Clint & Barnacle

Drought And Seaweed Visit The Island

Greetings from the island everyone. Hope all of you are doing well and enjoyed a nice Mother’s Day with Mom last Sunday. Barnacle and I normally would have gone in and spent the day with Mom, but a few days earlier Mr. Dog was at the vets office having surgery to remove a growth on his chest, so we stayed put on the island. But after his overnight stay at Dr. Motl’s, we stayed an additional night at Mom’s, so we had a nice visit. And Barnacle is doing much better, getting back to his dog ways.

The island and my garden need rain in a desperate way right now. It has been several months since any decent rain has fallen from the heavens out here. To keep the tomatoes, peppers, squash and watermelons/cantaloupes going, I’m having to water almost daily. And even though I use well water, there’s something about the rain falling from the sky that does a much better job, causing the plants to thrive and flourish. I’ve already dug up my red potatoes, with seven plants producing nearly 50 nice spuds. I just cut out and planted the eyes from two potatoes that came from the feed store, making sure to plant them only one inch deep.  Nothing better than quarter to fifty-cent piece size red potatoes, very delicious.

My eggshell tomato plants, from seeds that I started inside of partial eggshells, have now been planted in the ground and are doing very well. It was just a novelty experiment that I saw on Facebook, but was fun to try and actually worked very well. Now to see how they taste in a few months, yum!

The sargassum sea grass has begun its annual invasion along the beach. It began washing ashore a few weeks ago and is already several feet deep along some areas. This is a common Spring/Summer occurrence, and is part of nature’s way to slow down beach erosion, at least I think so anyway. I’ll soon be heading down to the beach to fill up a dozen or so shrimp baskets with the seaweed, to compost it down into a soil consistency and add it to my garden soil. After rinsing it with fresh water, it can also be used as a mulch around your plants, and will eventually break down and mix in with the soil. It’s a great organic fertilizer that is free for the gathering.

A few months ago I made mention of occasionally finding dead marine mammals along the beach and bay shoreline on the island. In order to preserve and use the pieces to educate others, I would clean and display them at the cabin. Well, apparently there is a proper procedure to adhere to in regards to salvaging dead marine specimens. You can absolutely legally possess these items (Section 50CFR216 – Marine Mammal Health & Stranding – National Marine Fisheries), but there is a proper simple and free procedure to follow. For information regarding the proper steps, you can call 727-824-5323.  But hey, at least I got to meet a State Warden and two Federal Wardens, and now have contacts should I ever need them, and all three are great professional guys.

I enjoyed a weekend visit from Kelli Conway and two of her friends a few weeks ago here on the island. They camped out on the beach, and despite very windy conditions, they had a great time and caught a few nice fish at the Big Jetties.  Of course they are probably STILL digging out sand from unspeakable places.  Hope to see y’all again sometime.

Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone take care and have a great day.

Crawfish Eating Contest Winner - Donny Ducote

The second annual Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce Crawfish Fest and Cook-off was held on May 3 on King Fisher Beach where the weather was perfect. This event will benefit King Fisher Beach and Park for maintenance and a new pavilion. Chamber President, Mary Jo Walker stated that the chamber is much closer to the needed funds for this project. The chamber estimates there were 3,000 – 4,000 people who attended this year’s event. The Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce is happy to report that a net profit of $17,000 was raised that will go into the building fund for the new pavilion.

This event was free to the public with the chamber selling Crawfish plates and drinks as their fundraiser. The chamber sold booth spaces to 31 vendors and 19 crawfish cookers. Winners of the Crawfish Cook off were Best Crawfish – Cavallo Coastal Cookers; Best Cajun Dish—Back Porch Cookers; Best Decorated Booth — The Spicy Shack. We can guarantee that everyone had a wonderful time. The crawfish eating contest was a huge draw with people cheering on their favorite contestant. Danny Ducote was the winner of this contest. Donnie Klesel and his team did a fantastic job with this event.

The MUDCATZ, Bill Pekar and the Rainey Brothers, and Andrea Marie and Magnolia played throughout the day. People of all ages brought their chairs or sat on the grass to listen to the wonderful music. It was truly a day at the park with families enjoying each other, the festivities, and the weather.

There were games for the kids and adults alike. Horseshoes game was a hit on the sand volleyball area. The kids enjoyed sidewalk chalk drawing and bean bag toss. Some families then went on to spend time at the beach and play in the shallows of the bay. Boats were anchored in the shallows of the bay allowing families to enjoy the beach and the music.

