Friday, September 14, 2007 - Deltaville, VA

I had to get up at 0230. John, Linda, Barry, and I planned to leave at 0330 to drive to Deltaville, Virginia to get there in time to watch the man do the boat survey. We arrived there around 0730. It was difficult finding a place to eat breakfast in Deltaville. The surveyor had just started when we got to the boat. As expected he didn’t find anything wrong with the boat. The sea trial went well as did the out of the water hull inspection. At 1300 they closed on the deal at the yacht brokers office.

After closing we went shopping for provisions for the trip back to Middle River. The four of us spent the night on their new boat. Dora stayed behind to take care of Sailor.

Thursday, September 13, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

Dora helped me prepare for a trip to Deltaville, Virginia to pick up John and Linda’s new, 41 foot long, Hunter Sailboat. The plan is to drive down early Friday and spend two days sailing it back, if the survey and sea trial goes favorably.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Barry Ainsworth’s sister, who lives in Baltimore, asked him to install a new bedroom and front door at her house and Barry asked me to give him a hand. Both doors were pre-hung so we had to tear out the old frames and shim the new frames and doors. The bedroom door was pretty easy but the front door barely fit and we had to force it between the wall joists. Both installations looked fine when we finished. It took us a good part of the day.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - Havre de Grace to Middle River, MD

We were up by 0640 to get ready to depart. High tide wasn’t until 1000 so we waited until 0845 to leave. Before we left, we bought ice and filled the water tank. It rained through the night and it was sprinkling when we pulled away from the dock. The trip to Middle River took about 4 ½ hours. The Chesapeake was a little rough especially when we turned into Middle River putting the wind on our beam. We anchored just south of Beach Cruiser. The rain stopped just before sunset.

Monday, September 10, 2007 - Havre de Grace, MD

Sailor and I walked three miles to a veterinarian for his annual check-up and shots and to refill his heart worm medicine. The vet said he was in good health but he needed to loose two pounds. Dora has been putting broth on his food so he will eat it better. I guess that her plan worked too well.

It took us about two hours for us to walk there and back. In the afternoon, Dora, Sailor and I walked to Save-a -Lot and bought a few provisions for our trip back to Middle River on Tuesday.

Sunday, September 9, 2007 - Havre de Grace,MD

After breakfast we went for a long walk. When we got back, I put on my dive mask and found Mrs. Leal’s cane that she had dropped next to the boat while getting aboard on Saturday. We spent the rest of the day reading. It was good to receive a call from our friend Lucy Cuda in Jacksonville, Florida.

Saturday, September 8, 2007 - Havre de Grace, MD

Dora’s sister and her husband Durvis brought her mom and dad for a visit. They came aboard Seascape and ate breakfast. We pushed her folks along the shoreline boardwalk toward town. On the way we stopped at a festival that was happening at the Duck Decoy Museum. We walked on to town and Dolores found some bargains at Tidewater Marina and then we all had ice cream.

When we got back, we had a picnic in the park next to the marina. John, Linda and Dylan Yates stopped by to visit with us for a while. They were in Havre de Grace to take part in a Hunter Sailboat rendezvous at Tidewater.

Friday, September 7, 2007 - Havre de Grace, MD

We walked to town and stopped at the bakery to buy fresh bread and at the pet store to buy Sailor’s food. We happened by the farmer’s market and bought some delicious heirloom tomatoes a lady had raised from seeds.

After lunch I washed the rest of the outside of Seascape. While I was washing, Dora walked to the grocery store to buy a chicken to cook for dinner and have leftover for lunch on Saturday.

Thursday, September 6, 2007 - Havre de Grace, Maryland

Dora and I walked to town after Sailor’s walk and stopped at Tidewater Marina to see whether they could haul Seascape for the winter and how much it would cost. While we were there I bought a shirt and shorts ( Columbia) for 70% off. We bought a few groceries at the Save- a-Lot adjacent to the marina and headed back to the boat.

