Greetings from the island everyone. Hope all of you are doing well and enjoyed Christmas with the family a few weeks ago. The nasty weather kept Barnacle and me stranded on the island this year. In fact, it was fourteen days, due to bad weather or extreme low tides, before I could finally make a run to the mainland last week. I was eager to make it in because Mom had saved me some of her delicious holiday chicken dressing, none better have I ever tasted.

Before being able to make the trek across the bay into town, I was down to two slices of bread, one link of deer sausage, no dog food or chicken feed and on the fumes of propane. Thank goodness I had plenty of eggs, so for the last few days before going in, the chickens and Barnacle and I survived on scrambled eggs. Admittedly, it wouldn’t hurt my super-size manly physique to go a few days of fasting, but I don’t like cutting it that close. I was very low or completely out of most essentials, so after the trip in and $230 later at Walmart, I’m stocked back up again for awhile.

I can already see that this winter will be much more wintry than last year. It seems as though we have had more mornings in the 40’s during the first twenty days of winter this year, than all of last. And the northers are blowing harder and for longer periods of time than I recall them blowing last winter, resulting in very low tides that prohibit me from getting off the island. But thankfully we are getting some rain with the nasty weather, so my water tanks are staying at a nice level now. Yep, no doubt this winter will be what typical south Texas winters normally are. . . cold, windy, wet, foggy and pretty much miserable. Better stock up on plenty of propane and pull out those flannel sheets.

I came across the most unusual beach find a few weeks ago. An old five gallon bucket with screw-on lid washed ashore, having barnacles and algae growing on it. Unable to remove the lid, I took it back to the cabin and cut off the top with a circular saw. Inside the bucket was an assortment of items, including an overnight toiletries bag, small batteries, a knife, brand new outboard gas tank pressure bulbs, and twelve assorted cell phones/walkie talkies and a hand-held GPS.

The electronics had been tightly wrapped in plastic, but the salt water had still entered into them and all were ruined. However a Fossil stainless wrist watch with stainless band was still working! Other than a broken link and some tarnish, the watch works perfectly. There was nothing inside the bucket that would identify an owner or point of origin, so who knows where this bucket began its ocean journey. Once again, you just never know what might wash ashore on the beach.

That’s it from the island for now. I’m looking forward to a visit from my California sister, Darla, this week and hoping she will bring a bag of pistachios. Everyone take care and stay warm and dry.