by Judy Handley | Jul 20, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 255, Year 7: Rainy Day
Date: Friday, July 20, 2012
Weather: Cool and Rainy
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
There was a 20 percent chance of rain today, so it rained 20 percent worth
of rain all day long. It was a little more than dibble dopps, but certainly
not a pouring rain. Just 20 percent worth. I’ve never been a lover of
overcast, rainy days, but we have had such a wonderful run of sunny weather
that a cloudy day didn’t seem so bad.
I took the Ford Taurus into town to the repair shop again this morning and
then hitched a ride back to Woods Hole with Jed as he headed into work. A
couple of hours later, Heather arrived in Woods Hole with Oliver and I went
to shore to hold the baby while she recorded promos for her Monday morning
program. When that job was completed, Heather and I took Oliver for a
stroll around Eel Pond. Heather and Oliver then went to the coffee shop to
wait until I drove into town to pick up Sam and Jonah. When we returned to
Woods Hole, we met Heather and Oliver at the dock and headed out to
Windbird. All three boys took an afternoon nap while Heather went back to
work. She was giving tours of the radio station as part of the Woods Hole
20th anniversary celebration for the Stellwagen Bank National Marine
Sanctuary. The Stellwagen Bank is located in Cape Cod Bay and is an area
where there is a steep drop-off from shallow waters to the deep. For that
reason it is an important fishing area and an area where whales love to
feed. And that makes it a major whale watching area.
While I watched kids sleep, Mark continued his boat work. Today he got the
new head installed in the aft bathroom and he traced and fixed the problem
with our alternator. We haven’t been able to charge our batteries using the
boat’s engine for the past week and we thought it was possibly an inverter
problem. Luckily it was just a loose connection to the alternator, so now
we can charge with the generator or by running the engine. Mark is feeling
good enough that he is going to go to work at West Marine tomorrow and if
that works out, he will also go in on Sunday. So I’ll probably head to
Heather and Jed’s and try to complete the gardening jobs I have been working
on.
I am attaching a couple of photos of Oliver from today. He was wearing a onesie that we bought for Sam when we were in New Zealand. It has the All Blacks emblem on it–New Zealand’s rubgy team. Oliver is a big baby and we think he looks like a future rugby player.
by Judy Handley | Jul 19, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 254, Year 7: Cooling Down
Date: Thursday, July 19, 2012
Weather: Partly Sunny and Cooler
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Last night’s thunderstorm activity brought in slightly cooler weather. As much as I like warm weather, yesterday went just a bit over the top. I’m sure we must be setting some sort of record for the warmest summer ever on the Cape, and even though Mark and I have been loving the warm weather, not everyone feels that way. The number one reason people give as the reason they love to live here is the cool summers. Well, they are not getting that this summer.
Mark is starting to make some progress on his long ‘to do’ list. He has taken out the aft head and will complete the installation of a new one tomorrow morning. So we are just about to get our head situation under control. We are still using only the generator to supply power as we haven’t figured out what is wrong with our inverter, but thankfully the generator is working out just fine. Sooooo glad we made that purchase. Each day I chip away at the cleaning jobs on the boat and the gardening work at Heather and Jed’s. Their garden is so lush this summer. I call it the Garden of Eden. But the lush growth applies to weeds as well as plants, so it is a job to keep up with the weeding, mulching, and continuous planting. We hope to have fresh veggies right on through the fall, but we have to keep at it.
