Summertime on Kent Island: 6/28 - 7/1

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, June 28  

Monday was sunny with a nice 11-knot breeze out of the East Southeast, an unusual direction for us.  The breeze made for a comfortable environment outside until the early afternoon when it became quite hot (88 degrees F).

----------

Again this morning I was plagued by bug bites from last night, mostly on my stomach.  So much so that I researched it online first thing and narrowed it down to, of all things, bed bugs.  The most likely way they were introduced to our living space was through Maggie’s luggage when she returned from visiting her son in Houston a couple weeks ago—she stayed in a condo in a resort.  (Bed bugs are about the size of a pin head and couldn’t be seen except by using a magnifying glass—this was why we had such a hard time identifying them.)

We went out for lunch at the Crab Deck in Kent Narrows and worked out a game plan for tackling the bed bug problem.  We decided to remove all our bedding and all our clothing stored in the v-berth and wash everything in hot water. 

 

So this is why I have cat hair
on my clean shirts!

Then, we would spray the mattress all around and the entire v-berth area including all the crevices with Harris Bed Bug Killer, which we bought at the nearby True Value hardware store.  (We also purchased the next level up in ant poison!)

After spraying it in place, we took the mattress outside in the cockpit and did more spraying on it, as well as the condensate guard beneath the mattress.  (The fact that the mattress was in  the hot sun outside also contributed to the bed bug killing.  We learned that many hotels get rid of bed bugs simply by turning up the heat for a period of time.)

I thoroughly sprayed our mattress
outside in the cockpit.

I also very thoroughly sprayed all the little crevices in the v-berth area to the point where everything was wet to the touch.

While the bed bug spray was drying, Lola and I went outside so we didn’t breathe the fumes.  Meanwhile Maggie drove 30 minutes to Annapolis where she could find a large laundromat to wash everything in the v-berth and minimize her time doing laundry.  (She got home around 7 PM!)

While I was sitting outside writing this blogpost on my iPad, the itch from last night’s bites on my stomach still bothered me—I’m hoping that last night was THE last night we sleep in such conditions!  I could draw a few conclusions from last night: (1) applying Skin-So-Soft does prevent them from biting (just like it works with “no-see-ums”) and (2) the ultrasonic device we tried has no impact on bed bugs (or whatever these bugs are but it may work on other pests).

Tuesday, June 29

We were up and out early due to Maggie’s 7:30 dentist appointment in Pasadena (on the mainland).  It was sunny and relatively cool (74 degrees) early in the morning, on its way to 94 degrees in the afternoon (making it the hottest day of the year so far). I hated to leave Lola alone on the boat most of the day but we had a list of things to accomplish in Annapolis today.

I slept in the main cabin last night.  Even though we did everything possible to get rid of the bed bugs (or whatever they are) I just didn’t feel comfortable sleeping in the v-berth yet and I seriously needed some sleep.  (I ended up with two new bites anyway!)

Rather than bed bugs, the bites seem more like those of no-see-ums that we previously experienced in southern Florida and the Bahamas.  The fact that we haven’t seen one of them yet is also an indication that they might be no-see-ums but I’ve never before encountered them anywhere in Maryland.  (In talking to our dock master, they DO exist in Maryland, primarily around wetlands but she added that she has never experienced them indoors.)  Skin-So-Soft is a common deterrent for no-see-ums (and mosquitos) and that seems to prevent bites in this situation.  So, perhaps we have been assuming the wrong insect all along.  (However, the treatment we recently used might work on no-see-ums too—I hope so!)

A no-see-um on a human finger
at about 5x magnification.  
(This is why they are so
difficult to see.)

Since we started using the new ant traps, we have seen far fewer little ants than before.  So, maybe we are making progress on that front.

This morning was “weigh in” time for our KETO diet and I didn’t lose a bit of weight this week!  This was a big disappointment for me since it seemed like the sacrifices in food are a bit extreme.  To be fair, I stopped tracking my foods, instead just eating according to the diet guidelines—maybe I need to go back to tracking every meal again.  I can feel that my clothes fit looser—maybe I’ll stick with this diet a little bit longer (just one more week!).

When we returned to the boat, we sprayed more insecticide, this time Sprayway Good Night that we picked up at True Value Hardware in Annapolis this morning.  (We are now up to five different insecticide sprays.)

Sprayway's Good Night was the final (and best
performing) insecticide spray we tried.

We've decided to spruce up our main salon and make it lighter.  This means painting the teak-veneered bulkheads a light color like the galley cabinets.  We debated this long and hard since teak-veneered bulkheads are a real sign of a quality build and newer boats have much less teak than we do.  But our boat is our living space and we like to make improvements to our living space (plus I need a project to work on!). (We intend to keep the gloss-finished teak trim around the doorways and the other cabinet openings.

Before we can paint the bulkhead we needed to changeout the door on our camera cabinet--it's one that I made out of teak veneered plywood some time ago.  We looked at custom made louvered doors and didn't get good feelings about them being affordable or timely to obtain.  So, we considered the idea of leaving it an "open" cabinet and simply make teak trim (matching the trim elsewhere on the boat) to go around the opening.  

Wednesday, June 30

Today, another warm and muggy day, we drove to Annapolis to run some errands.  First we went to our storage unit to pick up my tools that I needed to make the (rounded) teak trim around the new camera cabinet.  After a brief stop for lunch at Lemongrass Too, we stopped at Fawcett's and we able to find all the teak trim we needed. (I never expected to find it in the store and I was sure we would have to order it.) (I also ordered two more white reading lights to replace all the ones with the blue shades.)

This is the camera cabinet with the old door removed
and before (rounded) teak trim was applied.
I intend to build the rectangular frame
on the dock, varnish it, and
then, install it.

My big task for the afternoon was transferring my subscribers list from Google's Feedburner" to "Follow.it" since the last day of service from "Feedburner" may have been today.  I spent all afternoon working on this and the instructions on how to do it were vague at best.  Most of my time was spent just trying things and see if they worked.  (At the end of the day I was unable to do the exact same thing for Maggie's blog, unfortunately.) 

----------

We finally made strides in solving our biting insect ("no-see-ums") problem after more spraying.  We saw a couple insects flying around in the late afternoon before we sprayed again.  (We'll see how much progress we made tonight...)

Thursday, July 1

Last night was our first night being BUG-FREE!!!  We didn’t get bitten  and we slept peacefully for the first time in more than a week!  The last insecticide we used (Sprayway brand) killed everything.  Some of the dead bugs we saw included small ants and small gnats, one looked something like a flea.  We’re still not completely sure what was biting us.

----------

The day started out sunny and it was very muggy.  Rain was expected later in the day and through tomorrow.

The weather forecast from
WeatherUnderground.

I continued to work with the Follow.it's help center today and they have been extremely helpful with the transition from Google's Feedburner for this blog.  I highly recommend follow.it to anyone else making such a change!

I epoxied in the corner filler pieces today
in the improved camera cabinet. (Large
radii will be cut out of the corner pieces
to allow the frame to be inserted and
closely fitted. Remember that this
bulkhead will be painted
an off-white color,)

The rain suddenly started at 2 PM, stopping my outdoor project work dead in its tracks. (I may have to resort to just indoor work for the remainder of the day.)  The frame will fit into a 9-3/8-inch high x 12-1/2-inch wide opening with large rounded corners.

We should have made a lot of progress on this new project by our next blogpost.  Stay tuned...

Thanks for following our blog!