Election day

I was reviewing the sample ballot in the newspaper today. I know, I should have been paying attention much earlier in the political season, but I finally got around to it, and was actually surprised to learn that there is only one contested county commission race in Dare County this time around. In my opinion it is a slam dunk for the incumbent, so that means no change at all in the board for next season with the exception of Mac coming back on representing Hatteras. I guess you could say that means "Politics as usual". I was reading the profiles of the two candidates running against each other, and I could not tell a whole lot of difference in either. What did strike me is that they both are FOR everything! Sometimes that means being on both sides of the fence. Not a very good way to get anything accomplished in my opinion.
There will be some tough issues coming up in the next couple of years. Beach nourishment, population increases, re-evaluation of property values for taxation, "affordable" housing, new schools, traffic concerns. It should be interesting to watch this board at work and see if they can indeed stay on both sides of the fence. There is no making everyone happy!

Kitty Hawk Road overwash

We rode up to Kitty Hawk yesterday afternoon to check out the overwash situation. When we were there about 5 pm, the road was scraped clean and passable, but the tide was not high. By the time we left the tide was rolling back in, and overwashing the road once again. The surfers were out in mass. A few pix at:

Surfers and Beach Road

Where's the sun?

Boy am I ready to see the sun again! The weather is windy, cool, and cloudy, and the ocean is very rough. The massive low pressure system sitting off the east coast just seems to not want to move. The beach is taking a beating. There are many places where the high tide comes right up to the base of the dune and you can't walk on the beach. From what I saw on the weather sites this am, this will hang around thru Wednesday. I am definitely looking forward to the return of the calm warm fall weather.

Dreary day here today

The weather is dreary and I stayed home today. No news from the Outer Banks to report today. I think the whole world is consumed with baseball, and I just don't see the attraction. So I can't join in the major discussions happening out there right now.
Even the Coastland Times was boring today. No intriguing headlines caught my eye. The most interesting thing was continued arguing over the Slash Creek Condos having received some significant state approval to move ahead.
Oh well, tomorrow's Friday, and another day. Maybe with more news!

Baum House is gone!

Yesterday we turned down Baum Street in Kill Devil Hills, and were shocked to see the old Baum estate home on the oceanfront just about reduced to a pile of rubble! That happened quickly! The property just closed its sale to its new owners on October 14th. They are a local builder and someone from Pennsylvania. According to the story in the Coastland Times, the buyers had been denied a permit to demolish the structure four times. The article also said that the buyers were interested in trying to work something out with the town to preserve the structure, but eventually decided that the tone the town had taken was hostile and sought only to delay them. Payback for the town's attitude was mentioned as the reason for going ahead with the teardown.
While a great deal of our income is derived from the real estate and building industry, I was appalled at this situation. I believe both parties to be seriously at fault, and the worse part is that this injustice is totally irreversable now. History is gone.

Rain today, Manteo busy!

Today is raining and dreary here on the Outer Banks, but we do need the rain actually. It has been very dry for several weeks. The dogwood trees in my yard are getting colorful with their leaves and berries turning red. The days have been just slightly nippy and the nights a little cool but nothing to complain about. Manteo was SO crowded today! I guess even in the off season, rainy, cloudy weather brings the touring public over to shop and site see away from the beach. It appears to be a very good year for the merchants of the downtown Manteo area. There are more neat little shops there now than ever. One night in the late summer we went downtown in the evening after dinner just to walk around, and were amazed at the number of people there just milling around. There were two musical groups playing at eating establishments close to each other. It was interesting just to sit on the bench in front of the courthouse and people watch. What a different time it is in my little town!

Rental season is over

Well, our rental season is over, and so now we get to rest some. I must say again I've been amazed at the amount of traffic still here on the roads. I'm coming to realize that more and more this is a product of an increasing year round population. That is evident by the lines in the grocery stores even in the winter, by the traffic on the bypass, by the unbearable line at the DMV, by the long, long court news columns in the newpaper! Not all those moving here are "desirable" upstanding citizens. It is evident in the increasing tax burden residents face for building more schools to educate the new residents. It is evident in the search for vacant land. We must face the fact that we no longer live in a small town.

Today is a beautiful day on the Outer Banks...

It is classic fall weather here today with the temp about 75-78 degrees and mostly bright blue sky. The leaves are just getting a hit of color. I have been surprised by the amount of traffic still here for this late in the season. I guess it goes to show how long I've been watching the population here grow, and the touring public added to that. We no longer live in a small town. In some ways that's good, some ways bad.

Back from vacation

It's been a while since I've had a chance to write any entries into this log, since I have been out of the country for most of August and part of September. We finally got to take that vacation of our own after seeing to the many guests we've had here on the Outer Banks. Unfortunately hurricane season has haunted us at every turn and we are just plain weary of it. Not only for worrying about our homes here and the potential threat to them, but to our many, many friends we have in Florida. Of course our vacation travels took us south, right into the path of several of these storms. We have seen many sobering things and reminders of the power of a hurricane's fury in the past month. My heart is heavy for the many who have suffered damage at the hands of Charley, Frances, and Ivan.
The sheer force of the storm surge and its ensuing devastation along the Florida/Alabama coastline is truly unbelievable and heartbreaking. While we did not see the devastation along the Panhandle first hand, we have seen pictures and can definitely empathize with the good folks who live there.

We survived another Saturday...

Well we survived another Saturday! Saturdays are the days we go up to the rentals to check out the places between renters. We go with cleaning supplies and paintbrushes in hand to paint out all those little handprints left on the walls! We go with all sorts of tools as we never know what type of problem we will encounter. We go with brooms, rakes, leaf blowers, lawn mowers. We go with assorted newly washed matteras pads, hot mats, baths mats, that were collected and rotated last weekend. We spend a great deal of effort to keep our rental homes looking their best. We are the on call 24 hour maintenance crew!
I have never seen so much traffic as was down here last week. It must have been the single biggest week for cottage and motel rentals. True we had a storm and some other unfavorable beach days which usually drive tourists to the roads in search of entertainment, but this seemed above that! We crept along "french fry alley" at a snail's pace in the middle of the week, thinking there must be a wreck holding up traffic. After a business stop at the bank which took about an hour, the roads were still clogged, traffic creeping by. We opted for the beach road for a while, but that was just as busy. We finally made it to the Good Life Gourmet to have a LATE lunch only to stand and wait, and wait. I'm happy for the merchants, but boy will I be glad to see September!
The weather turned unusually cool after the hurricane, with overnight lows in the lower 60's. With a strong north wind a couple of days, the beach was not a comfortable place. We drew up in the Avalon Pier parking lot to view the water and the waves were crashing the bottom of the pier, now after the hurricane. The sandblasting was so bad we had to back the truck away from the front row. We laughed at the tourists parking across the street, hauling out their beach chairs and coolers, trekking over to the beach only to find it totally unsuitable to sit down on. Score one more for the merchants as they slunk back over the hill to go shopping.
Tomorrow promises beach weather will return, along with those higher A/C bills.