by Judy Handley | Jun 8, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 213, Year 7: Much To Do
Date: Friday, June 8, 2012
Weather: Mostly Sunny Day
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA
Where did today go? I don’t feel like I accomplished much, but even so it
was a good day. I kept all three boys early while Heather went to get a
haircut, then I took her and the boys to meet their classes at a local farm
for a field trip while I went to the marina to polish Windbird’s waterline.
I had to hurry so I could go back and pick them up before noon, but I got
the job done. For part of the afternoon I held Oliver so Heather could get
a much needed nap and then she took Oliver and I played with Sam and Jonah
after their naps. So a day goes.
Mark had his early morning bi-weekly appointment with his oncologist. All
of his blood counts are still in the normal range, most getting better
rather than worse, except for his calcium level. It is still slightly high,
but his Parathyroid Hormone level is much above normal. An endocrinologist
called from Mass General this morning to set an appointment with him on July
3. It is another female doctor and she has nothing sooner. So we will just
have to wait and see on this one. Patience. Patience.
Mark was able to make it at work all day today, and he will work tomorrow
and Sunday. I will work at the marina tomorrow getting the bottom of the
dinghy painted. And if Windbird is back in the water, I will pull
everything out of the anchor chain locker and out from under the v-berth and
wash it all down while we are at a dock with water. The job will be much
harder to do once on a mooring in Eel Pond for the summer. So I’ll spend my
weekend doing this and hopefully getting some time in the garden. Much to
do. Now I just have to hope the weather is cooperative. No rain, please.
by Judy Handley | Jun 7, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 212, Year 7: Super Grandkids
Date: Thursday, June 7, 2012
Weather: Partly Sunny Day with Heavy Evening Rain
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA
Heather and Jed left early this morning with Oliver to go to a science
conference in Rhode Island. Heather was one of the keynote speakers and
took part in a panel discussion while Jed took care of Oliver. Then when
Jed presented a couple of posters, Heather was with Oliver. They stayed the
entire day and even attended the evening dinner and Oliver was super for the
entire day. Mark and I had Sam and Jonah all day and evening and they were
super as well. So at the end of a very long day I can proudly announce that
we have super grandkids. And how many two month-olds attend science
conferences and stay in a good mood the entire time? In fact, I think he
slept most of the day and evening. Heather and Jed got home about 10:30 pm
and Oliver was still asleep. But when he woke up I got the distinct feeling
that he is up for a while. He did this last night as well, and was up every
hour during the night. I think the trip to New Mexico has his days and
nights turned around. Heather and Jed might not get a lot of sleep again
tonight, but hopefully he will slowly get his timing readjusted. He is such
a smiley, happy little guy, but a smiling baby at 3 am is just not what you
want!
My other big task today was making another batch of chicken mineral broth.
More and more Mark’s favorite food is soup. I have never been one to make
soups, but I am learning. And I want to make sure that the soup stock is as
nutritious as possible. So I spend a great deal of time making these huge
pots of stock and either canning or freezing them for future use.
Tomorrow is a West Marine work day for Mark and a Windbird work day for me.
Mark starts his day with an appointment with his oncologist and then on to
work. Windbird is ready to go back in the water, but before she does, I
need to polish the waterline with AwlCare. I did the whole boat, but there
was a strip of masking tape at the waterline. Now that the bottom has been
painted, the tape is removed, and I can do the final cleaning and polishing.
The dinghy has been in for repairs and was returned for the second time to
today. The first time it was returned, it still leaked, but now we think it
is fine. Now I need to paint the bottom of it with anti-fouling paint to
keep the growth off. So those are my tasks for tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Jun 6, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 211, Year 7: Goldstones Home from New Mexico
Date: Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Weather: Partly Sunny Day with Periods of Rain, Warming Up a Bit
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA
The Goldstones got home last night right on time. All three boys had a
great day and Heather and Jed were certainly glad for that. The trip out to
New Mexico was just no fun and they were dreading the trip home, but all for
nothing as it turned out great. They all had a great time in New Mexico
with cousin Ziggy, Uncle Justin, and Auntie Jo. They loved all the animals
and the very different terrain, but the highlight activity was jumping on
Ziggy’s trampoline. I won’t be surprised if one of those pops up here at
some point. We didn’t get home until after midnight, so everyone slept in
this morning. Sam went to school but Jed ended up bringing Jonah back home.
He was just too tired and wanted to be at home. Mark and I took him with us
when we went to pick Sam up in the afternoon and Jonah got a bit of a nap in
the car as we drove to Woods Hole, back to Falmouth to West Marine, and then
to the marina to deliver the last through-hull and seacock. All of that
took about an hour and then Jonah woke up as soon as we got to the marina.
He and Sam had not seen the boat out of the water, so they enjoyed exploring
the underside of Windbird as well as climbing up to walk on the deck with
the boat out of the water.
All of the through-hulls are installed except for the one we delivered this
afternoon and one side of the bottom is painted. I think the jobs will be
completed tomorrow and Windbird will be back in the water by Friday. Mark
works at West Marine on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but I have a long list
of jobs that I want to get done on Windbird once she is back in the water
and before we leave for Woods Hole on Monday. It looks like the weather is
starting to clear a bit although the forecast for tomorrow is thunderstorms,
but the weekend looks good for the jobs I need to do on the weekend.
by Judy Handley | Jun 5, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 210, Year 7: Another Day of Rain
Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Weather: Rainy All Day, Clearing in the Evening, Mid-50’s
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA
Today was another cold, rainy day. We are ready for some sunshine. It is
now early evening and we are getting ready to head to Boston to pick up
Heather, Jed, and boys. They have been texting us during the day to keep us
posted on their progress, and all flights went ahead as scheduled. That
very different from their experience flying out to New Mexico, and I am sure
they are very pleased that that there were no last minute changes.
