Haven Beach

Gravel road leading to Haven Beach

Last Thursday I decided to venture down to Haven Beach to see how the hurricane may have changed it.  Haven Beach is adjacent to the legendary Old House Woods, which is said to be haunted.

Even so, I am never afraid to go down here.  In fact I almost always go down there hoping to see something unusual. That's the way life is around here.  You have to make your own excitement by driving around hoping a ghost will jump out at you.  Or wandering aimlessly down the public beaches observing every little change from storm to storm.  Or just dodging the killer insects that divebomb  your vehicle as you're wandering aimlessly hoping for a ghost to jump out.

You know, the usual stuff people do.

Anyway, I've photographed the road leading to Haven Beach thousands of times before, but the sun was so bright this particular day I couldn't resist the urge to take more pictures, even if they are repetitious very similar to others I've posted before.

Could this be the next Blog Cabin? She has weathered many a storm, but she sure does need some TLC. Remnants of tattered floral wallpaper are visible in the upstairs windows as you drive by. I'm always riveted to this house and spend an inordinate amount of time lingering outside, absorbing it all in.

Do other people linger to absorb the intangible qualities of the remains of a house or just Chesapeake Bay Woman, the same person who just declared she drives around hoping to see ghosts because she's bored or procrastinating or otherwise lollygagging avoiding the details of her life?

I think Ann Marie told me a while back that the fire department intended to burn this house as part of a training exercise.  Thankfully that hasn't happened. Yet.

A flooded road.  A very familiar sight in Mathews.

Well, I knew it was too good to be true.

Just as I rounded the last bend in the road headed to the beach, I was met with too much water, at least more than my little Saturn could tolerate, and I forgot my hip boots that day.  (I'd walk barefoot through there but there's monsters! ghosts!  dead bodies! all sorts of creatures living in that swamp marshy area, so I never did get down to the beach to check it out and cannot report on any damage there. The other two beaches were altered somewhat but nothing drastic or unusual.

By the way, if anyone ever doubts Chesapeake Bay Woman's driving skills, I dare them to completely turn a vehicle around on this narrow gravel lane hugging deep, water-filled ditches with very soft shoulders and no place to turn around except in the road itself.

Also, I sincerely apologize for all that talk about dead bodies and monsters that last ridiculously long sentence pretending to be a paragraph.

The End.

Hurricane Irene, Part Three

An unwelcome guest in my back yard, also known as Queens Creek

Aside from strong winds, rain and an ardent desire to push Queens Creek up into my house, Hurricane Irene also brought widespread power outages.

At the peak of the storm Saturday afternoon/evening, afraid that any of the large pine trees surrounding my house could do me in at any moment, I moved down  to the dungeon basement, which I rarely visit.

The basement serves only two purposes.  It houses over forty years of Chesapeake Bay Family junk, and the Chesapeake Bay Children use it as a ripstick/skateboarding heaven, complete with Christmas strobe lights and graffiti.

But last Saturday night, it became my worst nightmare an emergency shelter.

I brought some Christmas candles candles, a flashlight and my cell phone downstairs and parked it for what seemed like an eternity many hours until the worst of the winds subsided.

Thank God for my cell phone, which allowed me to text.

This eclectic collection  of junk of stuff next to the lawn chair I was sitting in includes a picture that hung over our fireplace back in the 1970s; the Christmas candles candles that provided much-needed light; some wine, a half-eaten bag of sweet potato chips, the plastic box that holds memory cards of all the photos I've ever taken, and some more junk. Oh, there's a Coca-Cola can in there too, but I hate Coke and only took a sip.  I was desperate for entertainment and thought it might be fun. I'm wild and crazy that way, especially in the throes of a major storm. I'm pretty sure that can of Coke is still down there.  Who wants to bet it's still down there 20 years from now?

The previous shot was taken with the flash.  Here's what it really looked like.  I couldn't find that Coke even if I did want to drink it. 

The only source of communication with anyone amusement during the storm came from texting, however my cell phone's battery life was limited, so I had to pick and choose my communications wisely.

Some of the most entertaining text messages came from my neighbor in Hallieford across the creek.  She recently moved to Mathews after many years in Northern Virginia. Her husband went to high school with me and Chesapeake Bay Middle Sister, and they're temporarily living in his mother's house almost directly across the creek from my parents.

Her daughter and Chesapeake Bay Son played on the same soccer team last spring, so we've had many opportunities to commiserate get to know one another.

She has a superb sense of humor.

Anyway, she and I exchanged texts over the course of the storm, including the following which took place Saturday, just as things were really getting exciting around here.

Hallieford Neighbor:  "Your window treatments are exquisite! (Referring to the plywood panels covering the sliding glass doors facing her house.)  You must have hired the same designers we did.  Hope all is OK."

