Early Fall in Baltimore - 2017

Oct 17 thru Oct 20

--Blogpost written by Bob

We are watching the long-range weather forecast carefully since our departure date (October 25) is now slightly less than 8 days from now (October 17).

This is the long-range weather forecast as of the afternoon of
October 17.  We are planning on leaving Baltimore on
Wednesday, October 25--I hope the rain
clears out by Wednesday!

Preparing RAINMAN Desalinator

I unpacked all the items in the three RAINMAN containers (one houses the engine and pump, the second houses the RO membrane units and the third houses a supply of interconnecting hoses and supplies) we have on board and discovered there were plenty of extra water filters plus a good supply of pickling media.  So, I focused on changing the oil cap on the pump gearbox per the instructions and adding oil to both the pump gearbox and the engine crankcase--SAE 30 oil.  It is surprising to me how little oil it holds.

The engine-pump unit sitting on the port
cockpit cushion during its oil addition.

I familiarized myself with the engine controls (it took me a long time to find the kill switch because it was too obvious) but didn't run it because I didn't want the filthy water from Baltimore Harbor running thru the unit.  However, I have proclaimed it ready to operate when we get to nice clean Bahamian waters.

Provisioning (cont'd)

While we still have most of our provisioning to do yet, we have ordered a few items that will help us stay on our low-carb diets while attempting to satisfy our collective sweet teeth.

Maggie uses this almond flour to make low-carb
pies--her blueberry pie is the best!

Chocolate brownies are one of my favorite treats--its
been more than a year since I have had
one.  I hope these are good!

Besides the almond flour to make crusts for pies and quiche, we got a low-carb chocolate brownie mix and a low-carb pancake and waffle mix from Amazon.  More on provisioning in our next blogpost.

Empathy of a Cockroach?

This week we have heard this term, the "empathy of a cockroach" to describe (President) Trump's ability to empathize.  Well, while not getting into the politics, I think that the comparison is an insult to cockroaches everywhere.

Recently, scientists have been Investigating the emotional possibilities of various insect breeds, particularly bees.  Insects may be able to experience fear, happiness, and empathy for others.  


My father would have been 100 years old today (October 20, 2017)--I still miss him.


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