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Thanks for visiting my site. I have had 4,978,837 hits since 29 August 2013. Wow, and thank you!!!

23' mini-trawler
by Schucker

Janice aboard Seaweed,
living the good life afloat...

Trawler life on a nickel budget is possible.
I'm doing it and you can too.

Janice Marois, nautical journalist.
Accredited member of Boat Writers International.

Here, I share my views on living aboard a small boat with very limited resources. Hopefully my successes will help others achieve the life. And yes, I'll share the things I did wrong too -- though not everything 'cause a girl's got to have her secrets!

Finally, I've got this computer system cooperating. Thank you for your patience. Life is so wonderful aboard Seaweed. Truly I am blessed... J.

Date: 20 November 2020. Website Woes Resolved.

© janice142
 

If it were not for my wonderful home, the netbook from Karl (thank you Cap'n), a new sage-green Kindle paperwhite (birthday gift extraordinaire) and the Verizon tablet (continued gratitude to Cap'n Gary) surely I would have gone crazy during the month of October.



 

At first I mistakenly thought my computer issues were with the netbook that was gifted to me a few years back. I do work on it for many hours each day. A failure though unwanted could be expected due to age/usage. When my files were not opening up properly I was stymied. An article titled New Alternator Bracket was written, and then, well, nothing worked. To say the situation was frustrating is an understatement.
 

Important to Know: The failure is NOT online. It is in my at home working copy of the website.



The above photo was taken in 2014. Sticking out the
USB port is a CORSAIR ↑ thumb drive aka flash drive.


Rather than store my working files in the cloud, I keep them on a portable Corsair thumb drive. I know "cloud" is a sneaky way of saying "someone else's computer" out of my control. To me that is disturbing. I trust myself more than a large corporation with machines goodness knows where on the globe. Over the past 30-plus years my system of at home storage has worked well for me.
 

For the curious geek, the file I created that
first displayed the oddity is in this folder:
 http://janice142.com/Help/

New Alternator Bracket ←direct link to the corrupted file] is showing as the appropriate size. I cannot open it to tweak the html. I suspect I messed up the *i frame* part of the coding, though I really cannot be certain what caused the fiasco. That there is something wrong is apparent to me. Argh...


This picture of the Newest granddaughter
summarizes well how I often felt
when dealing with the ding-dang computer files!

 

Many cups of coffee were consumed while
attempting first one fix and then another, and another.

As long as one has to fight electronics, coffee helps. A lot of caffeine had been consumed in my efforts. Finally I arrived at the probable cause. I came to believe the issue was not with the netbook. That was the good news.
 

The bad news was that in August I had replaced my Corsair flash drive with a new larger capacity thumb drive. Instead of buying another Corsair I opted for a less-expensive, no-name 16-gig memory stick I had purchased for music a couple years back. The new one was never intended for the website.
 

The choice to use a cheap flash drive was a HUGE mistake. The fault is entirely my own. The fallout was an unmitigated disaster.
 

This is infrastructure, and yes, I do know better. The month of October was spent attempting to retrieve an article. A lot of files on that thumb drive would open fine once. Then the next time the same files would not open properly due to *binary code issues.

*binary code: I don't even know how to write that, so naturally I am baffled. Sigh.


I should have simply given up and started over. Sometimes my determination to succeed causes me problems. I did not give up soon enough.
 

Fortunately, I have buddies who help keep my
 sanity intact as long as I keep the hotdogs coming.

Buddy ↑ is my favorite night heron.


Meanwhile the Original Grand called inviting me
 to holiday with her at Disney. I immediately said yes.


Thus I went away for a week. Disney is and was totally wonderful. We had overcast days along with misty rains. The only downpours were while we were inside restaurants eating. As usual, Kidlet organized everything well. She and her husband have a wonderful family. I am fortunate.
 

The holiday was totally amazing. Still, it was good to
be home with my great blue heron Ella among others.

 

Upon my return I slept for a solid day. That was followed by a couple days relaxing and reading on my new Kindle paperwhite. Life aboard Seaweed is indeed the best.
 

After recovering from the fun at Disney I made a renewed effort to discover what went wrong with the files and fix same. First in that regard was the purchase of two new larger capacity Corsair brand flash drives. One now holds my website.
 

I have found good copies of the files that were corrupted. The exception is THIS one aka the New Alternator Bracket article mentioned previously. A fresh copy of my previous backup dated 12 August 2020 was installed on the new Corsair. Everything I have done since then is now downloaded too. I am ramping up to write again.


Folks cannot imagine how frustrating it was to not be able to open my files on the home netbook. It was a mess. Now however my new Corsair is just like the old one except it has a larger capacity to accommodate more of everything.


What I need most is to get out at anchor someplace
 peaceful... Looking out my port side is pretty though.

The canal is beautiful. This ↑ is looking eastward
at sunset. That's a big Viking sportsfish on the right.


