Summertime on Kent Island: 8/30 - 9/2
—Blogpost written by Bob
Monday, August 30
I was rudely awoken by a flashing "HPF" on the display of our A/C thermostat. It was persistent but all I wanted to do was to go back to sleep. The time was somewhere around 6 AM because the sun wasn't completely up yet.
When were completely finished declogging the inlet hose from an accumulation of Chesapeake Bay mud and marine growth, it was 8 AM. Even when we were done, the flow rate was no where near 100%--I believed it was due to marine growth around the outside of the inlet to the seacock. I contacted a local diver this morning to clean the hull, requesting special attention to the A/C seawater inlet and the propeller. The local diver was surprised that we went all summer long without a hull cleaning. (The marine growth must be particularly acute in the Chester River area.) Tuesday was his day of the week for working on Kent Island--so, there was a slim chance for tomorrow but a much better chance for next Tuesday.
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The morning clouds were just burning off at 8:30 AM. My tea was just approaching a "drinkable" temperature and I was thinking about the day ahead, about what we were going to do today. Maggie decided to sew together one of the little replacement hatch covers and I decided to make tethers to keep them from blowing away. (We lost one of them by opening the hatch from below without realizing that the hatch cover would pop off and blow away.)
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On my "to do" list for today was repairing the broken lip under the forward edge of the new center floorboard. The teak lip broke thru at one of the screws and it pulled away from the bottom on the starboard floorboard--it was an epoxy repair all the way--something I have become quite good at from my years of boating experience. (Epoxy fixes almost anything onboard!)
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| The wooden lip under the floorboard split and came loose from the adjacent floorboard. (Here the wooden lip was being epoxied and clamped in place until it cured.) |
The filled epoxy hardened in a couple hours after application. I re-drilled the hole for the screw and refastened the center floorboard in place at 2 PM.
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| Kali decided to take a nap on one of our new placemats today. (What else would they be placed here for?) |
I worked on refining our haulout list today. We have two seacocks that need to be rebuilt (for the two cockpit drains), cleaning and waxing the hull, and some engine maintenance items. (Bottom painting will wait until just prior to splashing the boat next Spring.)
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Late in the afternoon, I tried to clean off any outside marine growth on the A/C inlet using our deck brush in its fully extended position (from the dinghy). (I really don't know how much progress I made because I couldn't see where I was brushing.) Several times, the brush came back very muddy and grimy. However, the flow restriction could have been in the hole in the hull where the brush couldn't reach it. (We haven't had a "HPF" alarm since.)
Tuesday, August 31
Today, Maggie had an 9 AM appointment for dental cleaning in Annapolis and I had a doctor's appointment (10:15 AM) that I made about 2 weeks ago. (These appointment times were way too close!) While I was on the KETO diet I had a few episodes where my blood sugar was extremely low (in the 50's) in the morning and I had fallen two different times after losing my balance on my way to the shower---this was kinda scary to me. Also during that time I had disturbing neuropathy in my right hand. Since then, I have gone off KETO and have adapted to a (much less strict and much healthier) Mediterranean Diet (not necessarily designed to lose weight).
At my appointment this morning, my doctor thought the the tingling in my right hand was most likely due to a pinched nerve between my neck and my hand and that changing my pillow might solve the problem. My two recent incidences of “loss of balance” was more of a concern to him which prompted some blood tests and a follow-up visit in two weeks.
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The sky was overcast most of the day, as the remnants of Hurricane Ida moved into our area. (Rain from Hurricane Ida will be here tonight, tomorrow, and into Thursday.) The outside temperature was in the low 80’s most of the day and it was quite pleasant outside.
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| The remnants of Hurricane Ida moving toward the mid-Atlantic region. (We are located at the blue dot.) |
We went out for lunch at Carroll’s Creek Cafe and afterward stopped at our all-time favorite liquor store in Annapolis, Bay Ridge Liquors. We picked up a big bottle of (Tito's) Vodka and three different Pinot Noir’s to try as a cost effective alternative to my favorite, ERATH (at $20 per bottle). (I will do a short review of each alternative within the next week or two.) We also visited our storage unit to drop off a couple items (and pick up a couple others) as well as made a quick stop at the grocery store for a few items we needed (and we still missed a couple items).
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We got back to the boat just before 3 PM. Both of our little feline rug rats were anxiously awaiting our return (and their lunch).
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I've spent a considerable amount of time recently thinking about my getting older and what it might mean in my life. I have recently questioned how much longer I can continue my "liveaboard" lifestyle. I haven't come to any conclusions yet but I realized that my options have become more limited. I simply can't do all the things I used to do. I'm not as strong as I used to be. Fortunately, my mind is still just as sharp (I think anyway).
I suppose we are expected to age with grace and dignity. While I'm certainly trying, I don't feel that I've achieved those lofty expectations yet.
