Count down to Dorian is on: 8 '19

Just to muddy up the waters a little more, it looks like we might have a major hurricane bearing down on us next week. Dorian is a currently rated as a Cat IV hurricane which is large and powerful enough to engulf the entire state of Florida. Up until yesterday, it was aimed directly at that State, but the most recent European models all show it taking a turn and heading Northward towards Georgia and the Carolina Coastlines. That means we have a lot of preparation to do to get the house and yard ready for the storm that is coming. We spent the morning stalking up on food etc. and rechecking our emergency gear.

The good news is that I had already started our hurricane planning and preparedness last June (Just before hurricane season started), so much of our evacuation and our post-hurricane survival supplies are up to date, and readily accessible.

Hurricane Dorian: Here we go again! 8 '19

Ugh! Here we go again. A National Hurricane Center meteorologist says the threat to the U.S. mainland from Tropical Storm Dorian has grown, with forecasts showing it could hit southeast coast as a Category 3 hurricane. Dennis Feltgen says Dorian may also grow in size and could land anywhere from South Florida to South Carolina on Sunday or Monday.

Hurricane Dorian over the US Virgin was a Cat 1  at 3:47 pm EST

The good news is that we are much better prepared to evacuate if need be this year than we were last year. ( No kitty-cat to worry about, emergency supplies up to date, emergency personal supplies still packed and ready to go, all potted plants and patio furniture already in the house because we had to move them for the exterior maintenance that was being done on our unit's deck this past week. 

The bad news is that we won't be able to board up the windows this year. And since this hurricane's track is still so ill-defined, we don't really know yet which way to go to stay safe.

HOA Deck Repair Complete: 8 '19

The HOA construction crew began working on refurbishing

 our upstairs deck on Monday, 8/26.

First,  they removed the railings.  They left the upright  posts in place

 and stored the railings in the flowerbed below our unit's deck.

Next, they removed all of the original deck floorboards and lateral supports.

 After getting the deck cleared down to the original waterproof layer,

they added a new layer of rubberized waterproofing over the older material,

and they installed new aluminum flashing and sealed all the edges.

Then, the new pressure-treated wood floorboards were installed.

Finally, the original railings were put back in place. 

The entire job was completed in two days

 and the deck looks better than it did when the place was brand new.

Fabulous Friends: 8 '19

Julie, Joe, Bruce, CC

We had a great time this afternoon having lunch with our friends Joe and Julie. Joe loves Bruce's sense of humor. He laughed in Bruce's face when Bruce told him he was disappointed to find ou ( after all the grief he went through) that he isn't going to die because the immunotherapy is saving his life.

Mini Ali's New Residence: 8 '19

Remember that small alligator we relocated from our back yard to a freshwater pond?

Bruce went to check up on him today and found that he had decided to settle into a slightly larger retaining pond across the street from where we had released him.   His new home has more foliage around it, and thus more protection along the banks. At least he is safe. 

The great thing about senior golf games: 8 '19

Bruce played a solo round of 18 holes on our home course today! 

 He was pretty well wiped out for the rest of the day after completing the game.

But the main take-away is that he had the endurance to play the entire course on a hot and muggy day. He even par-ed several of the harder holes on the course.

So It's National Golfers Day. Get out there a cuss at a small inanimate object.

Butterfly Migration underway? 8 '19

I had been thinking about  scaling back some of the taller growing zinnias in our front yard today,  but when I went out with my cutters I found there was a pollinator on almost every blossom.  Every sunflower had a bee harvesting its pollen, and

the zinnias were aflutter with admirals, monarchs, painted ladies, sulfurs, and swallowtail butterflies.

I don't remember the butterfly migration  season ever starting so early in the year,

 but it certainly looks like it is in full swing in my yard this year.

Tidying up the front flower beds will have to wait. I can't mess with the butterfly buffet during their  peak migration.

HOA Deck Repair 8 '19

New deck floorboards ready to be installed.

Our HOA has decided to redo the weatherproofing and wood on all of our condo units'upstairs decks. Today, the workers began ripping out the deck wood and railings from the unit next to ours.

Neighbor's deck with new waterproof sealant.

