Dreary, dreary day on the water! And we've got a week of this forecast.....
Duane is staying busy with more wiring rehab. Now he's tracing and replacing antennae wiring for our AIS (Automatic Identification System). We had trouble reliability this winter and wanted that fixed!
The current state of the guest berth.....
That's about it - dinner was salad, spaghetti and leftover brownies on Sojourn. And a couple of games of hearts (which the girls both won!) Excellent sleeping weather with soft raindrops pattering on the deck.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Monday, May 18, 2020
Oriental, NC
It was my birthday, so I baked some brownies. These are the made from scratch brownies I've been making for a while now. I used to keep a brownie mix box in my pantry pretty much all the time until I found this recipe. They're so simple and turn out fudgy every single time. (This time I swirled cream cheese into the batter, last time I added choc chips)
Lazy day for me otherwise. I did spy a boat that was aground in the creek behind our boat. The water is very shallow where this boat is - we don't take our boat over there because of that fact.
The man in the sailboat had apparently gotten someone with the power boat to pull him away. They hooked up a line and the power boat gently pulled him thru the soft sand/mud on the bottom.
Moving a little bit now. The power boat is adding more power to his motor.
And finally he makes a lot of headway and gets the sailboat out of trouble. That was about the only excitement for the day!
Had a very nice dinner on What If - lobster pasta for me and chicken pasta for Duane. Tropical Storm Arthur was expected to arrive overnight - just gracing the NC coastline. The winds weren't expected to be too large so we weren't really concerned. Woke to pouring rain but little wind. Will be a very dreary day on the boat!
Fudge Brownie Recipe
Lazy day for me otherwise. I did spy a boat that was aground in the creek behind our boat. The water is very shallow where this boat is - we don't take our boat over there because of that fact.
The man in the sailboat had apparently gotten someone with the power boat to pull him away. They hooked up a line and the power boat gently pulled him thru the soft sand/mud on the bottom.
Moving a little bit now. The power boat is adding more power to his motor.
And finally he makes a lot of headway and gets the sailboat out of trouble. That was about the only excitement for the day!
Had a very nice dinner on What If - lobster pasta for me and chicken pasta for Duane. Tropical Storm Arthur was expected to arrive overnight - just gracing the NC coastline. The winds weren't expected to be too large so we weren't really concerned. Woke to pouring rain but little wind. Will be a very dreary day on the boat!
Fudge Brownie Recipe
Ingredients
-
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and HOT
-
1 tablespoon cooking oil, (olive oil or coconut oil are fine)
-
1 1/8 cup sugar
-
2 large eggs
-
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
-
1/2 cup all purpose (or plain) flour
-
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-
1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
OPTIONAL ADD INS:
Sunday, May 17, 2020
Oriental, NC
It was past time to get the other vacant lot mowed, so we loaded up the equipment and spent the day there.
It was pretty overgrown - hadn't been mowed since maybe September of last year.
So satisfying to see the difference!
After the main mowing, we spent about 4 hours clearing out undergrowth in the bordering woods. Found this lovely specimen and moved him out of the way of the mower.
And that was about it for the day - I made one run to the gas station to fill up the gas can - and welcomed the cool, air conditioned truck! I was a little too hot! Took me most of the evening just to get back feeling normal.
It was pretty overgrown - hadn't been mowed since maybe September of last year.
So satisfying to see the difference!
After the main mowing, we spent about 4 hours clearing out undergrowth in the bordering woods. Found this lovely specimen and moved him out of the way of the mower.
And that was about it for the day - I made one run to the gas station to fill up the gas can - and welcomed the cool, air conditioned truck! I was a little too hot! Took me most of the evening just to get back feeling normal.
Saturday, May 16, 2020
Oriental, NC
I had ordered a roll of reflective "bubble wrap" insulation from Lowe's to make some covers for our salon windows. A huge amount of heat radiates thru those big windows on sunny days. It's not a problem in the Bahamas because the boat is always opened up and there is a steady breeze flowing. Plus the temp rarely goes above 80 when we're there.