CBW, giddy from exhaustion and processed foods:  "HAAA!!!  I can't see a (insert an unsavory word here that is slightly stronger than "darn") thing, it's like a tomb in here!  Wine tastes the same though, so all is good.  Hope you all are OK too.  I have a generator and stuff, not that I know how to use it."

Important Safety Note:  CBW does indeed have a generator in her garage.  She has no idea how to use it, thus it was not pulled out once during the entire ordeal.  She had no intention of blowing her head off or dying from carbon monoxide, which would be the only possible outcomes if she got into a wrangle with a generator.

Hallieford Neighbor:  "Yep, we're sandbagging.  Well, we're putting Mother-in-Law's load of topsoil in garbage bags to keep water out of the basement where some of our stuff is stored.  Ain't this fun?"

CBW:  "B*tchin!  (Remember, CBW, who normally prefers PG-13 language, was exhausted, stressed out, worried, and had been sipping high fructose corn syrup from a can. In the dark. Pardon her foul language, but she just couldn't help it.)  Just how I pictured my life--I mean my weekend!"

Hallieford Neighbor:  "Didn't you CHOOSE to move back here?  I am still learning/musing/scrambling.  We will catch your stuff as it floats by.  Friends do that."

CBW:  "Bless you.  And yes, I chose this bliss.  I believe that is the definition of insanity:  Moving back to Mathews HOPING for a different outcome."

More photos and stories as time permits over this holiday weekend.

Otherwise, stay safe and hurricane-free, but do keep a close hold on friends, especially those who can keep you semi-sane and laughing in the throes of a major storm, whether that storm is figurative or literal.

p.s. Yesterday I drove down to one of the county beaches and am happy to report no major/horrifying/life-altering/disastrous erosion, although certainly there was an impact. The pictures I took will go up soon, assuming laptops, weather systems, and prevailing moods winds cooperate.

Have a great weekend!

Hurricane Irene, Part Two

Tabernacle Road, Post-Hurricane

Here, thanks to a quasi-cooperative laptop that allowed me to upload pictures, are a few more shots from Hurricane Irene.

Thanks, Laptop.  I'll resist the urge to toss you in the creek for at least one more day.

These photos are from my post-hurricane, pre-power-reinstated jaunt last Sunday.

Thinking I might like to take a trip to the beach, I headed down Tabernacle Road only to be met with a very familiar sight: water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink flooded roads.

Still, the flooding wasn't nearly as bad as other storms we've endured.

After I had power enough to charge my cell phone battery, I texted my high school classmate Johnny Pugh who lives down Bavon, which after so much as a good thunderstorm can be underwater--for weeks days:

CBW:  "Do I need to send Coast Guard search and rescue to Bavon or are you OK down there?"

Johnny Pugh:  (crickets) No response.

CBW:  Figured he had no power.  Or that he couldn't receive texts while donning that pesky emergency scuba gear. 

Next day, Johnny Pugh called to report that all was fine down there at the other end of the county unless you count having to use a sump pump in your yard just to get in your driveway not fine, and less hearty types just might.

Below are some shots from the Court House area.  Since nobody only one person from this country Mathews reads this blog, I should explain that our downtown area is known as the Court House.

Some of the Court House establishments had really prepared.

With all due respect, this will always be Foster's Department Store vs. the Halcyon building.
Some of us staunchly resist struggle with the concept of change.
But we're not talking about that.
We're admiring the hurricane adornments and admonitions.

Richardson's had sandbags to block what is normally a flood through  the main drag.
Check out the new sidewalk seating defined by that  recently constructed black fence.
Oh, and there's a puddle of water there in the foreground. 

Best Value, my favoritest grocery store, parked a trailer out front to protect their Shurfine products windows.
(Favoritest is so a word.)

This is Ridgefield Road, where I usually go jogging.
(Usually = Sometimes, maybe twice a  month once a week.)
Lots of leaves and brush on the ground, but no trees down.

Click here for this week's Gazette Journal which has way more factual more information on last weekend's storm.


p.s. Welcome to September.

Hurricane Irene

Queens Creek

Once upon a Friday, the view out of Chesapeake Bay Woman's back window, which faces Queens Creek, looked ominous but tranquil.

With the threat of a Category 2 hurricane approaching, the Chesapeake Bay Family decided to take a nap board up in preparation, even though what CBW really wanted to do was run away to Bora Bora take a nap.

So 46-year-old CBW and her 70-year-old father hauled plywood out of the basement, staggered up steps, teetered on ladders, banged heads against overhangs, struggled to see where screws needed to go, until, after much ado and more than a few foul words, they managed to seal up the sliding glass doors facing the creek.

Casa de CBW.

CBW, always a stickler for details  and on the cutting edge of obsolescence current events, was shocked to see that winds and rain had already started when she awoke Saturday morning. (She was under the misguided impression that the storm wasn't going to hit until later in the day.)

Do not adjust your dials.  Pardon these blurry shots, but I took these from inside the house, through dirty rain stained windows and screens.

