Day 121, Year 7: The Sunshine Dilemma
Date: Thursday, March 8, 2012
Weather: Beautiful, Warm Day, High Temp 62 degrees F, VERY Windy
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA

I could have named this log, “Another Day, Another Health Issue—Ugh.” That would be the glass half-empty look at today. But I changed it to reflect the glass half-full view and focus on the dilemma that deliciously warm sunshine presents to us. I am definitely a sunshine person. I love it. But as we have all become aware, along with those wonderful rays of sunshine come the problems with too much exposure. Mark doesn’t like sitting in the sun. In fact, he avoids it at all cost. I sit in the sun every chance I get. But I wear sunscreen; he doesn’t. I’m fair-skinned and he is dark-skinned, so I should be the one with the greatest likelihood of having problems. But when we went to the dermatologist this morning for routine check-ups, it was Mark, not me, that had some issues. He had four places on his nose and forehead that were frozen to keep squamous cell carcinoma from developing. These spots are called actinic keratosis and are precancerous skin lesions caused by chronic sun exposure. Mark also has a spot on this leg that was biopsied. The examiner thought it was nothing but said it should be checked. Hopefully it is nothing, but I will certainly be glad to hear that officially next week when the biopsy report is back. In the meantime, Mark does have one more little health issue to worry about.

We came back to Windbird after the dermatology appointments and Mark rested while I prepared pots for planting seeds. I mixed soil from Heather and Jed’s garden with organic potting soil I purchased and then I filled the pots with this mixture. Tomorrow I’ll bring Sam and Jonah here to Windbird for their naps, and after nap I will have them plant the seeds. We are starting pumpkin, watermelon, squash, cucumber, broccoli, Swiss chard, kale, and hot pepper seeds for the garden at Heather and Jed’s. I am planting mesclun greens, spinach, arugula, and basil in pots that will stay on Windbird. Mark and I both went to pick up Sam and Jonah and after nap we planted sugar snap peas in the garden. We still expect some freezing nights, but the peas should fare just fine. Sam got up from nap early, so he and I prepared the planting areas. Then he and Jonah, as well as Molly from next door, planted the peas. It was great fun. We are supposed to have a couple of days of rainy, ugly, cold weather, but next week looks good. So hopefully those peas will make it through the cold time and poke their little leaves out sometime after St. Patrick’s Day.

Tonight we talked to Justin, Jo, and Ziggy on Skype with video. Our internet connection here at Fiddler’s Cove has been down for a couple of days, so we got online using Mark’s phone. It wasn’t a perfect connection, but we did get to see Ziggy and the two new hamsters he got today. He showed us the first hamster and told us its name is ‘Hamster’. When we asked the name of the second hamster, he replied ‘Hamster’ using his most proper English accent. So as of now, we have Hamster I and Hamster II. He also showed us Thanksgiving dinner. Justin and Jo have been raising baby chicks and a baby turkey in boxes in Ziggy’s room. I’m afraid that turkey is becoming a bit of a pet, so it will be interesting to see if it really becomes Thanksgiving dinner.