01 June 2011 A Command Is Like An Order

“We cannot get out.  We cannot get out.  They have taken the Bridge and the second hall…We cannot get out”

Those of you familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien will recognize the above passage from The Fellowship of the Ring.  I found it highly appropriate for today as Amy just finished reading the book, and the weather foiled our plans to go ashore.

We got up early in anticipation of Ethan’s arrival and while the skies were sunny, the wind was freshening rapidly with the seas just starting to stack up.  We began hustling everything down the hill when we got the text from Ethan “not today guys”, the seas being a little too rough.  I was not joking when I said Amy is going from all stop to full ahead with her Seguin experience.

We came inside and dropped our gear.  I was ambivalent, Amy was pissed, and the dog was cranked up into high gear because he had his leash & harness on and couldn’t figure out why.  I went about the business of making coffee while Amy vented on me, culminating with a command of sorts for tomato soup and grilled cheese for dinner.  In an effort to dispel her mood, I related an allegory of getting turned around on a ship about fifty feet from a pier and sent back to sea, having already been at sea for several weeks (the point being things could always be worse/ you make the best of what you have).  In return I received a look that cooled the temperature off about 5 degrees.

I made tomato soup and grilled cheese for dinner.

I will admit that as a first introduction to Seguin, it would have been better to have timed it so we did not have four steady days of dismal fog, followed by three days of nicer but cold weather, followed by one day (probably two, I’m not optimistic about the forecast) of dirty clothes, dirty sheets, and a scarcity of fresh dairy & vegetables.  Still trying to brighten the day I casually remarked to her that scurvy takes weeks to develop, not days.

Did I mention I made tomato soup and grilled cheese for dinner?

In all seriousness we had a good day regardless of the inclement weather.  We read books, played Scrabble, played cribbage, walked around a bunch, and watched one heck of a squall rip through; I’m reasonably certain that it was Amy’s first time watching a line squall bear down on her at sea, and she was impressed.  I also finally got the cistern topped off with our water which looks like orange juice and smells like a sea chest.

 We’re hoping to get off the island tomorrow afternoon and come back Friday, we’ll see how that plays out.  I’m dubious that the seas will subside enough tomorrow, but time will tell.  The S’ly wind is still blowing stink in the 20kt -25kt range, with a good 5ft – 7ft sea running.  The barometer appears to have leveled out at 29.69 inches, however visibility is down and the fog horn blowing, very little rain but I suspect more coming, looking at the surrounding cloud development before the sun went down. 

02 June 2011 Rusty Peas

Amy & I spent the afternoon contemplating a rusty can of peas with no expiration date.  If this is the first entry of this blog you are reading, that will seem like a very odd statement for me to make; if you are a constant reader you will understand that the weather has not improved and we are still on island.

Our only crack at getting off today occurred this afternoon around 1300 when the wind, still blowing around 20kts, backed W’ly, and did a fair job of knocking the seas flat (well, flatter than they were, down to 3’-5’ vice 4’-6’).  Despite the fact this occurred around a slack tide, it was still a touch too gnarly to get us ashore, much to Amy’s disappointment.  This was the best weather all day.

So, back to the rusty peas.  Our food stocks were not low by any stretch.  In fact we could live another month on what we brought out if we wanted to eat only various rice, bean, and grain dishes.  However both of us like a little variety if possible and the only thing I could dream up with the available ingredients was a fried rice concoction, hence the peas.  I did not buy a rusty can of peas, rather this was a can of Legacy Food (I promise to devote some more room to this concept on another day), which has been in residence on island for an unspecified amount of time.

The argument about whether or not to incorporate them into the meal mostly came down to semantics.  I promised to give them the sniff test before putting them in the pan, Amy rebutting with something about botulism, and so on.  Ultimately we were saved from making a decision, as in a final cast about the galley for ingredients I discovered Mother had snuck a batch of last summer’s blueberries into our freezer during her visit.  The menu immediately was changed to fried eggs and blueberry pancakes, and there was much rejoicing.  The rusty peas will rear their ugly head again though.

The weather is promising to moderate throughout the night, so with a bit of luck we will get to go ashore tomorrow.

03 June 2011 Off Island

The weather did indeed moderate today, and ashore we went, to do laundry, go shopping for groceries, write emails, upload the blog, refill water jugs, go to the hardware store, go to the bank, take the dog to the vet, and all of the myriad of other things we have to do in the time we have off island.

While I may detail our activities ashore on another day when I am feeling more loquacious, today I am not.  The entries will resume tomorrow when we are back on island.  Instead, I leave you to contemplate the view from our outhouse.  

