Day 340, Year 10: Back Home on Windbird

Day 340, Year 10: Back Home on Windbird
Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Warm
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

I left Windbird last Thursday and returned this evening. Five days is about as long as we can go without being here to run the engine to charge the batteries, so the engine has been running ever since I got home. And that wasn’t until after 7 pm and I have had a few challenges since arriving. When I got to the dinghy I found it full of water. It takes forever and a huge amount of energy to empty it with the hand pump, so I searched other dinghies for a gallon jug bailer I could borrow. I found one and that helped tremendously. By the time I got to Windbird, it was almost dark, but all was well. I immediately started the engine while I put things away. And then I attempted to fix dinner. But that didn’t work. I cannot get the stove burners to light. We should not be out of propane, so I think it is something else. But I was not going to battle with that in the dark. So I tried to turn on the microwave . . . and had absolutely no luck with that either. We hardly ever use the microwave, but tonight I couldn’t even get it to turn on. I called Mark and he asked if I had turned on the inverter. Oops! I had not. So I turned that on and the microwave did turn on, but I still could not get it to work. With no stove and no microwave, I decided to eat cold meatloaf and call that dinner. I’ll tackle the propane problem in the morning and hopefully by tomorrow night, I’ll have some way of cooking.

This morning I took Mark to Mass General for an 11 am appointment with his urologist. It will take a couple of days to get the culture results to see if he still has the urinary tract infection. And once the doctor is sure that the infection is gone, he will go in and take a look around to see if all is well. So we have that issue under control. I then left Mark at Mass General, took some groceries we bought this morning back to the Hope Lodge, and headed home. I stopped at Costco to do more food shopping and got back to Falmouth just in time to pick Sam and Jonah up after school. Heather had a late afternoon meeting and Jed had a doctor’s appointment, so I played with the boys until time for dinner. We had fun biking (them biking and me trying to keep up by walking very fast) and playing football and swinging in the backyard. Sam has a new bicycle that he is very proud of, so I’m including a photo of that with this log. I’m exhausted, so I think it will be an early turn-in for me tonight.
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150915 Day 340 Cape Cod, USA–Sam's Bicycle and Backyard Fun