We started washing the Seascape in the late afternoon but only finished the forward section. It is easier to wash it a little at a time when it is so dirty. Dinner consisted of chicken fried steak and cauliflower.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - Havre de Grace City Yacht Basin

We did some boat cleaning early. We left Sailor on the boat while we went to the marina heads. When we got back we couldn’t find him even though the doors and windows were closed. I ran down the dock and asked two men standing at the gate if they had seen a small black and white dog. They said he had gone by a few minutes ago. We looked around and saw him in the park at the top of a bluff running around obviously looking for us. Apparently, he had gone up to the pilot house, jumped up on the berth, climbed through a small port onto the upper deck and then jumped about five feet to the dock.

After making the boat escape proof, we went for a long walk to the post office through some beautiful old neighborhoods. When we got back we laid down for a nap. Soon we heard some large boats maneuvering near us. There was a tugboat, two large barges filled with pilings and seawall materials, and two small push boats. Several times one of the push boats came within three feet of Seascape. We were a little nervous but they appeared to know what they were doing.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - Middle River to Havre de Grace, Maryland

We planned to leave for Havre de Grace, Maryland around 1000 so we got up early and walked Sailor. After breakfast, we lifted the dinghy and engine topside and pulled anchor. The anchor line was filthy and even had filamentous algae growing on it. It took nearly 30 minutes to wash the rode and get the anchor aboard. We were nearly out of fresh water and needed to pump-out our sewage tank so we stopped at Stansberry Marina off Middle River before getting underway.

We passed Barry and Barb as they entered Middle River on their way back from a weekend cruise with friends and were out on the Chesapeake by 1230. It took about four hours to reach the Havre de Grace City Yacht Basin where we planned to stay for a week. A week’s stay with electric included was only $158.50.

We were too tired to cook so we picked up dinner at a small takeout restaurant associated with the marina. The meal consisted of fried shrimp and a huge pile of greasy French fries. It wasn’t especially good.

Monday, September 3, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

Dora and I used John’s small hoist attached to his dock to take our dinghy out of the water to wash it’s bottom. We pulled the engine first and laid it in the grass and then lifted the dinghy. The bottom was filthy, covered with a thick layer of brown slime and algae. It took us a couple of hours to scrub and scrape most of it off. The dinghy had been in the water continuously for about a month without bottom paint. We won’t leave it in the water that long again. Later we washed Barry and Barb’s PT Cruiser.

Sunday, September 2, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

I added a switch into the circuit of the cooling fan I had installed to move hot air from behind the refrigerator and freezer to reduce the running time of those energy hungry appliances. We went to Groesbecht’s Grocery Store in Barry and Barb’s car to re-supply.

Saturday, September 1, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

We spent the day reading and doing small chores around the boat.

Friday, August 31, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

I dropped Dora at the Laundromat near by while I did some boat maintenance. Barry and Barb took off for a few days of sailing with friends. We drove to Weaver Marine on the Back River to pick up our raw water pump that we had taken there to be rebuilt and to visit with Dave and Helen Smith who were spending the weekend with friends at the marina waxing their boat. They invited us to stay and have lunch with them.

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - Frot Mortar Creek, MD

Barry and Barb invited us over for a late breakfast. I rested most of the rest of the day and Dora worked around the boat.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I arrived back at BWI at 2030, about 30 minutes late. Dora spent the day with her parents at her sister’s house in Columbia, Maryland and picked me up at the airport which was on the way back to where Seascape was anchored in Frog Mortar Creek.

Hank in front of North Country Canoe Outfitters Lodge in Ely, Minnesota

August 22 - 28, 2007 - Canoe Trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Ely, Minnesotahttp://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=85878350757167

After nearly having to cancel our trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near Ely Minnesota because of a kidney stone and my brother, Hank, having to cancel because of a hurricane threatening Corpus Christi, we finally were able to get underway as planned on Tuesday, August 21st. My flight went OK but Hank’s was delayed because of the weather and George Bush’s visit to Minneapolis. When he finally got to Duluth, his baggage didn’t arrive with him. We were told by Northwest Airline that his things would probably be on the first flight on Wednesday.

We spent the night in a motel in Ely and went back to the airport early to retrieve his baggage. To our frustration, the bags weren’t there on the first flight or the next one or the next one. We almost decided to cut our losses and just go home because we needed many of the things in Hank’s baggage for a successful fishing trip.

