The Calm Before

Taking the winter to gather our thoughts on the larger projects ahead, we did many small tasks making the marina look markedly improved. First, we tackled the entry and driveway. Here potholes would make little ponds appear after rain. Truckloads of sand and gravel mix were delivered; to me it looked like a gigantic sand play pit. Tom spent many enjoyable hours on that skid steer listening to his head phones. He had a vision of what he wanted, and maneuvered and graded that pile of sand into a well packed crowned road. We will have to do more to it, but for now we can actually drive on it again.

Is it a comet or a UFO…..

Tom’s routine is to get up a bit earlier than I do. Other than the necessary trip outside for Georgia, he has always enjoyed a bit of time to himself. He brews his coffee and mentally prepares for the day. This particular morning he got an extra special treat, and happened to snap photos of this amazing scene in the sky! He woke me and our imaginations went wild thinking up stories of comets and UFO’s. What we found was amazing but not as exciting as we imagined. Elon Musk’s Space X rocket had successfully launched that morning, sending 60 Starlink satellites into orbit. It took off at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and produced a dazzling effect in the predawn sky, that we were lucky experience.

Looking good…..

Tom spends hours finding, researching and comparing products on his cell phone. When I see him engrossed in his phone many times a day, I know something new is brewing. This time it was power pedestals. They are the lighted towers along marina docks that provide 30 or 50 amp power and water to boats. Currently, we had a few slips with old fashioned looking plugs, exposed wires and regular hose spigots. A nightmare looking setup, and their age was evident. After a trip to Lowes, we were armed with a truck full of electrical wire, pex water lines, every pvc plumbing part you could imagine and miscellaneous tools.

Finally the pedestals were delivered and we unpacked them with apprehension. He was very pleased with the quality and looks of the units. The first installation took a bit of a learning curve, but after that he had the next two done in no time. At night, seeing the three pedestals emitting their blue glow is quite satisfying. We are beginning to look like a verifiable marina!

Lucky find…..

One of our most fortuitous finds in Edenton, is space in a warehouse we rented to store everything we moved. Long ago, this massive building operated as a cotton gin mill. With the advantage of keeping everything dry, we fit vehicles, boats, a travel trailer, tools, wood, and so much more in there. Never wasting a day, this is where Tom has been on the cold and and wet winter days. He has spent hours prepping and painting wood for the barn and inside walls of the house.

It’s NOT snow…..

The weather over this winter has been basic, not too cold, hardly snowy and a bit rainy. Exactly what you might expect in Eastern North Carolina. I would have preferred it warmer, but that’s not going to happen. It was an uneventful winter, until a Southern hail storm hit. Here at the marina, the dime sized hail didn’t phase me much. I have experienced short hail storms in the North. Six miles away in town, they got much larger sized hail and many cars got damaged.

What worried me about this storm, is that it just didn’t stop. It was a storm that came out of nowhere with a consistent pounding for at what seemed like an hour, in reality was about 20 minutes. The endless pinging off of our porch tin roof, the beating on the top of the boat and on the decks were deafening. The water in the basin looked like it was boiling. I was anxiously watching my Jeep, praying that it didn’t rip holes in the soft top. I texted a neighbor, asking how long a storm like this lasted, fortunately I found it’s not too common. It finally stopped and we didn’t have any damage, but it was quite the ride.

Spring has arrived…..

Early spring has arrived and we are enjoying the mild temperatures. We’ve been told, everyone realizes that the long winter is over when they drive by and see our flowering plum trees in bloom. They are the first sign of warmer weather in this area and a gorgeous sight.