Summertime on Kent Island: 9/10 - 9/12
—Blogpost written by Bob
Friday, September 10
From a low temperature of 63 degrees in the morning to an afternoon high of a mere 77 degrees and sunny all day sounds like perfect weather to me. I forgot how chilly 63 degrees feels in the morning! The sun didn't come up until about 7 AM--you could tell that Fall was close by (just 12 days away).
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Ever since we got a collar for Kali (just yesterday), she’s been trying to shed it (by trying to scratch it with her back feet, etc.). This morning, she was trying to jump out of it, believe it or not—it was really funny to watch.
Kali was particularly rambunctious during her (supervised) outside time this morning—she ran out onto the cabintop to be with Lola. For this bad behavior, she got sprayed in the face with a water bottle (which she clearly didn’t like). (Lola even tried to coral her back into the cockpit like a mother hen. What a menagerie!)
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| Kali well after her (supervised) outside time this morning. This was one of the few times she sat still today that she wasn't sleeping. |
Yesterday, the diver finally showed up to clean our boat bottom. He reported that our hull was pretty clean--the bottom paint we used (Petit Trinidad SR-60) did a great job. We had a lot of barnacle growth on the prop and shaft--this is an area I want to focus on for our next bottom painting. We also had barnacle growth within the holes for the seacocks, particularly the A/C water inlet as we suspected.
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On my agenda for the day was: (1) finalizing the work list for Hartge's Yacht Yard and (2) installing eight 4-inch long lag screws in the lowermost mounting holes of our new piling guards, as well as a couple smaller items.
With respect to the work list, it was for more than for just a simple haulout--it was for the fall haulout, winter storage, and next spring's commissioning.
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An image of the partial list of fall, winter, and spring boatyard work |
After my work list was made and communicated to the boatyard, I applied the third coat of varnish to the four spots on the table legs that needed to be touched up. Then, it was a matter of waiting for low tide (2:30 PM today) to install the much longer lag screws. Still, two of the screws would have ended up in a large crack in the piling--there was no purpose in installing screws in these two places.
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| I varnished the four spots on the table legs with the round teak dining table in place this afternoon. |
Saturday, September 11
Yes, it was the 20th anniversary of that September 11th when we went through that dreadful experience watching the World Trade Centers collapse. (It is hard to believe that it was 20 years ago!) It was a similarly clear and sunny day today.
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The wind prediction (using WINDY) was for almost no wind this morning and we decided it was perfect timing to remove our headsail and bag it for winter storage. It was the first time it was taken down in five years!
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| Our headsail all bagged and ready for indoor winter storage! |
Handling the headsail when it is off the forestay is like handling 100 pounds of feathers that have been miraculously joined together somehow. We managed to lower the sail onto the boat's deck, then transport it to the dock, and then fold it over on itself lengthwise so that we could roll it up.
In the late afternoon game time slot, Penn State beat Ball State by a score of 44 to 13, with many back-up players in the game during the fourth quarter. It was a well-balanced win on Penn State’s part. Meanwhile, Ohio State lost to Oregon which should allow Penn State to move up in the national ranking. Next Saturday Penn State plays Auburn before the normal Big Ten teams begin.
Sunday, September 12
Eight knots of breeze out of the southwest and a temperature of 69 degrees (at 8 AM) made for a cool Sunday morning. The afternoon temperature was expected to reach the mid-80’s for today, as well as the next couple days. Today was a beautiful fall day when the sun was bright (but not too intense) and the cool breeze lasted all day long.
We went grocery shopping at mid-morning and bought lots of fresh veggies and two different types of fish (salmon and Chilean sea bass) all in accordance with our (not-so-strict) Mediterranean Diet. (We have been cutting back on beef on account of our diet but it saves us money since beef prices are astronomical at the present time.)
For lunch, I tried again to make a Mediterranean pizza. This time, using spinach that was precooked in garlic butter, black olives sliced lengthwise, cherry tomatoes sliced crosswise, sliced Jalapeños, pepperoni slices, and Italian spices. I used three layers of Italian blend grated cheese. (Like before, I was using a large low-carb whole wheat tortilla as the crust. I cook the pizza in the oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F.) This attempt was much more successful than my last one!
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| My second attempt at Mediterranean pizza. |
I tried the second $10 bottle of Pinot Noir tonight with dinner, an excellent Eggplant Parmesan that Maggie made. The wine was bottled by Sterling Vintners Collection in California.
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| Sterling Vintners Collection Pinot Noir--my second attempt at a $10 wine. |
I would rate it as excellent (later, I revised this to good-to-very good) but it was difficult for me to distinguish between this wine and the previous one because the meals were so different. Total Wine gives it 4 out of 5 stars. Either one would be a acceptable replacement for ERATH, my all time favorite. (This is a good red wine, not particularly a good pinot noir.)
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