Postblogs from the Beach

New Year - new opps* and apps*

That would be Opportunities and Applications - so, what are my opps and apps for this year?

The first opp is a chance to do a 5k walk/run next month here on the island.  Yes, you read correctly, a 5k walk/run.  On February 19th we have the Hurricane Run and I have managed to rope some of my exercise buddies into doing this challenge with me.  Since we already do 3 miles on Monday and Friday and 4 miles on Wednesday, this should be a snap, right?  I think we may get a tee shirt out of this, so that is a good incentive.  Wish us luck.

The new app on my phone is one that reminds me of appointments/tasks and I am hoping it helps me stay on target.  Since I retired, I have found that it is harder to keep track of non-recurring activities like phone calls and appointments.  It seems to be connected to my gmail account.   I will have to see how this works. 

On the news front, the house is getting close to move in status.  Another month or six weeks should see us relocated and unpacking things we haven't seen since July 2009. Woo Hoo!  I can't wait to have more than one sweatshirt and all of my other clothes. . .oh yes, and my pots and pans and all of that stuff, too.

This has been fun, sort of like an eighteen month vacation, but I am now ready to get back to normal life.  Having a garden will be nice, too.  Lots of fenced space for Maddy to run around and a workshop for Neil.  Shopping opportunities galore!

 

The President Comes to the Island

OK, I want you to picture this scenario. . .the main street of Dauphin Island is closed to traffic, the DI bridge is closed, every side street from the middle of the island to its very tippy end is blocked by police cars of all varieties.  We await the first ever Presidential Motorcade.  To my right along Bienville Boulevard is a women in a red satin evening gown ala Vanna White, complete with rhinestone trim on the bodice and halter top.  She is wearing white heart shaped sunglasses and flip flops.  After ~45 minutes she gets hot and decides to change into a denim miniskirt and tanktop but keeps the shades and flip flops.  Now, wait, for a little extra drama - she doesn't live near where she is waiting so she must have changed in her truck.  You have got to love it.

OIL SPILL UPDATE FROM DAUPHIN ISLAND

It is really kind of strange to see small armies of men and women dressed in boots walking on the beach in the blazing sun with buckets, trashbags, and rakes.  Add to that weirdity the portopotties, mile marker flags, straw bales, ATV's, straw roads over the dunes for the ATV's, and the command tents every so often, newly raked sand, and you have our new beachscape. 

I know that many of my neighbors are very tired of these people trudging up and down the beach with their pants hanging down appearing to be doing nothing, but we are also appreciative of the fact that at least most of them seem to be picking up some trash and the occasional oil spill remnant.

So far, we haven't seen any tar balls, oil mat mousse (can you believe the new terminology that is developing), or slicks on our own part of the beach.  We think that is because Sand(Pelican) Island curves around the island from near the Isle Dauphine Club to the Sand Island Lighthouse and even though some of it is now under water it is still serving as a barrier to the oil that is sloshing around out there in the Gulf.  Parts of DI have had oil invasion and, of course, we have seen the mess on the other side of the waterway.

It is all so terrible, so sad to watch, so hard to feel so helpless - but, if you were thinking about coming down to the Gulf, please still come.  If you weren't planning to come, think about coming anyway.  There is a lot to do here that can still be done, particularly the part where you are with friends and family.  So, you all come back soon now, you hear?

RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT OIL SPILLS AND CLEAN UP

The island is filled to bursting with contractors, Coast Guard, National Guard, experts of various disciplines, media types, and volunteers, in addition to those of us who live here full time.  As one other resident told Neil at the Post office, "We don't need to worry about the oil spill, all of these trucks will sink the island."  It is very gratifying to see so many people caring about this incident.  We are also getting some much needed assistance with the sand depletion problem as a result of the need to build up the dune on the west end of the island - I wonder why it wasn't available last Tuesday.  This effort is supposed to help protect the bay and the inland waterways and marshes if (when) the oil and water wash over that end of the island.

I wonder what the island and, indeed, the Gulf Coast will be like in a month or a year.  In the meantime, we receive updates at least daily from the town, sometimes multiple times during the day as things change.  Right now we are not supposed to have any impact through Wednesday.  The town is very good about communications.  Most of us are in their email list, so we regularly get our town news that way.  In addition, there are two Town Council meetings scheduled every month and two agenda meetings preceding them.  Guess what the topic is tonight, along with the regular council business.

One final thought - those who do not like the look of modern windmill farms might think about the last time we had a wind spill.

Catching Up

It's been a while since I blogged anything other than my book reviews.  I've been really busy reading to keep my stats in line with my goal of 100+ Books in 2010.  But, I have been doing other things as well.  So, here is an update on our activities.

We went to several places to find plants so that I can have some flower boxes and other plants on the decks.  Found some things at the Mobile Botanical Gardens Spring Sale, but not exactly what I am looking for yet.  I still want some white and purple flowery vines and will keep looking for those.  In the meantime, we have tomatoes, parsley, and mint planted in separate containers.  Then we put together three flower boxes with some combination of dracena, dianthus, verbena, and vinca in two of them and the third has bourgainvilla and sweet potato vine.  We also have some plants on the lower parking and patio area, under the main floor of the house, that we brought from Montgomery.  Many of them died, but the oleander, Meyer lemon, some of the plumbago, and maybe the Maypops survived the winter.  Oh, yes, and one of the asparagus ferns.

