Day 25, Year 11: Computer is Dead

by | Nov 16, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 25, Year 11: Computer is Dead
Date: Monday, November 16, 2015
Weather: Mostly Sunny, High Temp in the low-60’s
Location: At Home with the Goldstones, East Falmouth, MA

We got fhe official proclamation this morning that my computer is dead. The computer repair shop here says both my hard drive and mother board are gone. Evidently putting my computer in the back of a pick-up truck to get it to the airport on Friday the 13th made that the most expensive airport run I hope to ever make. We spent as much time today çomputer shopping as we could and the result was discouraging. Replacing what I had is not going to be cheap and we really don’t have the money nor the time to research the best choices. So I’m probably going to be without a computer for the next few weeks. It actually depresses me to even think about it, but there’s not much I can do about it right now. I guess I’ll learn to deal.

We drove to Boston today for Mark’s scan. We won’t have the results until Wednesday, so hope with us for the best. Tomorow he goes back to Boston to see his urologist and then on Wednesday we return to meet with his oncologists to get the scan results. We are certainly looking forward to Thursday when we fly to Puerto Rico and leave the medical appointments behind for a couple of weeks.

Day 24, Year 11: Getting Ready for the Trip to Puerto Rico

by | Nov 15, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 24, Year 11: Getting Ready for the Trip to Puerto Rico
Date: Sunday, November 15, 2015
Weather: Mostly Sunny, High Temp in the mid-50’s
Location: At Home with the Goldstones, East Falmouth, MA

Today was mostly spent getting ready for our upcoming trip to Puerto Rico. We fly out on Thursday, but since we have to drive to Boston each day this week, we figured we should take advantage of Sunday to get packed. We had taken most of our summer clothes off Windbird before leaving here and put them in our storage unit. So first thing this morning we headed to the unit to retrieve our clothes. We also took an inflatable surfboard bag that Justin had sent here. He has a surfboard in our storage unit that he really wants us to bring with us. The surfboard fit in the bag just fine, so we will be taking that plus our snorkel gear plus clothes for two weeks–lots of stuff. After our storage unit adventure, we drove to Hyannis. Heather and Ollie went with us. Mark and Heather wanted to take their tablets in for repair, but what we leaned is that it is jusr cheaper to replace the tablets. For Mark this is his older, smaller tablet that he really hasn’t used much since he bought a 10-inch tablet that we use for navigation purposes. He uses it for everything, but finds the smaller 7-inch tablet much nicer for reading books. ReplacWng that is low on the priority list right now since we might have to buy a new computer. We made a stop at Trader Joe’s and JoAnn Fabrics and then returned home.

We then spent a good deal of time trying to get these logs to post properly. Without my computer we didn’t have the updated password to get me into the website to post the logs directly and when I tried to send them via email, the body of the email didn’t show up. So frustrating. But this afternoon we were able to reset the password and hopefully I can continue to send logs using the tablet. I can’t post photos, however, so I hope to get the computer fixed or buy a new one before we leave for Puerto Rico. But at least for now I do think the logs are posting properly.

Day 23, Year 11: Back Home with the Goldpebbles

by | Nov 14, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 23, Year 11: Back Home with the Goldpebbles
Date: Saturday, November 14, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Warmer Than Expected
Location: At Home with the Goldstones, East Flmouh, MA

After visiting with Sue and John Reed his morning, we took the 12 noon bus to the Cape. Heather, Jed, and the boys met us at the bus station in Falmouth with our car. After wonderful hugs and kisses all around, Mark and I took Ollie and went to the computer repair shop. Unfortunately they can’t even look at the computer until Monday, so I’m still struggling along with Mark’s tablet. Logs will be short and sweet until I have a computer once again.

We spent our afternoon and evening playing with the boys. I know we’ve only been gone three weeks but we sure miss the Goldpebbles when we are not here. After they went to bed we watched the Democratic debate and then called it a night.

