Seagull shuffle

New Arrival

The New Order

We are wrapping up our projects, putting up storm windows, fixing the rock wall, caulking, mowing – well actually Tim is doing all of that –  I am sorting through my huge bag of fleece.  My goal is to get most of it cleaned and to store it in the car.  I’ll get a chance to spin it when I travel to Long island later this month.I read the Sunday Times yesterday and was happy to see a story about my favorite spot for italian ice in Oyster Bay, NY.

It looks like a crisp fall day today.  We’ll be wearing our wool again when we move back aboard the boat this week.   Maybe I’ll get a lemon ice.

Invasion of the tree swallows

We are over run by tree swallows that arrived about a week ago.  I can’t possibly capture how many are flying overhead.  All the specks in this photo are birds. Are there enough insects for them all to eat?

Swallow swarm

The question of mermaid cycles…resolved

We have a topical storm passing by, the wind is howling tonight, and we walked along the beach this afternoon.  We found items washed ashore.  Apparently the storm wasn’t good for the shellfish, because there were lots of dismembered body parts washed ashore.

Washed up claw

Seaweed flowers

I continue to work with the raw fleece.  Yesterday I cleaned some more to the cat’s delight and today I test knitted some spun yarn.  It’s amazing how nice the yarn looks.

Raw fleece

Picked and washed, sunbathing fleece

Curious cats

Snuggled fleece

Spun

swatched

Water Lily on papa bear’s mooring

We jockeyed the boat around some more.  The marina told us yesterday that they had moved us to a mooring that was bigger than we needed and they wanted us to move again..  I got to play in the whaler again.  Hopefully she is just right now.

Our Whaler thought it was a dinghy

Well we’ve been found out at the marina.  We were getting away with sneaking the whaler onto the dinghy dock while we ran errands in town.  Today it learned that it can’t play with the dinghies anymore and has to hang out with the big boats.  Ah well.  We will see how much of a big boat it is because there is another tropical storm heading this way this weekend.

Today we did some work on the sailboat after Tim mowed the lawn.  We actually got to take a boat ride, well I stayed in the big boat whaler, and Tim moved Water Lily to a larger mooring in preparation for the weekend’s storm.  I have tomatoes on hand so no more ketchup meat sauce.

When we went ashore, Shirley the cat came down to the beach and once again she waited there until we got back.  We have stooped to whispering when we leave so she doesn’t hear us.

Stormy Skies

Coast Guard Buoy Rescue

Spider sky

Kelp beach

The reason I stayed home

Imagine a Pier in the Background

Clouds over the whistle house

Dark skies

Red sky

Dark and stormy night

Starlings on the catwalk

Starling with attitude

The fleece made it ashore

Picked fleece

Washed

Dried

Fluffy

Crime scene

Room for rodents

Malcolm, Phil and Moonshine

Tim and ENHC staff

Hurricane Bill and the fleece

Tim and I left the island for the weekend to go to Bill and Nancy’s wedding.  We left before Hurricane Bill got close- notice the same names-  and had a wonderful weekend.  On the way home, we stopped at Pam and Gary’s farm, Terhune Orchards, to pick up a fleece they had put aside for me from their sheep shearing.  We picked out a huge bag of fleece, put it in the car – a hatchback – and sneezed the whole way home.  The car smelled like a barn yard!! I plan to clean, card, spin and knit it into some sweaters for the youngest generation.

As we approached the marina, the sky darkened and it started pouring.   We had been following weather reports and the seas didn’t seem too bad.  We waited for the rain to pass and headed out.  The water was no rougher than usual until we got close.  We saw breakers over ledges where we had never seen them before and there were waves breaking on the beach.  We considered going back to town, but it didn’t look too bad.  The problem was we only could do one trip and we had to leave the big bag of fleece in the boat.  We made it safely ashore, by timing it well and surfing in the last 10 yards.  We both got drenched and were glad we only had a few bags to bring ashore.  The beach was totally remodeled and included a part of a pier that had washed ashore.

We had decided to skip dinner in town because I said we had enough on the island to make dinner.  Well, we had most of evertthing we needed for the pasta and meat sauce.  I had to improvise with some ketchup and tomato paste in the sauce and couldn’t figure out why Tim felt a little nauseous at dinner – must have been the seas.

The next day the surf was crashing on the beach.  I think we had a point break and waves were approaching from 2 sides and adding together for 5 foot waves.  We cancelled our shopping trip and completely emptied the pantry, even the condensed milk.  I could see the big bag of fleece bobbing in the boston whaler but we couldn’t get to it.

