by Judy Handley | Sep 12, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 309, Year 7: Normal
Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Weather: Gorgeous September Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Exactly what is normal? Heather and I were talking today about schedules
and how crazy our days seem to be. There seems to be no ‘normal.’ Is there
ever? No two days ever seem to be the same and it is really hard to keep
track of who goes where when. Jed has one work schedule. Heather has
another. Sam’s kindergarten schedule is regular, but then he had a dentist
appointment today and we had to pick him up early. Jonah is on a new
schedule at the Woods Hole DayCare. And Oliver has decided that while he is
teething he is not going to be on any schedule at all! And then there is
Mark’s work schedule which is different every week. Add in all of Mark’s
medical appointments and Jed’s travel schedule and you have a maze of
activity that is almost impossible to track. Jed is leaving on Friday for a
conference in Maine and Heather will be at home alone with all three kids
until Monday night or Tuesday. I am the only one of us that has no set
commitments, so at least I can be flexible with my time. But that means
that I end up spending most of my time helping out here and there, so I
don’t get a lot of things ticked off my list of things to do. But that’s
okay. I’m doing what I love to do. However, there are some maintenance
issues on Windbird that need attention. In the next few days, I have
decided that I HAVE to do some varnishing. I usually varnish the cockpit
coaming and Dorade boxes every six months or so. But the last time I did
this was in March of 2011 while in Grenada, so I am WAY overdue.
Thankfully, everything is still okay and all I will have to do is a light
sanding followed by two or three coats of varnish. More would be nice, but
if I get on three coats I’ll be happy. The last time we polished stainless
was in April of 2011 in St. Martin. That is when we put up the safety
netting for grandchildren. We applied a product from Australia that was
supposed to keep the stainless from rusting and it has done that, but at the
same time, it has given the stainless a dull appearance that we don’t like.
It would be nice to get some stainless polishing done, but that can always
be done once we head south for the winter. So tomorrow, I will take down
the canvas over the cockpit so that I can remove the hardware that supports
the canvas and properly sand and varnish the coaming. And if I have the
energy and time left, I’ll start on the Dorade boxes. By mid-afternoon, I
will head to Heather’s to watch Jonah and Oliver while Heather goes to pick
Sam up from school. That pick-up time is right in the middle of Jonah’s nap
time and he gets really grumpy when you wake him up early. Heather had to
do that yesterday and ended up with a crying three year-old that caused the
baby to cry while on her way to pick Sam up from school. She is looking for
a momma’s helper to come in on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons when Jonah is
home so she won’t have to wake him to go get Sam. In the meantime, I’ll be
that momma’s helper.
by Judy Handley | Sep 11, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 308, Year 7: Long Day in Boston
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Weather: Another Sunny Day and Cool Evening
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
It was a long day in Boston but we got some good news. Mark’s parathyroid
surgeon is confident that Friday’s scan located the offending gland, and it
is just one of the four parathyroid glands that will have to be removed.
But better than that is the fact that the spot identified by the
radiologists reviewing Mark’s end of July scan as a “suspicious” lymph node
on Mark’s trachea appears not to be that at all. Dr. Stephen believes that
“spot” is the offending parathyroid as the two different scans showed the
spot in the same location. She will confirm all of this with a team of
radiologists in a few days, but the fact that she was confident enough to
share this with Mark gives us hope that she is correct. While Mark went
through the three hours of pre-op testing (much of it just wait time), I
took a long walk and then read while I watched the birds and squirrels on
the Mass General campus frolic about. Then we headed to Cambridge to shop at
Trader Joe’s and on the way home we stopped at IKEA to buy a piece of
furniture for Heather and Jed. We also did some clothes shopping on the way
into Boston this morning, so it just ended up being a longer day than we
anticipated. We don’t have to go back now until the 28th when Mark will
have the parathyroid surgery, so that’s a good thing. I’m so tired I can’t
even think about tomorrow. So I’ll send this log and be off to bed.
