Day 159, Year 7: Spring Boat Work Frenzy
Date: Sunday, April 15, 2012
Weather: Repeat–Beautiful Warm AM, Turning Cloudy and Cool PM
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Today Mark worked at West Marine and I worked here on Windbird. Before Mark went to work, he helped me turn the dinghy over. A few days ago, someone from the marina moved it out onto a dock. It was sadly deflated, so we inflated it and found that it just wouldn’t hold air. Obviously it had developed some new leaks, so this morning we turned it over so it was sitting on its bottom. That way we could slide it closer to a water source so I could clean it and search for leaks. The instant we turned it over, we spotted the source of the new leaks. We had stored the dinghy on land for the winter by pulling it up into the tall grass that grows beside the walkways here at Fiddler’s Cove. Well. The grass had actually grown right into the dinghy and when we pulled it out, it left nice little holes. Neither of us would have suspected this, but we have about seven little pin holes to prove that it. Mark helped me inflate the dinghy and after he left I wet it down and covered it with dish detergent. Very soon I spotted the areas where bubbles were developing and marked the leaks so we can put on patches. I scrubbed the topside of the dinghy and then some fellow boaters on our dock helped me turn it over so I could scrub the bottom. Sometime during the next week, Mark will try to find time to put on the patches so we can re-inflate the dinghy and do the other work on it that needs to be done before we return to Woods Hole.
Heather, Jed, Sam, Jonah, and Oliver came over for dinner tonight. It’s been a while since they have all been here at one time and it was great fun to have them. Tomorrow morning Mark goes in for his fifth chemo treatment and Heather, Jed, and boys are coming back to Windbird to help me tape the deck to get ready for another caulking session. I hate to pull them away from the all the work they have to do at their house, but there’s no way I
can get the taping done tomorrow morning by myself. It is a holiday here tomorrow, so the boys don’t have school. Jed will watch Sam and Jonah while Heather and I tape, and we are hoping that Oliver will cooperate by sleeping like he did yesterday when we were digging up the new garden. Mark is determined to caulk tomorrow afternoon and then start removing the old caulk from the port deck, so the taping has to be done by noon. We are certainly
not the only ones doing boat work right now. The travel lift is putting boats in the water as fast as it can and the marina is starting to fill up. And where we have been the only ones parking near the dock for months, there is now a long line of cars every day. The spring boat work frenzy has begun.
My parents were married on April 15, 1923. My mom was barely 15 and my dad was 19. I always think of them on this day and smile when I think of the stories my mom told us about their honeymoon. They had a double wedding with my mother’s brother who married my dad’s double first cousin. They had no money, so both couples spent their honeymoon night in the same bed in an empty house that was thought to be haunted. Only in West Virginia!
 |
| 120415 Day 159 Cape Cod, USA–Oliver |
