by Judy Handley | Apr 27, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 171, Year 7: Beef Liver, Vinegar, and Dark Chocolate
Date: Friday, April 27, 2012
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy, and Cool
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Mark got a good report from the oncologist today. On Fridays prior to his
Monday chemo treatments, he goes to the clinic early to have blood drawn for
testing and to then meet with Dr. Crook. After his third treatment, we saw
a bit of a dip in some of the numbers, so we adjusted his diet. We have
added beef liver from free-range, organically fed cows from Martha’s
Vineyard, and we increased the amount of meat we eat in general. And that,
or fate, has kept those numbers from dipping any lower. In fact, most are
increasing. So the doctor feels that Mark is going into his sixth treatment
(the halfway point) in great shape. He has successfully kept mouth sores at
bay with his nightly mouth rinse of hot water, salt, and apple cider
vinegar. And we solved his upset stomach with two cups of hot chocolate at
bedtime. We have experimented enough now to know that this chocolate
bedtime drink also allows him to sleep through the night-something he hasn’t
done for years. We used up all of the dark chocolate drink from Singapore
and are now using Ghirardelli Double Chocolate. It works as well as the
Singapore drink even though it is not dark chocolate. His weight has also
stabilized. So the doctor suggests we just keep on doing more of the same.
Who would have ever thought that eating beef liver smothered in onions,
gargling with vinegar and salt water, and drinking hot chocolate at bedtime
would be a winning combination?
Heather, Jed, and I are still working toward getting the bee garden
completed before the bees arrive. We were given a bit of a reprieve as the
Saturday afternoon delivery date has been changed to late afternoon on
Sunday. The bees are being delivered by a small bee company from Rhode
Island. When Heather called them inquiring about ordering bees she found
out that they are delivering bees to Martha’s Vineyard this weekend. So she
will meet the gentleman at the ferry in Woods Hole and get her brood before
he crosses to the Vineyard.
Mark is working through Sunday and then has his next chemo treatment on
Monday, so boat deck work has been put on hold for now. We were also
working on the dinghy but only got as far as finding the leaks and totally
deflating the boat so we could patch it, but it has been two weeks now and
we haven’t gotten back to that job. The dinghy has been sitting sadly on
the rocks on shore. So we have decided to have the dinghy picked up by the
local dinghy repair guy and let him do that job. Slowly, ever slowly, we
are getting things done.
by Judy Handley | Apr 26, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 170, Year 7: Another Super Busy Day
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2012
Weather: Mostly Sunny Early, Cloudy and Cool in the Late Afternoon
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Mark worked from 8 am to 6 pm today at West Marine and made it just fine
except for wanting a mid-day siesta. But after lunch, his energy returned
and he made it through the day just fine. I worked with Heather all day on
the bee garden, organizing kids’ clothing, and just hanging out with Oliver.
Tomorrow we are renting a rototiller to finish off the bee garden, so it
will be another busy day. But once the bees arrive on Saturday and get put
into their hive, we can relax a bit. But only for a bit as Mark and I then
really need to push to get the deck done and Heather and Jed have to get
ready for the delivery of a new refrigerator next week. That requires
putting in new wall board and finishing it. Jed finished the installation
of the new dish washer this afternoon. It was a tricky plumbing job but
worked out fine. The installation of these two new kitchen appliances has
required completely new electrical wiring, new plumbing for the dish washer,
and lots of cutting out of cabinets and walls. It is not just like
unplugging the old and plugging in the new. So until all of this craziness
is done, life will remain on the busy side here.
Tonight we attended the monthly meeting of the Falmouth Amateur Radio
Association. We presented there last month and were very interested in
hearing tonight’s presentation on Coast Guard Search and Rescue. Jeannot
Smith, Response Department Head for the Southeastern New England Coast Guard
Station located in Woods Hole made the presentation. He had been out
overnight looking for a man overboard which made the presentation all the
more compelling. We thank Dick Wiklund, president of the club, for inviting
us. We scooted out right after the presentation, without thanking anyone,
in order to get Mark home and in bed at a reasonable hour to get up and
start again in the morning. But we fully appreciated learning how the Coast
Guard goes about finding vessels in distress. We plan to take Jeannot up on
his invitation to visit the Woods Hole station and learn even more.
by Judy Handley | Apr 25, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 169, Year 7: Deck Work and Bee Garden
Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Weather: Beautiful Day, Warm and Sunny
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Today was all about working on the teak deck and then going to the Heather
and Jed’s and working on the bee garden. And yet we still have miles to go
on both of these projects. Tomorrow Mark goes to work at West Marine, so
the deck work will be continued next week. He works tomorrow, Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday, and then has a chemo treatment on Monday. So Tuesday
is the first possible time to get back to work on that project. Heather and
I continue to remove the sod from the area we are calling the bee garden.
