by Judy Handley | Jul 2, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 251, Year 6: Dinner with Dick and Claire
Date: Saturday, July 2, 2011
Weather: Another Beautiful Day, Temp mid-70’s
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Much of my morning was spent shopping for a very few items but it required that I go to different stores to get the best prices. That is what took so long. Then I went to Heather’s to work in the garden. Mark stayed on Windbird and spent the entire day removing the leaky water hot water tank. When I returned at 4:30 pm he had just finished. In order to get to the hot water tank he had to remove an AC freezer compressor that we never use since we are rarely plugged into a dock. We will keep it in case we move to a dock at some point and need the extra freezer power, but for now the removal gives us a nice storage space under the kitchen sink. We took a few minutes to catch up on each other’s day and then we headed to Dick and Claire Wiklund’s for dinner. Claire is a phenomenal cook and she remembered my love of artichokes serving an artichoke dip as an appetizer and artichokes with herbed stuffing with the steak and salad for the main course. She also served a wonderful fish chowder preceding the main course. The food was delicious and the company even better. We talked about our travels and Dick and Claire’s land travels in their newer, bigger Air Stream. Dick is an avid woodworker and the neatness and organization of his wood shop never fails to impress us. We got to see his pride and joy, a very large remote control bi-plane-a Stopwith Camel. This is the type of plane Snoopy flies. A fun evening was had by all.
by Judy Handley | Jul 1, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 250, Year 6 Worker Bees
Date: Friday, July 1, 2011
Weather: Another Beautiful Day, Temp mid-70’s
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Today we were worker bees. Mark worked at West Marine and they were so busy all day that he could barely take fifteen minutes to eat lunch. I did some shopping early (Mark’s birthday is next week) and then I went to Heather and Jed’s to do a few housecleaning and garden jobs. And I was so busy all day that I could barely take fifteen minutes to eat. But my business was self-imposed. Once the little ones return on Tuesday, there will be no time for cleaning, so I’m taking advantage of the quiet house this weekend to get some things done.
Yesterday we sent a Letter to Family and Friends letting them know that we are back in the USA and we have gotten some wonderful responses from our cruising friends around the world. Our good friend Doug Nash is in Opua, New Zealand, working on Windcastle and contemplating selling her. His wife and our good friend Sylvie died in Vanuatu a couple of years ago and Doug just doesn’t think he wants to continue sailing. We heard from Cam and Arnie of Jade who have been back home in Hong Kong for a year now. Arnie reflected on the fact that none of us will ever be able to have a repeat of the special times we had together as world cruisers, but he promised that life on land offers a “different kind of special.” Their daughter Molly who we first met when she was seven, graduated from primary school this week and that was a very special moment for the proud parents. We heard from friends who just completed their circumnavigation in Turkey. They went through the Red Sea, but not in their sailboat. The pirate threat has gotten just too dangerous so people going through are having their boats transported on big ships and then flying to meet their boats in the Mediterranean. I think I have mentioned before that Randy and Sheri of Procyon have put their beautiful boat up for sale and our going to start a new life in northern California. Randy is the one that had the medical emergencies that had to be airlifted out of the Galapagos and then had to be picked up by a cargo ship that could get him to medical help on the way to the Marqueses. He is fine now and looking forward to being a land lubber. Eric and Robyn of Scorpido finished their circumnavigation a couple of months ago and are loving life back on land in northern California. Judy and Dave of Freebird are in the Mediterranean and are contemplating selling their boat. Dave spent seven years of his life building Freebird, so I know the decision to sell her must have been a difficult one for him. Our good friends Jean Pierre and Colette of Safina are in Japan and will be heading across the Great Circle to the west coast of the US when the weather is just right. Ley and Neil of Crystal Blues are finishing up some work commitments and will be leaving Singapore for their “beloved Thailand” and places yet undetermined. And the list goes on. We were just so excited to hear from so many friends and get updates on what is happening in their lives.
This weekend we will be turning our attention to Windbird. She has no major issues, but just lots of little maintenance jobs that need to be done to put her back in tip-top shape. And then there is the leaky hot water tank that needs to be repaired or replaced. I can’t take many more of these cold New England showers!
by Judy Handley | Jun 30, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 249, Year 6 All About Vehicles
Date: Thursday, June 30, 2011
Weather: Gorgeous Day, Temp mid-70’s
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Today was all about vehicles. We first drove our daughter’s old Honda from Woods Hole to Falmouth to get it inspected. After getting the muffler replaced yesterday, the inspection took only ten minutes and the car passed the test. We thought the rust was going to be a problem, but they let it go this time. We then drove to Yarmouth to get the title transferred on the Ford Taurus station wagon we bought last Sunday. With the summer traffic, it took about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, but we were in and out in about twenty minutes and on our way back to East Falmouth to Heather’s house. We put the new license plates on the station wagon and Mark took off in it for Boston. His pre-operation testing was scheduled for 3:45 pm this afternoon and he made it with time to spare. I then took Heather and Jed’s van to Super Lube to get the oil changed. They are leaving for a long weekend in Maine tomorrow morning and the van needed the oil change before the trip.
