Tug Pictures

Just a regular old day at the dock......

It was low tide, so the boats were down low. They remind me of my cat when they look like this....hunkered down and ready to spring. Although I have never seen a tugboat "spring", I have seen them move rather quickly.

Bows of Tug Florida and Tug Savannah. I like to watch them parallel park at the dock, especially two deep!

When I first reviewed these pictures, I wondered why in the world I took a photo of half of Tug Florida and half of the other tug company's boat. Then I focused, moved the cat off the keyboard, and realized I was being nosy. This was the day before Saint Patrick's Day, (see previous post about that madness) and police boats were already in place on the river. At this point, they were all tied together, floating. Probably the only boats on the river without beer on board. At least I hope no beer was on board.

More nosiness.....really wish my phone camera had an excellent zoom lens...

Hey! It's me! And the Butcher!

Up a little closer...thank you Princess for being our photographer!

It's just us again....

Back views of Tug General Oglethorpe, Tug Georgia and Tug Bulldog

Front view downriver. All tugs at the dock, but some hidden in crafty parallel parking maneuvers :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Patrick's Day

Living in a port city is always an adventure. Our fair city is beautiful, and one of many people's favorite historic cities. Many weddings are held here and I just saw an article that listed us very high on America's List of Most Charming Cities.

However, the month of March in the Hostess City is different. EVERYONE falls into one of three distinct categories. To some, the city is one big party. (This group is tourists who came to party and a lot of locals) We host the second largest Saint Patrick's Day Parade in the country, which sounds like a great big good time until you factor in all the drunken revelers. This brings us to the second group. myself included, who avoid the downtown area at all costs this time of year. Hotels are booked a year in advance. Parking, which is always a challenge downtown, is even worse. Unsuspecting tourists who don't understand one way streets are just the reason for locals to throw up the one finger salute, and don't EVEN get me started on the perils of parallel parking. The third group, while small, still very much exists and contains unsuspecting folks who don't know about our festivities and come expecting a romantic trip full of azalea blossoms, dogwood trees, cool breezes, historic homes and horse drawn carriage rides. Boy are they surprised!

Anyway, whether you love St. Patrick's Day or can't wait for it to be over......there is always something going on. Even in tugboat world.

Today I bring you pictures courtesy of my hubby and his captain, of one of the ships the escorted in this weekend. Meet the USS Hue City.

 Thanks to my hubby Butch for this photo, which he posted on Facebook and titles "Lock up your daughters"!

Here you see the bow of Tug Florida as she follows the USS Hue City upriver.

This photo is courtesy of Cap'n Schaaf. :)

Even though I was a US Navy wife for 10 years, I was unfamiliar with the USS Hue City. Thanks to Wikipedia, I can educate myself (and you!)

USS Hué City (CG-66) is a Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser serving in the United States Navy. She is named for the Battle of Hue, fought in the city during the Tet Offensive 1968 by the 1st Marine Regiment (composed of 1st Battalion/1st Marines, 1st Battalion/5th Marines, 2nd Battalion/5th Marines and attached units) during the Vietnam War. The three battalion commanders were the honored guests at her 1991 commissioning.
Hué City is the only U.S. Navy ship named for a Vietnam War battle, although it had been planned to name LHA-5 as USS Khe Sanh after the Battle of Khe Sanh, but that ship was commissioned in 1976 as the USS Peleliu. As the only US warship named for a battle that took place during the Vietnam War, the USS Hué City has had the opportunity to reach out to the veterans of the battle for which she is named. She has done so frequently by holding a Memorial for the Battle of Hué annually every year the ship's schedule permits. The Memorial has served as a great opportunity for veterans to re-unite, meet the crew, and honor their fallen comrades.
The warship took part in the Sixth International Naval Review in New York City in July 2000, attended by President Bill Clinton.
Recently, she successfully completed consecutive deployments to the Persian Gulf and North Arabian Sea.


Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone!

Big Boy BooBoos Big Time

Working on a tug boat is hard. It's hard mentally, because you are away from home and family for an extended amount of time. You are gone half the year, which means that lots of holidays, birthdays, school plays, recitals and sports events get missed. (Did I mention the Superbowl? No???? Yup. He missed it. The sheer horror.........missing the Superbowl in the deep South where football is religion!) Butch hasn't been home for Christmas in 8 years. He has missed almost that many Easters and birthdays and even (gasp) Valentine's Day and our anniversary dates. And Halloween, not that we celebrate it. Most every Saint Patrick's Day too, he is motoring up and down the river, spraying green tinted water for the drunk tourists and locals as they party it up on the day that EVERYONE in the city is Irish.

It is also hard physically. There are a lot of heavy lines to pull and lift, lots of sanding, grinding and painting. Lots of boat washing to get the salt water off and protect the paint, lots of window cleaning to ensure good clear visibility for the Captain, lots of deck work to be sure things aren't slippery when wet and lots of lines to repair when they part. Lots of work and little sleep.

So, after a few years of this, it takes it's toll on the body. Enter Butch's latest boo-boo.....a torn meniscus.

I didn't know the human body had a meniscus, much less where it was or what it did or how bad it could HURT until I saw my man crumple in pain when he moved wrong. First, we saw our family doctor who injected the knee with Kenalog and prescribed Prendisone to help healing, suspecting arthritis or just a wrong move was the culprit. When those treatments lasted only a couple of weeks, an MRI was ordered and it showed the real issue....a torn meniscus.

It was a routine procedure, done as outpatient surgery. Butch came home the night before surgery so he could rest. I shaved his knee for him (SO THANKFUL Butch isn't a furry gorilla man) and fed him well before the imposed midnight fast began.

The next day we arrived at the hospital bright and early. Notice I did NOT say bright eyes and bushy tailed. I am neither of these before noon. If you want bright eyed and bushy tailed pre-noon, I suggest you go find yourself a squirrel.

Since we happened to know the head surgical nurse, she allowed our daughter to help with the prep before surgery. (The Princess plans to go into the field of Sports Medicine)

After he was scrubbed up, he got drugged up.....

And then surgery. It went very well, and the doctor was able to do the surgery exactly as he had planned. (There was a suspicion that the tear may be worse than seen on MRI, and that some plastic hooks and screws may have to be used. Praise God, they weren't needed.)

He came home and rested fairly well that night, but the next morning......drama. He couldn't feel his foot and his knee and calf were very swollen. We went to his doctor's office where they immediately drained 58cc of blood and fluid from the knee. Ew.

My poor man :(

After that, healing was easier. He lost almost a month of work, but he is back at it now. His only restrictions are not to kneel in water and to not dig at his incisions, lest they pop open. We've been blessed by so many friends, family members and church family during his time off work.  We are hoping he can work all week and not have any difficulties, so please keep us in prayer!