Our first Tsunami, a little bit of a let down.

There is something about the weather service and their list of warnings, watches, bulletins and special reports that send people into a huge downward spiral. Last evening, I moved my car and instructed Ben to do the same. Then I went outside and secured Haddie and Old Yeller (our boats). Granted Old Yeller is now actually tied up to the house because I did not know what else to do for him. Then we sat and waited.

I felt like we had a lot of warning time. Growing up with tornadoes you get at least 30-60 mins of warning time. Earthquakes you get nothing. Yesterday was a bit strange because we had over 4 hours to get "prepared." And the content of the warnings seemed a bit dire. I get it that they need to prepare people for the worst, but still it sends people into a tailspin.

At 9:35 last night there was a huge gust of wind out of nowhere. Ben and I looked at each other, and of course did what all humans should do when faced with strange natural occurrence. We went outside and stood on the deck. It should be noted that if things were really bad we would have heard the warning sirens, and trust me they are loud here. The tide was not as high as the high tide picture I posted on Sept 18th. The waves were more defined and maybe 7 inches tall, which stood out to us because it is usually flat in our canal. Then that was it.

This morning all people and property are fine! The Chronicle doesn't even have any coverage of the Great San Francisco Tsunami of 2009. Their main focus is of course the beginning of it all in Somoa, which is no joke. The tsunami wasn't the 60 foot wall of waves that I had envisioned! I guess after traveling thousands of miles, like any traveler it was a bit too tired to rage on another town.

Tsunami, We're Ready! Um, Sort of . . .

It is that time in the afternoon when I log into the Chronicle for the Daily Dish, which is the gossip column. Today I was greeted with a headline of "Tsunami Advisory Issued for West Coast". Ok. Alright. Should I freak out now? So I click.

And begin to read. Apparently waves will hit between this evening at about 9pm to tomorrow morning. The waves sizes are going to be between 12 and 26 inches. Wait, so that is it? We should look out for waves between the size of 1 and 3 feet. By definition a tsunami is a giant wave produced by an earthquake. I am not sure if I would classifly 1-3 feet giant. MMmmmm.

Usually when I think about tsunamis I think about a huge 60 foot wave coming toward us, not an extra three feet. Does an extra three feet concern me, well no not really. I am lying. Yes I have a concern. It revolves around the parking lot and if it is going to flood. I will now head outside and move my car. That is about it. High tide is at 9:16pm and is at 5.1, ok so let's do some math. If the tsunami hits, the new tide line will be 8.1 feet. Doable, wont be the highest high tide we've seen, nor the lowest.

How about this, if anything amazing happens I will let you know, but I have a feeling it is going to be an normal evening around here. (I hope!) Ok time to go and move my car!

Lord, I miss you child . . .

One of the most popular questions that our friends ask us is "Do you miss the city?" As of right now, the answer is no. I think we were ready for our move to Marin, even way before it happened. Let's face our days of going out in the city late night and other stuff like were slowly coming to a close. (Sorry Ben!)

There is one thing that I just cannot get over. I miss the Video Nook. Holy Crap, I miss the Video Nook! For a long time we have resisted the Netflix deal, because the Video Nook was so close. I mean we could see their front door from our old deck. Every Sunday we'd head down to the Nook and pick out a video. The employees would help us if we had no idea what to rent. They would also ask for our opinions after we watched movies. On several occasions when a new movie would be released, it would be gone from the shelves. All we had to do was ask and we'd get the special "under the counter" videos that the employees would hide for people like us. They didn't even have to ask our names when we checked out. They knew us. Now we don't have a local video store, and I just cannot become a member to Netflix. This is due to the fact that for years Netflix was the evil corporate machine putting the places like the Video Nook out of business. The Video Nook is still too fresh in the brain to emotionally destroy them by becoming a member of Netflix. Instead of a local video store, we solved this issue by getting HBO.

I miss the human interaction of the Video Nook; the commentary of the movies we were about to rent, the selection of indie, documentaries and foreign films, and the secret hidden new release movies. Video Nook, I miss you!

Recap of the Tour!

Yesterday was a great day! The organizers of the tour believe about 1500 people came. There were 20 homes on the tour. I am still not sure how your home gets to be on the tour, but moving on.

