Summertime on Kent Island: 6/25 - 6/27

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, June 25

The light easterly breeze was cool (below 60 degrees) in the morning as I watched Lola during her morning outside time.  The sun was bright and the water was very still.  The full moon last night caused the tide to be unusually high in the morning.  A Fall-like condensation formed overnight on our boat deck and on the bottom of our turned-upside-down dinghy, still on the dock.

Maggie's Merrells on the
cockpit coaming.

After a frustrating experience with some local Kent Island merchants yesterday, we decided to drive to Annapolis this morning for some things we couldn’t get on the island (like a propane refill). We stopped at SAFEWAY in Annapolis to refill our fresh water jugs (used strictly for drinking water), low-carb tortillas, and a few other items.  Then, it was onto Fresh Market for a couple steaks, a salmon fillet, and a few other odds and ends before refilling our propane tank at True Value Hardware.

We had lunch at one of our very favorite restaurants, Carrolls Creek Cafe, while staying within our low-carb guidelines.  By the time we got back to the boat it had warmed up considerably (76 degrees). We collected our packages that arrived yesterday and today, some at the post office, one at the pool (who knows why) and one at the marina office.

 

One of the items that arrived today from Amazon was a MaxMoxie ultrasonic pest repeller.  The MaxMoxie is about the size of a night light--it is intended to be stay plugged in to a nearby electrical outlet.  It produces an inaudible ultrasonic signal that deters pests, insects and small animals like mice.  This little device got great reviews on Amazon and I thought it was worth a try for the bugs that have been feasting on me at night.

The MaxMoxie household
pest repeller.

We used the MaxMoxie right away, plugging one of the two units into the receptacle in the v-berth and the other one into a receptacle in the main salon. 

After dinner we used the marina's hot tub for the first time.

Saturday, June 26

It had rained overnight, even though we didn't hear it, but it was still muggy in the morning, like more rain was on the way. (It DID rain again lightly about mid-day.)

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At mid morning I decided to troubleshoot the supplemental water cooling pump for the fridge--it stopped working sometime during the last couple days. We pulled apart the quarter berth area and removed the drawer unit in the companionway for access.  I tightened all the water connections to the compressor, primed the pump and it seemed to be working again.  So, we put everything back together again.

A short time later the HPF alarm on our air conditioner went off--this usually means that we sucked up a jellyfish in the raw water inlet.  Sure enough that's what it was but it was sucked into the inlet hose ahead of the strainer which required that we pull up the floorboards and remove the hose.  We cleaned the hose by running dock water through it--a big clog (which WAS probably a jellyfish about a foot long) oozed out the other end of the hose.  After thoroughly cleaning the inlet hose we reinstalled it. 

Of course, now the supplemental cooling water pump had to be re-primed.  However, this time no raw water was getting to the pump.  So, I removed the inlet hose to the supplemental cooling pump and found out that one of the pipe fittings was too loose--this was probably what was causing the pump to lose prime while sitting at the dock. However, the cause for the lack of water was a blockage blockage in the hose. 

The floor boards removed from the companion-
-way area is never a good sign.

By 1:30 PM we had the boat back together again with everything running correctly. What a relief!

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Our battle against small ants continued today. Maggie was working on this front as she prepared more little pieces of cardboard with TERRO ant poison on them. It was important to get the ants to eat the poison and to take some back for the rest of the ant colony, rather than just spray them with insecticide and instantly kill them. (However, we are getting so frustrated with this process that we want to kill every one we see at this point!  We've agreed that on Monday the ant killing spree starts.)

Sunday, June 27

This morning's weather was a mixture of overcast skies and partly cloudy skies and it was comfortably warm (78 degrees) and a little muggy.  There was a nice 10-knot breeze out of the South.

Last night I got bit by the same (unidentified) insect one time on the back of my neck.  I didn't lather myself in Skin-So-Soft last night--I thought I would trust the other measures (occasional spraying and the ultrasonic device) we have implemented but I guess (being generous) it takes more time for them to work. (Also, we turned off the ultrasonic device at nighttime because the electrical outlet is on Maggie's side of the v-berth and the light it makes causes Maggie sleep problems--today, I have moved the device to my side of the v-berth where it will not impact on Maggie's sleep and can remain on all the time.)

Lola looking somewhat contemplative
this morning.  (I wonder how she
will react when 12 week old Kali
arrives in early August.)

Important announcement for blog followers

I have known for a while now that the "Follow Me By Email" widget on my blog (and other Google blogs) was being discontinued in July because the developer (Feedburner) decided not to support it any longer. I have taken measures to assure that all my current blog followers should continue to receive this blog by email but I'm not sure how well this measure will work.   For this blog, the change will be in effect for my next blogpost on Thursday night, available on Friday morning. If things don't work as intended, you may always visit dainyrays.blogspot.com to get the latest blogpost until I get any problems resolved.

Until next blogpost, thanks for following our blog!