Winter Arrives At The Island
Greetings from the island everyone. I hope all of you are doing well and surviving this nasty winter weather and terrible flu season. I have been very fortunate and caught only a bad cold last month, but I’ve had friends suffer the full effects of the flu, getting well only after several weeks and doctor visits with prescribed strong cough medicine and steroids. Everyone please stay well, Spring time is near.
This truly has been a nasty, blustery and cold winter, for our south Texas area anyway. It has been years since I’ve seen the temps hit 26 degrees on the island, with a wind chill of 12 degrees. . . 12 degrees! Are you kidding me?! And a light drizzle mixed in brought a layer of ice covering everything out here, including the outside stairs leading to the bedroom upstairs, making a very slow and methodical trek downstairs that morning.
Because of the weather and high winds and extremely low tides, there was a stretch that I could not leave the island for exactly 10 days, either rough water or the shallow lagoon entrance keeping me here. I had the foresight to stock up the week prior on supplies and propane for heat. Of course one of those mornings I forgot to check the level of propane for the hot water heater, and ran out of hot water midway through taking a shower. . Oh my gosh, that water was cold!!
After having it nearly 12 years out here, my wonderful Weber gas grill finally bit the dust, falling victim to the corrosive elements and literally having the legs rusted completely off. I used that grill so much for preparing meals, including the side burner and using it as an oven. Thankfully my friends, Cricket and Jim, gave me a gift card to Home Depot for Christmas, so I used that to help purchase a brand new Weber propane grill. Yay! I’m hoping this one will provide another 12+ years of great service.
I’ve also recently discovered the wonderful advantages to using a crockpot for making meals. It’s nice being able to just throw everything into it, set it on High for five hours, and then have a great meal for the next several days. I have to run the crockpot off generator power, but that’s OK, I’ll run it into the evening while watching tv and charging batteries, and have the crockpot going at the same time. My best friend, Susan, gave me some great recipes, including one for delicious potato soup and several chicken recipes. If anyone has a crockpot recipe they would like to share, please send it to me in an email (provided at the end of this article). Thank you!
My chickens are laying so great right now, I’m getting 12-15 eggs every day from 17 hens. When I ordered these chickens in June, I was supposed to get two rooster chicks included, but apparently they were not sent. I enjoy having a rooster with the hens to look out for them, and I also like to hear the morning crowing, as long as it’s not TOO early. So a big thank you to Kelly & David for giving me “Tommy”, a beautiful young rooster for my flock. He is fitting in just fine and the guineas are adjusting to him. Tommy is a happy rooster.
Thank you to Britton and Susan for hosting and allowing me to join y’all, along with friends Lori, Don and Margie, in a nice get-together watching the Super Bowl. Everyone brought delicious food to enjoy and it was a great game. Thank you so much.
Well that’s it from the island for now. Everyone have a wonderful day, and I want to say that I truly appreciate the kind words about the monthly articles, from those of you that I meet on the mainland. Thank you.
Clint Bennetsen is a retired police detective who now lives full time on Matagorda Peninsula Island, and writes his monthly Island Life articles in the Dolphin Talk newspaper, telling of his off-grid island adventures. To contact, comment or ask questions, Clint can be contacted by email at ccbennetsen@yahoo.com, or dolphin1@tisd.net.
