Mother Nature is not making it any easier for Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. to leave for Maine tomorrow. The sunrise this morning was the prettiest in a long time and it looks like Memorial Day will be another perfect beach day just like yesterday and the day before that and the day before that.

     For those Outer Banks lovers who think they must have lost their minds to want to spend the next five months in Maine when they already live in paradise they can only answer "Maybe they have". They spent a few weeks in Maine back in September and went completely bonkers over what they saw and experienced. 

    Perhaps their motivation will become a little more understandable as the summer heat, humidity and traffic begin to turn Nags Head into a somewhat less than paradisical place than the one we are enjoying right now.  Uncle Jack will be blogging from the deck of their apartment overlooking Camden harbor from time to time and perhaps the appeal of Maine in summer will become more apparent as time goes by.

     He will resume blogging sometime after the first of June, as soon as he can get a broadband connection. In the meantime here's a link to a magazine called "Jewel of the Maine Coast" that the Chamber of Commerce puts out every year.  The cover picture is a shot of Camden harbor and if you scroll down a bit there is another full-page aerial view of the same. You will have to agree that Camden is not too shabby. And it's cool in the summer.

http://www.visitcamden.com/docs/jewel%20of%20the%20maine%20coast.pdf

     See you in a week or thereabouts. 

     It is yet another spectacularly beautiful day on the Outer Banks.  Nuf said.

     For the past several weeks Uncle Jack has been serenaded on his way to and from the beach at dawn by a bird that he could hear clearly but could not see.  This morning that same bird blew his cover by alighting atop  a flagpole on the deck of a cottage on Whitecap street and holding forth in fine fashion for 90 seconds or so. If you enjoy listening to birds sing you will want to check out a short video Uncle Jack made of his performance which you can access by clicking on the YouTube link below.

     Every once in a while a reader sends Uncle Jack a tip about something he should check out on the internet that turns out to be so meritorious that he immediately wants everybody he knows to look at it, too.  This time it was Carrie McPhee in Colorado who put him on to a YouTube video by a singer named Tom Rush that left him weak with laughter.  If you, like Uncle Jack, are struggling with gradual memory loss, you will want to watch this hilarious three-minute performance. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yN-6PbqAPM

    Uncle Jack will be back tomorrow if he remembers to get out of bed. 

     Another in a long series of flawless days has dawned on the Outer Banks which should delight the host of visitors who have flocked to these islands for Memorial Day weekend.  The ocean is calm, the wind barely perceptible, the sky cloudless and the temperature will reach the mid-80's. Tomorrow and Monday are supposed to be exactly the same and nobody is going to want to go home---especially kids who have another week or two of school to endure.

     Uncle Jack perused the latest copy of the North Beach Sun newspaper yesterday and came across a noteworthy interview with Senator Marc Basnight in which, among other things, he puts forth an interesting proposal for restoring the beaches north of Oregon Inlet, to wit:

     "I kind of look at it a little bit different," said Basnight, adding that the answer to protecting local beaches lies beneath Oregon Inlet in the sand washed down from the beaches of the northern towns and into the inlet, where it hurts the fishing industry until it is pumped out".

      "I have always felt that we are wasting that sand," he said.  "I think that sand is avaluable resource and I would rather see it placed in a big pile. Individual property owners could then buy sand from the pile to build back the beach at their own properties.  And if they didn't want to they wouldn't have to.  I think there is some value there. That way the public does not have to pay the lion's share of the cost of beach renourishment, and the private owner pays what he wants to pay to replenish the beach."

     The interviewer said nothing about the location of the Senator's tongue while making this proposal but assuming that it was not firmly lodged in his cheek his idea will deserve serious consideration by the lawmakers of the northern towns whose beaches are steadily drifting southward into Oregon Inlet.  For Uncle Jack it has a kind of Forrest Gump-like simplicity that is very appealing.

    In fact he suggested something quite similar in a column he wrote several years ago, to wit:

P.S.  Uncle Jack made a 90 second video of the sun and surf at 5:45 this morning which can be viewed by clicking on the YouTube link below the pictures. It's pretty.     

     The good news is that Uncle Jack arrived at the beach in plenty of time to photograph this morning's lovely sunrise. The bad news is that the battery in his little Sony Cybershot was completely dead on arrival.  Fortunately this morning's sunrise was exactly like yesterday's sunrise so those who need a fix need only scroll down to yesterday's pictures to see what today's pictures would have looked like if there had been any.

