My God It's Full of Stars

Our new home isn't that far away from our old one. Only about 10 miles or so. Otis is tucked into a bay, which is pretty much protected. From our deck we can see the homes in Mill Valley, Tiburon, and some in Sausalito. There aren't very many street lamps or "light pollution" around our hood, which makes one thing quite surprising; the stars.

It was late one evening a couple of weeks ago and as Ben and I walked down the dock the stars were everywhere. Unfortunately for us, we can only identify like 3 constellations, and there rest of them are just a mess of shiny specs. Since we do not have that much light pollution we can actually see them living in a city. (Yes, I am calling Sausalito a city, notice I did not refer to it as The City).

If you are here on a clear night, remember to look up and take it all in!

note: i did not take that photo....

What's in a Name?

Our houseboat did not come with a name, or at least one that we know of. On the tour a couple weeks ago they all had names! As time has gone on, I have started referring to our home as Otis Pagoda. I should probably give you some context.

One of our friends was really into Otis Reading. I am a huge fan of "Sitting on the Dock of Bay". When I had lots of time on my hands I was doing some research about the song and Otis. (When you have an hour to kill these are things you do!) I found out that he wrote that song while living on a houseboat. Now that is really cool! I of course found out more things about the history of houseboats, but I will save that one for later. Hence: Otis.

The outside of our house has an Asian feel to it, at least the outside does. And pagoda does not stand on its own, unless we are talking about the "Royal Tenenbaums." Hence: Pagoda.

Now this doesn't mean that we are going to post signs or get a banner. This gives us a point of reference to speak about it.

I Never Thought I'd Live on a Boat

Yes, the above is true. I never thought I'd live on a boat. In fact if you would have said this to me 7 years ago, I think I would have told you that you were crazy. And then I'd laugh in your face. Ben and I got into a discussion with Ryan and Ashley (lifepartners) on Friday night. And we began talking about if Otis Pagoda really is a boat. Does a houseboat classify as a boat, even though it uses "boat" in its title?

According to webster's a boat is: a small vessel for travel on water. Or another name for a ship. Ok, so we are "small" when you talk about homes. I think we have 1100 square feet here, maybe. Ok that part of the definition; check. Ok let's cover travel. We do "travel" with the tide. You know up and down twice a day, and side to side with the wind and current. Travel part of definition; check. Granted we have nothing to propel us to either move us forward or backwards like a sail or motor. I guess if we had to go out to sea Ben and I would classify as a crew. I am not too sure who would be captain, but that we can work that out if need too.

Ashley was trying to convince us that we do not really live on a boat, but I think that the above will show that yes, we do in fact live on a boat. Did I ever think we'd get here, um no. I never thought I'd live on a boat. (enjoy the little link there)

Mine Mine Mine

There is always a flurry of wildlife around our home. Yes, this differs from your home in some aspects. We do not have squirrels, deer, coyotes, or anything like that. We do have birds, and lots of them.

The most popular bird happens to be the Sea Gull. The bird that stalks you for food and snacks when it sees you. The bird that comes floating along when you appear on the deck just to check out it is that you might be doing, and yes, if you are going to share. The bird that follows the egret to see where it is fishing to see if it too can get in on that game.

I don't know how to tell the Sea Gull that its call is not pretty. It is not the calming bird song of let's say a penguin. (Ok, I'll level with you, I have no idea what a penguin sounds like, but they are cute so one can only imagine.) The sea gulls always sound like they are harassing each other and other birds. When I used to drink coffee at home for a living I used to spend my time scolding them and telling them that they are not pretty. Now, I do not have the luxury of that any more.

I wonder what the other birds think of the sea gull, and if they too judge it. Clearly I am judging it, but whatever!

Another Storm?

Seriously? This morning I wake up to the announcement that there is going to be another storm in the Bay Area. I guess I can handle it. So it is suppose to rain and things like that. The one line of this story that Ben and I thought was funny is they want people to be prepared for flooding. How more ready can we get?

We already living in a flooded area, because we live on water. Maybe we should go and pick up some free sandbags and explain that our home has already been flooded. It becomes interesting to figure out what really applies to someone that lives on a floating home and what doesn't. The only thing that will be interesting will be the wind and rain. It is a long walk from the car to the house!

Last day of Freedom

Note: This is going to be a selfish post. . .

As some of you know I have been partaking in a self-imposed unemployment since June 25th. I will say it has been amazing. Not only have I been able to see tons of family and friends, and traveled around the world. On another note I have been able to recharge by battery and get to a place where I know what I am looking for both job and life wise.

Ben and I have been to spend a ton of time together. We spent an amazing two weeks in Europe and some great time in the middle. When he goes away on business I have gone with him, no real questions asked! On one trip we walked off the plane and I had no idea where we were staying or how we were going to get to the hotel. That is so not me! I always know where we are headed and how we are going getting there. It has been great for my mind to rethink how it thinks.