Mark and I spent most of our day in the car. We drove to the marina to
check on Windbird’s progress and found that we needed to go buy fittings to
go on the through-hulls to connect them to the hoses on the inside of the
boat. We drove into Falmouth to West Marine and got what they had-one of
two fittings needed. We delivered that to Fiddler’s Cove and talked to
Brian, the young man doing the work, to make sure we had the right fitting,
and then we drove to Hyannis to another West Marine to get another one. Now
we just have to wait for the arrival of another through-hull tomorrow
afternoon and deliver that to Fiddler’s Cove and the job of installing the
through-hulls should be complete. It is looking hopeful that bottom
painting can happen on Thursday or Friday and we can be back in the water by
Saturday and off to Woods Hole on Monday.
We got a bit of unsettling news from Mark’s oncologist this afternoon. His
calcium levels have been slightly high the past month and the results of a
special blood test came back this afternoon showing that he has
hyperparathyroidism. The absolute worst case scenario would be that there
is a cancerous tumor causing the problem. But there are about five other
reasons that are much more common. Still it is worrisome and we now have to
make an appointment with an endocrinologist to check this out. Needless to
say, we are anxious to pinpoint the problem and take care of it ASAP. We
just both need to take a deep breath and forge ahead.
by Judy Handley | Jun 4, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 209, Year 7: The Weather
Date: Monday, June 4, 2012
Weather: Rainy All Day, 52 degrees F (feels freezy)
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA
The weather dominated today. It hovered around 50 degrees and with the wind
blowing, it felt ‘freezy.’ We had to wear our polar fleece jackets and wool
socks. It was really quite miserable. If it stays like this, Heather and
Jed are going to be in for a weather shock when they get home from warm,
sunny New Mexico tomorrow night. June can often be a cold, wet month in New
England and it is doing a great job of proving that to be true in these
first few days of June this year.
Mark and I had dental appointments to get our teeth cleaned this morning.
Then in the early afternoon we went to the boat to meet the man who is doing
an out-of-water survey for us. This also gave us a chance to talk to the
marina folks and get an idea of when they think the work will be done and we
will be back in the water. They are hoping to have us back in by week’s
end, and if that is the case, we will take the boat to Woods Hole on Monday.
I have a nephew getting married in West Virginia on Friday of next week and
we are planning on driving down on Thursday. We would like to have the boat
settled on the summer mooring in Eel Pond before we leave. So we can just
hope that the work is done on time.
Tomorrow evening we head to Boston to pick up Heather and gang when they
arrive at 10 pm and I think we’ll have some sleepy little boys for the ride
home.
by Judy Handley | Jun 3, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 208, Year 7: Stuck in Gloucester
Date: Sunday, June 3, 2012
Weather: Overcast in AM, Clearing in the Afternoon; Cool
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA
Carl Stein and his sons aren’t going to make it to Cape Cod this week. They
are stuck in Gloucester with 35 knot winds preventing them from leaving the
harbor. They had hoped to sail to Woods Hole and then on to Nantucket, but
the weather was just not with them. So hopefully we will see them later in
the summer. My nephew Tommy and his son Josh headed back to New Hampshire
at noon today in hopes of beating the weekend traffic heading north. Mark
and I both relaxed in the afternoon and then met Dick and Claire Wiklund at
the Fiddler’s Cove Marina clubhouse for dinner. We ate some of the lasagna
I baked and the rest will go in the freezer. We missed having Carl and his
sons with us, but we certainly understand that weather rules when you are
sailing and you just cannot always make your planned destination. But we
forged on in their absence and had a delightful evening with Dick and
Claire.
Two of the five through-hulls that need to be replaced on Windbird have now
been removed, so progress is being made. The prop has been sent in for
repair and the prop shaft has been properly cleaned and painted. If the
remainder of the through-hulls are removed tomorrow, it is possible that
Windbird will be back in the water later this week. Mark works on Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday, so I’m not sure when we will have the time to move the
boat to Woods Hole. Dick Wiklund has volunteered to help and I’m sure we
can get Heather and Jed to help as well. But as with all things concerning
sailing, we just have to play it by ear and be flexible. Sometime in the
next week and half, I think we will be in our summer home in Woods Hole.
Heather called this evening from New Mexico. They are having a wonderful
visit and the little cousins are enjoying their time together. They all
went to Taos today, but they have decided not to do more sight-seeing.
Instead they are just staying at Justin and Jo’s and enjoying their time
together. Ziggy has a trampoline and all of the boys have really enjoyed
that. Justin and Jo’s neighbors have a milk cow and they are sharing
milking responsibilities and letting Justin milk once a day and keep the
milk. Sam got to help with the milking last night, so I know he was
thrilled. Jonah has gotten to hold the Ziggy’s bunny, Suki, wrapped in a
blanket like a burrito, and that thrilled him. And all of the boys dug for
worms to feed the chickens. Jonah loves bugs and worms, so he must be in
creepy crawly heaven. I’m posting a few photos with this log that capture a
bit of the fun the little cousins are having. I’m sure there will be more
photos when Heather and Jed arrive back home late on Tuesday and I’ll post
those on Wednesday.
