Happy Thanksgiving (and catching up)

I started out in fog.
After it lifted, smoke from distant fires kept things hazy

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I don’t know why I haven’t been blogging except that I have been busy.  I could be grading papers now, but its Thanksgiving and I decided that can wait till tomorrow.  There’s a lot for which I am thankful.  I am enjoying life and my daughter is home for the holiday.  It’s been wonderful talking to her.  Unlike much of the year, I am healthy and can once again take long walks.  Of course, there are still a number of things eating at me.  I haven’t caught up from Hurricane Matthew’s interruption and as a reminder, there is still a log pile and a pile of brush in my front yard waiting pickup.  They say it might be next year…  And I am blessed as to having been able to sail on three occasions and last Friday took the first long kayak paddle since the summer.  And since I’m bragging as I give thanks, I should mention that last Sunday evening I decided to go swimming at the gym (I normally don’t go to the gym on Sunday and if I want exercise will either walk or bike).  For the first time in eight years, I swam a mile without stopping!   And then there are the Cubs.  As the Pirates couldn’t make the World Series, I enjoyed watching the Cubs.

Of course, there are things with which I’m not happy.  I am proud to be able to boast that I have yet to watch a reality TV show.  But I'm not proud to realize that I am living in one.  I tried my best to avoid dealing with the elections on social media and didn’t blog at all about it.  I wasn’t very pleased with my options.  The decision, from my point of view, was between a tired brand who has made some bad decisions and wasn’t always forthcoming with the truth (Clinton) and a demagogue (Trump).  At one point, I thought I might vote for Johnson.  I enjoyed the humor he brought to the campaign and wish he could have joined the debates.  They might have covered some real issues.  But his seeming lack of knowledge about anything beyond our borders (not being able to name a single foreign leader and thinking Aleppo was some kind of acronym) caused me to sour on him.  So, in the end, I voted with the majority and lost.   Yesterday, we learned that Amway’s first lady, Betsy DeVos will be the education secretary.  Her most qualifying attribute appears to have been funding private school systems while the public schools in her home town of Grand Rapids are so bad.  Well, under her tutelage, I’m sure America schools will graduate excellent Amway sales personnel.   We’ll no longer have to go to Egypt to see pyramids.  Well, there is a lot more I could complain about, so maybe I better sign off.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.  Instead of a turkey, we did ham.  And instead of pies, we had banana pudding.  And we ate on the back deck, wearing short-sleeves!  The rest of the day I spent reading and taking a long walk.  Did I say that I was thankful to be able to walk again?   

Post Hurricane Blues and the removal of a tree

The leaning pine before the clean up started

 Everyone seems to have the blues.  Things have been crazy after the hurricane (and then there was that unexpected hospital stay the week before the storm).  We are all on edge, it seems.

At least the number of calls for the fire department have decreased.  The week after the storm, as trees were coming down, we had many calls for broken gas and electrical lines.  All the utilities are under ground, but as trees uprooted, they broke gas and electrical lines.

One of the strangest call was for a burning palm tree.  The owners of the house had no idea why it was burning but it was burning all up the trunk.  We pulled a one inch line and started to douse the tree, then the fireworks started.  The problem was the electrical lighting in the ground (which were covered with saw dust from another tree that had been removed).  The wires were damaged and shorting out, causing the fire.  When water started soaking the ground, the sparks started.  Certainly one of the more interesting fire calls.

In addition to my volunteer work, I have also been teaching graduate class at a local university.  It is my first time teaching on this level and I'm enjoying the class but it is requiring a lot from me so some things have to slide and blogging in one of them.  So with that excuse, I will post a photo essay from one of our trees that was dangerously leaning after the storm.  It cost $1500 to remove this tall pine and a smaller maple that was dying.

This was a big tree

Life hasn't been all work.  I have enjoyed the World Series (one that I want both teams to win).  On Saturday, I did sail and in four races we took three first place finishes and one very close second place finish.  The second place finish was because our spinnaker twisted and it took too long to get it to fly, allowing the other boat to overtake us on a downwind run.  We were only seconds behind as we crossed the finish line.

Topping out the tree

Piecing down the trunk
a crane lowered each piece

The limbs were feed into a shredder...
One of the workers told me bodies had to be frozen
or they made  a mess!

The stump grinder

Chewing up the tree

Finishing up with the maple stump
(I"m still waiting for the county to pick up stuff in the yard)

Hurricane Matthew Update

Preparing to evacuate (before the storm)

This past week has been crazy.  Last Thursday afternoon, after working with my staff to secure the office computers (my manager took the server with him and I took the backup for it with me) and securing what I could around home, we all headed to safer locations inland.

Georgia Central Engine in Dublin, GA

I went to Dublin, unfortunately not the one in Ireland but in south-central Georgia.  There I hung out for two and a half-days as we watched Hurricane Matthew chew its way up the eastern seaboard.  With fears of tide surges as high as eleven feet and wind and waves on top of that (my house is at 14 feet above sea level), I was a little nervous as to what I might come back to find.  In all, it wasn't too bad except for the 1000s of trees down or leaning precariously.  The survey of the golf courses on the island (there are six) indicate that the courses themselves have 1500 trees down.  We didn't lose any trees at home, but one huge pine is leaning over and will have to be cut down.  If it falls, it won't damage any houses, but will block our road.

