by Judy Handley | Jun 14, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 219, Year 7: Trip Back in Time
Date: Thursday, June 14, 2012
Weather: Mixed Sun and Clouds
Location: Best Western Hotel, Covington, Virginia
We travel on land about the same as we travel on the water. We sometimes
end up going where the wind blows us instead of where we intended to go.
That happened to us today. We got on the road at 7 am figuring we were
headed directly to West Virginia for my nephew’s wedding on Friday night.
We were supposed to stop a couple of hours short of our final destination
and stay at a motel we booked back in April. But once we got on the road
and I started searching in my computer for some information on the motel, I
hit a dead end. There was no reference in my email or Word files. Mark
checked Quicken on his phone to see if a charge had been made against our
account. Nothing registered in the past two months of records that could be
accessed without Mark’s computer (which is back in Falmouth). I called
every motel near the highway in the section of West Virginia where we
thought we made the reservation. Still nothing. By this time we realized
we were making good time and would reach that area of West Virginia by 6 pm
(we thought it would be later), so we changed our plans. Instead of hanging
a right and heading across to northern West Virginia, we kept heading south
and drove through the Shenandoah Valley with the Blue Ridge Mountains on our
left and the Appalachian Mountains on our right. Instead of making good
time, we decided to make a trip back in time.
My father grew up in a place called Laurel Branch, West Virginia right on
the Virginia state line. There was nothing in Laurel Branch except my
grandfather’s big farm house which also served as the boarding house and
company store for his sawmill on Potts Creek and a few other family farms.
Family history has it that my father’s mother was part Indian and was from
somewhere across the mountain. My niece, Candi, has never been to Laurel
Branch, so we decided it was time for a dose of Martin family history. We
stopped for dinner around 6 pm which meant we didn’t get to Laurel Branch
until dusk. But we saw enough that we have been enticed to return in the
morning to get good photos. The closest town to Laurel Branch is Paint
Bank, Virginia, settled around the beginning of the 1700’s. Paint Bank,
Virginia was settled around 1700. According to an article I read on the
internet tonight, Cherokee Indians lived here and used the red clay from the
banks of Potts Creek to make pottery and war paint. Later the settlers used
the red clay for making bricks and paint, thus the name Paint Bank. I have
always thought it was the Shawnee coming down from Ohio that might have been
our Indian heritage. Now I wonder if it is Cherokee. I have no idea how to
trace this, but it is something I would like to pursue when I have the time.
I was a bit shocked to see how the area has changed from the sparsely
populated and sleepy farm area it was in the 1950’s when I was a child. Now
most of the land on Potts Creek appears to be owned by two large companies
raising American buffalo. When I checked the internet, there are claims
that Hollow Hill Farm has 4,700 acres here where cattle and bison are
raised. There was also a second buffalo farm and Potts Creek Outfitters
which offer vacation packages to hunters and fishermen. Potts Creek is
stocked with over a quarter-million rainbow trout each year, so there are
plenty of fish.
But the biggest shock was my grandfather’s home. It used to white. Now it
is yellow. It used to have a wide steps leading up to the front door. Now
there are no stairs at all. No one was home but the lights were on and the
side of the house that used to be the company store now has floor to ceiling
glass windows with a modern living room and huge stone fireplace. The big
barn is still standing but a pond has been put in where there used to be a
field. Candi and I are going to drive back in the morning to get good
photos while we leave Mark here to get a little extra rest before we head to
Charleston, West Virginia for the wedding.