     All indications are that today will be another in the long series of flawless days that began earlier in the week and will continue, if the weatherperson is correct, all through the Memorial Day weekend and deep into next week.  Not a rainy day in sight which will cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the part of many local merchants, of which he used to be one until recently so he knows how important inclement weather is to the bottom line.

     As anyone who has ventured onto the bypass lately knows, traffic has reached epic proportions even before Memorial Day weekend which once-upon-a-time marked the beginning of the summer season.  At some point in the dim past Uncle Jack penned the following observation on bypass traffic which he now exhumes for the edification of his new weblog readers who may not have already read it three or four times:

      Uncle Jack is pleased to report that the sun rose right on time this morning and he was there to watch it for a change.  It's going to be another glorious spring day on the Outer Banks.  It's probably a bit too chilly for the likes of some visitors who would like to show off their new bikinis but most residents, knowing what lies ahead in July and August, are wallowing in the refreshing air.

     Uncle Jack had an hour to wander about in Manteo yesterday while the Mini's tires were being rotated and he must say he enjoyed seeing all the sights of that burgeoning metropolis.  He can scarcely believe that it is the same town in which he began his journalistic career  back in 1980 when the offices of the Outer Banks Current were located in the abandoned Ace Hardware building on the waterfront.

     That decrepit structure, along with most of its neighbors, was replaced a few years later by the mammoth (by Manteo standards) but not unattractive condo/retail development which now looms over the downtown area.  The moldering, inaccessible waterfront is now graced by a handsome boardwalk and the refurbished town docks are filled with watercraft of all kinds.  Every town should provide a congenial place for visitors to sit down and eat an ice cream cone and Manteo has done it well. 

    Going to and from Manteo Uncle Jack was astonished to see the speed with which the new Lone Cedar restaurant is rising from the ashes of the old.  The devastating fire took place less than a month ago and already pilings are in place for the new structure which could be open for business by fall.  Anyone who has ever had dealings with the meticulous Planning and Development group at the Nags Head town hall will be mightily impressed with the efficiency and dispatch with which this particular project was handled.  God's creation of heaven and earth in only seven days comes to mind as a comparable achievement, but then again He didn't need a CAMA permit.  Anyhoo Uncle Jack is happy to see the Lone Cedar coming back so quickly and he is sure the restaurant's many employees feel the same way.

     He is further gratified by the fact that a major clean-up appears to be underway on the beach near Surfside Drive.  Kudos to the town for attending to this messy problem before hordes of visitors descend for Memorial Day weekend.

    Uncle Jack seriously overslept this morning and the sun was well into the sky before he got up.  He is happy to report that it does look like another perfect day is underway. 

     He is planning a foray into Manteo today to get the Mini's adorable little tires rotated prior to their big trip to Maine next week.  Perhaps some pictures will result from that adventure for incorporation into tomorrow's blog. There is always something exciting happening in Manteo as the recent article in the New York Times showed.

     Anyway he doesn't want to fall into the trap of thinking he absolutely has to produce a coherent blog every day.  A workaholic he is not as he once explained in this piece he dredged up from the archives:

     Another beautiful day has dawned on the Outer Banks.  Uncle Jack got up in plenty of time this morning to enjoy some of the pre-sunrise sky show and it was awe-inspiring as always.  Again the beach is exceptionally wide, flat and hard making walking an effortless delight.  Dolphins were feeding in the surf close to shore but were too elusive to pixelate.

    It's going to be sunny but chilly again today.  Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. walked up to the beach at 5 p.m. yesterday to go for a stroll but discovered they were insufficiently dressed to cope with the icy wind off the ocean.  Short stroll and no pictures.

    Against his better judgment Uncle Jack volunteered to help Mrs. U.J. with some yardwork yesterday.  He immediately sprained his right thumb lifting a bag of mulch which has left him nearly incapacitated for the only work he is capable of doing any more---namely pushing a mouse around. Which will explain the brevity of this morning's blog entry.  He is in too much pain to bloviate about anything.

    Uncle Jack overslept a bit this morning and had to hustle to get to the beach in time for sunrise.  He made it as the pictures below attest and he can tell you it was worth the extra effort.  Some mornings are nicer than most and this was one of them.

    Actually it's starting out like a carbon copy of yesterday and inasmuch as yesterday was perfect that is not a bad thing. The beach is incredibly wide and flat, the wind minimal and the air temperature is almost shirtsleeve even at dawn. What a pity you are not here, unless of course you are in which case you are very lucky.

