Maggie's Farm

It must be nice not to have a lawn. Out in Wellfleet, you just have beach grasses and sand.

Of course, fancy places in Nantucket have irrigated, fertilized regular lawns. Totally fake and unnatural, but some people expect it.

I have around an acre of regular lawn. I'd prefer 50 acres of meadow, but it's what I have here. No choice but to keep it civilized.

We have posted many times about lawn care. I understand that a lawn is meant to imitate the sheep-mowed English estates.

Lawns are good for croquet and soccer. Plus they just look nice around a house in a temperate zone.

Today, just about getting your lawn power-seeded if it needs it. In September around here, it can work pretty well.

Powerseeding

Online seems to be a big deal now.

Pic is a crowded Cape Cod beach - the bay, at Wellfleet. Duck Harbor. You can walk it for hours, if you bring enough water. Can take dogs there, off leash of course. Do dogs love that? Guess. At low tide, it is dog heaven.

I have all of these books, and love them:

Beston: The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod

Richardson: The House on Nauset Marsh: A Cape Cod Memoir

Schwind: Cape Cod Fisherman

Henry David Thoreau: Cape Cod

Schneider: The Enduring Shore: A History of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket

John Hay: The Great Beach

Mitcham's Provincetown Seafood Cookbook. His Kale Soup and Haddock Almondine, along with all the rest of his Portuguese-influenced recipes - are immortal, but his Baked Stuffed Cod is the best. The whole Cape area has lots of Portuguese descended from the visiting Cod fishermen (Emeril, from Fall River, is one.) Interesting fellow, Mitcham. Highly productive in his life; rarely, if ever, sober from what I heard. Dead now, at 77.

I have a few other out of print Cape Cod area history books that I won't link because even Abe's doesn't have them.

Basics of the Marine VHF Radio

I have a good one, but a battery-powered handheld VHF too, just in case.

I will not rent a beach place without some sort of outdoor shower. You do not have to be an exhibitionist to enjoy standing nude in the sun in an (enclosed) outdoor shower.

It just feels amazing.

Down East-style powerboat hull designs are based on the age-honored design of northern Maine ("Downeast") and Nova Scotia lobster boats.

Generally slow, steady, and maneuverable in seas.

From Downeast boat design:

Although a true Maine lobster boat or Down East yacht still retains its classic lines, things have changed, even for the most traditional builders. “We’re building a 36 now and it has a 560-horsepower diesel,” says Don Ellis. “My father would be horrified. He’d say 200 horsepower would be plenty. But the new boat has air conditioning, a generator, a custom ice maker, a big refrigerator, the list goes on and on. Everything went from a simple package to a larger package, and now that package is getting pretty complex.”

Downeast Benefits

Designs from Down East - From pulling pots to tugging on heartstrings, the classic lines of Down East boats have created a niche that has stood the test of time.

"Following a re-examination of one of the psychoanalyst's key works, The Interpretation of Dreams, Mark Solms revealed mistranslations have led to people getting the wrong impression of the Austrian's views - which are often seen as controversial and outlandish."

The idea of Freud's "Pleasure Principle" was not exactly new.

I see flags used wrong, or not at all, all the time on the US coast.

Call me a snob, but I think traditions matter. Etiquette matters too but I am not perfect with that.

Your 2024 Guide to Nautical Flag Etiquette

It's a fun topic. I don't know enough about non-Western civilizations to discuss it:

I like sailboats, I like powerboats, I like the sea, and I like boat people. I used to enjoy fishing too, but got bored with it. We're on the Northeast coast.

Mrs. BD likes overnights on the boat -even 2 or 3 of them while visiting various marinas or yacht clubs. As a restless soul, it gets confining for me after one night onboard. No gym, nowhere to go really.

One of her dreams has been to do the Great Loop, but I would go nuts not to mention that I have a fine day job. The Great Loop is like the Appalachian Trail for boaters - with no exertion.

Our current boat is a 36' single diesel cruising boat with a Maine lobster boat (Downeast) hull, which means it's most efficient at around 16 mph and stable in seas. Will do 20, but the noise becomes unbearable even with our sound insulation. Even with bow and stern thrusters, tricky for us to back into a tight slip but that takes plenty of practice especially with wind and currents which there always are. Moorings - no problem. I am not comfortable with anchoring overnight, but that's my issue. Moorings are great and so are straight docks.

Yeah, our boat has a galley with stove, microwave, fridge, and shower indoor and out, and, of primary importance, a coffee-maker. Distance boating requires coffee and beer, in my view. Plus a wife or girlfriend, whichever.

One limiting factor with cruising-style boats - trawlers and similar - is speed and thus radius of adventure. You can go further at 30 knots with a quicker boat than at 16 mph, or 12 mph for noise reduction.

We used to know navigation, but have become dependent on the nav screen. If that thing went out, back to the charts and sheesh - bad. Fair weather boaters.

