Clint & Barnacle
Greetings from the island everyone. Hope all of you are doing well and surviving the summer heat. I know one thing, compared to Victoria, the island feels like a winter paradise! The rare times that I’m forced to venture there, the radiating heat from all the asphalt, concrete and buildings, along with no cool Gulf breeze, makes me feel like I’m in a hellish inferno. No thank you sir!
I’ve needed to make a few trips in lately for materials to construct a new prototype of the hand-held underwater flounder light I designed. After seven years and eleven previous attempts, I think that I finally may have perfected it, or I hope so anyway. Entirely self-contained, with 3 hour run time battery enclosed in the handle, bright as all get-out, very nice. I’m currently working on obtaining a patent for it – love having little projects going on.
Well I don’t even like mentioning the dreaded word during this time of year (am I a little crazy?, umm, YEAH!), but the peak of “H” season, meaning hurricane, is upon us. In all honesty, we have no control whatsoever as to when, or if a serious storm will develop, and most importantly where it will make landfall. I don’t mind admitting that I’m forever pulling for that projected path to be ANYWHERE other than where I am. Is that wrong to feel that way? Maybe, but I think the Lord understands my reasoning. I think.
The most important aspect of the season is to be as prepared as you possibly can. Have a game plan just in case, have pre-cut sections of plywood for all of your windows and doors, pick up and store any loose items that could act as projectiles. Living out here on this barrier island presents a whole new and much more involved set of circumstances to contend with as well. My concern is really not the wind, but instead the force of the surge, with a 6-10 feet wall of water barreling across the island and wanting to dislodge and destroy everything in its path. A simple high rise in the water level tides will create some issues, but nothing compared to having that surging force behind it.
I have to make certain to move everything up as high from the ground as possible. My upstairs is 9 feet up, so I cram all that I can up there, and everything else in the 5 feet above ground storage building. I board up every door and window, and then I go in to the mainland to say a little prayer and wait it out. The chickens would have to fend for themselves, they simply are not a priority in that set of circumstances.
The bottom line is you gotta be prepared and have a plan of attack, and know that you’ll have to bust your tail to get ready if the dreaded “H” is headed your way. But then again, don’t get all drama queen just because a storm is forming 2000 miles away, the Weather Channel employees will provide that drama queen mentality for you. When, and if it enters the Gulf, I start paying close attention. Until then, just relax and laugh at the drama attention seekers out there, you’ll see plenty.
Well I’m already preparing for the next Spring gardening season. I don’t usually do much Fall planting, just too dang hot. My tomato crop did pretty well this year, and I’ll replenish my garden soil before Spring to better my chances for next time. I’ll mix in plenty of compost and organic fertilizer to the soil, some lime and gypsum and bone meal, all organic additives. My watermelon and cantaloupe patches are nearing their end, and did fair. For some reason I had a problem with blossom end rot on my melons, the first time for that. My cantaloupes did much better, having grown one behemoth that weighed 8.13 lbs, and 27” in circumference. Now that’s a big dang cantaloupe!
“Roadside” variety cantaloupe, 8.13 lbs., 27” in circumference
Last of Clint’s tomatoes hanging to ripen.