But sitting here in NC as summer approaches, the heat load is large with little or no breeze. We're running the a/c units now and they keep us quite comfortable, but I wanted to minimize the work they're having to do.
First I taped together some masking paper (I didn't have any large sheets of paper) for a pattern.
Then just transferred the pattern to the material and cut it out, a bit oversized.
And it did fit pretty well - but I just wasn't pleased with the "look".
So I decided to go another route - I cut pieces that fit on the out side of the windows - held in place by the blue snap-on sunshield.
Used the sunshield itself as a pattern.
Here's the interior now. I like the way this looks better. Now when we sail, I'll just un-snap and remove the shields just like taking a sunshade out of your car windshield. It does make the salon a bit darker - but there's plenty of light coming in thru the overhead windows and entry door.
And since it was our anniversary - sweet Cathy and Ed treated us to a wonderful evening of happy hour snacks, dinner and Ed's special key lime pie with fresh whipped cream! So nice of them and it was all delicious!
But sitting here in NC as summer approaches, the heat load is large with little or no breeze. We're running the a/c units now and they keep us quite comfortable, but I wanted to minimize the work they're having to do.
First I taped together some masking paper (I didn't have any large sheets of paper) for a pattern.
Then just transferred the pattern to the material and cut it out, a bit oversized.
And it did fit pretty well - but I just wasn't pleased with the "look".
So I decided to go another route - I cut pieces that fit on the out side of the windows - held in place by the blue snap-on sunshield.
Used the sunshield itself as a pattern.
Here's the interior now. I like the way this looks better. Now when we sail, I'll just un-snap and remove the shields just like taking a sunshade out of your car windshield. It does make the salon a bit darker - but there's plenty of light coming in thru the overhead windows and entry door.
And since it was our anniversary - sweet Cathy and Ed treated us to a wonderful evening of happy hour snacks, dinner and Ed's special key lime pie with fresh whipped cream! So nice of them and it was all delicious!
Friday, May 15, 2020
Oriental, NC
Happy anniversary to us!! 38 years now....time sure flies when you're having fun!
Saw this photo of the grandparents at our wedding and thought I'd share it this year. They're all gone now but was wonderful to have them with us. (Duane's grandparents in Indiana couldn't make the trip).
One of those calm days on the creek!
Never get tired of the view!
And for dinner I found a recipe for General Tso's stir-fry. Got busy chopping and dicing. Forgot to take a photo of the finished dish - but it turned out great. We're certainly in a fun-rut (but that's a good thing!) A couple of games of cards with Ed and Cathy and an early evening.
Saw this photo of the grandparents at our wedding and thought I'd share it this year. They're all gone now but was wonderful to have them with us. (Duane's grandparents in Indiana couldn't make the trip).
One of those calm days on the creek!
Never get tired of the view!
And for dinner I found a recipe for General Tso's stir-fry. Got busy chopping and dicing. Forgot to take a photo of the finished dish - but it turned out great. We're certainly in a fun-rut (but that's a good thing!) A couple of games of cards with Ed and Cathy and an early evening.
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Oriental, NC
Had a fairly busy day....
Started with a long needed haircuts. Kinda gross, haha. An amazing amount of grey-ish hair!
Duane does a pretty good job on mine! I feel light-headed!
Cathy and I planned another big Walmart pickup order. It's been about 2 weeks since we did the last one so our fresh stores were getting pretty low.
Same drill - actually the same helper. Everything smooth and we were on our way in no time. And every wore a mask.
And back to the boat, same routine.....more laundry.....dinner on What If and a couple of rounds of cards.
Started with a long needed haircuts. Kinda gross, haha. An amazing amount of grey-ish hair!
Duane does a pretty good job on mine! I feel light-headed!
Cathy and I planned another big Walmart pickup order. It's been about 2 weeks since we did the last one so our fresh stores were getting pretty low.
Same drill - actually the same helper. Everything smooth and we were on our way in no time. And every wore a mask.