by Judy Handley | Jul 18, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 253, Year 7: On the Trampoline with Ziggy
Date: Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Weather: Temp Nearing 90 degrees F
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
We’ve done lots of Skype video calls, but never one while jumping up and
down on a trampoline. But this evening, while we were talking to Justin,
Ziggy decided that he just had to jump on the trampoline. So Justin took
the computer outside, got on the trampoline with Ziggy, and we talked while
watching Ziggy jump. I wish I had a video of this to share with you. It
was quite the unusual experience! Justin also took the computer out to show
us the garden and then into the house where Jo and her mother were sorting
through clothes, getting things ready for the new baby. Jo is due in less
than a week and the nesting gene has kicked in. She just wants to get
everything in order before the baby arrives. We are so glad that her
parents are out there with her. Ziggy is very comfortable with them, so
when Justin and Jo have to head to the hospital, Ziggy will stay with
Margaret and Phil and be just fine. And we know that is a great relief for
Justin and Jo. There was no way we were going to be able to go out since
Mark is still in chemotherapy, so we are just so thankful that Jo’s parents
were able to relocate themselves for a couple of months to help out. Once
the baby arrives, we’ll figure out when and how we are going to meet
grandbaby number 5. But for now our thoughts are with Justin and Jo hoping
for the smooth delivery of a healthy little baby girl.
Early this morning I drove to North Falmouth to have coffee and muffins with
Claire Wiklund. We had a delightful chat and when I got back to Windbird,
Mark had lunch ready for me. That was a treat. We then both went to shore
and drove to pick up Sam and Jonah from school and take them home. We both
enjoyed our afternoon with the boys, but in the late afternoon the sky
turned very dark and threatening. It was time to rush home to try and beat
the forecasted thunderstorm. We made it and actually got only a few drops
of rain. The actual storm passed north of us. I was glad not to get the 60
mile an hour winds, but the rain would have been nice for the garden. Guess
we’ll have to water.
by Judy Handley | Jul 17, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 252, Year 7: Tuesday without the Grandkids
Date: Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Weather: Still Sunny and Hot-We love it!
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
How lonely. I’m having withdrawal. Mark and I stayed on Windbird all day
except for one little trip to town to pick up the car, so we didn’t see Sam,
Jonah, and Oliver. And we miss them. But somehow we managed to keep
ourselves busy all day despite the absence of the little ones. I got up and
had a very relaxed beginning to my morning. By the time Mark got up, I was
off to shore to fill my laundry buckets with water. I left them in the
dinghy and let the laundry soak while I came back onboard and continued my
cleaning projects. Mark spent his energy replacing the inboard/outboard
switch on our aft head. The old one was totally frozen, so we couldn’t use
it. We are now legal with the head going into our holding tank. Let’s just
hope the pump out boat comes by on Thursday.
Doing laundry requires multiple trips to the town dock for water but it felt
good to be doing it by hand. The real problem here is that when I do this,
I am dumping soapy water directly into the pond without going through water
treatment. I’ll have to get Heather to evaluate which is best for the
environment-using a washing machine and dryer or washing my own and hanging
it on the life lines to dry. One thing I know for sure is that I prefer my
sheets done by hand and then dried on the life lines. I can’t wait to crawl
into bed tonight to the feel of freshly laundered sheets dried in the sun.
Our trip to town in the late afternoon was to pick up our car. We took the
trolley into town to get the car, but the repairs aren’t done. They simply
checked out the problems and put the car back together so we can drive it
until rebuilt parts arrive. Hopefully Friday will be the real repair day.
A rebuilt pump for our power steering system will cost $250. A new one is
much more expensive, so the time delay is an economic necessity.
Tomorrow morning I go to visit with my friend Claire Wiklund and then I will
pick up the boys from school and take them home for naps. If both big boys
take naps, I can then hold Oliver while Heather works. I’ll get my Oma hit,
Oliver will get a nap, and Heather will get some work done. Sounds like a
plan.
by Judy Handley | Jul 16, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 251, Year 7: Monday with the Grandkids
Date: Monday, July 16, 2012
Weather: Sunny and Hot
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Monday is the day that Heather hosts her morning call-in program and then
tries juggle time at work with time with Oliver. Jed stays at home with
Oliver in the morning and then brings him to Woods Hole around 11 am.