Wednesday, September 1
In the morning the sky was overcast but no rain appeared yet. From the weather radar we observed yesterday, the rain clouds were pretty scattered--so, we expect to see periods of rain and clearing throughout the day, not necessarily a continuous all-day rain.
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It took a while longer than usual this morning for the fresh water pump to fully prime after filling the fresh water tanks yesterday. I'm not sure why that was the case but it is fully primed now--so, I'm not going to worry about it. (This is something a land dweller is never concerned about--you simply turn on the faucet and very high-quality fresh water always comes out.)
Today I planned to do a couple simple chores inside the boat. My biggest chore was to clean up the navigation station and companionway area--it was getting really messy. Nothing in my plan was too strenuous for today but you never know what unplanned need could occur on a boat at any time.
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| Kali waits on the top companionway step for Lola to return from her morning outside time. (At the same time Lola cuts her outside time shorter than usual to come back inside to be with Kali.) |
My first effort of the day was aimed at cleaning up the navigation station and companionway area. I expected it to be a morning-long task (and it was).
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| Just a small sample of our messy companionway area. |
For lunch today we had thin cut steaks, steamed brussels sprouts, and an oriental cabbage salad. I finished off the steaks with a garlic butter that really added to the flavor of the steaks!
With this excellent lunch. I tried the first alternative Pinot Noir (that is, an alternative to my all-time favorite, ERATH). The wine I tried today with lunch was from Mirassou Winery in California. (The Mirassou Winery was established in 1854 but the brand is currently owned by Gallo. The original family winery has been destroyed and is now a housing development.)
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| A Pinot Noir from Mirassou Winery. |
This wine was virtually identical in taste to ERATH, to my surprise. Its cost (under $10 per bottle) is half that of ERATH (nearly $20 per bottle). Total Wines, a big wine distributor on the East Coast, rates this wine at 4.6 out of 5 stars while ERATH Pinot Noir is rated at only 4.5 out of 5 stars. So, my search for a less expensive alternative to ERATH was already successful and I have two more less expensive alternatives to try yet. Stay tuned for more wine reviews...
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I decided to make a Mediterranean Pizza for our dinner tonight. Of course, I used a low-carb whole wheat tortilla as the crust as we had been doing on the KETO diet. A thin coat of tomato sauce on the tortilla formed the base. From there, I added (canned) artichoke hearts, sliced olives, some fresh spinach, a small amount of diced pepperoni, and sliced grape tomatoes. I baked the pizza without the cheese topping for about 7 minutes and then added the Italian blend cheese topping for the last 7 or 8 minutes. I added some crumbled Feta cheese to the top after cooking.
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| My version of a low-carb Mediterranean Pizza |
Thursday, September 2
The rain ended late last night but the high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida continued into the early morning hours. It was difficult sleeping (for me) during the high wind. Even at 8 AM as we were preparing breakfast, there was still a significant amount of boat motion caused by the (then, reduced) 14-knot (gusting to 25 knots) northerly wind. The outside temperature was a cool 68 degrees at 8 AM. The sun was shining brightly from the get go this morning and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky--what a welcomed sight!
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I spent a few hours today, taking multiple photographs of two pocket multitools that I will be selling on eBay: a SOG-brand multitool, and a Leatherman WAVE. (These photography and ad writing efforts will continue into tomorrow.)
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| This is the SOG-brand pocket multitool that I was preparing to sell. |
I originally had a pocket knife, a unique GERBER GATOR, I was going to sell too but after thinking about it longer, I decided against it. I think this knife will be a good candidate for me to make a new handle using ebony, a completely black wood I have never worked with.
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Today we went out for lunch at Lemongrass II in Annapolis to start Maggie’s “birthday week” celebration—she’ll be 70 on September 7! (Recently we started celebrating our birthdays over a period of a week or more. Why not? Why even limit our celebrations to one week? You never know just how many are ahead.)
For lunch, I had khoa soi, a new Thai dish for me. It was a curry-based dish with various types of noodles, onions, chicken, and even cabbage—it was very tasty and artistically presented!
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| My lunch today consisted of a Thai dish called khoa soi. |
Inspired by thoughts of rebuilding my GERBER GATOR knife, we stopped at Exotic Lumber on our way back to the boat on Kent Island and I purchased a small thin piece of ebony of a suitable size to make a knife handle (maybe even two?). (I’m not sure yet if I will use it on my GERBER GATOR or another knife at this point. It is a project that I might take along with me to Mexico.)
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| Selecting a suitable piece of ebony at Exotic Lumber in Annapolis. |
The high temperature for the afternoon reached a very mild 78 degrees. We had the A/C turned off and the hatches open for the entire day. Our cats had plenty of supervised outside time today since we didn’t have to deal with the oppressive heat typical of this time of year.
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| Kali's supervised outside time in the afternoon. She's more like a "little cat" than a "kitten." |
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