The airline finally agreed to give Hank $150.00 to buy some clothes and fishing tackle but we had already lost a whole day of our trip and our permit to enter the wilderness area had expired. The outfitter was able to get us another entry permit but it had to be a different entry point because the preserve limits the number of parties allowed to enter each day from each entry point. This necessitated that we take a different, less desirable, route into the preserve.

The outfitter drove us to the entry point and dropped us off about 1000 on Wednesday. Starting off we had two very long portages of more than ½ mile each, climbing over rough, rocky terrain. We were both pretty tired by the time we found an unoccupied camp site. The campers that had used the campsite the night before had scratched in the dirt, “ Bear August 21.” We really didn’t know if it was a joke or not but we didn’t have much choice but to stay because it was late and we were tired. In any event, we had a restful night. The next morning we tried fly fishing from shore and caught a few fish but released them. Later on we fished from the canoe and caught several smallmouth bass and Hank landed one small northern pike.

That evening after dinner we threw a line over a tree limb and raised our food pack as high as we could, about eight feet off the ground to keep any bears that might happen by from getting our food. About an hour before daylight I heard a scraping sound coming from outside the tent. I woke Hank and we listened for a while. Finally, I opened the tent and shined a flash light in the direction of the sound. We saw four eyes shinning brightly back at us from two rather large bear cubs. Their mother was clawing at our food pack. Since there were cubs we decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and waited to daylight to inspect the damage. She had clawed and chewed a hole in the bottom corner of the pack and had eaten about 1/3 of our provisions but we had enough left to continue the trip.

The next day, Thursday, we had several more long portages and were too tired to fish much by the time we got to our second camp site. We chose a beautiful camp site on the shore of Knife Lake, right on the Canadian border and spent our third and fourth nights there.

We had six short portages the on our fifth day to our last camp site. The camp site we chose was just past a portage around a short stretch of rapids. It was late by the time we had setup camp and had started to drizzle rain. We went out in the canoe fishing anyway and started caching fish right away. I caught two nice smallmouth bass and Hank caught a large northern pike on a tiny rig. It was amazing he landed it. By the time we got back to our camp it had started to rain harder. It was too late to clean and cook some fish so we released them and setup a lean-to so we could cook in the rain. It rained hard for about five hours. The tent leaked a little soaking Hank’s sleeping bag and neither of us got much sleep.

The sixth and last day we made it to the pickup site around 1400, about one hour early. The outfitter’s van arrived right on time to take us back to the lodge. We went out for a steak dinner and beer and spent the last night in a bunk room at the lodge.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Dora dropped me off at the Baltimore airport about 1000 for a canoeing and fishing trip to northern Minnesota with my brother Hank and then drove to her sisters house to visit with her parents. My flight stopped at Milwaukee, WI and on to Duluth was uneventful. I arrived about 1230, rented a car. Hank was supposed to arrive in Duluth at 1430 but it was delayed several times and didn’t get in until after 2100. The primary reason for the flight delay in Minneapolis was a political visit to that city by George Bush. That just gave me another reason for my dislike for that man.

We had reserved a room for the night at the North Country Canoe Outfitters lodge in Ely Minnesota for the evening which I had to cancel and instead rent a motel room in Duluth.
Hanks luggage didn’t arrive in Duluth with him but Northwest Airlines said his things would likely be on the first flight on Wednesday so we went to the motel for the night.

Monday, August 20, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek

We fed the cats and fish and took off in Barry’s car to run errands. We went to AT&T to get my cell phone fixed ( it had stopped working during the night), filled the propane tank, dropped off the Kohler raw water pump to be rebuilt a Weaver Marine, and we both got haircuts. We had lunch on the boat and took a nap. We discovered that Dora’s phone had stopped working also. It worked in the morning so what ever they did to my phone must have affected hers. We went back to AT&T and ended up getting new phones.

I packed and prepared to leave for Minnesota on a fishing and camping trip on Tuesday with my brother, Hank.

Sunday, August 19, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

It rained most of the day. We hung out on the boat, reading the Sunday paper, napping, and relaxing, something we don’t do often enough.

