Holy crap.....

Ok, what the hell is go'n on? I waked up this morn'n thought I were gonna freeze to death. Well yeah, it's 32 degs outside and 49 in "da house"....turn on some heat.

First things first this morning. Ain't nobody even looked at that piece of wood. All they see was a little coyote hang'n up there on the wall next to it. That coyote has a story behind it, so we gonna attempt to tell a story this morning.

Back in about 1987 or there abouts, I moved back to Port Aransas, Texas from a miserable 10 years in West by God Virginia. In the evenings I would take a casual stroll on the docks in the marina look'n at boats an' stuff....dream'n. There on dock #2 sat this beautiful "pirate ship", a 41 foot Formosa ketch. I fell in love with this boat. In the cockpit sat an older feller with a bottle of Captain Morgan in his hand and a proud "captains" smile on his face. The teak woodwork glistened in the evening sun, the teak decks were the color of sand. She sat high in the water, her masts reaching to the heavens. What a beauty. "Coyote" was her name.

As time passed, my deck walking gradually diminished to once a month....and then to once every 6 months. In the mean time, the older feller had fell overboard and drowned from over indulgence of the local brew. After a few years, Coyote had lost her tone. Her brightwork was now deteriorated, her teak decks had turned a dirty gray. She was dying a sad death.

Then one evening while walk'n the docks, I seen Coyote sitting all alone at the end of the dock....a sad sight to behold. I took a stroll down that way and low an' behold, on her boat davits hung a 'for sale' sign. My heart started pound'n in anticipation of ownership of this once glistening beautiful "pirate ship".

Arrangements were made for monthly payments and "Barnacle Bill" moved aboard in 1995 with tools, a gallon of varnish and a little dog name of JoJo. But a mascot was needed....other than a dawg. What could be a better mascot, other than a dawg, than a stuffed "Wile E. Coyote"? I searched every store I could think of look'n for my elusive mascot. But none was to be found. Then Christmas day, my son Daniel handed me a package....his gift to me, a stuffed "Wile E. Coyote". He hung around in the boat for 7 years, hung around in "Alice" for 3 1/2 years and now hangs around in "Sally da house". To a kid, he would be a toy, but to old Billy Bob, he is a memory of 7 years of a wonderful life living on a 41 foot Formosa ketch. Life was good.