The HOA lumberjacks have been busy: 11 '20

We were interrupted in the middle of our breakfast by the whine of what sounded like chainsaws right outside our back door.  

We weren't far off; a crew of lumberjacks was working on cutting down a gigantic  cedar growing  20 feet from our next-door neighbor's back door.

It seemed so sad to see such a beautiful old tree cut down,  

but much of its trunk and many of its limbs were hollowed out and very brittle making it a serious hazard in the tropical storms winds which sweep through our area every summer and fall.

For similar reasons, the HOA was having the towering pine trees planted along our property line removed.   The tops of these trees snap like match sticks in strong winds.  With the prevailing winds likely to blow them right atop of our condos, our HOA decided it was best to have them removed.

I know we will miss seeing a forest at our back door, but I also know we won't miss the safety concerns those trees have created throughout every Hurricane season. 

New Development

The surveyors have been out in the woods behind us all week marking off the lots for the new development.   

Nine-hole Belated Birthday Game: 5 ' 20

I had promised Bruce to play a  nine-hole round of golf  to celebrate his birthday.  Unfortunately  we were locked indoors on April 30th by a  strong thunder-storm and a soaking rain.  The wet stuff stuck around for another two days.  Today was the first day that the greens were dry enough to play one and that we had clear skies.   Bruce woke up to sunshine,  and  promptly grabbed a phone to  check on  start times.  He came back with a big smile on his face,  and  announced that he had booked us a 9:20 am game to play the back nine on our home course,  Pawley's Plantation.

His smile got even wider when  we  tee'd off  on the  tenth fairway.  

 And then Bruce broke into an out-right grin when landed his ball on the signature course's 13th  hole which is surrounded by 3000 degrees of marsh.  For someone who has only been able to  play golf  one or twice in the past year, he was playing really well today.

Two of the nine holes we were playing have sand hazards.  Seven of the nine holes  have serious water hazards (they are bordered by marshes and /or have large retaining ponds).   Some have both, and almost all of them have enormous heritage oaks that have to be played around.  

The Pro-Shop had  paired us with a young, lone-player from upstate SC.

On our first tee-off, it was obvious this young man would  out-drive us septuagenarians,

no matter how skillfully  we played. 

Initially,  we were not happy, but since our new partner was walking the course, we set him up to tee off first,   then had him start walking on the cart toward his next ball. 

By the time he had walked to his ball,  we  had finished our second shots to catch up.

As the game progressed we learned that  our new golf partner had a technical background similar to our  own.   After that ,we found that common-ground, the differences in our skill level seemed a lot less intimidating.

Bruce was exhausted but was so happy that
 he made it to the 18th hole in good form.

It's been months since  either of us have played, so  neither Bruce nor I kept score. 

My impression is that neither of us have lost muscle memory for  how and where to drive the ball,

 but both  of us have lost muscle strength,

and that we need to spend more time at the driving range to rebuild our muscles.

Now that the weather has finally turned a bit warmer, 

the driving range may prove an ideal way to get a bit of 

safe-distancing exercise. 

Low Country Fall Color then and now: 11 '19

Willbrook Plantation Cypress 11 / 2019

I was looking at this photo, I took yesterday of the fall foliage colored cypress trees at Willbrook Plantation (see first attached photo. It reminds me of one of the first oil paintings I painted shortly after we moved here in 2006 (See 2nd attached photo). It was of cypress trees growing at the edge of one of Pawleys Plantation's ponds. I guess my aesthetic interests haven't changed all that much in 13 years.

Pawleys Plantation Cypress 2006

Pawley's Road Hazards: 5'19

Some folks worry about  deer  unexpectedly crossing the street in front of their car in wooded areas.

Here in Pawleys Plantation, we have to contend with a  different kind of wildlife hazard.

Big Al decided to cross the main street  into the plantation directly in front of us at high noon

 stopping traffic in both directions.

Apparently, he thought the fish in the retaining pond on the north side of Pawleys Plantation Way, might taste better today,  than the fish in the pond on the south side of  PP Way.

Needless to say, we don't go out for walks after dark.

Still Icy Here in the Low Country: 1 '18

Pond Adjacent to Fairwayt 3

We're still iced in!

Based upon prior years records, for this area at, time of year, the snow should have melted days ago, but as you can see, it has not. Worse yet, everything has turned to a dense layer of ice

... including all the retaining ponds.

Pond adjacent to 6th Green

Bruce took these photos this afternoon when he did a  supply speed run.

Pond adjacent to Pawleys Plantation Way and PP Way looking east

 Most of the streets are clear of snow and ice, but as you can see there is still snow everywhere that does not get a full sun. 

 DUH. Its the South. Most folks here thinks that global warming  means its going to get hotter.   It is already 'Hotter than Hades' here in the summer, so of course   all development are built in harvested forest area,  where the developer attempts to preserve as many  of the remaining shade trees  as possible around the homes to shelter them from the summer sun's rays.  

What's that you are saying?  Global warming doesn't mean that every place will be equally hotter ? Huh... it means that as the global average temperature goes up,  our  jet stream based climates will change dramatically,  so stand by, we could be in for more weather extremes. 

Really??? Oh No!

Matthew vs. Pawleys Plantation Golf Course: 10 '16

 

If anything in the golf course could be said to have taken a hit from Matthew, it is the golf course.   Like all the rest of our plantation there were a lot of fallen trees and debris all over the course. Their sandy soil is often very loose from all the water used to keep the fairways grass green.  That made it easy for trees to be toppled in the wind. 

