Winter Onboard in Annapolis
—Blogpost written by Bob
Monday, February 15
Today was my appointment for radiation simulation at Anne Arundel Medical Center. It was a "dry run" for my radiation treatments which start next week. It was my responsibility to clear my bowels and fill my bladder--I was supposed to administer an enema 2 hours before my appointment as well as drink (and hold) 16 ounces of water one hour before my appointment. I can still hear the lead nurse saying (like a drill sergeant) "I want empty bowels and a full bladder!" (In my practice runs on the previous few days I was only able to hold 14 ounces of water for 1-1/2 hours--I just couldn't make it to 16 ounces. So, 14 ounces will have to do.) However, I got a phone call from that "drill sergeant" lead nurse at 7 AM this morning informing me that due to an emergency at the hospital my appointment had to be postponed by a day.
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Last night was the first night in months that I was able to sleep for six hours without interruption. Good sleep makes such a big influence in your daily life! I've noticed recently that I'm losing muscle mass, a side effect of the hormone therapy. (I hope I can gain it back after my radiation treatments.)
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| An image I captured last evening--a table for two in a nearby restaurant window. |
The above image is a combination of seeing the table through Mission BBQ's window and things in the street that are reflected from the window. (Mission BBQ now occupies the building that was previous occupied by Stevens Hardware, a fantastic old hardware store that was in this location for 53 years and closed in 2012.)
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| Lola napping in the quarter berth. She poses so beautifully in her sleep. |
In the afternoon, we went out to the laundromat to do laundry and did some minor shopping. We needed some margarita glasses and silver tequila. I purchased a kindle book entitled 101 Margaritas and we are anxious to try some some of the recipes. In fact, I thought about using the black fig vodka (that's been hanging around the boat for far too long) in a margarita.
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| 101 Margaritas book cover. |
One of the things I leaned about margaritas was to use lemon juice as well as lime juice to make the margarita a bit more smooth. It seems like the success of a margarita depends on balancing the bitterness of the tequila with the sweetness of whatever we build the margarita around. (One I am very interested in trying is a Limoncello Margarita.)
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Though not quite as cold as the previous two days, the sky was overcast and gray for the entire day. I made a batch of carb-free simple syrup (Splenda and water) for use in testing some of the margarita recipes in my new book.
Tuesday, February 16
Here we go again with my "dry run" for my upcoming radiation treatments. I drank 14 ounces of ice water one hour before my appointment. We waited to leave for my appointment so that we would arrive just before 11 AM. They were backed up and I wasn't called to come ij until 11:40 and by that time I just had to hit the restroom and get rid of all that water. So, I had to drink about 3/4-cup of cold water and wait for another 15 minutes.
As I sat in the waiting room allowing the water to settle, the staff rang a large bell at two different times--it was a signal that someone's radiation treatments were completed. I thought that this was such a nice tribute to the someone's success in battling cancer.
The purpose of today's appointment was to get x-ray images pf my groin area with and without contrast and to get three dot tattoos that will be used to exactly locate my body and link it to the radiation machine. I was impressed by such a precise way of locating the radiation machine to my body. This appointment was over by about 12:30 PM.
My next appointment (to start the radiation treatments) is March 2, two weeks from today--I can't believe I have to wait another two weeks! (Waiting seems to be like all we were doing lately.)
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From there we went out for lunch at Chevys, a local Tex-Mex restaurant which was quickly becoming one of our favorites in Annapolis. (The food is much better than the Mexican Cafe though the margaritas are not worth it.)
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| An example of bright Mexican colors inside Chevys. |
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| More Mexican color outside the restaurant. |
We both had tacos--I had steak tacos (carnitas) while Maggie had fish tacos. The simple act of going out for lunch at a Mexican restaurant seemed like such a luxury.
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We decided to make some of the margaritas featured in 101 Margaritas, one at a time of course. Our first one was a Limoncello Margarita (#20 on the list). This recipe was sweet and very citrusy, putting it mildly. (I later found out that the Limoncello liqueur contains simple syrup and we probably could have eliminated this from the margarita recipe. By the way, the simple syrup we make for margarita is sugar-free--we use Splenda in the mixture.)
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| Our Limoncello Margarita was #20 in our new margarita book. |
Limoncello, sometimes called Limoncino, is a lemon liqueur produced in southern Italy. Traditionally, Limoncello was made from the zest of Sorrento lemons, though now it is made from lemons from California as well. Limoncello is supposedly the second most popular liqueur in Italy and it is frequently made at home.
Wednesday, February 17
The outside temperature was as low as 25 degrees F last night! Our reverse-cycle heater kept running but stopped producing heat, though the water temperature at the Annapolis weather buoy was still unchanged at 40.3 degrees F. (I still think it is stuck.)
The boat's inside temperature was 67 degrees this morning when we got up. We soon found out that the oil-filled radiator in the quarter berth area was only on its medium setting--we typically have it on its highest setting when we are expecting cold weather. (All in all, I slept like a baby last night!)
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The only thing on our agenda for the day was Maggie's appointment with her eye doctor. I'm sure other things will crop up along the way.
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| Our winter address: 1 Dock Street. We get our mail and packages on the second floor of this building. (The showers are also on the second floor.) |
The weather for next two days will be snow and freezing rain--it's hard to believe with the beautiful weather we've had today. The wintery weather was expected to begin at 4 AM on Thursday morning.
Thursday, February 18
Sure enough, there was snow on our pier and on the nearby parking lot when we awoke this morning, maybe 1/2 inch. The snow eventually turned into freezing rain and blanketed the snow acccumulation with a crusty layer of ice. Snow plows were busy trying to stay ahead of the precipitation by plowing the parking lot over and over again, as well as spreading salt.
Our main goal for the day was to drive to Baltimore and pick up a check for the first payment from the buyer of our condo slip in Baltimore. (The mail system around here is completely broken, thanks to a Trump crony heading the mail system--I hope he will be gone soon!) However, we had to cancel our plans due to the weather. It soon became clear that we were staying put for the day.
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| Maggie working on another quilt on the center section of our onboard dining table. |
Late in the morning I began preparation of a sauce I intended to use on boneless pork chops for lunch. The basis for the sauce is (sugar-free) raspberry jam--I used about 1/2 a jar. To it, I added some of my favorite ingredients: dark rum, olive oil, and cayenne. (I really like the mixture of fruity sweet and spicy hot, particularly over meat.)
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| Pork chops with spicy raspberry sauce |
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