2020: Dirt house

27 May 2020

No boat travel.

After posting that we arrived home, I received the obvious question from a reader ... "What's it like now being in your house?" I honestly had to reply, "I have no idea." We arrived at our creek at low tide and just barely pushed our way through the muck in the creek to make it to our house. Normally, we turn the boat around a ways down the creek and back up to our dock. Clark did not feel comfortable turning the boat in such low water, so we came in bow first and tied up on our port side. 

Nighttime had arrived by the time the tide came up, so turning the boat was out of the question until the next day. Sunset Delight is a bit longer than Sea Moss was. We are in the process of applying for a permit to extend the length of the dock to better accommodate Sunset Delight. Given the length-of-the-dock issue, I am only able to disembark from the boat when it is properly positioned and secured on the starboard side. 

Clark, on the other hand, jumped down from the side of the boat to the dock so that he could go check out the house, turn on the water, jack up the heat, etc. When he came back, he brought a step ladder so he could climb back onboard. After a long day traveling on the water, I was happy to hang out onboard and just enjoy the view of the creek.

Rumson Creek
(If you look closely, you can see an
egret on a pole downstream.)

Saturday, we had a rainy morning. Neither of us felt like turning the boat in the rain, so we waited until the sky cleared. By the time the rain did slow down, we were once again approaching low tide. Before the rain had completely stopped, we went out in our rain gear and started getting set to "spin" the boat. Clark backed the boat down the creek to our turn-around spot, spun the boat, and returned to our dock backwards. Just as we finished retying our lines, now tied on the starboard side, the rain stopped.

Knowing the work ahead of me, I got off the boat, went up to the house, and got started with the cleaning. We visited the house 5 months ago, but it has been collecting dust since we left in October. Before we could move back in, the house needed a good going over. Praying the washer and dryer still worked, I dragged the laundry bags filled with our dirty clothes up the hill to our house. With the washer running, I left to start deep cleaning the kitchen and then the rest of the downstairs. 

We have too much house for me to deep clean everything in half of an afternoon. I managed to get the downstairs in shape. However, I told Clark we would be sleeping on the boat again tonight because the upstairs had not been cleared of dust. I then announced that we would "dine out" in the kitchen for dinner tonight. On my trip down to the boat to get supplies for dinner, I encountered a furry creature that was pretty shocked to see a human in his neighborhood!

Chipmunk that is none too happy 
that we are home!

All it took was one step closer on my part for him to scurry away to the other end of the brickwork. There he sat with one eye on me while he munched on something. I got the feeling this is a regular perch for him.

We bought this house in 1991, so we have owned it for a few years now. Amazingly, we both felt a bit lost in the kitchen. I had to laugh when Clark said, "Where are the plates?" as if he was visiting some stranger's house. I had the same trouble trying to figure out where to find a spatula. It must be that old age is settling in.

On Sunday, I tackled the upstairs. I have an iRobot cleaner, so I set her to work (I named her Hazel) cleaning the master bedroom while I took care of other chores. After she completed that room and got her batteries recharged, I had her clean my sewing / art room next. Meanwhile, I kept unloading items from the boat. 

I decided that I really liked cooking in the house, so the food had high priority to move. Since we got home a lot faster than I anticipated, I had a lot more food left over from provisioning than I might otherwise have had. On the bright side, that means I won't have to run out to a store for major supplies for a while. Unfortunately, it also meant a lot of trips with bags of food up that hill to the house. 

Since I got most of the upstairs dust under control, changing bed linens became my next priority. We moved just enough off the boat up to the house Sunday night to allow us to sleep in a warm house and enjoy a hot shower. After conserving water during showers on the boat, that first in-the-house shower felt truly luxurious. 

While in Marathon, and somewhat on the trip home, I made lists of items that I wanted to take off the boat. I loaded up bag after bag of "stuff" and lined them up by the door. If either Clark or I walked up to the house, we could not go empty-handed. We took so many pounds of goods off the boat, I remarked to Clark, "The boat must be floating many inches higher by now!" 

At least 75 to 80% of the items I took off the boat I have no intention of putting back on. I sorted through our clothes and ejected those that we never wore once on the trip. Some kitchen items that take up space and are rarely, if ever, used also got expelled. Not being sure what I might find the time for, I had a variety of art-related supplies on board and found that I only had interest in acrylic paints. The rest sat unused for months and are now back in the house.

One of the first things Clark noticed when he got off the boat Friday was a rogue kayak that had decided to tangle itself up with our dock and make itself at home. I am not sure what the attraction is at our house, but over the years we have collected a few strays including 3 docks that floated up into our yard during Superstorm Sandy (but that is another story). The problem is deciding what to do with the items that come to visit. 

I told Clark to just give the kayak a push in the right direction at low tide and let it find its way home as it was carried out to the bay. Clark, however, decided to pull out his kayak and take a ride down our creek looking for people to ask, "Are you missing a kayak?"  I thought he would tow it behind his kayak on display, but he said that whoever claimed to be missing one better be able to describe it. Personally, were it me, anyone who showed the least bit of interest in the thing could have it and be done with!

It was quite a while until he returned. He was unsuccessful finding the kayak owner, but he did find a friend to talk to.  (No big surprise there).

Yellow kayak is, hopefully, just visiting our dock.

By Tuesday, I had been home for over 3 full days and had not yet seen the front yard. My phone indicated that I had walked nearly 5 miles up and down my backyard over the past 2 days. I figured it was time to check out our yard and the neighborhood with camera in hand.

Sadly, I missed the Lilacs - my favorite smelling bloom. 

Purple Lilacs - gone

White Lilacs - almost gone

I did find the azaleas and the iris in full bloom however.