Day 22, Year 11: From Little River to Boston

by | Nov 13, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 22, Year 11: From Little River to Boston
Date: Friday, November 13, 2015
Weather: Sunny and a Bit Cooler, High in the Low 70’s
Location: At Home with Sue and John Reed, Cambridge, MA

Our Friday the 13th started out great but it didn’t end on a very happy note. We started the day by returning our borrowed transportation to my nephew’s son Ryan. He lives with his grandparents, Bob Ginny Stout, so we had a nice visit with them and all of us went out to lunch at Pizzeli’s. Ryan then took us home and visited for a bit on Windbird. Mark spent his afternoon getting the boat ready to leave. Shutting the thru – hull valves was the biggest job, and I cleaned out the refrigerator and gave the food to dock neighbors, Beth and Bob Swaub. In the late afternoon Brian and Judy Thompson, friends from Charlotte, came to visit. We went out to dinner and then they took us to the airport. So far, so good. The flight to Boston was quick and easy and we got a cab to our destination in Cambridge. Everything had gone smoothly. But then I opened my computer to turn it on to write this log. Nothing. I tried again. Nothing. We made sure it had power and Mark tried to get it going. Still nothing. I was frustrated beyond my limits. I am really lost without my computer. It is not even two years old and should not be having this problem. For the first time ever, Mark didn’t bring his computer, so I have no back-up. And the timing couldn’t be worse. When we get to Falmouth tomorrow we’ll take it into the shop and hope that they can fix the problem. More about this tomorrow.

Day 21, Year 11: Getting Ready to Fly Home

by | Nov 12, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 21, Year 11: Getting Ready to Fly Home
Date: Thursday, November 12, 2015
Weather: Another Gorgeous Day, High Near 80 F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC

Today was all about checking things off the list of things we MUST-DO before flying home tomorrow night. We packed our bag and found that we needed more space. So I went to the Post Office and got a large Priority Box. It was barely big enough to take the extra things, but we made it fit. We’ll mail that in the morning. Then we added something to the list—clean the canvas on the ceiling of the cockpit. When we left Cape Cod there were a few tiny spots of mildew on the Sunbrella, but they seem to have exploded since we arrived here. I had hope to do this job when we return after Christmas, but today we looked again and were afraid the spots would never come off if we waited. Cleaning the Sunbrella with a Clorox, water, and New Dawn mixture is a nasty job because you are working over your head with the mixture dripping on your head and face constantly. Thankfully that’s done. While I did this, Mark finished off the stainless. And then I washed down the bottom of the dinghy and the deck. The dinghy sits upside down on the deck when we are in port and while we are traveling. Before leaving Cape Cod, we put it on deck and it was growing lots of goodies as it had been in the water most of the summer. It has basically been sitting upside down on the deck for the past three weeks and the growth has dried out. Yesterday we noticed bits and pieces were blowing off and onto the deck. So I scrubbed the bottom of the dinghy and then washed the bits off the deck. The last job was to wrap the headsail and staysail with their own sheets (lines) as we would if a hurricane threatened. It is doubtful that we will get a big blow here in the next six weeks while we are gone, but we wrapped the sails just in case. I’ve spent my evening doing back-ups of the photos and videos taken in the past seven months. I try to do this every four months, but better late than never. So I think we are just about ready to go. We have a few odds and ends left to do tomorrow, but nothing major. We have friends coming to visit from out of town late tomorrow afternoon. We’ll go out to dinner with them and they will take us to the airport. We’ll arrive in Boston after midnight, take a cab to Sue and John Reed’s in Cambridge, and spend the night there. On Saturday we’ll take the bus to Falmouth and be home in time for dinner. Lookout Goldpebbles, here we come!

Day 20, Year 11: Up the Mast, Double That

by | Nov 11, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 | 0 comments

Day 20, Year 11: Up the Mast, Double That
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Weather: Gorgeous Day, High in the 70’s
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC

Mark went up the mast today. Well, actually he went up two different masts. First he went up Sea Turtle’s mast to replace a light bulb for Lee and then he went up Windbird’s mast to see why the new lightbulb James installed in Cape May wasn’t working. It was a loose connection and easy to fix, so now both boats have working bow lights. I worked on photos while waiting for the heavy dew to dry. One thing led to another and it was afternoon before I got out on deck to polish stainless. I worked until almost 5 pm, but I’m still not done. Hopefully that job will be completed tomorrow.

Tonight we went out to dinner with Lee and Lynda Kaufman. We went to Asian Fusion near where they used to live in Longs. It is not far from here and they have really good sushi. Lynda and Lee don’t eat sushi, but they enjoyed their meals as well. We then all came back to Windbird for dessert and a special showing of photos from Lee and Lynda’s trip out west this fall. We traveled through the Bad Lands of South Dakota, Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons in Wyoming, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon in Utah, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, and ended up at a hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico. What a fantastic trip. I have never been to Zion National Park and now that is on my list. Such dramatic scenery.
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151111 Day 20 Little River, SC–Up the Mast and Out to Dinner