The home I was a docent on was only letting 12 people in at a time, so there was usually a line outside. For a while I was inside the home directing people and pointing out some great accents. For example, upstairs there was a personal sized sauna. The portholes in the home were originally from a Liberty Ship. (There is a liberty ship in san francisco that you can tour, the glorious Jeremiah O'Brien.) The living space was split between two levels so people find that interesting. Overall, a good day, and I learned something about how El Nino is doing something to the seals in the bay. Then I went outside and held people in the line and was able to chat and answer questions. As we all stood in the sun on the dock.

I wanted to share some questions and tidbits from yesterday.

Visitor #1: Do you live on the dock?

Ann: Yes, I do, just down the way. My husband and I moved here about a month ago

Visitor #1: Can I see it?

Ann: Ah, no. It isn't open today.

Visitor #1: Why?

Ann: (Seriously, are you asking me this?)

Visitor #2: Can you feel the homes move?

Ann: Sometimes you can see them move at high tide, but not really. (I know how to tackle this one)

Visitor #3: Where do the children go to school?

Ann: WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? We have a small one room school house at the end of each dock where the children learn the ways of the world together. I should mention that the teachers are seals.

Ann's Real Answer: Since we are apart of school district I would say they go to school there.

Visitor #3: Oh yea, that makes sense.

Visitor #4: Does the money raised today go to fight the city?

Ann: I assume you are referring the houseboat wars of the 1960s and 70s. These days, we and the city and the neighbors all get along. In fact the money raised today will be put back into our housing association. (Yea, I am not really sure what the money raise for today was going to be used for, and that seemed like a good answer.)

Tidbits:

I got to talk to a really intoxicated lady from Europe. Let's just say I am glad 1) that she wasn't driving and 2) when she left the house.

Some people who did not have tickets tried to sneak on, I had to stop them. Now if they would have just walked right on like they should have been there, then they would have gotten to see it!

No one stole anything, not on my watch!

Do you have $40 and live in the Bay Area?

And you have no plans today?

Come and check out the Floating Home Tour. You get to see about 20 homes, but not ours. We are not opening it to the public! Also who wants to come and look at all of our stuff?

I am volunteering today as a docent. I will pass along helpful information and make sure no one steals anything from the house I am stationed at.

It should be a beautiful day up here in Marin, no fog here.

Stuff in the Water

Off of our floating dock there is a thing in the water. After heavy investigation I have discovered that this is probably part of an old dock, but it is just the plastic floatation part. Several days ago, I found that it is still tied to a rope that is connected somewhere on the rocks on the other side of our yard. This thing is covered in plant life! Since I do not know a ton about marine plant life, I am unsure how long it has in fact been there. All I want to do at low tide is poke and play at this thing, knowing that I would need a couple more set of hands to deal with it.

Ben and I had a conversation about it while I was poking it and lifting it halfway out of the water with a boat hook. He has no real interest in this old dock which is stuck in the ground. He would really like me to stop messing with it. Then he went inside, and then my trials began. I was on the not so floating dock at low tide, because then it becomes a sitting dock. The house was up to my shoulders. Needless to say it took a couple of tries, but I was able to lift myself onto our house off of our dock. I am glad that no one was watching this go down.

The mix of only seeing this old dock and the fact that our floating dock is sitting on the bottom during low tide make it really hard to mess with this thing with any real commitment. Well I guess I could mess with it until the tide comes back up.

Noises

For a long time, we have slept with a fan on. It drowns out the noise of the city, which during our stay there included a frat house across the street, buses, trains, firetrucks, and everything else that comes with living in a city. The fan is still here, but the noises have changed.

Granted, life around here is usually really quiet, besides the lovely call of the seagull (sarcasm is hard to write, seagulls do NOT have a pretty bird call). And as it has been stated the homes in our neighborhood move. We go up and down, albeit slowly with the tide. Therefore our house moves against everything it is attached to, and so do the other houses. This makes really eerie creeks. The kind that wakes you up in the night and you second guess yourself what you just heard. Last night was particularly loud in the neighborhood. Many creeks, cracks, pops, and squeaks. I would imagine we hear it more at night because our bedroom is very close to the dock, and our windows open up to that side.

Remember if you stay here, keep your ears open, and remember it is just the glory of the fact that yes, we are in motion!

Barges

Our actually living space is smaller than the size of our home. Our home is built on a barge, which in our case is made out of cement. Yes, cement does float. Hopefully you just learned about this from the word barge above (click on it), or you have some sort of background in science.

The bedrooms are located on the first floor, but in fact that floor is really built about 4 feet above the bottom of the barge. On the front and back there are some large storage spaces that are outside of our home, but inside our barge. There is also a smaller space which runs the side of the house in between the wall of the barge and the wall of the home. Trust me the extra storage is super, but you have to come to terms with the fact that the items you put are there are that much closer to the elements. The main element we are talking about here is salt water.