When we decided to stay in Covington, Virginia for the night, I asked Mark
to ‘talk’ to his smart phone and have it list the funeral homes in the town
for me. Mark shot right back asking, “What do you have in mind?” Candi
knew why I was asking him to do this, but Mark had not heard the
explanation. His quick reply got more than a few laughs. And then when he
gave me the results, we laughed even harder. There are three funeral homes,
Nicely, Loving, and Arritt. It was the latter I was looking for as it was
once owned by my father’s adopted sister. I thought I might call or go by
the funeral home tomorrow morning to see if it is still in the family. So
the trip back in time will continue tomorrow and we will still be in
Charleston by early afternoon. This has been a fun diversion, so I guess
I’m glad we didn’t find that reservation.
by Judy Handley | Jun 13, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 218, Year 7: That Kind of Day
Date: Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Weather: Rainy All Day
Location: At Candi and Char Todd’s Home, Billerica, MA
It was THAT kind of day, and even though it wasn’t Friday, I’m going to
blame the date (the 13th) for the craziness. It was cool and rainy, verging
on miserable when you had to out in the weather. All three kids were just a
little, well, maybe a lot, off today. Mark had his infusion pump removed
and immediately crashed. And both Heather and I had way too much to do.
The good news is that we made it through the day. Mark and I are now just
outside of Boston where we are spending the night at my niece’s home. Early
tomorrow morning we will start the drive to West Virginia. It’s about 775
miles. We plan to make it most of the way tomorrow, spend the night a
couple of hours north of our final destination, and then arrive in
Charleston by late morning on Friday. My nephew’s wedding is Friday night,
so we’ll have a bit of time in the afternoon to visit with family. It is a
long drive, but we are looking forward to the visit. My niece and I will do
the driving while Mark sleeps in the backseat. This is one way to keep him
from doing too much and the rest should do him good. So off we go.
by Judy Handley | Jun 12, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 217, Year 7: Settled in Eel Pond
Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Weather: Partly Cloudy; Temp mid-60’s F
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA
Mark and I went to Woods Hole this morning and found the Woods Hole Marina
owner in a restaurant. We had called twice and gotten no answer, but
finding someone in Woods Hole is fairly easy. There’s only one main street
and only a few stores and restaurants. We needed to find out from Buzz
whether or not we should move the boat that was on our mooring from last
year. And indeed, that is what he told us to do. So we got in the dinghy
and rode over to the boat, untied it, and towed it to another mooring. Then
we moved Windbird to her mooring for the summer. I did a little cleaning
and then it was time to pick the boys up from school. I love walking from
the WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) dock where we leave the dinghy
up to the school to pick them up. But today instead of walking back to the
dock to go out to Windbird, Mark picked us up and we went back to Heather
and Jed’s. After nap, Sam went back to Woods Hole with me to help me wash
the salt water off the hull and to pick up a few things. I will go back in
the morning and get Windbird ready for company. We get back from West
Virginia late on Sunday evening and on Monday our friends Alan and Helaine
Kanegsberg are coming to visit. We are looking forward to seeing them on
our turf. For the past seven years, they have hosted us at their home in
Bow, New Hampshire, multiple times. It feels nice to be able to have them
come stay with us.
We will spend part of tomorrow getting packed for our trip to West Virginia
and I’m still hoping to find the time to do a bit of gardening. I bought
heirloom tomatoes to grow in containers on Windbird but have never gotten
them planted. And the bee garden needs a little work. Maybe tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Jun 11, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 216, Year 7: Windbird Back in Eel Pond
Date: Monday, June 11, 2012
Weather: Some Sun, Some Clouds; Temp mid-60’s F
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA
Windbird is back in Woods Hole on a mooring in Eel Pond. Heather, Sam,
Jonah, and Oliver came with us. After forgetting to untie a line and almost
bringing the dock from Fiddler’s Cove with us, we were off at 2:45 right at
high tide. We went aground coming into Fiddler’s Cove last fall, so we were
a bit nervous about getting out. But today there was plenty of water and we
had no problem. We entered Eel Pond at the 5:30 pm bridge opening but found
our mooring from last year taken. It is really hard to catch the folks at
Woods Hole Marine in the office, but Mark had called and left messages
telling them we were coming. We hooked up to a mooring ball that does not
belong to Woods Hole Marine and will have to go there early in the morning
to find out where we are supposed to be for this year. We arrived in Woods
Hole later that we expected because we had an overheated engine. When we
heard the alarm, I checked the engine room and found a leaky hose. The
water coming from it was very hot, so we had to shut off the engine and wait
a bit while Mark reconnected the hose and tightened the hose clamp. That
stopped the leak, but not the overheating. So we had to shut off the engine
again while he got the Yanmar manual out and figured out how to get an air
bubble out of the system. So the shake-down cruise was not as smooth as we
would have liked, but we made it. Then when we got in Eel Pond and tried to
get the dinghy motor going, it wouldn’t start. We had it winterized at
Fiddler’s Cove and expected it to start right up. A very tired Mark kept
working at it and finally got it going. But after having a chemo treatment
this morning and then having one little issue after another that he had to
deal with this afternoon, he is really worn out. We will go to Eel Pond in
the morning to move the boat to the correct mooring, but there will be no
more boat work tomorrow. I’m calling it a day of rest for him.
