2023 Life Logs, Day 142: Teak Cleaning Day
Date: Monday, May 22, 2023
Weather: Sunny; High 59, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The next chapter in the never-ending story . . . cleaning the teak again. I spent a huge amount of time getting rid of the old varnish on the teak. This boat has teak handrails on the cabin top, teak eyebrow molding on the sides of the cabin top, a teak bowsprit, a teak toe rail, teak mountings, teak cockpit coaming, and teak trim around the companionway. It also has teak companionway drop boards and a teak cockpit table and drink holder. The drop boards and cockpit table and drink holder are in my living room waiting to be sanded and varnished. All of the other teak got cleaned a week ago, but it needed another go. So today was that day. I won’t know how it looks until it is completely dry, but however it looks, it is as good as it is going to get as we are out of time. I will wait until Wednesday to make sure all the teak is completely dry before starting to apply teak sealer. Heather decided not to use varnish because Jed wouldn’t be able to be on the boat for at least a couple of weeks. And since it goes in the water next week, there is no time for any varnish to be applied this season. I will hopefully get the drop boards done this week so they can be on the boat a week so after it is in the water. In the meantime, we are using a clear plexiglass ‘drop board.’ And I am going to check with Heather about the table and drink holder. They might just be put back on the boat as is for this year if they want to use them right away. Utility before beauty.

2023 Life Logs, Day 141:  Boat Bottom Painting
Date:  Sunday, May 21, 2023
Weather:  Mostly Sunny; High 68, Low 53 degrees F
Location:  At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The never-ending story continues.  It was another boat workday.  It rained so hard overnight that I got up and went to the boat as soon as I could to assess the situation.  What I found was a wet boat, top to bottom, that needed to be dry ASAP so that the bottom could be painted today.  This was the crucial day when the last coat of base paint needed to be applied, left to sit for 4-5 hours to dry ‘just right’ before adding the first coat of bottom paint.  The first coat of bottom paint needs to bond to the last coat of base paint, so both coats have to be done on the same day.  I wiped down the deck.  It is still under the winter cover, but there are tears in the cover and the wind blew so hard that the rain came right in.  Then I started wiping down the bottom, then the topsides, then back on the deck to wipe down the outside of the toe rail as more drips were coming down.  Heather arrived after picking Ollie up from a overnight birthday party, removed the tape on the waterline as water was trapped under it, wiped that down, and started retaping.  Finally, the second base coat was going on.  The first coat was gray and the second one was white.  You alternate colors so that as the paint wears off, you know which layer you are down to.  After I did my part of painting the bottom of the keel, I took Ollie home and then returned.  Heather was moving the stands so she could paint under them.  It was 1:00 or 1:30 pm when we finished the base coat and broke for lunch, promising to return by 4:30 pm to roll on the first bottom coat.  The bottom paint is black, and it went on smoothly.  Heather is using a water-based bottom paint, Interlux Micron WA.  Good thing because both us got more of it on us than we had with the base coat paint.  Heather looked like she had a black moustache, and my hands were splotched with black.  The black washed off my hands easily, so I hope the black on Heather’s face did as well.  But the important thing is that the boat looked great, with the black bottom paint in all the right places.

When we were done, Heather removed the waterline tape line as I am returning tomorrow to do a second round of cleaning of the teak on deck.  That requires washing down with copious amounts of water.  When that is done, I can start applying the teak sealer and Heather can reapply the waterline tape before she rolls on the final coat of bottom paint on Wednesday.  There are MANY other things to be done before she launches on Wednesday, March 31, but somehow, I am confident that we will get it done … taping off and painting the waterline stripe, polishing the top sides, and washing down the mast, and on and on.  Anything that needs to be done will have to be done by me, Jed, and the boys, as Heather leaves town on Thursday.  But we have our marching orders from Captain Heather and I am confident we can get the job done.

2023 Life Logs, Day 140: Ollie’s Soccer Game, Then Boat Work Rained Out
Date: Saturday, May 20, 2023
Weather: Rainy Day; High 63, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The rain held off long enough for Ollie’s soccer team to play their game this morning. This was a home game against Dartmouth and ended up in a 1-1 tie.