Two interesting developments in recent cruising boat design (I mean regarding overnight boats, not speedboats or dayboats) are the application of outboard engines, and moving the galley to the pilothouse. The former gives you speed and space, and the latter more companionship. Autopilot is very nice too, but you still need someone at the helm. Driving for hours with hands on helm can become tedious. We tend to go from waypoint to waypoint, but sometimes right out by compass headings.

Have never used the TV but I never use TV anyway.

My piggybank didn't have enough pennies for this similar Back Cove 37, and Mrs. BD wisely wanted no maintenance for brightwork. 24 Volts would be good, and I'd like to upgrade that, and we do have solar power for battery.

Roger Kimball feels art ought to be about beauty, plus some ethics.

His piece sounds like the late, great Roger Scruton, which is a compliment.

But I do not understand the differences between fine art, illustration, or decoration. In fact, with music, visual arts, or performing arts, I just dunno. Is it interesting?

Roger Scruton - Why Beauty Matters (2009) from Mirza Akdeniz on Vimeo.

It's thunderstorm season around here.

From Understanding Lightning: Thunder:

 "If you count the number of seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder, and then divide by 5, you'll get the distance in miles to the lightning: 5 seconds = 1 mile, 15 seconds = 3 miles, 0 seconds = very close."

I should add that I love thunderstorms. Exciting. 

Here is the lighthouse-keeper's house today (the Coast Guard moved the light itself to California):

This little brick structure in the back contained the kerosene, delivered by boat as needed, to keep Mayo Light burning to mark Wellfleet Harbor:

Just past Mayo Beach, through the 1920s, was the grand Chequessett Inn, built on pilings (the stumps of which still poke through the mud) and finally destroyed by an attack of sea ice in the 1930s. Rumor is that rum-runner boats would stop by at night, contributing to the Inn's popularity during Prohibition.

It was built by Mr. Lorenzo Dow Baker, the pioneer of the banana trade from the Caribbean and Central America. On a whim, he loaded his schooner's empty hold with tropical fruit for the return trip to Boston, and made millions. Mainly bananas, hitherto unknown in Boston. Ended up owning plantations all over Central America, and a big hotel in Jamaica. His employees were Jamaicans: They worked Wellfleet in the summer and the Jamaica hotel in the winter.

Baker's business became the Boston Fruit Company, the foundation of the United Fruit Company. A clever Yankee.

I've worn out my almost-daily gym sneakers. I use them for weights, cardio, everything, but the bottoms have gotten slippery and the insides are disintegrating. No surprise but I hate to give up on shoes I like.

I do have a pair of "running" shoes but I don't really run much these days. Stair machine is fine cardio if you go fast enough.

First World problems, right? I like Sperry Topsider sneakers on the boat. Good grip on a wet boat.

Only New Balance for me, cuz they make narrow sizes.

What exactly is cross-training? It's not what I do, because I do not have a primary sport any more due to injuries.

What do our gym rat readers like for mixed workouts?

A half-hour on The Dead Sea Scrolls

For a boat engines (outboard, gas inboard, or diesel), probably annually or every 100 hrs, whichever comes first. If you put your boat away for winter, change oil when it goes for storage, not in the Spring. Some opine every 200-250 hrs.

For cars, it depends... When Should You Change Your Oil? Follow this simple guide to keep your engine humming a happy tune.

How long does engine oil last sitting in the can? At least 2-3 years.

- Check marine weather forecast!
- Radio check
- GPS, radar, etc working
- Decide on an initial harbor-clearing course, then a course to destination with waypoints
- Generator working
- Coffee machine working
- Toilet working
- Water tank filled
- Plenty of diesel
- Beer in fridge, water bottles, Coke too
- snacks in galley
- Bilge free of water
- Check engine oil
- Waste water holding tank not full (I will not dump at sea, but many do)
- Anchor power working
- Inform any guests re safety rules
- Life jackets ok
- If overnights, bedding stuff etc.
- a few $10 and 20s for tipping gas docks, dockhands
- American marine flag up

What am I missing?

Do readers trust anchors overnight?

Plenty of friends do, but I do not. I have a bit of anxiety in general anyway. I like docks and permanent moorings for overnight. Met a guy this week with an antique wooden ketch (as beautiful as a tern) and he swore by his kedge anchor like the one on the photo. Nobody uses those...do they?

Types of recreational boat anchors.

If you are rich, you can just use Skyhook but you need to keep the engine running:

MIT's Dennis Whyte knows how to talk Physics like a regular person. It's not just about fusion but, yeah, fusion would be cool:

Thanks to James Gandolfini's magic (RIP), Tony became a fascinating and often amiable antihero. This character review of a TV character is kinda fun:

At the very least, boaters have to know the Half-Hitch

It's the right thing for bumpers and fenders.