We moved from an apartment that we lived in for almost 6 years. That whole deal became my project, and I think I did a pretty good job. I found this place! Our floating home, which I refer to as Otis Pagoda (I will cover that name in a later post) in my head. Living here has allowed us to reconnect with a ton of our friends. People seem to drop by at the drop of a hat, partly to check out floating home living and then to see us.

On Monday I will head back to work, which I am very excited about! I am ready to go back after this brief hiatus. Who knows if and when I will get to do this again. In theory I'd like to say this is my last day of freedom, in a sense. My last Friday of hanging out and sort of doing things. Next Friday I will be sitting at my desk working and not doing those things.

I have been trying to rack my brain of something fun to do. I have a feeling it will involve trying to find some amazing birthday presents for people who have their big days coming up. But I know I am just going to let it all soak in and just let the day guide me.

(the photo is of where I blog. yes, the computer is on the floor, and i sit in front of our sliding doors in our living room.)

The Wow Piece

As some of you know since we moved we went out and bought new furniture. This was the first time we had something of this sort. Even though we had a great couch and chair. They were pieces that Ben picked out when he was still living the "bachelor" lifestyle, so it was time to move on. And it helped that we had one hot weekend to realize that it was time for vinyl to leave. (Your body sort of sticks to it!)

We had been shopping for furniture for awhile and pretty much knew what we wanted. Today I went to pick up our custom chair. This is our wow piece. I love it! Not only is the fabric very us, but it is also comfortable.

ok time to go and watch the blue angels fly over our house!

Two Posts in 1 Day!

Ok well, for my second post I will put up some video I took today. There are two, and each cover the same subject: movement. In the first you will see the grey deck next door move around. The second will have some lovely commentary of what you should be viewing...

Enjoy!

Seasons

We lived in San Francisco for years. One of the most surprising things about living there is the lack of seasons. Well unless you count the following three; sunny during the day, foggy at night, foggy during day and night, and the rain all day long. These three osculate between each other. There isn't always a day where it will go from foggy all the time to sunny during the day and foggy at night and last for 4 months. The foliage was completely different so you couldn't walk outside and say "oh, huh, looks like Oct." None of that.

For the first time since we lived here it has actually felt like fall. There are trees in Marin whose leaves change with the season. When we first moved here, we caught the tail end of summer with warm summer nights. We just thought it was hot, now I am thinking that was summer! Funny that we moved 11 miles away from our old apartment and the climate is so different. I am not going to lie, but this is a nice change, since Fall was the one season I missed the most. The leaves change and add color to landscape. You can finally wear turtleneck sweaters, and no one judges you. Boots come out of the closet, for me these are not "functional" boots.

I will take this seasonal stuff. It really feels like we moved! Goodbye fog, and hello crisp fall mornings!

We Sleet Under Water, sometimes

Right now the water temperature of the San Francisco Bay is 54 degrees. Not the temperature that you want to go swimming in. Yet, that is the temperature that our house sits/floats on. In fact it acts as the opposite of a heated floor that covers our downstairs.

The bedrooms are downstairs, we do have windows but they are not really at "normal" window height. They are a bit higher. On the outside of the house under the windows is a ledge, and then the water moves up and down below that ledge. During the night and day as you walk downstairs you do notice that change in temperature from the upstairs to downstairs. I attribute this to the fact that part of the downstairs is submerged in water. Probably similar to when you walk into a basement in the summer.

Last night as I was trying to fall asleep I started thinking about the water level outside. It was a full moon, and it was close to low tide when we went to sleep. Then I was thinking about the water rising and figured that at times we may be sleeping under water. Which is a tough thought to get around when you look around you and everything looks like a normal house. Now I haven't done anything completely scientific like, um, measure the water levels. Right now we are in the "hypothesis" phase. Who knows if we will move into the next phase.

Since we are still in "fall" like weather I feel strange turning the heat on, but that will change as we get closer to winter and the air and water temperature move a little closer together. wonder what winter will be like here?

Little Feet

The other morning I woke up and saw little paw prints all over our floating dock, Haddie and Old Yeller. Little muddy paw prints all over the place. They appeared to begin from the the muddy canal and then all over our stuff. Of course the paw prints are raccoon prints.

When we first moved in and were taking a boat ride around the neighborhood I saw a raccoon traveling under the dock on the pipes that run beneath it. He was just walking along like no one could see him. This would have been true besides for the fact that um, yea we were on the water. Sometimes as you walk down our dock you can see these prints on the dock. The mud is a mixture of light green and brown so it sort of stands out on our wooden dock. And now the paw prints were all over our boats, and dock. mmm. I don't really like sharing with little creatures.

I guess it makes sense why our trash cans are off the dock and in a little hut. It seems from the prints there is only one set of prints, so maybe he is just lonely. Maybe if he wants to go for a boat ride he should ask first, or at least come when we are awake.