I have been busy working on my sessions for the training scheduled to follow the upcoming Hadassah Spring Conference in Birmingham in May.  I hope all of my friends who can make it will try to get to the conference.  It is going to be really terrific, with a theme of Art in Hadassah, there will be something to inspire and engage everyone.  And, shopping is available.

Also finishing up my part of the Gumbo Cook Off.  I managed to get some Vera Bradley sunglasses and some VB sunglass cases - very Vera and very cute - for the silent auction.  Also received some hair and skin products from my Aveda salon as door prizes.  So far I have sold 10 tickets (which was my goal), so I am ready to relax until the day of the event.

Weather is beginning to behave and looking at 70's for the rest of this week.  Yay!

That's about it from here. 

Clearly we are not the Clintons

I bet Hillary didn't have to schlep Bill's belongings all day when he had his stent done.  Neil had to have all of his stuff with him - a backpack with some kinds of heavy stuff plus  the really thin plastic bag with the string that cuts into your hand - inside were his clothes (including his shoes, jeans, etc.) and they didn't have a room yet, so I had to carry it around with me from 6:30am until 4:30pm when I just left it with him on the guerney in the Recovery Room.  They said we couldn't do that, but what were they going to do - throw it all away?  I knew better, do not confuse me for someone who is intimidated by being in a hospital.  I know which rules are serious and which are for staff convenience.  Oh yes, Neil is doing well and has all of his stuff with him now.  He should be home tomorrow. And I am so glad he is doing well.  We miss him.

Life is starting to look normal

We have been adjusting to Neil's retirement for a while now.  I think he is starting to get the fact that it isn't just a long weekend. 

We both seem to need some kind of structure that is imposed externally, so I go to exercise class three mornings a week and I have my Hadassah work to keep me centered.  I have also gotten involved with the Dauphin Island Woman's Club and am on the fundraising committee.  I have an event to work on that is scheduled for April 10th.  Sometimes I think I could fundraise in my sleep.  But, I enjoy doing it,especially the part where I am a worker bee rather than a chair.

Neil, thank goodness, has found the Town Council and the Dauphin Island Property Owners Association to keep him busy.  He goes to the bi-weekly Agenda meetings and the bi-weekly Town Council meetings - these sort of replace the synagogue meetings, although these are much, much shorter.  The DIPOA meetings are less frequent, but I feel certain that he will be involved in some of those activities after the meeting Saturday morning.  Some people on the island have already asked him to get involved, so it is just a matter of time, but I knew that would happen. 

As long as his activities don't infringe on his primary responsibility (walking the dog in bad weather, and in the morning and at night), I am delighted that he has found something he enjoys and that contributes to island life.  

Winter Storm Warnings

All of the schools, the county offices, and a lot of other things are closed today because we have a Winter Storm Warning - we may have 1" - 2" but it is more likely to be flurries or sleet.  Anyway, everybody is very excited about it and the television stations are scrolling updates like it is the end of the world. 

I will be the first to say that snow, or freezing anything that isn't edible, is a pain.  I didn't like driving in it when we lived in Maryland and at least then I had snow tires, as did nearly everyone else; there were snow plows; a snow emergency route/plan; and, the streets were salted or sanded.  To drive in it here you have none of the above plus you have a lot of people who have never driven in it ever.  I plan to stay off the streets.  It's nice to have that luxury.

Neil and Maddy went out at about 8am and were back in at about 8:04am.  She wasn't interested in being outside and she hates her parka anyway (but she looks really precious in it - it even has a little zipper pocket for her belongings, like her housekeys, I guess).  Her parka is red with grey accents.

I sure am glad that I don't have to deal with this stuff regularly - any more.

Was that Santa Claus?

No, that would be Neil coming through the bathroom ceiling. 

He is very handy and exceptionally motivated to get things stowed away.  That is why he was moving stuff up to the attic.  We had the floor finished in part of the attic, but they couldn't cover it all because of electrical and plumbing work that needed to be accessible.  Unfortunately, when Neil was moving his grown up clothes from the beds in the guestroom up to the clothing racks he installed in the attic, his foot slipped.  I am glad that he wasn't hurt. 

The contractor came and patched the ceiling last week, and still has at least another coat of plaster to apply before it can be sanded and painted.  Our contractor is great about the initial fix, but finishing seems to be a challenge for him.  Of course, he has to rely on his subcontractors and that may be the problem, but the general air appears to be "soon."

At least there isn't anymore insulation falling down onto the bathroom now. 

Mardi Gras

Last Saturday we celebrated Mardi Gras on the island with two parades.  There were a reported 50,000 people on the island - don't know why the island didn't sink.  If it had, and our house sank, would that be covered by the flood insurance or something else?  The parades took one hour and I recorded the whole thing.  I know how to use my videocamera now.  Cars were parked every where.  Bienville Blvd was one big parking lot.  People were parked in the median strip, with campers, trucks, trailers with barbecue grills, one group had huge speakers run by their car battery and were dancing two hours before the parade.  They also appeared to be powered by other than RC or Coke.  I will post an album on my FB page, you can view the pictures there. 

Had a good time, but not planning to go into Mobile for the big parades this week.