I really want a boat

95% of the people who build boats don't finish them.... except boat builders of course.  

I have no ambitions of ever building a boat, but I do love to be on them and row them.  I live by a bay here, on my side of the river the streets are paved, the majority of the houses are concrete and there is running water in most of the houses.  My projects are hard, because the mostly involve motivating and re-motivating people to do things that will improve their lives, but maybe not enough to make it worth the effort to them.  That doesn't mean we don't do things, and I don't find things to love about living in this town.  It just means that every once in a while I feel like staying here is equal to hitting my head against a wall continuously. 

On the other hand and back to boats... My outlook changes when I cross the river.  The first part is the boat ride across, and I do look forward to it.  Cacon is the boat taxi man, and it's a really simple little lola.  I love it because I'm pretty sure Cacon sees me get on the boat and immediately signals me to row the boat.  This is AMAZING exercise, and reminds me dearly of my days in Crew.  The town across the river is a challenge, it has a tiny dirt access road that no one takes.  The majority of people just take the lola across with Cacon.  It has a tiny school with a teacher that crosses the river and gives class in the morning, however most of the kids are pretty far behind.  I finally gave up on the hope of recruiting a water volunteer to build an aqueduct when I realized that everyone there is just waiting to sell their land to whatever resort/company comes in and pays them enough.  I go once a week and give a small class to 4-5 kids in literacy and math and when I can organize it I do an outdoor activity (visiting the beach, or hiking to some cave) with a group of older kids.  Then I get to row the boat back.

I have a special place in my hear for those little kiddos.  

On a different note I'm pretty sure I want to own a house boat someday.  

Also I killed my housemate the mouse with poison... I knew he was dead cause I could smell him but it was Archer (my hero of a dog) that pointed out that he was inside of a mattress.  I had to cut the mattress open and remove him with my gardening gloves.  (#thingsIneverimagineddoing)