Kaimusailing

I had a lot of difficulty posting my last post. Because the internet is so weak in the marina, I have to use my phone to post to the blog. Photos are edited on the laptop, so I would bluetooth the photo from the phone to the laptop, do what I had to do using GIMP, export from GIMP to desktop, save the blog text .odt file as .txt to the desktop, then bluetooth the text and photo files to the phone, upload from the phone to sailblogs.com. Now the bluetooth connection isn’t working between the laptop and the phone. I can get internet at the Red Shell Shanty and I am left with the problem of getting the photo from the phone to the laptop. I send it as an email attachment to myself.
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The two bottles of vinaigrette dressing, one made with Carapelli EVOO and the other with Food Lion EVOO, were compared using a simple spinach salad. The FL EVOO bottle used Good Season’s Italian Dressing mix, and probably the same for the other bottle. The Carapelli EVOO has more aromatic flavor and that is what I will shop for next time.
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Forget about the war in Ukraine, the war against the flies in Crisfield is intensifying. Every year, while the Red Shell Shanty was still open as a dockside bistro, flies would come out of nowhere, attracted to the contents of Orange Crush cocktails. We would put our phones face down over the cocktail glass to keep them from imbibing. This year the Shanty is only operating as a TV lounge and the flies understand this and give it a wide berth.
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Aboard SUNSPLASH, however, flies come and go as they please, there is no way to stop them without suffocating the beleaguered captain. The vinaigrette dressing seems to be very attractive to the flies. They can’t wait to frolic in the salad. They don’t shoo away. Our preliminary attempt at fly control consisted of several fly traps made out of empty water bottles of various sizes. The top of the bottle is sliced off and the spout inverted back into the body of the bottle. Fly attractants are introduced into the trap.
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I tried 3 different kinds of attractants and none really worked. A mixture of tuna can liquid, detergent, and apple cider vinegar did drown several flies, but it took 2 years. Not very effective. A smaller trap with apple cider vinegar and detergent killed one fly and it only took 2 months. We have to do better.
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The Chinese vendor TEMU offered some very cheap anti fly implements. Telescoping fly swatters that looked silly on the internet, in real life looked just as silly. However, I just nailed a fly with one. Another device is a U/V lamp and bug zapper that might not work out. The flies can’t see the light during daylight and I haven’t seen them buzzing around after dark. Perhaps it will serve as a night light for the captain. Yet another device is an orange colored sticky ball about the size of a real orange. I hung it up and after a couple hours a fly stuck itself onto the ball. We’ll see how that goes.
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Allies have made their presence known, swallows, small insect eating birds, must have heard about the fly problem and they occasionally show up and perch on the lifelines and stainless pulpit rails. When they are around the flies seem to be gone, either eaten or aware of their danger and lying low. A spider or two set up shop now and then, but I don’t see much activity. There are mantises around the marina and perhaps one will become a welcome resident, if mantises are attracted to flies.
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The next morning I was appalled at a huge number of flies trying to go toward the daylight, all massed at my cabin windows. Where did they come from? I opened the hatch and shooed them and they left. Perhaps they are breeding on board. They could be coming in and not finding a way out. I have various fly attractants at work. Maybe it’s the orange Chinese sticky ball. There are now lots of flies stuck to it. The bug zapper goes off at dawn and dusk. The flies aren’t active in the dark and can’t see the U/V light in the daytime, but when it works, it works to perfection. If you like seeing little defenseless flies vaporizing, it might be for you. One little fly was zapped and killed, but his fly corpse was not finished, the zapper kept zapping him (or her) with a series of bright flashes.
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One of my noxious fly traps tipped over into the bilge. Ugh. Maybe the flies got together and did it.
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My paranoid nature got me searching for a possible breeding place. Each place I looked had me apprehensive until I uncovered the hidden location, such as the grease trap on my camp grill. No fly activity there, but it needs to be cleaned out.
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Another order came in from TEMU. It is satisfying to shop for stuff and only pay pennies, and surprising when the product comes in, in about a week, and the quality is sometimes quite good. I bought sports “rugby” jersey, green number 8 on white, size XL, which is OK, maybe a little big, but it was $14.72, Aaron Rodger’s Jets Jersey, without his name or the team logo, but a nice jersey, stitching, etc. The USA vendors want $68 or so for almost the same thing. Also came in a pack of 6 or 8, who’s counting, black cotton/spandex gym shorts, black and very sexy. Those Chinese. I have another shopping list made up. I should take a break from this.
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The day started out with overcast, sprinkly, chance of thunderstorms, and morphed into a beautiful day, not hot, windy from the South, too windy to go out across town on the bike. Not too windy to bike to the wine store. I do need to get out, farther than that. I called Cuddily about her boat and had she heard from Cornelia Marie. She said Buster, her old boyfriend, had gotten injured at the floating dock, injuring his right hip, right knee, and maybe broken rib or two. Sounds like me except for the rib stuff. I had a glass of wine.
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Another product that came in was a new screen protector for my Galaxy phone. 3 for $5.98. How are they? The included dry and wet wipes were very tiny and the wet wipe wasn’t wet. The screen protector fit perfectly and now the phone looks like new again. If you are as intimate with your phone as I am, you’d like it to be clean, new looking, young looking. Beautiful phone.
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I am now wearing my Chinese faux Aaron Rodgers/Jets jersey, the black gym shorts under my Chinese black shorts that I got a while ago. Maybe I should learn Mandarin. I have been cooking Mexican, can I go back to Chinese dishes?
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I also bought a cheap rice cooker, but I’ll review it after I use it. It’s kind of a light cream jade green, not really nautical. Belongs in a dorm room.
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Oz Perlman, the mentalist. Look him up on YouTube.
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The invite was to go to Ray’s, a Chincoteague fish market and restaurant, for dinner. I owed Cuddily and Cornelia Marie a dinner and CM’s birthday was coming up, so here we go. The feast included lobster for me, haven’t had it in years. I also had the Newport Soup, which was a seafood chowder. We discussed the recipe for Venus de Milo Seafood Chowder, a pink chowder I’ve made a few times.
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Venus de Milo Seafood Chowder