Our community is known for funny street names.
This street names seems prophetic

The storm hit our area around 2 AM on Saturday morning.  From those who stayed, 4 AM was the witching hour when the winds were at the peak and trees could be heard falling all around.  Being a volunteer firefighter, I was allowed back on the island early and arrived back Saturday afternoon around 4 PM.  I had to go through several checkpoints (showing my ID badge) to get back into the county.  There was no power and thankfully little traffic, so it wasn't too hard to make it through Savannah and out to Skidaway.  Crews were already hard at work and the main roads were passable.  I spent Sunday and Monday with a crew opening roads and checking on those who rode out the storm (some had to have trees cut to get out of their garages) along with homes of friends.



Power came back on Tuesday and Wednesday, depending on where you lived.  I cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer.  That was our biggest loss.  Thankfully, few people on the island  had water damage (unlike what's happened in North Carolina and in Haiti).  On Tuesday, we set the office back up and on Wednesday, we were back at work...  Like I said, it's been a crazy week.  Here are a few photos:

back deck after the storm

House after the storm (the leaning tree is not in the photo)
If you compare it to the photo above,
you'll see how trees behind the house were "thinned out"

Fixing coffee first morning back

Fixing lots of coffee on the second morning back!
Notice the "tree" on the propane bottle with a light on top

Catching up

You don't get much of a view for the money...

A week ago, I was in the hospital.  This was a first for me.  I have had two surgeries, the latest last January, but both were out-patient.  This all changed surprisingly last Monday when I woke at 3 AM, thinking I was coming down with the flu.  I was sweating and freezing while my body ached, classic flu symptoms.  I moved to a recliner at 6 AM, having drenched my bed-sheets.  I sent a few emails out, redoing my schedule as there was no way I was able to make meetings scheduled for the morning.  As I was getting ready to take Ibuprofen, a little before nine in the morning, I decided to take my temperature.  It was 104 degrees.  I called my doctor and he said go straight to the emergency room.  30 minutes later, I had IVs dangling above me as they pumped fluids and antibiotics into my body.  My heart was racing (up to 125 a minute), my white blood count was around 18000, and I felt like crap.  They began treating me for sepsis.

Six days earlier I had a simple procedure.   The doctors didn’t think it was going to be anything to worry about but since my PSA levels (which is released by the prostate) had been rising, they thought it advisable to have a biopsy.  It was a mildly uncomfortable procedure, with the doctor shooting something through the wall of my anus into the prostate.  When it was over, I felt like someone pushed a shotgun up my butt and fired a round of birdshot.  But by the next day, I felt fine. I was back at the gym, on Friday I took a decent bicycle ride.   Even as late as Sunday night, when I was at a reception which I was to give a short talk, I was feeling well.  But that changed on Monday morning.  The urologist had warned me to get back to him if I had a temperature over 100 degrees F in the 48 hours following the procedure, but I was well beyond that window.  I stayed two nights in the hospital, eating crappy food and watching an even crappier Presidential debates (heaven help us if this is the best we can do).  On Wednesday, they sent me home with lots of antibiotics, which I’ll be on for another week or so.  I go back the middle of next week to see the urologist.

    

I am trying to take this week as vacation.  I was going to be in the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp for several days, but being that far from care if something arises (along with the unpleasant side effects of the drugs), I cancelled that as well as a bike trip.  Then I planned a road trip to Warm Springs and Plains, GA, places I haven’t been, but now I’m waiting to see if Matthew is going to visit.  

The good news.  As I was getting out of the hospital, my urologist stopped by and said the biopsy had come back clear.  At least I won't have to worry about that!  More later

Cumberland Island

Two posts back I mentioned going to Cumberland Island as we stayed at a historic hotel in St. Mary's, Georgia.  This is our trip:

We took the morning ferry over to Cumberland Island.  The day was warm as we were still in our streak of days over 90 degrees, days when the heat index was rising over 110.  There was little wind when we boarded the ferry for its 45 minute ride to the southernmost of Georgia’s Sea Islands.  These islands stretch from the Santee River in South Carolina to Amelia Island, which is just across the Florida border.   We snaked our way through the St. Mary’s River and into the Cumberland Sound.  At the mouth of the river, across from the large paper mill on Florida’s Amelia Island, we headed north.  (Why Florida allowed such a thing on one of these beautiful islands is unknown to me.  Thankfully, most of Georgia’s islands are protected. 

As we head north, to starboard is Cumberland Island; off port, somewhat hidden behind another island, is King’s Bay Naval Submarine Base.  The ferry makes a short stop at Dungeness, where a few people planning to stay for the day depart, and then continues on to Sea Camp, where we depart.  Coming into the island, we have a mandatory ranger talk about what we can and can’t do on a National Seashore.  She hands out red film for us to put over our flashlights if we want to walk on the beach at night.  We are coming into turtle hatching season and the young turtles will mistake flashlights for the moon and get lost as they make their way back to the water (we don’t see any turtles).  Then she assigns campsites (there are four of us).  Not knowing anything about the sites, I take one she suggests for being great for hammocks.  Next time I will ask for a campsite closer to the ocean in order to get the maximum breeze.  We hike the half mile to the assigned site, set up camp and then head to the beach.  It’s heavenly. 