Heather’s program is over by that time, so she can take a break and nurse
the baby. Then today I took over by taking Oliver on an hour long stroll
through Woods Hole. He was sleeping, so I made a stop at the Bell Tower
gardens. It was shady and cool and I sat and watched Oliver sleep. Then
the bells starting tolling to let us know it was high noon. The bells sound
delightful when we are on the boat, but not so when you are sitting
directing under the tower. That woke him up in a hurry and we left as fast
as we could. It only took seconds for him to get back to sleep and we then
continued our tour. When it was time for me to go into Falmouth to pick Sam
and Jonah up from school, Mark rowed to shore in his new kayak and took over
with Oliver. When Oliver woke up he was hungry, so Mark called Heather and
she walked down the hill to nurse him. When I returned with Sam and Jonah,
we all headed out to Windbird. Sam and Jonah went down for naps and Heather
continued to work on the computer while holding a sleeping Oliver. I tried
to relieve her, but it seemed that every time I took him, he woke up and
starting crying for momma. So Heather didn’t get as much work done as she
had hoped, but we all had a good time. When Sam and Jonah got up, we
inflated the little pool we bought when Sam came to visit us in Thailand in
2009. We filled the new solar shower and let the boys go at it with water
play. It seemed the only way to survive on this very hot day. Jed joined
us for dinner before heading out to an evening meeting, but the rest of us
continued the fun into the evening. Mark took Sam out for a dinghy explore
while Jonah played in the pool and then I took both Sam and Jonah out in the
dinghy and we had a great time. They helped me fill the water jerry cans at
the dock, and they really were a big help. Sam controlled the water flow
and Jonah brought the hose out to the dinghy and then returned it and coiled
it on the dock when we were done. All I had to do was stay in the dinghy
and fill the cans.
We’ll have to stay close to home tomorrow as we have no car. I drove the
car into town this morning to the garage for repairs. We have a leaky oil
pan gasket and there is some sort of leak in the power steering system. We
thought we’d have the car back today, but they just didn’t get to it. So
hopefully the repairs will be made and we’ll have wheels again by late
afternoon tomorrow. This morning I rode the trolley back to Woods Hole
after delivering the car to the garage and that will have to be our mode of
transportation until we have the car back again. In the summer, the trolley
runs from Woods Hole to Falmouth every half hour and it only costs $1.00 for
seniors.
by Judy Handley | Jul 15, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 250, Year 7: Productive Day
Date: Sunday, July 15, 2012
Weather: Sunny, Hot Day with Rain in the Evening
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
It was a productive day. Mark was still feeling lousy, so it wasn’t so
productive for him, but I was able to get a lot of the gardening work done
that I have been trying to do for the past week and I also made a huge dent
in my boat cleaning list. I started my morning by taking the cushions out
of the v-berth and putting them on deck to bask in the sun for the day. I
then went to the town dock and washed the drawers from Mark’s side of the
aft cabin. I brought them back to Windbird to dry in the sun and then I
took off for Heather and Jed’s. It was hot today and I worked until I was
completely drenched and exhausted (not to mention that I was also covered in
dirt), but between Heather and myself, we got the part of the garden that I
call the salad garden weeded and reseeded with lettuce, arugula, beets, and
basil. I also got some cucumber seeds planted in another part of the
garden. The garden looks like the Garden of Eden. Everything is huge. The
corn is tall and has tasseled, the first planting of green beans is coming
in, squash of every kind is prolific as are the carrots and the kale, and
the first little ripe tomato was picked today. It is now time to plant a
second crop of many things so that we will have food through the fall. In
addition to doing the gardening, I also washed all of Mark’s clothes that
were in the drawers in aft cabin. So by the time I returned to Windbird, I
was ready to quit for the day. But then I had to clean the walls of the
v-berth before I could return the cushions. When all was done, Mark and I
went to shore to take a walk. And then tonight we watched a movie that was
free online. Since we have seen only three or four movies in the past seven
years, there are lots of freebies out there that we can watch. So life is
good. If we can just plug away each day like we did today, we’ll get that
long ‘to do’ list under control in no time.