Since we have only lived through one storm we are pretty sure that water does not collect down in our barge. Just in case we have not put anything on the ground. As this moment we have not had to find a way to get water out of our barge storage area. I am hoping it does not come to that. If it does, trust me our landlord will be getting a phone call. Considering he also uses the storage area, I am thinking that water does not come pouring in. We do have pump on board, but it is used for getting sewage out of our home and into the city sewers, which will be another topic for another time.

Just ask, and we will show you the storage space which gives some insight into how our home was built. Sorry, I have no idea when it was built!

I'm Going to be Your Friend

Our "backyard" is always changing and moving, and this happens twice a day. Ah, good ole tidal movements. As we all know this happens due to the magnetic pull of the moon, but enough science for one day!

Yesterday there was a huge fluctuation in the tides due to the fact it was a New Moon. The low tide was at .6 feet, and the high tide was over 6.0 feet. You can actually watch the water going into our canal during the flood, and leave during the ebb. Now all of the sailing questions about what the current is doing makes a lot of sense to me. All I needed was to move onto a houseboat to have it all click!

As we have all learned together, at high tide our home begins to float. This was apparent yesterday, but only in slight movements, nothing drastic. (During the next storm I will create some movement video.) During really high tide we worry about our cars in the parking lot, since there is a possibility that it may flood, but I think we need raing added into the mix to see that happen.

While low tide is another story. The bottom appears. You can see two old stumps which look like they used to be an old dock on the other side. The rocks off the point where the egret (Yes, I am learning about birds), stands appears along with all of the other rocks which are typically covered by water. It is fascinating to see what you are usually unable to see because it is covered by water. It does not smell per se where we are, but let's just say if you are down wind on a hot very low tide day there is a specific stench. The aroma is nothing like old dead fish smell or anything like that. Instead it is sort of a dark damp mud and gunk smell. Nothing that you'd want to go out and bottle to make a hand soap and lotion set. The smell isn't always there at low tide, because depending on the phase of the moon the tide is not as drastic as it was yesterday.

Everyday is unlike the last when it comes to the tides. As I look ahead to the coming months the movement and flow of the tides are not really repeated. Therefore it will always look different when we have visitors. I thought you should all know what we are dealing with here, as well as what it looks like during there times. Above are photos of the high tide and low tide from yesterday.

Floating Homes in the News

Here is a little snipit from the Marin/Chronicle Blog:

http://www.moremarin.com/buzzhome/2009/09/floating-homes-have-magical-appeal.html#more

Check it out. It is promoting the Floating Home Tour on Sept 26th, which your truly will be a docent for! On this tour you will get to see about 20 homes for $35.

Things to do in the Hood

A couple of weeks ago friends dropped off a kayak, Old Yeller. (Guess what it is yellow) She sits next to Haddie, our red Zodiac. They both live on our floating dock off of our floating home. Ben has gone out a couple of times in Old Yeller. This week in the calm of the morning I have gone out and paddled around. Yes, I have checked the tidal charts to see what the current is doing as well as where the tide will be. It would be unfortunate if I went out for a paddle then had to drag her home in the mud. Also I have found out that the mud stains clothing, this was discovered after the lock rescue mission. Note: stay away from the mud. (there will be another story later about things I want to dig out of the mud)

Each time I have gone out for about 45 mins or so. After you get over the fact that you are only about 5 inches off the water, it becomes relaxing. I grew up paddling a canoe, but this is a bit different, but yet sort of the same. At least for a while I have Richardson Bay to myself, besides the birds. Yesterday, I saw a cute little seal, seriously they are dogs of the sea. Maybe next time I should bring my camera, there is a waterproof bag in Old Yeller. Going for a kayak is similar to going for a walk in Golden Gate Park.

The interesting thing is that most homes on our pier have boats. There are ski boats, zodiacs, Boston whalers, row boats, old sail boats that looks like they haven't moved in years, sea kayaks, and canoes. These boats apparently become an outlet to embrace the fact that you live on water, and is the replacement for going on a walk. Kayaking is not something we could do from our back door at 128, we would have fallen off the deck. The sad thing is that this is not something we can do together, since it only seats one. I will say that going out for a paddle is a nice benefit of having not only a kayak but a place to put it and use it!

