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Published: November 7th 2018
Being back in the US for the month of October it has allowed us to get more done around the house and keep our promise to ourselves to take advantage of some of the live music that we have available in the area. We also had the bonus of getting together with some family members, hooked up again with a few cruising friends we have met over the years and I have also had a chance to get in touch with a few more friends that I had back in High School from “just a few years ago”.
Before we had left the boat, Bob already knew that he wanted to get to the Annapolis Sailboat Show so already had our tickets and reservations at an AirBnB. It was a quick trip as we left on a Thursday, went to the show on Friday and traveled back on Saturday. Always nice to be by the water again and immersed with all the offerings that “just may be perfect” for the boat. Fortunately always thinking about carrying things back to Tsamaya it helped us with our decision making and cut down on too much impulse buying (or at least on anything
that is too heavy or too big!) We did pick up some items we wanted and had a chance to talk to some vendors that we wished to - a productive day on that account. The bonus was having a chance to visit with a few cruising friends that we met over the years. Ed and Sue we met in London at St. Katherine’s Dock while Jim and Joann we originally met years ago at the Annapolis Sailboat Show while taking in a workshop offered there. We have stayed in touch over the years and even had a chance to visit them at their home a few years ago. It is always fun to connect again in person!
The trip to Annapolis is about 6.5 hours and in looking at a map realized that Bob’s cousin Mike and his family live about half way between so made arrangements to stop by for a short visit. It was great having a chance to catch up even if for only a few hours. It is always good to take advantage of those times when we can. The trip to Annapolis is all highway driving so quite a contrast from the speeds
that we are typically traveling on Tsamaya. We had to chuckle when we were entering the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel as the last tunnels we went through were in the French canals which had less room, we went through at a much slower speed and a lot less light!
When we bought our house a few years ago it was advertised as having a garage. Well, when we saw it, we knew it was in name only as there wasn’t much too it and no one would ever put their car in there. It had been used years ago as a bakery and still has some of the brick oven remaining. It is not in good shape and we plan on pulling it down, but not all of it yet as we have been storing some wood that we got out of the house in it. We did take advantage of the weather in October to take down part of the building which meant removing the slate roof first and then the roof rafters and side walls. While Bob was up on the ladder he found that there were a few things stored upstairs – looks like possibly a quilt
rack, a wooden rake and a wooden paddle used in the bakery and a folding wooden table. Wonder if anything else will show up as we start taking down more of the building –that will probably wait until next year.
The front porch of the house also needed some work as we had taken out a doorway from the porch into the front room so the siding needed to be changed on the outside on that one wall. As long as we were doing that, Bob decided he wanted to remove all of the siding on the porch and replace it with fiber cement board. The ceiling of the porch was in very bad shape as well so that came down as well. As of now the tar paper is on the walls and a new ceiling is in place, but we are still waiting for the delivery of the fiber cement board siding – hopefully that will be here in the next week or so in order to finish that before the snow flies. We got a “little” daring on the color of the porch ceiling as we decided to paint it light blue like the porches you
may have seen if you have traveled in the south. Fortunately we are pleased with the results.
Winter is coming and one of the projects we had on the list for this fall was to put in more insulation in the attic of the house as it was only at R19. A calm sunny day worked out perfectly for blowing in insulation to bring it up to R40. Not a bad job as it only took us 2 hours once all the prep work had been done. Bob had the harder job as he was up in the attic, while Janice was on the ground outside breaking the bundles in half and feeding them into the machine. That assignment of duties definitely worked for me!
In our last blog entry we mentioned that a contractor we had used before was going to be building a back porch for us – he had stopped over in September to tell us his timing, but since then he seems to have vanished. We know he had another large job to do, but we are now anxious to get it done as it is now November. We will have to see if
this happens this year or not, time will tell.
Yes, we did get to do some things other than work on the house. I scour the local paper and the internet each week to see “the week happenings” and as a result we have enjoyed a few nights of live music. In Saratoga there is Café Lena, a landmark in the area for giving many musicians their start as well as introducing the area to a multitude of talents. Both of our birthdays are in October (in the same week) so we started off the week with enjoying Stephane Wrembel on guitar from France and then later in the week we were treated to music by “The Art D’Echo Trio” sponsored by Capital District Jazz at another venue, the Spring Gallery. Just this past week we had the opportunity to go to Skidmore College to enjoy a concert of guitar, bass, piano and drums as the musicians were there to lead workshops during the day for the students. It is wonderful to have the chance to take advantage of the talent that comes to this area.
We have both been taking the opportunity of getting some routine medical
A Few of the "Finds" When Taking Down
part of the old bakery behind the houseappointments out of the way as well as getting ourselves “fixed up some” by going to a physical therapist so we are in better shape for keeping active. The therapist is working with Bob on that shoulder that he hurt which was mentioned in the last blog entry. Thankfully the therapist is encouraged and told him that he should be able to have 100% recovery to the muscle strength. Bob told him that was absolutely necessary before heading back to the boat with raising those sails and the many other tasks necessary there.
Last week we had a special bonus as Bob’s sister from Colorado was out east. This was a great excuse to get together with more family on the Waller side, always a fun time. This did mean that 3 people would be staying over with us giving us a great excuse not to work and enjoy socializing with family. We have acquired numerous pieces of artwork over the years and hadn’t taken the time to put much of it up so we took the time to put up a few more on the wall, definitely making it feel more like home. Two of the new rugs
that we bought in Tunisia made it to the top of the list and on the walls of what we now call “our tapestry room” hanging alongside a tapestry we bought years ago in Botswana. Our collection is very eclectic as it has been added to over the years from the various trips we have taken.
While Bob has been enjoying his time in the woodshop, Janice has taken some time to reconnect with some friends from her high school days. It has been great to be able to catch up after all these years.
This past weekend we had a wonderful sunny day so spent the day picking up the leaves that have fallen and putting some plants in the ground. We are hoping that we will continue to have a few more nice days to come in order to get a few more things knocked off our “to do” list before the winter snow.
October has been a good month for us back here in the US giving us a chance to see family and friends, get some projects crossed off “our to do list”, enjoy the area and have a chance to see the
Had to Put a Deeper Board Around the Opening
to the attic due to the height of insulation fall colors. We will see what November brings us.
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