Day 76, Year 9: On the Eleventh Day of Christmas . . . Ice and Snow
Date: Saturday, January 4, 2014
Weather: Most Sunny Day; Low Overnight Below Zero, High Today 30 degrees F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Mark and I survived the cold night just fine. The temperature outside dipped below zero but the inside temp stayed at 60 degrees F and warmed up quickly this morning with sunshine and a little help from the oven. Closer to noon, Mark and I ventured out and we were shocked at the build-up of ice around us in just one below zero night. Last evening there was the merest skiff of ice around the boat, but his morning there were 1-2 inch slabs of solid ice. The marina keeps one bubbler going under the boat most of the time (bubblers are meant to keep ice from forming by constantly disturbing the water), but this morning they had all of the surrounding bubblers going full blast. It looked a bit like a bubble bath! Since the temperature didn’t get above freezing today, the ice is still here but those bubblers are still going and hopefully with warmer weather tomorrow and Monday there will be a bit of melting.
Mark and I are both still plagued with cold-like symptoms, although I don’t believe it is a cold. It has lasted over a month now and nothing has really helped. I only get a bit of a cough when I lay down and it goes away quickly. But Mark is having to sit up to sleep. He spends his nights on the settee in the main cabin, but at least he can sleep propped up there. Mid-afternoon today he went up in the cockpit, which was nice and warm, to read for a bit, while I went over to pick up Sam and Jonah and take them sledding. Mark and I spotted a great sledding spot in North Falmouth when we went to the store yesterday, so I called and asked to ‘borrow’ the big boys this afternoon. The spot is perfect for little ones to sled. It is steep enough that they feel very daring, but other than one tree, it is perfectly safe. When we got there, we were surprised to find people that Sam knows from school in East Falmouth. His PE teacher and his family were there as well as one fellow first grader and his mom who also works at Sam’s school. She guarded the menacing tree while everyone sledded. Sam and Jonah have saucer-shaped metal sleds. The other kids had a variety of sleds and everyone shared and all got a chance to try everything. The fastest sleds were Uncle Bob’s snow tubes which are inflatables that look like huge inner tubes with a solid seat in the center. The next favorite looked like a thin boogie board, some made for one rider and others for two. The kids all agreed that the thin plastic sleds that look like two-man toboggans felt unsafe. They turned over too easily, didn’t go as fast, and felt like they would break easily. But the neatest thing was that all of the children shared their sleds willingly with one another. Jonah was the youngest sledder there, but he didn’t let that stop him. He rode from the highest hill and had a great time. Sam and Jonah went up and down the hill for a solid hour and a half, and even with tumbles and bumbles, there was never a complaint. What a great afternoon in the snow. And by the way, in order to walk from the parking area to the sledding slopes we had to walk through snow that was waist high on Jonah—almost up to my knees in places. And the boys thought that was as much fun as sledding.
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| 140104 Day 76 Cape Cod, USA–Ice and Snow |
