bedroom eyes

Since the power was out when we woke up this morning, thanks to the latest in a string of almost weekly horrible storms, Pablo and I kind of cuddled up and stayed in bed.  He was cold, so he got into his hoodie.

I like how it makes his mane look thicker.  He's a real hunk, and for a dog of diminutive stature, he puts out a lot of heat, which was greatly appreciated as the temperature in the house fell into the low 50s. 

Once I got out of bed to pace around fretting, tho, he took cover, literally.

Can't say I blame him.  Fortunately, the power came back on just before 11 am, so we turned up the heat and got back to what passes as "normal" anymore. 

Christmas tradition beats Sandy in Sea Bright

There's an odd tradition here in Sea Bright, every Christmas morning the volunteer fire department visits the entire town, each nook and cranny, red lights and sirens and airhorns blaring, with Santa riding atop the hook and ladder truck.  In seasons past, they used to commence this racket at 7am, surely waking (or scaring) every last resident out of their long winter's nap. 

Today at least they were nice enough to wait until 9am to start.  But here they are again, as usual, maybe a bit slimmer in ranks (I didn't see any of the usual reindeer-clad members arrayed on the ladder), but with Reed Murphy dressed as Santa, he who was of questionable ability as a council member, but proved his worth in disaster management these past two months.

It's a sad statement that, of the 1400-some residents of the town, only maybe 100 or so are currently able to live here, the rest having been torn from their homes by the storm.  Or rather, their homes having been torn from them, in the most literal sense of the word.  Still, tradition can bind wounds that seem unhealable.  It's nice to know that someone is thinking "normal" and making the regular events that mark time here happen more or less according to schedule, in spite of all we've been through.  And thanks for the late start, I appreciate the extra couple hours of sleep!

what a nice gift!

Picked up my box mail this morning, and in it was the season brochure for the Salzburg Fesitval.  In that is a video about El Sistema.  Very cool, nicely done film, really makes one wonder how they manage to run such a beautiful program there, where it seems everyone is horribly poor (at least in a financial sense), while we in the US, who to a large degree have more money than we know what to do with (especially the people who make these decisions), don't want to put forward a penny for arts and music education.  I suppose we'd rather spend our money on guns. 

Something is seriously wrong with this country - the US, I mean.  Granted, Venezuela has a lot wrong as well.  But at least there are people in Venezuela who are trying from the ground up to make things better for everyone.  Here, they just try to make things better for themselves, to hell with everyone else, especially the less financially endowed among us.

My political statement of the month.  Don't mind me, I'm feeling particularly disenfranchised at the moment.

I can't resist this one

I needed a good laugh today, and here it is.  I guess I'm still a sucker for cat jokes.  Relatively harmless, right?

Make sure your sound is turned on, the voices are the best part.

Year end contribution time?

Take a look at Sea Bright Rising:

http://seabrightrising.org/

almost forgot

I was going to post a picture of my Christmas lights.  Nothing fancy, but considering this is the first time I've had them here, ever....

They're on my miracle deck - it's a miracle the deck didn't tear off and float away in the storm.  Maybe next year I can put some upstairs, too.

I ought to also mention, the water at its highest was lapping over the deck floor.

ups and downs

Someone asked me the other day how I'm doing, really, since I sounded down whereas the last communication I'd had with this person sounded more up.  Well, this is how it is - it goes up and down.  I'm thinking not of the yo-yo variety, more like a carousel horse. 

One of the ups right now is, the roofer is ready to do the roof.  The associated down is, it has to stop raining for a couple of days for him to do it. 

I've got someone lined up to de-mold the attic where the roof was leaking.  But the roof has to get done first.  See above.

The same person suggested putting plastic over the missing ceiling to cut the draft, until the ceiling is ready to be replaced.  See two items above.

My Christmas lights look neat on the back deck.  They make me smile.

The small tree I had cut down a couple of weeks ago so it wouldn't be in the way of workers needing to use the crawlspace access hatch is still here, the trash people refused to pick it up.  They also refused to take my can of regular household trash, because it is near the tree pieces.  Ups and downs.

Pablo and I went for a walk on the beach Saturday afternoon, and met a man who was walking with a German Shepherd and a wolf.  Yes, a real wolf.  We got to meet her face to face, she liked me, she also liked Pablo, and he actually didn't try anything frisky with her.  Those blue eyes are amazing, I could feel her soul touching mine.

As we left the beach, I noticed smoke coming from a house where I knew noone has been since the storm.  We went over there, hoping it wasn't a fire.  It wasn't, thank goodness, but we stopped to talk to the owner of the house, who has been staying with friends somewhere else.  My mother knows her, they talk a lot about plants and stuff.  She knows Pablo.  While her house wasn't on fire, it got washed thru by the storm, several feet of water inside (it's a one-story, so it destroyed everything), and it looks as though it's been knocked slightly off the foundation.  Maybe a few inches.  Enough to present a serious problem.  So aside from losing the contents, and the new kitchen and bathroom she'd had done last summer, and the garage (which had a guest suite and a lot of stuff in it), the whole house, which is a lovely cedar bungalow, is in danger.  Probably fixable, but definitely expensive. 

So yes, my mood does tend to swing just a bit, now and then. 

Another issue has to do with my garage door.  It no longer opens.  There's no other way to get into the garage.  So far none of the contractors I've spoken with on other issues does garage doors.  The people I had do the garage door across the street, when I owned that house, too, were so bad I hope I never even see them again, much less want to hire them. 

Not a crisis, per se, but if it snows I'm in trouble, my snow shovel is inside there.  I hear it's supposed to snow next week.  If anyone is listening, please, we do not need a white Christmas this year.  Please cancel the snow, or even better, donate it to someone with a ski slope, so they can have a better season.

The post office is now delivering mail here.  So I don't have to go once or twice a week to pick things up.  That's a good thing, but I think I'll miss seeing people who live here but can't right now, because their houses are wrecked, who I would run into on line at the post office.  It was a good community type thing, picking up the mail.  We don't have too many of those opportunities anymore, to just meet up with and talk to people who live nearby.  You'd get a sense of being in this together with a lot of other folk, which you don't have when you're alone and trying to put your house back together.