Saturday, August 18, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek

A cool front blew in during the night, giving us welcome break from the heat. After we went for a walk, I installed the new fuel pump on the generator. It took about an hour and when I finished it ran, to my great relief since I wasn’t positive that the fuel pump was the problem.

I helped transport John, Linda, and Dylan’s things to Beach Cruiser for their four day cruise around the Chesapeake with Barb and Barry. Dora and I worked around the boat the rest of the day. In the evening, we went to shore to walk Sailor and feed John and Linda’s cats and fish.

Friday, August 17, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Barry drove me to pickup the fuel pump I had ordered on Thursday. Weaver Marine , I discovered is the same marina that Dave and Helen Smith are keeping their boat for a few months. On the way back we stopped at Home Depot, Boater’s World, and West Marine.

The girls went to Costco to buy supplies and came back with a van full. We had a great steak dinner at John and Linda’s house.

Thrusday, August 16, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

I called Kohler to order a new fuel pump but the referred me to two dealers in Baltimore. One of those was Weaver Marine located only a few miles away off Back River the next river to the south from where we have been anchored. They didn’t have it in stock but said they could have it there by Friday.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

We had the Kohler generator running charging the house batteries when it suddenly stopped. Usually when this happens it is caused by a clogged fuel filter. But , that wasn’t the problem this time. I did some trouble shooting and concluded that the fuel pump had stopped working.

We went over to Beach Cruiser for dinner of hamburgers, hotdogs cole slaw and salad.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

I had a 1330 appointment with a urologists un Havre de Grace, Maryland, about a 54 minute drive north of where were anchored in Frog Mortar Creek. This was the only place I could find a doctor that would see me before August 30. Barry, Barb, Dora and I left about 1215. While I was in the doctor’s office, Barry and Barb went for a walk along the waterfront. We had an excellent lunch at Macgregor’ s restaurant located downtown on the water.

Monday, August 13, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

Barry, Barb, Dora and I drove to the city to visit the Baltimore Aquarium which took several hour to see everything. It was a first class facility. We walked the waterfront and ate lunch at a nice grill on the water. On the way back we stopped at the grocery store to re-provision.

Sunday, August 12, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

A day to just relax and read.

Friday, August 10, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

It really cooled off over night. Dora got out a blanket in the middle of the night. I connected the Honda generator to charge the house battery bank for a few hours. When I turned it off I changed its crank case oil which held only 0.26 quarts.

We went to a party at John and Linda’s celebrating Dylan’s 15th birthday. The party was outside under the trees on a beautiful, cool day. I took several of their friends, relatives, and neighbors out in the dinghy to tour Seascape.

Saturday, August 11, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

When I realized that I didn’t have enough Percocet to last until my doctors appointment on Tuesday, I called the hospital to see if they would call the drug store. I found out that no one can call in a prescription for pain medicine. The only alternative was to go back to the hospital emergency room. We were luck, it only took about an hour not counting the drive there and back. On the way back we stopped at Target to fill the prescription and then at a restaurant for crab cakes.

A breeze came up in the evening making things a little cooler.

Thursday, August 9, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

I awoke with intense pain in my lower back again. It took about 20 minutes for the pain to ease after taking the Percocet. I slept most of the rest of the day, getting up to drink more water or to take a pill. Dora was left to do all the boat chores by herself. I guess I had not taken enough pain medicine through the night.

We had a severe thunderstorm during the afternoon and another just before dark. Beach Cruiser drug its anchor and Barry had to use his engine to keep from being blown down on the private docks to the east.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek, MD

I felt pretty fair when I got up considering how bad I felt on Tuesday. After lunch Barry helped me move Seascape to the marina located just to the west of where we have been anchored to fill the fresh water tank and empty our sewage holding tank. We bought 60 gallons of diesel just to buy something. Dora and I spent the afternoon on shore watching a movie with Barb and Berry and doing laundry. I was starting to feel some pain in my back and felt tired so we went back to the boat and took a late afternoon nap.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

I woke up with a mild back ache. By the time I had made coffee, I was having intense pain on the left side of my lower back. We were planning to go to the Baltimore Aquarium at 1100 but Dora called Barry to see if he could take me to the doctor. We went to an emergency clinic nearby. After a painful wait, they gave me a shot for the pain, took an X-ray, a blood sample and a urine sample. The doctor said that X-rays don’t always detect kidney stones but she requested one anyway and of course it didn’t show anything, I did have blood in my urine. Se told us we needed to go to the emergency room, which we probably should have done in the first place.

