Hurricane Ida

The Eye of the Storm

I turned on the news when I awoke this morning and watched as the local weatherman on Dauphin Island explained that Ida had crossed over the barrier islands and was in Mobile Bay with landfall expected around 7:00 AM.  The satellite radar showed the rain had moved northeast of us on Fort Morgan and it was foggy and quiet outside.

I fed the dog, walked around the yard (a limb from the pine tree had narrowly missed the boat parked in my back yard for safety!) and got ready to take Sophie for a walk.

Northwest wall

Then it hit!

A blast of cold air roared across from the bay and two blackened pine trees snapped half-way off on the edge of the pond.  Sophie changed her mind about a walk and I came back in and turned on the TV. This time the weatherman was hanging on to his coat and was yelling into the microphone, the temperature had dropped almost 10 degrees.

We had been in the eye of the storm! I didn’t realize that, and I’m pretty sure the weatherman on Dauphin Island didn’t know.

Sophie refused to go back outside, so I drove down to the beach to get a look at the Gulf.

Debris washed up under GRITS house

The only real damage I saw was an overturned porta-potty and debris blown from a dumpster that should have been emptied a month ago. ( We were picking up debris from this construction site during the Coastal Cleanup.)

too much trash

The surf had washed under the houses on the beach, and the end of the walkway at ‘Million Dollar View’ was gone, again… but that was the extent of the damage here from Ida.

So long, Ida!

Hurricane Ida

Day Two…

We walked to the beach, but couldn’t walk on the beach. Even at low tide the surf was under some of the houses on the beach.

Low tide this morning

I dragged the deck furniture into the garage and the plants into the house, then cooked a chicken and some snacks because Sharon and Leah were coming over to ‘ride out the storm’.

We watched Arrested Development and played Loaded Questions until Leah decided we should take a walk to the beach. At 9:00 pm, as the tropical storm approached Fort Morgan, we set out. Sharon and I wore conventional rain coats, but Leah was sheathed in a commercial trash bag.

Leah's hurricane fashion

She stayed dry but Sharon and I were soaked to the bone. Too funny!

Storm chasers

And now we’re cooking pizza and settling in for landfall.

My first hurricane party has been great fun, so far…..

Hurricane Ida

Day One…

It looks like Ida is drawing a bead on Surfside Shores on the Fort Morgan Peninsula!  She is a category two now with winds over 75 mph.

The weather here is breezy but still beautiful.  Sophie and I were alone on the beach, but that’s not unusual.

The local experts predict the cool water in the gulf will slow the winds and it will probably deteriorate to a tropical storm before it hits land.

But I’m sure the ‘talking heads’ on morning TV will blow it all out of proportion and the entire Gulf Coast will take a real financial hit this week. Thanks Dianne, Harry & Matt!

Sunday morning

However, this might be a good time to check on my hurricane shutters, I’ve been meaning to do that all summer…

It’s a BEAUTIFUL day in the neighborhood…

Full moon, startlingly beautiful sunrise, and no one on the beach this morning…

and, finally some shells on the beach at low tide.

The water in the Gulf was endlessly clear and calm.

And the sunset was spectacular, again!    

Storm damage

Alberta's iconic butterflies

There was little storm damage to the homes in Surfside. A strip of roofing on one house, a screen door on another, and one of Alberta’s butterflies was unhinged.  But we noticed very little damage from the high winds on our first walk in three days… until we reached the beach.

I’d seen the story in the Mobile Press-Register about the beach invasion but didn’t realize it affected Fort Morgan. 

http://blog.al.com/live/2009/03/millions_of_bythewind_sailors.html

 http://www.al.com/press-register/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/123814536599410.xml&coll=3

But, when we reached Beach Shore Drive we found it covered in sand and littered with Portuguese man-o-war, not a good sign. We walked down to the beach beside the Governor’s House and I could see that water and debris was under some of the homes, and tidal pools made walking on the beach dangerous. I’ve stepped in quicksand after a storm once, and that was enough for my lifetime. (Mr. Bradt’s sculpture was intact and spinning lazily in the breeze)

As we made our way back to the safety of the road I could see that the debris high on the beach and under the homes was irridescent and quivering.  And, honestly, it smelled.

Surfside debris - just nasty

My photo, Saturday, was a dried up version of the photo posted by Ryan&nbsp Dezember on the Press-Register site Thursday.

photo posted by Ryan Dezember on Mobile Press-Register

But the storms raised the water level in the lagoons and prompted an immediate turtle migration. 

As we were walking back to the house we came upon a turtle parade, three of Alberta’s pets were moving to the pond west of the Surfside lagoon.                                                                               

Parade of turtles after storm

And some of them were migrating north to my lagoon.

cutting through the front yard

 One  liked the bottle tree and one was craving veggies (and I had blamed the rabbits for that damage)

I absolutely, positively have to do a water change in the aquarium today, poor Blue has just molted and is in hiding.

out of reach?

I may need a ‘restorative cocktail’  before I wade into the surf with my bucket…

Water, Water Everywhere…

Finally! After watching the storm clouds pass over Fort Morgan for months, we finally got the soaking rain we so desperately needed.

The lagoons bordering my little house had dried into muddy breeding grounds for those nasty ’sand fleas’ and my poor chlorine-sensitive gardenias and jasmine were suffering terribly from the necessary, weekly dousing with ‘city’ water.

It is my prayer that the 3+ inches of rain has drowned those nasty gnats, and the chorus of frogs last night means the predators have returned to the ponds to feast on the mosquitoes that will follow in the heels of this wonderful rain.

My little green frogs were out last night (on the deck, on the sides of the house, and on the screens) and they were loud and joyous.  

My Kermit

I snapped a photo of this little guy before he made it back to the safety of the pot of rosemary on the deck.  He is a hyla cinerea, or green tree frog, and his relatives inhabit the cracks and crevices of my little house.

I didn’t have any way to record the music last night, but I found a website with a sound file of green tree frogs.

If you go to this site and click on the ‘listen’ icon you will hear the chorus I heard last night. And if you close your eyes, stand in front of a heater vent and hold a pot of petunias in each hand (they’re blooming after the rain, and they’re incredibly fragrant) you will experience what it is like to be in Lower Alabama after a thunderstorm!

http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=AR0015

A Skiff of Ice

It’s cold here. 

I asked one of my elderly patients about the unusually tall ant hills and he said it was a sign of a ‘bad winter’.

I think he was right. 

On the surface...

Last nite we broke some 6-year records and I was sleeping with my tomato and basil plants.

If you look closely at this photo you can see a thin skiff of ice on the little pond west of my house.

Maybe I’m being acclimated for my trip home?

 

Editor’s note: this post was also delayed because CenturyTel’s service was unreliable the day before I left for Kentucky. Will they acknowledge their failures and credit my account? 

Don’t hold your collective breaths!