Summer in Baltimore

August 2, 2020 - August 9, 2020 

 It was a quiet week on s/v Rainy days. 

 On Monday we took a trip to Annapolis, mostly for Bob’s doctor appointment in the afternoon. We also had pizza lunch at Italian Market which as always was delicious. We stopped at a farm market for our weeks worth of fruits and vegetables and at Giant for the rest of our grocery needs. It turned out to be a very long day and the rain started before we got back to Baltimore. After stowing all of the groceries we started happy hour and finished up the left over pizza (yum).

 Hurricane Isaias was in full swing when we woke up on Tuesday. Thankfully the rain and high winds was short-lived and by 2:00 pm the skies were clear. Taking advantage of the break in the weather we finished the job of replacing the stanchion on the starboard side of the boat and restrung the life lines. It’s always nice to have the boat back together after a project like this. Bob had started some crock pot lasagna in the morning and we ate the delicious meal in the early afternoon. 

 The WiFi here at Anchorage is sadly unreliable causing lots of frustration. So on Wednesday we had a Gig-Stream antennae and modem installed. We are very pleased with the service so far. 

 Thursday started with another trip to Annapolis to do some errands, have lunch at Lemon Grass Too (which was delicious), and have my cracked wisdom tooth pulled by an oral surgeon (fun times). I opted for novocaine instead of anesthesia. After the area was completely numb it took the surgeon about five minutes to extract the tooth. Needless to say removing a wisdom tooth is still a stressful experience and even though the pain was well controlled with Ibuprofen I was wiped out for the rest of the day. 

One afternoon I captured this photo 
walking up to the lounge after a short rain fall.
Rainbows always seem to give me hope.

 The big event of Friday was having lunch with the group of lady live aboard cruisers. We always make sure we can eat outside at the restaurant we choose and this time we had lunch outside by the pool of the Perdy Hotel in Fell’s Point. It is an elegant and expensive hotel with beautiful courtyards and gathering spaces. Since I was still eating only soft foods I had an order of fries (not very nutritious,, but delicious). 

Saturday morning started with a CATastrophe. I was in the cabin fixing breakfast and Bob was in the cockpit watching Lola. When I brought the breakfast out to the cockpit I noticed that Lola was not within eyesight so I walked around the boat and the dock to see if I could find her. We started clapping and calling her and every once in awhile we would hear her little cry. We couldn’t figure out where it was coming from until Lola’s voice got stronger. We finally located her laying on top of one of the floats under the dock. Nothing we did for the next hour helped to coax her off the float. Finally, we called the dock master to remove one of the planks in the dock and Lola scampered out. She ran int to cabin where she got a bath under protest. We were all exhausted after that experience. 

 Wear your mask, social distance and stay safe! 

 Thank you for reading my blog.

Baltimore, MD to Bethany Beach, DE

July 17, 2020 - August 1, 2020

On Friday I went to lunch with three other lady live aboard boaters I have been friends with for several years.  It’s great to have some girl time and catch up on each other’s lives.  We ate at Atwater, a bread and sandwich shop in Canton.  The manner in which this restaurant handled Covid-19 was to provide outdoor tables for carry out orders.  That worked for us!

I spent time the following week getting caught up on boat chores, boat projects, and preparing for my trip to Bethany Beach. I also took my sewing machine to Glory Bees for it’s yearly maintenance and my completed quilt top to be quilted.  Surprisingly, the machine would be done in a week, but the quilt will take eight weeks!

 Each summer Becky (my sister) and I get together with all of her four daughters, husbands and grandchildren and two of my daughters, husbands and one grand daughter to enjoy the sun, surf, and fun at Bethany Beach. This year we were somewhat reluctant to get together, but decided since each of the participants had been diligent about following all of the suggested protocols for the coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak we would be safe as long as we continued the protocols and stayed away from shops and restaurants. Laurie and Nancy, my two other sisters, did not come to Bethany because of covid concerns and we missed having all of us together.

Jessica and Joe picked me up for the trip to the beach at 7:30 am on Saturday, July 25.  The traffic was lighter than we expected so we decided to stop in Rehoboth for cheese steaks at “Gus and Gus’s” on the boardwalk.  They have the best cheese steaks in the world and it’s a place Jessica remembers from her childhood.  We got to Bethany Beach around 2:00 pm only to find that the house would not be ready until 4:00 pm.  We parked in the shade in back of the house and napped a bit and later took a walk down to the ocean.  Thankfully, everyone was required to wear a mask on the boardwalk and the main streets and almost everyone complied.  We returned to the house just as the cleaners were finishing and started unpacking and settling in.  It wasn’t long until everyone was there.  What a joyful reunion! the fifteen adults and nine children fit comfortably in the eleven bedroom (each with a bathroom) house.  I always provide dinner on the first night and ordered pizza and salad from Grottos.  

