[Rhodes22-list] 3rd use for the table top

[Rick]

Canadian geese have been my bane.  They don't care about the ladder or that
you want to sleep later than dawn.  Or that their droppings will spoil your
breakfast.

Rick

On Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 3:13 PM, Graham Stewart <gstewart8 at cogeco.ca> wrote:

> Bob:
>
> You don't have to be at the dock to be visited by racoons. Years ago I was
> anchored in a small bay in Georgian Bay. I was about 300' from shore and
> thought that it would be safe to leave a bag of garbage in the cockpit over
> night. In the middle of the night I was awaken from a deep sleep by the
> sound of water rushing into the boat. "We are sinking" I shouted as I
> jumped
> out of my bunk expecting to find myself standing in water. Nope. Dry as a
> bone. Assuming, logically,  that we had washed ashore and the sound was
> tree
> branches in the rigging I then shouted "We have lost the anchor and are in
> the trees". Meanwhile, my family were all awake and in a somewhat elevated
> state of alarm. I looked out into the cockpit and there staring back at me
> in a similar state of alarm was a racoon standing over the garbage bag. At
> this point the racoon decided that there was too much excitement on the
> boat
> for his liking and casually climbed down the boarding ladder and swam away.
>
> The moral of the story is don't leave the boarding ladder down when at
> anchor, don't assume racoons don't swim, don't leave anything a racoon
> might
> think is food in the cockpit and if you think you are sinking or washed
> ashore, don't say anything until you have checked for racoons in the
> cockpit. Your family will never let you live it down and will regale people
> with the story any time you try to impress them with stories of your
> exceptional seamanship.
>
>
> Graham Stewart
> Agile. R22, 1976
> Kingston Ontario Canada