We got the sunny day we needed, but it was a little slow getting started.
Part of the deck was still too wet to work on this morning, but by 2 pm,
everything was dry. I worked until almost 8 pm and got the remainder of the
deck cleaned. I got most of it taped but will need to continue that job in
the am before doing the final caulking. But unless something unforeseen
comes up, I should be done tomorrow. There is still the forepeak and
hatches on the back deck to do sometime during the summer, but those parts
don’t impact the integrity of the deck. The parts that count will be DONE
and I will be so glad to report a job completed tomorrow night.

Mark had his low day today, but he still had enough energy to get the dodger
taken down. Somewhere in the Indian Ocean, the starboard ‘windshield’ was
shattered when a line snapped-not once but twice. We taped the plastic
together with clear packing tape and have been using it that way since. It
has been functional, just not pretty to look at. But Mark works with a guy
named Ed who does canvas work and we are finally getting the dodger to him
to replace the plastic. Sometime this weekend, I will take down the
remaining canvas surrounding the cockpit to clean. Since the boat is being
hauled on Monday, it is a good time to do this.

After removing the canvas, we both went to Heather’s to babysit Oliver while
Heather went to a working lunch. Her once a week call-in program begins the
middle of June and she is working to line up her guests. Once she returned,
I came back to the boat to work. Mark stayed at Heather’s so he could hold
Oliver while Heather went out to check on the beehive. She did this right
after naps, and Sam really wanted to help her. We got her a new hat and
veil for Mother’s Day, so she put that on Sam and she wore the old hat.
Even when a bee got inside his ‘bonnet’, Sam remained totally calm. He has
been fascinated with the bees since they arrived and today he felt so proud
that he could truly assist Heather. They sell bee gear for little guys, so
maybe we are going to have to invest in an outfit for Sam. Jonah hasn’t
shown an interest yet, but maybe he will in time.

120517 Day 191 Cape Cod, USA–Sam the Beekeeper

If I’m ever to get the deck work done, this weather must cooperate. It was raining so hard this morning that even under the winter cover, the grooves in the teak deck were swimming in water. I tried to do a cleaning of the remaining grooves, but it was just too wet. I had hoped that it would clear by late afternoon and dry up a bit, but still tonight the deck is soggy. So I’m not sure just how much work I will get tomorrow morning. Heather has a work engagement at noon tomorrow in Woods Hole and will pick up the boys and bring them home, but Mark and I might go over to watch Oliver while Heather goes to lunch and then I will come back to Windbird and work in the afternoon. I didn’t get the message from Mark until tonight that the boat is definitely being hauled out of the water on Monday morning, so ready or not, the winter cover is coming off over the weekend. Hopefully I can get the remaining deck cleaned, taped, and caulked by then. But it is 11 pm and I see that rain is still falling. So we shall see what can be done.

I drove Mark to Heather’s today before I went to pick up Sam and Jonah. Just before we got there, we saw a momma and papa swan with their babies in the cranberry bogs. These are the bogs that are just a short walk from Heather’s. I went to pick up the boys and we drove straight to the bogs in hopes of seeing the babies, but they were gone by the time we got there. Evidently the parents are taking morning outings with the babies, but then returning to their nest in the afternoon. Heather had been out walking earlier in the morning had seen the swans much deeper in the bogs. A woman she was walking with said she had seen the pair with seven babies. So we will keep checking in hopes of getting and up close encounter with the little ones. In our search this afternoon, Sam and I saw fish in the pond, pond lilies about to bloom, but no swans. We also delighted in smelling the blossoms of a bush with little yellow flowers. It smells just like honeysuckle, but it is not a bush, not a vine. Again, the friend Heather was walking with in the morning had local information about his plant. She calls it autumn olive (elaeagus umbellate). If that is the case, it is the local bush that is loaded with little red berries in the fall. I have so much to learn about the plants in this area. So much to learn and so little time.

Today was much saner than most days recently. We didn’t have to get up at a
set time, we had time to cut Mark’s hair, we went for a walk, and I still
had time to clean up a section of grooves before heading to Woods Hole to
pick up Sam and Jonah. The forecast was definite about rain tonight and all
day tomorrow, so this gave us a little break. It is supposed to raining
tomorrow, but I think the part of the deck I need to work on should be
protected by the winter cover. So I can hopefully finish up the groove
cleaning tomorrow morning. Then Thursday and Friday I will be back on the
fast track trying to complete the caulking job.