That is a pretty good indicator that our unit's deck will be all torn up next week. We have a lot of patio decor and a gazillion potted herbs that will have to be cleared off of our deck before construction can begin on our unit.

Patio furniture stored in  BJs office

Bruce moved all of our patio furnishings indoors,
while I moved all of the potted plants from our deck to other locations  downstairs where they would be safe from the construction.

Small pots of cukes, peppers, tomatoes, basil, thyme etc. crowd  the back porch

Did it again: 8 '19

Well, I did it again.

 Last year I planted what I thought were medium height zinnias in my tiny pocket garden, and they grew over my head. So this year, while I did manage to plant the right height zinnias, it was the sunflowers turn to surprise me. I had sprinkled in some seeds of what I thought were medium height multi-colored sunflowers behind the zinnias. A few of the sunflowers plants' height met my expectations. The rest are giving the bees and hummingbirds acrophobia. The good news is that I am getting armloads of cut flowers from both this tiny space.

The plants above are the height the sunflowers I was expecting ( 4 to 5 feet).

This is what I got. ( Note the zinnias in front of them were the right height for my tiny pocket garden.

This one must be close to twelve feet tall.

The seed packet said the sunflowers would be shades of yellow to bronze. Most of them bloomed yellow. Next year, I will buy my seeds directly from the grower and try to limit the varieties to a few specialty colors, flower shapes, and heights.

The good news is that I ( and half the neighborhood)

  have had beautiful cut flowers all summer long.

Mini-Alii Rescue: 8 '19

I thought Bruce was joking when he called out to 'come to see the alligator in our back yard' and 'bring your camera'. Surprise! There WAS a 3 ' young alligator in our back yard. It was stalking the ground feeding birds under our bird feeder. DNR had been called by some neighbors but they just said to let it find its own way back to the water. Unfortunately, the construction fence behind our property had blocked off its only access to the water.

Bruce captured it with a large animal net, then had me get our largest sturdiest animal cage. As you can see it is about 4' long and still had its baby stripes.

It wasn't happy at all about being in the cage and kept hissing and growing at us. We didn't want to stress it out too much, so we wasted no time loading the cage into the back of our SUV and driving to the nearest set of large freshwater ponds, where we released it.

Once the cage door was open it wasted no time scrambling out and heading to the pond, where it was last seen swimming away unharmed.

Home again: 8 '19

I was pleased to find all my potted plants and bedding flowers had not only survived but thrived in my absence. Some of the sunflower plants are towering over my head, and a number of the zinnias are almost as tall. I asked Bruce to help me stake up some of the tallest plants lest they topple over from the weight of all their blooms.  Bruce is still suffering from post-vacation blues. So I cut  I cut armloads of bright flowers to cheer him up.

Bruce's Welcome home Bouquet.

 I have to admit, thinking about doing laundry, grocery shopping, or doctors appointments is not nearly as pleasant as thinking about going to Temple with family, or playing mini-golf with the grandkids. But for now, it is back to reality. and I, for one, am grateful we are still able to take trips like this.   So, for now, it's back to reality until we start planning our next trip.

Day 10 of Road Trip: Norfolk VA to Home: 8 '19

Norfolk to Home: 351 miles, 6 hrs 31 min

Bruce was experiencing his usual end of vacation blues today, 

He's got the Vacay End Blues

while I was anxious to get home to my garden. 

 To please me, he got up early this morning (6 am) to get an early start. 

Good Morning, Norfolk.

 That may have been just a bit too early; the hotel hadn't set up their breakfast bar yet, so wound up hitting the road with nothing more than coffee and some cold donuts in our stomachs. Also, another round of rain showers followed us all day making travel seem a bit slower and more stressful than we would have liked. Low blood sugar and back/leg pain from sitting so long made Bruce pretty darn glum. But we made it home in just under six hours and managed to get the car and suitcases unpacked before dark set in.