EveryDay I Need Attention (EDINA)

Now some of you have e-mailed me some questions that during the course of this blog I will address.

One of them is:

Are the new ones fancier than the rest, just like in Edina?

To answer this one, Yes. There are probably about 9 houseboat docks in our "neighborhood." And all the homes are different, and vary from dock to dock. No two really look alike, so you do not get a "ooo that ones looks just like that one over there." Each have their own unique character about them. Ours definitely has some Asian influences, not only the exterior with the pagoda style roof, but also some of the decorative accessories in the home.

A couple of them have been transformed from ship's hauls into homes. So the home has been built around the haul. I am curious to see what these look like on the inside. One of my favorites was clearly a barge or ferry at some point. It is quite massive and I can only imagine what their berthing fees are. Yes, if you own a houseboat you must pay a berthing fee to the landlord of the dock. Much like an HOA in an apartment building.

The main thing that I do notice is that each one has some sort of element which ties it to water (both literally and figurative speaking). This is due to the fact that we all live on water (duh!). Some of them do look like they have been here for quiet a while and the owner has filled it with stuff. Which can be seen in all of the neighborhoods around the world.

From what I can tell is that the homes on our dock are in good upkeep, and range in sizes. There are a couple that look quiet small, but there is something that would make up for that. For example one place is clearly a 1 bedroom flat, but the entire roof is a deck with many plants, furniture, and a BBQ.

Overall, yes the homes are all very different and vary from dock to dock. Much like the great suburb of Edina in the Minneapolis. Where there is clearly an old part and a new part with homes of different ages intermixed between the two.

You've Got Mail

As Ben will atest to, I love mail. I love it! I am sure that through our life together Ben has never had a key to the mailbox. My obsession with mail might have something to do with the fact that it is sort of like opening a present, or maybe it is because that my dad sends me a postcard every week which always makes me smile, and keeps me in the loop back home.

Each floating home dweller has a 5x7 inch box which is about 2ft deep as a mailbox. They are stacked around the gate to our dock. (Photo to the left) The new development is the fact that when we receive a box the mailman (and he is a man by the way), walks all the way down the dock, knocks on your door, and leaves it there. In the city this would have meant a small slip of paper in your mailbox. Then you'd be instructed on when and where you could pick up your package. Since we live in an actual house the USPS, UPS, and FedEx will all walk down our docks to deliver packages. Wow.

We Float

This past weekend was a bit like the winter here in the Bay Area. Friday night brought thunderstorms, rain, and high winds. It was a very high tide on Saturday and Sunday night. For those who are curious yes, we do keep a tide book upstairs so we are able to track what is going on in our backyard. Now I sort of know how to read it, but alas not really. Looks like Ben will be able to explain this to me this evening. Saturday and Sunday were more dramatic in the tides due to the fact that Friday was a Last Quarter of the moon so the tide goes way up and then way down. (see science, pull from the moon) The combination of the the high tide and the weather gave us a new experience with our new home.

I was on the phone with my sister and sitting the front part of our house (the bow if you will). I could feel a small rolling movement, nothing substantial, but just soft and gentle. It was raining and blowing out. I looked out the window and could see that all of the houses were moving. Up and down, and side to side. The homes are not being tossed around, but it looks like a group of gentle giants moving within their confinded space. Since it was a high tide all of the homes were truly floating and not just sitting the mud.

The feeling that swept over me was sort of like the first time I was in an earthquake. A new experience for your body and mind. (sounds way more hippy than it was, but i have no idea how to talk about it). You look outside and watch the house next to you move up about 1/2" from where it should be then go gracefully back to its original position. The movement happens so peacefully that you are unsure if it really just happened. It is as if you are imagining things. Then you begin to really study the outside world and yes, you can tell that are you moving and that the homes around you are as well.

We could not feel it that much in the back part of the house. Last night it did the same thing. I am not sure if you think you feel that you are moving because you can see that your house and your surroundings are moving. And it doesn't move in a "sea-sick" sort of way. Even with the rain and the wind, it just moves.

This weekend was good exposure for what the winter months in January and Febuary will feel like at our place.

Boat Hook!

On Friday evening we had some dear friends over for dinner. As the evening went on we all commented on the fact that the tide was getting lower.

The whole tidal movement still is enchanting to us and others who come and visit. It is strange to see the "backyard" be full of water and then several hours later have it become a mud field showcasing the ground below. Then having it happen all over again. You cannot help but watch.