We’re doing this way instead of tilling because of the huge number of weeds
we are hoping to get rid of. When Mark goes to work in the morning, I will
drop him off and go to Heather and Jed’s to continue the sod removal. The
bees arrive on Saturday, so we need to get this garden done!
by Judy Handley | Apr 24, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 168, Year 7: All is Well
Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Weather: Sunny Day but Very Windy and Cool
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
I went in for a routine colonoscopy this morning and all is well-not
perfect, but good enough. The prep for the procedure is no fun, but the
actual procedure itself is amazingly easy. A nurse hooks you up to an IV,
you are wheeled into a room with lots of monitors, the anesthesiologist
gives you some amazing drug that just puts you out long enough for the
procedure, and then you wake up back in the room where you started and you
get up feeling like nothing ever happened. I had one small benign polyp
that had to be removed. Depending on what the biopsy says, I might have to
repeat the procedure in five, instead of the normal ten, years. But with it
being so easy, I don’t mind that.
It’s on days like today that we are really glad we still have our plastic
cover protecting us from the wind and cold. With the sun shining, it is
quite warm, so Mark was able to make some progress on the deck. He did
change his plans for the afternoon, however, and went to Heather and Jed’s
with me. We forgot that I was not supposed to drive today, so it all worked
out great. When he picked me up at the hospital we went to the closest Home
Depot and Lowe’s, about twenty minutes north of here, looking for new blades
for the Fein tool. This is the blade that removes the caulk and the two
that we had both broke this morning. The shopping expedition was not
successful, but after we picked up Sam and Jonah, Mark searched the internet
and found that Jamestown Distributors in Rhode Island, the place from which
we get the caulk, was the place to get replacement blades. They sent them
out today and we’ll have two new ones tomorrow so the work can continue.
While at Heather’s, Mark put another coat of paint on the bee hive body and
got the frames put together. Now Heather and I just need to get the bee
garden completed by Saturday so we will be ready for the arrival of the
bees.
And I can’t end this log without saying something about Oliver. He is just
growing and changing so quickly. He is losing his hair and is just the
cutest, plump little baby. He is continuing to gain weight and has outgrown
all the newborn clothes. He is now following people by craning his neck and
he raises his head up to look around. He looks right into your eyes just
like he is trying to say something important to you. And while we are on
the topic of babies, our daughter-in-law Jo had a baby check-up today and
she and Justin called to let us know that all is well. In only three months
we’ll have another addition.
by Judy Handley | Apr 23, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 167, Year 7: More Rain
Date: Monday, April 23, 2012
Weather: Repeat–Rain All Day
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
It’s still raining, but it comes in spurts. It drizzles a bit, then downpours, then slacks off for a bit. Then it repeats. It was warm enough today, but this evening it was quite chilly. This is normal spring weather in this part of the world and we could well continue to have periods like this through June. Even with the rain, Mark was able to work on ridding the starboard deck of caulk this afternoon. Sam and Jonah spent their afternoon here napping, so Mark waited until after nap to start the removal of caulk with the Fein tool. But progress is being made.
