FallFest!

Fall Fest at Rock Hall is always a super time. Just to give you a taste how good this was we spent 5 hours doing different things in just a two block festival. We saw the Catonsville High School Steel Drum Band. Ate crab cake sandwiches. Looked at craft vendors. Cheered on a crab picking contest. Toured Skipjacks. Boogie Woogied to dueling pianos. Smelled soap. And listened to a Jazz band.
We were worn out. But we had to get back for the Spring Cove picnic. We talked with a bunch of dock neighbors while fill ourselves with picnic noshes.

Roy, Marj, Marilyn and I went back to the boat to play a rousing game of Whad' Ya Know. There was a few time play was suspended as we laughed ourselves silly.

This morning we took all the canvas off the boat and made it ready to be taken out of the water. To be ready to fix the engine. I'll miss going to the boat.

Fun and Games

We ordered games from a company called Out of the Box Games. We got a game called Shipwrecked and the game from the show "Whad Ya Know". The games are compact and they look like fun. We'll let you know as we are bringing them down to the boat this weekend.

Moyer Marine

Found a place that will overhaul the engine for the sailboat.

Moyer Marine is expert with these engines. So next season we'll have a reliable engine.

Next Weekend Already.

Well not yet but some notes. Called Swan Creek to pull the boat so I have to go down next weekend to take the sails off. When it's out of the water Lee from Swan Creek will look at it.

Fall Fest is next weekend and looks like Marj and Roy are going to come down and have fun at Fall Fest and the Spring Cove Picnic. We'll end the season with a bang.

On an other note the LED lights that I've been working on for the boat have been wildly successful. The lights use about one tenth the power and are much more bright. They are also rechargeable, plug into solar panels and the battery pack is able to run fans on hot days. This will allow us to get rid of the Coleman battery lanterns. They used batteries quickly and did not give much light.

Rock Hall Weekend.

We went down to Rock Hall this weekend. We wanted to finish up the electrical fix and take the boat out for a trial run. The electrical problems are finished. The accessories are running --the lights, light and the motor purrs. I rigged a line to allow us to drops the main sail quickly and trying it today it worked perfectly. We took the boat out Sunday for a test sail. The motor worked well. And we had lots of wind for sailing. The new rigging is working well and the method we learned for reducing weather helm is working just right. We sailed along for about an hour and Marilyn went below for something to drink. Then she asked the question I never want to hear. What's this water on the deck? Whaaaa? Oh boy. Run below. Bildge pump not working. Oh Shoot!.... Get Aux bildge pump handle. Ok only a couple of gallons of water..... Well, we turned around and got back to the slip OK. Turns out that the side plate of the engine rusted thru. It was dumping a couple of gallons an hour of cooling water into the engine compartment while it was running. Looks like out season is done. The engine has to come out to fix this and I'm going to leave this one to the professionals. I will have the engine overhauled while it's out of the boat.
So we'll go to Rock Hall Fall Fest next weekend, take the sails off, and put the boat up for the season.

Stowe XC Ski Trip

I've been talking to Linda Repsher, JoAnne and Mike and looks like we are going to run a Stowe bus trip this year. It's going to be Feb 22 thru 25 and it will be $395 per person double. If you are interested in going let me know I'll tell you where to send the $150 deposit.

Post Vacation Blues....

Well you haven't heard from me for a few days, I've been busy. The downstairs toilet flush handle broke.

No problem, Run to Lowes for parts. Fixed the toilet handle.

That's great.....Hey what's this leak??? The bolts that hold the tank are now leaking.

No problem. Run to Lowes for parts. Hmmm these don't fit!

No problem. Run to Lowes for more parts.

Hmmm, they don't have smaller bolts.

No problem. Run to Home Depot for parts.

Hmmmm, they don't have smaller bolts either. They don't make the tank bolts smaller.

Hmmm. Ok run back home. One bolts fits one dosen't. Ok now the moment of truth make the hole bigger.

