HAPPY NEW YEAR! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

If you are of that Catholic persuasion, today is New Year's Day because it is the First Sunday of Advent, the first day of the NEW Liturgical Year. So Happy New Year . . . and don't forget to make, and keep, those New Year's Resolutions!

Checking up on the Blog from this day last year, I was leaving the New River, one of several so named, this one in Georgia just outside of Savannah, dashing into Georgia and the cold was starting to hit. Truth be told, it was about the same temp as we have here today, lows in the high 30's/low 40,s, high in the low 60's/high 50's. Ah what a difference a year and 1,ooo miles makes. Not much of one.

And I am not in Vermont. I am still in God's country. I was going to have to pay up at least some of the utilities up in Vermont and I had thought that I had the coins to do so, but checking carefully I found that my financial assets would actually be strained beyond breaking if I went and so had to bow out. It was certainly generous of my friends, Skip and Nancy, to offer me their home-away-from-home, but I just was able to swing it. But God arranged another spot even as the first one fell apart. I friend, who is selling his house to move to Florida of all places, offered me the use of the "In-Law" apartment attached to his home - gratis! It keeps me near family and friends and the boat, and, hopefully, out of the way of a lot of snow and cold. Then again, if there is a repeat of last year's winter weather bonanza, where I happen to be may make no real difference.

One thing it does do is to put me close to my friend, Ray. Ray is the guy who has taken care of motorized vehicles and done so without cost. Trying to get Rat to accept anything in payment is an exercise in futility. Unfortunately Ray has had some tough times. He has been in a car wreck and it has done some damage. Right now, he is trying to get his medical insurance to pay up and get the other driver's insurance to pay up. He can't work, he's a mechanic, and things are tough. So I will be able to help in any way I can, if only to buck him up a little. I will have to see where all of this leads. It should be good though and it will make me feel satisfied if I can help him and his family even a little.