SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE The Aanonson Boys and their grandparents are here. The boys are our neighbors in California and are spending a few weeks with their grandparents in Florida. After the July 4th holiday, Mark and Sandy packed everyone up in the RV for a road trip to Tennessee and then up to Niagara Falls. Hoping they could stop here along the way, I sent them an invitation to please come visit us at the Dennis Point Marina and Campground, and they accepted! But, I was being sneaky and didn’t tell the kids they were coming.
Mark and Sandy pulled in after midnight, so we decided to meet in the morning. When the Aanonson’s were awake, fed and ready for the day, I took my kids up to the playground to play a bit of badminton. We played in the road so we could get a bit of shade and relief from the heat. Occasionally a car would come by and we would move to the side. Then this Jeep came up to us and just sat there, what’s up with that, we moved aside, they should keep going. To the surprise of the Mears kids, Tyler and Cody crawled out. I never saw such a look on Roy before in his whole life. Now, everything is right with the world, he has fishing, crabbing, great electronics, beautiful scenery, his favorite boat, internet, a car and FRIENDS.
Right away the kids set out to do everything. On a steamy hot day in Maryland, the swimming pool is always a good idea. Hey kids, don’t forget your sunscreen! The good news is that their mono-brow, mustache, and goatee won’t get sunburned, but what about the rest of their body.
They must be getting older. An organized game of Monkey in the Middle (Pickle in the Middle to some of us) kept them occupied for quite awhile. They had a system where the bystanders rotated into the game when the Monkey got the ball.
Badminton was also a big hit. They played taking turns serving, counting points, using court boundaries and had some great volleys.
One minute we’re cruising, the next we’re camping. Mark got a bunch of firewood and we had a campfire to roast marshmallows on.
The kids took turns on Mark’s scooter.
They ran in the big grassy field, shooting air rockets and goofing off.
Give a kid some motor powered speed and they’re hooked.
As the sun went down, the lightning bugs came out and the bushes twinkled. The boys love to play with fire so they lit the citronella candles to keep away the mosquitoes. The east coast is very wet, swampy, mossy, rainy, and green. No one here worries about wild fires, its nice to relax and not feel like the kids are going to burn down the neighborhood with one wrong move.
The project of the week is to replace the fore stay and service the roller furling. In the last few months of sailing, rolling up the jib was a struggle. One person would grind away on the winch while the other would go up front and help the sail turn on the fore stay. Each time we rolled it up I was thankful that we managed to safely stow the jib. The roller system consists of slotted tubes that slide onto the fore stay and a drum that turns them. When the jib is raised up in the slot, the drum should turn the tubes and roll the jib up on the fore stay.
Eric tied a line to the top of the fore stay and disconnected it. Then Ken walked the drum at the bottom down the dock and past Dream Catcher while everyone else tried to keep the tubes straight while Eric lowered it.
Don’t worry, those poor kids had plenty of relaxing movie time. Jeanette from Dream Catcher, Cody, Genny, Tyler, Roy and Marie relaxed in the air conditioned salon with fresh cold fruit and a movie. After 4 days with their California Pals, the Aanonson’s were on the move. Sandy would be flying back to California with the boys to safely deliver them home.
Eric had a lot on the project list this week. First was Van appreciation day. When Beth and I picked it up in North Carolina after it’s emergency transmission replacement, we noticed it was running really rough. We took it back to the dealer and they gave us a story about burning off the stickers and excess fluid on the under carriage. Eric decided to replace the spark plugs and change the oil. When he got in there he found that one of the fuel injector wires had come off so it was only firing on 7 cylinders. The van was very happy to be firing on all eight after it’s personal mechanic took care of it.
After years of service the fittings and connectors on the roller furling system were pretty well corroded. For the rest of the week Eric drilled out the the old set screws, replaced parts, serviced the bearings in the drum and retapped and screwed the tubes back together. The heat and humidity was intense, Eric used an umbrella for a little shade, but that only helps a little.
After several days of struggle, trips to town ten miles away for tools, and assistance at a machine shop, he finally got the drum apart, replaced the bearings and put it all back together. Next he had to measure and cut the wire for the new fore stay, string the roller tubes on it and install a Norseman fitting at the top that attaches to the mast. Whew, Eric decided next time this has to be done he is going to hire a rigger to come take care of it.
