Winter Onboard in Annapolis

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, February 22

The sky was overcast but it wasn’t as cool as it had been.  Precipitation (snow at first, then rain) was expected during the day but warm weather was expected later this week—I am so looking forward to it!   The precipitation actually did start out as snow shortly after 9 AM, an hour ahead of the prediction.  The snow flakes were huge which usually means it won’t last very long.

A snowy scene from our car window while
waiting for Maggie's blood test.

Maggie had previously postponed her blood test due to last week’s snowfall to this morning and we were slowly getting ready to leave and watching the clock (and the snow).  (Of course, when one of us has a blood test, we both fast as a courtesy to the other.)  By 9:30 AM I was getting pretty hungry and considering our options for breakfast.  We left early.

By 10 AM the precipitation turned to rain and we were moving on with our day, stopping at PetsMart for Lola’s (dental) treats—she loves them!  We then drove to West Marine to check out a new cooler—by then it was raining heavily.  We looked at Igloo’s and Yeti’s and a few others.  Yeti’s were the highest priced units and Igloo’s were about half the price of a similar-sized Yeti. (We later learned that there is no insulation in the lid of the Igloos--we learned this from reviews on Amazon.  A further check on the reviews revealed that the ice only last one day while the Igloo cooler is in the hot sun.  This information ruled out the Igloo cooler for us.)

The label on the cooler
we like the most.

The price range for the ones we looked at ranged from $110 to $245.  We liked certain models of both brands with trays that keep the contents out of the icy water that lays in the bottom.  (We could buy extra trays for about $20 each.)  A 72-quart model seems to be our cooler of choice for our trip to Mexico.

We stopped at Chevy’s for a tasty (Mexican) lunch before returning to the boat.  It was raining quite heavily by this time.

A metal sculpture wearing a face mask
at Chevy's Tex-Mex Restaurant.

We learned of a currency exchange place in Arundel Mills, between Annapolis and Baltimore.  We have about $300 in Bahamian currency (which we probably won’t be going to need anytime soon) that we have to exchange to U.S. dollars so that we can deposit it in our bank.  (Later on when we travel to Mexico, we will have to get Mexican pesos.)  Exchange rates were awful with nearly a 25% fee!  We decided to keep looking for a better place for exchange.

The sun came out near the end of the day and it got a little warmer.

Tuesday, February 23

It was noticeably warmer during the night--I had to get up at 3 AM and turn down the oil-filled radiators because it was just too warm inside the boat.  The sky was overcast this morning but it was significantly warmer than yesterday. The outside temperature was expected to reach 52 degrees F in the afternoon when the sun appears!  (The actual afternoon temperature was 56 degrees!  I can feel warmer weather coming soon!)

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One of the things on our day's agenda is to get our car cleaned out and washed--this meant a trip across town to the car wash.  We also decided to exchange the excess Bahamian currency we had for U.S. dollars, despite the terrible exchange rate and fees.  (We thoroughly searched for more reasonable alternatives and found none.  The few banks that could do the exchange required that we have account with them and the exchange rate was still not very attractive. Sounds like an opportunity here for a new business startup, perhaps even doing it on-line.)

Lola pondering the idea of
a little playmate.

Yesterday when we were at PetsMart we noticed a cute little 8-week old female kitten (that looked like a Maine Coon) that was up for adoption.  We have been thinking about her ever since and wondering how Lola world react to a little friend.  So far, we have resisted taking action toward adopting her but who knows how long that will last.  

Wednesday, February 24

Another beautiful day!  it was sunny and the outside temperature was 48 degrees already at 10 AM, headed for at least 52 degrees today.  (The next week was expected to be in the high 40's and low 50's.  Was the cold weather over for the season?)

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This morning Maggie obtained appointments for our first vaccination shots (Tuesday, March 9 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore).  It took several hours of being on "hold, waiting for the next available agent" but she finally got through!

Maggie pouring purchased fresh
water from a jug into our
(rusting) tea kettle.

We decided that we would visit PetsMart again today to see if the interesting little long-haired kitten is still available for adoption.  If it is, we will probably adopt it--if not, we have no decision to make.  One of our biggest concerns was how Lola would respond to it.  Lola is very demanding of our attention but there are days that we are away all day and she is probably lonely.  (I've never had a problem with a second cat coming into our household and I've experienced it a number of times.)

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One of the little tasks I finished today was adjusting the settings on our iPhones and my iPad for better photographs as described in a YouTube video.  One of the adjustments was to energize a nine-segment grid that overlays on the viewfinder--this promotes a better composition using the rule of thirds.  Another is to make .jpeg images in lieu of images that have minimal storage needs.  There are several other useful settings...

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When we returned to PetsMart, the little kitten was gone, apparently adopted by someone else.  Too bad!  We purchased a toy for our little princess, Lola.

Thursday, February 25

Another sunny warm day was in the cards for today, headed for 49 degrees F according to the weather forecast (but I think the temperature will get well over 55 degrees today since it was already 48 degrees at 11 AM).  (Even the smallest remaining remnants of snow will melt today for sure.)

Doing laundry was the biggest part of our day's plan.  Another little task on our list was was filling our fresh water tanks, which we have to do about every two weeks or so.  We were finished with both tasks by about 3 PM.

Watermelon-Basil Margaritas!

For Happy Hour we made Watermelon-Basil Margaritas per a recipe we found in 101 Frozen Drinks.  Of course, I modified the recipe slightly and it definitely made the drink better.  The recipe we used is as follows:

Watermelon-Basil Margaritas:

(Makes 2 drinks)

4 ounces silver tequila

2 ounces watermelon schnapps 

2 cups fresh watermelon chunks 

1 ounce fresh lime juice 

3 packets of Splenda

1 cup of ice cubes (or more)

2 basil leaves 

Blend everything together and serve in glasses with salted rims.

It was way too easy for each of us to drink two of these since you hardly notice the alcohol.  It was so warm outside that we had our Happy Hour in the cockpit.  Until next blogpost...

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