Bummer. This morning, Alan and I got the true meaning of close only counts in horseshoe and hand grenade throwing. To explain – Thanksgiving weekend we received a phone call from Germany about a new boat that needed a crew. It looked like a dream situation. Alan spoke with the owner for 30 – 45 minutes. Things sounded good, but there was no definite offer. We ran to the computer and checked on the guy, and things seemed even better. The next day, we sent an email saying everything sounded really good. Owner replied saying he was heading out of town for 2 weeks, he would call on his return to finalize things. He took the ad off the computer. Unfortunately, finalizing meant saying we had the right credentials and were a good fit, but he hired someone else. We’ll never know what happened. That was a very long two weeks!

To say the least, our dear economic woes have staggered this industry. Alan and I are moping around and trying to figure what to do now and not beat up too much on ourselves. Short term – we need $$$$. Alan will probably try to ship out commercially. The jobs last 60 – 120 days. Soooooo, what do I do? We’re living in a very reasonable little mother-in-law unit, but we have to rent a car. I could easily stay. The family in the house would keep tabs on me, but it’s not much of an existence. Subbing here pays $85 a day, but they aren’t accepting applications. I haven’t gone into the office to see about this. I could return to Napa and sub there. But alas, I have no home. I doubt that I could rent nearly as cheaply there as here. And although the industry is bad, there are still little glimmers of hope. Maybe Alan works for some cash, but we stick with this idea a little longer…..

Of course, then there are the long term concerns. I assume NVUSD will be laying off teachers, so I don’t know how I could get back in next year. Alan, with a math credential, is in a much better position – but is it good enough? A recession/depression was not in our game plan. We actually thought we were making an investment into improving our conditions. Anybody want any advice from me?

In the meantime, hanging out in 75 degree weather is pretty nice. We went to a fabulous Seminole Indian museum on a local reservation. It was the first reservation I’ve seen that looked prosperous. Each house had some form of chickee on the property, so they are keeping some tradition. We also saw our first alligator. I’ve included the photo. We weren’t sure if it was real or not, but it did finally move. I headed back to the car. I heard they can move very quickly.

Hope all is well with everyone else. I highly recommend you keep your day jobs.

Merry Christmas
Love,
Carol and Alan

(Apparently, people are having a hard time posting. You might need to use igoogle, not sure, but we always love to hear what’s happening. We always check sailinglittles@gmail.com and our phones still work.