The end of Summer and the Beginning of Fall

 September 13, 2021 - September 29, 2021

We had the bottom of the boat cleaned last week by a professional diver. This included cleaning all of the marine growth out of the sea cocks, especially the one that is the intake  for our air-conditioning system.  We had hoped that we would be HPF (high pressure fault) free for the rest of the summer.  No such luck - on Monday we had to once again remove the whole intake hose and clean it out by banging it on the dock and forcing water through the hose until a very large glop of stuff flew out.  Bob figured it was jelly fish remains with bottom sludge.  Always fun spending the afternoon on such a fabulous project!

Bob and I both had doctor’s appointments on Tuesday.  I just had to have blood drawn, but Bob saw his primary care doctor to discuss the probable cause of his recent falls.  His blood work looked good ruling out a stroke (thank goodness) so the doctor concluded that the worst fall was caused by low blood sugar.  Now that we are on a more reasonable diet than Keto his low blood sugar problem will be a thing of the past, hopefully.  

Earlier in the summer I agreed to make a formal suit for my youngest child for a special event they will be attending in the fall.  They are on a weight loss plan so I wanted to wait as long as possible to complete the suit.  Now, it is crunch time and with a kitten and an adult cat around it is difficult for me to get much done. I can’t imagine why they are so fascinated with my measuring tape and paper patterns, AAAAgh!

Even with all of Kali's assistance I was able to complete my daughter's suit.

We have neglected getting Lola used to car rides because she is so resistant to getting in her carrier.  Since we are leaving for Mexica, which will entail six to seven days of riding in the car, we decided to get the cats in the car for a short ride.  Lola was resistant but we finally got her in the carrier and into the car. Kali actually seems to like her carrier so getting her to the car was easy.  Once in the car we opened the carriers and let them out.  Lola climbed out and hid under a large bag we had in the car and Kali eventually joined her there.  We did a few errands and came back to the boat.  I wouldn’t rate the trip as a success, but at least we tried.

One day I thought it was time to start training Kali to walk on a leash.  It didn’t go very well, but it was a start.

You can see that Kali is very confused
about what she is supposed to do.

Lola watched the process closely.  
She is very protective of her little sister.

Much of the rest of the days were spent preparing for our trip to Mexico..  Since the cats will have the whole back seat to themselves our space for packing will be very limited.  Bob persisted until he was able to order a suitable roof rack and container to hold our clothes and other items we need to take with us.  After we installed them we started packing.  Packing for six months was difficult for me.  Even on a much shorter trip I tend to overpack and with our limited space I had to sort and resort my clothes several times before I reached a point where the clothes would fit in my allotted bag. 

Looking good!

Our next big job was packing up all of the items in our dock box and transporting them to storage.  That job was exhausting, but it went smoothly.

My daughter continues to send me pictures of my adorable granddaughter, Claire.

She's so busy moving her arms and legs.

She can even grab her toy, now!

Such a happy girl!

I’ve been having pain in my thumbs for several months. After talking to my doctor about the issue she referred me to physical therapy.  I started hand therapy this week.  I will see the therapist three more times before we leave for Mexico.  Hopefully, I will learn enough exercises and techniques to help reduce the pain from those sessions and I can continue the therapy on my own.

My next blog will be about our final preparations for our trip.

Thank you for reading my blog

Late Summer on Kent Island

 August 30, 2021 - September 12, 2021

My plan to take a long walk on Monday morning was ditched because of a serious HPF (high pressure fault) on the air conditioner at 6:00 am.  The usual quick fix of cleaning the filter basket didn’t correct the problem.  We had to move to step two which was detaching the inlet hose and cleaning it out with a strong flow of water from our hose.  Needless to say this took over an hour with only a small improvement in the water flow through the raw water filter.  Bob concluded that there must be marine growth around the sea cock.  The only way to fix this problem is to dive down below the boat and clean off the marine growth. When Bob asked where our diving equipment was I immediately said, “It’s time to hire a diver.”  While I cleaned up the huge mess created by our work on the intake hose Bob contacted a local diver and made arrangements for him to clean the bottom of the boat.  He can get to us on Tuesday of this week or next.  Hopefully, the air-conditioning continues to work that long.  There is a cool down in the coming week's forecast, thank goodness. As an aside our little kitten, Kali, was very interested in what we were doing and continually got in the way.  What did we expect from a kitten, right?