Ups and downs.  Yeah.  Lots of those.

the beach today

The other day we found a place where one can get (with a bit of climbing) onto the beach.  Mind you, there used to be stairways over the seawall.  Most of those are history; the ones that still seem to be there on the street side have nothing at all on the beach side, so while you can with hazard get up onto the seawall, you can't get off the wall onto the beach.  Unless you're a fisherman, those guys are like mountain goats, they climb up the rocks and down the other side.  I couldn't do that even when I was a kid, nevermind now.

Anyhow, there's a spot on the north end where the sand movers made a sand trail up the wall with the sand they moved off Ocean Ave, with a large plateau on the beach, from which it is possible to get down to sea level.  Pablo and I went over this morning, he really wanted to go and practically dragged me up and over.  Here's what our beach looks like today.  This is at low tide, the tide looked like it was starting to come in.

Looking north towards NYC - the ramp you see is part of the Highlands Bridge, and the road going up into Sandy Hook, which is closed for the foreseeable future.  The dark area to the left indicates where high tide reaches, so where I was standing is under water at high tide.

Looking south.  There used to be dunes and plants and stuff.  Now it's just sand, but at least there's sand.  We could have water right up to the seawall, but thank goodness we don't.

Aside from the total loss of our dunes, there's really at low tide only about half the beach we used to have, and less than half again of that when the tide is in.

I talk to people everywhere, it's a genetic thing, I think.  And it seems like people here are getting past the initial grief and shock, and into the acceptance and moving on phase.  Myself, I'm into the 'why can't I get an electrician to actually show up' phase, which goes with the 'OMG I can't even get an a/c contractor out to look at the project until the end of January' syndrome.

I think the roofer might be able to get here in a couple of weeks; until then, if it rains, I need an umbrella in the living room.  I'm considering installing a water feature instead of replacing the roof again, it could fill itself with rainwater and have a fountain and some sort of nymph or something as decor.  Maybe a mermaid theme.  Or orcas, or dolphins....too many choices.  This isn't the first time I've had this idea, nor is it the first time I'm totally replacing the roof - the one that's on there now is only 5 or 6 years old.  It looks good, but it doesn't keep the rain out of the house.  Fail.

One of the guys I ran into at the post office today said that only 10% of the people who live in town are actually living here now.  The ones who are here are trying to cheer things up a tad by putting up Christmas lights and such.  One house closer to downtown has Christmas lights on their storage cube, which is sitting in the front yard, apparently holding stuff salvaged from inside the house while the inside is gutted and reconstructed.  If I can find a way to get a picture of it without getting arrested for breaking curfew, I'll post it here.  Curfew is 5pm - 7am, until further notice.  I have a feeling further notice isn't going to happen any time soon.

 The good thing is, most of the major garbage has been picked up.  We only have left a few odds and ends, mainly tvs and other hazardous materials which require separate disposal.  Supposedly those will be picked up at some point, but I guess it's not a high priority.

While we still had the 'pieces of your house' trash all over the place, I got this picture, which kind of says it all:

landfillharmonic

This is amazing, and inspiring!  For those of us at the Jersey Shore who are working to rebuild our lives, these people can be an example of what can be accomplished when everything around you is trash.

Where there is music, there is life!  Thanks to Jose for sharing this!

can we be done yet????

Not only did it rain in the living room Friday night, today the sewer backup reached into my house and created another mess I really didn't need to deal with.

So why does a sewer backup only happen on a Sunday????  Never happens during the day, during the week.  Always at premium rates time.  Can't wait for the bill for this one.  Ouch.

too funny for words?

They're kidding, right????  Do they have Chanukah lobsters over in the seafood department, too?

Tho maybe it's not so funny.  Ignorance isn't funny.

help needed for music program!

This article just about ripped my heart out this morning.  Maybe some of you reading this can lend a hand?

http://matawan-aberdeen.patch.com/announcements/a-drive-to-re-build-a-school-band-in-union-beach-643f5378

 If you can't click on it, here's the content:

Help Rebuild the Union Beach Memorial School Band

• Posted by rosemary conte
• November 30, 2012

   

 

Union Beach Memorial School was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, and all the band instruments and sheet music were destroyed.
Unlike many wealthier school districts whose music programs have been eliminated due to a budget crunch, Memorial School has managed to maintain their program.
In this town where many of the students' homes have been destroyed, the children are looking forward to playing a Winter Concert.  These kids need a break and some joy at holiday time. Please consider donating a playable instrument you no longer use or one that your kids have outgrown.
Instruments can be dropped off at the Union Beach Board of Education Office, 1207 Florence Ave., Union Beach.
They can also be mailed to that address to the attention of  M. Metz, Music Teacher.  If you will include your name and address with your donation, you will be sent a receipt for tax purposes.
Donations of Gift Cards will also will be appreciated for purchasing what is not donated.  They can be mailed to the same address.
Here is a list of the instruments needed:
2 Tenor Drums
4 Snare Drums
1 Tama Hi Hat 10 Flutes 10 Clarinets
1 Bass Clarinet
8 Alto Saxes
1 Tenor Sax
6 Trumpets
4 Trombones
1 Baritone Horn
For questions and more info, please contact me at 732-583-4959, or  RConte9@verizon.net.  Please spread the word to friends and post this on your Facebook page.
Thank you very much.
Rosemary Conte

brothers

New Volvo C30 on the left, of course.  The one with the license plates on it.  Two differences I've noted (aside from being two model years apart), the wheels, and the new one has a lighter clutch than the old one.  Now if only the insurance people would kindly come fetch the old (drowned) one out of my yard....

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can't begin to list the people and organizations who deserve thanks today (not to mention every other day).  But the biggies for me are my family, who are helping me thru the mess that Sandy dumped into my life, by providing food, shelter, companionship, a sounding board, and even some fun.  Then I need to mention the Red Cross, the Sea Bright Fire Department or whoever it is who is making meals happen downtown, and all the multitude of emergency and utility people, and contractors and clean up guys, and good neighbors who are all in the same boat, but rowing together to make sure our boat doesn't sink.  And the people I work for and with, who once they figure out why I'm not at work at the moment, are supportive even if there's nothing much they can do to help.  And I can't forget all my friends from literally around the world who have called and emailed to see if I'm ok, and listened to the gory details of what happened, and will be there to see me on the other side, when life gets back to some semblance of normal.

