We used this poor weather day to prepare for our hoped-for departure in a few days. One more trip to Solomon’s Yamacraw grocery, where we now know all the cashiers and security guards. One twist with this particular trip however was that this time Paula drove the marina courtesy car and Tommy was the passenger. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a big deal, but this was the first time Paula drove on the other side of the road and in a car with the steering wheel on the right. Thankfully there wasn’t much traffic and she did well. She did exhibit the exact same affliction that still affects Tommy, flicking on the windshield wipers to signal a right or left turn (the turn signal arm is on the other side as well).

When we returned, Tommy went over weather reports and our routes with alternates. Paula cooked like a demon, and swore like one too, as she knocked her coffee over into the dry locker, which now was wet and required extensive coffee decontamination. Tommy wisely fled to rearrange the cockpit lockers. And then the aft cabin. However, we now have two cooked meatloaves (1 in freezer), cooked corned beef, 2 cooked chicken thigh dinners, 2 meals of chicken souse (we had one tonight for dinner), and there are two pork chop dinners to be cooked tomorrow. There are both fresh and frozen strawberries sliced for snacking. A pineapple is on the cabin top, trying in vain to ripen.

Moments of sun were interrupted by sheets of hard rain and increased wind, making this an ugly travel day. Accordingly, when we took our evening walk between raindrops, we see that the entire charter fleet is in port with their crews whiling away the hours in the time-honored fashion of port-bound sailors everywhere. We are in the middle of what all the local forecasts refer to as a “chaotic” weather pattern. Some models have it dissipating early next week and others have it continuing through next week. We’ll have a better idea by Sunday.

Paula became increasingly affected throughout the day by the plight of Feral Kitty. Someone maintains a water bowl for it on the dock, but we’ve never seen food put out for her. Today, each time Paula passed the cringing rain-drenched feline sheltering against the bulkheads, Feral Kitty hooked her with that eerie thousand-yard stare and meowed in a deranged and piteous fashion. Its damp fur looked like clumped dryer lint. Tommy warned against it, but Paula took it some of the cooked chicken leftover from the souse. She laid some bits by the water bowl. After putting up a show of hissing psychotically as Paula backed away, Feral Kitty pounced on the chicken and devoured it. There is a down-side to this. If Tommy finds FK begging at the end of our finger pier tomorrow, Paula is in big trouble.

The chess game today ended in another checkmate for the first mate, a two-game streak. This is highly unusual, and Paula is wondering how she can leverage this to her advantage. To help bring Tommy out his depression from losing two games in a row AND fretting about the weather, Paula decided to make brownies.

Dinner tonight was chicken souse, sautéed zucchini, and homemade bread with pineapple jam.