Autumn in Baltimore

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, October 19

This week didn't start out very well for me--I started the week with a needle biopsy of my prostate.  The biopsy was guided by a specialized MRI image to focus on one particular spot that looked suspicious of cancer.  I won't know the results for a couple days.  I had nitrous oxide (commonly called laughing gas) to make the procedure more bearable.  As a result most of the morning was a blur for me--it seemed like I was in slow motion.  Maggie drove me back to the boat and I took two Tylenol tablets and slept for the remainder of the day.  (Real exciting day, huh?)   

I slept away most of the afternoon.

Tuesday, October 20

The morning was cool with an overcast sky but it warmed up nicely in the afternoon.  It was so warm in the afternoon (upper 70's), that the boat's A/C kept coming on.

This morning, we shipped out all the items I recently sold—there were six packages that we shipped by UPS.  We collected over $1000 for the things we shipped today and paid out about $100 in shipping costs for things that I no longer could use.  (A lot of the value was in old .22 long rifle ammo and I no longer have a .22 caliber rifle or pistol.  Ammo is selling at a crazy high prices right now.)  I have to spend some more time going through stuff in our storage unit.

We had an early lunch (leftover lobster chowder) and then worked on the aft port toe rail, lightly sanding it with 320 grit sandpaper and then applying the fourth (of five) coats of Cetol.  As we were working on the toe rail, some people were installing shrink wrap on a power boat on E dock.  While we were working outside, Lola was free to roam around the outside of the boat—she loved it!

How we tape off the stanchion bases
prior to applying Cetol.

Wednesday, October 21

The day started out with a dense fog.  Everything outside the boat was wet.  We had to wait until late in the afternoon to continue the refinishing of the aft port toe rail.

A spider built a web between the lifeline and
a stanchion overnight.  The moisture
 clung to the spider's web.

For lunch I made pork chops over egg noodles with a fruity rum sauce--it was delicious if I must say so.  I didn't follow a recipe, but rather simply combined things that seems to taste good (and it worked).  The things that I combined were (sugar-free) apricot preserves (about half a jar), a dozen or so blueberries (cut in half), a fresh pear (diced), and an undermined amount of Sailor Jerry spiced rum.  (I should have added a small bit of cayenne too!)

In the middle of the afternoon, the sun came out full force and the remnants of the rain dried up. We then lightly sanded and added the fifth (and final) coat of Cetol to the aft port toe rail.  Now, the only portion of the toe rail that remains to be refinished is the stern (which is small).

Thursday, October 22

Fog filled the harbor in the morning and the dew was very heavy but it was relatively warm outside (high 50's or low 60's) for late-October.

Today was a scheduled day for a road trip to Annapolis.  Among other things, we have to arrange for our parking pass in Annapolis for the winter.  Incidentally, our winter stay now starts on Sunday, November 1--it was moved up because this year's Annapolis-Eastport Tug of War (usually taking place during the first week of November) was cancelled due to COVID-19.  (We were assigned Slip #10 at Annapolis City Dock.)

Since we got a late start, we drove directly to Carrols Creek Cafe for lunch.  After a delightful lunch outdoors, we drove into town to stop by the Harbormasters office.  However, because of the staging for a stunt (a car jump across Ego Alley) there was no way for us to get to where we needed to go--so, we put it off until next week.  We turned around and headed to the outskirts of town to do some other errands.

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Near the end of our day in Annapolis, I had my doctor's appointment for my annual physical.  During my physical, I leaned that the PSA test done as part of my annual physical, my PSA level decreased from 13 to 10 (a 25% decrease) since last year.  This was contrary to the PSA test done by my urologist during the same month, where my PSA allegedly increased from 13 to 26 (a 100% increase) since last year.  Clearly, one (or both) is/are incorrect.  I have found that, while the PSA test is commonly used for cancer screening, the actual number obtained (as well as the trend) is completely worthless.  One could have cancer with a PSA of 3 and not have it with a PSA of 40.  You have to wonder why the PSA is used as a screening test at all.  (I still haven't heard about the results from my needle biopsy.)

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Our day ended with a small get together of (face-mask wearing) cruisers who are heading south from our marina soon.  Some of the cruisers intend to leave tomorrow.

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As I complete this blogpost, over 223,023 people have now died of the coronavirus in the U.S., representing 20% of the deaths across the globe with cases surging in 31 states.  Please wear a face mask, practice social distancing, and wash your hands regularly and thoroughly!

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