Day 193, Year 7: Windbird Uncovered
Date: Saturday, May 19, 2012
Weather: Another Beautiful Sunny Day
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Windbird has shed her outer skin-the winter cover that kept us warm and cozy
during the freezy months is gone. For the past two months the thermometer
on the deck has been reading in the 60’s and 70’s at night, but now without
the cover, 55 degrees F is the nighttime reading. However, it is still 72
degrees inside, so all is well.
Heather, Oliver, and I went to a Master Gardener’s plant sale this morning
while Jed took Sam and Jonah to a Coast Guard demonstration. Heather and
Oliver came back to Windbird with me and Heather perched herself up on the
boom to cut loose the plastic cover. She started the process yesterday and
today she finished the job. I have to admit that I feel a bit naked without
the cover. It protected us from the weather and also from the observation
of fellow boaters. Now we are open to the weather and to close observation
of fellow boaters. What was private is now public. Not a bad thing, just
different. And after a boys’ morning out to see a Coast Guard demonstration
and a lacrosse game, Jed brought Sam and Jonah to Windbird with a picnic
lunch for all of us to enjoy on deck. Jed helped finish getting the framing
down that held up the winter cover. Mark did not feel good enough to go to
work at West Marine today, but he did come out on deck long enough to start
getting the framing down. Later in the afternoon, he took down the flags
and Christmas lights that were wrapped around the fore and back stays. And
even later in the evening, I sprayed down the deck to get rid of some of the
grime that had accumulated over the winter. Other than a little cleaning
that I need to do on the inside, I think Windbird is now ready to be hauled
on Monday morning. Hopefully Mark will feel good enough to go to work
tomorrow and I will go to Heather’s to do a bit of cooking. We want to made
another strawberry rhubarb pie and I want to make a beef broth for Mark from
organic pasture-raised beef. The beef liver from the Farm Institute on
Martha’s Vineyard has been keeping Mark’s blood count normal when it would
otherwise be low. So I am hoping the beef broth will work a little magic as
well.
We will sleep on Windbird tomorrow night and get up super early to watch as
our home is lifted out of the water. We will then make a temporary move to
Heather and Jed’s while Windbird’s bottom is painted and four new
through-hulls are installed. I know we will be coming here to check on
progress during the week, but we have full confidence in the staff here and
don’t feel like we have to really oversee the work. Hopefully by week’s
end, Windbird will be back in her slip so we can put the sails on and get
her ready for the move to Woods Hole.
And as a final note, I must mention Swimmy. This is a stuffed animal, a fish, that comes home for a weekend with a member of Sam’s class on a rotating basis. He came home with Sam in the fall and he came with them this weekend. We documented Swimmy’s visit to Windbird with photos and those are attached to this log along with photos of taking down the plastic.
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| 120519 Day 193a Cape Cod, USA–Removing Wndbird's Winter Cover |
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| 120519 Day 193b Cape Cod, USA–Swimmy Visits Fiddler's Cove Marina |