To everyone whose lives have touched mine in the last few weeks, my heartfelt thanks.

It's coming together, more or less

All the insulation (soggy mess) is now out of the basement.  The living room ceiling is out, most of that insulation was dry, so they left it as is, only removing the wet parts.  The furnace/water heater combo thingie will be installed on Saturday, the new car can be picked up on Friday (the old one is still in the yard, the insurance company has yet to retrieve it), and the contractor actually climbed up into the attic over the living room to see what kind of a/c circulator is there and needs to be replaced to match the new condensor that will be going in one of these days soon.  He also observed at first hand that there is a leak in the roof, and water damage to the beams and drop area under those beams.  I seriously think he is the first contractor I've ever had who actually went up there to try to see what is happening.

What nobody mentions to you going into all of this is the homeowner needs to front all the money to pay for all this, then haggle afterwards for reimbursement from the insurance companies (homeowners and flood). 

Met our new neighbor this afternoon - the one with the house on the river for which he paid almost a mil and into which he moved three weeks before Sandy struck.  He had five feet of water in his garage, and several inches in the house (it's raised, but not enough), just enough to ruin everything in it.

The guy on the next block who had his house listed for sale for $2.9 mil lost the entire first floor.  Which he had just totally refinished after having lost it thanks to Irene, last August.

One of the neighbors, who has been drunk since I've known him (14 years), has been stone cold sober since the storm hit. 

Tim McLoone and Holiday Express are throwing a Thanksgiving party tomorrow for Sea Bright people who have nowhere to go. 

I'm having turkey day here at my sister's house.  Apple pie is in the oven now, chocolate pecan pie is made, pumpkin pie is made, cranberry sauce is done, all's right with that little part of the world.  I think we're having eleven people plus Pablo.  Short of a full house, but enough to have a festive day.  Maybe it will feel close to normal.

Nothing else does.

Progress of a sort

My electric is on.  My gas meter has been reconnected by the gas company, but all it can run at the moment is the stove and oven, which I have been advised to not try before the plumber checks them out.  Got a quote from the plumber for replacing the heat and water heater with a new energy efficient thingy that does both, about what I expected, then there are rebates for the energy efficient part.  Plus he's going to put it on the first floor, rather than back in the basement.

The fun part is going to be seeing how he gets the old equipment out of the basement thru the little door-hatch that provides access to that area.  To say I don't think it fits would be an understatement.  This could get interesting.

Town still has a 5pm curfew, so even if I had heat and hot water, I wouldn't be able to stay there overnite.  Nor would I want to.  The whole place smells kinda funky, and there's nobody around once the contractors go home for the evening.

I suspect we are not in the big leagues as regards funky smells, tho.  I heard from a neighbor who actually lives in Hoboken that his building's parking garage was flooded, and filled with fish, who then were stranded when the water went down.  And someone who works with my sister said that the cafeteria at St Rose of Lima school was chock full of dead fish, who were not on the menu.  We had no fish in Sea Bright, at least not that I could see.  Lucky us.

Car dealer guy just called, he should have my new car in hand within the week.  So I'll have my own wheels again.  That's good news.

One decision made

Went out car shopping this afternoon.  I wanted to try the Mazda3 turbo rice burner.  Ok, so I tried it.  Then I went down the block to the Volvo dealer and asked them to get me what I had, only newer (and not steeped in sea water).  I told them I'm flexible on time.  They'll call me when they find it. 

Now if only I could get the house repairs under way....the waiting game is driving me crazy.

Water and stories and such

I have a bunch of photos I took as Sandy was coming at us full force.  I even have one which I think is of my car being drowned, at least I'm guessing that's what it is, since that was the only time there were any lights to be seen during the assault.

At the moment, tho, I find I can't look at that stuff.  Now, I don't feel as though I am particularly traumatized by having been in my house for the duration of the storm, but it must be in there somewhere, or I could process the pictures and upload them here.  Any maybe even talk about them a bit.

But no.  Can't do that quite yet.

Instead, I'll tell a story or two. 

One comes from my sister, who lives on (and occasionally in) the river upstream from me, in Little Silver, NJ.  She, or her neighbor, after the storm, found a mailbox in the yard.  It was closed, so they opened it, and found mail inside.  The mail was addressed to someone in Staten Island.  We looked it up on Google maps, and found that the mailbox had traveled roughly 28 miles on the storm surge to get there.

Now, my mailbox is also MIA.  Looked around for it on the grab and go visit, no signs of it.  I wonder if my mailbox floated up to Staten Island in a weird sort of exchange program?

Next story.  One of my neighbors also had his car on our block when the road got too flooded to get out.  He had a Jeep, one of those big square ones that look so imposing.  Well, we learned during high tide that while Volvos (my car) don't float, Jeeps do.  His Jeep took off around a corner from where he had left it, then floated down the block, apparently to where the river coming up met the ocean, came back towards the ocean, floated back to the river, etc, several times.  When the water finally went down, it had turned around to face the opposite direction from which it had begun its trip, and nestled against a wooden fence.

Another one, from a gentleman who I was speaking with while on line for the grab and go bus the other day.  He had a boat, sounded like some sort of power boat, I am not a boat person so the specifics go right past me.  Anyway, during the storm he had been across the river in Rumson, trying to see with the assistance of binoculars how his boat was faring.  He hadn't taken it out of the water, and was of course concerned that it was ok.  While he watched, it started moving, and floated away down the river, with its owner no doubt having a freakout.  After an extensive search, his boat was finally located.  In Staten Island.

So.  Enough of this for now.

Post Sandy, pre cleanup pictures

Ok, so here's a couple of pictures of what Sandy did to the north beach section of Sea Bright.  These pictures were taken by me on Tuesday, 30 October, the day after the storm.

Looking south on Ocean Ave from my house.  The road is ordinarily black with a double yellow stripe down the center.

Our beach, which used to have dunes and plants and things.  The jetties are showing, we haven't seen those since the beach replenishment in 1995. This is at very low tide.

Looking north on Ocean Ave towards the Highlands bridge.  The foreground is the sidewalk, the road is to the left.