Get the drill and try to drill the ceramic tank. ( Drilling....Sweating...Drilling... Sweating..... )

Great! The hole is bigger and the tank did not break!

Fix it up, put it together, fill it up.....DARN IT LEAKS!!!

Take it apart....Tighten bolts.....

and..

and...

and IT"S FIXED !!! ( Exhale ! )

No problem .... It just took all day!

We went on vacation and saved the planet.

Well we're back home.

Ok here is the vacation by the numbers.....


Total Miles Driven 1496.8 miles

Average gas mileage 40 mpg

Lobster dinners 4

Carriage Road Miles walked 26

Baskets of fried clams 3

Wild Blueberry pie slices ???

Popovers at Jordan Pond House 0

Trips thru customs in one day 2

Trips to the bathroom to upchuck on wildly rocking ship 2

Lighthouses walked to 2

Lighthouses seen by boat 2

Trips on the Acadia shuttle 6

Trips by car to the top of Cadillac Mt 1

Hikes to top of Cadillac Mt Ummmm None!

Deer seen 2

Pictures taken..... We'll have them posted later.

Do Lobstermen always park their boats in the same direction?

Sure, and every few hours they park them in the other direction!

Here is a shot of Bubble Pond. We walked from Bubble Pond to Day Mountain along the carriage roads today. Not many stone bridges today be great vistas. Nice views of Seal Harbor and the rest of the park. Nice and sunny when we were at the top of Day Mountain. Fog rolled in as we strode into Seal Harbor. Weather can change very fast here.

Jordan Pond

Went to Jordan Pond area to walk the carriage roads. We saw numerous stone bridges and some great vistas.














Then we drove to the top of Caddlilac Mt. We just took in the sights

Postcard from Nova Scotia

What the Cat dragged in......

Thanks to the remnants of Gabrielle the ride on The Cat was a lesson in mal de mer. There were 12 foot seas and the boat was rocking! They say that the seas were just really high today and that it much smoother normaly, really!

Anyway the ride on The Cat a high speed catamaran ferry was just awesome. It's a traditional ferry with room for 700 people, cars and buses. We clocked it with our gps at 47 mph. The trip was rough so we bagged out of the tour and walked the downtown.

We found the fishery museum which was a recreation of the Sweeny fishery. The rooms and equipment were left just as the workers left them. It really shows the personality and the day to day of working there. It's a real find. Go if you are in the neighborhood.

The ride back was rougher but we had dramamine and a bunch of real brewed ginger beer. We sighted a few lighthouses on the ride out. I have to load up some pictures so something will be up later.

On the Way to Owl's Head

We drove through some historic downtown areas in Ellsworth and Camden on our way to Owl's Head. But our first stop was Fort Knox - a handsome structure designed to protect Maine's shores, which was the state's first fort made of granite. It was 25 years in the making (1844-1869), and by the the time it was built cannons had advanced so much rendering the fort useless. Henry Knox lived in Thomaston, ME not far from the fort that was named for him. From the fort, we had an awesome view of the Penobscot Narrows Bride.We later stopped in Rockland, visited the Maine Lighthouse Museum and had lunch at the Rockland Cafe. About 2 miles outside of Rockland we found the Owl's Head Light (1825) that we could hear once we got to the park. It was misting and visibility was poor. We managed to get a few pictures before going deaf from the ringing. We then went to Rockland's Breakwater Lighthouse (1888). It was a 5-mile walk out to see the light up close but it began raining harder, so we admired it from afar. We didn't have time to see the transportation museum, so it will be there for us next time. And, 63 lighthouses in Maine to go!

Does this Road Go to Bangor?

Nope, the road stays right here.

On the road this morning. Well not quite. Got up early and it's drizzly. We were going to do some wash as our clothes smell like a campfire from the lobster house and the museum does not open till 10am. The laundrymat was still closed at 6:45am. ( I know but after getting up at 5:30, 6:30 is like sleeping in! ) The desklady said we could use the inn's washers. So now we are having tea and oatmeal for breakfast. We'll be ready to go in a couple of hours.