By the end of the game, I was holding my folding chair over my head as an umbrella as it started raining in the fourth quarter. This was not to keep from getting wet, but to keep my glasses from getting wet so I could see the game. I tried watching without my glasses on, but that didn’t work. The chair made a great umbrella. Heather was at the game and Jed was off to Rhode Island with Jonah for an 11 am game and then another one at 4:30. I don’t know if either of Jonah’s games were rained out, but I do know that they were still not home around 4 pm. So, I assume his games were a go.

Before the game, I went to the Master Gardener’s Plant Sale at the fair grounds. What a zoo! So many people come and you really need to know what you are looking for and grab it quickly. I got some tomatoes for Heather and some other vegetables for both of us. And after the game, I came home for lunch and then headed to the boat to do the first application of teak sealer on the handrails and around the companionway just see how it is going to look. But I was rained out. The winter cover has too many holes and everything had splashes of water. Hopefully I’ll get to do this tomorrow. The rain is supposed to end by early morning and Heather is planning on doing the second coat of barrier paint and the first coat of bottom paint. In between the two coats, we have to wait while the first one dries. I will work on the teak during this time.

Since I couldn’t work at the boat, I came home and got the towels and rags we used yesterday for wiping down the boat after the application of Interlux 202 Fiberglas Solvent Wash. It is really smelly and Jed is terribly allergic to this stuff, so I brought the towels and rags home, soaked them in buckets outside overnight, and then took them to the laundromat this afternoon. Then I ended my day by transplanting the tomatoes plants I have been growing under the grow lights into larger pots. I got half of them done and they are now outside to harden off in the shade before planting. I’ll try to get the other half done tomorrow.

2023 Life Logs, Day 139: Back to Boat Work
Date: Friday, May 19, 2023
Weather: Sunny, Still on the Cool Side; High 62, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The boat work continued today. Heather took the day off work so she could apply the first epoxy barrier coat over the bottom of the boat. In March, the bottom was soda blasted to remove all bottom paint down to the barrier coat, and the gel coat in some places. This was done because there were years and years of bottom paint on the boat and it was lumpy and peeling. Removing that paint by sanding was just not a good idea for the environment or the people doing it. Thus, the soda blasting. To build back correctly, two or three coats barrier paint have to be applied and then two or three coats of bottom paint. So today was step one, the application of the first barrier coat and I went to assist Heather.

There are eight stands that are supporting the boat, keeping it upright, and we needed to place eight more side by side to the ones that are there so we could clean and apply barrier paint under the stand supports. First, Heather had to wipe down the entire bottom with Interlux 202 Fiberglass Boat Wash, wipe that down, spray with water, wipe that down, and wait for it to dry before applying InterProtect 2000E, the barrier coat paint. The stands are very heavy, but I was able to drag the needed stands to the boat while Heather did the boat wash. She then placed the new stands next to the ones in place, unscrewed the ones holding up the boat, one by one, while replacing each one with a new one so she could wash down the areas under the base plates. Then we painted. Heather did most of the painting, but I helped by painting the bottom of the keel and the bow of the boat, and by being Heather’s go-fer. Once done with the first coat, we had to wait for the barrier coat to dry, move the stands again, and paint the areas where the stand plates had been. This took most of the day, but the next coats will go faster because we don’t need to do the boat wash, just paint. And we now have a technique for changing the stand supports. Tomorrow Heather can’t paint because we are supposed to get rain, so we hope to start applying teak sealer to the teak on deck. The boat is still under cover, so we can do that when it is raining. The next painting day will be Sunday, and then Wednesday late afternoon. After that, Heather is out of town until the day of the boat launch, so I will have to do any painting left with whatever help I can find. Jed absolutely cannot even be near the boat when this painting is being done as he is very allergic to paints, varnishes, and any cleaners. But I am sure I can some help if needed.

I saw a photo of L’Escargot, the sailboat owned by friends Bruce and Jane Woodin, on Facebook today. She is ready to be launched and looks fantastic. Congratulations, Woodins, on a job well done. I couldn’t help but be a bit envious, but we’ll get there. In a week and a half, Eider will be renamed Ardenna and will be ready for her launch.

