AuthorsDen.com   Join | Login    
Where Authors and Readers come together!

SIGNED BOOKS    AUTHORS    BOOKS    SAMPLE CHAPTERS    AUDIOBOOKS    eBOOKS    STORIES    ARTICLES    POETRY    BLOGS    NEWS    VIDEOS    SUCCESS    TESTIMONIALS

Featured Authors:  Teresa Walker, iPatricia Hilliard, iRaven West, iFrank Ryan, iDebra Kraft, iConnie Amarel, iScott Zachary, iShirley Woods, iTrennis Killian, iWilliam Cottringer, i

  Home > Memoir > Articles Popular: Books, Stories, Articles, Poetry      Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z     

Ames K. Swartsfager

 Follow Me  

· Contact Me
· Books
· Articles
· Poetry
· Stories
· Blog
· Messages
· 21 Titles
· 21 Reviews
· Save to My Library
· Share with Friends!
·
Member Since: Sep, 2009

Ames K. Swartsfager, click here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.


On Guard
by Ames K. Swartsfager   
Rated "G" by the Author.
     
Recent articles by
Ames K. Swartsfager

• The Patient Chaplain
• DAVE BRUBECK - MEMORIES
• Heady Problems
           >> View all

An old salt tells about muskrats that sink boats in Washington.

 

 

 

 

ON GUARD

 

By Ames K Swartsfager, AP, (Aboard “Sea Song”)

 

            I am not entirely sure why I am standing on our swim ladder, with a boat pole in my hand, at two in the morning at a dock on Lake Union in Seattle, Washington. 

            I brought our 42’ Glassply Trawler, Sea Song, into the lake to have a new genset installed.  Since we live aboard in Olympia, we stayed with the boat.  Things went well until the afternoon of the second day, then I got into a conversation with a man on the dock.  He was old and wrinkled.  A Greek fisherman’s hat was perched on the back his shaggy grey hair and a smile peeked from between a great mustache and a long tobacco stained beard.

            “The lake has a lot of traffic Sundays,” I said.  The boats crossing the lake had made our boat rock so much that my wife and I felt seasick.

            “Yes, it does,” the man replied, hitching up his pants to just under his overlapping belly. “It’s a beautiful and interesting lake.  You know, we have a lot of muskrats here.”

            “Muskrats?”  I asked.  We had just moved to the northwest from Texas and although I have never seen a muskrat, I knew it was some sort of animal.

            “Muskrats?”  My wife, who had been listening, stuck her head out the porthole and queried.

            “Oh yes,” the dock lounger said.  “Heck, one sank a 38’ boat just two weeks ago.”

            “How could that happen?”  It was inconceivable to me that a small furry animal (maybe it’s really a large animal, I thought) could sink a huge boat.

             “Well,” he spit a wad of used chewing tobacco at the water, but it missed and hit the dock.  “The fact is that these varmints like to make their homes in exhaust pipes.  That’s right. They just swim up and crawl in.  There is plenty of room to nest and raise a family.  On top of that, they love to eat the rubber in the exhaust pipe.  Eventually water enters the boat and down she goes.”

            “What if someone starts the engine?”   My wife’s eyes widened as her mind filled with pictures of muskrats attempting to sink boats.

            “Well then ma’am, I guess one could see them flying out the tail pipe.”  He chuckled.  “Quite a sight, that.”

            Soon the old gentleman left, and I returned to some brass polishing.  I knew what was coming.  I could tell when I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, and saw her mouth screwing up as it generally does when she is thinking hard.

            My wife is the safety expert on our boat.  She makes OSHA look like kindergarten play: “Do we have a good enough anchor line?  Put on you life jacket.  Make sure the dingy is tied up.”  I hear commands like these all time, and most of the time she is right, but . . .

            “Did you hear what he said?” she asked me in her Commodore’s voice.

            “Sure, Hon,” I replied and started shining the brass harder so she would know that I was engaged in really important work and should not be disturbed.

            “We need to do something.  I mean, they could sink our boat right here at the dock.”

            “The old man was joking.” I polished even harder.

            “I don’t think so.  We’ll have to keep a Muskrat Watch.”

            “What’s a ‘Muskrat Watch’?”  I was going to have to give up and deal with the problem.

            “You know, it’s like an anchor watch.” 

            The discussion lasted for several hours and that’s how I ended up on “Muskrat Watch” with a boat pole in my hand.  There are two things I would like to know:  (1) was the man putting me on? And (2) what the heck does a Muskrat look like anyway!

#### 

Word count: 851


Want to review or comment on this article?


Need a FREE Reader Membership?
Reviewed by Jansen Estrup
Reviewed on April 4, 2013
Good one ... Around here we were warned about the annual desert tarantula migration. Thanks for the laugh.

Popular Memoir Articles
  1.  The Struggles Continue (Personal Blog)
  2.  Le Cervin: Matterhorn, where it all st
  3.  Checking out Dreams of the Immortal Ci
  4.  Flowers
  5.  Gifts and the Parable of the Talents
  6.  The Store Detective
  7.  In Depth with DeDakis
  8.  A Reluctant Spy
  9.  View from the Turkey House
  10.  My Continuing Struggle
  11.  The books I had in my library
  12.  A 200 Points Day
  13.  Misdemeanors & Felonies book review
  14.  Losing Things
  15.  Three Hours from Armageddon: Life at a
  16.  Letting Go
  17.  Acclaimed Horror Film “Friday The 13th
  18.  Man Alive
  19.  High School Years 1968 to 1972
  20.  Last History lesson
  21.  Centimetering Closer (Personal Blog)
  22.  We're On The Map
  23.  The White House
  24.  華商 ICCHS Class 74 a spec
  25.  A Window Friend

Free Book Review Program
Select a book to read and review today!

I am a Runner--the Memoirs of a Sepsis Survivor by Pamela Ackerson

Sepsis knocked her down and out. Faith, hope, and gave her the strength to get back on her feet. I am a Runner She fought the river of death They said she'd never run again She proved them wrong...  
Member BookAds

Unlawful Flight, a parental kidnapping. by Glen Schulz

After a long awaited weekend visitation caused by false allegations of sexual abuse, Glen got to see his children for the first time in over two months. He promised them that they would never be apart again and then they disappeared.  
Member BookAds

Mother Was A Stranger by Julie Leek

Can someone who has never had a mother be a mother? The tragic story of Mary Green, as told by her eldest daughter ...  
Member BookAds