It’s Friday, our normal bridge/surf fishing/brewpubcrawl day.   Except we have this storm looming over us.    I figured that the fish would probably be biting big time – stocking up before the storm arrives – but no go.   It’s crowded in Publix with people stocking up last minute so why not the fish in the surf.  The surf was definitely fishable and I gave it about a half hour to prove itself with big, black clouds looming over my back and the distant rumble of thunder in the air.   So I decided to head back to the mainland and wait for Nancy at the library.   Hence this afternoon post.   

I think I have the dock area fairly well tied down.  The boat is tied up to keep it from swinging and the poke boat is tied up in the jungle by the dock, face up to fill with rain.  I cranked up the generator the other day to verify that it was operable – started on the first pull.   I had loaded up all the gas cans at the start of the season, in June, so I have almost 20 gallons on standby.  We tried to fill up the car yesterday but the gas stations were either mad houses or already out of gas.  How crazy is that.   So I got up early this morning, about 6AM and headed for the local filling station.  It was still busy at that hour but within 5 minutes or so, I was back on the road heading for home.  So both cars are full.

We don’t have (yet) a family plan to get together to ride it out but that may happen depending on the path as of Saturday night or Sunday morning.   Tina left for a vacation in Utah before the storm possibly surfaced so Tom may come up here or we may go there.  Joey is coming over tomorrow with plans to help me finish up and then take Nancy shopping.  Olivia is working Sunday night but I’m not sure what after that.   All of this will jell as the weekend passes.   I’m hoping it all just goes away – cross the state down around Miami and then head west into the gulf.   But I don’t get a vote.

Ever hopeful, I planted more seeds in the garden.   If we just get reasonable rain, the timing will be great for seedlings.  If we get a deluge that floods the garden………….     By my reckoning, a foot of rain will put George’s dock under; a foot and a half get’s us.   That’s all in the realm of possibility.  The lake is higher than it should be for this time of year to start with.   The seedlings I germinated inside have been growing outside, still in the original seed starting soil.  Tomorrow I’m going to transfer each one to it’s own pot and bring them in the house to ride out the storm.  That looks like about a dozen tomatoes.   It really doesn’t matter much for the fall garden since there’s plenty of time to start it all over again if necessary .

Friday was fun. Nancy came in first at the bridge club – second time this week – so she was in a good mood. We decided to retry the brewery in Ormond instead of Moonrise in Palm Coast, mainly based on the food truck we saw last time but didn’t get to try. This is a hard to find brewery, way in the middle of a warehouse with very small signage to get you there. I had a strawberry wheat beer and Nancy had the Ponce Blonde. We sat at the bar instead of a table and met some really interesting people on both sides of us. We were early for the food truck but decided to wait it out. Great decision. The menu was really interesting and we selected Jambalya egg rolls and a grilled cheese brisket sandwich. There were at least 10 items on the menu that sounded great so it was really a “throw at the dart board” selection process. No doubt we’ll be back.

The first of the newly planted seeds to pooch out were the cucumbers. I planted those on the 15th and they popped up on the 23rd. Interestingly, I planted two varieties and both germinated on the same day. Nothing to be seen from the beans, carrots, or squash. The tomatoes I planted inside started germinating on the 25th, less than a week. Nothing from the green peppers but those generally take 10 days to 2 weeks. On the 25th I planted herb seeds inside. That includes parsley, cilantro and Basil. Parsley takes almost 2 weeks whereas Basil is similar to tomatoes. No idea on the cilantro.

One more garden tidbit – I read in the local paper that you can grow swiss chard this time of year if you provide shade. It can handle the heat (supposedly). That’s counter to everything I knew and I normally don’t even consider planting seed until late fall. I have some seeds so I think I’ll go ahead and try.

We have a storm heading towards Florida and it’s already having an impact – the surf was really nasty – big, frequent waves with strong north to south currents. I didn’t bother even trying but went instead to my intracoastal alternate, Washington Oaks State Park. It’s a pleasant place to wile away the hour and occasionally catch a fish. Got a surprise this trip when I spotted a substantial gator cruising along just offshore. I often see manatee there and thought that was what I was seeing but in a few minutes it became obvious that it was an 8’ gator. I saw a family visiting the park with 3 or 4 little kids heading right toward the spot where the gator was lurking about 50’ from shore. I alerted them and they got to see it from a safe distance.

The other storm related tidbit is that a generator becomes a big part of the survival gear. I have one that’s been reliable but not used very often – a couple of times a year. With gasoline engines, it’s always hold your breath time when you crank it up after sitting dormant for a while. Not having a truck any more is also a concern if the generator needs service. I decided to try to start it before the storm and was pleasantly surprised when it started on the first pull. I have plenty of fuel on standby so I’m electrically ready. That probably means the storm will not impact us. If I had trouble with it, for sure the storm would head directly here.