Round trip total: Ten days  1351 miles

Day 9 Road Trip Somers PT. NJ to Norfolk VA: 98:19

Somers Pt,NJ to Norfolk, VA: 201 Miles 5 hrs 30 min

We kissed everyone goodbye this morning and took off for home at 8 am this morning. Our plan is to divide the two-day trip into two 6 hour segments with a rest stop three hours into each day's journey. Today we planned to go From Sommer's Point in New Jersey, Stop for a stretch and some food at Cape May, New Jersey, then catch a ferry to take us to across the Delaware Bay. From there we would drive along the Delaware coast, and take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to Virginia where we had made a hotel reservation to spend the night in Norfolk, VA.

Cape May is only 2 1/2 hours from Somers Point, so it made a good rest stop for the first half of the journey. It is a cute resort town with lots of well preserved Victorian homes. 

We spent the hour we had before we had to board the ferry walking around the shops on the main street.

Day 8 Road Trip: Atlantic City

We woke up to dry skies so decided to try going to the Atlantic City Board Walk again with two of the three of the grandchildren. (The oldest grandchild was at a cheerleading practice). The kids wanted to play a round of minigolf at one of the indoor courses on the boardwalk. That was a lot of fun or all of us. 

Then we bought some ice cream cones and were strolling along the boardwalk eating them when it started raining hard again which canceled all chance of doing any more walking. By the time we got to the car, we were all soaked to the skin.

The Flyer ( Her next move was to somersault down)

We went back to the house for a change of clothes then rushed off to see the oldest grand child's cheerleading performance. That was very cool. She is one of the 'flyers' on her high school varsity team. It is a high-energy and very high-risk position. Just watching her get tossed and flipped in the air made my heart stop. Both of us felt exhausted by the time we got back to the house.

Day 7 of Road Trip: Atlantic City wash out 8 '19

We tried to take the grandkids to the Atlantic City Boardwalk today but got rained out. That may be a good thing. Off and on Bruce was showing signs of irritability. I suspect that the mental and physical fatigue from being on the go for the past week is catching up with both of us.   Laura has put us up in their travel trailer. That is proving to be a really good arrangement as it is giving us a quiet and private place to rest and calm down. 

Day 6 Road Trip: Somers Pt., New Jersey: 8 ' 19

From Piscataway where Bruce's sister lives to Somer's Point where his daughter and her family live, is about a two-hour drive. 

Piscataway, NJ  to Somers Point, NJ : 109 miles 1 hr 38 min.

 We made the trip without incident and arrived at their doorstep at about 4 pm. 

Bruce's  Daughter Laura, and our three of  our grandkids

 The grandkids were really happy to see us and talked our ears off. 

Puppy 'Cody' wanted  to be in the photos too

Bruce's daughter did all the driving for the next couple of days which reduced the stress of trying to navigate an unfamiliar area.

Day 5 Road Trip: Piscataway: Extended Family

Bruce and his extended family

This evening, we had dinner at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant with Pam's son ( Bruce's nephew) and her Daughter-in-law and their daughter (Bruce's great-niece). Overall this segment of the trip has been good, with lots of pleasant memories.

Day 4 Road Trip: East Jersey Olde Towne

Bruce and his sister, Pam.

Today was another perfect summer day for being out for doors. After a lite breakfast, Pam suggested we do some site seeing. Pam did all the driving for the next couple of days which reduced the stress of trying to navigate an unfamiliar area. After reviewing at the options, we settled on visiting East Jersey Old Town Villiage which is a living history museum of what life in Middlesex county was like in the 18th Century. It proved to be a perfect choice. The buildings were air-conditioned and most offered elevators so there were no worries about bruce getting overheated or falling on the shallow eighteenth-century stairs. and there was something for everyone on the grounds. docents dressed in costume explained how clothing was mad, stones were cut, and what it was like to be a blacksmith in the middle of summer. there were scientific, paleontologic, and agricultural exhibits. As well as fully restored buildings representing all aspects of Colonial life. CC's favorite was the Colonial herb and kitchen gardens (although Pam and I did have to move on quickly before Bruce got the urge to weed them).

'Yes, Bruce, it is a weed.' and 'No, you cannot pull it.'

Upon returning to Pam's house after dinner Bruce and Pam continued talking about family history, while I made a new Best Friend.

CC and her new BFF "Sophie'.