    Uncle Jack was not entirely surprised when the proposed Nags Head ban on all fireworks fizzled out like wet Roman candle when it came to a vote last week.  A majority of the town commissioners expressed sympathy for local retailers who had already stocked up on fireworks for this season and would have to eat them (probably literally) if the ban went into effect now.  What puzzles Uncle Jack about all this is that the most offensive kinds of fireworks (the ones that explode or shoot up into the air or both) are already illegal in all of North Carolina.  You can't legally sell them or set them off anywhere in the state, including Nags Head. So why does Nags Head need a new ordinance and why isn't the existing law enforced?  If anybody out there knows the answers to these questions please help Uncle Jack to understand.

    He and Mrs. U.J. took advantage of the opportunity provided by yesterday's auction of the monster house in South Nags Head to go inside and look around.  (They forgot to bring their credit cards so they left before the bidding started).  He has to say that while he thinks the place is an abomination plunked down in a residential neighborhood only a few feet from the ocean it is beautifully done inside.  If you can imagine sharing a house with 30+ other people (which Uncle Jack cannot) this might be as good a place as any to do it (if you can't get the Taj Mahal). 

    He has no idea what the place sold for if it sold at all.  There seemed to be a paucity of potential bidders on the premises at the appointed hour of 1 p.m.  Uncle Jack probably lost out on another splendid opportunity to make a killing in Outer Banks real estate but after 40 years of doing the same thing he is used to it.

     Lucky are the Outer Banks vacationers who scheduled their annual visits for this week.  Today is already shaping up to be one of those idyllic beach days that makes people start to think seriously about quitting their jobs and moving here permanently. 

    Yesterday developed into one of those days, too, after a less than spectacular start.  Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. walked at least three miles on the beach in the afternoon and it was almost enough to make them think about cancelling their summer sojourn in Maine.  Almost.

    Two days of rough surf had scoured away another foot or so of sand since their last beach hike and the results were disconcerting.  Only one week before Memorial Day, the traditional beginning of the summer season, many stretches of beach in South Nags Head are in deplorable condition as some the pictures below graphically illustrate.  Some of this mess will probably be covered up again by shifting sand but not all of it by any means. 

    If vacationers stop coming to Nags Head because of the condition of the beaches as many proponents of beach nourishment seem to fear, it is more likely to be the unsightliness and even danger posed by the rubble covering them than their width at high tide.  Perhaps the worst example is the Surfside Drive area where the shredded remains of hundreds of huge sandbags put there by the Town of Nags Head still clutter the beach along with slabs of broken concrete, pipes and wires from long-departed buildings. Yuk.

    Uncle Jack made a two minute video of this morning's sunrise (the first one visible in the past three days) for folks who need a surf and sun fix. Click on the YouTube link below to see and hear it.

     A friendly reminder.  Tomorrow is Monday.

     Uncle Jack braved some ominous black clouds moving in from the west to try to get some sunrise photos this morning but it was all for nought.  A bit of orange showed through the thick clouds on the horizon but nothing resembling the sun could be seen at the appointed time.  But for his sunrise DVD he would have forgotten what the sun looks like by now. (It's not too late to get one for yourself. See yesterday's blog for instructions).

      Yesterday was simply not fit for man nor beast on the beach.  A vicious wind out of the north piled up  big, bad surf and intermittent rain kept even the most determined beach walkers indoors.  Today is not supposed to be quite as bad but you would never know it from the way it is starting out.

      Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. will be heading for the Y after breakfast where a warm swimming pool awaits her and a wind-free basketball court will provide him with a half-hour of moderate exercise and significant ego-enhancement.  There is something profoundly satisfying about making 12 consecutive three-point shots as he did in a recent session. He should perhaps mention that much to his surprise he turned out to be the gold medal winner in the hoop-shooting contest (75-79 year-old bracket) in last month's Senior Games.  It turns out that the other two contestants in his age group were even more inept than he was under pressure.  This minor triumph entitles him to compete in the state-level Games in Raleigh in late September but he has decided to let somebody else have a chance at the gold. (It's a long way from Camden, Maine to Raleigh).

     Another interesting beach-related newspaper article  turned up in his inbox this morning along with the usual New York Times.  (This one is from the Myrtle Beach Sun News). It is a reminder that the state imposed deadline for removal of illegal sandbags from N.C. beaches is now only one short year away.  Here 'tis:

 Uncle Jack got up extra early this morning so as not to miss the sunrise like he would have done yesterday if there had actually been a sunrise. To tell the truth he was awakened at 4 a.m. by the sound of rain splattering on the skylight but he thought it might stop by sunrise at 5:55.  He can tell you now at 6:15 that it didn't stop and it doesn't look like it's going to any time soon.  It looks like a very dreary day is in store and on top of that Uncle Jack has to go to the dentist this morning.  That should cheer everybody up.

