The Water Jet Trajectory

The water jets were permanently installed with bolts and plenty of 5200 polyeurethane glue as sealant. Cherokee owner Tom Darden, along with Lee Norris and Catherine Williams, toured the boat and had an all-day brain storming session about interior work to be done. Jeanette’s hand got mighty tired taking notes. Many decisions were made, but as happens with boats, with every decision three more questions popped up. Everyone left satisfied with the progress so far, and excited about the work to be done. The crew buzzed away during the meeting, applying another coat of paint to the stateroom head, working on the aft shower and deck boxes, and sanding, faring, fiberglassing, and microballooning the pilot house sides.

Early Christmas morning found Fish Doc and family in J.M. Brown’s collard patch. His magnificent loggerhead-sized collards are in a sound-side Marshallberg garden next to his mother Mogie’s house. “Get all you want,” he offered. “By the full moon in February, they’re all over.” J.M.’s son George had already delivered a pickup truck full of the leafy greens to a variety of neighbors, old folks, and shut-ins. Noticing our impatient twelve-year old, more interested in getting to the unwrapping of gifts instead of the cutting of collards, J.M. shared a story of a boyhood Christmas. “It was during World War II when there wasn’t much of nothing to be found nowhere. Somehow Daddy managed to find me a bicycle. It was the first bicycle in Marshallberg. The other kids would chase me around the loop, push me off, and ride it. I think I got to ride now and again. It became the community bike! And grandmamma got me knickers that year. You know those little half pants and the long socks? I cried all the way to school wearing those things.” They say collards bring you wealth – J.M.’s collards sure did, as they were the richest dish we had Christmas day. Signing off for now, Barbara “Fish Doctor” Blake