REPORTS FROM THE RIP: On The Hard ( and more killer squirrels)

Its been a few weeks since We have been back in the states. Since we returned, Kyle and I have taken some time to get back to the normalcy of being back stateside I even went up to the hunting camp last weekend and faced off with the killer Squirrels again ( written about further below). But that did not last long. The Blue Heaven is for sale and we needed to strip the boat of all the gear and ready it for sale. In the past two weeks we emptied five pick up truck loads of gear off the boat. Its amazing how much crap you can stuff into a boat.
Having emptied the boat, we then turned our attention to fixing some of the things we left unattended over the last few months. Not allot but things that were hard to do when traveling.
Now the boat is " On the Hard". This is what crews call it when the boat is out of the water and on hard land. We hauled the Blue Heaven out at Galati Boat yard in Anna Maria island. The bottom paint is being redone, the props came off and the bearings replaced. No crew likes going to the yard. But being back at Galati's yard after going to a few other local yards over the past few years takes the pain out of being hauled out of the water. A couple days after hauling the boat, I let everyone in the yard and at Galati Yacht sales know that I would be cooking lunch for them. A few friends of mine that have never been to the yard at Galati asked why I would go to the effort of cooking for 45 people. They asked if it would get me better service... Nope, I replied. I did it because they always treat us so well there. They treat everyone just as well. After being in and out of that boat yard for well over ten years I have developed friendships there that you cant find in other yards.
As the fishing season ends, Our attention turns to the woods. Hunting season is upon us. Last weekend, I found myself back up at Yon Creek Plantation in north Florida cleaning out deer blinds that have sat idle all summer. There were wasp nests and spider webs to remove. I put bug bombs in all the stands and hopefully killed off all the creepy crawlin bugs. Last year while cleaning one of the Deer Blinds I was attacked by a killer 48 lb squirrel that had razor sharp teeth, long claws, and fire shooting from its eyes. It was very traumatic. Upon entering the same Deer stand that was the scene of the squirrel attack last year I discovered that there were 4 of the evil demon squirrels living in the blind. I had a gas Blower/Vac with me that I was using to evacuate all the leaves and moss that had been deposited since the stands were used last season. I tried to scare all the squirrels out of the box with a stick. They gave me the middle claw as they bared their blood thirsty fangs at me.Sooooooooooo I figured I would let them stay as long as they just sat up along the ceiling in the rafters. I fired up the gas powered blower vac and started removing all the debris from the floor. I glanced up warily and saw that the leader of the squirrels was insighting a riot amongst his fellow nut eaters. They were running around the rafters at break neck speeds. Suddenly one of the larger ones jumped on my back. ( I swear I dont have to make this shit up). I reacted by spinning around as I swatted with my free hand to keep the devil squirrel from chewing my head off. Unfortunatley My left hand was still gripped tightly to the handle and trigger of the Blower vac......... All I remember was hearing whiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr thump whuuriiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. My arm had swung the vac upward and One of the squirrels met an unfortunate fate. The rest of the squirrels ran for their lives. It was a messy brutal battle and I wish I could tell you I faced the enemy like a man, but I screamed like a girl.