We survived hurricane Ida which hit our area on Wednesday, September 1, 2021 in the afternoon and continued to pelt us with heavy rain and high winds most of the night.  At 2:00 pm we both received tornado alerts on our phones.  Bob wasn’t concerned, but having lived in the midwest for 17 years I cannot be blasé about tornadoes.  I stayed in the cockpit observing the sky and the storm cloud movements until 3:00 pm.  The worst part of the storm was west of us (Annapolis area) and was moving North East.  Fortunately, the tornadoes stayed at least 12 miles away form us.  One touched down in Annapolis and one in Talbot County (one county over).  The next morning the sky was a beautiful clear blue and the breeze was cool and dry.  My job after a storm is to bail out the dinghy.  The water was well over my ankles.  I haven’t bailed that much water since we weathered Hurricane Matthew in Onancock, VA almost five years ago. 

Rachel kept me up to date this week with my granddaughter's progress with lots of great pictures.

My granddaughter Claire being cute

Claire has started to smile and laugh.

We decided since this year is my 70th birthday I could celebrate it for a whole week.  I started that week on Thursday with lunch at Lemon Grass Too and a visit to Joann Fabrics for their Labor Day Sale.

My celebrations mostly consisted of eating my favorite foods. On Friday we went to Ram’s Head and I had a delicious Cobb Salad after which I spent the afternoon at the pool.  Saturday was the First Penn State game and it started at 12:30 pm.  We headed to the Pour House Tavern just outside the marina gates to watch the game (our TV has never worked on Kent Island). For lunch we both had hamburgers with fries (they taste like boardwalk fries)! It was a great game especially since Penn State won by a score of 16 - 10. Sunday was overcast and my plan to go to the pool all day was nixed.  We went to the Fisherman’s Crab Deck for lunch where I had three huge steamed crabs and a salad for lunch - the crabs were perfect! 

A gorgeous Maryland steamed crab

A delicious Maryland steamed crab

The weather was spectacular on Labor Day and I spent a large part of the day at the pool since it was the last day the pool would be open this season. On Tuesday we again went to the Crab Deck for lunch thinking I would get some more of their fabulous steamed crabs, but there was a big sign saying they had no steamed crabs (so glad I had some on Sunday). I just had to settle for a great crab cake sandwich - poor me. I also heard from my sisters and children wishing me a “Happy Birthday” that day.

Our favorite seafood restaurant in the area is such a fun place!

 Several times during the previous week I had finished some sewing projects.  When I started sewing a knit tank top on Tuesday (my actual birthday) my machine skipped stitches so badly that I couldn’t finish the top. On Wednesday before my doctor appointment to discuss the pain I was experiencing in my thumbs we dropped my machine off to the guy who had recently serviced it and explained the problem.  Hopefully, he can fix it. The next day I picked up the machine and he said he fixed it by changing the needle from a stretch needle (always used to sew knits) to a woven fabric needle - odd, but it did sew properly. 

 My food choices for the rest of my birthday week were - a Tostado Salad at Chevy’s, pizza and a salad at Italian Market, tuna sub at Italian Market, and a soft crab sandwich at the Crab Deck.  I hit all of my favorite foods including chocolate cake and peanut butter ice cream. 

I did have to help with various boat projects during my week.  We finished bolting the teak table in place (quite an involved project0, attached the second set of piling guards and replaced the inferior bolts on the first set of guards, took down the fore sail and folded it and rolled it up, and cleaned the inlet hose to the air conditioner a couple more times.

The round teak table is now permanently
attached to the floor in the main salon.

I was able to recognize the 20th anniversary of 9/11 tragedy on Saturday by live streaming the concert the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra performed at the memorial of the flight 93 crash sight in Shanksville PA. It was such a moving concert.

Thank you for reading my blog.