Winter in Charleston

Jan 3 thru Jan 6

—Blogpost written by Bob

Thursday, January 3

I don't think my last two blogposts were actually sent to subscribers by email--it must be a glitch of some type in Google's blogger.  If you missed them, my recent blogposts can be accessed at dainyrays.blogspot.com.

Charleston City Marina sits out in the
Ashley River and is connected to
land by a long floating pier.

Today began warm and sunny and then the clouds came in and there was a brief shower during lunchtime.  It stayed warm (70's) all day but the clouds became thicker as the day progressed.


I ended my last blogpost talking about a house boat possibly being in our future.  I’ve always been intrigued by tiny houses, living aboard, and home renovation.  I’ve watched many YouTube videos recently (a good one is at this link) on unique tiny houses and they have inspired me to build one or renovate one, but for me, it would have to float on water.  Of course, this effort would have to wait until our cruising lifestyle has concluded (a few years away).  We already own our slip in Baltimore, providing an inexpensive place to keep a house boat.  We’ve even thought about buying a second slip that could be used to renovate the house boat—during the potential year-long renovation, while we would be living on our sailboat nearby. 

I believe these covered chimneys 
are unique to Charleston.

A real boat-billy living at the mouth
of the Ashley River.

Friday, January 4

It was overcast and foggy this morning but it all urned into light rain for the entire afternoon.  We took the marina's courtesy van to West Marine and Harris Teeter this morning.  I bought a nice lightweight rain jacket at West Marine--it was on sale for $59 (marked down from $90) and I used some West Advantage savings certificates ($40) and added some cash to get it.  It was a great deal!

When we got back to the marina, we unloaded our groceries and turned around and took off in the courtesy van again, this time for lunch at 167 RAW, a very small seafood restaurant and oyster bar that seats only about 30 people.

167 RAW is located on East Bay Street.. 

Our restaurant of choice, 167 RAW, had only
three small tables and about 20 bar
seats.  It was packed!

As with many of our meals in Charleston, the meal is more than just about eating.  We waited outside in the light rain for 25 minutes before two seats became available.  While at the restaurant, we met a couple sitting next to us and had a nice discussion about raw oysters.  (I had six oysters on the half shell from Prince Edward Island as an appetizer and the man sitting next to us had SC oysters on the half shell.)  When our server overheard me say that I never tried a South Carolina oyster on the half shell, he gave me one to try--it was delicious but quite different in appearance than any other oysters I've had.  The shell was longer and almost pure white--they were raised in an oyster farm near Edisto.

While we were waiting for the courtesy van to pick us up we met a gentleman waiting outside for a seat, who teaches cooking (he specializes in teaching bread baking) but by profession he is a chocolatier.  (How often in your life do you meet a chocolatier?)  He was waiting for a woman that he took to the prom in his youth and was afraid he wouldn't recognize her 45 or so years later.  (It was not a romantic re-encounter because she was bringing her husband.)

Today's lunch was the most expensive we've had in Charleston ($100 for the two of us) but worth every penny for the unique experience!

Saturday, January 5

When I look back over what I have written in the previous couple days or so, my mood seems to swing with the weather and my health on that given day. Today is sunny and my eye lid infection is healing—so, my thoughts about living on a house boat are now for 10 years in the future, not a couple years away.  

The morning sun comes in through our
companionway.  Our boat faces north-
west as we sit here in our slip.

Before we started cruising to the Bahamas for the winter, I noticed that my mood was darkest during February—this was always the month I needed to get away somewhere warm (like the Miami Boat Show).  I’m hoping that February in Charleston will be warm enough that I don’t feel this need to get away.

Sunday, January 6

Another beautiful sunny day is at hand, even warmer than yesterday. 

---------- 

Before I plop my butt down on the starboard settee, with TV remote nearby, and watch the two NFL playoff games this afternoon, I have to take apart the galley sink drain lines and thoroughly clean them. It’s been taking a long time for the sink to drain lately—actually both galley sinks. It takes 10 to 15 minutes. The seacock at the discharge turns freely and turning it yesterday didn’t free up any of the blockage. (You may have guessed that plumbing is not my favorite type of work, even though it is rewarding to successfully solve a plumbing problem.)

I found this stringy debris just above the
seacock in the galley sink drain.

It took me about an hour to take everything apart and clean it. The plastic pipes, particularly in the horizontal run between the two sinks, was partially clogged with some white gunk (for lack of a better term) and black gunk, both clinging to the wall of the pipe. It was really hard to tell it’s composition but Maggie remembers dumping some spoiled heavy cream down the drain last week—that had to be the white gunk!  I found a piece of stringy debris (shown above) just above the seacock drain--this debris had to provide some significant resistance to drainage.  Well, now it is all cleaned out and draining great!

----------

I'm making chicken-based white bean chili for dinner.  It is cooking in the crockpot at this time and smelling great!  (It turned out more like chicken stew than white bean chili but it was tasty!)

----------

I’m really into the NFL playoffs this year since two of my favorite teams had a shot to go on further: the Baltimore Ravens and the Philadelphia Eagles. In the first game today, the Ravens were beaten by the Chargers, 23 to 17– the game wasn’t pretty nor as close as the final score would indicate.

So, with one of my favorite teams down and out, it was up to the Eagles to carry the load. I know my entire family back in southeastern Pennsylvania was watching this game with me—they are big Eagles fans too.  Who would have ever believed the Bears last-minute field goal attempt to win the game was a “double doink”, hitting the upright twice without going through! Eagles won 16-15!  Can't wait for their game next Sunday!

Thanks for following our blog!