Mark is feeling so much better than he did this time two weeks ago. He
still has low energy, and he still expects Thursday and Friday to be his low
days, but the fact that he wanted to walk today told me that he is doing
just fine. We continue to spend our evenings watching DVD’s. We finished
watching the Bonanza series and tonight watched the first of a British
detective series called ‘A Touch of Frost.’ My sister-in-law Sue
recommended that we check these out of the library instead of renting or
purchasing. It was a great idea and the nearby West Falmouth Library had
the DVD’s. So thank you, Sue, for the suggestion. We really enjoyed the
first program in the series.

The weather forecast right now is as fickle as it can be. That’s spring.
But luckily we escaped having any rain today and I finished caulking the
part of the deck that I had taped. The forecast is now for rain tomorrow
night through Wednesday and it looks serious, so I will continue cleaning
the grooves on the remainder of the teak that needs to be caulked, and on
Thursday when the weather clears, I’ll resume the caulking. But I have made
great progress and it is now clear that I can finish the job by this
weekend. So it looks like I will be taking off the winter plastic covering
this weekend and be hauled early next week. I say ‘I’ because Mark will be
working, but maybe I can Heather and Jed to help me for a couple of hours.
I’m sure Sam and Jonah would love the ‘de-construction’ project.

Mark had his seventh (of twelve) chemo treatments today and he is feeling
much better than he did this time last week. As the doctor suspected, he
must have gotten this awful stomach bug on the same day as his last chemo
treatment and that accounts for why he felt so terrible. The doctor thinks
he got it first and then gave it to Sam, Jonah, and me. Jonah and I have
recovered, but Sam is still feeling a bit rough. Mark is so relieved to now
know that it was a bug and not the chemo that him feeling so terrible. Add
to that the fact that we found out today that he also has a bladder
infection, and it is easy to understand why he felt so awful all of last
week. He has low energy tonight, but otherwise he is doing great. He spent
a bit of time late this afternoon in the backyard at Heather’s playing with
Sam and Jonah and he really enjoyed it. Tomorrow morning we have no
appointments, so we can sleep in, take a nice long walk, and then I can get
some deck work done while Mark rests. This is a much saner schedule than
what we have been dealing with for the past week, so we are both looking
forward to the bit of down time.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of my favorite mothers, especially to Heather and
Jo, the mothers of my beautiful grandchildren. I worked on the deck all
day, but did take two hours out of the middle of the day to go to brunch
with Heather, Jed, and boys. It was a lovely break. The brunch was at
Coonemessett Farm where Heather and Jed are members. It is a twenty acre
farm where you can pick your own vegetables and berries, visit the chicken
coop and pick your own fresh eggs out of the nesting boxes, or just go for a
relaxing lunch. And there is a great play area for the kids. Sam and I
found four eggs today and Sam and Jonah both enjoyed frolicking on the lawn,
feeding the chickens, and just hanging out. Heather got the best Mother’s
Day present a new mother could ever ask for this morning. Oliver smiled
real smiles for the first time when the family was relaxing together in the
early morning. Heather has been trying to get him to smile for days and has
sworn that she has seen glimpses, but this morning was the real thing. And
the kitchen wall has the first, and now maybe the second coat of paint on
it, so the refrigerator project is almost complete. Justin called tonight
and we had a great conversation. He cooked a special breakfast for Jo and
then in the afternoon they took Ziggy to a movie. So I rest assured that
both Heather and Jo had great days.

But this mother is almost worked out. I was on the deck on my knees
cleaning out the grooves between the teak boards for two and a half straight
hours this morning. Then when I returned from brunch, I was back on my
knees for the next four hours completing the cleaning process and then
taping. It was after 5 pm when the taping was complete and I started the
caulking process. Around 4 pm, however, my knees gave out. I just couldn’t
kneel on the wood any longer. My knees feel like a fell on concrete and
scraped them badly, but I found a closed-cell foam cushion that gave me the
relief I needed to continue. It took all of this time to prepare only
twelve feet of deck to be caulked. When Mark got home, he helped with the
caulking, but we only got half of it done. If it rains tonight, I will
probably have to re-tape, but we were just both too tired to continue. I’ve
been taking a few photos and will try to do a step by step photo story of
the process-but not tonight. I’m just too tired. But tired as I am, I am
feeling good about the fact that I can do this. When we did the deck in
2004, I was just the helper. Now I can do the job alone. When Heather came
to help me with the starboard deck, she said she thought the job could be
done by one person. Mark had always thought it was a two-person job. But
Heather was right. It is possible for one person to do it . . . just slowly
and painfully.

