Finally getting some chores done

Monday July 28 1:15 pm I know it has been a while....we have been busy since we got back on the boat last week. Has been hot and humid....I'm still recovering from our "vacation" in Seattle. Was a mad dash around Washington and Seattle. It has taken me a few days to recover...I need more time in the Jacuzzi over at the health club... We have started our chores...Joyce is slowly organizing the forward cabin...we have been needing this for some time. I finally changed the dreaded oil and filters on the engine and gen-set....damn I hate that job...Joyce hates the mess...also I think I finally fixed the coolant leak that has been leaking slowly for the last 16 months. Used my new fluorescent leak detector... seems Amel failed to tighten a fitting on the hot water heater when they replaced it. I had just showered when I heard Joyce yell out....She is trying to out do me again... wants some sympathy from me so she stubs her baby toe..dislocates it...now at a 90 deg angle from the other 4.... I reduce it and Ice it down...Joyce checks the Internet....seems she will be seeking the sympathy for the next 4-6 weeks.... nothing you can do for a dislocated or broken toe except tape it up and grin and bear it... so now I will be taking care of her for a while. Since she will be resting her toe..I will let her do the pics and updates.....

Hummingbirds

It's a travel day today...well, flying back to Baltimore kind of travel...so I'm up early...painfully early...two o'clock in the morning early. We actually have done a lot of traveling while here in the Seattle area - thanks to my mom and the use of her van. We have driven north/south from Tulare Beach out past Marysville to Lost Lake out past Olympia and Shelton...and west/east from Federal Way to Pullman 8 miles from the Washington/Idaho border. All of this within the 7 days of us being here on "vacation". I for one am very tired...but, I am also very happy. I have seen and been able to spend a short amount of time with each of my three children, my brother and brother's-in-law, my sisters and sister-in-law, and my mom. And, the hugs....ah, yes, the hugs.... While at my sister and brother-in-law's house on Lost Lake I became enthralled with the hummingbirds...and just as much so the hummingbird feeder...the reflection of the lake through the feeder....
With the new camera trying to get just the perfect shot... Balancing on tip-toes and not moving so that the hummingbirds would keep coming back for me to get more pictures...Taking pictures through the glass door...then, opening the door and waiting for them to return....If I were only a few inches taller....
If I could only stand still a little longer...Maybe the reflection of the lake through the feeder...well, it's much too early in the morning for piecing together those thoughts...but...thanks to my family for the wonderful (but much too short) visit...the wonderful (but much too short) hugs...I love you!

Baltimore pictures

So I'm finding that I don't sleep well the night before I travel...and that pictures upload much better very early in the morning...
I bought a new camera and both Paul and I have been having fun taking pictures with it...Baltimore from the Lady H cockpit....
The sun setting on downtown Baltimore....
Sunset mode on the camera....
Nightscene mode....
Paul cooking dinner with friends on the dock....
Look who came to dinner....
Well, okay...maybe not....
We certainly ate well....and the company was great...thank you P & P for your hospitality...
You see....I wanted to be able to take better underwater pictures...and I thought it could be the camera....not the photographer...so now I get to (with the help of photographer Paul) learn more about aperture...I guess I may need to learn to spell it first...and other photography terms as well. Maybe by the time I get the underwater case....

From "gunkholing" to Baltimore

From Annapolis...we went up the Severn River on July 5th to Chase Creek. We motored under two bridges and about an hour and a half and into this cute hideaway.

This place was one that Paul and his friend Phil found many years back. It is a great "hurricane hole"...and so very quiet...reminded me very much of being on a lake.

We relaxed there, then decided to scrub the water-line from the dingy (because it certainly needed it), then went for a little tour of the area. When we got back the swallows had already laid claim to the Lady H and even tried to scare Paul away by swooping at him...they retreated to the railing and proceeded to leave their little "blessings" behind on the deck! So I was introduced to "gunkholing"...going up the rivers and staying in little quiet getaways...I did sort of enjoy it...there were not even any mosquitos (they don't bother Paul anyway...only me)!!!

Sunday we motored up the Bay to Baltimore. Paul was getting his new BBQ delivered to the Marina as well as many other necessities...almost like Christmas for us...to finally have an address for a little while and have things that we need delivered!! Our welcoming back was wonderful, with Paul's friend's seeing the boat entering the marina...and coming down to "his" slip and helping us dock. It is now Friday morning, we are here in the marina....watching all of the "Ducks" (the view from the back of the Lady H in the Marina)....

and since we are here for a month (maybe a little more)...Paul signed us up for membership in a local health spa that is new here in the downtown area and three blocks away (thanks Bill)...we have been riding our bikes daily...AND we have been going to the spa and excercising every day as well!!! We both are pretty tired and sore today. We are thinking of downsizing our excercise routine (a little bit) today...maybe cleaning the boat a little more!!!

Happy Fourth!!!