We came home with Heather and the boys and are staying here tonight. We
might move back to the boat tomorrow night, but then on Wednesday evening we
travel to Boston to spend the night with my niece Candi before taking off
early on Thursday morning for a driving trip to West Virginia. Candi and I
will do the driving while Mark rests. On Friday night we attend a nephew’s
wedding and then do the return drive on Sunday. What a lot of driving! I’m
looking forward to seeing family and attending the wedding, but I am not
look forward to driving for thirteen hours to get there. On the other hand,
Mark is looking forward to the drive so we can just sit in the backseat and
sleep for hours. I guess this is one Father’s Day that he will literally
sleep through.
by Judy Handley | Jun 10, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 215, Year 7: Getting Ready to Move Windbird
Date: Sunday, June 10, 2012
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day; Temp 76 degrees F
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA
Working alone is just no fun, but it surely gives you a chance to know just
how much you miss the other half of your team-and it also clearly points out
just how much you don’t know. Mark worked at West Marine today, so I worked
on Windbird all alone. Mark and I always work as a team. He has his ‘blue’
jobs and I have my ‘pink’ jobs, and both assist the other. I took Mark to
work, came back to Heather’s and had a lovely pancake breakfast with Heather
and the boys (Jed was at a work-related breakfast), and then I headed to
Windbird. My first job was to put a second coat of paint on the dinghy and
that job went well. And I have to say if there are any women out there
desperately looking for a man, my advice is to buy an old boat, a row boat
would do, and take it to a boat yard to work on it. Start sanding and
painting and you will get lots of men dropping by to talk. I could hardly
concentrate on painting because men kept coming by to chat. They would
first ask me where the captain was today and the conversations went from
there. One man told me he married a woman just because she said she would
paint the bottom of his boat. She did it, but it was a one paint-job
marriage!
The rest of my afternoon didn’t go as smoothly as the painting. My next job
was to repair a seam on the bimini. This is the canvas cover that serves as
the roof of the cockpit. If Windbird was a convertible car, the dodger
would be the windshield and the bimini would be the remainder of the canvas
top. I got out the SailRite sewing machine which must weigh fifty pounds
and managed to lift it up onto the table. Then I starting trying to figure
out how to use it. Mark does all the sewing for us and this machine is
different from my Singer. I finally got it to work and sewed the seam on
the bimini where the threads had deteriorated in the sun. I was working at
the speed of light and when I finished I realized I had sewn a flap of
material in with the seam that didn’t belong there. I ripped out the seam
and tried again. I didn’t even check my work when I finished. I just
started trying to put it on. This is easier said than done when working
alone. First you have to lift the boom with the mainsail attached to it out
of the boom crutch. My arms just don’t have the strength to raise something
that heavy up over my head, so I had to use the top of my head to help raise
it. Once the boom was out of the crutch which holds it in the center of of
the boat, I could move it to one side and then lift the pieces of the
stainless steel frame. I thought I was doing okay, but when I was almost
done, I saw that I had put the bimini on backwards. So I had to start all
over. The challenges just went on and on and my mid-afternoon it became
clear that I was just not going to get all of the cleaning jobs done that I
had planned. Our anchor chain locker is just going to have to continue to
be coated in Madagascar red clay. Maybe I’ll get that clean next year.
