Summer in Baltimore

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, September 18

The sky was overcast and it was cool outside (60’s) when we rolled out of the v-berth.  We got dressed and drove to Annapolis and had breakfast at Naval Bagels.

Our outside dining table at Naval Bagels

My breakfast consisted of a toasted
bagel with cream cheese
and a cup of coffee.

After Navel Bagels, we drove to Fawcetts (for vinyl ester resin for an upcoming project) and then to the UPS store to return a package (I ordered underwear and received two kids rain jackets in error.). From there we went to our storage unit and picked up our cockpit enclosure.  On our way to lunch, we drove to Art Things in West Annapolis (which is really north of Annapolis, go figure!) and found out that this once wonderful art supply shop was closed.  We went out for lunch at the Mexican Cafe.  One margarita each and half a large quesadilla and we were done.  On the way home we stopped at Michaels to pick up some poster board I needed for a couple upcoming projects.

At 1 PM the sun peeked through the cloud cover in Annapolis.  By 2:30 we were back at our boat in Baltimore and the sun was fully out.  The one margarita with lunch had me yearning for a nap and I postponed my boat projects for the afternoon.

Saturday, September 19

The outside temperature dropped into the high 40’s last night but the lowest temperature I saw on the inside of our boat was 65 degrees (without our A/C changed to heat mode).  (Lola slept in the v-berth with us most of the night.)  The morning was crisp and clear as we began our day.

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Last night, Lola accidentally pushed my laptop off the navigation station and onto the floor.  In the process, the USB cord to my hard drive was severely bent and internally damaged.

The damaged USB cable for my
portable hard drive.

 

I ordered a new one from Amazon—with my Amazon Prime membership, it should arrive on Tuesday (just before I publish this blogpost).

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Since it was a bit too chilly to apply Cetol first thing in the morning, I began my day by making a pattern for two additional stainless steel guard plates (one for each side of the bow) to prevent damage to the fiberglass caused by our anchor.   (I am assuming that we will continue our cruising for a short while longer, though not this winter.)

Template for additional anchor guard
plates on starboard bow.

Template for additional anchor guard
plates on port bow. 

You may recall that in 2017 I added a stainless steel plate on the forward edge of the bow for this purpose—it just didn’t adequately cover the entire area subject to damage.  Last season, we encountered rough sea conditions which caused our primary anchor to create more damage to the fiberglass.  We also recently added an anchor bail to help restrain the anchor in rough seas.

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Later in the morning as the outside temperature warmed up, I lightly sanded the starboard forward toe rail and applied the fourth (of five) coat of Cetol.

In the afternoon, Maggie put up our "Biden for
President" flag on our starboard flag halyard.

Sunday, September 20

Today's outside temperatures were slightly warmer than yesterday's.

Trump's Inaction on COVID-19 caused 117,018 deaths to date!

I did some calculations (as of September 19) on COVID-19 deaths in Canada (9,205) and the United States (198,000) and accounted for their different populations.  Canada has a current population of 37 million while the U.S. has a current population of 327 million. 

The above data is for COVID-19
deaths in the United States.

The above data is for COVID-19
deaths in Canada.

Comparing the two countries COVID-19 deaths and then viewing them proportionate to their population difference, yields the fact that the U.S could have saved 117,018 deaths if the U.S. simply followed the actions of Canada.  Meanwhile, Trump's inaction and complete denial of the problem is still causing increased deaths.

Monday, September 21

Today was the last day of summer in the northern hemisphere. The temperature was down in the high forties again last night and 55 degrees when we first faced the light of day.  I thought it was a bit too cool to apply Cetol so early—maybe it was too cool to get my old body moving.  In any case, I waited for the sun to warm everything up before proceeding further with my toe rail refinishing project.  (In recent prior years the last day of summer was uneventful since we were always preparing to head south on the ICW.  However, it is different this year.

At mid-morning I started to prepare the next section of toe rail, working aft on the starboard side.  I taped off the edges and lightly sanded the new section of toe rail and applied the first complete coat of Cetol.  

My happy hour drink: A Blue Lagoon.

Tomorrow, we drive to Annapolis for the first day of autumn.

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