Seasonal Changes, Repairs & Organization
Greetings from the island everyone. I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the beginning of Fall weather.
Well, my privacy fence is pretty much repaired from the damages caused by Hurricane Harvey. I had a few sections blown down and about thirty pickets that were broken and needed replacing, so I boated out the pickets from POC Hardware and made the repairs.
One of the positives that came out of the damaged fence, was that while a section was down that faces out onto Matagorda Bay, I saw that there was a beautiful water view to look out at while sitting out on the porch. I spend a lot of time out on that porch, and I had never realized this because the fence was erected prior to the outside covered deck/porch being built. So upon repairing that section, we cut the boards down several feet which allows me a beautiful view of the bay while enjoying the porch, and especially having my morning coffee out there.
And to take even more advantage of the outside porch, again especially in the mornings while watching the Weather Channel and during football season, we installed a nice 32” television out on the porch under the covered roof area. I feel like a fancy island guy now!
And one last outside-porch related change, after nearly twelve years of daily outside island use, and taking a beating from Hurricane Harvey, my porch glider swing finally fell apart and needed replacing. This glider was given to me by the family for my island house warming gift. So I replaced it with a nice cushioned hanging swing for guests to enjoy.
I’ve also been doing some outside cleaning up around the island cabin, both debris from the storm as well as just “stuff” that has accumulated for the nearly 18 years total that I’ve been out here. It’s amazing the amount of things that can be accrued over the years, and a good old debris cleanup is sometimes needed to make a place look presentable again. And the next Fall cleaning project will be inside the house with cabinets, pantry and everything else cleaned and arranged in an organized fashion. I plan on living in this exact spot for another 20+ years, so I gotta keep it looking presentable..
The tides have remained extremely high for several weeks in the bays, pushing the water close to my front yard and house. I am situated on a somewhat elevated spot where my house is, and it’s a good thing with these very high continuous tides.
The chickens and guineas are doing just fine, and I should start getting fresh eggs in about 5-6 more weeks. I’ve been letting them out of their pen and into the yard every evening so they can forage for bugs and have fresh grass to eat. Corky and Jetty are getting along just fine with them now, and don’t bother them in the yard.
Since I’ve become a bit more social recently, I’m making more trips across the bay at night. A hand-held spotlight works OK, but in rougher water it’s difficult to manage the spotlight, maintain a compass bearing, operate the boat throttle and steer at the same time. So while my boat was sitting at Clarks during a weekly supply run, Britton surprised me by installing a nice light bar atop my console handrail, enabling me to navigate much more safely across the bay at night. Thank you so much, I appreciate it!
Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone take care and have s great day.
