Three Things

Edwards Creek, Gwynn's Island

Welcome to Three Thing Thursday, where I share three things and you share three things related to whatever topic happens to randomly spring to mind.

Let's begin.

1.  Yesterday the thermometer read 40-some degrees as I left the county at 6:15 a.m. for work.  By the time I reached Gloucester Point, about 30 minutes later, the temperature had risen to 57.  No lie. By lunch it was a balmy 67.  Overnight the temperatures plummeted back down into the 30s.  I'm pretty sure Mother Nature needs a small dose of lithium to stabilize her mood swings.  However, if she feels like getting stuck for the rest of her life in that 67-degree mood, I wholeheartedly encourage and support her efforts to do so.

2.  The DIY Network's 2011 Blog Cabin house renovation in Mathews is well underway.  Click here for a link to the latest activity, which includes voting for the bathroom design. The site describes the home as being in Susan, and technically it is.  However if I were in charge of that opening paragraph, I'd say the house is in Mathews County, Virginia.  People who live here an hour away from here (much less your average DIY Network viewer) don't even know where Mathews is, much less Susan, much less I can't believe how many times I've said much less.  Of course this is just a minor suggested change.  Otherwise everything looks fine.  Carry on, DIY Network! We're glad to have you here.

2b.  Dear DIY Network, if you have any connections in other segments of the reality TV world or Animal Planet the Comedy Channel, and those connections are looking for ideas, boy have I got a few good ones and they all involve Mathews County.  Surely by now you understand we're not only loaded with character, we're loaded with characters. 

3.  Today I'll venture down to the Court House and spend half my life half the day going through property records. Then I'll spend the rest of my life  the day at the library before heading to Irvington for Chesapeake Bay Daughter's basketball game.  Between the county records, the library and the offices of the Gazette Journal, I won't see the light of day again until summer, when hopefully the book will be behind me rather than looming like a catastrophic asteroid hurtling through space directly towards the 23076 zip code  like a thundercloud closely overhead.

Now it's your turn to share three things, whatever is on your mind.

Have a great Thursday.

Tuesday Trio

This shy old house down Whites Neck usually hides behind Mother Nature's abundant greenery on the few times I've come calling before, in the summer months.

But a few weeks ago, after one of our snow storms, she was exposed, vulnerable and very visible from the road.

I wanted to coax her out of her shell a little more, but that would have required trespassing getting out of my car or pulling into the driveway which, as you can see above, was full of brush snow.

It was too cold to get out.

Instead, I used the zoom lens from the warmth and comfort of my car on the main road.

There were no other cars around for miles.

And miles.

(Incidentally, a place called Miles is not too far from here.)

Don't you just want to run across that field and explore all around and inside that house?

I do.

Speaking of old houses, the DIY network is supposed to begin filming this month for their 2011 Blog Cabin series, which involves a farmhouse renovation down at Susan. This weekend I saw a very unexpected and most unusual sight in our dear county:  a taxi.  I don't think I've ever seen one here before, ever.  Putting two and two together, Sherlock I deduced there had to be some correlation.

A major network filming the same time as a once or twice in a lifetime spotting of a taxicab surely must be related.

At least in my little brain world.

And this concludes a post that started off about a timid farmhouse and ended up trying to explain why a taxicab would be patrolling Mathews County.

The End.

p.s. For the Mathews readers, have you ever seen a taxi around here?  Why wouldn't the person just rent a car?  By the time you pay cab fare for 50 - 75 miles (depending on whether you're flying in to Richmond, Norfolk or Newport News), wouldn't it make more sense to rent a car?  Am I the only one who has never seen a cab in the county? 

Do you know how many more questions I could ask if I didn't force myself to stop?  Too many, that's how many.  Have a great Tuesday. 

The Islander

This beautiful moon, hovering over Gwynn's Island, visited about a week ago.   

The Islander, once a flourishing motel, marina and restaurant, is there on the right. 

As we've said many times on this blog, the Islander is a little piece of heaven and local history in dire need of some attention. Sitting on one of the best pieces of real estate in the county, it has the potential to return to its former status as one of the premier vacation destinations for boaters, tourists, and locals alike.

But money (lots) and resources (considerable) would be required to complete such a project. 

For the moment, let's pretend that I own the property, which I don't, but for purposes of what is to follow let's just pretend. Daydreaming and pretending are pretty much how I survive. It pays to have a vivid imagination.  It doesn't seem to pay actual money--at all--but it pays in other ways such as physical and mental endurance when dealing with the day of the week called Monday and it is Sunday night as you write this.

Note to self:  If you use the word "it" any more in this post, a hand will reach through the computer screen and slap you. Not once, but twice. 

Why is the Commodores song Three Times a Lady starting up in my head?  