We got an email from our friend Zbyszek this morning and the subject line said, “You will not become dirt diggers.” He and Tina are sailing in Greece and Turkey this summer and he was just letting us know that he’s positive we won’t be satisfied living a “normal” life for long. He’s convinced that once you’ve experienced the freedom of a being a world cruiser that trying to fit in “back home” is not an easy task. But then, he doesn’t have grandchildren yet. Admittedly all of the hassles of getting cell phone service we can afford, getting internet access we can afford, dealing with vehicles, and on and on, do make one question the sanity of being permanently plugged in to a land base.
Justin, Jo, and Ziggy made it to England with no problems. We heard from Jo’s mother that Ziggy was happily playing in her gardens this afternoon. And we read that the wild fire in Los Alamos is no longer a threat. All is well that ends well, but it is frightening to think of what could have happened if those barrels of plutonium waste had burst due to the high heat. Both of our children will be spending the upcoming weekend with in-laws. Mark works tomorrow, but not Saturday or Sunday, so we have the weekend all to ourselves and I think we will spend the time doing a little maintenance on Windbird. She has been good to us and she needs a little TLC, so we’ll hope for beautiful weather so we can enjoy the work. And maybe we’ll even have time to catch up on long-overdue correspondence.
by Judy Handley | Jun 29, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 248, Year 6 Playing Catch-up
Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Weather: Cloudy Early, Sunny Afternoon, Temp 74 degrees F
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Even though I have spent much of this year doing long passages and sitting still, sitting still is not something I do very well. I love it on passages as it gives me the chance to edit photos and correspond with friends and family, but now that we are not headed to some new and exciting place, the concept of sitting still is a bit of a challenge. I was not needed to babysit today and Mark had his first day at work, so I had the day all to myself. It has taken me most of the day to come to grips with that reality and now I am playing catch-up. I have hardly had time to read an email much less respond to any since we arrived in the Carolinas over a month ago. And photos have gone totally by the wayside. So I have plenty to do, I just needed a little redirection.
We have been using Heather’s old Honda Civic that she has driven for the past fourteen years while waiting for the paperwork to be processed so we can drive the car that we bought jointly with Heather and Jed on Sunday. I call Heather’s old car the “rumble bumble” because it has been in desperate need of a new muffler and some body work to control the encroaching rust. After taking Mark to work at West Marine, I took the car to Midas to get the muffler work done, but that left me without a vehicle. So I walked a short distance to the mall where I could catch the summer trolley to Woods Hole. It runs every half hour which makes it quite convenient and it only costs seniors $1.00 per trip. I ran into Jed in Woods Hole when I got off the trolley and he said the drop-off of the boys at summer camp didn’t go very smoothly. Jonah didn’t want mommy to leave so he cried and then Sam got upset because Jonah was upset. It’s the way with little ones, but Heather was upset about having to leave them and wanted to make sure she left work in Woods Hole right at 12:45 to go pick them up. I came back out to the boat but then went back in at 12:45 to get a ride to town. I wanted to tell Mark that he would be riding the trolley home this evening and I really didn’t want to call him on his first day of work. And it gave me a good excuse to go with Heather and Jed to see Sam and Jonah. Soon I will be the one picking them up from summer camp and it is important to ease them into this, especially Jonah who is going through an “I can’t live without mommy” phase. I accomplished my missions and returned once again to Woods Hole on the trolley.
While enroute from Woods Hole to Falmouth, I got a call from Claire Wiklund. We met Claire and Dick when we lived aboard in Boston. Dick is a physician and was working at Mass General Hospital. He and Claire lived in Boston during the week staying on their boat and then headed home to the Cape on the weekends. Since then Dick has retired and they live permanently on the Cape except when traveling in their motor home. Recently Dick was instrumental in helping us get an appointment at Mass General for Mark. This morning they happened to be in West Marine and saw Mark. Claire has kept up with our voyage by reading the logs and she invited us to dinner on Saturday night to hear some of the stories in person. We’ll be looking forward to that as she is fantastic cook and it will be great to hear about their land travels in the past year two years.
