Day 322, Year 6: This Old Boat
Date: Sunday, September 11, 2011
Weather: Sunny Day but Cooler (high 60’s)
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
I’m sure each of you looked back to September 11, 2001, today and remembered where you were when you heard the news of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Mark was in flight to Baltimore that morning and it was a very tense time. It was a very sad day for America, but as with any tragedy, hopefully we have grown stronger because of it. To those who lost loved ones, talking about growing stronger as a nation doesn’t help with their loss, but I’m sure even they agree that we must learn what we can from our past and continue to move forward.
I spent this day a little under the weather. I felt fine when I went to bed, but sometime in the middle of the night I woke up and there was no mistake that I had a cold. I learned this morning that Jonah also has a cold. I don’t know which of us gave it to the other one, but we are both obviously suffering from the same bug. I know that keeping two little guys that go to public daycare each day means that there will be many bugs to deal with all winter. I had just hoped that the first event would have come a little later in the fall. You get what you get and we’ll just have to deal with it. I just hope this doesn’t spread to Mark, Heather, Jed, and Sam, but that hope is probably in vain. But we can hope.
Today we also dealt with the reality that Windbird needs some serious attention. She has been run hard for the past six years and new signs of wear seem to be upon us every day. The boat is actually fine except for the teak deck that needs attention, but the systems are the problem. We have been dealing with head problems and continue to struggle with that issue. We started having serious electrical issues late last week and that problem is not yet solved. We have ordered a new voltage regular and hope that will solve that issue, but last night we realized that the refrigerator was not cooling properly. That a new problem. We have had freezer problems, but our little refrig worked beautifully all around the world. I guess it needs a rest as the temp is now between 48 and 52-not acceptable for a refrigerator. The freezer is working fine, so we think the refrig just needs Freon. We will contact a refrigeration repair person tomorrow and hopefully get this problem solved quickly. We will probably lose everything in the frig, but it is not all that much, so we are not too worried. It is a bit disconcerting to have new problems cropping up constantly, but we’ll get it under control little by little.
Late morning we drove to Heather and Jed’s to strategize about what the next steps will be in preparing the area where their new shed will be built. They had hoped to rent a small mulcher-shredder to help clear the area, but small ones just aren’t available here. So Jed borrowed a neighbor’s truck yesterday and took a couple of loads to the recycling center and we will take one more load tomorrow. Then we can start laying out the foundation and preparing the ground. Next week Mark has Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday off work, so if the weather permits, we hope to get the shed under roof. This week he works on Wednesday and then on Thursday we go to the Newport Boat Show. Jed has a grant due on Thursday and Heather is busy this week participating in a WHOI Science Journalism conference where journalists from all over the world come here to learn about the science they report on. So we’ll be taking the boys without parents on Thursday to the boat show, and we will be spending more time in the evenings helping with dinners. Before we know it, it will be the weekend again. I can only hope that this sunny weather continues.
When we returned from H & J’s this afternoon, Mark decided to dive on the bottom of the boat to do a little cleaning. The temp was just below 70 degrees and the water was probably about the same-not quite like diving in tropical waters-but he did it and he didn’t freeze to death. I always stay on watch on deck when he is under the boat and today I had a special treat. Every day the ospreys fly overhead Windbird here in Eel Pond and make their high-pitched call. Ospreys are raptors and are also called fish eagles. That gives you a hint as to what they eat and there are lots of small fish here in the pond, thus lots of ospreys. Today while I was on deck, a particularly large one decided to perch on the mast of a nearby boat. By the time I run to get my camera, the ospreys are usually gone, but today I was able to get a few shots of this guy. And it was just a another reminder of why we love living aboard. We are struggling with a few boat problems, but always the benefits outweigh the problems.
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| 110911 Day 322 Cape Cod, USA–Diving on the Windbird's Bottom |
