The Aftermath

Today is better. The sun is out, too. I had my son and a friend over for lasagna last night. I needed something to calm my nerves so since the water was starting to recede, I thought it was safe to go off the island and get him.

I forgot to download another video last night...this was about when it was just about over. Still lots of water in the yards and the one side of the road was washed out, but whew, we made it.

Update on storm

We just got back in a couple minutes ago. Wanted to see what it was doing in the rest of the town and got more video. Video doesn't even do it justice. And what you see is a quarter of how bad it is in front of my house which I'll take more video in a few minutes.

BF isn't home and I can't get in touch with him. Called his work and they were supposed to get my message that the roads were flooding but I don't know if he got the message. They're supposed to close the causeway between 3 and 3:30 which is right now. High tide is in 15 minutes so this should get interesting.

Storms, storms, storms

Last night, we had a scare. We had a tornado watch and the wind, rain and hail was coming down so fast, it was flooding the area. My daughter was off the island visiting a friend and I hadn't heard from her so I gave her cell a call. She answered it and was crying. "I'm on the causeway and I'm scared! Can't talk!" Click.

Well, my heart raced. I threw on my shoes, headed out the door and the boxes that I had left under the carport that was headed to the storage room the next day was becoming drenched, so I hurriedly threw them back into the house. After I did that, I flew upstairs to get my coat and was heading out the door when Melissa walked in. She was crying and all we did was hug. You can't tell me there aren't guardian angels.

She said the causeway was flooded and in town, you had to drive down the middle of Main Street. Trash cans were everywhere. On top of that, her back lights weren't working and she was terrified.

I got up this morning and it looked pretty normal. Water was standing in the front yard which wasn't unusual. I got this picture of two lone geese who were confused, thinking it was part of the channel I guess. But it looked like an ordinary morning...


Then, about two hours ago...it returned. I got some video footage I'll show you...




I'm serious, scary stuff and they're saying it's going to get worse tonight!

Happy Mother's Day

To my mother who left this realm 35 years ago and to all mothers still sticking it out and trying the best they can to become the most wonderful mothers in the world...

Happy Mother's Day!











And my favorite...



..

Playing Tourist on Seafood Festival Day

Just thought I'd take advantage of my no tours on the weekend rule (I was a genius when I came up with that rule) and post a few pictures of my daughter's and my jaunt through Chincoteague on Seafood Festival Day last Wednesday.

For those who don't know what the Seafood Festival Day is, compare it to dropping the ball in Times Square. It's a mostly local thing, but we have politicians among thousands of other seafood lovers cramming into a local campground called Tom's Cove for a fun-filled day of seafood, beer, political talks, beer, sunshine, beer, well you get the picture.

Now, we didn't actually go inside, but we did get some pictures...across the water...


What we did, being as it cost about $35 a head or more to get in, we drove over to Memorial Park and I zoomed the camera and actually didn't get a bad shot. And...you could hear the music, too...way cool!

Here's another shot...


And the adventure only began!

Being as this is our first time actually living on the island, we decided to take in some good old tourist hot spots and headed toward Assateague Island where I got a few pics. Now, keep in mind this is only the first week of May and not quite swimming weather yet, but my daughter got out and walked around. Snapped these pictures...


Unbelievable how you could actually get out and not have to walk through people...perfect time of year to go to the beach...


Melissa standing in front of the waves rolling in...she said the water was COLD.

After leaving the beach, we walked down a trail which led to the Assateague Lighthouse which was actually erected in 1833. I only encountered two mosquitoes which I think set a record. Maybe it was the time of year, but in the summer, you better be wearing mosquito repellent.

Got some awesome pictures, though...


Nice, nice day. I don't know who had more fun...the people at the seafood festival or us, but one thing is for sure...we didn't have a hangover!

Awesome Video

Doing more playing than working, but check out this awesome video...if you're scared of heights, cover your eyes!

Prank Calls

Water, Water, Everywhere...

The BF and I were standing on our lower deck gazing at how the tide was really high despite the fact there were no storms in the area. The waterline had almost reached the top of my neighbor's dock and maybe about a foot from ours (our dock must be slightly higher than theirs).

The sun had just about gone over the horizon and we were talking about how if it's this high when the water is calm, what's it going to do when there's a little bit of rain or much worse, when a hurricane blows through here.

Of course, we started thinking about game plans and what we'd throw in the car when it does happen, getting all nervous because it really could happen. Once they close the bridge on the causeway, that's it brother. You're either stuck off on the island or stuck on.

The way our condo is set up, we are resting on huge stilts. Our bottom floor where the utility room and our storage room would get hit first. The game plan today is to pull everything out of the storage room while I had a day off and rearrange things, putting plastic containers at the bottom and piling the boxes on top. Our mini-freezer would have to be put up on cement blocks and that's if the water doesn't rise above 2 feet in our front yard.

I wish I took a picture, but it doesn't have to rain here. My neighbor's yard is always full of water simply because it drains out of something in the back...BF explained it but I don't really understand it. But, like he said, after all, we ARE living on an island and it comes with the territory.

So, BF goes back inside and I sit there looking at the waterline, thinking of things that would be top priority to load in the car if worse comes to worse. It's scary when you think about it because if there was a hurricane to blow by here which happens every year of course, we're either stuck on the second floor and praying we don't lose electricity or we play it smart and leave the island before we can't get off. This is our first year here and I don't know what to expect.

I asked the local cop if he ever had to evacuate the whole time he has been working here on the island and he said no, but that doesn't mean the roads don't get flooded (they do) or the causeway gets closed down (it does).

It's scary.

So, I get up this morning and I'm still thinking about how scary it is, then look what I see out my window. Is this the coolest thing or what???


That's our dock and this cutest red boat just goes gliding right by. It was huge compared to the other smaller boats that usually pass by. Here's another one:


I really need another camera. Anyway, what is this??? Here's another:



And one more...
So, the moral of this story is I guess you can't have your cake and eat it, too.

May '08 Authors on Virtual Book Tour

Island Living Picturama!

My son came over tonight and he finally showed me how to download pictures from my camera to the PC so...now I can show you where I live! This picture below was taken from the second floor balcony. The street going to the left leads you down to the marina.


And as you see, there's lots of boat traffic...behind the boat is my dock...can you see it?

Here's a better picture of the dock...this actually was taken last Thursday night when I found out I didn't have to work. I leashed up Max and we strolling down to the end to watch the sunset...


I don't know if you can see this but there are two benches - one to the left and one to the right. I sat down on the one to the right and turned my camera on the neighbor's dock and this is what that looked like...


Water was so calm and peaceful...hard to break away from this to go to work! Below we're finding the sun slowly setting...


Look at those clouds, baby. Tomorrow, I'll take more pictures, but at least this shows you a little something. Oh, one more...I was standing on the dock, turned around and took a picture of the condo. We're right smack in the middle...


I'll have more pictures now that I've learned how to download them. But, now do you see why it's so hard to work and not play?

I'm going to download one more thing and not sure if it's going to work, but I tried to get some video footage..it's real short so we'll see if it's worth showing or not. This was taken from the 3rd floor, from my daughter's bedroom balcony. My son hates to have his picture taken...can you guess? The sound you hear are my doggies panting...I was wondering that myself when I heard it!