Saturday, May 31, 2008

Circus Moves to a New Town... (Not Really)

The week has been a blur. We got in to the new place last Friday afternoon and began taping the walls for our weekend long paint-a-thon. The beach bungalow was in pretty bad shape; I don't think it had been painted in at least 20 years. But by Monday afternoon, we'd finished for the most part. We decided to leave the hallway for later since it is so narrow and the movers were certain to 'ding' the walls. But oh what fun this place is. We picked Caribbean colors that sound atrocious, but are really perfect. Light chartreuse for the living room, aqua for the kitchen and dining room, coral for the office, a sea glass green for the bathrooms, and a light khaki green for the bedrooms (not really tropical, but it works with the decor.)

At the crack of 10 on Tuesday the movers showed up. God, we have a lot of crap! We've paired down a lot, but I honestly wonder why we "need" all that we have. Of course, I go through this every time we move, but once the stuff is stowed away, out of sight; out of mind until we need (fill in the blank...) Unpacking this time has been a little slower that our usual pace. I've been trying to take it easy and not wear myself out. But believe me, it is very easy to sit down and stair out the wall of windows facing the Chesapeake. I though our last place had a nice view... Not even close to this!! The weather has been fantastic (breezy and very comfortable) so I open all the windows and doors in the morning and let the air come.

Gary has had to work the last couple of days, so I've been on my own. But the man is a powerhouse. I have no idea where he gets his endless energy. He's my hero. I'm normally pretty anxious to get everything unpacked. I really hate living in such disarray, but it'll get done when it gets done. Mom has so been on my mind. I keep thinking I want to pick up the phone and tell her all about the new place. She would have loved it here. She was a beach bum like me.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Stormy Weather

The weather Mothers Day was much like my mood, dark and gloomy. The rain held off until later in the day, but as I worked in the office on the third floor I could see the waves continuing to build. By early afternoon they were crashing over the jersey barriers that separate Atlantic Ave. from the Chesapeake Bay.

At 7pm, I decided to give office work a rest and went downstairs for dinner and a movie. The rain was really
coming down by then, driven sideways by the gusts of wind. At one point around 8pm, during the early scenes in Transformers I looked out on 9th street to see only water. Hmmm. I'd only seen the street fill with water once last winter when I was recovering. I tried to go back to the movie, but I kept looking outside. Every few minutes it had grown even higher. I went out on the porch to take a look. My neighbors were peeking outside their door. "You okay?" I replied I was fine, just marveling at how FAST it was rising. They live in a single story. "You gonna stay?" I told them I planned on staying. I had 3 dogs and 3 stories, so I could probably weather it okay. A few minutes later they were wading to their cars and headed to higher ground the wrong way up a one way street. Ironically, Atlantic Ave. that runs right along the water stays drier than 9th Street.

Within 1 hour the water had risen to the second step of the house. The wind was wild, but I've been in worse having grown up in Key West and weathered a few hurricanes. I called Gary who was at work to warn him that he may need to wade home. He was due to get off at 11pm. I went to bed at 11:30 but didn't sleep particularly soundly. I was more concerned about Gary making it home safely. At 12:30 we lost power. But luckily the house is equipped with a generator. Oh wait! That only runs the 3rd floor of the garage apartment. Joy. So now I get to try and sleep with a generator wailing outside my
bedroom window, no electricity, wind howling, and about 150 lbs. of shaking, panting, scared furry children laying right on top of me. Gar managed to make it home just after 1am. Oh, and did I mention the security light on the garage apartment that kept going on and off ALL NIGHT LONG right into the bedroom!!! The blinds were no match, so we tacked up a thick blanket over the window.

The alarm went off at 5:30 (I had set it in hopes of making it to work...) Nice to know my new alarm works even when there is no electricity. I went down to assess the situation. Waters hadn't receded. (This shot is looking away from the bay up 9th Street. ) No power still. Oh No! That means no coffee!!! Thank God for extension cords. We strung one from Mark's apartment on the 3rd floor down so we could power the coffee pot. He didn't have any coffee, so it was a good trade. Power for a cup a' jo. After that we could at least plug in the fridge so we wouldn't lose all the food.

The poor pups had a heck of a time trying to figure out where to go to the bathroom. Poor Hudson mistook floating wood chips for terra firma and went trudging right off the deck for an impromptu swim. Talk about a wake up call.

The shot to the left is our neighbor Mark braving the cold waters. He walked out in the middle of 9th St. to look at an abandoned car that didn't quite make it through. It was a nice Kodak moment.


The absolute photo op of the day was when a mallard came swimming up 9th Street. This was totally priceless. He clearly was not daunted one bit by all this water and floating crap and seems to be completely enjoying himself. I've left the picture kind of large. If you look very closely he is in the center of the shot. This is looking out from the porch onto the parking pad... I mean parking pool.

The power was restored yesterday and the water receded in the afternoon as quickly as it came in. There is a huge mess to clean up. The landlord had just put fresh wood chips down and they are now everywhere EXCEPT where they are supposed to be. The car is running fine (I was a little worried there for a while.) The ducks have returned to the pond and the pup's are very happy to have grass to pee in again.
All is well now. The adventure never ends!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

As Promised...

Below is the link to the commercial that was shot a few weeks ago for the UMMC Breast Center. Sadly, my "tree pose" ended up on the cutting room floor. Hmmm... wonder if that meant it wasn't very good?




They also did a story on the website in conjunction with the commercial. Click here to be linked to the story. Also take note of the picture they took. If you look over my shoulder, you'll see that lovely picture of mom staring back. How perfect!!