Happy Easter

 Happy Easter everyone

If you have checked my blog once in a while, I’m sure you were disappointed to see no updates and grew tired of looking at the Christmas tree. So, here is a little update.

With my illness I have been self-centred and not in the mood to tell the world how I feel. But, I am hanging in, so to speak and try to make the best of the situation. 

Back to December, I was really in a bad shape as the Chemo therapy almost did me in. The specialists in London then put me on a different and aggressive drug that required additional treatment at home. However, it made me even more ill and I decided to stop all of this since it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. Immediately I felt better than I had in months and experienced no more vomiting. However, I am still in the care of doctors and nurses that visit regularly.

Chemo treatment at home

So, for me, this was the longest and coldest winter I have ever experienced. Even Lake Erie partially froze over, which I had never seen. Because it was so cold, I stayed indoors most of the time and only went out for grocery shopping.

Ice on Lake Erie

There were not many tasks Benno could do for the boat as it sits shrink-wrapped in the yard. He ordered a few items, like a swivel that sits between the anchor chain and the anchor, but it needed a bit of an adjustment that he quickly fixed. He busied himself by making ropes for the boat fenders (cutting and whipping the ends) and ordering more items that he will need when he starts working in or on the boat as the weather improves.

Swivel between chain and anchor

Sadly on March 8th, our beloved Elsa passed away. This was a total shock to us since she seemed to be fine other than she had started to pant a few days prior. The vet thought she might have been in pain, but she played, ran and ate normally. Our guess is that she might have had cancer without displaying any discomfort. We all needed some time to deal with our loss and miss her terribly. 

I turned a year older in March and we celebrated it with my Sister and my brother-in-law, who shares the same birthday but a decade younger. 

It looks like we have a couple of cats that have adopted us. A feral black and white kitty that seemed to be starving and her friend, an orange cat that roams the neighbourhood and asks us for food also. What can you do when two kitties sit patiently in front of your door with big begging eyes? Well, we feed them.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a very Happy Birthday to our son Dominik.

 

With many of our followers wondering what happened to us since my last update, here a few tidbits. Truthfully, it is a struggle sometimes for me. Chimo therapy is a tough one. I sure spent way too much time in hospitals with additional procedures. Even another return ambulance trip from the Chatham hospital to London Hospital for another stent to help me to keep food down. I am way too skinny now but keep my spirits up. so enough of that.

Benno, my loving husband of almost 60 years, drives me everywhere for my procedures and appointments. He is my hero! 

So winter came a bit early in our part of the world. Of course the boat is wrapped up in shrink-wrap  and Benno had finished building the settee benches before the snow showed up. In the fall we had checked out a few upholstery businesses in our area and found a nice shop basically just around the corner from us. The owner must be good at his work because he is very busy. It took a long time for the fabric, which I had chosen, to arrive and then the owner said he was hoping we don’t need the cushions before Christmas, everyone else wants his upholstery done before Christmas he is complaining! Well, the boat is not going anywhere right now, so I guess it doesn’t matter when he gets them done, but I would have liked to show them to you.

I put a tablecloth on the main table that also can be lowered to make a bed in-between the settee benches. On the tablecloth I put a swatch of the material for the cushions, to give you an idea what it might look like.

We purchased an aluminum access hatch for the cockpit. The present one is made of wood and seems to leak water. Not something we want as there will be the generator below as well as some other items. That opening will have to be modified to fit the new hatch, but that has to wait until spring time. Other jobs are also planned for spring and summer, all when the shrink-wrap comes off.

Wishing all our friends and blog readers a wonderful Christmas and holiday season! 

I do appreciate comments but I won’t be too active on the blog, only sporadically. But thank you all for dropping in.

It has been awhile

 An almost 4 month break from blogging. Sorry folks, but I had my reasons. So, keep reading to find out.

It has become a very hot summer here in southern Ontario and work on the boat is really only possible early in the morning or late afternoon when temps are a bit cooler. However, work on the boat has progressed. More electrical work for kitchen outlets and a 12V plus solar powered vent on the ceiling above the cooktop. More grab handles for safety found their places as well kitchen Led ceiling lights got fitted incl. some miscellaneous wires for future installs. 

Benno installed four 100 amp Renogy lithium batteries in the boat that will become our so called house bank. As I mentioned before there are as well two 100 amp AGM (group 31) batteries that start the diesel engine and supply sufficient power to work the bow thruster and anchor windlass.

Not easy to install the batteries!