And back to the boat, same routine.....more laundry.....dinner on What If and a couple of rounds of cards.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Oriental, NC
I had a package of "Little Smokies" in the freezer and thought I'd make some little pigs-in-a-blanket appetizers. But I didn't have any crescent rolls like I usually use. So I googled for a scratch made recipe. Here's what I used - pigs-in-a-blanket-from-scratch
The dough was very "tender" and a little difficult to work with. I was afraid to handle it too much as I read the caution in the recipe against it.
You'll notice the "pigs" on the left have a roasted carrot stick in them all for me since I can't eat the beef Smokies.
The dough was a little hard to handle and didn't turn out at all like the photos on the recipe blog....but they rarely do, I suppose.
But they turned out yummy no matter what they looked like.
A small sailboat tacked really close to us so I got out my camera and recorded them for a few minutes. They were having a good sail on a very blustery day!
The dough was very "tender" and a little difficult to work with. I was afraid to handle it too much as I read the caution in the recipe against it.
You'll notice the "pigs" on the left have a roasted carrot stick in them all for me since I can't eat the beef Smokies.
The dough was a little hard to handle and didn't turn out at all like the photos on the recipe blog....but they rarely do, I suppose.
But they turned out yummy no matter what they looked like.
A small sailboat tacked really close to us so I got out my camera and recorded them for a few minutes. They were having a good sail on a very blustery day!
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Oriental, NC
Had a busy day, just not a lot of photographic evidence. Helped Duane trace some wiring inside the boat. It is amazing how much wiring there is!!! There are literally a hundred wires running around thru various conduits inside the boat. Both electrical power and communication lines (with an occasional water line thrown in the mix!)
Did another couple of loads of laundry....amazing how quickly that builds up!
For those of you that haven't seen the boat in person, we have a nice setup for washing clothes. Lest you think I'm having to use a scrub board and bucket - we have a Splendide washer/dryer all-in-one combo. The loads are small - about 1/2 a "normal" home washer. I have only been using the wash cycle since I have "free solar dry cycle"! (Plus the dryer vent hose has come loose from it's outlet so I need to crawl way up in the confined storage compartment and fix it....haven't done that yet - and I've known about it for 6 months!)
Dinner was on What If - some yummy left-over spinach lasagna. Cathy and I decided a while back that we needed to start serving left-overs occasionally instead of going all-out at each meal. We had started to get over-run with left overs and our fridge/freezers were too full! She added extra cheese to the lasagna and I do believe it was even better the 2nd time around!! Then she topped that off with a wonderful cheese pie with apple topping - recipe from the cream cheese box. Wonderful. Now I need to do another 15 mile bike ride to work some of this yummy food off my waistline!
A few games of Hearts and a beautiful evening on Brown Creek!
Did another couple of loads of laundry....amazing how quickly that builds up!
For those of you that haven't seen the boat in person, we have a nice setup for washing clothes. Lest you think I'm having to use a scrub board and bucket - we have a Splendide washer/dryer all-in-one combo. The loads are small - about 1/2 a "normal" home washer. I have only been using the wash cycle since I have "free solar dry cycle"! (Plus the dryer vent hose has come loose from it's outlet so I need to crawl way up in the confined storage compartment and fix it....haven't done that yet - and I've known about it for 6 months!)
Dinner was on What If - some yummy left-over spinach lasagna. Cathy and I decided a while back that we needed to start serving left-overs occasionally instead of going all-out at each meal. We had started to get over-run with left overs and our fridge/freezers were too full! She added extra cheese to the lasagna and I do believe it was even better the 2nd time around!! Then she topped that off with a wonderful cheese pie with apple topping - recipe from the cream cheese box. Wonderful. Now I need to do another 15 mile bike ride to work some of this yummy food off my waistline!
A few games of Hearts and a beautiful evening on Brown Creek!
Monday, May 11, 2020
Oriental, NC
We did a BIG bike ride with Ed and Cathy - it's been several months since any of us have been on bikes....over 15 miles! Beautiful Mother's Day! This is the view from across the creek looking at our Mantas at our dock from a different viewpoint.
Ed and Cathy
And dorky us!
Here's our route - probably should have cut it a little short by taking a smaller circuit - I was pooped when we got back!