As you can see, the tide was coming up into the yard, and white caps danced along the shore.

This is the same view only through CBW's tears because her power had gone out and she knew she'd be without internet for days on end very rainy windows. The wind and rain were fierce; however, we're accustomed to storms, and this wasn't much worse than your average nor'easter or tropical storm.

Of course that's just my uneducated opinion, and of course I didn't suffer major damage, so that's easy for me to say.  There were deaths associated with this storm, although none were in Mathews.

Every now and then, CBW would glance through the one sliding door that was not boarded up to make sure no trees had crashed down on her parents' house next door.

Luckily none did, but you can see how even here, very early in the storm, Mother Nature was showing off her  finest pruning skills on the pine trees.

CB Parents' House.  Clumps of pine needles all over the ground.

The next day?

It was almost as if nothing happened.

(Almost.)

This (below) was taken early in the day on Saturday from a window looking out towards the boat house and Miller's Cove.

Here the tide is already over the dock.

Later on, the tide came over the dock and seemed to swallow the boat house.

You can't really see it here, but the tide is waaaay up and overtaking the boat house.

The next day?

Almost as if nothing happened.

(Almost.)

Almost...

A very large pine branch came down onto the dock, nearly hitting the boat house.

Locust branch down during the storm.

And, I lost a major part of the locust tree.

Locust tree the day after.

Still, we fared very well, all things considering. There was no structural damage except minor issues with the dock which was dilapidated to begin with.

I'll share more photos from the storm later this week, when I have more time and more patience. These took over an hour to load because both my laptop and my desktop are old enough to draw Social Security checks, and they've decided to act ornery up at the same time.

In the mean time, I've received several inquiries from property owners (from as far away as Indonesia and France!) regarding the state of affairs here in the county.  For the most part we fared far better than expected.

If anyone reading has particular concerns, I am more than happy to travel to your property and take photos for you if you wish. Just e-mail me at ChesapeakeBayWoman@gmail.com. I enjoy hearing from you and am happy to help in any way.

Thanks for your patience as I continue my lifelong struggle with technology and things breaking down on me. Hopefully we'll have more pictures later in the week, and if we don't that just means both the laptop and the PC are resting comfortably in the bottom of Queens Creek after a run-in with Hurricane CBW.

The End.

Hurricane Irene : Interim Report Until Internet Service (and My Sanity) Is Restored

Mathews County survived Hurricane Irene!  There was plenty of fierce winds and lots of rain, but overall we came out OK.  The tide came up in the yard here, and trees and limbs came down, but otherwise there is not much to report other than the loss of power.

And on that topic alone I could write a novel.

Many people in the area are still without power.

Some of us are thrilled to have running water!*  power back but less than thrilled that internet service is still knocked out (depending on your provider).

I fall into that latter category.

(Hallieford Jim , who originally hooked me up with my internet service after hearing someone in the 21st century was still on dial-up, very calmly explained that the cell towers are running on reduced capacity, therefore internet is negatively impacted.  I thanked him and then blinked back tears, wondering what on Earth I'll do with all this internet-free time.  Surely I'm not supposed to do something productive, like clean the house or do laundry or (gasp!) talk to people?  Oh, the humanity!)

So, I'll report back with all the highlights of the storm when internet is back to normal, which will probably be close to Halloween long after the storm is even worth mentioning.

* What is worth mentioning now, since I had to explain it to my boss at work when he gave me the furrowed brow after hearing we couldn't take showers, is that most of Mathews is on septic systems and well water.  In anticipation of losing power, we're always instructed to fill up our bathtubs so we have water for rinsing off or flushing toilets, for example.  Two or more days of this is enough to make you want to run screaming off into the night a test of one's character, at best.  Two or more days of this plus no internet?  Is insanity. 

I'll be back on whenever my internet is back up and running properly.

Take care and have a great week.

- cbw

Bushel Baskets

Here are a few random shots from the public landing at Onemo.

These photos have nothing to do with the hurricane which is headed our way.

This is how I cope with disasters.  I casually mention them before taking an evacuation route to a state called Denial, where I ramble incessantly about anything else, such as bushel baskets on a dock.

Before I return to Denial, let me say that I'll post an update on the storm known as Irene as soon as possible after the worst is over, provided we have current (which is the Mathews word for power or electricity).

That update will have nothing to do with bushel baskets--unless that's what I'm using to pick up my personal belongings which have been strewn from here to Richmond.

Dear Richmonders,
If our 10-year-old swing set lands in your yard, you may keep it.  I've been meaning to haul it off for years now and never got around to it.  Enjoy!--Love, cbw

p.s. Here's hoping that everyone in the storm's path stays safe and that bushel baskets will be completely unnecessary.

p.s.s. Click here for step-by-step instructions on how CBW prepared for a previous storm and photographic evidence that we'll probably be underwater here this weekend.