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.
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| My granddaughter Claire being cute |
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| 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!
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| A gorgeous Maryland steamed crab |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
