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I slept fairly well after I got to sleep, but it was 1 or so by the time I finally decided to take 2 Benadryl. Two Benadryl are pretty much guaranteed to put me to sleep. I don't like to take anything to sleep and I have no reason to believe Benadryl might be addictive, but it's efficacy does wear off over time if it is used often. I woke up at 7:25 realizing that Susan was coming early today and that someone have to unlock the door for her. She can never remember the combination. so, I went downstairs, still groggy, and found Mom was already up and the door was unlocked. Susan had just pulled into the drive. Susan came early today because Mom is expecting her grandson -- my nephew -- Graham to arrive around noon and this way Susan will have completed all her chores and gone. The temperature this morning is 19 degrees Celsius and it's the perfect kind of day to start the morning with a swim so I went down to the boat and dove into the water. That's a good way to wake up instantly. * * * * *
I texted Graham and he was not likely to appear until about 1:30, so I made lunch and then went sailing. The wind was blowing fairly hard and the gauge said 12 knots. I sailed under jib and reefed main. I decided there wasn't much to do. I then checked the battery and the voltage was good so I tried starting the outboard using the electric start and found that the solenoid would click in but there wasn't enough juice to turn over the motor I returned at 5:30 cooked supper and then went sailing again. On returning I went swimming for probably the 4th time today before returning to the house and spending the evening dealing with correspondence and looking up parts for the boat.
A good scientist knows that science is not a
democracy, that scientific truth is not determined All models are wrong but some are useful. << Previous Page Top Next Page >>
Wednesday August 2nd 2017 I woke up at 6 feeling just
fine so I went down and had coffee and breakfast and went back up
and went to bed for an hour
A good scientist knows that science is not a
democracy, that scientific truth is not determined All models are wrong but some are useful. << Previous Page Top Next Page >>
Thursday August 3rd 2017 I woke up with 7:30 feeling
much better than I have for quite a while, and having slept about 6
hours again. I didn't really get to sleep till about 1:30. It seems
that I'm sleeping about 6 hours every night now, and having a nap
every afternoon.
Ever since I arrived, I've been relaxing, and it's been a while since I've done that. I've been driving myself pretty hard ever since early spring, since the boat show in Vancouver, actually.
Mid-morning I went to Princess Auto to get a few things and returned to be home in time for the doctor's arrival. Mom was up and waiting and then we got a phone call. Apparently the doctor already been there, earlier than expected, and not found anybody -- Mom had been sleeping.
After much research and pulling
the outboard motor apart I discovered the entire problem was simply
a defective start switch. The fact that the starting switch didn't
work in no way affected the battery charging at or any of the other
features and so I can use the motor just fine without the electric
start, seeing as the motor starts on 1st pull using the rope.
A good scientist knows that science is not a
democracy, that scientific truth is not determined All models are wrong but some are useful. << Previous Page Top Next Page >>
I woke up at 6:30 and got up at
7, went downstairs around 8:30 and made coffee. Mom was already up
and waiting for Roseanne who was expected at 9. I haven't decided when I'm
going to leave. I had thought I might leave tomorrow, but that
leaves Mom alone over the weekend, seeing as her helpers don't come
in on Saturday or Sunday.
We had supper then I went down to the boat and I slept for an hour again. This is gotten to be a habit the last several nights. I sleep well on the boat. Maybe it's the rocking maybe it's the gurgling or maybe it's just the fact that I'm tired after supper lately. After that I worked on the electrical system and got it working properly. By then it was only about an hour till sundown at most but there was a decent breeze so I went out and sailed around a bit then returned at sundown.
I returned to the house and put in one last load of wash and that's it for today. I went to bed around 11. No video tonight.
A good scientist knows that science is not a
democracy, that scientific truth is not determined All models are wrong but some are useful. << Previous Page Top Next Page >>
I woke up at 7 and stepped onto
the scale I bought yesterday. It says 204.2 with pajamas on and I
know that's a lie. I'm going to have to take that scale back. I have
a number of returns to do today and a little more shopping to do.
I cooked supper for Mom and me and then I called Sharon and drove the van and trailer to Bell Park.