Lands End condo's sea wall deck, or what's left of it.  The only reason it didn't end up in the middle of the street is the street sign upon which it is impaled.

The sand is in the roadway.  The beach sort of moved west, onto the wrong side of the sea wall.

Normal height hydrant up to its waist in sand.

There used to be a double-stairway public beach access and deck here, this is directly across the street from my house.

Here's part of one of the missing decks that were across the street, on the sea wall.  It perched itself on top of the wall, nobody put it there.  There's another piece of it in my back yard.

Ocean Ave north to the bridge.  The sand was over 3 feet high in most of the roadway, and deeper on the sidewalk.

We really got lucky on our end of town.  I thought this was bad until I saw the rest of Sea Bright.  This is nowhere near the destruction that happened downtown, as you can see in the video linked in one of my earlier posts (Nov 5).  For the most part, the houses in north beach are intact, some have severe water damage inside, but many escaped that indignity.  Of course, the ones at ground level suffered the most.  A lot of the residents have lived here a long time, and none have ever seen anything like this storm.  I hope we never see it again.

My house

For everyone asking about my house, here's the story.  I have a bit of siding off on the south side of the house.  I have a basement full of ocean, effectively killing the furnace and water heater.  My air conditioning unit which resides outside (the condensor???) was partially submerged, so I suspect it is also shot.  A bit of leakage in the living room, so a bit of ceiling drywall damage.  Nothing new, not the first time I've redone that ceiling.

The garage roof is sort of shredded in the corners.  It's a small garage, and I was interested to note the roof on it is a couple of layers thick.  The garage door buckled, but I was able to close it yesterday, when we went in for the grab and go visit.

Of course, everything in the fridge died an ugly death.  And my car drowned in the back yard.

Compared with a lot of the other houses in town, I didn't do too badly.  Still, due to various regulations and requirements, it could be months before I can live there again.  Being a nomad sucks.

I'm too tired to post, but....

We went into Sea Bright today to do a grab and go, and cleared out the refrigerators at my house and my Mom's apartment.  What a mess.  My house looks good compared to a lot of what is left there.

Why I'm here at the moment, tho, is to post a link to this video, which is of downtown Sea Bright:

http://youtu.be/4BiWZ7w_vhM

It's about 12 minutes long, and very well done.  If you've ever seen Sea Bright, better have some tissues close at hand.

And for my friends, I will reiterate, my house is not in this area, and is nowhere near this bad.  I'll try to put some north beach pictures up later or tomorrow, when I feel less exhausted.

 

Finally back online!

Rough week here.  Which is probably the understatement of the century.  Tonite I'm tired, so I won't write much or put up any pictures, but tomorrow is another day, and after I finish what I absolutely need to get done, I can get in here and report what's been going on.  But after spending the time since Weds morning in Holmdel at my sister's house, which has a gas stove and water heater but no electricity, and freezing my tuchas off, and eating whatever was expiring in the freezer, we moved today over to my niece's house in Atlantic Highlands, where the power was restored yesterday and earlier today, depending on the exact location.

Warm is nice.  And we went out for dinner to a really fine Thai restaurant on First Ave.  So some things feel better, finally.

And I brought back some Thai duck for Pablo, who gobbled it like he hadn't eaten for a week, which is patently untrue, he's been eating like a horse.  I guess he's a stress eater, like me.

The Sea Bright town meeting was more pleasant today than the one last Weds, and it sounds as though actual progress is happening, and we might be sort of back to being able to go home in a few weeks rather than several months.  I hope.  Everything needs to get a new certificate of occupancy, tho, before anyone can live there again.  Gonna be a long haul.

They said the sea wall was breached in two places, and they are attempting repairs in time for the nor'easter we are expecting on Weds.  Just what we need, another storm.  Kick us while we're down, why don'cha.

Let me say right now, Pablo has been a real trouper through all this, even deigning to be carried in his tote bag across the bridge when we finally were able to make our escape from Sea Bright.  I wore my bright yellow scarf for that hike, yellow for sun and positive thoughts and coming back against all sorts of odds.

i am ok, house is a mess, sea bright is a huge mess but pablo and i are ok.

2.00 Monday afternoon and all is still sorta ok

The wind has picked up within the last half hour, and now it's really raining kind of hard.  Sort of horizontal, though, so I expect the rain might go right into the river, instead of landing on us here (that is an attempt at a joke).  Power and internet obviously still on, sump pump is working.  I hear the other side of the bridge is bad, trees down and road flooding, so it looks like we're going to stay put. 

Making more tea.  Need lots of tea, and doggie treats.  Pablo is still relatively calm, but very clingy.  Can't say I blame him. 

Just watched Il Tabarro from San Francisco Opera.  Pat Racette, Brandon Jovanovich, and Paolo Gavanelli.  Wow!  Nice distraction, hope the power and internet stay on so I can watch some more opera.  It's kinda cozy with the dog curled up in my lap.  Strength in numbers, I guess.

News from outside

A neighbor just walked in from Highlands, where he was checking on his new house that is under construction.  He said the road coming in over the bridge is barricaded, but you can still get out.  He also said the flood on Ocean Ave was only about two blocks' worth, the rest of it was clear.  At the moment, the whole thing is clear, the water has gone down on my corner, too. 

He told me that Highlands (the low part of it) is under water.  And there are lots of people on the bridge, taking pictures.  In 50 mph winds, with rain (or sea spray, hard to tell which), on a 65 foot high bridge span.  I think I'll stay indoors.

Morning on Monday

It started raining during the night.  Not a lot of rain, but enough.  Power and internet are still on, obviously, for the moment. The sump pump is working, as long as the power stays on.

First high tide this morning, the river came up to the corner of Southway, which runs behind my house.  Ocean Ave is running about a foot and a half deep in water.  It's receding now, next high tide on the ocean is 9.37 tonite.

Here's the river:

The fence is the back of my backyard. 

And here's Ocean Ave:

The water covered the sidewalk.  It's receding now, the river is down to the white house, and I can see the double yellow stripe in the middle of Ocean Ave again.  Low tide on the ocean is at 3.35.  If Ocean Ave looks passable, I'm probably going to leave.  Because this was just the first of the high tides, we've got two more to go (at least) that are under the influence of the storm.  I expect they'll get worse rather than better.