Rain was predicted for several of the days that week, but we only had a big thunder storm one night and a drizzling rain on Friday.  The weather was hot most days and the ocean was calm enough for lots of swimming.  My granddaughter, Lili, overcame her fear of going all the way in the ocean during the week!  The grand children were all in and out of the ocean (supervised of course), building sand castles, and digging holes all day.  Each night a different family provided a delicious meal and the adults did puzzles and played games until late at night.  What a great week.  We have already booked our week for next year! 

The following pictures were taken on our last evening in Bethany.  Unfortunately my daughter Jessica and her husband Joe were not there and my camera died before I could get back to the house to get a photo of them.  

Here I am with my granddaughter Lilli,
My daughter, Rachel and Juan.

Al with his four daughters -
Allison, Amelia, Jennifer, and Wendy
  

The Hartle family + Wendy-
Allison, Ryan, Ronan, Muave

The Pavlanko family-
Vladimere, Jennifer,
Bella, Mateo, Luca

The Contreras family -
Jorge, Ofelia, Amelia,
Rosa, Alfredo, Maxi

We couldn't keep the children out of the water!

Wrangling the group for our annual group photo

The tide waits for no one.

We cleaned up the house and left for home at 10:00 am.  The good byes were tearful and we all suffered family separation sadness when we leave.

Wear a mask, social distance, and stay safe! Thank you for reading my blog

Galesville, MD to Baltimore, MD

July 3, 2020 - July 16, 2020

I made it back to Galesville on Friday afternoon after a long, but uneventful drive home from Tennessee.  It was the fourth of July weekend and since we were in Galesville not much was going on and we spent the weekend relaxing, reading and doing a few boat chores.  Our transmission was supposed to be installed on Monday morning, but apparently it had not arrived at the yacht yard on Thursday as expected.  As it turned out it wasn’t installed until Wednesday which pushed our trip back to Baltimore to Thursday.  

Even though the transmission shifting was a little stiff and probably meant replacing the transmission cable at some point we left for Baltimore on Thursday morning.  It was a great day out on the water.  When the bay is playing nice it is one of the best places for boating.  We arrived at our slip in Anchorage Marina in mid afternoon.  Roy, one of our boat neighbors, helped us dock and it went smoothly.  Finally, we were at our summer destination!  

Now the boat projects begin - some big ones and some small ones. Mostly I’m the assistant and Bob is the foreman on these projects. Here is a list of the ones I can remember:

• replaced the plastic fittings with bronze fittings on the intake hose for the air conditioner. I really don’t like plumbing projects! 
• hooked up a new inlet hose to the strainer for the air conditioner
• cleaned the duck poo out of the dinghy (twice), hauled it out of the water, cleaned the bottom, and stowed the dinghy on the bow
• tried to remove the bent stanchion we are replacing, but couldn’t.  It is now being treated with PB Blaster to loosen it
• pulled the mattress out of the quarter berth to assess the level of the platform (turned out it was level and Bob will not have to reinforce the frame)

I also attended some doctor’s appointments.  I visited my primary care doctor to have her inspect a lump on my left thigh.  She recommended that I have an ultra sound, which I did a couple days later (still waiting to talk to my doctor about the results).  I went to my dentist for a cleaning and advice about what to do for my chipped wisdom tooth (I will have it extracted in a couple of weeks).

It is great to have my sewing machine back on board and I have been using it to make masks and complete some garments I had cut out before we left for the Bahamas.  It’s been a busy two weeks!

I've enjoyed using my Olympus shockproof and waterproof camera, too.  Here are some photos taken from the stern of s/v Rainy Days:

a beautiful sunset

The colors reflected in the water
were more vibrant than the colors in the sky.

I was captivated by the reflection of
the boats in the calm water.

Take care and wear a mask and social distance! We all have to do our part to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Thank you for reading my blog. 

Galesville, MD to Crossville, TN

June 23, 2020 - July 3, 2020

Since we were going to be at the yacht yard for at least another week we decided to get started on some of our bigger summer projects.  We were docked by a large wide pier so it made sense to get all of our caves cleaned and waterproofed while we were there.  We started with the connector (between the dodger and bimini) and the dodger windows.  After cleaning and rinsing to remove all of the salt deposits I brushed the water proofing on the small areas and used a roller for the bigger areas of canvas.  It took three full days to complete the project and because of a rain delay on Tuesday I worked for six hours out in the hot sun on Wednesday to complete the project before I had to prepare to drive to Crossville, TN to spend a week with my son and his family.  Before the pandemic My daughter Rachel and Jessica were supposed to join us as well, but as happened to many plans those were scrapped.

