Snow on Biloxi Bay

(Pre Script, I wrote this a few days ago, the innernets is still a new invention here so not as wide spread as in the rest of the world)

It's snowing in Ocean Springs Mississippi, not the most likely place fore snow but as I sit here sipping coffee there is sleet and snow mix coming down. School was canceled before the snow started but the Mardi Gras parade is not, carnival has priority. The snow is not going to stick in this part of the state, not even on the bridges. The man that I've been working for is driving his 4 year old daughter north to build a snow man, she's never seen snow before.

It's cold on Waltzing Matilda so I am inside Harbor Landing Yacht Club nursing cold fingers and a bit of a headache from bashing myself on the companionway hatch, or maybe it's from all the beer, the locals have been showing me the watering holes. I wanted to get out of the winter weather but I haven't made it far enough south yet, by the time I hit southern Florida it may be mid summer. I have no schedule or itinerary, my only time table is the weather and my health. This has been a strange voyage and a great adventure, definitely the most exciting and dangerous I have attempted.

After my near disaster I am happy to stay ashore for a while, I'm not scared of heading back out but I am not ready to tackle the Mississippi Sound again just yet. Waltzing Matilda needs some gear to be ready, a decent dingy, a heavy Bruce anchor, new solar panels, an extra bilge pump, lots of little things. Part of the plan for restoring her was to get down south near more boats and water to find used gear, I am surrounded by boats and marine supply so it is time to take a break and outfit better. I got very lucky when we got washed ashore and don't want to push the luck or tempt Neptune any more than needed. The sea is a harsh mistress, she will punish any foolishness with suffering and death, I am not to adverse to dying, it's suffering till then that concerns me.

Internet access is difficult to come by in this little town, Harbor Landing had access when I first arrived but I haven't seen it since I got rescued. The library is very sad, it is a tiny facility with very few books, their information technology is locked down a with encryption, password access, EULA's and very hard to access. I counted 15 computers running Vindoze XP, a horrible waste of money considering the machines are only allowed to access port 80, they even had the word processor programs removed. The library is situated right next to a very large police department with lots of shiny new cars and plenty of very expensive motorcycles, there seems to be a lot of police for such a small town, but this is the deep south. The library in Houma LA was great, large and well stocked with wide open access on all ports, I believe they were running Ubunutu on their public access machines, that saves thousands of dollars, and they had the theory of open access to information. There is a coffee shop that I have visited twice but the proprietor is very curt and snobbish, their network is password protected and disallows access on most ports so I am looking for a different place to get my bean juice and data.

I need to make some money and get insurance with towing, I heard that one ceases running aground once they get towing insurance, I learned via the bus what a good idea it is to have a tow package when one adventures in antique vehicles

I have some work at the dry storage marina, this time of year everyone needs work done on their boats so that when it warms up the vessel is ready to head out. That makes for some cold weather work for shipwrecked sailors like myself, I spent the last 8 hours waxing a boat by hand and feel like the karate kid, wax gets hard to wipe off when the temperature drops.