We have been anchored off of the Naval Academy, Spa Creek, Annapolis for five days now. When we got here there was only one other "cruising" boat so Paul got "his" spot right next to the sea wall. He kept telling me that we would have entertaiment on or before the Fourth. Things were so quiet through the morning of the Fourth, AND there are so many boats and boaters here in the Bay that I thought surely they would be knowledgeable and polite. We went in for breakfast...and a short ride...then Paul said we needed to get back to the boat to protect it. As boaters began to come out of the woodwork to get a good anchoring spot...I was delighted as I sat in the cockpit watching as two cruisers that were anchored near us kept waving the anchoring clueless boaters away.

Paul and I only had to watch... As it got late and spaces got to a minimum...one small sailboat anchored right in front of us...NOOOOOOOOOO..and Paul told him!!! But the guy didn't listen...had no clue (except on how to be a jerk)...and within an hour one of the storms that we had seen on Paul's neat Wunderground Google map...showed up...and yep...20 knot winds from the SW...and yep...the guy shouldn't have anchored there...so here it is POURING down rain and the guy has to move...not only him but ALL of the anchoring challenged boaters were piling out of their cockpits with their rain gear on to re-anchor...oh...how fun it was to watch as we, with enough anchor rode out did our swing safely along with the other cruisers while everyone else was scrambling in the thunder/lightening/rain. The storm passed...and that part of our entertainment was over...then came....
What was suppose to be the real entertainment...the fireworks....were pretty great...we had the best seat in the "house"!!!

Happy July 4th everyone...and lest we forget...we are free because of the brave...thank you Matt and all....

Cristfield/Tangier Island/Solomons/Annapolis - the picture version

I talked Paul into going on what he calls a "cattle boat" to Tangier Island from Cristfield just so we could say we've been there! This was a crabber going out from Cristfield...the Lady H is anchored in the small bay to the left of this picture. As we left on the "cattle boat" we went out the same inlet that we had motored into for safe anchoring...and by these crab sheds...where they wait for the crabs to become soft shelled and then sell them...
Thought this would give more history about the island than I would...
This is the main street on the island...there are 600 people living on the island...industry is predominately crabbing...and tourism...both taking a big hit right now...this is their "high season" and there were only 30 people on a boat that holds 300...and 6 of us at dinner that usually had held up to 50 or so. They use golf carts to go the couple of miles around the island and still speak in what is called an Elizabethian accent...difficult to understand...
Looking at Tangier Island from the boat...
All of the crabbers have a stand alone "shack" on the inlet to the docks.
Getting to this island means going through a long channel...because as we say...the water is very "skinny"!
I think I shared with you a picture of the Solomons on our way down...so to have things be a little different... here is someone who came and visited us while we were anchored there on our way up the Bay.
Paul says it must be a "she" because she was friendly and not hissing at us....hmmmm....
And the Osprey are always fun to watch...especially now that they have youngin's in their nests.
And on to Annapolis...downtown...very cute downtown area...and actually our bike ride was south of the downtown area and was a great, short ride, on a bike "path" (next to traffic - but a marked bike path)...so I was impressed with that!
Downtown Annapolis getting ready for July 4th!!!
These kids and boats are EVERYWHERE around here...from small to bigger to biggest...and my question is "can you tell who has the right of way here"???And here is a picture of the google map that showed the storm that hit us last night...we are anchored off of a wall where the map says "Naval Academy". The whitelines show how FAST the storms were moving. And now I get to go shopping....

Annapolis.....

Tue July 1st 9:19 am Yesterday we dinked in with the bikes and rode to the supermarket....damn...up hill almost the entire way...legs felt like rubber when we got there. Loaded up with fresh veggies and headed back to the boat in time to beat a rain squall. Best part was the down hill run back to the dink. After the rain we went in about 4:30 so Joyce could "SHOP". And who does Joyce spot ...Capt Bill from the Inner Harbor East Marina. He was parking his Harley. Invited us to go to happy hour....we caught up on the latest and said we would be up there next week. We then walked the town...most of the stores had closed so Joyce has reserved some more time today. We found the ice cream store and waited till a rain shower had done its thing before going back to the boat. We started watching some of our downloaded Grabby stuff when Joyce saw the 1st lightning flash. We went onto Google's new interactive radar weather page to see a very strong storm approaching from the west. We rushed up...let out another 30 ft of chain and snubber, took down the sun shade just before the storm hit. Not as bad as the storm in Crisfield but still hit 34 knots. From the safety of the cockpit we watched the other boats anchored near by up on the deck in the pouring down rain trying to get more chain down....isn't technology great....we were ahead of the storm....This new Goggle thing will make its way into our boats in the next generation of chart plotters where real time weather is superimposed on a GPS plotted boat position on Goggle Earth. You will be able to zoom in or out to see the "Whole Picture" Too cool...it'd just more $$$$. Will let Joyce do the pics...