Conversation ensued about the low tide and we recounted the story of the dropped lock. How it slipped out of Ben's hands into the depths of the mud. All of a sudden light bulbs went off in all of our minds. It was low tide at that moment. Maybe we could see the lock! We all rushed outside, and on my way I grabbed a headlamp. We looked down and behold there was the lock face up in the mud. It was there! It was not covered in mud, but just sitting on top of the surface!

We all looked at it and then started to figure out how were we going to get this. There were many many plans hatched including gently lowering someone below and having them stand in the mud and then hoisting them back up. Then out of no-where Ben yelled: "BOAT HOOK!" And he was gone. When we moved in one of the things that were here were two boat hooks. They have many uses but since the fact we have a floating dock off the back it doesn't seem so strange that we have boat hooks.

Ben was back and the rescue mission had started. Ben and Leland used both boat hooks like "chopsticks" to pin it between the two hook. This took a bit longer than expected due to the fact that we were all laughing very very hard at this point. The chopstick measure did not work. Leland was able to loop the hook around the key fob, due to the fact that the key was still in the lock. The lock was lifted back up to safety, and given a nice bath to remove all of the mud. Now we are able to lock our bikes up again!

Welcome home lock! We have missed you so. Thank you trusty boat hook for all of your help in our rescue mission, we could have not done it without you! (and you too Leland)

Bye Bye Lock

Since we have lived here I have gotten used to walking on the dock, even the whole sliver deal. I am not longer worried about something falling into the water. Ok every now and then I worry about keys. I also worry about things that I would have to chase into the water, but what can you do?

This will now change.

We have a little bridge way that seems to be Asian inspired that takes us from the dock to our front door. Yes, it goes over the water. We have decided this little walkway is the best place to keep our bikes. Last night Ben was re locking our bikes together. As he was playing with his GIANT chain he looked at me and said "Someday something is going to go in." I said agreed with him. Not 15 seconds later the actual lock slips out of Ben's hands straight down into the water. It hit the water with a huge gulping noise and was gone. It even had the key in it so that is gone as well. At the time Ben did not see the humor in this situtation. In fact about 30 mins he was still flabergasted that this happened.

I suggested that maybe during low tide we could look for it. You may not believe this but during low tide we have not touched the bottom. It looks like dark green gooey mud, that would eat you alive. The type of mud that you think will be soild but in fact will just take you in knee deep. Ben believes that our lock just sunk into the ground. Should I think about getting floating keychains?

Bye Bye Lock! Too bad you were so heavy.

Wooden Docks

Our "sidewalk" is a dock. Therefore it is made out of wood. Duh! It is a pretty long walk and most of the time it is really beautiful. I find myself just sort of gazing up and taking in the view.

The other day I was "initiated" into the world of wooden docks. I got my first sliver. Now I am not really sure how this went down. All of a sudden I sort of felt a pain on the top of my toe. I looked down and saw a 3" piece of wood come up through the side of my flip flop and up into it. Yes, I was wearing flip flops. Then I noticed on the top of my big toe, I had two slivers. Ick! Don't worry they were quickly removed.

Ah, such is the life of the wooden dock. I guess I will not be skipping down the dock with bare feet anytime soon.

Trust me I am still wearing my flippy-floppies!

Tourists

After living in San Francisco for years, you sort of get used to the tour buses packed full of people. Or the smaller trucks/cars that take people around like Mr. Toad's Adventure Tours. This imagery becomes a part of your daily fabric.

Moving up to Marin we thought we'd leave those days behind us. Apparently not. Now don't get me wrong I am all about tourists! (I cannot tell you how many times that I helped someone get to the Haight from the Cole and Carl N stop.) Our first night here we were standing on our deck admiring our new backyard (which is really water and a marina parking lot). Low and behold a tour bus drove up. Drove around the parking lot and stopped and we could see people run to the other side of the bus and then begin to take pictures, of us. We had become the spectacle. They were here to see the houseboats. Yes, it is an interesting place to live, but this is not what we thought we'd see.

As we have traveled around Europe we have rented bikes, because it is a great way to cover a lot of ground and see a ton of stuff. When we see the Blazing Saddle bikes here we chuckle at how many people must rent them and then deal with the hills in the bay area. Sauasalito is pretty flat, so it makes sense that people would rent them up here. Low and behold people appear in the same parking lot on bikes just sort of cruising around and checking life out down here on our little houseboat marina.

Overall, it is just another added interest in where we live. Not only are we curious about it, our friends and family are curious about it, but so are tourists!