INGREDIENTS
2 cups potatoes, 1/2-inch dices
1cup lobster meat (about 8 ounces)
1 cup small sea scallops (about 8 ounces)
1 cup small gulf shrimp (about 8 ounces)
3 1⁄2 cups clam juice
4 ounces butter
1⁄2 cup flour
1⁄4 cup minced onion
1⁄4 cup minced celery
1 cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 1⁄2 cups light cream
• salt, as needed
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 3 bay leaves

• DIRECTIONS

• Peel and de-vein the shrimp and cut into bite sized chunks.
• Wash the scallops and drain.
• Place the clam juice in a stock pot and bring to a boil.
• Cook the shrimp in the clam juice then remove and set aside.
• Do the same thing with the scallops saving the stock.
• Cut the lobster meat into bite sized chunks.
• Wash the diced potatoes, drain and place in a stock pot with the hot clam stock.
• Bring the potatoes to a boil, add the bay leaves and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
• In a separate stock pot melt the butter and sauté the onion, celery, and garlic until the onions become transparent.
• Add the tomato puree and cook for several minutes.
• Add the flour to the butter and onion mixture to make a roux and cook over a low heat for several minutes.
• Add the hot clam stock through a strainer a cup at a time and whisk until smooth.
• Add the remaining potatoes and bring to a simmer.

• Add the light cream, black pepper, and the lobster, shrimp, and scallops and return to a simmer.
• Adjust the seasoning.
• Serve at once with oyster crackers.
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The next day would be the day of the Snoopy Bowl, the annual Jets/Giants preseason game. In the old Red Shell Shanty I made sure the game would be on later in the evening. I propped the door open to allow air circulation. The air conditioning is weak. I received another call, from Cuddily, she and CM were preparing seafood chowder, inspired by the meal of the night before. I asked if she got the NFL Network and it was confirmed. I went back to the Shanty and closed it up.
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I was offered a ride on Buster’s boat but I preferred to bike and get some ibuprofen at the grocers, also more water. I allotted an hour to bike to the store, shop, and then bike to the waterfront at Brick Kiln Channel. It only took me 29 minutes to make the trip arriving about a half hour early. The big bottle of Cavit pinot noir was available to hydrate with.
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Buster was watching a TV show about demolishing buildings and then put on the NFL Network. The pregame hype show was on. Teri, the artist, arrived and I sat on the sofa and watched the show, leaving my very red wine far away on the dining table. One spill of that stuff would wipe out the carpet or the furniture.
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The game was the debut of Aaron Rodgers as the Jets quarterback as well as other starters who hadn’t played in any of the preseason games up till now. The Jets looked good, took the lead, and won the game. The game was interrupted by the serving of Cuddily’s magnificent seafood chowder. I had sent her the recipe for the Venus de Milo chowder and I said tear that recipe up, this chowder is the best I have ever tasted. They didn’t give me their recipe.
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I biked back to the marina at dusk.
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We developed a theory about the fly problem on board. It seems that when the boat is closed up due to inclement weather the flies can get in but can’t seem to find their way out, so they accumulate. When the hatch is open there aren’t that many flies although a few do come and visit.
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The image is of a sign inside the entrance to Ray’s Shanty. It is a very nautical place.