When we stopped working on the deck, we headed to Heather and Jed’s to have
dessert. I know. We hadn’t had dinner yet, but we had promised to come at
7 pm to have a piece of that strawberry-rhubarb pie Heather made yesterday.
It was absolutely delicious. Having had dessert first, we then thought we
were going to have sushi for dinner. But the restaurant is closed on Sunday
evenings. Bummer. We came home and had a delicious dinner of curried
scallops, asparagus, and rice, even though I did have to prepare it myself.

Mark bought me a beautiful orchid plant for Mother’s Day. It is like the
ones that I lusted after in Thailand but never bought. Now I own one and I
love it. Here’s hoping each mother reading this had a wonderful Mother’s
Day and that you got something you love as well.

120513 Day 187 Cape Cod, USA–Happy Mother's Day

I spent my entire day on deck taping and caulking. Last night we borrowed
Heather’s old Honda so Mark could drive himself to work this morning. That
gave me extra time to work on deck. I took a break at 10 am and drove to
the fresh produce market. I met Heather and boys there and we quickly did
our shopping and headed to back to Heather’s to make a strawberry rhubarb
pie we have been trying to make since last Saturday. But by the time we got
back to Heather’s, Jed had the entire kitchen draped in sheets and plastic.
He was doing the sanding of the dry wall and there was no way to cook a pie,
so I headed back to Windbird with promises of returning at 5 pm. Sometime
before noon I was back at work finishing up the taping. I took another
break at 1 pm to eat a quick lunch, and then I caulked straight through. It
is grueling work, but I am making progress. Inch by inch, row by row, I
will get there. Tomorrow I have to start by using the carpet knife to clean
out the grooves in the next section before I can tape and caulk. So I will
not be able to cover as much ground as I did today. But I can get us to
within one or two days of completion. Hallelujah.

At 5 pm, I headed back to Heather and Jed’s and Mark met me there after his
day of work at West Marine. Both of us were wiped out, but we rallied
enough to enjoy a delicious dinner of homemade pizza. I sat and read the
recipe to Heather so she could assemble the strawberry rhubarb pie. I was
just too tired to stand up and help. The pie looked great, but it was still
too hot to cut by the time Mark and I left. We have borrowed Heather’s car
for again, so after Mark’s work tomorrow, I will drive into town and we will
go to the little sushi restaurant for a special Mother’s Day dinner
together. Then we will drive to Heather and Jed’s and have a piece of that
pie. Can’t wait.

Our day started with Mark’s appointment with the oncologist and the report was very good. Mark has gained a pound since the last visit and the doctor was elated that his blood counts are all still in the normal range. She says that it is unusual to be going into the second half of the treatment cycle with such stable counts. So whatever we are doing, she suggests we keep doing it. And after the appointment Mark went to work at West Marine and made it fine through the day. We are starting to wonder if he actually had the intestinal virus last week that Sam, Jonah, and I have had this week. I guess we’ll find out this coming week. If he feels better after this next chemo treatment than he did with the last, the doctor figures he had a virus. If not, she’ll re-evaluate and decide if there should be an adjustment in the medications.

After taking Mark to work, I came back to Windbird and worked on deck. Cleaning out each groove with a carpet knife and small chisel is time consuming work. But I made good progress and starting taping off for the next round of caulk. I will continue this process over the weekend and see how far I get. The weather should be sunny and very warm—perfect conditions for the deck work. I’ll take time off tomorrow morning to go to the Saturday produce market with Heather and boys and on Sunday Jed has offered to take Heather and I to a Mother’s Day Brunch. But other than those two activities, I will be out on the deck. Mark will be working both days this weekend at West Marine, but I am gearing up to get as much of the deck caulked as humanly possible.

