Tropical Storm Ernesto

I've decided to blog about tropical storm Ernesto because it appears it will be an event for us. Just to review, our house is only 2 ft above the high-tide mark of the Magothy River. There was 6 ft of water in what is now our living room when hurricane Isabelle hit. We get our highest tides when water is blown up the Bay and to the west. The highest tide we've seen since we've been here came during a January storm, and reached well into our driveway. We get the highest water when low pressure systems move south of us. As of now, 12:52 AM on Thursday night, we're very close to that mark. Winds are sustained from the East/Northeast at about 25 mph gusting to 35mph. Ernesto has recently made landfall on the North Carolina and has taken a turn further east than expected as it makes it's way in our direction. -S

"Fishing-long-legs"

Is the name Pentaquod gives to the Great Blue Heron in James A. Michener's Chesapeake. I started reading the book last weekend. The bird is a recurring character in the epic novel, just as it is still very common here on the Bay. In fact, it's become a symbol of conservation because Blue Herons were nearly wiped out a few decades ago. They're back in abundance. They are fairly common on the TVA lakes back in Tennessee as well, but they are also very wild there. There's nothing quite so startling as spooking one of the large birds while fishing a deep, quiet Tennessee cove. When they take flight they are very noisy and look gangly and awkward. They almost always punctuate their liftoff with their signature, "krahnk, krahnk, krahnk."

Tonight, I decided to try and catch a few perch off the dock. There are lots of crabs now and I've been using the plentiful perch to bait my traps. The fish were biting pretty good and I was enjoying catching them when a Blue Heron flew right up and landed on the dock in front of me. He paid me little mind and I sort of enjoyed watching him as he stood motionless staring down into the rising tide. I thought it interesting that we were both after the same quarry. Dianne noticed and came out with her camera. I caught a fish before he did, so I threw it out on the dock toward him. He looked at me for a little while, then strutted up to the fish. He poked at it with his long yellow beak to make sure it was still alive, then stabbed it clear through. Next, he threw it up into the air and caught it head first, swallowing it whole in one swift motion. Satisfied, he walked back to his perch and resumed his fishing. I couldn't resist throwing him a couple more, noticing he was becoming a little more comfortable approaching me. Finally, I caught a really nice sized perch. He watched me reel it in and started walking toward me before I even had it off my hook. I threw it right out to him. He poked at the big fish then stabbed it three or four times. Taking it back to the end of the dock, he dropped it and sized it up for several minutes before picking it up and positioning it just right in his beak. After a few more minutes he threw back his head and took a big, pronounced gulp. I could see the fish still flopping as it slid down his long throat. I thought maybe he'd fly away since he had to be pretty full, but he merely resumed his fishing. I'll look for him again tomorrow night. I wonder if I've made a new friend? -S

Fossil Hunting at Calvert Cliffs

Even before moving to Chesapeake country I have heard of the Clavert Cliffs. They're famous for the large fossils that are found there. I really like rock and fossil hunting, so I've been looking forward to taking a trip there. I've been waiting for a good weekend to go by boat, but with the boat in the shop and a rare Saturday with no plans, Dianne and I decided to drive south toward Calvert County yesterday. I'm glad we did. It's about a 2 mile hike from the Calvert Cliffs State Park entrance to the beach at the base of the cliffs. We were very surprised that the trail turned out to be very scenic, following a little creek that eventually turned into a large swamp. It was a very unexpected and lovely area filled with lilly pads and other native plants, and almost over-populated with butterflies, dragonflies, beavers, and small frogs. (Believe it or not, the first frogs I've seen in Maryland.) The trail opened to a small beach with high cliffs on both sides. Maybe a dozen people were already there sifting the sand for sharks-teeth and other finds. There was a sign that said the area directly below the cliffs was closed due to landslides, but not many people paid attention. After all, that's where the fossils are! The cliffs are made of sand and clay, and the fossil lie in stratified layers near the base. It's not hard to see why they warn of danger because there were lots of dead trees that had fallen down the steep bank. Since most of the fossils are sea shells, they don't look much different from what you might normally expect to find at the beach, except that you soon realize that you're looking at ocean shells and not those usually found in the Chesapeake Bay. We didn't turn up any shark's teeth, but I dug out a couple of giant sea-scallops fossils so we didn't go home empty handed. Afterwards, we drove down to Solomon's Island where we had dinner on the Pier. -S

Wolftrap

On one of my first trips to the Washington DC area, Dianne took me to a concert at Wolftrap. I remember being very plesantly surprised that the federal government would support a national park dedicated to the performing arts. It's a great place to see a show. This past week was the first time I've been back, this time to see Lyle Lovett. I've seen Lyle several times, and his shows are always impressive. This one was no exception made even more so by our seats right in front of the stage. We initially were planning on lawn seats, but one of Dianne's friends who is on the staff at Wolftrap came through with last-minute row A seats accompanied by pre and post show parties. -S

Catching Up - Long Weekend in Michigan

I've been somewhat discouraged from blogging lately due mostly to very busy work days, and even busier evenings. I'm going to try to get caught up today. First of all, the boat is still in the shop (I really need a name for that boat!) The Clark's Landing Sea Ray Dealership has had it for 18 days now. I called yesterday and they told me they had to wait for the "master mechanic" to look at it. That makes me feel a little better about my difficulty in diagnosing the overheating problem. Weekend before last, I joined Dianne for an extended weekend conference in Traverse City, Michigan. First we hung out with Dann & Lisa Wollet at their annual "Ham Jam," where we had great food, wonderful company, and a really fun all-day jam session. Then we made the drive up to the little tourist town on the shore of Lake Michigan. I was surprised at how clear and deep the water was. Dianne has some good pictures on her blog. We got in some hiking on the giant sand dunes around the lake. I mostly explored around Grand Traverse Bay and the western shore of Lake Michigan while she was in conference, but one afternoon I tagged along with her to some scientific lectures aboard the tall ship Manitou cruising the Grand Traverse Bay. Heading back to the Detroit airport, we took the scenic route by crossing the state and driving down the coast of Lake Huron. I liked it there. It reminds me of the area around the TVA lakes, except maybe 20 years ago. There are lots of mom-and-pop restaurants and hotels, little bait shops, and kitchsy tourist traps. It was a fun and relaxing long weekend. -S

Overheating!

I loaded the boat on the trailer last Friday since I didn't want to leave it in the water while we were away. Not thinking, I left it idling when I pulled up out of the water. My neighbor Dan, who was helping me load immediately jumped in the boat to shut it down, but it was too late. When I put her back in the water and started her up yesterday, the engine immediately overheated. I've heard it only takes a few seconds to burn out a water pump impeller when these big inboards run dry. It's obviously true. Here's a picture of the bad impeller with the new one above it for effect. I couldn't find a shop who could fix it before next week, so since the boys are coming up this weekend, I decided to tackle it myself. I almost changed my mind when I got off work today at 5:00 PM and the temperature was 106 degrees! But after about 3 hours of blood, sweat, and tears, I got er' done. Seems to be working okay. I'll know more tomorrow when I take her out for a spin. -S