I captured this sunset at the marina
with my new Olympus shockproof
and waterproof camera.

This shot was taken off the stern
as a sailboat was returning to the marina.

Thursday was spent doing laundry, packing, buying supplies, and attending a get together of friends at Anchorage Marina (we observed safe protocols). I left Hartges at 4:00 am on Friday and arrived at the resort in Tennessee at 3:00 pm. It was a grueling day of travel, but I was excited to see my son and his family after a year separation.  They drove from Houston, TX and it took them 13 hours.

On Saturday my grandson and I got up before everyone else and took a walk around our section of the resort, spent some time at the pool, and did a little fishing in the pond where each cast produced a blue gill.

"Canon Ball!"

Our pool fun didn't last long since
the morning was overcast and chilly.

Acen was proud of his first catch of the trip.

The small pond was home to
some lovely water lilies.

That night we had a little birthday party for Brandy (my sons wife) and Brandy, Karl, and Acen went to a movie at the beach while I went to bed early.

On Saturday, after some fishing, we packed some sandwiches, etc. and drove to Ozone Falls State Park.  We ate our picnic lunch and hiked to the top of the falls.

Acen and his dad exploring
the stream at the top of the falls.

The water gurgled over the rocks
at the top of the falls.

Next we walked to the entrance to the bottom of the falls and hiked - no rock climbed - to the bottom.  The falls was 110 feet high with a large pool at the bottom.  There didn’t appear to be an outlet for the water, but there probably wasn’t enough water in the creek at this time of year for it to tumble over the rocks and continue down the mountain.  People were swimming in the pool of water and Karby and Acen ventured to the edge of the pool to explore.

It was a little to chilly for swimming
in this pool.

On Monday morning Brandy and I went shopping for a dress she could wear to the funeral of her grandfather which she wanted to attend.  She would drive to Ohio later in the afternoon for the service on Tuesday. I hadn’t been shopping at all since the start of the pandemic and enjoyed searching through the racks for an appropriate dress.  The store was going out of business with heavy discounts on all merchandise which made it even more fun!

We spent most of Monday afternoon at the fishing pier near the beach.  I explored the beach area and found out about the boat rentals there.  Tuesday was definitely the sunniest day so far and we didn’t get back to the condo until around 5:00 pm where I made pizza for dinner. Brandy was back with us on Wednesday so we rented kayaks and a giant paddle type boat to paddle around the lake and then spent the afternoon at the beach.  On Thursday we visited the downtown of the little town of Crossville, explored the Military Memorial Museum, had a snack at the coffee shop, and explored one of the gift shops.  Afterwards we rented a pontoon boat at the marina for a couple of hours and puttered around the lake fishing, eating lunch, and swimming briefly.

Acen is holding a Sharp's Rifle.
Do you know what they call someone
who shoots a Sharp's Rifle?

Acen behind a WWII machine gun.

This is a model of a "B 29" bomber.
My dad flew in one like it during WWII.

On Friday I got up early again and was on the road back to Galesville by 4:00 am.  It was such a blessing to spend time with my son and his family. but as always it is good to be home. Too bad the pandemic caused my two older daughters to cancel there plans to spend the time with us as well. 

Stay safe and healthy!

Thank you for reading my blog.

Galesville, MD

June 19, 2020 - June 25, 2020

In the week we have been back in our home area we have visited most of our favorite restaurants: Italian market twice (once for pizza and once for Italian subs), Mexican Cafe (for guacamole, margaritas, and quesadillas), Naval Bagels (for six grain bagels) South County Cafe (for sandwiches and a cookie), Carol’s Creek Cafe (for cream of crab soup, a crab cake, and Greek seafood salad), and Jack’s Fortune (for cashew chicken and crispy beef).  We either got take out or ate outside where we could. While waiting in the boatyard queue to have our transmission removed we have started on some of our summer projects.  Bob replaced light bulbs in the head and now I can see to put in my contacts and when I start wearing make up again I won’t come out looking like a clown.  Bob also removed items we don’t need now that we will be in one place for awhile from the cock pit and tidied up the dock lines.  I cleaned out the quarter berth of unnecessary items and we took everything to storage.  We put our bikes in the back of the Prius for easier access. We worked together to tighten the faucet on the galley sink and we are in the process of cleaning and water proofing the canvas and cleaning and polishing the clear acrylic windows in our enclosure.  We will probably remove some portions of the enclosure and store them over the summer.