There are some twenty miles of beach on Cumberland Island and only a handful of people are out enjoying the sun.  We set up an umbrella to give us some solar protection and spend a leisurely afternoon reading.  I take a couple of dips in the ocean.  The water in the beaches further north in Georgia have low visibility because of the amount of silt coming out from rivers.  But Cumberland Island is larger and the water clearer.   After a couple of hours, we retreat back to our camp, have dinner and then walk back over to the sound for an incredible sunset.   

On our second day on the island, we begin walking north along the beach.  We just missed the sunrise, but enjoy incredible views and watch birds play in the surf.  The shrimp boats are out working early.  We return to the camp under the tangled trees, fix breakfast of oatmeal and perked coffee, before heading back out.

Maritime Forest (live oaks, saw palmetto, pines, holly)

Entrance to Dungeness

We take the river trail down to the Dungeness ruins.  At one time a community was situated around this estate and many of the buildings still stand.  The first house on the site was built by Catherine Greene, the widow of General Nathanael Greene.  Her husband had been granted land on the island as a part of his pay for service during the Revolutionary War.  Interestingly, it was in the Greene home that Henry “Light-horse Harry” Lee, father or Robert E. Lee, died.  He had stopped there on a return trip from the West Indies.  He was sick and nursed by Nathanael Greene’s daughter.  After his death, the naval attachment based in St. Mary’s provided the Revolutionary War hero a military funeral on the island.  The first Dungeness fell into ruin in the middle of the 19^th Century.  Even in ruins, the place is incredible.  To have been at this house during its day, when there were large parties and the gardens were in bloom would have been a treat.  While walking around, we keep bumping into wild horses that still inhabit the island.  Two of the horses have found a low live oak to use as a backscratcher and are seemingly pleased with themselves.

Horses and wild turkeys 

Horses scratching their backs

Ruins

In the 1880s, Thomas Carnegie, brother of Andrew and also a wealthy industrialist in his own right, brought much of the island.  On the ruins of the first Dungeness, he built a much larger and more elegant home, which he also called Dungeness.  Sadly, he died before he could see the finished home, but his widow and family continued to live in the home until 1925.  The home was abandoned and burned in 1959.  

Laundry Room 

Around the home are houses for servants (which many Park Service employees stay when on the island), a huge laundry, an ice house (ice was sailed down from New England and stored for parties), a boat house, a huge barn and assorted other buildings that helped make life in the 58 room mansion comfortable.  About eight miles north of Dungeness is Plum Orchard Mansion.  It was built for Thomas and Lucy’s son.  It’s open for tours, but we decide not to hike that far (we could have rented bicycles, but decided against it because of the heat).  At the far end of the island is Greyfield Inn, which was built for one of their daughters.  That mansion is still operated by a member of the Carnegie family as a guest lodge.  Nightly Lodging starts at $645, which includes three meals and an afternoon tea.  Most of the island was given to the National Park Service in the early 70s to create Cumberland Island National Seashore.

Dungeness before the fire

Main Road that runs the length of the island

Sunset with approaching storm

After we toured the ruins of Dungeness, we hike back to our camp, have lunch and then head to the beach for another wonderful afternoon of sitting under an umbrella and enjoying the sound of the surf.  The wind comes up, so it doesn’t feel as hot as the day before.  However, the wind dies around sunset, which we again watched from the marsh side.  It appears we might get a thunderstorm and there’s some spectular lightning in the distance, but the shore breeze keeps the storms inland.  Without the wind, it’s another hot humid night of sleeping on top of the sheet.  In the early morning, I’m awaken by something rustling and making a racket in our campsite.  I wonder if I had left the door open to the food box that the park service provides, but upon looking realize it’s just an armadillo.  Those animals are as graceful as a Sherman tank.  At dinner the evening before, we saw a whole family of raccoons make their way through the camp (which is why they have food boxes mounted on poles), but they didn’t bother us.

Looking south at sunrise (toward paper mill on Amelia Island)

Thanks to the armadillo, we’re up well before sunrise on our final day on the island.  We take a long hike at sunrise, then return to camp to fix breakfast (oatmeal and perked coffee).  Then we pack everything and hike to the dock in time for the 10:30 AM boat to the mainland.  I will return to this island as there is so much more to see. 

Traveling tip:  If you go to the island and stay at sea camp (which is only a half-mile walk), you can rent carts to haul stuff.  Others came with coolers and stuff.  Although there are no stores on the island, you can buy ice from the ferry (which comes to the island four times a day during the summer).  They also sell snacks and sodas.  We chose to hike in, but did have folding beach chairs strapped to our packs and an umbrella, which added a lot of weight but was worth it for spending hours on the beach.   

Have you been to Cumberland Island?  Would you be interested?