Sharon picked me up at the ramp and drove me back to 1207.
Next, I motored the boat across the lake and loaded it onto the
trailer. After that I dropped the mast and stowed all the
various parts to get it ready to move back to 1207. I was tired.
A good scientist knows that science is not a
democracy, that scientific truth is not determined All models are wrong but some are useful. << Previous Page Top Next Page >>
Last night was one of the worst
nights of sleep I've had in a long time. Allergies woke me up every
hour or hour and a half all night and at one point I had to get up
for a while and have a cup of coffee. I slept better after that and
manage to get in 8 hours.
My plan was to leave early
today to go up to Macgregor Bay and that could still happen but it
won't be early. As I packed up the boat last night I decided it
needs further cleaning on the outside and I still have to pack and
organize food and things like that so I'll be lucky to get out there
after lunch. Whitefish Falls is an hour's drive from here. Bystanders were quite excited and everybody came over to look. Two police were also nearby and came over to talk. I suspect some busybody alerted them. (How is it that there are always cops at a donut shop?) The owner of the canoe and I
looked at the situation and decided no harm had been done, not
without him kiddingly pretending shock and damage, and we all
laughed and went on our way. I motored out to camp and was greeted there by Bill, who had prepared space at the dock. Faye made spaghetti and we had a few glasses of wine and called it a day.
A good scientist knows that science is not a
democracy, that scientific truth is not determined All models are wrong but some are useful. << Previous Page Top Next Page >>
I slept poorly, and got up for two hours sometime after midnight and experimented with the new LED lighting that I had purchased, deciding that one of the samples I had bought was most suitable and discovering that to others that I have thought most potentially suitable did not seem to work at all. I eventually got back to sleep and slept fairly soundly in the morning. Sometime around 10, I heard a voice and Bill was on the dock checking to see if I was up. He had made some porridge so I went up and had porridge and coffee, then we went down to my boat to work on the lighting
The existing ceiling light fixtures in this boat had become corroded from water that leaked down from deck fittings that are probably improperly bedded, and still need to be re-bedded for that matter. My solution to that leakage was to seal the holes where the wires come through the ceiling for the fixtures with silicone to prevent future harm, so we did that and wired up one of the lights, then screwed it to the ceiling. For the remainder of the fixtures the wires protrude awaiting the purchase of the appropriate fixtures.
We were finished that by about 3 or 3:30 and I decided it was time to go and do some exploring. I untied from the dock and headed west with Little Current as my tentative destination. I had charted the route and it looked like about 18 nautical miles, or about a three-hour Cruise at 6 knots. That would be using the engine. Sailing would likely be slower, if it was necessary to tack into the wind. The wind was very light and from the West, so it was necessary to motor for the first leg. Macgregor Bay is full of rocks and as I motored West, still getting used to the charting software on this tablet, I heard a couple of thumps and noticed the rudder kick up a little bit. I had discovered rocks in what would have seemed to have been water that should have been deep enough for my boat.
The route was clearly marked and I motored until I turned south at the point. From there, I sailed at hull speed and arrived at Little Current well before dark. I prowled along the main dock and checked the cost of tying up overnight. It was only about $40, including power, but I had noticed two sailboats anchored at Picnic Island as I approached, so I bought fuel at Spider Bay Marina dn went out to anchor.
A good scientist knows that science is not a
democracy, that scientific truth is not determined All models are wrong but some are useful. << Previous Page Top Next Page >>
I slept better last night, but did wake up a few times. Each time I checked the anchor but had not moved much.
Today is bright and overcast with some sun and with a moderate breeze from the south. The weather is predicted to be sunny with a west wind at 12 to 15 knots continuing all day. I have no idea what I'm going to do, but I imagine I will probably return to Macgregor Bay and my van. At least that's what makes the most sense
I raised anchor and motored in to Little Current to tie up at the main downtown dock. Tying up there is free during the day and there is only a charge for overnight. I met some of the boaters on the dock and wandered up to the Anchor Inn to see if I could round up Roy Eaton who had run the VHF net on Channel 71 earlier in the day. By the time I got there he was gone but I did have a coffee in the cafe. I paid $2.50 for a tiny cup of coffee and that was the only coffee I was to have all day. I went down to Wally's Shack and bought a guidebook and a chart of the area for about a hundred bucks total including a new Canadian flag to fly from my topping lift. Little Current is close to the international border so it is a good idea to identify myself as Canadian when I'm here. Sometime before noon I cast off and decided to head back north and decide where my destination was along the way.