With the DIY Network people coming in town soon to begin filming for their next  Blog Cabin series, I see  a grand opportunity to match resources with potential projects.

Dear DIY Network Folks,

Mathews County is thrilled you'll be here soon to film your Blog Cabin show   featuring one of our lovely older homes.  We hope your project is a huge success and that your crew adjusts quickly to the unique quirks of our sometimes eccentric community which includes an oil-and-water blend a unique blend of Come Heres and From Heres, all of whom are engaged in a daily battle with insects, yard work,  heat and humidity every month of the year except January and half of February. 

When you've completed your project in Susan, could I take you for a drive over to Gwynns Island to visit the Islander?  I am convinced once you saw it* you'd find good reason to spend another couple of seasons here in Mathews.  

Also, if it* isn't asking too much, I'd like to take  you over to another house in Hudgins with a quasi-flooded basement, an electrical system gone awry, a malfunctioning hot tub, a pop-up camper that won't pop-up, three leaky faucets, some drywall damage to the ceiling where CB Son stepped through some insulation in the attic, a shoreline that needs bush hogging, and a worn out mother dock/boathouse that needs attention.

I really appreciate it. *  

Love,

CBW

What would you ask DIY Network to help you with?

* Slap! Slap!

Blog Cabin 2011 Coming to Mathews

This week's Gazette-Journal confirms that the DIY Network's Blog Cabin will feature a Mathews County home located on the Mobjack Bay in Susan.

The shot above is not from that house, but just play along.

Since most of the three of you who read are not from Mathews, I should explain that Susan is a place, a post office, a don't blink otherwise you've just missed it area in Mathews.

Since I no longer watch TV because I'm addicted to the internet I confess to being a stranger to Blog Cabin. Evidently the network purchases a property, fixes it up, and films an entire series around these renovations.  In the end, the house is given away to one very lucky sweepstakes winner.

This is all very, very exciting for those of us who want our own reality TV show and feel convinced we have all the makings right here under our noses who live in the county.  In addition to having a major network in our midst for months on end, the show will be great publicity for the county.  Perhaps most importantly, the show will also provide jobs and the experience of a lifetime for some of our local bloggers? contractors.  

Given the enormous culture clash these DIY'ers are bound to experience, I thought we could ease their transition by giving them some tips on how to survive in Mathews.  Let's see if we can get a good list going.  


Here is a start, in no particular order:

1.  Toss all GPS units into the Mobjack Bay, because they might actually work down there in the mud but they will not work in Mathews.  That GPS Lady thinks she knows what she's talking about, but she's full of hot air and hush puppies most of the time.

2.  Eat all the Thai and Vietnamese food you can before you arrive.  There's a delightful Thai restaurant in Gloucester, but that is probably 20-25 miles from Susan.

3. Unless you have helicopters dropping in supplies (and if you do, please request sixteen cartons of Vietnamese spring rolls to be drop-shipped over the 23076 zip code), you will drive more than you breathe.  

4.  Insects and assorted infestations are a fact of life - your life.  They will live with you.  No matter what the season, you will be overtaken by insects.  You cannot win, it's futile.

The current season is fruit flies and spiders.  Welcome them with open arms.  You might find crickets in your suitcases too.

Winter places the welcome mat out for mice, who will find your place warm and inviting.

Spring brings ants, killer mutant ants like you've never seen.  When you are overtaken by them, and you will be, consult with me.  I have the solution which involves a multi-faceted approach involving Terro and nuclear weapons.

Summer means mosquitoes, May flies and dementia horseflies.  Because we do not want to scare you out of the county, we won't talk about these just yet.

5.  Don't leave trash outside overnight.  Although bears have yet to cross the county line from Gloucester, we do have bear-sized fiddler crabs raccoons and opossums. What they don't eat they will happily and unabashedly sprinkle anywhere in a half-mile radius. If you don't want your neighbor seeing it, do not put it in your trash.

6.  You may wish to erect your own cell phone tower at the work site, otherwise just go ahead and install a land line unless you know smoke signals, Morse code or have tapped into your ESP capabilities.

7.  Relax and get ready for a slower pace of life in an isolated area with far fewer of the so-called luxuries but chock-a-block full of wonderful people and gorgeous, undeveloped natural beauty.  If you need a tour guide, CBW is your gal.

In the next edition of Tips for the DIY Network in Mathews County, we'll cover storm survival tactics and ways to entertain yourself when the current goes out and the tide is so high in the back yard you need hip boots to get to the car.

Dear Reader Three Readers - Please add to this list of things the DIY people will need to know to make their stay more enjoyable here in Mathews during the upcoming season. I'll keep a running tally and publish updates periodically.

Dear DIY Network:  You will love Mathews, and I for one think you might not ever want to leave.

Welcome.