Early tomorrow morning I go in for my routine colonoscopy. Mark will drop me off and come back to the boat to work on the deck. When he picks me up after the procedure, I’ll take him back to the boat so he can continue the deck work while I pick up Sam and Jonah. We’re beginning to get to the panic stage on getting the deck done as we are really supposed to be out of this slip by the end of April. That is just not going to happen and the management here tells us that will be fine, but we need to work as quickly as possible. At this point our best estimate is that we can get the deck ready to caulk by the end of this week. But then Mark has another Chemo treatment at the beginning of the first week of May, it could easily be sometime in the second week of May before the caulking is done. Then we have to have to take off the winter cover, have the boat taken out of the water to have the bottom painted, and have the through-hulls replaced. It looks like we will be very lucky to be out of here by sometime the last week of May. Everything will depend on the weather and how Mark feels. But we do need to leave here by the end of May, so we will just have to adjust as we move along.
by Judy Handley | Apr 22, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 166, Year 7: More About Friends
Date: Sunday, April 22, 2012
Weather: Rain All Day
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
The rain started last night and it is still continuing. Sometime it comes as a drizzle and other times as a downpour, but in some form it has persisted for almost 24 hours and is predicted to continue tomorrow. It will be Tuesday before we see sunny skies again. We need to start removing the old caulk from the port deck, but we also have some inside jobs to do and those will take priority tomorrow.
Mark worked today and late this afternoon I went into Falmouth for the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative (WHDCC) Fundraiser at Liam MacGuire’s Pub. The Cooperative is the school that Sam and Jonah attend and Heather is in charge of fundraising, so Heather and Oliver spent the entire afternoon there. Jed had taken Sam and Jonah home for naps so only Heather and Oliver were there when I arrived. There was live music that was very loud, but Oliver slept right through it all. There was a silent auction and lots of raffle items. I don’t know how much money was raised, but a good time was had by all. I picked Mark up from work and brought him back to the Pub and then we all went back to Heather and Jed’s for Indian take-out. This was my last meal until Tuesday afternoon as I have to start fasting for a Tuesday morning colonoscopy. Yuck! No fun at all, but I certainly know the importance of having these routine tests done. So I shall not complain.
In last night’s log I wrote about hearing from sailing friends, and then this morning we got an email from Jean-Pierre and Colette of Safina. These are our French Canadian friends that we sailed with in the South Pacific and then from Australia to Malaysia. We hadn’t heard from them for a few months and it was great to get an update. They have been in Hong Kong and their email recounted their very tense sail from Hong Kong to Malaysia. I’ll copy their account here, but first just want to say how very glad we are they made it to Malaysia safely. Here’s their story.
“We had a memorable 12 days passage from Hong Kong to Malaysia. As you know, we have only five days autonomy in fuel. The three first days from Hong Kong were easy sailing and then we were nine days without any wind. The sea was smooth. After five days, we were running out of fuel. The weather report and the grib file were forecasting no wind for several days and a low pressure area east of Philippines coming in our direction that could be a TS or a Typhoon! This was a serious situation. We didn’t want to be a sitting duck waiting for the storm. (This LPA became later a typhoon category 1.) We had to make a decision, waiting for the wind and get caught in the depression or else. We finally decided to ask for assistance as we had to leave this region. We issued a pan pan. At our great surprise, a cargo answered and agreed to give us some fuel. We approached it and went aside without difficulties. They gave us 8 jerrycans of fuel . We were very grateful. By the time we finished, it was dark and we were very late for the watch routine.
So the next day, we start pouring the fuel in the tank. The fuel was black. J.P. smelled it and said it was diesel. We could not believe the cargo would give bad fuel after going thru all that trouble to assist us. J.P. called another cargo and told the officer about the fuel. The second mate said it was contaminated fuel. He had spoken to his engineer who said to avoid loading the engine. We would have engine damages but less if the load is low. So we did two knots all night.
During the night, the engine started to knock. In the morning, we decided to ask for help again. At six o’clock we called on the VHF and three cargo ships answered. Two of them were too far away, but a big tanker which was 7 nm ahead turned around and came to us. We got another 160 liters but this time good fuel. They did not want to pick up the bad fuel; so we ended up having 22 jugs on the deck. The day wasn’t over, we had to pump out the bad fuel from the tank, flush it with the new fuel, pump out again and then fill out the tank with the good fuel. We were ready to go at noon. We were very impressed with the cargo ships as we never thought they would be so helpful. They are very professional.
We were so happy to arrive at Puteri Marina. On our way we found two fishermen to whom we gave 11 jugs of contaminated fuel. They were very happy as their boats use this type of fuel. The cruising life brings you all kind of adventure but as we are getting older it seems to be more difficult than before.”
