theroadtocruising

     This morning started out cold (54 degrees) and misty with the hopes of rain. Pickles and I decided to skip the morning walk to the beach and stayed cuddled up in the living room in front of the heater, enjoying a second cup of coffee. With this type of weather, it is hard to get motivated to tackle a project especially an outdoor project like painting the sun parlor.

Once Brian woke up, it was decided to work on the windows. He spent a good amount of time on YouTube learning how to glaze windows. What did any of us do before Google and YouTube? There were 2 window stations set up, one outside for scraping and sanding, then another one on the porch for him to glaze the window. As I was scraping, the old glaze crumbled out-of-place. We have 10 windows to do and because of space issues, we can 2 a day. This may take a while, but it will be done before the end of the month. Once I got my part done for the windows, Brian started his expert glazing and I continued painting more of the exterior. We worked until noon, when it really was just too wet to keep working.

After lunch, there was a group from Essex Heritage and the National Park Service arriving on island. The goal was to get the gift shop set up and show off the island a little to the NPS group. When the group arrived on the beach it was still wet and grey, welcome to island life! Heather gave a historical tour to the group as Brian transported the gift shop products and some building supplies up in the ATV/Cart, this really does make the walk to the house much easier. As we arrived at the tower, Heather, Charles and Anya from Essex Heritage broke off to set up the gift shop and I took the NPS group out on the trails to show them baby seagulls and to give a little more history of the island that I know. It was fun having fresh eyes to see the beauty Baker’s Island has to offer.

The group from NPS listening to the history of the Oil House from Heather, part of the Essex Heritage organization

Once we got back to the compound, I offered a snack to the group. I love to bake and when we have visitors, they usually get baked goods. Today everyone tried the Oatmeal Fudge Bars, a new recipe for me and it was met with great reviews. I have included the recipe in the blog for anyone who wants to try it. The Oatmeal Fudge Bars are very rich and have zero calories!

By the time we waved goodbye to our visitors, the skies were blue and the temperatures jumped up a little. It turned out to be a perfect afternoon on the island which gave Brian and I a chance to sit on the bench at Perkins Lookout and just watch the boat traffic go by.

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups oatmeal

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt together
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix the butter, eggs and brown sugar, add the milk and vanilla. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients. Mix well using a wooden spoon. Grease a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Spread ¾ of the batter into the bottom of prepared pan. Then pour the melted chocolate mixture over the batter layer. With the remaining ¼ of the batter, spoon on top of the chocolate layer and gently spread out, all the chocolate will most likely not be covered, that is ok, it gives it a marbled appearance when baked. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, until top is golden brown. Cool completely before cutting to allow the chocolate mixture to firm up.

Low tide: 6:55am
High tide: 1:14pm
Sunrise: 5:05am
Sunset: 8:22pm
Man hours worked: 10
Total man hours worked: 163