   Every once in a while Uncle Jack Googles up an interesting item about beach renourishment that he passes along for the edification and/or amusement of his readers.    Folly Beach, the subject of this piece, is a barrier island near enough to Charleston to serve as a bedroom community for commuters as well as a recreational beach for people in the area.  Needless to say it is heavily developed with many structures built close to the ocean.  This is presumably not why it is called Folly Beach but it could be.

    Like all barrier islands on the Atlantic coast it is in constant jeopardy from storms as well as the long-term tendency for these geological formations to migrate westward.  Hurricane Hugo in 1989 destroyed 80% of the structures on the island but massive development since then has brought it back to pre-storm levels.  The name "Folly Island" has never been more appropriate.    (Click on the following URL for an excellent account of the devastation wrought by Hugo.  There are many other similar accounts available by Googling)

http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hurricanehugo.htm 

     The folly goes on at Folly Beach as the WCBD article indicates: 

A dredging ship three miles offshore of Northern Folly Beach is pumping a mixture of sand and water onto Folly Beach where it is being spread out by workers using bulldozers and other equipment as part of its latest “renourishment.”   In about 45 days, when the project is complete, 150 feet of additional beach will be added to about 2 miles of beach north of the Washout. The loss of beach in this area is not a new problem.

     Normally Uncle Jack wakes up in plenty of time to get to the beach before sunrise but it didn't happen this morning.  His eyes remained firmly shut until 6:15 which everybody knows is at least 20 minutes past official astronomical sunrise in these parts.  He was somewhat chagrined until he looked out the window toward the ocean and saw that the cloud cover was so thick that the sun wasn't visible anyway.  The Lord moves in mysterious ways.....even for confirmed doubters like Uncle Jack.

      The weatherpersons predict a sunless day with intermittent rain---a good day for those lucky people who have purchased Uncle Jack's DVD full of incredible Outer Banks sunrises to stay inside and look at it over and over again.

      In case you are one of the many new readers who seem to have discovered his weblog in the past week or so Uncle Jack should explain that he has selected 105 of the prettiest sunrises he has photographed from the beach in South Nags Head over the past few years and put them on a DVD. You can acquire one of these inspiring disks by sending a check for $9.99 to Uncle Jack at Box 554, Nags Head, NC 27959 or by stopping by Yellowhouse Gallery on the Beach Road at the 11 milepost in Nags Head where Eve keeps a stack of them on the counter.

     There is still time to order directly from Uncle Jack before he departs for his summer sojourn in Maine on the 29th.  There won't be room in the Mini to haul a lot of DVDs up there with him so now is the time to order.  Today's pictures are actual samples from the DVD so you will have some idea of what you will be getting. Wouldn't it be nice to have a copy on hand when Father's Day rolls around in June? Of course it would.

     With this blatant commercial out of the way (in which Uncle Jack reveals why he could never make a living writing ad copy) he offers this tidbit from the archives as a palate cleanser.  It was inspired by his many, many long years in retail and is dedicated to the legions of long-suffering clerks who will man (and woman) the souvenir shops of the Outer Banks this summer: 

     If the first hour is any indication this will be a magnificent day on the Outer Banks.  The sky is cloudless, the sea gentle, the wind calm and the beach wide.  What more could a beachgoer want?

     Uncle Jack read in the paper yesterday that the Nags Head commissioners are considering a total ban on fireworks in the town.  This is one initiative to which he is happy to lend his wholehearted support.  There have been nights in South Nags Head in recent years when he thought he was in Baghdad for all the explosions. And many a morning he has found the beach littered with the detritus of the previous night's fireworks.  Enough already.

      Uncle Jack has good news for "Wings" haters this morning.  He went by the newly cleared lot just south of the Brewing Station in KDH yesterday which has just sprouted a sign indicating that another strip shopping center will rise there--- not the rumored new "Wings".  This could fairly be called a mixed blessing inasmuch as we seem to have a bewildering number of strip shopping centers already.

     Should you be encountering the mid-week blahs at work here is a selection from the archives that may help to pass a little time this afternoon if the boss isn't watching:

     A gorgeous morning on the Outer Banks which shows every indication of developing into a magnificent day.  Uncle Jack does not have time to wax eloquent at greater length this morning due to the press of other duties  (e.g. a quick trip to Ace Hardware to pick up a bottle of Terro ant killer before the little creatures walk off with the entire larder).

     He did make a short video of the sunrise which contains a brief voice-over for the first time at the request of Bob C. of New Jersey.  The surf is especially lovely in this one.  Click the YouTube link below to see and hear it.