The platform for the batteries under construction

I worked on the design for the boat galley (kitchen). Space is at a premium, so it’s compacted but has all that is needed. The galley is now totally finished with hanging cabinet (I energized Benno to build it) and drawers in the counter, sink and cooktop are integrated including the fridge. There was a lot of woodwork for Benno involved and plenty of varnishing for me as well. The Corian countertop was purchased from a Mennonite counter top company that had done our house and some camper countertops over the years.

The old kitchen ripped out

The next project will be finishing the main cabin and settee, so stay tuned for that.

Now I am going to write about some unpleasant issue. I am not well and even had to call off a planned visit from Sue and Rick, dear cruising friends. I am sick. On April 15th, after my morning yoga exercises, I experienced some abdominal pain, felt sick and additionally thought I had a urinary tract infection. A trip to the walk-in clinic and a prescription didn’t seem to help much. In addition my eyes turned yellow and the following days my skin too. Another trip to the same walk-in clinic and another prescription that didn’t change much, I then went to the Princess Center Walk-in clinic here in Leamington and the doctor there was almost in shock seeing me. He ordered an immediately blood test, ultrasound, and followed by a CT scan. After the results were back I was told that I had pancreatic cancer. The doctor advised me to check into the Leamington hospital to get an MRI test done, which I did. That resulted also in a trip by ambulance to Windsor to get a stent inserted to relieve the jaundice and my skin became normal looking again.

Now, I’m in the capable hands of the London University Hospital and associated London Cancer Hospital, called the (Verspeeten Family Cancer Center) and many, many trips and talks with doctors later I have weekly chemotherapy treatments in the Chatham Hospital, which is a shorter trip than London and they are affiliated to the London University Hospital as well (everything is computerized nowadays). I am a fighter and Benno is a great support. So we keep on going, but some days are a bit tougher than others and blogging is far from my thoughts.

Oh, and we sold our travel trailer to a very nice couple and it lives now somewhere in Sudbury. The goal is still to finish the boat by next year to be able to make a trip to the Bahamas in the near future and to grab me some lobsters. 

Thank you for your patience with this blog.

 

Work has resumed here at our house and boat

 After three and a half months of doing nothing while we were enjoying Florida, it’s back to work.

Mostly though, it’s Benno who is doing most of it and as an electro mechanical technician he is at his element while it is electrical, mechanical or hydraulically related. The boat, which is a work in progress, was also meant as a hobby for Benno in addition to enjoying it on the water when finally completed.

The hydraulic pump, lines, hookups etc. behind the wall

We came home with several items purchased down south that were next in line to be installed. A major item, also cost wise was the Simrad Autopilot, integrated to the GPS system. You just got to have an autopilot, otherwise you’d be hand steering the whole time you are underway. So this installation took some time. Of course the finished bathroom (head compartment) where behind the wall are all the electrical hookups and hydraulic steering lines, which we had last year replaced, got dismantled again :-( for the extended work. The Autopilot came with an electric hydraulic pump which had to be spliced into the hydraulic steering lines as well. Glad we had not primed the hydraulic with the special hydraulic oil last year, this would be a mess now.

Benno is mixing the Epoxy for the box he made

The box needed several coats of paint

The actual Display unit went onto the dashboard, but I convinced Benno to make a nice wooden box for it to match the looks of the engine panel box. Also the unit would have stuck through the ceiling of the bathroom and that solved the problem.

The Autopilot unit installed in the box and hooked up

The autopilot is ready to work

A switch to turn on the power to the autopilot

While filling the hydraulic lines with Seastar hydraulic oil that runs from the steering wheel pump to the electric auto pilot pump further on to the steering cylinder that turns the rudder from port to starboard, Benno needed my help in the aft compartment under the cockpit to help bleeding the lines while he filled the oil in and turned the steering wheel. A cramped position for sure but easy to do.

The hydraulic lines to be blead of bubbles

But I’m not crawling in all cubbyholes, there is the one where the house lithium batteries will be installed. I show you the area so you get an idea where he sticks his head and arms in to make the electrical connections that feed the main cabin and galley.

This is the cubbyhole and around to the left Benno gets to twist his limbs in :-)

Just a few days ago I cut the grass, but you wouldn’t know it as it has already grown so much again. Back into the saddle of the John Deere. The spring flowers are all starting to bloom and the weeding can begin. Just what I have been looking forward to :-)

Oh, something I found interesting, a marine item came shipped in this plastic bag. Read the descriptions!

Lots more updates to come for the boat as it is all in progress. Stay tuned.

Thanks for your visit.