Springtime on Kent Island: 5/17 - 5/20

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, May 17

It’s Monday and I have to shake this “lazy streak” I’ve seemed to acquire lately.  I didn’t accomplish much in the morning except to assemble and cook a new Mexican KETO dish, Beefy and Cheesy Green Chile Casserole.  I followed the recipe very closely except for adding some cayenne (and I should have added more!).

Beefy and Cheesy Green Chile
Casserole, a KETO recipe.

Through this process, I learned a lot about (cooking) chiles.  I used the mild Anaheim chiles in this casserole—I could probably use them in Chile Renellos as well, though poblano chiles are more commonly used.  The Anaheim chiles are very much like green bell peppers except for their shape.  (This was the first time that I browned ground beef before sautéing the onions.  I suppose it prevents the onions from being overcooked.)  

Yeah I know this is supposed to be a sailing blog but it’s ending up being more about “retirement life on a sailboat” since we haven’t done much sailing lately.  (We hope to change that near Memorial Day weekend!)  Blogs have been steadily losing popularity to VLOGs (video blogs) but we are not young enough, pretty enough, or sufficiently exciting (let alone, not technically savvy enough) to make VLOGs. 

 

A Google map of our slip's
location on Kent Island.

The motto for our marina is "A Slip on the Quiet Side" and it is very appropriate.  We left behind the noise associated with the throngs of tourists in Annapolis and the near-constant helicopter traffic over Baltimore's Inner Harbor.  A couple things that are unique to our new marina are: (1) electrical usage is billed directly to the slip holder--not through the marina, and (2) there is no mail delivery to the marina--marina personnel must pick up all mail at the nearby post office.  

The depth of water in our 347-slip marina maxes out at about 7 feet.  We find our boat sitting on the soft bottom at extremely low tides.  We have also learned to leave and enter the marina at mid-tide and above.

Our new marina location makes it easier to explore areas along the Chester River, an opportunity I never had before, even a very long time ago when my 28-foot Sabre (and my Paceship PY23 before the Sabre) was kept in Rock Hall.

Tuesday, May 18

This morning Maggie is left to visit her second oldest daughter in Chicago.  She was driving out using a rented 10-foot truck to deliver some items that are currently in our storage unit.  (Hopefully, this will finally enable us to downsize our storage unit!)

This morning did not go so well.  We got everything (not everything, just the things to go to Maggie's daughter) loaded into the rental truck from our storage unit OK but Maggie locked the keys in the truck.  We had to call a locksmith to open one of the doors--it took him all of five minutes once he arrived (but it took him 30 minutes to arrive)!  This was actually the third thing to go wrong--the first two seem pretty minor at this point.  So, we spent a lot of money on the one-way truck rental and a locksmith to transport items that are worth maybe $50 on a good day.  It made no practical sense whatsoever.  Oh well, why must we be practical?  (Living on a sailboat isn't really practical, is it?)

Before leaving Annapolis, I refilled one of our propane tanks, bought treats and a fish toy for Lola, and had (a carb-friendly) lunch at Lemongrass II.

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On my agenda for the day is resolving the maps issue in our car's GPS (or buy a new GPS) for our trip to Mexico.  I started to download Garmin's Express shortly before 3 PM.

The Garmin Express was
 still downloading until
just before 7 PM!

I switched the WiFi to my cell phone's hotspot (from the marina's pathetic WiFi) and the download was completed almost instantly but the day was already shot.  (I will pick this up again tomorrow morning when I connect our old GPS to my laptop and download the new maps.)

Wednesday, May 19

Last night, I slept with the forward hatch open but the reverse-cycle heat came on several times during the night.  It was a beautiful spring day again with a clear sky and plenty of sunshine.  A cool breeze out of the East was a pleasant surprise in the morning.  Later, it clocked around from the West.

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Today was my first full day on KETO!  My breakfast consisted of two servings of KETO yogurt  (I had to increase it to two to achieve my targets!) with 7 blueberries mixed in.  (I learned that there are between 65 and 75 blueberries per cup.  Eating 7 blueberries, I consumed 0.1 cup.)  Of course, I also had a cup of tea with almond milk as a whitener and stevia as a sweetener.  I consumed 6 net carbs for breakfast this morning. 

I am using the Carb Manager app to track my progress.  The KETO diet is not just about tracking carbs but balancing protein and calories as well.

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I got back into updating my car's GPS in the morning and it went quite smoothly, even though I was using my iPhone's hotspot--it took a little more than an hour to make the update. (Incidentally the updated maps didn't cost me anything.)  When I was finished I was able to use San Miguel de Allende as my destination but it took quite a while to calculate the entire route.  (In practice I think I will treat each day of travel as its own trip and not follow a single entire route to San Miguel de Allende.)

I have been having difficulties with the "battery low" indicator in the GPS--it comes on whenever the car is shut off.  I ordered a replacement battery kit today for my model GPS on Amazon.  (It only cost $12 and it should arrive on Friday.)

Battery kit for our Garmin NUVI 3450LM

I had no problem following KETO for lunch (consuming 7 net carbs) and I had plenty to eat but a few hours afterward I felt tired and a little hungry.  I realized that I have to endure this adjustment of my body burning fat instead of carbs--so, I simply hung in there.  (I can tell already that I will have difficulty consuming the eight glasses of water that are required per day.)  For dinner I had a 7.5-ounce steak cooked on the grill and a salad--one of my all-time favorite meals.

Thursday, May 20

Neither the reverse-cycle heat nor the air conditioner came on last night as I slept with the forward hatch partially open.  The light cool breeze out of the West made for excellent sleeping weather.

This morning was sunny and very still (and quiet).  I slept a little longer than normal.  The outside temperature at 8:30 AM was already 70 degrees F, well on its way to the expected 85 degrees in the afternoon.

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Over the past day or two I've thought of a way to remove the stubborn auxiliary fuel tank--make a screw jack using pieces of a 2x4 and two threaded rods and jacking on the tank's 1-1/2-inch diameter inlet connection from the tank support.  (This might be a project for me for Friday.)

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On my agenda for the day was cleaning up the cockpit, upgrade a shackle on the spare halyard that we use to lift the dinghy, prepare to take down the windows on our cockpit enclosure for the season, and buy some items I need to implement my idea about removing the auxiliary fuel tank, none of which made interesting pictures or stories.  However, I ran out of time before tackling the last item on my list of tasks--it will have to carryover to tomorrow.

Until next blogpost...thanks for following our blog!