At 5 pm I drove into town to pick Mark up from work and brought him to
Windbird to help me with a couple of jobs I just couldn’t do and to check a
dripping hose connected to one of the new seacocks. Mark’s cold is better,
but by the end of the day he was very losing his voice. I hated that I had
to have him go to the boat before going home for dinner, but thankfully I
did. He checked my sewing job on the bimini and gave me the bad news that I
will have to do it over AGAIN in the morning. If I had checked my work, I
would have clearly seen that I missed one whole section where the threads
are loose and I would have seen that I caught another flap of material in my
seam at one point that just doesn’t belong there. Mark has a chemo
treatment in the morning. I will take him there and then go back to
Windbird to fix the mess I made. I knew there was a reason that Mark does
all the sewing and I think we should keep it that way. He was able to
tighten down the hose clamp and stop the dripping seacock, but unfortunately
three of five of the hose connections to the new seacocks have to be done
over again for various reasons. I had hoped that Mark would not have to
deal with this, but there is no way on earth I can do that work and since we
are leaving Fiddler’s Cove tomorrow, there is no way they could get the work
done. There’s not enough time for them to do the work and it just takes
strength that I simply do not have. Mark shouldn’t be expending that kind of
energy right now, but you do what you have to do.
Tomorrow afternoon I will pick Mark up from hematology center where he gets
his chemo treatments and bring him to the boat. Heather will pick up Sam
and Jonah, and then she and all three boys will meet us at the boat and
motor with us from Fiddler’s Cove to Woods Hole. Jed hopes his work
schedule will allow him to join us as well. It is supposed to be a
beautiful day but with only 5-10 knots of wind. Since we haven’t put on the
headsail or the staysail and we having removed the spikes from the spreaders
that we put there to scare away birds, we will not be sailing anyway. We’ll
get the boat to Woods Hole and before our first sailing expedition of the
summer, we will ask Heather to climb the mast and remove the bird protection
strips for us. I just don’t want Mark climbing the mast right now.
Heather continued working in the garden today and it looks fantastic. We
are eating kale, mesclun greens, arugala, and peas already, and in a few
days we will have our first summer squash. The corn is definitely going to
be knee high by the fourth of July and the tomatoes are flowering. We’ve
planted lots of green beans and carrots, but we will have to wait a bit for
those. But work we’ve done in the garden this spring is definitely paying
off early.
by Judy Handley | Jun 9, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 214, Year 7: Back in the Water
Date: Saturday, June 9, 2012
Weather: Mostly Sunny Day
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA
Windbird is back in the water. For the first time since we have owned her,
we were not there for splash down. The yard at Fiddler’s Cove is great but
they are very much into doing the work themselves without owners being
around. I have watched them put many boats in the water and felt confident
that things would be fine, but we did get a bit of jolt when we arrived at
the marina this afternoon and walked down the dock to Windbird. There was a
three inch-wide by eighteen inch-long scrape on the aft quarter. It
appeared that the paint had been scraped off. But when I applied the
AwlCare to see if I could work out the scrape, it soon became evident that
we had rubber from the dock on Windbird and not paint from Windbird on the
dock. That was a huge relief. Tomorrow I will spend my day there cleaning
out the anchor chain locker and under the v-berth. So things are on
schedule and we should be ready to motor to Woods Hole on Monday.
Mark woke up this morning feeling terrible. He felt like he had a killer
cold so he didn’t go to work. I gave him some Ibuprofen and by noon he was
feeling much better. Heather and I worked in the garden all morning
planting and mulching and in the afternoon Mark was able to go to the boat
with me. We got the first coat of anti-fouling paint on the bottom and we
pulled the anchor rope out of the anchor chain locker and out onto the deck
so it could be sprayed down. It was caked with Madagascar red mud, but now
both the rope and the exterior of Windbird are clean. Mark plans to go to
work tomorrow and I will spend the day at the boat doing all of the cleaning
jobs that take lots of water. Once we are in Woods Hole we are on a mooring
and have to transport water to the boat from the dock on land. Big cleaning
jobs are just not possible then, so tomorrow is my only chance.