by Judy Handley | Sep 10, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 307, Year 7: Time for Polar Fleece
Date: Monday, September 10, 2012
Weather: Sunny Day, Daytime Temp Low 70’s
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Sometime over the past few days the weather has slowly changed and all of a sudden it is time to get out the polar fleece. The low temperature for tonight is supposed to be 57 degrees F and that means we need a polar fleece blanket. And even though the daytime temps are in the low 70’s, it is breezy and a polar fleece jacket feels good in the early morning and evening. By Wednesday we are supposed to be back to 77 degrees F for the daily highs with lows in the lower 60’s, but as we inch closer to the first day of fall, polar fleece will become the norm. And that gets us to thinking about sailing south. I have a REALLY hard time thinking about it as I am going to miss my three little Goldpebbles so much. But I just have to keep my eye on those warm tropical waters in the Bahamas and keep reminding myself that it’s not like we are leaving for a long time. We will be right back here in Eel Pond in late April or May and I can once again get my daily ‘Oma’ time with Sam, Jonah, and Oliver.
Oliver has been spiking a temperature of 101 over the past couple of days so once the Monday morning madness was over, Heather took him to the doctor. The doctor says his ears and lungs are clear, so there is no explanation for the temp. He has been congested for a week or so now and he is teething, so some combination of this is causing the temperature. But he was just not feeling good today. He needed to be held, mostly my momma, but I was able to give Heather a little relief. Mark worked at West Marine while I assisted Heather with Oliver and tried to eek in a little garden work. The cabbage worms are destroying the kale, so I picked off all the mature leaves and on Wednesday I will go through and pick off any worms I can see and then spray the plants with water. Supposedly, if you then apply white flour to the wet leaves, the worms will eat the flour and explode! Stay tuned to see if that works.
Tomorrow we head back to Boston for pre-op testing for Mark’s upcoming parathyroid surgery. And hopefully tomorrow morning we will find out the results of Friday’s scan. We are doing our best to keep Mass General in business.
I’ll end with a happy birthday greeting for my Aunt Ethel. She was 97 today and is as spry and alert as most 75 year olds. I truly don’t think the woman has been sick a day in her life. She was the wife of my mother’s oldest brother, Guy. She and Guy did not have children, but after my uncle died, she remarried a man who did have children and they now take care of her as if she were their own mother. She lives alone, still cuts the grass on her quarter acre lot, and maintains a large garden and cans and freezes the produce. When we bought a new dinghy motor in Malaysia, we named it Aunt Ethel hoping that it, too, will live forever. Happy birthday, Aunt Ethel. We love you.
by Judy Handley | Sep 9, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 306, Year 7: Do Nothing Day
Date: Sunday, September 9, 2012
Weather: Rainy Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
It rained during the night and then off and on all day. It was not a heavy
rain, but it was enough to make you feel like you should stay inside and
curl up with a good book. We didn’t do that, but we did have a lazy day.
We made runs to the town dock for water early, but as the rain increased we
retreated back inside Windbird. Mark replumbed the salt water intake to the
forward head. This should also allow the salt water washdown hose in the
forward anchor locker to work again. We didn’t check that, but we will the
next time we bring up an anchor. I spent my day on the computer, backing up
photos and files from the past nine months. That used to be Mark’s job, but
I realized today that nothing has been backed up since December. In doing
this, I discovered yet another external hard drive that is no longer
functional. We think everything that was on it is backed-up elsewhere, but
it is frightening to think that you back up your precious files on these
external hard drives and they just stop working-even when they are brand
new. All of our old ones are still working, so that is a good thing.