Drinks out on the dock - I fished out that can of Rum & Cola that I'd gotten in the Bahamas a couple of months ago but never drank. It says it's 8% alcohol - which is alot - but it really just tasted like Coke. Good and fun refreshment.
And while we were relaxing on the dock, a Hobie cat sailed by silently.
Here's our Garmin route - I finally got my refurbished smart watch back from Garmin so I can track our sojourns!
Ed and Cathy
And dorky us!
Here's our route - probably should have cut it a little short by taking a smaller circuit - I was pooped when we got back!
Drinks out on the dock - I fished out that can of Rum & Cola that I'd gotten in the Bahamas a couple of months ago but never drank. It says it's 8% alcohol - which is alot - but it really just tasted like Coke. Good and fun refreshment.
And while we were relaxing on the dock, a Hobie cat sailed by silently.
Here's our Garmin route - I finally got my refurbished smart watch back from Garmin so I can track our sojourns!
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Oriental, NC
I got a hankering for biscuits and gravy....I actually used a recipe - this one has sour cream and an egg....strange! They turned out fabulous - really light and fluffy sortof like a Bojangles biscuit.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recipe from the Butter with a Side of Bread blog:
To make Sour Cream Biscuits, you’ll need:
–1 egg
–1 cup sour cream
–1 TBSP sugar
–1/4 cup butter
–2 cups all purpose flour
–1 tsp baking powder
–1/2 tsp baking soda
–3/4 tsp salt
Crack egg in a bowl and beat with a fork. Add the sour cream and sugar.
Grate the cold butter into the mixing bowl. Grating butter is a super fast way to mix small chunks of butter into the dough without taking time to roll the dough multiple times. As a matter of fact, you don’t roll the dough out at all with this recipe! Add in the remaining dry ingredients and stir just until mixed. Dough will be sticky.
Lightly flour a counter top and use a rubber scraper to scrape the dough out from the bowl. Sprinkle some additional flour on top and lightly knead a few times. Shape it into a mound and pat dough out to 1″ thickness. I just use my hands!
Spray biscuit cutters with non-stick spray. If you don’t have cutters, you can use the open end of a cup, canning jar rings or simply cut them with a knife and form balls. Cut dough to form 9 biscuits. If you have leftover dough, divide it up, pat each piece flat and place it on the underside of each of the 9 biscuits.
Place the biscuits in the greased pan with the sides of the biscuits almost or barely touching. Pat the tops down slightly so that they’re smoother on top. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Serve warm topped with our Strawberry Freezer Jam. Yum!
Yields 9 biscuits. For more roll-like biscuits, add an extra egg!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And then I realized I was about out of bread, so made another loaf.
Other than that, we didn't get much accomplished. Did a good bit of reading on our Kindles.
After dinner on What If, they had an appointment with a buyer for their old 2 cycle dinghy motor. It was in good shape but was a bit underpowered for their dinghy. Also, they are planning to upgrade to a motor like ours with electric start and power tilt. (We're spoiled!!)
They had told their buyer that he must come wearing a mask and he complied.
That was about all the excitement for the evening!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To make Sour Cream Biscuits, you’ll need:
–1 egg
–1 cup sour cream
–1 TBSP sugar
–1/4 cup butter
–2 cups all purpose flour
–1 tsp baking powder
–1/2 tsp baking soda
–3/4 tsp salt
To make Homemade Biscuits, first you’ll need to preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray an 8×8 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Crack egg in a bowl and beat with a fork. Add the sour cream and sugar.
Grate the cold butter into the mixing bowl. Grating butter is a super fast way to mix small chunks of butter into the dough without taking time to roll the dough multiple times. As a matter of fact, you don’t roll the dough out at all with this recipe! Add in the remaining dry ingredients and stir just until mixed. Dough will be sticky.
Lightly flour a counter top and use a rubber scraper to scrape the dough out from the bowl. Sprinkle some additional flour on top and lightly knead a few times. Shape it into a mound and pat dough out to 1″ thickness. I just use my hands!
