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Misunderstood Mariners

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Today’s post comes from the skipper of the pirate ship Muskellunge, Captain Billy.

Ahoy!

Me an’ me boys is quite excited t’ see that underseas adventurer Fabien Cousteau finally came up for air after bein’ submerged for over a month in his “Mission 31“. A human bein’ livin’ underwater fer 31 days may seem unnatural t’ most, but if yer name is Cousteau there is certain obligations one must meet, no matter how unpleasant.

Likewise wi’ pirates.

Artists Approximation of Captain Billy
Artists Approximation of Captain Billy

We pirates is great fans of them Cousteau fellas on account of they is quite passionate about th’ oceans of th’ world, an’ so is we. Just like Jacque an’ now Fabien, we is at sea pretty much constantly, except when we has t’ come ashore t’ get more money.

Fabien Cousteau says his goal in stayin’ in a school-bus sized habitat 65 feet below th’ surface was to get “… future generations to care about the oceans, to cherish them, to be curious about them in a way that was during my grandfather’s era.”

An’ our goal in stayin’ on the Muskellunge fer 20 years (at least) is t’ avoid gettin’ arrested, which is what would happen t’ us if we was spotted on land in daylight.

Fortunately, we loves it out here. Ain’t that right boys?

But we knows what Fabien Cousteau is up against when he tries t’ get ordinary folks t’ care about th’ welfare of water dwellers. Landlubbers just ain’t sufficiently appreciative of ocean beings or th’ ocean as a whole. An’ I has it on good authority that many of ya is creeped out by all the creatures livin’ underwater.

This here video be one good example of th’ sort of thing shore dwellers imagines is goin’ on right beneath their feet when they gets in any amount of water what is over their heads.

Groupers can be a might nasty. An’ naturally sharks is a persistent fascination on account of all their teeth, an’ even when one of ’em bites a fella by accident it still makes th’ news!

Likewise, we pirates is disparaged when we plunders and pillages a coastal village or robs th’ crew of a tanker, an’ even though we don’t enjoy our maraudin’ an’ carryin’ on’ as much as it may seem when they talks about it on CNN. We does it fer the same reason a giant grouper bites a barracuda – because th’ opportunity presented itself an’ its in our nature.

So I just wants t’ say this about th’ ocean an all them what lives on an’ in it: fish is people too! An’ we pirates, whilst certainly fearsome, has our tender sides as well. An’ we is all merely doin’ them things we was put on Earth, or on water, t’ do.

Yer seafarin’ pal,
Capt. Billy

What is your natural habitat?

51 thoughts on “Misunderstood Mariners”

  1. Good morning. I have switched my habitat from small town dweller to city dweller. I think cities are my natural habitat. There are lots places outside of cities that I also like including woodlands and prairies. I have often thought I would like to live in cabin out in the woods. I think I have ended up in the kind of place I like best, a city.

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    1. I’m with you Jim. A cabin in the woods SOUNDS good and it might make a nice vacation, but for the long haul, I think I’m a townie.

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    Aye, Matie: Like Jim, a city is a great habitat for me, especially a city like Mpls-St. Paul, with its parks, wildlife, artsy folks, and museums. Works for me. And my habitat must include Wifi. We just spent 10 days without wifi after CenturyLink had a line break 6 blocks from our house. Apparently their repair guy meandered his way to the place and finally fixed it yesterday. This explained my total absence from my other favorite habitat–the Trail Baboon.

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    1. welcome back. that should be good for some free service . call and beat them up for 90 free service at least.
      i saw captn billy referring to fabian and jacque and i was wondering what you had to do with underwater existance then i realized he was talking about that other jacque who pronounces his name funny.
      6 days without internet… how unthinkable. i am convinced when the usa is attacked by the bad guys the way they will get us is to screw up cell phone and wifi ability. i think the world would collapse.

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    3. Welcome back, Jacque! It sounds like July 4th was your Freedom from the Internet holiday. Did you feel emancipated?

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  3. After a few days spent mostly in my dad’s overgrown garden near Lake MacBride, Iowa, I think my natural habitat just might be a cabin In a clearing near a lake and black raspberry bearing woods. Preferably with only one clock.

    As with winning a million dollars, I’m not certain it would make me happy, but I would be willing to risk finding out for sure.

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      1. I’m not greedy. 1 million, carefully stewarded will do.

        If I had the latter of my above wishes, I think I would quickly convert it to the first.

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      2. I recall a few years ago when The Secret (law of attraction) was trending across the country. Hate to admit it, but I really got caught up in it. One of their tactics involved printing off a blank check from the “Universe”, filling in the amount you wanted, then taping it above your bed so that the first thing you saw each morning was that check!

        Having far too little confidence or self worth, I only wrote $10,000 in the blank. No matter how many mornings I looked at this check, the money never came. See, the whole schtick was about envisioning what you wanted and it would magically be attracted to you. They forgot to mention that you had to go out and work your buns off to achieve it!

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        1. We only spend after tax dollars in our minds.

          There is some pipeline being redone in our neighborhood this summer. Every day, there is a continuous grinding (except on weekends, but I’m not home yhen anyway). A cabin in the woods equipped with a wind turbine and solar panels for the basics, composting toilet and internet access to keep up with the Trail? Yup-I’m there. Only downside I can see is the ticks-I don’t get to the opera or social events as it is, so no loss there.

