post photos of the finished chairs on the last post, I will give it a go here...

Voila!I have left the bottoms of the chairs in plain fabric...for now. I will wee if it bugs me, but I thought making the whole thing in the large floral patter might be to much. This is the old fabric, but it 'goes', so we will see how we feel about it in a month or so.

 

We got up around 9am this morning.

Last night we had a date with Veronica who made us the most wonderful dinner of Sth African chicken curry, lentils, chutney, cucmber in yoghurt, peaches and tomatoes (chopped) and lots of cilantro! YUM!!! She outdid herself, all the while heating up the inside of her boat to around 86F, she said.

We met her Son and Daughter in Law and they stayed for some food before running off to a party somewhere close by.

We stayed and chatted and laughed until almost 10.30pm...and fell into bed when we got back to the boat.

Getting up late is a bit of a luxury for us. We dont usually like lying around in the dark...and dark it is in our stateroom down a flight of stairs. Perhaps this is one of the reasons we sleep so well?

We ate our usual fresh fruit salad with yoghurt and granola for late breakfast, and because it was overcast and not too hot outside, I decided to give the boat a good wash. Warren had hosed down the flydeck a couple of days ago, so this was an opportunity too good to lose...being cooler, of course.

Three hours later, I finish.

...and of course, like any good car/boat wash, it brought the rain! sheesh...I had just dried the whole thing too:)

Never mind...she looks wonderful and all the brown dirt is washed off.

There is major earthworks going on across the bayou from us, and of course this is the direction of the prevailing wind...so everything is coated in a fine dusting of brown. Not good for our lovely new waxed finish.

 

 

We had been expecting company for lunch, so after finishing the sewing marathon yesterday pm, I got the vacuum out and did a thorough clean. We had traipsed threads from one end of the boat to the other! the vacuum didnt like all the long threads in particular, but she did a good job on this thick carpet pile.

We are still undecided if we will get a Rug Doctor in to clean the carpet, throw it out and get something more suitable, or just wait and see how much dirtier we can get this cream carpet.

 

We went out for lunch to the local Ichibon restaurant...interesting choice by our guests as they are vegetarian...but there were enough vege choices on the menu to satisfy.

They didnt stay long as they had children with them, and the little ones were restless. They loved the boat, but children and the boat dont mix too well...it is a treacherous place for littlies.

 

We were pretty pooped by the time they left around 4pm, and have taken it easy since. I was going to take a nap (Waz did) but thought I might use this time to post here.

We are meeting Katie and Dean and their friends at T-Bone Tom's for dinner...I wnder if they have Armadillo Eggs on the menu...? I might try one as long as it isnt fried!

Too much dining out this weekend. I miss our plain salads! but our friends dont want to cook and we dont have enough food for a crowd...so not much choice, then.

 

I will go and read for the next hour until we go for dinner. It is supposed to be overcast with thundershowers for the next few days, but these often dont eventuate. there is a storm brewing in Mexico, so we might or not, see that one.

 

Another week...and we are counting down to leaving time.

We will fill the boat up with diesel this week...next weekend is Labor weekend, so the loonies will be out in force with their boats. lets hope it is a fine weekend! We will stay safely away from them all, but might go and sit and watch the parade of boats going between Clear Lake and down the Creek to Galveston Bay. I hope they all have their wits about them and dont drink too much. Booze and boats done mix, but you cant tell some people!

bye for now...

Tiki-Touring and Bayou Hopping

Just so that I get this right...I sought the correct term for a Bayou...something that is common in and around here.
Wikipedia says...
A bayou (/ˈbaɪ.oʊ/ or /ˈbaɪjuː/) is a Franco-English term for a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying area, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or to a marshy lake or wetland. The name "bayou" can also refer to creeks whose water level changes due to tides and which hold brackish water which is highly conducive to fish life and plankton. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, notably the Mississippi River region, with the state of Louisiana being famous for them. A bayou is frequently an anabranch or minor braid of a braided channel that is moving much more slowly than the mainstem, often becoming boggy and stagnant. Though vegetation varies by region, many bayous are home to crawfish, certain species of shrimp, other shellfish, catfish, frogs, toads, American alligators, American crocodiles, herons, turtles and a myriad of other species.

As yesterday (friday) was a very tiring day...having spent the WHOLE day, more or less, finishing the covering of these chairs, Waz decided I needed (he did too, truth be told) a morning off. I have to say it was a great idea, and as he is a Waffle fan, we decided to go find ourselves some waffles for breakfast first.
Veronica had told us about the Seabrook Waffle House, almost next to the Dairy Queen on Hwy 146 The place was humming when we entered, and we should have taken a seat then and there, but we weren't quick enough. We didnt wait long for the next french cafe style chairs and table though. I ordered while Waz secured the table by the window. These waffles are Liege (lee air zhe) true Belgium waffles. It is a yeast dough with special sugar crystal incorporated into it, which then caramelizes at a specific temperature. However...Our waffles were heavy, cake-like and Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too sweet. We ordered the Benedict waffles which came with ham, chopped bacon, hollandais and one egg. One waffle. This was presented on a paper plate with plastic cutlery...$7.50. Plus all you can drink coffee...good coffee...of the drip kind (hard to find a Latte outside of Starbucks, I'm afraid). I would gladly have paid an extra dollar to be able to eat it on a china plate with regular cutlery. I guess this throw away style saves them money?It sure made it harder to eat the food, as the fork and the knife were barely adequate.