In the late afternoon we went for a walk. Instead of walking around Eel
Pond as we often do, we decided to do a bit of exploring. We walked down to
the Coast Guard Station and out to Juniper Point. There is no public access
to this point of land, but we just ignored the No Trespassing Signs and walk
on. Then we walked on the main road towards Falmouth (Woods Hole Road). As
we walked we noticed these unbelievably beautiful berries on very prolific
vines. The berries looked iridescent in colors ranging from a light green
to robin egg blue to deep purple. Neither of us had ever noticed this vine
before, but when I looked it up I found that, although beautiful, it is an
invasive plant native to China, Korea, and the eastern part of Russia. It
was brought to the US in late 1800’s for landscaping purposes and it has
grown prolifically ever since. Evidently people like me who see it and
admire its great beauty have planted it in their yards and have been very
sorry when it has grown to take over everything. It is commonly called
porcelain vine and the scientific name is Ampelopsis brevipedunculata
‘elegans’. It is easy to see why it was named porcelain vine, as each litte
berry looks like a perfect porcelain pearl. I read that the berries are
edible, but I’ll have to look into that further before venturing to try
them. Besides, they are too pretty to eat! We continued our walk which
eventually brought us back to the village of Woods Hole. Once back on the
boat, we talked to our friends Donna and Gerry of Scot Free II. They are at
home in Vancouver trying to decide what to do about getting Scot Free back
home from Southeast Asia. Gerry had a stroke while in India, and although
he is regaining his strength, he no longer wants to sail long passages.
We’ll have to stay tuned to find out what they decide to do.
We talked to Heather today and found out that Oliver has developed a fever
that they are able to control with baby Tylenol. They are not sure of the
cause, but will be getting him to the doctor tomorrow to check things out.
Mark goes to work at 8:30 am, so I will take him in and head to Heather and
Jed’s to help Jed take care of Ollie while he is getting Sam off to school.
Monday morning is Heather’s on-air program, so she will head to Woods Hole
early and take Jonah to school. Monday mornings are the most challenging,
but at least they get the hardest part of the week over right at the
beginning.
by Judy Handley | Sep 8, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 305, Year 7: Garden Bounty
Date: Saturday, September 8, 2012
Weather: Another Gorgeous September Day, Very Windy
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Today was a day that included a little of this and a little of that. Mark
left for work at 9:30 am. After taking him to shore, I came back to
Windbird and waited for the pump out boat to arrive. I knew if it didn’t
come through the bridge at the 10 am opening that it probably wouldn’t make
it today and I would have to call the harbor master once again. But the
boat did arrive. As soon as that job was done, I rushed to the town dock
with all of our cockpit cushions to give them a quick scrub and then I
headed to the WHOI dock to meet Heather, Jed, and kids who were coming to
see an 11 am presentation about the Titanic in Redfield’s auditorium.
Redfield is the WHOI building where Jed works and it is also where we come
to dock our dinghy everyday. A team of scientists from WHOI, NOAA, and I
think the National Park Service were there to narrate the most recent
underwater shots of the Titanic. Some of the film was 3D and was quite
spectacular, but I didn’t stay to watch the whole thing. I was there to
take Oliver for a walk. We did our circumnavigation of Eel Pond and arrived
back at Redfield to find that Heather and Jonah had also ducked out of the
presentation. Sam and Jed stayed the course, but even Jed admitted that it
was just too technical, with too much talk, for young children to enjoy. We
then had a picnic lunch in Woods Hole and drove home to pick and can green
beans.
The garden is still producing a lot of food. Today we harvested more green
beans from the bush beans we planted in May. And we got our first harvest
of the flat Italian pole beans that we planted in July. For Heather’s
birthday last September, we bought her two bean towers from Burpee. These
towers support a lot of pole beans in a relatively small space and make
picking the beans much easier. This is the first time Heather has grown
pole beans and she decided this afternoon that it is a smart way to go in a
small garden. Heather and Sam picked cherry tomatoes (Matt’s Wild Cherry
Heirlooms) and them Sam loaded them into his little dump truck and delivered
them to the house. Jonah missed the garden fun as he was taking a nap, but
Sam and Oliver enjoyed their time in the garden. We got four quarts of
beans canned with enough left over for Mark and I to have them for dinner
and Heather probably got three to four pints of roasted tomatoes canned
after I left. I has to leave at 5 pm to go pick Mark up from work, but it
had been a very productive afternoon.