Azaleas gone wild

Azaleas with Lily of the Valley

Flowering Iris 
(Little, striped Lighthouse in my front garden)

The hydrangeas must have grown a foot taller than last year. I can see they are covered in buds. Shortly, they should make quite a sight. I also have a row of rose bushes that are full of new growth and will most definitely produce an abundance of blooms sometime soon.

While we were away, the Canada Geese decided they liked our dock. We could tell by all the evidence they left behind. Tying up the lines was a bit gross. One of the first things Clark did after he got the water turned on was bring a hose to wash down the dock! These pesky birds usually hang out on the docks and in the yards of the people across the creek from us. I prefer them to stay over there.

Only 3 of the many Canada Geese that love our creek!

After circling our house a few times to see how things fared in our absence (we have a lot of weeds), I decided to take a walk down the street to see what was new in the neighborhood. After sitting on the boat for 3 weeks straight with no place to walk, I definitely needed more exercise. A walk to spy on the neighbors seemed just the thing to do.

Not surprising for a Tuesday, I found very few people around. A couple of trucks blocked a portion of our street to traffic, and several men were laying a cable of some sort. Other than them, I saw one jogger (the same one twice). Our street is a side street off County Route 520. As I made the circle down our street, up the next, and a short walk on 520 back to our street, I was amazed at the number of cars zipping up and down the highway. I gather that they are no longer staying home due to the pandemic.

A few things stood out to me on my 1.5 mile walk around my neighborhood. First, I could not get over how green everything was. I am so used to looking at blue skies and blue water, that green struck me as a novelty.

It's so green here!

I saw a couple of lawn signs on my stroll. A couple of them thanked the people working through the pandemic. Several signs congratulated students graduating from either middle school or high school. I found myself becoming rather pensive thinking about what a strange senior year this year's graduates have had to deal with.

We are the Rumson Bulldogs
aka "Dawgs"

As I approached one house near the park at the end of our street, I wondered, "What the heck did they build? A wooden jail?"

What is that wooden structure??

As I got closer, I figured out it was a fenced in section for a vegetable garden. The deer are very aggressive and hungry around here. I have seen deer jump pretty high. I wonder if this amazing structure serves its purpose. This fencing is new this year. Perhaps, with the pandemic, they decided to grow their own veggies. 

The birdhouse-looking item in front is a Little Library. That's new too. I wonder how many people want to borrow books during a pandemic. Not I!

Fenced-in Garden

As I passed by the park, I watched 3 squirrels frolicking and chasing each other round and round a nearby tree. They refused to pose for a picture! I decided I much prefer to watch squirrels frolic in oak trees than have iguanas stare at me from palm trees. 

Because of Memorial Day, several houses had flags out in their yards.

In honor of those who gave all for our country!

Clark and I both have lists of things to do now that we are home. Before Clark could dig into any of his boat projects, he needed to order parts. He has been doing that for the past two days. I get the receipts in my email - ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching! Once the deliveries start, he will be real busy fixing and improving the boat.

I too have been busy with projects. My first project was to organize my list of projects. I made two lists - house projects and -boat projects. Both lists are rather long. Many of my "to do" items have the word "organize" in them. 

One such, "organize", project got done yesterday. That involved pulling everything out from under the galley sink to first see what was under there and second put back the items I use in an orderly fashion. On cleaning out the boat the day before, I had Clark take off a huge blue storage bin that was eating up space under the salon sofa. As I stared at the mess around me in the galley, the ah-ha moment hit that I could make use of that blue bin. The biggest problem with the space under the sink is that nothing is reachable. Now with the blue bin, I can slide it over to get what I need!

With all the items on my project lists, Clark added another one for me today that I decided to deal with right away. I painted the rusted windshield wipers on the boat with black, rust-oleum paint. This chore fell off my list a long time ago. It should have been done in Marathon, but with the high heat and humidity, it just did not happen. Since today was on the cool side, I decided to get it done now. I told Clark I was done, but then he said it needed at least two coats, so then I was not done and did it again!

A large part of my day today involved on-line shopping for items I would like to replace on the boat. Two out of the three things I searched for turned into a fail. Nothing came close to what I was hoping to find, so it looks like I will stick with my current solutions. For the third item I researched, I did make a purchase finally. 

After measuring, discarding too-large items, and pondering the merits of reasonably-sized choices, I ordered a new toaster oven for the boat. I looked into air fryers and convection ovens, but my counter space is minimal in the boat. I found a small footprint toaster oven that claims it will hold an 11" pizza and cook 4 slices of toast at a time. These topped my criteria list.

Before placing the order, I had my chief electrician bless the 1800 watts it will take to run. Heaven forbid I should buy something for the boat that overloads the inverter / circuits on the boat. The caveat Clark gave me is that I cannot use any other appliance at the same time as this -- including the microwave oven. Still, I expect the pros of having a nice oven will outweigh that one big con! I will just have to be methodical in my cooking. I went for it and hit the "Buy now" button!

We have over-the-air TV in the house, and we have satellite TV on the boat.  After looking at the list of television shows on the over-the-air stations and finding nothing of interest, I suggested to Clark that we go out to the movies tonight (i.e. on the boat). Sadly, we looked through the list of movies on Satellite and could not agree on anything. 

Our interests are the opposite of what one might stereo-typically expect. I thought it would be fun to watch either "Beverly Hills Cop" or "Con Air". Clark suggested either a movie on Hallmark or something called "Mermaids" with Cher. So, going "out" to the movies was "out", Clark got back on his computer doing whatever he does, and I decided to add to my blog. 

If tomorrow is another cool day, I will be on the boat with my boat project list. Otherwise, I'll be in the house with my house list. Between the two of them, I should be able to keep busy for weeks!