Eating cereal for the first time...

Eating food for the first time last night

My recent projects

I started sewing a few months ago-- thought it would be fun and a good project to work on while Andrew is away at work...

A changing pad

A headband for my baby girl

A burp cloth

A wet wipe

 Hand and foot prints of Ruthanna...it will be made into a Christmas tree ornament when I tie some ribbon to it.

Her tutu skirt that I made her...it was her Christmas outfit.

Merry Christmas from us to you!

Here we are...Ruthanna and I.  We'll celebrate as a family of 3 when Andrew returns next month!

M.V. Sunshine State

I am aboard the product tanker, "Sunshine State" hauling refined oil to the actual sunshine state, "Florida".  We haul jet fuel, premium and regular gasoline, and aviation gasoline in our six cargo tanks. Each full load of this cargo is valued at nearly 39 million dollars. We load the product at the Chevron refinery in Pascagoula, MS.

The main engine is a Mann B&W and puts out about 12000 horsepower. Being it so new, not many breakdowns, just a lot of preventative maintenance and inspections.

This is the top of the engine, with me on the bottom left. It is over three stories high with decks at each level.

The engine control room still has the new smell even. All three of us engineer and the two oilers work from 6 to 6 so it is easier to do big projects.  At night the engine room is unmanned and one of us three engineers has the duty each night, so the alarms ring in the room of the engineer on duty.  But we very rarely get an alarm at night. 

Our monitoring system is very good and any problem is caught at an early stage.

Sunday night...