"My First Blog" a Guest Spot

Hi! I’m Ann’s dad and am visiting the land of houseboat living. It is most interesting, beginning with the fact the whole arrangement is a larger community than you might imagine, with a number of docks stretching out from the parking lot. Some docks have sailboat dockage and a large number have these houseboats, all on cement hulls of one kind or another.

The docks are longer than you might think; Ann’s dock has forty homes on it, twenty on each side, with an average width between mooring pilings of about thirty feet between boats. The dock carries the electricity and water and gas hook-ups and it also has the hook-ups with the city for fire hydrants. The dock has plants all up and down the docks and people have added additional touches as well, now with lots of Christmas decorations. The whole area was at one time plated by the city in preparation for filing in the bay and making home sites and such. As a result, there are open spaces along the dock and these represent the spaces where streets were to have been, giving a sense of openness to the whole community.

The thing that makes this whole thing go, of course, is the fact that each floating home is hooked to city sewage treatment. That fact is also the reason why people generally can’t live on the sailboats moored here, until they can show that they are responsibly dealing with sewage. Each floating home has a holding tank which holds waste and waste water, which is then pumped out into the city system from time to time. This is done by a connection over the edge of the hull; the hull is not broken into to allow this access.

The variety of homes and home types is surprising, as is the fact that few of them seem of have a nautical theme of any kind, with the exception of the one that is built to look like a little tugboat on top of a dock. The height restriction is twenty feet above the water line, generally enforced except for some larger grandfathered floating homes…just as in your neighborhood!! Some are a single story, but most are two. Designs are compact and generally open, with economical use of space, as you would have in a condo or other tight space construction. Many also have a floating deck or something on the waterside to accommodate boat docking, canoes and kayaks.

Vary interesting and fun!

Frost!

In the last two days it has been quite cold in the Bay Area. In fact it has even snowed in some locations! (Someone even skiied a mountain here) But alas no snow at our house!

For the past two mornings there has been a visible sign that it is cold here, frost. We wake up to the dock frosted over with a beautiful white covering that is yet a bit dangerous. Ben took a bad fall/slip on Tuesday morning. In that fall he managed to spill his coffee all over the place and by the time I left for work a little bit later all of the spilled coffee had become frozen. Yesterday, I had to use a credit card to scrap off the frost on my car, because why would I have an ice scrapper? I no longer live in the middle where I have to deal with these things. (Tahoe is different; I know we go there…) That was sort of exciting.

This morning greet us again with frost but this time our dock people had put some salt down so it wouldn't be so icky....

How do I feel about this frost? Um, yea, I am not sure.... After moving away from the middle we haven't had to deal with any of this in awhile.... so yea, I am not sure...

Trick or Treat

Yesterday was Halloween, a much loved holiday among children of all ages. We were very curious if we were going to get trick or treaters. There are children who live here, so we thought we'd get a few. And we did, at both sides of our house.

The biggest surprise was the trick or treaters we got at the back door. Yes, the back door. These people were in kayaks. The first group there were about 5 kayaks, and I scampered down along the house to give them our candy. They said there were about 30 people doing this in kayaks. Then another group came by, which is the photo pictured here. We were trying to throw candy into their pumpkin on their kayak. I wasn't very good at it, but needless to say I helped out the cause. I think these people may have been drinking...mmmm...

I have to say it was the best thing about Halloween, the fact that we got trick or treaters, and some were even on boats. I think I know what we are going to do next year!

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!