The good thing is, my car is here.  The bad thing is, my car is here.  Cuts both ways.  The house is probably high enough to withstand the water level.  Unfortunately, I can't get the car to climb the back steps and come inside.

Weather Undergound now has the storm center making landfall around Cape May sometime tonight.  So they moved it farther south, but I'm not sure that helps us here, they are saying the storm surge is worse on our side of the center than south of it. 

Will keep updating as long as I have power and internet.

Observations after dark

It's 6.30-ish now.  There is still traffic on Ocean Ave, and we still are having tourists coming to see the ocean (in the dark???).  So one might conclude the MANDATORY evacuation is not being quite so MANDATORY, they have not put the trash compactors out to block the bridge (yet?), like they did last year for Irene.

 The four o'clock siren to remind us to leave didn't sound till 4.11.  Pablo barked his head off at it, as usual.

 Noone has banged on my door to tell me to leave, and it's been quite some time since Code Red has called with any news.

Pablo is at ease, relatively - he wolfed down two and a half bowls of food for dinner.  One was dog food (Caesars), the other one and a half were hamburger meat cooked in Ragu Sweet Basil & Tomato sauce, his new favorite.  I decided to forgo the chili for now, in favor of cooking something the dog could eat.

There are lights on in a few windows in houses where I would have assumed the residents would flee.

Big Mike called.  He always calls when we're having a disaster or other weather emergency.  It's kind of a "wish I could be there with you" thing, which devolves into a pledge to somehow devote his life to paying back all the money he owes all of us around here.  Long, not so pretty story, which we'll skip, for now.

I opened the huge bottle of cheap wine I bought for the storm.  Goes pretty good with beefy tomato sauce over jasmine rice.  I try to get a little gourmet once in a while, this not being particularly one of those occasions.

Low pressure systems apparently make Pablo's blue squeezy toy fly less well than usual.  I just can't get any distance on it.  That could also be the wine, however.  Also perhaps the fact that he has spoiled what little aerodynamics it had by chewing off its nose.

The wind is still blowing, and I can hear the ocean pounding on the beach (but not feel it, which is significant).  But jets are still coming into NYC Metro airports, so it can't be too bad out there.  No rain here yet, either, tho my son in Virginia said it started to rain there late afternoon.

They're evacuating lower Manhattan, apparently.  Now that's a mental image I can't quite manage.  375,000 people.  The transit system is shut down effective 7.00.  So where are they going to go, and just how might they get there?  Taxi!!!

A comedic interval

The suspense is making me crazy.  So here's a way to spend a few minutes being entertained, instead of worried:

Quite an interesting conglomeration of Wagner, in no particular order.  This is where I learned my first opera music.  Haven't stopped learning yet.  Thanks, Buggs!

Sunday afternoon - tourists & kitesurfers

Well, I didn't take pictures of the tourists, they look just like Bennies but with clothes on (it's not real warm out today).  But I did get a good shot of one of the kitesurfers:

Doesn't look like much fun to me, but that's just me.

Everything is uniformly grey now, and the wind is doing its thing, but still nothing spectacular.  Not raining yet, either.

More kitesurfers, with the kites on the ground.  I imagine they talk about their game like a bunch of golfers.  Lots of dogs out, too.  The dogs talk among themselves.  Pablo had a nice walk, but he got cold, so we came in.

High tide Sunday morning

The ocean, obviously.  Some fool was in there swimming, or attempting to swim.  I saw him coming out of the water, seems to have survived.  Rough surf, no fishing, no gawkers, no surfers, it's all breaking very close to shore.  Waves were running just up to the first mound, then dribbling into the trough, not up to the dunes. 

Wind is kicking up (started around 2.00 am), but no more so than usual, we get this kind of wind pretty often (maybe 10-15 mph), especially as winter approaches.  Lots of clouds, no rain.  Blue sky on the horizon.

They've put off the storm's arrival till early morning Tuesday.  That doesn't help much, if I go to work on Monday, I can't come home again until someone arbitrarily decides it's ok.  Some politician who lives in a mansion somewhere, where the hurricane won't reach him, and there's a butler to hold his umbrella.  Some fat asshole who doesn't understand that if some of us don't get to go to work, we don't get paid, and then we have to stay close to a week in some hotel somewhere (which probably doesn't let dogs stay there), which will cost more than the week's pay we're going to lose by not being able to go to work.  And meanwhile nobody is watching the house except some thief who is a friend of the po-lice and can help himself once he figures out everyone is gone.

To make a long story longer, I don't think I'm going anywhere.  I've loaned out the cinderblocks that have stood in a pile in my yard for years now, to people down the block who are also not going anywhere, to hold down their whatevers, or block something closed, or what use they can make of cinderblocks in this situation.  Better than them just sitting there in my yard, I guess.

Surf's up - moderately

5.30 pm, surf's up a bit, nothing to write home about, not enough for the surfers, but there are fisher-people out there.  Maybe the fish want to be "rescued" from the storm?

Baby cops in bright yellow golf shirts came around a while ago to tell everyone there's a MANDATORY evacuation at 4.00 tomorrow afternoon.  I hate that word.  It makes me want to do anything other than what someone is trying to get me to do.  I prefer to use my own judgment, and stay out from under trees in a hurricane or tropical storm.  There are no trees here.  There are plenty of trees in the area where I would have to go if MANDATORILY evacuated. 

So far I and most of the neighbors plan to stay put.  And we told the baby cops in bright yellow golf shirts as much.  The one who came to my door seemed afraid of me, he almost fell off the front porch when I told him I'm not planning on going anywhere.

I was rude, I'm afraid.  I didn't open the door so the baby cop could give me his MANDATORY printed notice.  Oh well.  I wished I'd still had the big dog, so he could snarl threateningly through the screen. He used to make people turn white as the proverbial sheet and jump backwards the four steps down off the porch.  I don't snarl quite as effectively.

Waiting for Sandy

Nothing happening here yet.  In fact, it's sunny and warm-ish now, tho you can almost hear the threatening movie-music playing faintly in the background.

So far, the gawkers have not come to the beach to see the hurricane, but some surfers have been around, and went away disappointed.  Here's a shot I took with the phone this morning on my Pablo walk:

 

Nice god-rays, assorted boats in the area tho not in the picture, and no surf to speak of.  The cloud bank cleared away around 10.00.  It went west, in case that has any significance.  Maybe it's that left turn thing.