    Have a great day wherever you are.

    Uncle Jack didn't think he would need his winter coat again this spring but he was wrong. It was 54 degrees when he reached the beach at 5:45 and with a stiff breeze out of the north it felt like January again.  Actually many days in January were warmer come to think of it.

     But the the sun was visible at sunrise for the first time in days and that was uplifting. There is not a cloud in the sky and it should be a good bit warmer than it was yesterday which was not very warm at all.  Uncle Jack walked up to the beach at 5 o'clock yesterday evening and nearly lost another cap to the fierce north wind.  The ocean was nearly as wild as it was during the northeaster last week.  It has calmed down considerably this morning but erstwhile swimmers are urged to stay out of the water because of the danger of riptides.

    He made a short video of the sunrise this morning during which an intrepid gull walked into the frame and then back out again as though he were auditioning for a part in "Nights in Rodanthe". Speaking of which he has to say that the movie is guaranteed to be a lot better than the book.  There is no way it could possibly be any worse. The Sunday New York Times has a long article on the difficulty of predicting which books will become best sellers and there are no better examples of the baffling nature of this phenomenon than the sappy novels of Nicholas Sparks. (If Uncle Jack sounds jealous it's probably because he is).

     Our recent northeaster cum tropical storm (Andrea) wreaked havoc on the coasts of Georgia and Florida last week. The latest story Uncle Jack has seen comes out of a Savannah paper, a link to which he has provided below. If the story sounds familiar it might be because Tybee is a barrier island just like the Outer Banks and we all know what happens to barrier islands over time, don't we?

http://new.savannahnow.com/node/284193    

    Not even Medea, the mythological Monster-Mom, would deserve a Mother's Day like this.  At 6 a.m. it's raining, windy, ten degrees colder than yesterday and generally too miserable for Uncle Jack to get out the back door much less to the beach.  He would go back to bed except that it was so hard to get out of it in the first place.

    He hopes you will enjoy the holiday wherever you are, especially if you're a mother.  It's "Your day" as they say over at Hallmark so make the most of it.  Leave town if you have to.

    Just in case anybody out there hasn't read the marvelous New York Times article about Manteo here is the link:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/travel/escapes/11manteo.html?em&ex=1179028800&en=d2f803b2720e532d&ei=5087%0A

    Who needs Nantucket or Kennebunkport when we have Manteo right next door?

     Uncle Jack spent 20 very pleasant minutes at the beach this morning, sitting on a sandbag and drinking tea and watching Mother Nature put on quiet show.  Pelicans skimmed the swells on their morning commute, occasionally pulling up and diving in their ungainly fashion.  Porpoises by the dozens cruised by heading south through the glassy water.  The first osprey he has seen this year hovered in front of him for a while and then moved on. 

     It was obvious from the moment he arrived that there would be no visible sunrise this morning.  Black clouds on the horizon were lit by lightning from time to time and heavy rain was falling from them.  When it became apparent that they were heading toward him he took off for home and arrived just as the sky opened over his house.  If the rain clears out later it could be a lovely day because the temperature was already over 70 before 6 a.m. 

     Uncle Jack is grateful to Steve Thomas for alerting him to events on Long Beach Island in New Jersey where he visited friends back in September on the way home from Maine.  The town of Surf City at the south end of LBI started a beach renourishment project earlier this year but had to suspend operations for an unusual reason. Here's the story from a New Jersey paper:

LBI BEACH PROBLEM GROWS

More ammunition

Published: Friday, May 4, 2007

Beach replenishment, attacked both by environmentalists as a sand subsidy for oceanfront homeowners and by some of those same homeowners who complain about new dunes obstructing ocean views, is controversial enough these days.

But add 900 or so still-dangerous World War I and World War II-vintage projectiles and fuses to the mix, and the sand-pumping issue really gets explosive.

Yes, we said 900.

After an amateur metal-detector hobbyist discovered a handful of possibly explosive fuses in the new sand pumped onto the beaches in Surf City, the Army Corps of Engineers immediately shut down the beach and subsequently began a magnetometer scanning operation to detect any remaining ordnance. Slowly, the total crept up to approximately 200 — then, in one week, the Army Corps discovered an additional 700 devices on the new beach in Surf City and part of Ship Bottom.

Said Army Corps spokesman Khaalid Walls, “It's looking like when these munitions were dumped after World War II, they were dumped in mass quantities.”

Apparently.

So how does a snafu like this occur?

And how can shore towns and beachgoers be assured it won't happen in future projects?