04 June 2011 Seguin is Fueled By Zeke’s!

There are good ways to start your day and bad ways to start your day.  A bad way to start your day may, just may, involve waking up at 0530 to shuffle all of your gear into your truck, firing off a last couple of emails, and heading down to Popham for your ride out to the island, only to find the keys to said island are back at the house.  When it rains it pours, so it wasn’t just Ethan I delayed with my disorganization, but he had scheduled a charter to bring a couple out to Seguin, so I fouled everyone’s morning up.  My new rule is the Seguin keys will live in my truck while we are off island.

In the end it all worked out.  Mother drove the keys down to us despite her injured foot, and we were underway by 0730.  On a lighter note Darcy got to make another vertical descent into the waiting boat, as Ethan had Leeward instead of his little boat, and with the tide low, it was quite the drop to the deck.  The dog remains unimpressed with the embarkation process.

Happily the day only got better as it went on.  Once on the island Ethan, his crew, and the guests, all helped Amy & I get our gear to the tram, and then into the house, which we are very grateful for.  Ethan’s charter guests, Zach & Andrea, hailed from Baltimore, and had brought us a bag of coffee beans from Zeke’s Coffee.  Seguin is now Fueled By Zeke’s.  Zach, as it turns out, is a volunteer on the S.S. John Brown, which is one of two Liberty Ships left from World War II, and is kept up by a volunteer preservation society.  He also teaches at a mariner training school, works part time for Moran on their harbor tugs, and knows a couple of my classmates from MMA.  Needless to say we had a fantastic visit.

They all hung around for a few hours, and upon their departure it was time to stow all the supplies & clean laundry.  I then tackled galley a few cleaning projects to fill the time while I had various edibles simmering on the stove; I have discovered it is far easier to do the majority of the cooking on two or three days a week than spread it out over several days.

The afternoon got quiet for a while until our second set of visitors arrived bearing a gift of four lobsters for Amy & I!  First lobster of the season!  They said they thought it would be a nice present regardless of who was out here, but as it turns out Brian Spivey is an acquaintance of my father, and Lynn Spivey was Amy’s 2^nd grade teacher as well as a close family friend.  What a small world it is.  We had an excellent time talking with them & giving them the tour, and are looking forward to seeing them again later in the summer. 

As a direct result of Brian & Lynn’s visit, instead of the dinner of soup we had planned, we had lobster & sweet potato fries.  It’s a rough life.  Like true Maniacs, it took Amy & I less than thirty minutes two devour two lobsters and pick the other two for lobster salad tomorrow.  Darcy, who had never encounter the armored ocean bugs before, was mightily confused while they were alive (we had a close call with his nose, the pooch chased down an escapee after I had removed the bands from their claws), and wicked intrigued by the smells once they were cooked. 

Of course the speed with which we attacked dinner may have had more to do with the temperature, which was rapidly plummeting through the 50’s and heading for the 40’s, than our hunger.  We went to bed after cleanup of the feast with perfect visibility- who can argue with the sun setting behind Mt Washington- a light SSE’ly breeze, and partly cloudy skies.

05 June 2011 The Frankenmower

I though our difficulties with the weather station would end with replacing the battery on the outside sensor unit; I would start getting consistent, accurate weather information.  However as I sit and type this log, I note the outside temperature reads 158F, I see my troubles are just beginning (Amy emphatically denies it is 158F tonight). 

While I seem to be loosing ground with the weather station I am definitely gaining it with the lawnmowers.  I spent the majority of the morning turning one mower that had no blade and was burning oil, and one mower that just plain old didn’t run, into one working Frankenmower.  Before I shock all my engineering friends with my mechanical abilities, I’ll admit I did behave like a mate at first, mostly using a pair of channel locks, and using force where finesse would have better served.  I learned my lesson after turning one pipe into three however, started utilizing sockets and putting away the hammer, and shortly after was back in the business of mowing grass.  The count now stands at two working mowers, two broken but repairable mowers, and two carcasses that would be float tested if I were at least 25nm offshore.   Stay tuned for further developments.

The remainder of the day was relatively tame.  We did have four visitors who came out with the stated purpose of heckling me: Dick Walker, who I know from my Boy Scout days, and who’s younger son is a fellow MMA alum, came out with his wife and two friends to “Give me some s*** and see if I needed anything”.  We had a good time catching up and seeing the place, and he promised to return multiple times this summer with more people and to make sure I was doing my job & not working Amy too hard.  Other than that welcome distraction it was all mowing, filling the cistern, cleaning projects, and all the little things that make the day pass out here.