I retrieved my sewing machine and some of my fabric from storage and made new facemasks for us.  I made seven for me (I change mine everyday) and one for Bob (he has other masks and doesn’t change his as often).  Sewing has greatly improved my mood while biding our time here in Galesville.  I took one afternoon to complete the quilt top I had started last summer for Rachel’s (my second daughter) quilt.  I’ll be able to get it to the quilter as soon as I buy the batting. 

I used the shoe box pattern to create
this quilt using forty different fat
quarters of batik fabric,

I found the pattern for these masks online and
created them using left over quilt scraps.
The elastic is designed to go around
the neck and over the head which
I find more comfortable.

We were informed today that our transmission will be hauled out tomorrow morning. Hurrah!  This will be the first step in the repair process.

Stay safe and thank you for reading my blog.

Bel Haven, VA to Galesville, MD

June 8, 2020 - June 18, 2020

Monday was a busy day.  We finished clearing our belongings out of the cottage, provisioned for the next seven days, stowed everything away, filled the water tanks, returned the rental car, and left the dock at twelve noon.  Axson was on board with us to do a sea trial to check out all of the repairs and to guide us out of the narrow and shallow channel.  His dad picked him up from our boat about thirty minutes later and we were on our way again.  It was a beautiful sunny day with a nice cool breeze. We motored up the Pongo River to the Pongo/Alligator River Canal and into the Alligator river where we anchored for the night at 5:00 pm.  The big excitement for the trip was observing a small black bear swimming across the canal.  This is the second bear we have seen a bear swimming in this area.  There must be many of them around.  It was just great to be on our way north again!

On Tuesday we traveled up the Alligator River and crossed the Abermarle Sound.  It was probably the easiest crossing we have ever made with low wind velocity and favorable tides.  We continued up the North Landing River and on to Conjock to dock for the night.  Since we left so early in the morning we were tied up and ready for a late lunch at the Coinjock Restaurant by 2:00 pm.  I had a delicious French dip prime rib sandwich and a side salad and Bob had the 6 oz prime rib with two sides.  Coinjock is known for its great restaurant.  We still had time to take showers and do two loads of laundry before dark.

This dragon fly was one of many that
visited our boat during our trip.

 In the morning on Wednesday we waited for the office to open so we could get two ten pound bags of ice before we left.  We had a short trip and docked at the free dock just south go the Great Bridge Bridge.

Thursday was probably my most frustrating day of the trip.  As we were leaving the dock to make the 8:00 am opening of the Great Bridge Bridge our transmission would not go into forward.  I quickly used the boat hook to pull the boat back to the dock and tied her up while Bob investigated.  We tried to leave the dock again (without dock hands to help I had to untie the bow line and run to untie the stern line while Bob hugged the piling to keep the boat close so I could board). Again we had the same transmission problem and I had to repeat the docking and undocking procedure once again all the while cursing the boatyard that had just reinstalled our transmission.  This time the boat worked and we just squeaked through the bridge opening.  There was a huge barge being pushed by a tugboat in front of us and none of the other waiting boats could fit into the lock with it.  The lock was going to reopen as soon as the barge was through and get us into the lock and on our way as quickly as possible.  Some kind of accident occurred in the lock with the barge and tugboat and we had to meander around in the small area between the bridge and the lock for an hour before we were finally in the lock.  This meandering consisted of trying to tie up on the side to pilings  then turning around and trying again to tie up safely.  Once in the lock there was no help for getting our boats secured to the cleats and we had to do all of that ourselves.  Then on to Hampton for a one night stay in the Hampton Piers Marina.  Unfortunately the staff at the marina was all new and was not very helpful in getting us the necessary information about  preparation for docking.  I set up a port side tie only to find out at the last minute that I had to be ready for a starboard side tie.  I had a bit of a meltdown when we were trying to dock and all of a sudden we were told that because of Covid the marina was only renting every other slip.  Anyway we got the boat safely docked and had a great lunch at the Brewing Company that  is next to the docks.  The rain started late in the afternoon and lasted all night and into the morning.

After bailing the dinghy of rain water we left Hampton at 8:00 am.  When we got out into the bay the wind and tide were against us and we could barely make four knots.  Eventually the tide changed and the wind died down and the rest of the trip to Fishing Bay was very pleasant.

On Saturday the weather was overcast and windy.  For most of the day the wind was right on our nosed and we hobby horsed (yippee) up the bay at four to five knots. We couldn’t make it to Solomon’s (our intended stop) during daylight and anchored on the Great Wicomaco River.

