Two Days In A Row! I Am On A Streak!

          It is so bleeding hot & humid today that it would be a perfect day for the boast. Unfortunately there is no wind.  It would mean simply floating, either trying to sail and drifting or simply hanging on the mooring. In either event, it would only be slightly less hot and humid that being on land today.  Indeed, it would simply be hair-splitting arguing which would be best. One needs a space with AC or at least a fan and several large glasses filled with gin & tonic.

     ABISHAG came down river on June 16th and we almost didn't make it. Actually, we almost didn't even start. She wasn't pumping raw water.  To cool the engine when it is running, the raw water pump sucks up water exterior to the hull, pumps it through a heat exchanger which exchange the heat from the anti freeze to the raw water being pump to keep the engine from over heating. Biut the water wasn't being pumped.  There is a little paddlewheel in the raw water pump which sucks in the water and pumps it out.  After checking for leaks, blockages and the like, Fred dismantled the pump and found that the 12 paddles on the impeller were all broken off. I usually replace the impeller each years as it is only hard, flexible rubber and takes a beating. I asked the yard to do it and it they missed it or forgot about it or whatever, but it certainly means that I am going have to check them and all work if we go back in the fall. Luckily, I still had two(2) impellers that were part of the haul from the ICW trip and which I finally got to use.The 15 minutes that it took to pull out the old and install the new produced a nice flow of water. It should be good for at least a year but it will be changed in the spring by ME!

     THE KNEE -  when we last left the knee, it was awaiting the Monday morning arrival of the visiting  nurse and the home health care physical therapist.  The arrive at 10am on the dot. I sent 30 minutes answering all the nurse's question and she then left me to the tender mercies of the physical therapist. She was a wonderful therapist and was so nice, that I "had to do everything she said." She would do all the exercises with me to show just how easy they were, though the cracking of the scar-tissue and adhesion  in my left ankle and left knee made her queezy, which I found strange for a physical therapist. She showed up three times for two weeks before she handed me off to an outside physical therapist who turned out to be the one who handled my left ankle therapy a couple of years ago. After about two months, it became more a question of simply strengthening the muscles above the knee that really hold it in place, As they have become stronger, the knee has become more my own. Certainly the pain has long be gone and the only down side is that it has made clear just how bad the left knee is. If the cartilage is gone by the fall, I check with the doctor about doing that knee. If he feels that it is ready, we'll do it. If it still needs to "cook" a bit longer, then I'll do it next fall. In any event, it is certainly a whole lot better making that walk down the dock than it was.

    THE LOFT -  Still haven't got enough hours in yet. But it will happen . . . eventually.

    THE CRUISE - Due to the locked in schedule this year, I do not have to work on weekends and have been able to sign up to go on one of the Club Cruises.  It is strange not to work on weekends and it actually takes a little getting used to. The one down side is parking. Not a lot of room down near the club. One must be ready to go very early or be willing to hike. The club Cruise that I am going to take will be the one to Newport and Narragansett Bay and the Elizabeth Islands. we will moor off the Ida Lewis Yacht Club or Fort Adams for both the Folk Festival and the Jazz Festival. How great is that.

I am tapped out. More later.