The evening is finishing off clear & chilly, with the chance of Scotch at 100%.  Before it got too dark to see, there was a line of clouds approaching from the NW; there is no rain forecast but I would not be surprised to see wet grass in the morning.  The winds are light and variable, barometer is holding steady around 30.00”, and a temp somewhere in the low 50’s.   

06 June 2011 The Winkling

Today dawned cool and clear.  Amy is anxiously awaiting warmer weather. I on the other hand, having experienced my morning cup of coffee on deck with the ambient temperature hanging around 95F as the sun comes up, at a different point in my life, enjoy putting on a wool cap to start the day off.  It’s all a matter of perspective.

After breakfast I made bread dough, left it to rise, and meandered down to the cove to take advantage of the low tide and do some trash cleanup, and hump some rocks up the hill to fill in a low spot in the main trail.  Project next was to gain entry to the Oil Shed, which neither Ethan or I could find a working key to.  Out of curiosity I tried my keys one final time, found one that opened the lock, and would not lock it again.  The Oil Shed will be deadbolt only for the nonce. 

 Darcy & I in search of periwinkles

By far the highlight of the day was my first effort gathering periwinkles for dinner.  With the afternoon tide I launched the dinghy, picked up the dog, and paddled across the cove looking for a suitable harvesting spot (really, I could have winkled right at the slipway, but it felt better to actually go in search of them).  Obviously anywhere I put in would yield a bounty of the snails, so I located a likely spot, and went on the hunt.

Darcy may be loyal to a fault but he is not a good guard dog.  I put him in charge of watching the bucket while I crawled around foraging; we were almost done when a good swell came through, the bucket overturned, the periwinkles made a break for the fence, and he just sniffed around while I started the process all over again.

The Harvest

Winkling finally completed, we hopped back in the dinghy, rowed back to Amy, brought our catch up to the top of the hill, and attempted to cook them.  I can say with authority that ten minutes under the high heat broiler turns the little fellows into sea snail leather.  Fortunately I only cooked half of my total haul, and was able to try again.  This time I produced a tender bit of meat that tasted pretty much like nothing.  We dipped them in Sriracha hot sauce for added flavor, and that produced a satisfactory result.  Amy & I have determined that periwinkles will not be a staple of our diet, however our overnight guests can expect to try them.  You have been warned friends.

The day closed out much like it began, clear and cool, with a gentle SSW’ly breeze, temp in the mid 50’s, barometer holding steady at 29.94”, and essentially calm seas.   

07 June 2011 Island Life According to Amy

Nate and I set a couple ground rules prior to arriving on Seguin. 1) I don’t have to deal with composting toilet maintenance and 2) I don’t have to off-road-lawn-mow (i.e. take care of trail maintenance).   Thus my basic “chores” boil down to taking care of the museum and gift shop, mowing the top part of the lawn, and giving tours.  Since I set up the gift shop and cleaned the museum last week, mowed the grass Sunday, and we typically only had one group of visitors each day this week, I have had a fair amount of free time to do what I please with.   This weeks project: knitting my first sweater.

I am by no means an avid knitter.  I knit just often enough to think I know what I’m doing and just infrequently enough to forget some important aspects of the craft.  I wanted to knit something for a friend’s baby shower and I thought I would head off this problem by choosing a pattern that clearly stated “Easy to Knit!”  Easy to knit? Perfect! I can do easy.

Breezing along I thought I was a knitting queen when I finished the whole back side and was already working on the neck midway through day two.  That was when I managed to make a mistake that resulted in a hole stretching from the top all the way to the bottom.  After many curses, I ripped the whole thing apart and began again.   My ever-helpful Nate smiled at my frustration and said something along the lines of, “practice makes perfect!” 

After this debacle and two straight days of solid knitting, I managed to produce a lopsided mess.  Nate thinks it’s super, but he also really enjoys things that are slightly odd.  Occasionally this makes me wonder about myself, and why he chose me. 

Knitting aside, today was uneventful.  We had two visitors come around 3:00 and tour for approximately an hour.  Nate is still busily hauling rocks up from the beach to make the paths easier to navigate, and he began attacking the North Trail with a weed whacker. That is, until seagulls started dive-bombing less than a foot above his head and he was forced to stop. 

In other news I am continuing to get smoked at cribbage and Scrabble, Mr. Darcy remains 70-80 percent of our daily entertainment, and the foghorn has not sounded for six solid days!   I (the girl Nate affectionately referrers to as “Casper”) am tan and loving life. Projects for next week: Read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and begin a fisherman knit afghan.  Oh, and kill all the baby spiders that seem to have hatched in our bathroom