Winter Onboard in Annapolis

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Tuesday, January 12

Frost covered the dock and finger piers this morning.  It also covered our car windows.  The outside temperature was just 31 degrees F when we got up and started moving about.  We must be adapting to the cold weather because it didn't feel that cold to us.

Lola siting in the enclosed cockpit in the morning
sun. Her black hair has a brownish tinge
in the bright sunlight.  She has her
own fan club here in town.

We've been discussing what we do after we stop cruising--a leading thought is moving to Mexico and becoming a dirt dweller for our remaining years.  We both love San Miguel de Allende, high in the mountains of Mexico where the daytime highs are in the low 80's and the nighttime lows in the 40's.

s/v Rainy Days in Slip #10 at Annapolis
City Dock,  The dock in the foreground
leads from downtown to a
waterside city park

We ran some errands in the afternoon, stopping by our bank and the post office.  We had a very low key afternoon, I guess like most "old people" like us.

Wednesday, January 13

I was up last night every 90 minutes or so to use the bathroom--needless to say, I didn't get much sleep.  The day was sunny and warm and I took a couple catnaps in the enclosed cockpit. while I waited for the riggers to arrive--they are trying to repair the TV antenna problem.  The team of riggers (from M-Yachts) arrived at about 2 PM and got right to the task at hand, repairing the TV antenna.

In this process, I learned that my self-tailing winch on the forward port cabintop was bound up, which made me feel like my boat maintenance was inferior, despite all the time I spend on it.  (I added it to my "to do" list.)

The climbing rigger actually climbs the mast
while the other holds the advance
with a halyard.

That's a long way up there!

The rigger found that the cable connection was not securely fastened to the old antenna--this was causing the pixelation of the TV picture.  After several attempts to fix it, we decided to swap out the antenna with a new one that I had recently ordered ($200).  After doing an "auto scan on the TV" we tried for the best reception on the new antenna but, even though the pixelation was gone, we could only get four channels (all of them public broadcasting channels).  So, for the present time, I have two assume that we are located in a dead spot for TV reception.

By the end of the TV antenna repair, the sun was starting to go down and it was getting cooler.  It was only about 3:30 PM.  Days are really short in the winter!

We were able to watch the end of Trump's second impeachment in the Congress which was covered live by PBS.

Thursday, January 14

I had another relatively sleepless night, up every hour to use the bathroom and then only to deposit about 2 to 3 fluid ounces of urine.  (I hope this description was not too graphic!)

Out main task on our agenda for today was meeting a prospective buyer (the fourth, this one owning a "go fast" speed boat) for our slip in Baltimore (at noon).

During the last couple days of not sleeping well,
I had been ignoring my usual hygiene but
it was clearly time for a shower!

We feel pretty positive about this (fourth) potential buyer.  We negotiated a price (and an acceptable payment schedule) which is a bit below our asking price and his family kept a boat at this marina a long time ago.  He lives and has a business in Baltimore County.  We'll see how it all works out...

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As I wrap up this blogpost, the U.S. has lost 389,000 people to the COVID-19 pandemic and this number will become a lot higher before we will see the relief from the vaccine.  Be safe and thanks for following our blog!