NO LEFT TURN

Tonight I'm trying to figure out what the forecasters are seeing that is going to cause this storm, Sandy, to come up the coast, get to NJ, and suddenly make a left turn and come ashore.  Doesn't it know that this is New Jersey, land of the jug handle?  You can't make a left turn in New Jersey.  It's simply not possible.  Not to mention it's highly illegal.

Impending doom - or something

Here we go again, waiting for a storm to show up and do whatever it might do.  This time it's Sandy, which is still in the Bahamas as I write this, but has been having a gloom and doom effect here since maybe Weds evening.  Skies are cloudy and heavy with wetness, none of which is coming down quite yet.  Weather presenters are going all manic, warning of the end of the world, or something close to it, which is supposed to (maybe) happen Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday next week.  The panic-mongering is intense and disturbing.  My mother is packed and ready to leave.

No doubt if something actually does come this way, we will be told to evacuate to the inland portions of the county.  You can go back to my posts from last August/September and see how that worked out last time, when Irene came for a visit.  Considering the inland areas had far more damage than we did here at the beach, I'm kind of hesitant to take that route again.

Then there are the weather savants who think this is going to be not just a hurricane, but a blizzard at the same time.  That would be interesting to see.  I'm getting all my cameras set to go in case that happens.  Then I can have pictures to go with the story when I tell somebody else's grandkids about The Big One (TM).

Sigh.  I'm thinking earthquakes are better to have.  Those kind of just happen, then you clean up and go on with life.  With hurricanes and their relatives, you wait a week or more while you watch the thing approach, lay bets on what track it's going to take, sit through hours or days of mess, and then clean up and go on with life.  Seems to me earthquakes are far more efficient.

Meanwhile, I think I'll stock up on water.  That seems to be the weakest link in the infrastructure around here.  Tomorrow, though.  Have to go to work today.  Life goes on in the meantime.

No need for words

 This was 1983.

This was 2012.

Bravi, Maestri!

Something familiar about this

I suspect that many people will enjoy a book (or a film, for that matter) more if they know the locations where the action takes place, and can relate to what they are seeing or reading in a more personal way.  I felt that way watching the space shuttle making its way from LAX towards downtown LA.

I intentionally did not go to see it on its route, since I find the downing of all those magnificent trees (particularly the ones in Inglewood, with shaped crowns, that used to march proudly down the middle of Manchester) to be painful on a visceral level.  I'm also not a huge fan of crowds and traffic, whatever the occasion.

But one photo kind of summed up the entire event for me, bringing it home to a place which, while I haven't ever eaten there (I don't do donuts), I always welcome as a landmark as I drive by on my way in from the airport.

Welcome home, Endeavour.  When you're ready for guests, I'll be there to see you in your new place!

Epic commute tonite

NJ Transit and Amtrak combined to create an epic commute this evening.  I just missed the 5.32 train, and got on the 6.01, which finally arrived in Long Branch at 10.10.  Yes, you read that right.  Door to door, from walking out of the office to walking into my house, it was a five hour trek.

The problem was first a stop signal not allowing us to leave Penn Station NY.  That morphed into single tracking in the Hudson River tunnel.  Which changed to signal problems between Secaucus and Newark.  Which migrated into total signal failure between Newark and New Brunswick.

I find it difficult to understand how one stated issue turned into the next, then the next, then total system failure.  So I have to assume that someone was lying at the outset, and changed the lie to cover something, then changed it again.  And again.

At least the crew stopped apologizing after we were stuck just past Newark for almost a half hour (after taking two hours to get that far, ordinarily a 17 minute jaunt).  Because honestly, apologies don't make it right, and don't make it feel better, and really don't make the folk who are trapped in the tin can we call a train feel warm and fuzzy about our lousy commuter service.

The good things were: 1. it was not 98 degrees outside, 2. the power stayed on the whole time, and 3. noone bothered to collect tickets (which only benefits those of us who buy tickets every day - if you get a monthly pass, you're screwed anyhow).  I suspect the crew was hesitant to show their faces and thereby draw the ire of the trapped commuters.  Small consolation for a lost evening and a lot of discomfort (I will NEVER use a train bathroom, they are filthy and generally don't work - and lose my seat in the process..).

The bad thing was, noone came around with the beverage cart.  They ought to offer that as a regular service on commuter trains, since we get so very little service for the exorbitant fees we pay to ride NJ Transit.

Naturally, NJ Transit blames Amtrak for the entire debacle.  But what is lacking on both sides is some basic knowledge and skill at logistics, in order to make the best (rather than the worst, which is what they routinely do) of a bad situation.

And perhaps a bit of routine preventive maintenance would be a nice touch.  But no, we have to pay the big bucks to the executives, rather than keeping the system in working order.  So ticket prices go up and up, executive salaries go up and up, and service goes to hell in a handbasket.  Welcome to NJ, folks.  Suck it up and deal with it.

Pelican evening

 

I am not a particularly boat-able person, as I have likely mentioned in these pages at some point or other.  But I have a friend who lives in Switzerland who is the only person on the planet these days who can occasionally get me on a boat.  Maybe there's a joke here somewhere, person from Switzerland, which is obviously landlocked (we're not counting lakes, now), drags person who lives at the beach but hates boats out on a boat ride, and mayhem ensues.  Maybe we can make a sitcom about it.  Hollywood, can you hear me?

Anyway, we had a blast riding the water taxis around Long Beach harbor last Sunday.  We also had a blast last summer riding the ferry on the Seine.  We're figuring on taking a boat to Catalina next time we hit LA together.  But I didn't let myself be talked into the boat on the Salzach, once I saw the pilot doing donuts in the middle of the river.  I have my limits.

We saw two seals, a tortoise, and a flock of pelicans, one of which is pictured above.  The seals just stuck their noses up, it's really tough to get a picture of more of a seal than that when they're in the water. (I have lots of experience getting pictures of blank water from the time we had a pod of dolphins in the river down the block from my house - timing is everything, and my timing is bad.  Also, the lag time on these digital cameras is pretty awful, I used to do better with film.)  The tortoise didn't break the surface, he was just a rather large dark space in the water.  These are the seal noses:

We also had fun riding the LA Metro, which is quite a compliment coming from someone who rides and hates NJ Transit every day.