At the hospital, they did a CAT scan and found a 5mm stone just above my bladder. They gave a prescription for the pain and anti-nausea pills and told me to go home and wait for the stone to pass. If nothing happens in a couple of days the doctor told me to se a urologist. I was fairly comfortable through the night after taking two Percocet.

Monday, August 6, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Dora and I went shopping in Baltimore with Barry, Barb and Dylan, first to the REI camping equipment store, then to Dick’s Sporting Goods. Later we meet Dylan’s mother, Linda, for a great rib dinner. Finally we stopped at Trader Joe’s health food market.

Sunday, August 5, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

We slept in until after 0700. The sky was overcast with the wind out of the north. Linda Yates drove Barry, Barb, her son Dylan, Dora and me to the White Marsh Mall to see the “Borne Ultimatum.” We had grilled chicken on the aft deck for dinner.

Saturday, August 4, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Barry Ainsworth loaned me his customized PT Cruiser to Pick up Dora from her sister’s house in Columbia, MD. I left about noon for the 45 minute drive. Dolores’ husband, Durvis cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill for a late lunch. Dora’s oldest brother, Leo, and his wife, Aurora, arrived in time to eat. Dora’s mother and father looked in good health and I got to visit with them for a while.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way back so it was nearly dark when we reached the boat. Dora was tired after a long week so she showered and went to bed.

Friday, August 3, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Dave Smith called to tell me that they were coming to Frog Mortar Creek to anchor for the evening and then go to a Weaver Marina on Back River for a few weeks. Back River is one river south of where we are anchored. Hw had his son, John, and John’s son, Christian, with him.

The afternoon brought a strong thunderstorm with strong winds, rain and lightening. Dave anchored to wait out the storm so they didn’t arrive until about 1800.

I had made some black beans and rice and took it over to Love and Cheer for dinner. Barb and Barry come over also and Helen Smith arrived by car soon after we had finished eating. Dave picked her up from shore in their dinghy.

It was a hot night, the thunderstorm didn’t cool things off very much at all.

Thursday, August 2, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

We had a cool night but by 0900 it was dead calm and getting hot. I went with Barry to West Marine and to buy ice. When we got back, I started our backup generator - a Honda one kilowatt gasoline powered generator - and connected it to Seascape’s AC electric system to see if it would power the battery charger and refrigerator. It worked great running the charger or the refrigerator, but not both. The Honda uses very little fuel so it is good alternative for the nine kilowatt Kohler, diesel generator if the only purpose is to charge the batteries.

Barry set up our laptop computer to work with a powerful WiFi antenna he had given us. This enabled us to connect to the internet from the boat if there is a signal nearby. I received a signal from 28 different sources although only a few were un-secured and strong enough.

I bathed in the river to conserve fresh water and used water from the ice chest to rinse off. I made chicken fried steak, broccoli, and corn for dinner.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Wednesday, August 1, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek

It was a perfect morning, calm and cool. I wished that I had prepared to run.

I took Barb and Barry for a ride around all the tributaries and coves off Middle River. There were many large and small marinas totaling at least 1,000 boats.

Since Barry had problems with contaminated fuel in his dinghy tank, I emptied ours and found 3 - 4 ounces of water. Hopefully, that will save me from having fuel problems in the future.

I piddled around the boat all afternoon. After it cooled a little, I went to shore and sat under a shade tree and entered a few days worth of blogs. Barb brought over hamburger fixings and potato salad from the previous evening for my dinner.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

After Sailor’s walk, I changed the fluid in the transmission. I went with Barry to the NAPA store, grocery store, and west Marine and recycled five gallons of used oil. Later I vacuumed the boat and went to John and Linda’s house and entered six days into our blog. Barb and Barry made hot dogs and hamburgers onshore on John and Linda’s deck overlooking our boats at anchor. John’s wife Linda had just returned from a business trip.