Our Winter in Annapolis

 January 11, 2021 - January 31, 2021

In my blog today I’m just going to highlight some events from the past couple of weeks.

We have firmed up our plans for the summer.  We visited Castle Harbor Marina on Kent Island again and chose slip A-5 as our summer home.  The marina has a large pool and an onsite restaurant. There are plenty of walking and bike trails in the area and easy access to the Bay from the marina.  One draw back is the weekend beach traffic, but we are used to staying home on the weekends.

The Castle Harbor Marina Office as
seen from across the harbor.

Our summer 2021 home

On the news front our new president, Joe Biden, and new Vice President, Kamala Harris were inaugurated on January 20, 2021. What a great day for our republic!

My daughter, Rachel, finally got the results of her blood test and - wait for it -

IT’S A GIRL!

I spend most afternoons sewing.  I finished the quilt top for Liliana (Rachel’s partner Juan’s daughter) and have purchased all of the fabrics for the new baby’s quilt.  I’ll take both Karl’s quilt and Liliana’s quilt to be machine quilted by a friend with a quilting business sometime next week.  The quilts probably won’t be ready for a few months. When the quilting is complete, I can bind them and send them to their new homes.  

Bob is making some progress in his cancer treatments.  He still hasn’t started radiation, but he has completed all of the pre-procedures. The radiation should start soon.

We are actually in the middle of a snow event right now.  It’s fun to see the snow falling and to walk around outside. What a different winter this has been from the ones we have spent in the  Bahamas. It’s nothing like the snow storms we used to have when I lived in Northern Indiana, but it’s plenty for me now. I enjoyed photographing the area with a covering of snow.

This was our view from the cockpit this morning.

A snow topped piling

A utility building at the end of the
pier looks deserted.

I'm sure glad I'm not a duck today.

Main Street in the snow

The State House as seen through a haze of snow

.

Starbucks was one of the few businesses open today.

These benches aren't very inviting
when covered in snow.

The history lessons go on even in the snow.

Rainy Days isn't used to the snow anymore.

Thank you for following my blog and stay safe!

Winter in Annapolis, MD #4

 December 30, 2020 - January 10, 2021

 Well, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s  Day were pretty  much non-events for us here on the boat.  Since there weren’t any fireworks scheduled in Annapolis this year we didn’t want to stay up to welcome the new year (although we were plenty happy to see 2020 go).  At the stroke of midnight we were awakened briefly by the hoots, hollers, and bangs of fireworks from the revelers in downtown Annapolis.  Other than that it was a normal night.  On Friday Bob prepared the traditional pork and sauerkraut meal for New Year’s Day in the crockpot and we ate around 2:00 pm while listening to a college football bowl game on the SiriusXM radio on board.  

The weather has been mildly chilly during the day and cold at night with a few days of overcast skies which make it feel colder than on sunny days.  We are keeping the cabin and the cockpit warm with our oil filled radiators that supplement the reverse cycle heating system we have on board.  When the water temperature goes below 40 degrees we will have to rely completely on the radiators and shut down the heating system completely.  

We had been noticing an odd taste and odor from our water ever since the marina shut down the water on our dock and we had to rely on the dock hands bringing a hose from the office to fill our water tanks.  Bob always changes the filter in our onboard filter system every quarter.  This time we noticed a large amount of sludge in the lower portion of the filter.  It looked like we were going to have to flush out all of our water tanks.  First, we emptied all the tanks and refilled them adding 1/4 cup of bleach to each tank.  Next, Bob ran the bleach water through all of the water systems on board (galley sink, head sink, and hot water tank).  The third process was to refill the water tanks with fresh water and flush it through all of the systems to clean out the bleach.  At this point the dock hands came to take the hose back to the office as it was close to closing time.  We had purchased an inline water filter and attached it to the office hose when they brought it out to us the next morning and refilled the tanks with fresh filtered water.  We also put a water treatment liquid into each of the tanks as we filled them.  The water still had a very faint bleach odor to it so we decided to continue drinking purchased water  and only use the water from the tanks for cleaning and dish washing.  Hopefully, we can go back to drinking our tap water after we empty and refill the tanks next time.  Oh, and of course, we had a glitch in the middle of this process when the port side tank’s flow was impeded when we were emptying it.  We had to remove the hoses from this tank, remove the blockage, and replace the hoses with new ones.  This whole process took a day and a half with lots of time standing outside in the cold filling water tanks.  On the positive side, it looks like the problem is solved!

I have been taking brisk 40-60 minute walks each morning except on the coldest days and it has helped me keep my spirits up in this stressful time. My sisters and I have been meeting through Zoom every week, too, which has also helped me feel more connected to my loved ones. Another great strategy for getting through this pandemic has been my FaceTime date every Monday afternoon with my daughter Rachel who has just informed the family that she is expecting a baby due sometime in late July.  How exciting!

Bob and I want to go on a Keto diet after he is done with his radiation treatments and we have been trying out some Keto type recipes. 

One night I made mojitos (called mo-Ketos)
 from a recipe Bob found in a Keto recipe book.
Mojitos were my favorite drink when
 we were in Cuba and these were great!

Be safe and thank you for reading my blog.