Springtime on Kent Island: 6/4 - 6/6

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, June 4

The morning began with an overcast sky and a light rain but soon cleared up and became a warm, sunny day by around noon.

I had a very light breakfast (two hard boiled eggs and a small piece of cheese) before taking Maggie to BWI airport.  (She got breakfast in the airport.)   I dropped by our storage unit on my way back to pick up my buffer so that I can clean and wax the cockpit this week while Maggie is away and had lunch at Panera Bread (just a Greek salad--it was only 8 net carbs) before driving back to the island.

Chicharrones seem to be a staple
for treats on the KETO diet.
(Pork rinds are similar in
texture to cheese puffs.)

I didn't accomplish much in the afternoon.  Lately, if I don't get something done in the morning I just don't get it done and I'm OK with that.

Lola sitting on the companionway step looking
upward at the hatch.  Do you think
she wants to go outside?

A quiet Friday evening in the marina.

Saturday, June 5

Last night I slept with the forward hatch open.  A nice cool breeze (upper 60's) blew into the hatch all night. It was a nice change from running our A/C all night long.  The morning was still cool and sunny--a beautiful Spring day!

After showering, I made a nice leisurely breakfast consisting on two fried eggs, two slices of bacon, melted mozzarella cheese, all on a low-carb whole wheat tortilla--it was absolutely delicious!  I changed things up a bit by not having a hot beverage in the morning.

As I was finishing my breakfast I was contemplating the modest tasks I planned for today:  (1) removing the handwritten (with a Sharpie) word "diesel" from our onboard 5-gallon gasoline jugs, (2) making a template for future covers for our little cabin side hatches, and (3) cleaning the oil finishing stains in our cockpit.

Removing the handwritten "Diesel"
originally made with a Sharpie
in the Exumas last year.

When we were leaving the Exumas back during the height of the pandemic last year, we had to travel nonstop from Great Exuma back to the U.S.  So, we temporarily converted our two red gasoline jugs to diesel jugs just for the long nonstop trip.  We used both of them on that trip and they have sat onboard empty ever since.  The handwritten label came off easily using acetone and a paper towel.  (I wish all my boat jobs were that easy!)

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I put up our forepeak tent to keep the hot afternoon sun from beating down on our cabintop and Lola was enjoying her personal shade beneath it.  She must have thought I put it up just for her.

Making a template for future hatch covers
for our smallest hatches.

Sunday, June 6

The sun peeking through the cabin and into the v-berth woke me this morning.  I stayed in bed and got caught up on the news on my iPad and checked for any releases of new YouTube videos until 9 AM which was very late for me.

Lola always wants to go outside first thing
in the AM but when she wanders off
(which she did this morning) I
had to bring her back inside. 

I didn't have any boat jobs planned for today but I did have a bit of a culinary adventure planned--I planned to make a KETO chocolate cake (only 3 net carbs per slice) per a recipe I found on YouTube.  I have never baked a cake or pie in my life but I still planned to do this.  I had to make a trip to the grocery store before starting--we needed more eggs than what we had on hand, I needed sugar-free chocolate chips, and I needed to buy a container of baking powder because I couldn't find it onboard.  (I'm sure Maggie knew exactly where it was but she was in Texas this week.)

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When I got back from the grocery store it was already noon.  I started the cake-making process by mixing up the dry ingredients (though I couldn't find a sieve onboard) and then the wet ingredients.  I then mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients as per the instructions.  When I was ready to put the cake mixture into a loaf-size pan (with a parchment paper liner) I couldn't find our loaf pan--so, I used a white baking dish that was shallower.  

I was just starting to do the dishes from all the mess I made making the cake when I ran out of fresh water and then Maggie called from Texas wanting to chat a little.  While the fresh water pump was running on empty, Maggie advised me that because the dish is shallower than the recipe called for it will get done a lot quicker, maybe as quickly as 25 minutes. (I don't understand why everything seems to happen all at once and not over at least a 15 or 30 minute span of time.)  I decided to skip the (KETO) icing because baking was so stressful.

An image of what the cake was
supposed to look like.

The way my cake looked.

My cake was done in 30 minutes after checking it with a toothpick.  I allowed it to cool down for about an hour and then tasted it.  While it looked like a near disaster, it tasted great.  From now on, however, I will leave the baking to Maggie.

Until next blogpost on Thursday...

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