The old munitions came from the offshore site where the new sand for the beaches was pumped from. Unfortunately, the military commonly dumped old munitions into the ocean in the bad old days when anything you didn't want anymore was dumped into the ocean. The problem is well-known — so the Army Corps routinely conducts a magnetometer scan of the borrow area. The scan for the Surf City project showed no munitions. So, task No. 1 for the Army Corps: Figure how that happened.

Because the borrow site appeared to be clean, only a standard 4-inch screen was used on the dredge's intake pipe. Using a smaller screen, which has to be cleared more often, adds time and cost to a beach-replenishment job. But that brings us to task No. 2 for the Army Corps: From now on, use a smaller screen on all sand-pumping jobs.

It's not clear what percentage of the 900 items found are still explosive, but this fiasco on Long Beach Island means that it's possible the beaches may not be reopened by Memorial Day, although federal, state and local officials are promising the work will be finished in time.

Municipal officials also are wisely putting together a plan on how to react if more munitions are found this summer. There has even been some talk about a digging ban on the beaches.

Nothing like a carefree day at the shore.

We believe that, in general, beach replenishment is necessary maintenance of a key piece of the state's infrastructure. Thanks to New Jersey's beautiful beaches, the state has a thriving tourism industry. Furthermore, such projects come with requirements for increased public access and more public restrooms.

But the work is expensive and controversial even when the Army Corps doesn't leave the beaches littered with unexploded ordnance. This cannot be allowed to happen again. Beach-replenishment critics don't need any more ammunition.

     Imagine the T-shirt possibilities.  "Have a blast at Surf City" comes to mind. 

    Misty morning.  (Sounds like an ecdysiast's nom de pole but it's also a description of the beach at dawn today).  Beautiful in a mysterious way.  Glassy ocean with an occasional porpoise poking through the surface.  Humidity 100%.  Everything shrouded in mist. Lovely.  Wish you could be here.

    It is often said that the Lord moves in mysterious ways and this is certainly true in the case of the Comfort Inn South's new deck.  Uncle Jack recently showed pictures of it under construction but now it appears that he may have to take more pictures showing it under de-construction.  He has attached copies (pictures 7-10) of some correspondence between the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources and the hotel owners which seems to suggest that the deck is in violation of state regulations and must be removed.

     It has also been noted, however, that there is many a slip twixt cup and lip so Uncle Jack is not going to rush right down there and take pictures of people pulling pilings.  If he sees a flock of flying pigs hovering around the Comfort Inn, however,  he will surely check it out.

     The print is small in these documents but Uncle Jack could read it on his monitor so maybe you can too if you're interested.

     Uncle Jack got to the beach at 5:55 this morning just in time to watch the fog roll in. It became immediately obvious that there would be no visible sunrise so he beat a hasty retreat to his kitchen where his mug of Twining's Earl Grey tea was still warm enough to drink.

      Yesterday (Wednesday) evolved into a sufficiently beautiful day for him to dust off his bike and ride down to Surfside Drive and back---about 2.5 miles.  He was moving slowly enough to count the "For Sale" signs on oceanfront houses in this neighborhood of which there were 23 if he didn't miss any.  It appears that either a fairly large number of investors (nobody actually lives in these houses) are becoming warier of the risks of oceanfront investment or they are attempting to cash in on the incredible run-up in prices over the past few years.  Whatever the explanation it's an interesting phenomenon. Rest assured he won't be buying.

    A number of readers were curious about a "cease and desist" order recently received by the Comfort Inn South from the NCDENR. Uncle Jack has not been able to figure out how make a copy of the letter (it's in PDF format) but he can tell you it notifies the Comfort Inn owners that their recent repair of a deck on the south side of the building was done without a permit and was in violation of existing regulations. He will be happy to forward the letter to anybody who is interested in reading the whole thing.

    South Nags Head was shrouded in mist when Uncle Jack trudged up to the beach at 6 a.m. but visibility is steadily improving and this could be a tolerably nice day by the time it's over.  The sun didn't show up until ten minutes after sunrise but it was a welcome sight after several days of nothing but swirling clouds overhead.  The beach is wide, flat and clean as a whistle again and if the rain holds off this could be a lovely day for beachwalking and taking in the post-storm sights.

     This strange storm seems to have moved steadily south down the coast and huge swells are battering the Florida coast.  A concrete pier at Lake Worth north of Palm Beach washed away yesterday and as the following excerpt from a Florida newspaper describes, Palm Beach itself is taking a beating.  Officials express fear that the recent beach renourishment project may have been undone already.