The wind is really strong tonight. The weather forecast tells us that we
will get up to 30 knot winds and that we should get lots of rain during the
night and early morning hours. Mark doesn’t work tomorrow, so after the
rain ends, we’ll spend part of the morning filling the water tanks. If the
weather clears by noon, we’re hoping to go out for a little sail in the
afternoon.
by Judy Handley | Sep 7, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 304, Year 7: In My Opinion
Date: Friday, September 7, 2012
Weather: Gorgeous September Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
I’m fully aware that talking about either politics or religion is sure-fired
way to lose friends, but sometimes the stakes are so high that you just
can’t keep silent. After returning from our visit to Mass General Hospital
today, I have to say that the idea of turning Medicare into a voucher system
scares me to death. Every time Mark goes to Mass General for yet another
procedure, I hold my breath for fear of the cost. But in each and every
case, Medicare has taken care of us. Last May when we arrived in Puerto
Rico and Mark needed medical attention, I was SO GLAD that we were in a US
territory that would accept Medicare. Then we sailed to South Carolina
where Mark needed to see a urologist, and again, Medicare took care of those
bills. The list of things Mark has had done at Mass General this past year
fills a single-spaced page or more, and again, Medicare has taken care of
the bills. I know it is not a perfect system. I know that health care
needs serious reform. But I’m one American who really doesn’t want to let
go of Medicare ‘as we know it’ without taking the steps needed to fully fund
it. We are Americans. We can and have done most anything we set our minds
to and I know we can keep Medicare in its present form it if we just put our
collective minds and efforts to that end. Unfortunately, collective and
cooperation are words that have lost meaning in today’s political arena, but
one can always hope. I’ll be up front and admit that even though I am a
registered Independent, I have voted for the Democratic candidates for
President throughout my lifetime. My parents were married in 1923 and had
four children they had to feed throughout the Great Depression. By the time
I was born in 1947, I grew believing FDR was some sort of god. He had made
it possible for my mom and dad to be able to feed those four children and
his social programs assured my dad could retire knowing that his family
would be cared for through Social Security. Medicare was added during the
Johnson administration, and my parents both benefited from that during their
retirement years. Before Mark and I retired, I think we were ambivalent
about these programs. We were convinced that they would probably run out of
money before we could take advantage of them. But now that we have taken
advantage of both, I know I want them to be there for us and for our
children. And I know they can. We just need to come together as a country
and figure out how to make it happen. I don’t know from where the idea came
that government programs are inherently bad, but I don’t buy into that. In
my opinion, having government programs that take care of all, not just those
that can afford it, is what this country is all about. It is what we have
always done and what we continue to do. It is WHO WE ARE. Can you guess
who I’m voting for on November 6? I think that’s pretty clear. And I
invite you to join me.
That’s my political soapbox for tonight, and now for the’ religion’
piece-eating organically grown food. People are very committed to the
choices they make in what they eat. The recent results of a Stanford study
have caused quite a buzz by reporting findings that there appears to be
little or no difference in vitamin and mineral intake between organic and
non-organic foods. Okay. I can believe that ‘might’ be true. But I
certainly won’t take that to mean that we shouldn’t be rejecting foods grown
with the use of synthetic pesticides and eating animal products from animals
that are given hormones and antibiotics. We know these things collect in
our bodies and that they are not good for us. We don’t need science to tell
us that. I’ll not lay out my whole argument for eating organically. I’ll
just say that each of us needs to use our own good common sense in making
decisions about what we will eat. And I’ll leave you with something I read
on my daughter-in-law’s Facebook page last night.
Green is not something you can buy.
Green is a way of life.
Treasure everything.
Think permaculturally.
Maximize efficiency – Reduce waste
Strive to live sustainably in all ways.
Make it, grow it, build it yourself.
Do all you can with what you have.
. . . from the Use Half Now Campaign on Facebook
