Day 306, Year 9: Not the Day We Planned
Date: Saturday, August 23, 2014
Weather: Partly Cloudy, High in the Low 70’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today was a good day; it just was not the day we planned. Mark got a call from West Marine just before 8 am asking if he could work this afternoon. Since we didn’t have definite plans, he said he’d be in 1 o’clock. We then turned on the engine to charge the batteries and I immediately heard a groan from Mark. The problem that he thought he had fixed yesterday was back. The Balmar alternator generator was once again locked. We weren’t charging, so we switched over to the generator to charge the batteries and Mark launched into problem solving mode once again. The alternator regulator is programmed by using a magnet. More specifically, the switch that is used for programming is activated by a magnet. So today, like yesterday, Mark used an even stronger magnet to get it to unlock. But we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to see if it is still working. Then Mark turned on the instruments just to make sure the various instruments were still talking to each other. Another negative. He was so sure he had found the loose connection causing the problem, but obviously not. So he once again started tracing wires, and sure enough, he found another loose connection. Hopefully this problem is fixed, but we shall just have to wait and see.
While Mark was working on this, I did a little dinner prep and some reading about the west coast of Puerto Rico. I was doing this because the ‘pirate camp’ on Culebra is no more. Our son Justin called yesterday afternoon to tell us that they had made a decision to shut down the pirate camp and move on. Another tropical depression came through this past week and dumped loads of rain on them. It was just too much, so they made a very quick decision to ‘get out of Dodge’. They found a tourist rental in Rincon on the west coast of Puerto Rico and off they went. We’re not sure why they chose Rincon, but they are renting there for a couple of weeks while they find something more permanent. Here’s what Jo wrote on her Facebook page late yesterday: “We’re packing! We are leaving for Rincon on the west coast of PR. Time to move on out to the west side, live in a house sheltered from the elements, move forward in our dreams and visions, plug in and play music, rogue it and love it and real it somewhere else. Our wings are like our hearts – big and strong – gotta fly. We are excited for the unknown as the next chapter unfolds and we make some bold and exciting choices for the coming times for our family… Culebra, thank you beautiful island. Thank you for the lessons and the growth, your beauty and elementals. We have been thoroughly exhilarated! And grounded. And inspired. We’ll be back, for sure.” In my reading about Rincon, I found that the humpback whales that summer in the Cape Cod Bay head to the west coast of Puerto Rico near Rincon in the winter to have their babies. While I was on a walk with Jonah and Ollie this afternoon I mentioned this to Jonah. His little eyes almost popped out of his head with excitement and he said, “It’s so cool that Ziggy will get to see the babies and then we’ll get to see them here next summer.” What a great connection for our grandchildren here on the Cape and in Puerto Rico. And best of luck to Justin and Jo as they make this move.
I spent my afternoon playing with Sam, Jonah, and Ollie. Heather and Jed are in the midst of renovation projects in the house so I helped out by entertaining the kids. We biked in the neighborhood and then Jonah, Ollie, and I walked to East Falmouth Elementary to play on the playground. But Jonah made sure we took footballs with us. He is obviously in training for the upcoming football season! He had me pass him the ball and then he would run in the sand and slide in for a touchdown. And Ollie was always right behind him. The three of us had a really nice time together. Jonah will be starting kindergarten at this school the week after Labor Day and he is very excited about that. School, football, and cooler weather . . . fall is in the air.
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| 140823 Day 306 Cape Cod, USA–Jonah and Ollie on the Playground |