Huge ocean swells take big bite out of Palm Beach County beaches

By Erika Pesantes, Sally Apgar and Chrystian Tejedor
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted May 9 2007

Huge ocean swells Tuesday sucked huge swaths of sand out of local beaches, sank a 28-foot vessel in Lantana and destroyed a maintenance shed that workers in Jupiter tried desperately to save, officials said. The havoc was courtesy of a strong system of low pressure perched along the Georgia and South Carolina coastline that sent the swells and gusts of wind up and down the east coast. Swells were expected to drop below 9 feet overnight but were subsiding the slowest in Palm Beach County, according to the National Weather Service. On Tuesday afternoon the surf tugged away on sand dunes on Lantana's public beach and chomped away at the sea grapes. The narrow sliver of remaining sand dunes dropped off deeply and abruptly, within less than 10 feet of the boardwalk. "This has got to be some of the worst erosion," said John Johnson, a 17-year veteran of Lantana's Marine Safety Unit as he and other lifeguards scanned the seas for surfers, swimmers and boaters. "This was all intact last night. We're just hoping our [lifeguard] tower doesn't go." Johnson and Lt. Chris Redgate sprang into action to save two men who became stranded when the motor on their boat gave out in the morning. The men were unharmed, but their boat capsized and drifted toward the Boynton Inlet. The situation appeared to be more dire in Jupiter, where authorities closed Jupiter Beach Park at sunrise Tuesday after huge waves crashed into the parking lot, leaving a high tide line of tree branches, bottles and marine debris by the neat split rail fences marking the now flooded lot. Waves smashed through a barricade of 2,000 sandbags and a few steel pilings to pull a cement and metal maintenance shed mostly out to sea. Waves also dislodged a 60-foot sailboat that ran aground just north of Juno Beach during a March 31 storm. "The north part of the county's getting hit the worst because of the damage from past hurricanes," said Dan Bates, director of Palm Beach County's Environmental Restoration and Enhancement Division. "There's a lot of erosion on Singer Island; lots of decks have been wiped away and one condo in South Palm Beach." Officials throughout the county said it was too soon to tell how bad the damage to the beaches will be, but many like Bates are concerned they will be heavily damaged and that beach renourishment efforts will have been washed out to sea. "It's pretty wild looking over there," Lake Worth recreation manager Daryl Boyd said of his city's beachfront. "I've never seen anything like that." Still, surfers and onlookers flocked to the beaches to see the action firsthand.

     It was still raining at 6 a.m. which precluded a visible sunrise this morning but an hour later the sun came out so Uncle Jack walked up to the beach to look around.  It appears that the worst is over and the beach, at least in the 17-18 milepost area where he lives, has escaped with remarkably little damage.  Some of the newly bulldozed dunes have been chewed into a bit but recently erected stairways seem to be intact.  While it seemed much worse than the Thanksgiving storm in terms of wind and surf this one actually turned out to be something of a pussycat by comparison.

     The wind has dropped from the 30s into the low 20s and the surf, while still wild by any standard, does seem to be calming down somewhat.  Uncle Jack put his trash can in the upright position over an hour ago and it's still standing so things are looking up.

      Somebody asked about Ice Plant Island yesterday and it reminded him of a letter he got a few years ago asking about the same thing:

     Well it didn't rain all day yesterday as Uncle Jack feared but my how the wind blew.  He walked up to the beach around 4:30 in the afternoon and had to struggle to make the last ten yards against what must have been a 40 mph sandstorm.  His cap flew off at one point and the last time he saw it it was 50 feet in the air and flying west to an unknown destination. He stayed long enough to take one picture of the vast, churning mass of wind-driven foam that extended as far as the eye could see  and then allowed himself to be propelled back down Whitecap street with the rest of the flying trash.

      He did it all over again at 6 this morning (this time with a ski cap pulled down over his ears) and can report that nothing has changed except that the ocean is even wilder than it was yesterday.  He is happy to report that so far there appears to be very little erosion damage in his neighborhood. His guess is that because the tides have been so abnormally low for the past few days the waves have had farther to go at high tide before they reach the dunes.  The Thanksgiving storm widened the beach in this area about 30-35 feet and  that could also be a factor in mitigating the force of the waves. 

     He went out again at about 10 a.m. and made a short video of the surf at the end of Pelican street. The wind nearly blew the camera out of his hand at one point so it's a little jerky.  Click on the YouTube link below to see it.

