Too darn exciting

Too darn exciting

Saturday April 10, 2021

When I was a teen, I used to think that thunderstorms were very exciting.  I can remember how often the hot summer days would give way to a booming storm in the late afternoon or early evening.  The lightning, rain and wind were such a relief from the heat and humidity.  Often the streets would flood as the storm drains were not capable of handling the heavy rainfall.  It all seemed marvelous.

Perhaps it’s advancing age or a greater awareness of what can go wrong in a lightning strike, I just don’t feel at all the same about the thunderstorms anymore.  As you might have intuited, it’s storming as I write this.  I’m seated at the navigation station rather than my usual spot by the Lightning Rod (aka mast).  Today is day two of thunderstorms. More are forecast for tomorrow (Sunday).  It’s not the forecast I most like to hear.  I’m pretty sure that later in the week, maybe Thursday, there are more storms expected.  Yummy!

I’m asking myself if this is the start of the summer pattern of daily storms in the south.  I vividly remember the storms we encountered in North Carolina in 2018.  I have NO desire to go through that again! As I said at the time it’s hard to count the seconds between the flash of lightning and the noise of the thunder while simultaneously counting the ‘Hail Marys’ on your rosary.

Moving swiftly onward, we went for a walk on the beach today.  In addition to the dead trees that have fallen, there are many still standing but also dead.  For some it’s clear that the soil has eroded from their roots for others it’s less obvious.  Perhaps the problem is rising sea levels leading to increasing amounts of salt in the water table.  Overall these trees give a somewhat sinister air to the beach.  As we walked along toward the Atlantic side of the island, we started to notice many horseshoe crab shells up by the high tide line.  Looking around I realized that there were hundreds of dead horseshoe crabs on the beach.  I know that these creatures are very ancient.  It appears they are not doing well although it’s not clear why.  Another day when we have better connectivity, I’ll try to research that. 

Gloria

31 40.993 N, 81 09.415 W

Low tide on the beach at St Catherines

Gloria birding on the sand flats of St Catherines

Shell from the beach - photographed on a piece of drift wood

Shells from the beach - photographed on a piece of drift wood

After the storm had passed (it tuned out not to be too strong - just some gusty wind and rain and lightening about 2 miles away)