Dockmaster Duty at Heron Lake

Sunrise...

Sunset

Ross and Chelly served 3 1/2 days of dockmaster (Chelly was "Dogmaster") duty at the marina. It's a yearly requirement one usually shares with one's spouse, but mine was at a faculty retreat. You can't leave the marina at all. There are no showers and only a pit toilet. You sleep on the boat (temps in the high 30's at night). By the end of it, even Chelly thought I looked and smelled bad. What a wonderful thing a hot shower is!!! Chelly was, at all times, a wonderful companion. She made a couple of new dog friends during our four days on the dock, and lots of human friends. She slept under the table in the boat's cabin, while I was in the V-berth. The only bad event occurred: one night when we finished our rounds late and it was very dark. Chelly tends to rely on her nose instead of her eyes, and she walked right off the edge of the dock into the freezing water! She went under for a second or two, and then resurfaced, paddling with all her might. I coaxed her over to the edge of the dock where I could pull her back up and then toweled her off. Poor thing, she never really dried out that night, but was fine in the morning. What a trooper!