The mayhem was due to the great idea we had of riding on the front deck of the catamaran as it left Alamitas Bay Landing to head back to Long Beach.  I guess the tide was coming in, and as the boat picked up speed, we got soaked.  It felt good, sort of, but then we wisely (IMO) chickened out and went inside for the fast part of the ride. 

I don't quite understand the physics involved in getting soaked while sitting on the front deck of this (we were way back against the bulkhead), but then, I'm not a boat person.  I also don't think the back deck is any drier.

And actually, I have to credit the woman who sat next to me on the flight out to LA for teaching me a technique for not getting seasick.  She told me all you have to do is watch the shoreline, because it doesn't move (unless there's an earthquake, then all bets are off).  Then even tho you are moving, you won't get seasick.  Amazingly, it worked!  I have to try this again sometime (not too soon, tho).  And if we get that boat to Catalina one day, I'll see if it works when there's no shoreline visible.  THAT will be the real test.

A wind off the ocean

I guess it's not summer anymore, which is a good thing, in my opinion.  Yesterday's picture, since today there are clouds and a wind off the ocean still, but less differentiation, more a solid grey with glary light.  Last evening it rained for a bit, enough to discourage holiday cookouts, even the hearty who thought to set up tents finally packed it in and went inside.  We were with family having the traditional Labor Day lasagna, which fortunately is an indoor event.  There's a story there, but I'm not entirely sure what it might be.  Suffice it to say we discovered Pablo likes lasagna.  He's not Italian (he's a Chihuahua), and neither are we, but lasagna is universal.

From the weather maps, this seems to be the edge of what's left of Issac, coming out of the midwest.  I'm not sure how that creates a wind off the ocean, though, unless we are trying desperately to fill in the low pressure area that is what remains of the former hurricane.  Seems to me that action might keep the rain somewhat more inland, but this morning's walk was shortened because of the drizzle or spray or whatever you'd like to call the water that was hanging in the air.  Misting, perhaps, or what I used to call dismalling, back in the day.

With a little bit of luck, it will clear up sometime later, so we can have a long walk, since we get testy if we are not adequately exercised.  Fortunately or not, Pablo does not "do" water, so if there is rain, we mainly stay inside.  

It amazes me how quickly the season can turn, yesterday summer, today something else.  Like someone flipped a switch.  And it seems the switch will stay flipped, at least the next few days.  It's supposed to rain every day this week.  Sure, we could use the rain, but other places could use it more.  I'd like to share....

Summer's last message

Of course, one could attribute the current state of Spain's economy to this philosophy.  Apologies to my Spanish friends, who are nothing at all like what this implies.

I prefer to take it as advice for the waning days of summer.  Labor Day weekend around here means we get the beach back soon.  It's Bennies Go Home weekend.  It's also a time to reflect on the important things in life.  Like, why is it still so darned hot outside?  And, if I only get the paper on weekends, why do I have such a huge pile of unread papers sitting in my kitchen? 

That last one is probably because I haven't been here much.  Which is good, this is not a good place for me to be in the summer.  I prefer the beach in the cooler months, when there aren't so many mostly-naked and really ugly people spread all over it.  And in the dead of winter, it is beautiful, and empty.  Which is perfect.

Here, in no particular order, are some scenes from my summer.  I'll spare you the travelog, I hate listening to people's tales of their wonderful travels.  Suffice it to say, I had some fun, and I need the sitting and doing nothing right about now, to recover.

 

And probably my very favorite moment:

PS.  If anybody really wants the travelog, send me a note and I'll try to fill you in.

Cid

February 2000 - August 4, 2009

door mat

While visiting a client the other day, I had a good laugh reading doormats on my way up and down the stairs in his fifth floor walkup.  Apparently a LOT of dogs live in the building - my client has four Chihuahuas himself. 

The funniest door mat, which was old and worn and not particularly picturesque, bore this message:

          A fragile and very sensitive
              big ass dog lives here

I wish I'd had that mat when I had Cid.  He was exactly that - a fragile and very sensitive big ass dog.  He'll have been gone three years next week.  I still miss him.

be careful what you wish for

I mentioned insufficient rain in my post yesterday.  So today it's been raining all day, sometimes just a bit, other times like there's no tomorrow.  Very nice.  I needed a good rainy day - so did my tomatoes.  Yippee!

first cricket

The first cricket of the year is chirruping outside my window this evening.  According to old farmers' tales I learned while in exile in the midwest, that means 90 days from now we'll have our first frost.  In my experience, that is actually pretty accurate, give or take a few days. 

It's hard to think about frost when I'm still nursing under-watered tomatoes and wishing they would (a) grow big enough to make growing them worthwhile, and (b) ripen before sometime next year.  Meanwhile, everyone I know who gardens is inundated with baseball-bat sized zucchini.  I went to the eye doctor a couple of weeks ago, and he gave me one to take home, he said he was running out of people to give them to.  It's being one of those weird growing seasons.  I'm kind of glad I didn't bother to plant zucchini this year. 

Now, I'm in no way a gardening fanatic.  But I do love fresh tomatoes that have never seen the inside of a grocery store.  In my microclimate, across the street from the ocean, cherry tomatoes seem to fare better than larger varieties, though I had a really good crop of Romas a couple of years ago.  Problem with cherry tomatoes is, I eat them like fruit, and never get to do anything with them (like cook, or other equally innovative things).  I have a similar issue with blueberries, in fact.  They are fruit, of course, and I can easily wipe out a pint of them (especially if they are Jersey Blues) in one sitting.  So the three pints I bought last weekend didn't last long enough for me to make muffins or pancakes or anything out of them. 

Sigh.  And then in just 90 days or so, winter will be upon us (ok, so I'm exaggerating, but I'm trying to make a point here), and there won't be any tomatoes except the plastic-tasting grocery store kind, and no blueberries at all.  Does that justify guzzling them while they're still here?  Darn right it does!

Happy (quiet) 4th of July

Quiet around here because we have no fireworks tonite, for the first time since I've lived here.  Austerity, or something.  Brings the economy closer to home.  Red Bank also cancelled their fireworks, which were always a huge party on July 3rd, same reason.  No money.

