Summer in Baltimore

—Blogpost written by Bob

 

Monday, Aug 10

Early in the morning I removed the masking tape from the aft section of the teak toe rail (a day after applying the fifth coat of Cetol) and reinstalled the stainless steel chafe strip on the top of the forward portion of the aft toe rail section.  (It looks great!)

We drove to Annapolis later in the morning and spent most of the day there.  After our normal rounds of Diehl’s roadside produce stand, the fish market, and the liquor store, Maggie’s left hand stated to swell—it was from a cat scratch while trying to bathe Lola after her little swim in the harbor this past Saturday morning.  This was the second time Maggie needed (a doctor’s) medical attention following Lola’s bath.  After the doctor’s office visit (she was very fortunate to get a 1:30 PM appointment on the spur of the moment!), we continued our errands by visiting (the Gucci) Giant for the remainder of our groceries.  We got back to the boat at 4:30 PM and it was already time for Happy Hour.  (The worst part of getting groceries is always unloading them from our car and loading them into our boat.)

While in Annapolis today I looked in West Marine for a large bail to fit over our anchor roller.  They only had a few small ones.  Their inventory seemed very depleted—either they can’t get the items for inventory due to COVID-19 or they are deliberately not buying much for inventory for cash flow reasons.  

A bail in its simplest form,
this one made by Schaefer Marine.

Anyway, I got the idea of using a stainless steel strap (or even a wire rope loop) instead of a hard loop—it should still restrain the anchor from flopping over the edge of the roller when taking white water over the bow.  (I will work a little more on this idea before implementing it.)

Tuesday, August 11

Working a little more on the design of a bale over the anchor at the bow, I taped a hand bent piece of orange-colored plastic-covered wire to the bow casting.  I dropped the anchor and raised it a couple times to make sure that the anchor would clear the temporary wire in all conditions. (I figured that once I got the desired geometry, I could focus on finding or making the actual piece I need.)

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I spent quite a bit of time in the afternoon trying to contact customer service for zoro.com, to no avail I might add.  They don't answer the telephone nor answer emails.  My shipment (new seal material for our ice box) from them was lost over a week ago and I haven't been able to contact them.  Until they clean up their customer service, I wouldn't buy anything from zoro.com again!

Wednesday, August 12

Rain was expected later in the day, so I didn't want to start any outdoor projects.  After reading the news on my iPad and getting caught up on YouTube videos, I started preparing the lunch meal I had planned for today, shrimp macaroni and cheese with peas and red pepper!  I used a recipe for macaroni and cheese which used cream cheese as the starter for the cheese sauce while adding a couple cups of shredded cheddar after the start.  My creative addition was the shrimp (which was sautéed in green onions before adding), frozen peas, and diced red pepper as well as a unique type of pasta called Casarecce.

My version of shrimp macaroni
and cheese.

The rain started in the afternoon and continued into the evening.  I practiced playing my new ukulele in the evening.  Actually, most of the time was spent tuning and strumming, rather than actually playing it.

Thursday, August 13

Today started out with more rain, continuous and hard at times.  At 9 AM we drove to Annapolis to do some errands.

This is what D Dock looked
 like this morning.

One of our errands was to fill our spare propane tank which had just run out of propane yesterday.  However, once at the propane filling station, I realized that the tank had not been certified within the past five years--so, I brought it back to the boat.  (Fortunately, this is one of the many things I can do myself--I certified the tank when we returned to our marina in Baltimore during a clearing in the rain clouds.)

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We had a delicious lunch at Lemongrass, a little Thai restaurant west of the Annapolis Mall.  As we drove around the mall, big name store closings were obvious--Sears, Nordstroms, etc.

(Since Sears started out in catalog sales, you would think that they could easily make the transition to online sales, but they didn't.  I believe this was a case of incompetent management.  There's a lot of that going around!)

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With the coronavirus pandemic and the restricted use of the boater's lounge at our marina, coupled with the recent rainy weather, our boat seems to be getting smaller.

More rain is expected through
the coming weekend.

Stay tuned for more fun in the rain...

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