Summertime on Kent Island: 8/9 - 8/12

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, August 9  

There was no time for my usual early AM musings this morning.  We were up and driving toward east central Pennsylvania by 8:30 AM to pick up Kali, our new 13-week old Maine Coon kitten.  We began our trip by traveling east on Route 50 and then turned off onto Route 301 North toward Middletown, DE.  We simply followed the directions provided by our GPS for the most part.  We drove around Wilmington DE and Philadelphia PA to the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  By 1 PM we had arrived in Kunkletown PA where our new kitty awaited us at the cattery.

Kali on the 4-hour car ride home.  She actually
stood up and looked around several times.

The moment Lola and Kali met.  There
was a lot of hissing and such.

My nose was very sore this morning from falling and hitting it on the pavement yesterday on my way to the shower in the morning, as odd as that sounds.   My blood sugar was very low this morning (59) and I have a feeling that it was also low yesterday.  This KETO diet has made it difficult for me to keep my resting blood sugar up in the more normal range (80 - 120).  Of course, my blood testing weekly (as opposed to daily) doesn’t help either.  I have to pay more attention to my health!   

While I expected to lose weight on KETO, it really hasn’t met my expectations at all—in fact, it has made me feel unhealthy.  How can a diet that severely restricts your intake of fruit and encourages your intake of fats be considered healthy?  There must be a healthier diet out there.  (We elected to try the Mediterranean Diet because it encourages the intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It just sounds much healthier!)

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During our drive to Pennsylvania, I called SeaFrost about our refrigeration problem as a follow up to an email I sent them yesterday.  The owner of SeaFrost told me of a way to bypass the digital control (temporarily connect "T" and "C" terminals) to immediately activate the compressor and start making cold.   He is sending me a replacement circuit board and a new cable via overnight means (It only cost a little over $50!).  This should solve the fridge problem in the long run.

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We had a long evening of two cats testing one another...

Tuesday, August 10

I was woken by Kali’s little squeaky voice at 3 AM.  She was sitting  on the floor near the v-berth, right below my head.  I reached down and picked her up into the v-berth with us.  She explored her surroundings in the v-berth for about 45 minutes before she (and I) dozed off.  In the morning, things weren't much different yet with the two cats.  Compared to Lola (at six months old when we got her), Kali is more friendly, outgoing, and playful.  It was heart-breaking for me to see them at odds.  (I hope it doesn't last long!)

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The day started out sunny and warm.  The outside temperature was already 79 degrees at 8 AM and headed for an afternoon high of 88 degrees. There were no clouds in the sky but it was a little hazy.

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I made up a jumper wire using two female 1/4" spade ends and connected it to terminals "T" and "C" on the circuit board this morning and the fridge compressor started up and ran smoothly.  This jumper bypassed the digital controls of the compressor.  It was a temporary measure to get the fridge running until I receive the new circuit board (probably tomorrow).  It worked!

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Kali resided in the same little storage bin as Lola did when she arrived on the boat.  I got her to come out and play with a ping pong ball for about 30 minutes at mid-morning. 

Kali spent most of her first night and day in
this little storage bin below the v-berth,
exactly like Lola did when she
first arrived with us.

Wednesday, August 11

Progress with our two cats has been slow but steady, we got them both to eat (with their food dishes placed far apart), drink water, and use the litter box late yesterday.  For the most part Lola stayed in the quarter berth area while Kali stayed in the v-berth area.  (Kali slept with us in the v-berth most of the night.) 

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The outside temperature was in the high 70's in the morning, headed for an expected afternoon high of 89 degrees F.  Since it reached into the low 90's yesterday, it will probably do the same again today.  There was a small chance of rain very late in the day.

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My old Porter Cable random orbit sander recently died of natural causes and parts are no longer available--I have owned it the early 70's when I worked for a sister company at Ingersoll Rand and got an employee discount.  (Since then, the brand was sold to Black & Decker and has died off.)   I purchased a new cordless MAKITA-brand random orbit sander on Amazon as a replacement and it was just recently delivered.

My new MAKITA 18-volt 5" random orbit sander 
(shown without battery installed--it clips
onto the side with the dust bag).

The new sanders don't come with batteries--they have to be purchased separately at horrendous prices (as much as the cost of the sander in some cases).  However, I have a small 1 Ah MAKITA battery in my relatively new MAKITA inflator tool and I just purchased another (larger capacity) MAKITA battery (4 Ah) and I have two other (larger capacity) non-branded 6 Ah batteries (at about half of MAKITA's price) on the way. 

Incidentally, I ran into an excellent YouTube video on sanding wood--there are a lot of good tips in this video I didn't know about previously.

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I spent two hours in the hot afternoon inside, changing out just ONE light fixture--the one in the v-berth.  (I have two more fixtures to changeout, both are in the main salon.)

The new LED light fixture over the
vanity in the v-berth.

By the end of the day Kali was all over the boat but spending most of her time playing in the main salon.  Lola came and went and spent most of her time sleeping in the quarter berth.  Slowly, their contentious relationship was getting better.  Prior to dinner, they were sitting across from one another on our dining table without any hissing.  Neither one was without concern though.

Kali was eating a dish of her cat food
with Lola watching and there
was no hissing!

Thursday, August 12

Weather wise, today was nearly identical to yesterday.  We worked on some projects indoors.

We got one of the two light fixtures changed in the main salon this morning.  This little  job took two of us 2 hours!  It certainly taxed my supply of red butt connectors too!

I maintain a pretty good supply of all electrical
connectors but I am now out of red butt
connectors. (Red connectors are for
18-22 AWG wires typically used
on the LED light fixtures.)

The new circuit board and data cable for the fridge arrived just before noon today.  We tracked it down in the marina and installed it as soon as possible.  I took a picture of the connections with my iPad before I removed the old circuit board so that I could duplicate the connections.

The new circuit board and cable
from SeaFrost.

After we installed the new circuit board and new data cable, it didn't work right away.  It seemed like I had the circuit board installed one pin away from where it should have been located.  It took a call to SeaFrost to figure this out.  Once we got it aligned with the correct pins, it worked fine.  (As I was installing the new circuit board I ran into a ground wire where the crimped end had come off--this may have been the problem all along but we never found it before ordering the new circuit board and cable.)

Then we moved on to our weekly cleaning of the raw water strainer.  We had picked up a small jelly fish but it was not big enough to block enough water flow to get an HPF alarm.  We cleaned out the jelly fish out and put another chlorine tablet in the basket.  The A/C should now be good for another week. 

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While we were working on the fridge, little Kali was all over the place and into everything.  All she does is play. play. play, eat, sleep, and play again.  (I wish I had half her level of energy!) 

 

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