In the meantime there are pictures to process, a huge backlog of emails, along with the normal day-to-day stuff that comes with living aboard a boat. I do appreciate so much your patience.


If any of you can make that broken file into something usable, I would REALLY really appreciate it.
 

So that is life aboard Seaweed. A real article will be arriving in a few days. Thank you for waiting for me, and for reading. I appreciate both.

 
Comments welcome and encouraged on the Website Woes Resolved page.

Categories: Characters, Locations, Wild Things,

 

Announcement: Folks who want to be notified when I post are welcome to become subscribers. I email readers every time a new article goes up. That's usually once or twice per week. If you'd like to be included via BCC* simply drop me a line to janice@janice142.com and I'll add you. It's free.

*BCC - Blind Carbon Copy. Basically no one but me will have your email address and the list of subscribers is not available.

Now this is not fancy. Basically I copy off the top three items in my Archive file. That way you can catch up if life gets in the way of your reading fun.

Secret: If you want to know what's what, start in the Archive. It offers you the title, first paragraph and topics (Categories) covered in each article published on my website.

Something a new reader might not realize: Almost every picture on this website can be clicked. The photo will get larger when clicked. Do that a second time and the picture should be full size. Enjoy...

My Cruising Kitty earns money each time you buy on Amazon through my links found in the upper left corner of every page. This is a tangible way to support me and is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your support, and heck, just for being here. I appreciate that more than you can imagine.

Paypal Tablet link:  *CRUISING KITTY
*for those who wish to donate direct to me via paypal.

Pet of the Week: James
 on M/V Loafs and Fishes

Submit your pet's photo.
Please email pictures of your crew!

More canine, feline and feathered crew members can be found on the The First Mate Gallery page.

Archive

The Archive holds a chronological list of every item published on my website. It includes a brief synopsis (not just the title) along with the topics covered in each article.

Click on the title and voila: you're there. Enjoy!



Skipper, First Mate extraordinaire


Of course every boat needs a Deck Swabbie. Mine, born in 2008, is a papillon mix. She weighs in at five pounds.

Coming soon ...

 

Topics of Interest:
You can achieve a simple satisfying life



Oh, a wondrous bird is the pelican!
His bill holds more than his belican.
He can take in his beak enough food for a week.
But I'm darned if I know how the helican.
(Poem by Dixon Lanier Merritt, 1879-1972.)

Aphorisms

For years I've been collecting short pithy statements otherwise known as aphorisms. If you're like me and enjoy the weird, go ahead and CLICK!

These are previously posted at the bottom of each article -- for new, you'll have to come visit again.



Seaweed is in St. Pete right now.
 

The above chart (#411) can be a wish book of sorts as you look over your domain and wonder where to go next. And yes, I do have the originals (sans red arrow) as jpeg's for download should you desire your own for closer perusal. Enjoy!

The Writer's Block

It's my belief that other folks who boat are some of the most interesting in the world. Inside every boater is a story. Let yours out! I'd love to post short stories, vignettes, or even longer articles that focus on some aspect of our life on or near the water. Suggested topics include:

1. I Remember When...
2. My First Boat
3. Who inspired you to be a boater?
4. Fishing Trips or Tricks
5. Or another subject of your choosing

For the novice, here's how to write: Simply pretend you're sending a letter to a friend. Tell about an event or a memory from years ago that you still recall.

Life has changed so much on the water since I was born aboard. Personally I'd love to hear your memories of life when you were younger. Boats were smaller, narrower, and much slower. Kids were kids and our families often shaped the adult we have become. Here are my two aboard the tow boat my dad ran for a time:
 


Your pictures would be wonderful too. I posted one of Boot Key Harbor taken in 2001 that has gotten quite a few downloads and really, that's not so terribly long ago... Do you have any photos to share? Email me.
 

Do you want to help out?
 

Often an article for the website will be completely written yet lack photographs. I like pictures and am looking for some for up-coming pieces:

  • Pets afloat (include pet and boat name please)

  • Any picture of boats underway or at anchor

  • Photos of people enjoying life in or on the water

Size: a minimum of 1000 pixels across please. If that doesn't make sense think bigger versus resized for emailing. I prefer the full-size version. Also, the name you'd like me to use when I add the copyright stuff to your picture. And thanks bunches!

My email address is janice@janice142.com


23' Schucker mini-trawler, circa 1983.

Thanks for visiting. If you happen to see my boat along the
waterways, give a call on Channel 16. I'm always listening.


click picture to enlarge

My home is not fancy by any means, however you cannot imagine how wonderful it is to come back to her after an expedition on shore.

If I can live this life, why not you too?


Skipper, First Mate
extraordinaire

Aphorism Alert: Begin doing what you want to now. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake. Marie Beyon Ray.

Contributions to my Cruising Kitty
via
are always appreciated.

Every gift helps.

The Cruising Kitty is what boaters refer to as spending money. There's never enough aboard Seaweed!

I am also an Amazon Affiliate.

  

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