I haven’t seen an update on the wild fire in New Mexico, but Justin called mid-day to say that he, Jo, and Ziggy were heading south to Albuquerque to catch their flight to England. First they fly to Dallas and then to New York or Boston before heading across the Atlantic. In the end, they left everything behind in hopes that there will be no nuclear disaster as a result of the fire. They return home in a month. We hope they have a non-eventful trip to England and really enjoy their month there with Jo’s family.
by Judy Handley | Jun 28, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 247, Year 6 Foggy, Foggy Night
Date: Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Weather: Sunny Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Fog is something we have forgotten how to deal with, but it looks like we had better jog our memories quickly. We had a nice day–warm in the sunshine, cool when the sun went down–and then eerie when the fog rolled in. We had dinner with Heather, Jed, and boys and when we returned to Eel Pond, the fog was rolling in. Thankfully negotiating the pond in the dinghy is easy, with or without fog, but we just need to make the mental adjustment.
Mark went to West Marine this morning and he starts work in the morning. So that is on track. We spent the afternoon at Heather’s helping to watch the boys while she tried to get some work done. We went for a wagon ride to the cranberry bogs where we attempted to fly a kit Jonah got for his birthday. There wasn’t much wind, but it was enough to delight a two and a four year-old. At one point the kite went down in the bog and got caught on a sprinkler head. We were up on the earthen dam wall and Mark had to climb down into the moat that surrounds the cranberry field. It was straight down and I wasn’t sure he could climb back up, but he held onto the weeds on the side of the dam wall and got up with no problem.
We checked the internet about the status of the wild fire in New Mexico and then we talked to Justin. He and Jo are still planning on flying to England tomorrow but they have decided to drive their bus south to Albuquerque and leave it there while they are gone. If the worst case scenario should happen and the fire heats the 30,000 55-gallon barrels of plutonium-contaminated waste to the point of explosion, they are hoping that the resulting plume would not head south to Albuquerque and they would at least have the bus to live in when they return from England. The chances that those barrels will blow is very, very low, but they are stored outside and the fire was only 50 feet from the perimeter of Los Alamos at mid-day. So there is the chance for disaster and it doesn’t hurt to have a back-up plan.
by Judy Handley | Jun 27, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 246, Year 6 Trip to Boston
Date: Monday, June 27, 2011
Weather: Beautiful Day, Temperature in the mid-70’s
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Today was the big trip to Mass General Hospital’s Urology Department in Boston. Mark’s urologist is Dr. Cutie. How much grief must he have endured in his life due to his name? He is on the youngish side, but seems very knowledgeable and is forthright about what he has expertise in and what he doesn’t, without any hesitation in referring Mark to other physicians if and when needed. Today he showed Mark the images taken of his bladder in Puerto Rico and explained that the bladder is greatly distended with walls that look very thin. But he can’t really make any determinations without going in and seeing for himself. So on July 15 Mark will go back to have the nasty little stones in his bladder removed and while in there, the doctor will have a good look around. The follow-up appointment won’t be until the end of July, so we have lots of weeks of waiting before we really know anything more. Mark has go back this Thursday for pre-op testing, so it looks like we will be making lots of trips to Boston this summer and fall.
Jed’s parents, Marti and Donald, took us to Boston this morning on their way back to Maine and we took the bus back to Woods Hole. While on the bus we got a call from our son Justin. We really couldn’t talk to him while on the bus, but we did a bit of texting back and forth and found out about the wild fire in New Mexico. Because the fire is encroaching on Los Alamos National Laboratories, home of the atomic bomb, many people are being evacuated. We talked via Skype to Justin, Jo, and Ziggy tonight and found that they can see the fire clearly from their home in Madrid even though it is miles away. Everyone is on high alert due to the fact that there are huge amounts of plutonium and uranium and all manner of radioactive materials at Los Alamos. The official word is that things are stored in such a way that the fire will not be a problem in terms of a nuclear threat, but Justin and Jo and the people in their town are not convinced of this. Justin and Jo are scheduled to fly to England on Wednesday, but they are very unsure about leaving house sitters with their dogs and cats, van and bus, and all of their belongings. If there should be some sort of nuclear leak they wouldn’t be able to return to their home when returning from England. So they are watching and waiting and are just not sure what to do. We will check with them again tomorrow to see how things are going. It is extremely frustrating to us that we don’t have a good wireless connection here on the boat-so we only have internet when we go to Heather and Jed’s. That means we really don’t have a way of tracking what is happening without going to shore to a restaurant with wifi or going to Heather’s house. Hopefully we’ll get this problem worked out, but it is just one more thing that is making adjustment to life here difficult. But we had dinner at Heather and Jed’s tonight once we returned from Boston, and just being around grandchildren helps to melt away the difficulties.