I’m designating August 15 as the official start of the fall garden.   I directly planted bush beans, 2 x 12′ rows;  pole beans, 2 x 8′ rows; carrots, 1 x 15′ row; cucumbers, 8 x mounds with 3 seeds in each mound; and zucchini squash (Dunja), 6 mounds with 3 seeds in each.   All in all that’s a lot of seeds but some of it is old seed and germination rates are unpredictable so I over plant and hope for the best.   It’s also a bit early and maybe too hot but I’ve got the seed so why not take the chance.  Worst thing is that I have to replant.  I also started some seeds in the house.  These are plants that simply couldn’t handle the outside conditions yet.  That would be tomatoes, green peppers, and herbs – parsley, Basel, and cilantro.   I’ve never grown cilantro so this is a special request from a neighbor.  I planted 4 different varieties of tomatoes – paste, cherry, and two regular round types.   I’ll have a handle on the success in about 10 days.   All the other winter stuff such as cabbage, kale, and broccoli won’t happen until mid September with cooler weather.

Had a fun day yesterday.   A couple days ago I broke a tooth.  The dentist had been predicting doom for this particular tooth for about 2 years and would have pulled it long ago.  It wasn’t bothering me so why go thru the pulling just for aesthetic reasons.   Anyway it broke a few days ago and was hanging on by a thread.  I toughed it out for a couple of days to see if I could get used to it or it would tighten itself back but that was not to be so I called and got an appointment for the next day.   He pulled the broken piece out without needing any tools – I knew that would be the case and had been tempted to pull it out myself  but he said the root had to come out too and it was a long one, well anchored.   He numbed it and pulled it out with a special gripping tool.   Lots of blood but no pain.   I’m supposed to keep gauze there until the bleeding stops.   All that was yesterday and I’ve had absolutely zero pain and haven’t bothered getting the pain med prescription filled.  It has continued to bleed but I’m sure it will eventually stop or I’ll just run dry.

This is Friday so I took Nancy to bridge an headed for the beach.   The tide was almost high so that’s good but the fish tables were saying fishing would be quite poor.   The tables were right plus there was some serious storm clouds with lots of rumbling so I shortened that part of the day.  After all these years, I’m starting to get a slightly favorable attitude towards those tables.

 

 

The lake is higher than it’s been in years and being mid August, we still have plenty of rain potential for the next 10 weeks. I’m slightly concerned as opposed to way concerned.

I have a very large pine tree that has/had several really big limbs that hung over the screen porch. The tree is quite healthy but we do get some severe storms and it’s well within the realm of expectations that the limbs would come down and destroy the screen. Barbara, next door, contracted with a tree service to go through her property and remove all the dangerous trees, limbs and brush. She was quoted an excellent price so I decided to bite the bullet and have them come over and do my tree so long as they were already here. They quoted what I considered a reasonable price so they started here and finished up in a couple of hours. I had them leave the branches on the driveway instead of carrying them away as they normally do because I had plans for the pine needles. That job has turned out to be a little harder job than I expected and will probably take a month of so to get it all cut up and moved. I’m fixing up the path to the lake and the area along the lake in front of the dock by laying down a thick layer of newspaper covered with palmetto fronds and then pine needles on top of that. This time of year I can only dedicate a couple hours a day to outside labor so this particular task is splitting my time between preparing for the fall/winter garden and the dock project. I’m booked solid “working in the dirt” until the end of September for sure.

I’ve been making good progress on the garden and as of today, have weeded 100% and tilled about 20%. Both compost piles are fully loaded with weeds. To scope it, the garden area weeded and tilled is 1200 SF, about 30’x40’ and the compost piles are each about 120 CF, 6’x8’x3’high. I’ll turn the compost piles weekly and it all should be ready for transfer to the garden by mid October, weather depending. My plan is to start some fall plants in the next week; probably a few tomato plants, green peppers and cucumbers. I’m also going to plant a row or two of carrots – much earlier than usual but some seed I planted as an experiment in May did ok. Meaning the heat didn’t seem to bother them.

Had an interesting trip to the beach. I was going to be fishing mid tide, falling and right on a “Solunar minor”. There are, major and minor feeding periods and according to the theory fishing is best two hours on either side of a major and 1 hour on either side of a minor. As described in earlier posts, the fishing has been exceptional so I was anticipating a lessor day. Whoa, got a bite within the first 5 minutes and it stayed steady that way for the couple of hours I fished. All little whiting. Then I got a bite, set the hook and was met by really solid resistance. Enough that I knew it was something substantial. It didn’t move much so I’m thinking big shark who didn’t know he was hooked yet. Then it came loose and I reeled in, disappointed but still excited. When I got it in, there was a complete fishing rig tangled up in mine – pyramid sinker, hooks, swivels etc. I have lost several similar rigs so this was giving me back one. I cast again and 5 minutes later was reeling in again with something extra on the line. Now I cast about 250’ so that’s a lot of reel cranking and it gets tiring after a few casts. Another rig tangled in mine. It was technically different but still had a pyramid weight, swivels and snaps. On both rigs the hooks were broken off. So for the day I netted half a dozen whiting and two rigs. What are the odds that two successive casts about 250’ from shore would yield a rig?

