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Date: 18 August 2021. Mother's Day Manatees (netbook news)

© janice142
 

Yes, I know that Mother's Day was way back in May. I'm a bit behind with posting as the Acer Cap'n Karl passed along a several years back finally quit working. I am now using netbook number four, and life is again good. What is especially great is the critters who visit my home. You have no idea how much joy I get out of observing wildlife. 
 

Years ago I had a epiphany. Details can be found in the Dolphin Moment vignette.




 

 

Netbook Tales:

 

Since shortly after purchasing Seaweed I have used netbooks. They are lightweight, use little power and meet my needs much better than power hungry laptops. When my original netbook was starting to falter, a reader (thank you again Cap'n) passed along his old netbook. Because of his generosity I have been able to post articles.

 


I originally began using  a Toshiba netbook in 2008.
Later Cap'n Karl passed along his *Win7 Acer netbook.

*Win7 was the critical component. At that point I did not realize that my Professional version of FrontPage would work with Windows10. Fortunately it does, so I can use Win10 now. I've been using FP (FrontPage, a webpage creation tool) since the 1990's.

 

The problem is that netbooks are no longer made/sold by the computer companies. Folks nowadays seem to prefer tablets. I do too, but not for writing the website. I love Toshiba netbooks!

 

So I went shopping online to purchase a new-to-me netbook. The first arrived, and it did not have a registered operating system. The second came, and is still here. That was purchased from a Columbian gent, and instead of the : (colon key) I get one of those fancy Spanish "n's" which basically means I cannot easily write the code for pictures and such. So I bought yet another computer, er, netbook. That is the one I'm currently utilizing.


I kept the funky Spanish 'n' netbook as I believe there is a way to reassign the keys. I'll have to figure that out, but not today. Today I'm going to tell you about my manatee friends. That's loads more fun than figuring out how to fix an almost perfect netbook.

 

Now I am using Netbook Four. Life is great aboard Seaweed.

 


As friends know, I've been a bit (understatement) behind in posting. Life gets in the way... Still, I've got a backlog, so today I am writing about my Mother's Day. As *The Mom to the best girl on the planet, I am indeed fortunate.

*Regarding "The Mom" ... I sign all notes to my daughter The Mom, thus the use here. I am Grandma on the Boat (just as my mother was) to the Grands.
 

My Baby is an amazing woman. She has made me two wonderful Grands. Here Baby is snuggling the Newest.


On Mother's Day I was walking out the dock and heard the distinctive sound of a manatee exhaling. The sound manatee make is more powerful, deeper in tone and longer than that of a dolphin. Once you've listened to both you too will be able to recognize the difference.
 

As I was saying, I was walking out the dock when I heard a manatee breathe. Because there are mangroves nearby, a variety of wildlife are around. Locating the critters is a fun sport.
 

Here is the young lady I saw:


There were two manatee swimming around and under the dock, heading toward the open water.


Of late, in addition to the wonderful manatees, nearby a new round of Red Tide has infected the waters. It's been awful.  Fortunately we are not seeing a lot of the *floaters on this specific canal.

*floaters: Dead fish. When most fish die their tummies inflate. They come to the surface of the water.
 

 

Question: Regarding the fish situation due to the red tide, I have a question for those who know more than me.
 

Would the use of a bubbler (like those folks use in the north to keep ice from forming around their boats during wintertime) aerating the water behind my boat right by the mangroves help?
 

Decades ago Daddy told me that if water was dead or murky, that the addition of air would bring life back, and clear the water. With each tide salt water from the Gulf of Mexico filters under the peninsula so the water does move, with two foot tides most days.
 

So, what say the experts? Should I hunt down a bubbler and try to save my fish that reside in and around the mangrove? Thanks for any advice you can offer.
 

Side Note: We are on the fringes and not fully inundated with red tide on this canal. A couple islands south of here things are Really Bad, with the county bringing around barges to scoop up the dead fish.

 


Fortunately I have only seen a smattering of dead fish floating in this canal. My manatees along with dolphins are seen regularly, even today. So far for us the situation is not so dire as in other places. We are indeed blessed.
 


Life is indeed great aboard Seaweed. I've been doing a bit of hand sewing on the Utilitarian Quilt I made at anchor ten years ago. Alas, some of the fabric squares have deteriorated so I am patching her.



The fabrics I used are over 20 years old. Repeated use takes its toll.
I will show results later, as the quilt repair project is not yet complete.


Frankly I am impressed by how much young folks accomplish. I'm retired and wonder where my days go... I blinked, and now it is nearing autumn. Where did the time go?!?
 

As for the rest, I've been goofing off, reading, and rewiring the overhead panel for my pilothouse. This is one of those "might as well" fifteen minute jobs that became a Project. Argh. Life's like that sometimes for those of us with interconnected systems. On the bright side, the light in my forward cabin again works.


Such is life aboard Seaweed. Thank you for reading.
 

If any of you have any thoughts on aerating red-tide algae water, I'd love to know them.
And, does time go flying by for you too?
 

Regarding the Comments Section, found at the end of every article:

  • Before you type in each block be sure to hit the backspace key. Coding inserts a space in every box. Your email address will come back as malformed unless you remove that space. (You don't have to include your email address.)

  • The capcha is case sensitive.


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