back on board

 On my first week back after going home, it's my turn to take the back watch- 1800-0600.  So here I am, killing it. 

     Last night was my first watch on, and it was busy. I guess they sat around and didn't have any cargo for like the first 10 days I was home- E and B had a grand time just lifting weights and making sure the anchor wasn't floating. 

      My luck hasn't run that way. We were nonstop my last trip, and the unbelievably bad weather didn't help with morale. I really am ashamed at my lack of self-control at the end there. 2 solid weeks of being rained on and with diaper rash that had my nuts so burnt up that they were achieving fusion?  I feel like I had a reason to be fussy. 

 So it was with great happiness that I got aboard, made up my rack, unpacked all my trash and caught a nap after seeing no rain forecast for the next week... and when I woke up at 1645, it was raining. 

     Ever see a grown man cry? 

   Luckily, with the exception of a 30-minute shower around 2300, it wasn't all that bad, though a strong easterly wind kicked up while I was out on deck, making things a mite chilly.  It was good to have my relief show up at 0530.  

 Today's watch, while very busy early on, didn't have any rain. Glory be. I finally have been able to sit in dry underwear on watch. It's been a minute since that was so. 

          Tuesday I met up with my son in the crew change hotel in Brooklyn- he took a different flight than I had, as I buy my tickets months in advance, and as a trainee, his schedule is more erratic. I took him out to a local BBQ place that's surprisingly decent. 

      I do not love working the spot market for bunkers in New York harbor, but I will say that it's possible to get good food from anywhere in the world here, and while age and health have my generally eating healthy these days, sometimes you just want chicken and ribs so sauced up and greasy that the shit's getting in your ears when you eat. 

 Anyways, my boy is somewhere 100 miles or so out to my east tonight in Long Island sound, learning how to be a tugboat deckhand, while I'm in Red Hook tonight, blessedly between cargoes- we broke some things, and are waiting for the port engineer to come in in the morning and unfuck our hydraulic fendering.