Spray biscuit cutters with non-stick spray. If you don’t have cutters, you can use the open end of a cup, canning jar rings or simply cut them with a knife and form balls. Cut dough to form 9 biscuits. If you have leftover dough, divide it up, pat each piece flat and place it on the underside of each of the 9 biscuits.
Place the biscuits in the greased pan with the sides of the biscuits almost or barely touching. Pat the tops down slightly so that they’re smoother on top. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Serve warm topped with our Strawberry Freezer Jam. Yum!
Yields 9 biscuits. For more roll-like biscuits, add an extra egg!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And then I realized I was about out of bread, so made another loaf.
Other than that, we didn't get much accomplished. Did a good bit of reading on our Kindles.
After dinner on What If, they had an appointment with a buyer for their old 2 cycle dinghy motor. It was in good shape but was a bit underpowered for their dinghy. Also, they are planning to upgrade to a motor like ours with electric start and power tilt. (We're spoiled!!)
They had told their buyer that he must come wearing a mask and he complied.
That was about all the excitement for the evening!
Saturday, May 9, 2020
Oriental, NC
Pretty sunrise, looking west.
And just a few moments later, the sun peeked out and brightened it all up.
We'd planned a picnic/grill for the evening....got the fire going and chatted for an hour or so....but the winds started to get uncomfortable and we decided it would be best just to have our picnic on the boat!
And just a few moments later, the sun peeked out and brightened it all up.
We'd planned a picnic/grill for the evening....got the fire going and chatted for an hour or so....but the winds started to get uncomfortable and we decided it would be best just to have our picnic on the boat!
Friday, May 8, 2020
Oriental, NC
Just a pretty spring day!!
Duane continues to work on the NEMA 2000 wiring, he says he's almost finished.
I made more cookies....this time homemade Do-si-do peanut butter Girl Scout cookies. Because we need extra calories.....
We had dinner on What If - a great red beans and rice dish. Played just one game of cards because I needed to get on a 7PM Zoom teleconference for book club! I'd never done a Zoom meeting but had read about it lately, of course. We had 11 members "phone in". Unfortunately, this particular screenshot does not capture most of us smiling. But it was fun and there was much laughter. However, it was not ideal - my internet apparently was not good enough to stream the video consistently and I think a few others had the same problem. But it was sure fun seeing all the ladies after such a long time! We hope to meet in person (outside) in June.
Duane continues to work on the NEMA 2000 wiring, he says he's almost finished.
I made more cookies....this time homemade Do-si-do peanut butter Girl Scout cookies. Because we need extra calories.....
We had dinner on What If - a great red beans and rice dish. Played just one game of cards because I needed to get on a 7PM Zoom teleconference for book club! I'd never done a Zoom meeting but had read about it lately, of course. We had 11 members "phone in". Unfortunately, this particular screenshot does not capture most of us smiling. But it was fun and there was much laughter. However, it was not ideal - my internet apparently was not good enough to stream the video consistently and I think a few others had the same problem. But it was sure fun seeing all the ladies after such a long time! We hope to meet in person (outside) in June.
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Oriental, NC
Duane is continuing to repair some internal wiring (NEMA 2000 if you're interested) that has been causing difficulties with some of our electronics. In order to do this, he had to tear apart the galley!
Was actually nice to have the stove out - I did a good bit of scrubbing on it that would have been difficult with it in place. Got alot of the cruddy bits that are in hard-to-reach spots.
He got the galley partially re-installed in time for me to cook dinner. Made some of those 1 hour breadsticks.
I forgot to snap a photo of the finished sticks until long after supper was over. They were good and so simple!
A few games of spades tonight - the girls won one round and the boys won the other. A good day!
Was actually nice to have the stove out - I did a good bit of scrubbing on it that would have been difficult with it in place. Got alot of the cruddy bits that are in hard-to-reach spots.
He got the galley partially re-installed in time for me to cook dinner. Made some of those 1 hour breadsticks.
I forgot to snap a photo of the finished sticks until long after supper was over. They were good and so simple!
A few games of spades tonight - the girls won one round and the boys won the other. A good day!
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