I had already started eating when I remembered to take a photo for you:)
Sorry if it looks a bit munted!:(

 

The cafe got busier and busier, so clearly others love the food, and it just wasnt what we expected or would normally eat. Our quest for an Eggs benedict that is up to our expectations continues. Some might say..."Good Luck on that one"!

 

This pink building in Seabrook is a triangle on the side of a major T  intersection from NASA Rd 1 onto Hwy 146. It is obviously a Lawyers office...we think the lawyers must be very creative!!everyone needs one of those:) This building is fascinating, and when we stop on the other side (146) at the lights, I will attempt to take a photo of that side...it has Mariachi musician figurines on a shelf half way up the side of the first floor.

 

So...this is where we started our morning outing.

 

We decided we wanted to know what was on the other side of Galveston Bay, and this would necessitate going over the gorgeous bridge on Hwy 146 (It has someone's name, which I cannot remember)..Waz took these photos while I drove.

 

It is a very striking bridge, which is even more reason for going this way...well, to photograph the bridge, of course:)

 

Once across the bridge we came across fields and fields of oil dereks (sp?) working away...

 

 

 

Getting off the main roads and 'going bush' as it were is more fun, especially when we can keep the water in sight. We went down some different side roads before coming to the water. This was a dead end with a private boat ramp $5 to use the ramp.

There were three or four times as many trailers as this lined up, and only one car amongst the pick-ups!

 

On the other side of the ramp were more remnants and reminders of Hurricane Ike. WOW...the forces of nature know no bounds!

 This is a Shrimp Boat on it's way out into the Bay. Shrimp 'season' opened on the Bay on the 15th August.

More Shrimp Boats ready to go out into Galveston Bay. Good docks amongst the blown out ones.

Capt. Ron's RV park was right next door to the boat ramp. How convenient:)

 

The roof of this former home/barn is being held together with duct tape!

Came across these two grand old bombs on another country road. These roads were VERY rural, but green and lovely...not too many cars to stop u taking photos. We did pull over where there was a shoulder, but often the road dropped off rather alarmingly into ditches. When you are in Bayou territory, ditches are esssential.

 

We love the letterboxes and the creative ways people put them all together. these boxes were for relatively new homes.

 

Did you know there are New Zealand Whites? we didnt...and were rather alarmed at the Fryer bit. Being a Bunny lover (I had a pet one on Maui..Patrick) I dont like to think of them being fryers!

This home was fenced so that the wild deer (of which there are plenty around) cant get in, so he has the models by his well...for show.

This new home was at the end of a dead end road...and rather amused us...see all those pipes???in the front yard....see next photo!

You wouldnt want to go digging around there anytime soon!

There are pipelines and pylons EVERYWHERE here. Great corridors of pylons.

The lady was sitting on her front porch when I took this photo...I found out AFTER I took the pic,. We waved and she waved back...nothing like a smile...and we did appreciate her mailbox!

This swing seat is facing the bay. Most of the waterfront homes, big and small, had seats facing the water and the sunset. What better thing to do at the end of the day?

In a new subdivision of HUGE homes, this one stood out. You can see the building pad for the latest one to be built, in the foreground. The home in the background would be 7-10k sq ft. This is a waterfront home!

 

....and yes, these are real cattle! with a cattle egret along to eat the ticks. It was 96F, so they were HOT beasts.

 

We went a little further after this, through another new subdivision where the homes were advertised in the $200k range. Further down the road was another sign for $150k and the next after that was for homes in the $130k range. Noticeably there were no trees planted. These were large homes stuck on flat land with nothing much in the way of landscaping. They looked a bit ridiculous to our eyes.

Lots of brick, of course, a few pools, but none on the water.

We came home and looked up homes for sale in the area, (Baytown) and found us exactly what we wanted...a half acre section with huge shed with 220V power (50AMP for the boat), 87.5 ft of deepwater waterfront with a covered dock. There is no gas or water to the shed, but this is minor in the scheme of things...and how much do you think this all costs???

$90,000!

It is a little bit in the 'wops', but a quiet rural road with otherwise nice homes...this would suit us well...for now. Come back each winter (we cannot be in florida from June 1st till Nov. 1st. Insurance doesnt cover us in the Hurricane zone...which is a bit weird since the Gulf states get more hurricanes than Florida!), Dock and live on the boat, clean up the land, start building a simple home up on stilts with a huge verandah...Aussie style queenslander...ok..we can dream!:)

 

We came back from our morning out, had lunch of crab cakes (I had 1.3 of a pottle ofcrab meat left) and salad, and got stuck into stapling together the last of the chairs. I could barely finish, I was so sore and tired. It has been quite a mission, but they look lovely...we think!:)

Well, Im having trouble downloading the photo..so will start a new page and see if it will download there.