The lake is higher than it’s been in years and being mid August, we still have plenty of rain potential for the next 10 weeks.  I’m slightly concerned as opposed to way concerned. 

I have a very large pine tree that has/had several really big limbs that hung over the screen porch.  The tree is quite healthy but we do get some severe storms and it’s well within the realm of expectations that the limbs would come down and destroy the screen.  Barbara next door contracted with a tree service to go through her property and remove all the dangerous trees, limbs and brush.  She was quoted an excellent price so I decided to bite the bullet and have them come over and do my tree so long as they were already here.  Done.  It took an hour or so and a high bucket to get the guy up to the higher branches but they all came down without a hitch.   My plan now is to take the pine needles that came down and load up the path to the lake.  That should take a couple of days and maybe a little “son” muscle for the big branches but I think it will be easy enough.

Back to the beach to keep the string of good fishing days alive.  This was a different day weather wise and tide wise.   It was hot and clear as compared to mostly cloudy on the days I had success.  The tide was about midway to high and rising.  I changed my rig to a simple one hook style, different than I had been using.  I thought it would get less tangled and thereby increase the amount of actual fishing time.   First cast, one minute into it and getting the first bite.  It was like that for the next 2 hours – rarely more than a couple of minutes between bites.  Once again I experimented with the fish bites and was equally successful on shrimp, sand flea and squid.  And again the fish were mostly small whiting with a couple of sail cats thrown in.  The only thing that has been different these last few trips than for quite a while before is that I put new line on the reel and the line was a completely different color – bright yellow as compared to the “camo” green I had always used.  If anything I was concerned that the new line would be too visible and scare the fish.  Now I’m wondering if the line is actually attracting some positive attention.

 

We stopped by the hospital to see if Wilma’s condition had changed.  She’s now in hospice with a poor to zero diagnosis for recovery.  We were with her when the stroke occurred and with her in the emergency room and visited her every other day since.  She did show some level of memory the day after but very little and not for a few days now.  Nancy will really miss her.

Had a great visit with the SC Yearta’s. Brian is having a retirement party from the Daytona Beach Shores PD and family is coming in from SC – combining a vacation with a celebration. They were here for two days enjoying the lake, catching fish, and getting lessons in quilt making. I had a ripe pineapple on a plant and held off harvesting it until the girls got here then we picked it, cleaned it, and ate a few slices. Delicious.. Brian’s retirement party was a blast. It was catered by 4 Rivers Barbecue and attended by perhaps 150 people, family and co-workers. Clearly he was a well respected law enforcement guy in Daytona Beach Shores even including a 5 year stint with the FBI. The chief of police hosted a “Roast” and we heard lots of stories surrounding his career. I’m guessing he’ll be employed in a law enforcement role in short order. I think his speciality was financial crime.

That was followed by a great day on the beach. Nancy moved her Friday bridge game to Thursday since the retirement festivities begin on Friday. I had doubts about the surf fishing due to what seemed to be a nasty weather forecast. I dropped her off at the game and headed for the beach with a 90% chance (in my mind) of a wash out. It was really black and nasty looking but not a drop fell. The tide was almost dead low and the So-lunar showed a feeding major at 1PM so I decided to give it a try. Wow, it took about 5 minutes to bring in the first fish and it was steady action until I had to quit at 3 to pick up Nancy. We finished off the day with the peel and eats at Sky Jackers.

Now here’s what’s interesting. Yesterday after dropping Nancy off at bridge, I went back to exactly the same place to fish the surf. The tide was just the opposite and we were no where near a So-lunar peak so the fishing should have been lousy. But it was just as good as the previous trip. I experimented around a little with fish bites. I had started out with my favorite – sand flea flavored bites then switched to shrimp. Same great results – a bite within 5 minutes of every cast. So I decided to try something totally different – squid. Still plenty of action. So the take away from all this is if they’re biting, tide, so-lunar tables, or bait don’t matter all that much.

Some bad news. Our friend Wilma, Nancy’s original bridge partner in Crescent City, suffered a serious stroke a few days ago. She had been carried to the ER at Flagler hospital on Sunday but released later that night. We went over Monday for Nancy’s bridge game and we went by her place to see what the hospital visit was all about. We went to her apt and found her sound asleep so we decided not to disturb her but to come back later that day after the bridge game. We did and found her still asleep, apparently not having moved. We woke her up and she went to the bathroom but didn’t come right out. Nancy checked on her and found her slumped over and non responsive. We called 911 and they responded in about 10 minutes. We spent several hours with her in the ER, basically unconscious. They admitted her and we came home. We went back today, Wed, and found her in about the same condition as when we left and learned that she had experience a major stroke in the brain. Nancy was able to get some intelligent responses from her but she’s clearly in bad shape. When we left today, they were talking about hospice. Not good.