There is always something you can learn along the way. Like for instance, this can of WD40 is clearly labeled that it can not be sold in California. If you look at the bottom in the safety hotline box it shows that the WD40 company is in San Diego, CA. I suppose it could have been made in some other state and not sold in California.
After a string of hot humid days there are usually a few rainy days. When it rains here you would think someone was holding a huge bucket of water over the town and just pouring it down on us. While Eric was taking a break after the rigging project, the rain came down and one of our front windows began to leak. We filled up bowls of water and soaked several towels. This would be a huge mess if left unattended while we leave the boat in August.
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Eric removed the ports, cleaned out the old caulk and rebedded them. The hose test proved that the job was a success.
We went to visit friends that we had met last fall. Last October I noticed Casey in the library with four school age kids during school hours and introduced myself, hoping to find homeschool friends to do daytime activities with. We had some great afternoons at the park and learned about the Schnitker family’s adventure. They had just sold their house and were working on purchasing a 128 acre farm. We were excited to see how it all turned out. They had been to farm school and spent countless hours researching and learning about natural farming. Rotating the animals so they can do the work of fertilizing and loosening the soil and clearing the land.
Since their farm is new, so are all the animals. They have a new puppy who is being trained as a working farm dog and kittens to keep control of the rodent population. All of the working pets get lots of love from the four children living at home. They also have two older brothers, one is in College and the other in the Army, plus a baby on the way.
We got a tour and met the pigs. They are contained by an electric wire. They spend their day rutting around in their corner of the forest, eating the ground cover when they don’t have their head in the trough. Every few weeks they get moved to a fresh piece of forest to clear and rut around it.
The puppy is so small, but is learning about her farm and following us everywhere.
They spent the winter repairing the out buildings. This is an old tobacco barn. It is open and airy to hang the tobacco plants for drying.
Nick gets to learn to drive by transporting pig feed in the little pick up truck. Check out the two kids in red shirts in the red truck.
Even the little ones drive the tractor with a cart of water down there.
Marie and Clair took turns cuddling the kittens.
The fields around the house still grow leftovers from crops of previous years. There is wheat, corn and grass. I wish Casey was writing this post because she gave me so much information I couldn’t possibly remember it all. The chickens also get moved around with their electric enclosures. In one pen there are laying hens and in another are meat birds. Jeanette and Henry found eggs.
What great fun. Another day everyone came to the marina for a swim and to play at the playground.
Roy got back to business with crabbing. Everyday about an hour after low tide for about two hours the crabs are active. He ties a chicken leg to a line and throws it in. One time he brought up a turtle eating on his bait. Normally, Roy brings in about half a dozen crabs to be steamed each day. The males greater than 5 1/4 inches get put into a bucket of ice to chill out while waiting for the steamer. Small crabs and females get returned. This female scuttles around the dock with her claws up ready for a fight.
Roy has learned to steam his catch. When he gets six we boil two inches in the bottom of the pressure cooker pot and then toss them in for 20 minutes.
Afterwards the crabs cool in a tray and I clean, crack and pick them collecting enough meat for a delicious crab cake from each critter. All this crabbing really took its toll on Roy’s net so off to the Tackle Box fishing store for a replacement. This is Roy’s kind of store!
I took the kids off to Walmart for Kid appreciation day. They got little crafts like a face paint kit and cross stitch projects, a movie from the $5 bin, and boxes of candy. As the weather cycle turns, this week is cold. Genny and Jeanette have to wrap in a blanket in the chilly morning. No need to fear, steamy days will return. Some days after the rain the humidity drops and everything cools off, on other days it just gets worse as the rain evaporates and raises the humidity hovering over the ground.
Dream Catcher left and now its time to begin packing. Soon Makai will be hauled out of the water, Eric will fly to California to work at the office and the kids and I will drive up to Buffalo to see my mom and Topaz and JJ.
We went through each cabin and every locker packing things we want to use next month and also things we want to remove from the boat. Some of the excess stuff went to the dumpster, other stuff got donated and the rest will be transported back to California in the van when it gets repositioned this fall.