OTOH, it means I don't have to sweep the dust bunnies out from under the bed, since Pablo and I won't need to be hiding down there from the noise.  So there's a benefit to be found in even this.

Maybe NY will move their fireworks back to the East River next year, so we can see them from here.  At this distance (maybe 25 miles or so), they're nice and quiet.  Also, watching miniature (due to the distance) fireworks is sort of amusing.  They're cute when they're small, kind of like kittens.

Best fireworks I ever saw (in the amusing category) was once in the town where I used to live, somewhere in the midwest.  The wind shifted during the show, and embers started falling on the houses that bordered the park where the community was gathered.  So we all got to watch the fire department at work up close and personal when someone's roof caught fire.  Bet that was a fun one to explain to the insurance company.

You know, economically we are hurting China by not having fireworks, since most of the stuff seems to be made (and the concept originated) in China.  Act local, go global.

More on the water issue

From the Asbury Park Press:

TINTON FALLS — A 40-year-old section of piping that collapsed Friday at New Jersey American Water Co.’s Swimming River Water Treatment Plant, prompting a boil-water advisory that lasted until Monday evening, had been a problem since it was damaged during Tropical Storm Irene last summer, the company acknowledged.

But the company and engineers determined after the storm that although it caused “some damage” to the area, the bridge over the piping was in “no imminent danger of a collapse,” said spokesman Richard G. Barnes.

The issue continues to be a focal point even after Monday night’s lifting of the boil-water advisory for the final four Monmouth County towns: Aberdeen, Highlands, Holmdel and Middletown. An outdoor water-use ban remains in effect throughout the county.

While no cause for Friday’s collapse has been determined, a top county official said on Monday that it is past due to point a finger at the water company, which has implemented rate increases three times since 2008. The company, meanwhile, maintains that it has thousands of miles of piping to upgrade and maintain and, as sections of pipe continued to be trucked in and installed at the plant, pushed for the focus to remain on fully restoring services to its customers.

John P. Curley, director of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, called into question the company’s commitment to its infrastructure in the county.

“It is a disgrace, an absolute disgrace,” Curley said. “Accidents happen, but when you have a hole in your roof, you fix the hole in the roof.”

The “hole in the roof”’ in this case is the bridge that collapsed Friday afternoon, damaging three large pipes: one that takes water from the reservoir to the plant and two that take water to the distribution system. Barnes said the company does not know what led to the collapse. However, Curley said that area of the plant was hit hard by Irene, a hurricane last August that was downgraded to a tropical storm when it walloped many towns in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

 “Anybody that ever rode past that walkway could tell you that it looked like it was going to fall down,” Curley said. “I’m surprised it didn’t collapse sooner.”

Tinton Falls Mayor Michael Skudera said the bridge appeared to be damaged following Irene but, lacking substantial engineering knowledge, he took the company’s assurance that its integrity was not compromised.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what the results (of the investigation) are, because this should’ve been on their radar,” Skudera said.

Barnes said it was. At the time of the collapse, the company was gathering materials to shore up the bridge and reinforce the piping. The plan was to have the section rebuilt before hurricane season, he said. The Atlantic Hurricane season this year started on June 1 and lasts through November, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Skudera said he was aware that the company had been discussing and planning fixes to the area, but not aware of details or specific costs. He feels the fixes could have come sooner.

“I’m very upset about the way this was handled,” he said.

Barnes could not say on Monday how much this sudden fix would cost or where the money would come from.

In March the freeholders signed a resolution opposing a proposal by the company to raise rates by more than 15 percent. That large of an increase, the resolution said, “defies logic, escapes the notice of those most impacted, and, at best, results in a negotiated rate increase which adds to the financial burden of ratepayers.”

Curley said in a signed letter to the state Board of Public Utilities and the state Division of Rate Council — agencies that have approval of the water company’s rate proposals — that New Jersey American Water customers have been subject to a compounded 51 percent rate increase since 2004, and its 2012 proposal, if approved, “would be devastating.”

The company announced in May that the BPU approved an increase representing a $30 million increase in revenues. In the announcement the company said “the new rates recognize the more than $300 million the company spent over the past two years to replace and upgrade its complex web of nearly 9,000 miles of water and sewer mains in order to continue providing customers with uninterrupted access to high-quality, reliable water service.”

Barnes said of that nearly 9,000 miles of piping, about 15 percent is going to reach 100 years of service by 2020. The bridge and piping that collapsed Friday was put into service in 1971.

It was unclear on Monday what agencies would be investigating the cause of the collapse. J. Gregory Reinert, a spokesman for the Board of Public Utilities, said the BPU will be “in the review of what went wrong and we will be involved with that for a long time.”

Meanwhile, testing to ensure the temporary replacement pipes are properly working continues.

Karen Fell, assistant director of water supply operations at the state Department of Environmental Protection, stressed that conservation efforts throughout the county are imperative to helping maintain the integrity of the water system until the area of the system is fully repaired.

“It will probably be months before they get their fix in,” she said.

What I'd like to know is exactly where this 100 years of service portion of the system might be? From what I've learned in 15 years of living here and talking to longer term residents, most of the county didn't get "city water" until sometime in the 1970s (when it was forced on them).  That, on my calculator, is substantially less than 100 years ago.  Though the older parts of the system, if they are not a myth, are probably in better condition than the stuff built in the 70s.  People knew how to build things to last, 100 years ago.

And how do we take our earned discount on our water bills while they're farting around trying not to fix this mess?  Can I deduct the market value of the tomatoes that will die in my backyard because I could get arrested if I water them?  How about the reduction in the market value of my home because all the  landscaping is going to die from not being properly watered?  What about the fines from the town for harboring weeds?  Weeds are all that will grow here if there is no water to feed the grass.

Most of this is political bullshit designed to force the public utilities commission to ok any amount of rate increase these greedy bastards would like to get.  And with the support of the idiot governator, no doubt water bills around here will triple once this hits the rate base.  Added to the fact that when people use less of a utility the rates have to go up, since there are fewer billable units over which to spread the costs of service.  Bottom line is, we're screwed.

Pass the tequila, por favor.