2023 Life Logs, Day 138: Gardening Progress
Date: Thursday, May 18, 2023
Weather: Cold Overnight, Sunny, but Cool; High 55, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

I took a break from Newcomers meetings and boat work today and turned my attention to gardening. I spent three hours with Lynda Onthank working on what will be our shared garden this summer. Lynda owns the home I will be renting starting in July. She has tried gardening on the property, but the garden was too shady. So, during the past few weeks, she moved the garden to a new spot beside the driveway where it will get more sun and proposed that we garden together. I immediately became very excited by the proposition. I attempted to move my raised beds there, but that proved to be too difficult. I bought new metal raised beds that Lynda and I assembled today. Two of them are almost full of soil I had moved there earlier, but the other two are empty. Slowly, one bucket at a time, I am going to try and move more garden soil from here. I know I am going to have to buy some, but I will move as much as I can. It felt great to work with Lynda to get the beds ready. Hopefully over the Memorial Day weekend, the traditional planting time here on the Cape, we will get some things planted.

Other than an afternoon of gardening, I had a morning chiropractor appointment and took Jonah to his bass lesson late this afternoon. Tomorrow I am planning to head out early to assist Heather with the painting of the bottom of the boat. She hopes to get two base coats and one coat of bottom paint on in one day. That is ambitious, but she is starting early and hopes to make her goal. I will do as much as I can to assist.

2023 Life Logs, Day 137: Congratulations to Heather MH Handley
Date: Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Weather: Windy and Cooler; High 59, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Yesterday I proudly cast my vote for my daughter, Heather MH Handley (the MH stands for Martin Handley) for School Committee. We assumed she would be elected as she was running unopposed for a one-year term. What we didn’t know was that she would get more votes than anyone else on the ballot. She contributes the number of votes to name recognition from her years on local public radio. Jed responded to my question about why they think she got so many votes to the fact that she is just damn good. I go along with both. Congratulations, Heather! Her first School Committee meeting is next Tuesday and then on Thursday she flies to Telluride, Colorado, returning home Monday evening. We all thought the boat was being launched on Tuesday, May 31, at 9 am, just 12 hours after her return. But she realized today that May 31st is on Wednesday. She is thankful for that.

This evening while Sam and Jonah were at soccer practice (car-pooled with a friend), Heather, Jed, and Ollie went to the boat to try and tape off the waterline. Laying a curved line that is not wavy is challenging. They were making progress when I left to come home. I doubt they finished as it was almost dark when I got home. But somehow by Friday morning, the line must be taped off because Heather is taking the day off and hoping to get two coats of barrier paint and one coat of bottom paint on the boat.

I spent most of my day engaged in Encore related activities. I attended the general meeting this morning, preceded and followed by more interviews with Board members. The program at the general meeting was great. It was advertised as a program about good choices for container gardens to be presented by a representative from Cape Abilities. It was really more about Cape Abilities than it was about container gardening, but that was okay because the presenter was so engaging and funny. I have no idea what his name was, but he runs the Cape Abilities Farm in Dennis. The mission of Cape Abilities is to “serve individuals with disabilities on Cape Cod by education, counseling and providing residential, therapeutic, social and employment supports that empower them to achieve meaningful and valued roles in the community.” Much of this is done through the employment of individuals with disabilities at the farm. I am so anxious to visit the farm and learn more about Cape Abilities and buy some of the organic plants they grow and sell.

I had to take Shadow with me this morning as there was a showing here at the cottage. He stayed in the car all morning and into the afternoon. I went out twice to check on him, but he was fine, just sleeping. When I brought him home, I had lunch, answered some emails, and headed back to town to take Ollie to his saxophone lesson. Then to the boat. And finally home. I have had the sniffles today and am hoping it is just a result of the heavy pollen count. But it might be a cold. Bummer. I hope I wake up just fine tomorrow morning.

2023 Life Logs, Day 136: Boat, Garden, Voting, Meetings, Wine Group
Date: Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Weather: Sunny; High 66 Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Heather and Jed went to the boat last night and sent me a report on the results of the teak cleaning. The results were mixed, so I went this morning to see for myself. H & J were right. Some parts were great, others were not. Not sure yet what we can do about that in the little bit of time we have left. But we will figure that out.

After visiting the boat, I went to 225 Lakeside where I will be moving in July. I went to check on the garden and to unpackage the raised beds I had sent there. I then stopped at Heather and Jed’s to pick up laundry, cast my votes in today’s local election on my way home, had lunch at home, walked Shadow, and then went on to Christina Brodie’s for an afternoon of meetings. We finished up at 5 pm and then it was back home to walk Shadow and to pick up my wine and food for my wine group meeting.

Since most members of my wine group go south for the winter months, we have a meeting in January and then not again until May. It was so wonderful to see everyone again tonight after our winter hiatus. Best wine group ever!