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  4. Someplace with access to red wine, good dark chocolate, a stack of books, the odd (sometimes very odd) night of dancing, and cheese. Bonus points of live opera is available a few times a year.

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      1. It’s about the experience of going to the opera and being in the space as much as the opera itself. I could watch opera on my TV at home, for that matter, but it wouldn’t have the social aspects of being out and seeing my opera buddies or seeing the set and costumes live.

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        2. they do it in the movie theaters with the good i max audio and video and a bunch of opera heads sitting around you. i think its the met. check it out. less than an opera ticket but more than a movie if i remember correctly

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        4. Yes, but only at the Opera / Cinema you can have the experience of seeing the Met’s production of Otello, running into someone who is watching Transformers 4 in the bathroom at intermission, and having mozzarella sticks at the Blaine Applebee’s immediately afterwards.

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        5. Unless you’re in Rochester. Then when you go to the theater to see the opera they forgot to download it in the first place and they give you tickets for the following week’s show which you can’t go to anyway.
          Harumph!

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        6. This is Ben… that was me too.
          And I gave the theater manager a ‘Piece of My Mind’ (and that’s why I don’t have much left…) regarding how it’s hard to support this type of activity when THEY can’t get it right!.

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      1. Not necessarily at the same time (especially if the cheese is a soft cheese or especially crumbly). Or…hmm…could be a very silly reality-type show, “Dancing with the Cheeses.” Like “Dancing with the Stars” but with Stilton and smoked Gouda instead of washed up B-listers.

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  5. To my surprise, my natural habitat is now an apartment, not a home. I gave up much when I sold my home, and now I’m glad most of that is gone. BiR knows how nice it is that everything I need is now on one level. My kitchen, believe it or not, is too big. In my old kitchen it was only necessary to pivot; everything was available at arm’s length. Now I actually have to hike from the sink to the fridge. And it is a delight that so many things are now somebody else’s concern. I do worry about making noise at night, but I bought a Kindle that amuses me without making any sound whatever. For me, at this stage of life, an apartment is better than a home.

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    1. Glad it’s starting to feel at least familiar, Steve. A friend of mine was here with her small RV last week, and I think you would like it – believe me, pretty much all she could do in there was pivot.

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    3. Home is where your heart is. It can be a humble apartment or a fancy mansion on a hill. It could even be a cabin in the woods without indoor plumbing, depending on how comfortable you feel there.

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  6. my natural habitat is right here inside my brain. the truth is i enjoy most everywhere i have ever been. in the mountains by the sea in a small town in the city, with people without there is aleways something of interest. my latest endevor is to learn about mushrooms. i joined the yahoo mushroom society to figure out which ones i can eat and which ones i had better not. i have always wondered and today i begin my quest. at the state fair in the horacultural building i always get interedsted int he different societies they have there. african violets bonsai trees dalias lillies how cool to stick your fingetr into different things. i thoink i could be at home just about anywhere as long as my curiosity was allowed to wander. cities are wonderful but so are other areas. maybe if i were in a non discript place with no mountains seas or forests to check i would keep moving. hey wait a minute thats minneapolis. i think if i was in the middle of negbraska or ohio i may look to relocate but who knows ill bet there is a bit of checking out to do there too

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    1. It would be great if I could travel freely at no expense or very little expense so that I could make the whole world my habitat. tim, I also find something interesting almost every where I go and especially like visiting places that are very different from my own home area.

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    2. If “inside my brain” qualifies as a habitat, then none of us have been anywhere else. Of course some habitats are still going to be more exotic than others!

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    3. I know you’re fond of saying “a mile wide and an inch deep,” tim. With mushrooms that could be dangerous or at least give you nasty stomach ache. If in doubt, don’t eat it.

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  7. I keep saying I envy people who live out in the woods or country or lakeshore, but when I really contemplate living there, I know I would miss being near all my people, and places to sing and dance have book clubs and… and…with others. I guess I’ve become a city girl, at least a city-with-lots-of-open-spaces-girl.

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      1. BiR – no kidding; aren’t they cool? Not sure I could handle some of the super teeny ones (i have a tendency to feel claustrophobic in tight quarters), but it sure makes me think how freeing it would be to live in a space where you CAN’T start hoarding or collecting too much “stuff.” Today, I also saw an article online about a community of people in Tiny Houses – they used to be homeless and lived in tents. Now they each have a home. Now THAT is cool.

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  10. Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark … In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed.

    – Germaine Greer

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    1. i used to set up meetings in the bookstore. if the other person wasnt late i was almost disappointed. the time to peruse shelves adn just open your brain to the options was one of my favorite things. the options on your phone take away ose of that bt at the same time they kind of turn your world into a library. you can look up anything anywhere. i love it and resent it. i want my old bookstores to flourish and the ebook best buy target bookstores are killing them. i feel sorry for barnes and noble and will d what i can to joint the boycott against amazon. it is killing legitimate bookstores. do love the library. i really do. i hope they make them 24/7 offerings sooon. i love hate the fact that the people line up outside the library waiting for the doors to open. and then get kicked out at 5 o clock on weekends. what the heck is that all about.

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