The wind was against me so I motored at first and
then put up some sail, deciding to tack and venture outside the
channel seeing as I had my little eTrex with me with good nautical
charts showing where the rocks are. I ran downwind for a while and the wind got stronger as I went. I spotted a nice little hidey-hole behind Neptune Island, turned in found a shallow spot. The spot, from all appearances, was idyllic but I soon found there were horseflies and deerflies enough that I wasn't able to nap. So, I moved on down the channel and anchored again off a point for a while and had a nap. I was considering whether it would be wise to
continue on or not as I saw thunderstorms off in the distance
somewhere in the vicinity of my destination if I was going to
Whitefish Falls, which it seemed I was, judging by the direction I
had automatically chosen at the point. I found a beautiful spot and dropped an anchor and
rested awhile, then noticed that the storm seemed to have moved on.
I was only 5 miles from my destination -- about an hour if I made
the kind of speeds I had been, so I decided to raise anchor and see
if I could make it to camp before dark Although I had a paper chart I wasn't using it and
my electronic devices we're hard to use for distance planning. They
were good for close-up but difficult to use for planning my eventual
course. As a result I missed the turn to follow the recommended
channel and found myself fighting back up wind to regain my
position. Winds were very strong at that point and I used the motor
to assist and had to also spill wind so I wouldn't be heeled over
too far. I was happy to to run the engine a bit because I was still trying to burn out the gasoline that was in the tank, assuming that it was at least 2 years old and maybe as old as four years.
I was about half a mile from the camp when the old gasoline finally ran out. I had new gasoline that I purchased in Little Current on board, so I tried to shake the rest of the gasoline out of the outboard tank into a pail so that I could replace it with fresh gasoline. In the process I spilled a bit into the sole of the cockpit and got it on my feet. Moreover, I was unable to get all the gas out because of the design of the tank and I'll have to do that later. I added a little gas to get me to the camp and
started the engine. It ran better on the new gas Then went back to the boat to sleep. I was dog-tired. My trip had only taken a bit over a day, but it felt like a week.
A good scientist knows that science is not a
democracy, that scientific truth is not determined All models are wrong but some are useful. << Previous Page Top Next Page >>
I slept well last night and only woke up twice. I went to bed around 10 at the latest and finally got up at 9. When I got up I looked out the window and saw little faces looking in at me. Sue's kids were down on the dock and looking for something to do. Maybe their voices woke me up. I don't know. At least I had a very good sleep for a change.
I went up and had breakfast with the gang. Ken and Myra are here and so are Sue and Jay and their kids. Seems Jay works with PMRA and has a keen interest and a lot of knowledge about the problems with chemical crop treatments and the bees, so we had quite a chat.
After lunch I spent a couple of hours sorting things out on the boat and getting it ready for me to leave for a day or two, then anchoring it off the end of the dock so won't be in the way. I would have just left it on the anchor but Bill wanted a shore tie, so we tied the stern to the little camp. That might be a good idea, then it might not. We'll see.
Bill ran me over to the landing. I disconnected the trailer from the van, retrieved my things from the boat, and headed back to Sudbury. I stopped for supper and Espanola at a Chinese restaurant. I had the buffet and have to say it was not the best I've had but it was also not the worst. The best I've had was in Sidney on Beacon Avenue, and the worst was in Three Hills on the road into town. I returned to Sudbury by the bypass and went into Walmart for a few things, then I went to Canadian Tire for a while and picked up a couple more items and return to 1207. I was up until almost one reading and doing various odds and ends then hit the sack. I slept an hour or so and then was I was up again for a little while and went back to bed and slept.
A good scientist knows that science is not a
democracy, that scientific truth is not determined All models are wrong but some are useful. << Previous Page Top Next Page >>
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