 What turned out to be our last night to
anchor out gave us a beautiful sunset.

Sunday we left early after coaxing the boat into first gear (it took about 15 minutes).  This transmission issue has been plaguing us for awhile, but got worse after our prop shaft was replaced and continued to get worse everyday.  We made good time passing Solomons just after noon.  Since we were making such good time we decided to continue on to Hartges Yacht Yard in Galesville so we wouldn’t have to struggle with the transmission again.  We arrived around 6:30 pm and docked after a 77mile trip.

Hartges is very backed up so we are biding our time here at the yacht yard until the mechanic can remove the transmission, take it to the transmission technicion, and return the transmission and install it in the boat.  Fortunately we can stay on the boat throughout this process as the boat will not need a haul out to fix the transmission.

While here we picked up our car from storage, collected our mail from Anchorage Marina, and started in on our boat projects.  We fixed the lights in the head, tightened the faucet in the galley, applied snaps to the backrest cushions in the cockpit, replaced the screws and wing nuts on the composting toilet, and began the process of replacing two stanchions on the deck.

Lola loves Hartges.  She watches birds
 intensely and keeps them off the boat.

Bob is punching the holes in the backrest 
in preparation for inserting the snaps.

The finished back rests.

And, of course, I'm still cooking.
When life gives you strawberries you make shortcake!

We will probably be here at Hartges for two or three weeks.  It's not a high class marina, but it has great shower facilities and is close to Annapolis and Baltimore so we feel like we are home. It is refreshing to be in Maryland where everyone is serious about the protocols for personal protection from the Coronavirus.  Everyone wears face masks and observes social distancing.

Stay safe and thank you for reading my blog.

Boat Repair in Belhaven, NC

May 29, 2020 - June 6, 2020

After two solid days of rain the sun peeked out for a few hours on Friday, but it was still mostly overcast.  The work on the boat was stalled because of the weather and since we really didn’t go out among people unnecessarily we spent most of the rainy days inside.  We read, used our computers, and watched crime shows on TV (this was sort of a treat since we never have cable channels on the boat).

Saturday was still overcast, but it only sprinkled a bit as we drove to New Bern to visit friends (Mary and Dick Hein) at the New Bern Marina.  We are considering staying in New Bern next winter so we wanted to see the facilities and tour the town.  The marina is nice enough and many of the shops, restaurants and points of interest are well within walking distance (important to me). We had lunch inside a restaurant (our first time doing this since the quarantine) and were happy to see all of the staff wearing masks.  Social distancing was accomplished by removing half of the tables.  We were the only guests I saw wearing masks when we entered.  The lunch was delicious and Dick and Mary gave us a tour of the town in their new Tesla.  We were back at the cottage by 4:00 pm.

The next morning, again, was sunny with fewer clouds than Saturday.  We drove to Nags Head had a great take out lunch from Jersey Mike’s, walked around a bit, and had ice cream at The Spot.  It was a long drive (over two hours) for such a short visit, but it was nice to be out of the cottage for awhile.  Nag’s Head is not like Delaware and Maryland beaches, but is a spread out collection of beach houses on both sides of a four lane road.  The road is about eight miles long with restaurants, shops and water sports rental shops.  I didn’t see any downtown or boardwalk.

Our stay in Belhaven was continually extended due to unfinished boat work.  Twice we drove to Moorehead City, NC (2 hours away) to pick up the propeller shaft, the propeller and a bushing. On the sunny days I took a walk around the town.  Belhaven is a very small-town with a population of 1,580.  

Bel haven has:

…a stately manor house,

large water front homes,

cute cottages,

a few interesting shops,

a fun hardware store,

a bakery and snack shop (the only open eatery),

two marinas (neither one had many boats docked),

water front condos,

and, of course the Between Water and Main B & B.

Between Water and Main rented us their two room cottage for our time in Behaven.  This 

B & B was the only pet friendly accommodation in town and of course we had to keep Lola with us. The cottage was beautifully decorated with antiques and had all we needed to fix ourselves breakfast, sandwiches, snacks and heat up left overs.  The owner was more than helpful and was flexible with the length of our stay (since the boat yard was continually delaying the completion of our work).  We were grateful that the cottage was available as staying on the boat while it was being repaired would have been very uncomfortable.

One of Lola’s favorite past times at the cottage was

 watching the squirrels and birds out the window

 with her tail swishing back and forth.

We should be on our way on Monday, finally! Actually the boat still isn't in the water as I publish this blog. AHHHHHHHH!

Stay safe and thank you for reading my blog.