First night aboard

Something as momentous as buying a houseboat - albeit elderly and not exorbitantly priced - requires business sense as well as intuition. I'm big on intuition and small on business sense.
A cautious consumer would order a boat survey - "a nondestructive inspection of the boat to check its condition, check its systems for basic operation and adherence to applicable regulations and standards, look for any warning signs that might recommend a follow-on inspection by a specialist, and determine its overall value." Me? I deemed the additional $1000 to hire a surveyor for a 50-year-old boat excessive. I gauged "feel" and this boat "felt" right. The marina felt right, too. I remembered that, in 2014, I'd looked at another, larger, more costly houseboat in the same marina. Back then - and again this time - I'd explored other houseboats in other marinas and each felt "off." Something drew me back to this marina, this boat.
Two other elements informed this purchase. First: the sellers, two women, and their five children, love this boat. "We made many family memories here," they told me. Second: after 7 months in South Africa tending my mother after surgery for cancer, carpe diem was high on my list of life priorities. Cancer focuses one's attention. I planned to re-organize my life, my living arrangements, and my worldview.
Surely, now was an auspicious time for a houseboat on the Delta?
Within three weeks of my return to California from South Africa, I'd purchased a vehicle and a houseboat and I'd found work.

Midsummer night's dream

Inlets off the main flow of the San Joaquin River
with Mt. Diablo in the distance. Photo: S. Galleymore.

After a luxurious swim at sunset - water temp 76 degrees Fahrenheit - I relaxed on my new patio and watched varieties of birds settle into a large oak tree. I imagined that tree analogous to the bar on planet Tatooine in Star Wars: birds-of-many-afeather co-existing peacefully. In today's world, that's something worth striving for.

I slept well although I look forward to learning what critter uttered the deep sighs and intermittent groans I heard throughout the night.