After chores yesterday, Ray and I took a golf cart ride over to the parts department at Demopolis Yacht Basin. Talking to Tranella, she wanted to know if we knew Roy and Eloise on "RoyEl". I knew I had heard that name. I immediately text Bill Livezey, and he said yes, they just left Panama City a few weeks ago. Oh yeah! Now I remember. You told me to watch out for them. Well, we were a day behind because they left Demopolis on the morning of the 12th but hit something in the river and their boat was taking on water so they ran it up on shore on purpose to keep it from sinking. Some of the guys from the shop were up there helping them, along with "Moondancer" whom we traveled and anchored with the last couple of days.
After that sad news we returned to the boat and decided to go for a bicycle ride to the cemetery that we always pass on the river and talk about going there. Now was finally the time. I guess it was meant to be that on the backside of the cemetery, near the river I heard what I was trying to determine whether it was a cat or a cat bird, so I slowed down. Turns out it was a kitten I would estimate to be about four weeks old popped out of a drainage pipe and ran right to me between my bicycle tires. Could not hear any other kittens crying. Did not see a mother looking for this crying baby. The non-animal lover that Ray claims he is told me to put her down. I did, but she came right back to me. I couldn't leave her. So I tucked her in my shirt and we headed back. She sure was hungry. The last thing we needed was another cat on this boat for Ray to claim to hate. He already said as soon as it tore something up she was out of here. Well, she's a kitten. Of course she's going to tear stuff up. So I stopped back at the parts department. Tranella said we could call the Humane Society to come get her. Not really what I wanted to hear, but better than leaving her at the cemetery I guess. I needed to go get her something to eat though, she was starving.
By the time I got back Tranella had her in a box. She was still crying away. At the same time Tranella was helping a customer that was feeling sorry for this poor kitten. She had the same concerns I did. Would the adult male cat we already had kill it? Would our husbands kill us? She finally gave in saying "Well, if he didn't want me to come home with a kitten he should have picked up his own parts." Perfect! It seems it all worked out and I hope she is doing well.
After our sighs of relief in came Roy from "RoyEl". I introduced myself and told him I didn't do a very good job watching out for them as Bill Livezey told me to do. "Who?" Roy asked. Bill Livezey from Chattanooga. No recollection. Bill and Rita. "Oh yeah" Roy says and continues on about how they know each other. Should have known Rita was the memorable one. We asked him what happened. He thought he hit a log, but stated that he was way over on the side of the river where he shouldn't have been.Anyway, I didn't know what we could do, but offered our information if he thought of anything since we would be going right by the boat. All he asked was to take pictures.
So 6:30 this morning we pulled out of our slip and headed up river. We were being so extra cautious to watch for logs, stumps, trees, submerged buoys. Who knows what could have caused the trouble with "RoyEl". The first boat to overtake us was Matt and another guy from the shop headed up to try to salvage "RoyEl". Next was a work boat with pumps on board. Around ten o'clock we arrived at the location.So scary and heartbreaking. As you can see they tied it every which way they could secure it to shore. Hopefully they were able to salvage it.
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| A pair of bald eagles. |
Thankfully, the rest of our day was fairly uneventful. Heflin Lock was doing some maintenance on the lock, but we were there and through in about a half hour. A half hour after that we pulled into Sumter Recreation Area to anchor for the night. We did not even bother to go to shore this time.
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