I’m sad to say someone vandalized one of my projects when we were away.  I had repaired a door to the oil house where bulk items have been stored and put a lock on it.   Someone, it had to be a person not an animal, smashed in the upper part of the door in an attempt to get in.  I’m ready to call in the cavalry but we’ll see what the boss says tomorrow.  And to think we were stuck on the island with the villain!

Crowing seagull

I’ve been taking some time to enjoy nature, even the seagulls.  Notice how nice they keep the roof.  Another bird that has been following me around when I mow the lawn is the Eastern Kingbird At first I thought I might have been interfering with its nest when I mowed the lawn but it chased me over 2 acres of mowing.  I think I was stirring up its dinner.  This bee apparently travels with its pollen in sacs on its legs.  Looks like a good haul.

Bee with baggage

Excitement for the day, aside from sanding floors, caulking gutters and painting was the large tanker leaving the harbor.  It never slowed down but we saw the pilot boat leave its stern.

Pilot boat

Local traffic

On another front, I’ve been knitting like crazy with some self imposed deadlines.  Here are my 2 finished projects since I moved onto the boat in May.

Pair of shawls

Print of the waves

Messing about in boats

We had a problem with the Tide and the Whaler the other day.  We were supposed to meet a marine mechanic because it wasn’t starting easily.  After several clicks, Tim decided to pull start it.  We went to get the cord out of the cooler and the Tide detergent we had so smartly stored there had leaked and gotten into everything.  I mean into everything.  The tool kit was soaked. I tried to rinse off a wrench so it wouldn’t fly out of Tim’s hands when he used it.  Then I tried to rinse all the tools.  The owner’s manual was drenched.  I tipped the cooler to let the detergent drip out and the fire extinguisher went out with the Tide with a splash. No hope of recovery.  To make matters worse, the entire deck of the boat was covered in blue soap so it was slippery as anything.  And we were running late to our appointment with the marine mechanic to fix the motor because  it wouldn’t start.   Tim finally got a grip on the starter cord and got the engine started and we were on our merry way.  The whaler is a workhorse.  The other day we loaded it with lumber and building supplies.

Sky or sea?

Often the grayest days end with the most beautiful sunsets and last night was one of them.  It was gray and rainy during the morning, then the wind kicked up and blew away the mist.  We stayed in town for dinner and came back with groceries around sunset.  Sun predicted for the next few days so we’ll get the batteries and our computers charged.

I took a break and went blackberry picking and found a few residual raspberries that became a crisp for dessert.  Actually DH was so hungry he ate his dessert before and after dinner.

Taking time to smell the…

Now that summer is here, it feels like it has flown by.  The final push is on to accomplish the major projects: seal all the leaks, paint any unpainted wood, replace gutters and repair windows.  We realize we have a lot of work we would like to complete and have been working hard the past few days.  We scraped, sanded, primed and painted one side of the house and reglazed and painted windows.  When I woke up to have breakfast yesterday, this is the view outside my kitchen window.

We’ve been lucky to have nice weather.  DH is running laps around the property now and I may join him and then jump in the water to cool off.

I’ve been deferring some inside cleaning for the next rainy day and it looks like sun is predicted for the next several days.

The ladder provides a good perspective to watch the local boat traffic.

We Survived but now I am broken

Yesterday I am happy to report that we got the mower safely to the repair shop, Powder Hill Service Center and they did a great job.  We carried it down the rocky beach, loaded it into the rubber dinghy and were able to lift it without incident into the boston Whaler.  They looked at it and fixed it while we hit the laundromat, hardware store and cafe.  It turns out that the equivalent of a sheer pin was broken, caused by DH hitting a rock while mowing.  But at the shop, he told them I did it and they all had a good laugh.  Well today I mowed for several hours and I am broken. But the mower runs great.  The best comment when I was bringing it down the dock at the marina was, Wow, you must have a pretty big boat!

Now I will get wierd (living on an island can do that to you ). Mowing today made me philosophical and I can see the parallels of mowoing a large lawn with life.  You have a plan to cover the ground one way and then you run into an obstacle, like solar panels or a lighthouse and you have to decide how you will incorporate that into your original plan.  Focus on the obstacle or just work around it.  Fascinating right?

Shirley and Loki are back from their camping trip but didn’t want to put the thermarests away just yet.