Rain and Serious Lobster.

Today it rained on and off. We went downtown Bar Harbor to shop and to see what there was to see. We saw the cruise ships anchored in the harbor. T-shirts and gifts were bought and we went to sit in a coffee shop for a little while. The rain let up a little and we went to Sand Beach on the shuttle bus we were going to go to otter point but the rain started again. We headed back to get the car to go to dinner. The Trenton Bridge Lobster pound was our destination. That is a serious lobster joint. Just lobster some steamed clams and chowder and that's it. Want anything else go somewhere else. No steak, no catch of the day, no table service, no nothing but lobsters boiled in sea water over a wood fire outside. But those lobster were the sweetest best lobsters I ever had! Marilyn had a little trouble getting the first break of the tail but got going with gusto after that.

Tomorrow more rain.... Owl's Head Transport museum, and a trip down rt 1.

Acadia

We went walking from Hull's Cove to Bubble Pond on the carriage roads today. The shuttle bus had a problem with a nail in the tire do we had a little delay getting to Hull's Cove. We took off from the visitors center and got to the carriage road loop and made a left. We were greeted with a beatiful vista of the coast. We followed the carriage roads around and came to this stone bridge. One of three we saw today. The walk total was about 7 miles. We took the shuttle back from Bubble Pond. In town we had some great coffee and Chai tea at the Coffee house and Internet cafe.

Tonight we are going over the bridge to the Trenton Lobster Pound for lobster and clam chowdah!

Clamed Up!

We are now at the Quimby House in Bar Harbor. The drive up took about 11 hours. We stopped at LL Bean, mostly to stretch and we found a few items. I was going to buy a new GPS but there was a clot of old guys ogling the model I wanted to look at. It was going to be an hour before I could get a word in edgewise, so we left. We took route 1 north from Freeport it's about 150 or so miles alone the coast. Great views and we stopped for a basket of fried clams. It was just like they said in the NY Times, get them lightly fried by someone who seems to know what is going on.


We are going to walk the carriage roads starting at Hull's Cove to Bubble Pond. Parking area. We are going to use the park shuttle buses to get around.

Our Big Adventure.

The work week is over. Marilyn and I are heading to Maine for vacation. Boy I feel like I need it. We are heading to Ba Haba, that's Bar Harbor to you and me. We're going to run around Acadia National Park, eat lobsters and clam strips and we are heading to Nova Scotia for a day.
We'll keep you informed of our progress. We take off at 5 am tomorrow morning. I'll try to get online and post some pictures.

Bottled Water.... By the Numbers

Well you want to save the earth? You recycle, you walk instead of taking the car. Here's something for you to think about......

Estimated amount of oil used to make the bottled-water containers sold in the U.S. last year:

1.6 million barrels

Ratio of the amount of water used to make the containers vs. the amount used to fill them up:

2:1

Amount of bottled water delivered to U.S. troops in Iraq each day:

1.4 million liters

(Source for the above 3: Harper's Index)

Average monthly water bill if the cheapest bottled water came out of your tap:

$9,000

(Source: American Water Works Association)

Percent of Americans who suffer from hyperhidrosis---excessive sweating:

1.5%

(Source: The Week)

Got it fixed .... I think

Well after two days of crawling into spaces where I don't fit and looking, replacing and cleaning wires, connections and terminals I think I fixed the boat. Well it starts and runs. I found a bad ground wire but that was it. Not sure that was the problem. We try to go out next time.

Going to fix the boat.

I have all the part I need that were dammaged the last time we took out the boat. I need to check for shorts and damaged wires. In other word why the boat stopped the last time we took it out. It should not be too difficult but not that its easy. Inspecting the wiring, especially when it is in a small cramped space, is not my favorite thing to do. I'll see if I can fix so that we can use the boat a few more times before we put it up for the season.