2023 Life Logs, Day 135: The Problem is Time … Not Enough
Date: Monday, May 15, 2023
Weather: Sunny; High 64 Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Time, time, time. In my life, it seems like there is never enough of it! We are down to the line with boat work as the boat goes in the water on Tuesday, May 30th. Or maybe the 31st. Whichever, it is coming soon and Heather leaves town next week and doesn’t return until the night before the boat goes in. So, all of the cleaning and painting has to be done before she leaves town. I was in meetings all day today with just a break for lunch, so there was not enough time to drive to the boat to check to see how the teak looked after yesterday’s cleaning.

At 5:30 pm, I drove straight from my last meeting to pick up Jonah and Sam to take them to Harwich for soccer practice. Heather and Jed were headed to the boat when I arrived. So, when I returned with the boys at 9 pm, I got the full report from Heather. The teak results were mixed. It was obvious that where we were able to really scrub with the brushes we had, it looks good. But in the corners and other hard to reach areas, it needs a little touch up. I wish there was time to do another full cleaning, but there just isn’t. I will see what I can do to spot clean and hope that does the trick. We used Oxy Clean dissolved in warm water as our cleaning solution rather than harsher chemicals due to Jed’s allergies. You just put a cup of Oxy in a gallon of warm water in a garden sprayer and spray away. Then scrub. Spray some more and rinse, rinse, rinse. The Oxy seemed to work great, at least where we agitated the surface adequately. In my research, I read that oxygenated bleach is a good teak cleaner. When I asked Heather if she knew what oxygenated bleach was, she immediately replied, “Oxy Clean.” Who knew? Certainly not me. Technically it is a natural plant derivative product called sodium percarbonate.

Tomorrow and Wednesday are days as busy as today, and Thursday is only a little better. I think I might have time to breathe on Friday. In the meanwhile, can someone lend me some time?

2023 Life Logs, Day 134: Happy Mother’s Day
Date: Sunday, May 14, 2023
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 61 Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers I know, especially to Heather and Jo, the mothers of my grandchildren. I hope all of you had a wonderful day. For Heather and me this was not your typical Mother’s Day. It was our choice to work all day on the boat and to ban Jed and the boys from coming. We knew we needed to work as fast as possible to reach our goal for the day. Jed was on kid transport today, so all Heather and I had to think about was getting the last bits of the teak sanded, getting all of the teak cleaned which is an involved process, and then get the top sides of the boat cleaned. I honestly didn’t think it was possible, but we did it! To me that felt like the best Mother’s Day gift ever.

Heather and I left the boat a little before 6:30 pm, and then the whole family met at Shipwrecked on Falmouth Heights Beach for dinner at 8 pm. I just spent the last hour talking to Justin. So, my Mother’s Day is complete, and now it is time to get to bed as I have meetings tomorrow starting at 9 am.

2023 Life Logs, Day 133: Boat Work, Kanegsberg’s Visit, and Soccer
Date: Saturday, May 13, 2023
Weather: Sunny, Warm; High 763 Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a full day of sanding on the boat, greeting good friends, Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg, who drove down from Dedham to help out with some boat work, and then taking Ollie to his soccer game which was won 12-4. Thank you, thank you, Alan and Helaine, for your help. Alan worked some sort of magic that got the autopilot working. Fantastic.

After the soccer game that was in West Wareham, the boys were jubilant. Ollie and I celebrated by stopping at Somerset Creamery for our first ice cream cone of the season. Shadow was alone for ten hours today and I felt terrible. He did fine, but there is going to be another week of intense boat work mixed with Encore meetings. Christina Brodie and I are the Co-Presidents Elect and we have time set aside on the first three days of the week to meet with other Board members. So Shadow will have some more long days. I thought ahead, however, and have someone from Upper Cape Pet Services to walk with him on those days when I am away all day.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and Heather and I have decided that what we want for Mother’s Day is the whole day to work on the boat with no interruptions. Jed will stay home with the boys and do any driving to soccer games while I sand and Heather finishes preparing the bottom of the boat for its first base coat. We hit a snag today because the existing waterline just didn’t seem right. Ollie and I stopped at Home Depot on our way home and bought a laser line level to help with that issue tomorrow.

So far, the weather has been cooperating. Heather only has next weekend here before she goes to Colorado on a work-related trip. She will be gone all of the next weekend, Memorial Day Weekend. The boat goes in the water on May 29, so that is the reason for the push to get everything done this week.