If you missed the festival this year, mark your calendars for May 2, 2015. Join us for the annual the Crawfish Fest & Cook off benefiting King Fisher Beach and Park. If you would like to be a part of the planning stages for 2015 contact Mary Jo Walker shrimper@tisd.net or Patti Elkins patti@tsfmag.com ; we will put you on a committee. It takes us all to be successful more now than ever.

Winners of Crawfish Cook Off Cavallo Coastal CookersCrawfish Cook Off - 1st in Wildcard Dish Back Porch Cookers

Best Decorated Booth - Spicey Shack

Ritha and Kim Bunurai are the owners of The Donut Palace, which will soon be opening in Port O’Connor. With over 20 years experience, this couple cooks up some of the tastiest donuts you’ll find anywhere. They own and operate The Donut Palace at two locations in Port Lavaca where they serve a large variety of donuts, along with kolaches, pigs in the blanket, and breakfast croissants.

Port O’Connor’s Donut Palace will be open seven days a week from 4:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

Ritha and Kim reside in Port Lavaca. They have two children, eight-year-old Kimberly, who attends HJM Elementary and 20-year-old Kevin, a student at UT in San Antonio.

Watch for their opening at 13th & Adams (the old Shamrock, to us locals) and stop by and welcome them to Port O’Connor.

PUBLIC NOTICE:

GOLF CART/UTV NIGHT DRIVING IS ILLEGAL

The Sheriff’s Department is enforcing this law and writing tickets to drivers. It is a moving violation and will affect the drivers record.

School Year: 2013 – 2014, 5th 6 Weeks

A Honor Roll

First Grade: Jasmin Banda, McKenna Boedeker, Maci Bryan, Briley Christensen, Layton Davenport, Braylyn Galloway, Natalie Hunt, John Jacobs, Alexandra Mallory, Mackenzie Moncrief, Trevon Ragusin, Nevaeh Rangel and Lily Waghorne.

Second Grade: Andrea Hataway, BreAnn Kelley, Trinity Morgan, Jonathan Nguyen, Braeden Ragusin, Sydney Rasmussen, Tyler Salinas, Annabelle Thurman, Diem Tran and Natalia Zarate.

Third Grade: Tres Canales, Eda Gilliland, Ayden Maddux, Jacob Nguyen and Hector Perez.

Fourth Grade: None

Fifth Grade: Spencer Allen, Jacob Vivas and Ireland Williams

Sixth Grade: Keegan Brumfield

Seventh Grade: Heather Glover, Krislyn Key and Anna Sachteleben

Eighth Grade: Torri Mikolas

A-B Honor Roll

First Grade: Taylor Blevins, Brilee Crittenden, Kylee Green, Ariel Henson, Karlye Jordan, Dillon Morales, Destiny Starkweather and Ethan Saenz.

Second Grade: Cody Frias, Cruz Mayorga, Athyn Morales, Edgar Munoz, Miguel Munoz, Nevaeda Munoz, Aaron Rios, Mia Salazar, Emma Spencer and Phillip Vazquez.

Third Grade: McKenzie Bierschwale, Keaton Cady, Creasie Gohlke, Tyler Henson, Kathy Huerta, Emma McWherter, Tim Pham, Nate Saenz and Natalie Sanders.

Fourth Grade: Lysette Estrada, Noah Estrada, Destiny Garza, Maritza Jaramillo, Aaron Jonas, Terrick Martinez and Jayda Nguyen.

Fifth Grade: Shelby Cady, Caleb Gregory, Kinley Lowery, Fernie Mendez, Stormy Mills, Matthan Morgan, Jason Nguyen, Andrew Ragusin, Christopher Salinas, Joseph White and Logan Whitaker.

Sixth Grade: Dylan Beaver, Madison Bierschwale, Emily Cain, Ashley Hockett, Ethan Mikolas, Hunter Mitchell, Danny Munoz, Amber Rodriguez and Liliana Torres.

Seventh Grade: Haley Bales, Kellie Blevins, Andrew Chavez, Karley Gregory, Daniel Martinez, Danielle Morales, Joseph Thigpen and Chloe White.

Eighth Grade: Mycheala Bierschwale, Layne Blevins, Raquel Clinton, Shelby DeForest, Sean Estes, Victoria Gilliland, Savanah Marek, Abigail Morgan, Dustin Nguyen, Carlos Pena, Jennifer Rodriguez, Erika Ruiz, Kelsey Vannoy and Ethan Wooldridge.