Tonight we had dinner at Heather and Jed’s. They have joined into a cooperative to receive fresh, local fish every Thursday. They got the first installment yesterday and it was squid and halibut. Tonight we had deep-fried calamari as an appetizer and halibut wrapped in thinly sliced prosciutto with rice and broccoli for the main course. Everything was delicious, but the calamari was outstanding. It was absolutely the best we have ever had. The batter was 1 cup of white flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, mixed with 1 cup of Amstel Light beer. What a treat.

Thankfully, I’m feeling much better. My stomach is still a bit unsettled,
but I ate normal food for dinner (something other than chicken noodle soup)
and so far, so good. Sam got sick again during the night last night, so he
and Jonah were home from school today for the second day in a row. Heather,
Jed, and Oliver are still fine, and so far I think Mark has escaped this.
He had a bit of a temperature and his stomach felt a bit unsettled today,
but it is hard to know if it was a touch of this stomach bug or just chemo
side effects. Regardless, he slept most of the day and feels much better
now. So, fingers crossed, by tomorrow morning everyone will be back to
normal.

Mark sees his oncologist tomorrow morning for his bi-weekly check-in and
then goes to work at West Marine for the remainder of the day. He also
works on Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow, after taking him to work, I’ll come
back to Windbird and work on the deck until time to pick Sam and Jonah up
from school. The forecast is for no rain until Monday, so I will work as
hard as I can tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday to get as much deck caulked as
possible before the next rain. What I don’t finish up this weekend, I’m
hoping Heather can help me with next week. She can come over in the
mornings with Oliver and Mark can hold the baby while we do the caulking.
BUT the weather needs to cooperate. Right now there is a 30 to 50 percent
chance of rain starting Monday and going through next Thursday. That’s the
reason for the super push this weekend. We have delayed being hauled out of
the water for another week, but hauling out on Monday or Tuesday, May 21 or
22, is a definite. That means the winter cover comes off and whatever deck
work is not done will just have to wait until we are back in the water.
While the boat is out of the water, there will be people working inside
installing four new through-hulls and others working on painting the bottom.
If all this works out, we will headed back to Woods Hole as soon as the work
is done. So boat work is the name of the game for the next two weeks. I
have to say that I will be very glad to get the deck done and have Windbird
watertight once again. And then I will be very glad to shift into summer
mode and relax a bit. Mark needs regular exercise, not grueling deck work,
to get him through this chemo. Just one more week.

Today happened without my participation. Just before I wrote last night’s
log I started feeling simply terrible. I almost skipped writing the log I
felt so bad. But I wrote it and then went to bed. I started chilling and
couldn’t sleep. Eventually I took some Tylenol and dozed off. I’d
forgotten just how bad a person can feel. I only got out of bed today long
enough to drink some chicken broth at noon and again at 4:30. I think this
might be a first for me. I never just stay in bed no matter how bad I feel,
but whatever hit me, hit hard and fast. Finally at 8:30 tonight, I felt
good enough to get up and stay up. Sam and Jonah called me this evening to
see how I was feeling and to relate their stories of being sick as well.
Both of them got sick last night as well. They felt much better today but
didn’t go to school. Hopefully tomorrow all of us will feel better and
hopefully Mark, Heather, and Jed will not get this bug.

Mark went to work at West Marine tonight from 6 to 10 pm to help with
inventory. So at least he accomplished something today. It was a total
loss for me.

We started Year 7 of our adventure last November 9. That means that
tomorrow we will be the halfway point through the current year. And all we
have done is sit here in Fiddler’s Cove Marina. I know the second half of
the year will have a bit more sailing activity, and who knows what next year
will bring. Right now, we are just focused on getting the deck done. We
made some progress this morning, thanks to the weather. The forecasted rain
all fell north of here, but supposedly we’ll get our turn tomorrow. We
spent the afternoon at Heather’s helping to get things transferred from the
old refrigerator to the new one. It is huge and most everything from the
old refrig fit into the door shelves on the new one. But I know it won’t be
long before it is full. Empty space always fills up.

Heather and Jed took Sam to meet the elementary school where he will attend
kindergarten next fall. The school set up a book walk where each page of
the book was read in a different physical location in the school. I simply
cannot believe Sam is five years old and will be in kindergarten in the
fall.