Fallen tree on 18^th Fairway near Club House

But the fairways closest to the marsh were dealt the heaviest blow as they are most exposed to the wind.

Trees toppled on 18th Black tee off (above)

And Red tee off (below)

The wind also removed most of the sand from the back nine sand traps (and in some locations replaced the sand with trash)

The sand trap on 13 is down to bare earth and at marsh level.

The marsh bordering fairways also are located in the lowest elevations on the plantation. Five of the back none fairways showed evidence of being partially covered in salt water during the peak of the storm surge.  Needless to say, salt water and golf grass do not mix well,  so most the marsh bordering fairways will need new soil and sod.

Marsh Cord grass left behind on the 12th, 

16th, 

Marsh cord grass  on  the 17th 

and

  18^th fairways.

Dock and cordgrass on 12th fairway

There was enough of a high water surge to float some storm loosened crab docks onto the 12^th and 16th fairways

 Crab Dock on edge of 16th fairway and its sandtrap

The golf course maintenance people already have most of the debris cleaned up, but it is going to take awhile to get the course area re-sodded.

The day after Matthew:10 '16

The day after Matthew rolled through Pawleys Island the skies were clear, the temperatures hovered around 75 degrees F., and the wind was down to a gentle breeze. We were able to go out of so we started checking out the rest of our community as it became safe to so.

Tree down at 15-1 Twelve Oaks Drive

There was tree litter and broken branches everywhere along our block, but the road was still safe to drive and walk on.  A large tree had uprooted and fallen at the end of our cul-de-sac,

A couple of others had fallen in some residents back yards. e.g.15-1 above.

There was standing water where the storm drain had backed up during high tide, but there was no apparent damage to anyone’s home on our street.

Deeper in the plantation there was a lot more clean up to done.  Fortune smiled on our community. We did not see any damage to homes or cars or other structures. There was however a massive amount of broken / dangling limbs, and fallen branches, and  uprooted trees.

Dangling tree branch on PP way

Fallen branches  on Tanglewood Dr.

Entrance to Weehaka Woods blocked by fallen pine

Most of the roads were completely impassable due to downed trees and debris.

There were 4 downed trees at front entrance blocking anyone from entering or leaving or leaving the plantation.

The good news is that the retaining ponds did not overflow, so the road hazards within the plantation did not include standing water.

Ponds near Savannah Dr.  X Old Augusta Dr.  X PP Way 

The Ponds were full but not overflowing.

Downed Tree on Tanglewood by 10th Tee off

Clean up crews had started at first light cutting downed trees and cutting broken dangling branches, and  pushing debris into big piles along the sides of the road.  The pile shown below was from clearing a single lane through just one side of Tanglewood Dr. The other half of the road had not yet been clear That pile stretched the entire length of the road and measured 5 feet high by eight feet deep.

Debris piled along one section of Tanglewood Drive

There was so much to be done that by 10 am they had only managed to clear a single lane from the Front gate to the Clubhouse.  

But the clean up crews really work fast. By late afternoon, Pawleys Plantation way could handle two way traffic and all other roads were accessible by at least a single lane.

Beautiful way to end the day. 6'16

What a beautiful evening

New Development Day VI 6 ' 16

Its Day Six of the  New Development ( There was no work on Saturday or Sunday)

The Big CAT   worked on the intersection of 17th and 18th fairways for most of the day.

Around noon, it  showed up behind  our units and began  clawing at the larger shrubs  behind the 108-3 and 108-4 units.   It removed most of the vegetation but left a small thin line of shrubs facing our property line  for the tractor to take out  later.

Interesting Find in Them Thar Woods: 6 '16

There's some interesting stuff  being exposed in them thar woods.  

Even before the forest was  cleared,   I could always see the outline  of of a dark shape about 70 feet into the woods behind unit 108-1, but  I never dared to check it out for fear of snakes and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Once the bulldozer cleared away the undergrowth around it, the  heavily overgrown remnants of a chimney of some sorts emerged.     I got a little excited as I approached it, thinking maybe we had just discovered a rice chimney left over from the days when this land was a plantation. But the both the brick and mortar seem a bit too modern for that era

   On the other hand the shape is wrong for a house chimney, and there is no evidence of there being any building's foundations around it.   Our local farmers  and homeowners typically make  open burn piles  when  they wish to incinerate yard waste, so an out of door incinerator seems unlikely.  It is not clear what this might  have been used for, so it looks like we have a mystery on our hands.  I'm just going to report it to our Homeowners Architectural Review Board,  and let them figure out if it has any historical significance.

New Development, Day V p.m: 6'16

Right after lunch, they began clearing the forest out from behind unit 92-1

Since a good twenty feet of the undergrowth  behind units 92 3 -to 92-6 had already been cleared, it didn't take the bulldozer long to move onto to the forest behind  our building.

That little bulldozer is remarkably powerful.   It chews through trees like they are twigs, and spits them out in big cloud of dust.

The bulldozer quit for the the day at 5 pm,  directly behind  unit 108-3 .

 By that time, the first three units of  Building 108 could see all the way through to Tanglewood, the golf course, and the clubhouse.

Meanwhile The BIG CAT had been working on the opposite side of the forest next to the golf course.  It ended the day by opening up a swatch of forest  along the overgrown service road at the end of Twelve Oaks drive .