     Uncle Jack read an interesting article in a Mobile, Alabama newspaper yesterday.  It describes how the local authorities are building a three-mile long berm made of dredged sand on Dauphin Island.  Dauphin is a barrier island at the entrance to Mobile Bay which has been battered many times by one storm after another including Katrina which nearly obliterated it.  FEMA is paying for this  exercise in futility which would be almost laughable if it didn't cost so much money that could be more wisely spent elsewhere.  Read it and weep at

http://blog.al.com/pr/2007/05/night_shift_at_the_beach.html

    It's raining in Nags Head.  Looks like it's going to rain all day.  And all night.  And all day tomorrow.  With winds from the northeast exceeding 30 mph for the next 48 hours.  Good time for Uncle Jack to take a day off.

     A reluctant sun made a brief appearance at 6:10 a.m. this morning and then disappeared again behind a thick cloudbank on the horizon. It may not be seen again for a while if the weatherman is correct so he took a bunch of pictures even though they are not very exciting.

    The surf is up a bit this morning but nothing like what it will be in 24 hours if the predicted 40 mph northeast winds develop.  See you at the mall?

    Uncle Jack read in the paper yesterday that the government is thinking again about permitting offshore drilling for oil.  So he drilled deep into the archives and found this piece from many years ago when the same threat loomed:

     Another dreary day on the Outer Banks.  Cloudy skies, strong possibility of rain, wind whistling off the ocean with sufficient force to repel even Nellie Myrtle Pridgen.  Uncle Jack will be taking a very long nap this afternoon.

    In lieu of fresh news (he is not aware of any) here is another cadaver from Uncle Jack's morgue:

     Uncle Jack trudged dutifully up to the beach at 6 a.m. but he knew before he left the house that he wouldn't be staying long.  The sky is completely overcast, the wind is brisk and directly off the ocean and the temperature has plummeted to 65 degrees which the weatherman says will be the high for today.  65 may not sound so bad to somebody in upstate New York right now but after you have spent a couple of days wallowing in the 80's it's downright uncomfortable.  Looks like a good day to finish recovering the dining room chairs. (He takes that back.  There will never be a good day to finish recovering the dining room chairs).

     On the beach renourishment front the battle has heated up down in Destin, Florida where Uncle Jack's brother sometimes winters.  A number of homeowners who don't want dredge spoil dumped on their property have sued the town and have demanded that the sheriff arrest employees of the dredge company for trespassing.  The sheriff says he won't do that. The following excerpt from a Destin newspaper yesterday provides some detail.

Destin says it won't arrest beach restoration crews

May 02, 2007
By Patrick Donohue
(850) 654-8445
pdonohue@link.freedom.com

DESTIN -- Some Destin beachfront property owners have called for the arrest of beach restoration crews on charges of trespassing when the project resumes in the next few days.
But an attorney for the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said that’s not going to happen and Destin City Manager Greg Kisela said the project will restart as soon as a dredge arrives.
Kisela penned a letter to those property owners as well as their legal representatives, the Atlanta-based Southeastern Legal Foundation, saying that beach restoration will go on.
“The city has directed Great Lakes, as the city’s agent for this specific purpose, to access all beachfront properties necessary to place beach and dune fill material at the locations required by the contract documents,” Kisela wrote.
He said the dredge Liberty Island is scheduled to arrive in Destin this coming weekend and that work would begin “immediately.”
The project is scheduled to take 45-50 days and will add 80-100 feet of beach to the 2 miles of Destin beach east of Henderson Beach State Park. The project is the last leg of a joint project between Destin and Walton County that saw 5 miles of beach in Walton County restored earlier this year.
The project’s initial cost was $22 million but due to delays and work stoppages, the total cost of the project is now about $28 million.

      And so it goes.

     The weather prognosticators are not always right and this morning is a good example.  Instead of the predicted "clear" at 6 a.m. Uncle Jack found a huge mass of clouds obscuring the eastern sky with only the faintest suggestion of orange indicating that the sun was over there somewhere.

    Otherwise it's a lovely morning on the Outer Banks with temperatures expected (if the weatherman pulls himself together) into the 80's with a brisk breeze out of the southeast.  The sea is calm and the beach, in South Nags Head at least, is wide and flat. A sterling beach day if the wind doesn't create a sandstorm later.

     If it doesn't get too warm it should also be a great day for picking strawberries which he and Mrs. U.J. plan to do this morning.  They got word yesterday that the "U-Pick 'Em" strawberry patch in Point Harbor is open and that's where they will head right after breakfast.  Some things are more important than shooting baskets at the Y and this is one of them.

     Old-timers who are mourning the loss of Marc Basnight's excellent Lone Cedar restaurant to fire yesterday are probably also shedding a tear in memory of the tiny but equally wonderful eatery that once stood in that place.  The original building that once housed Basil and Beulah Daniels' cafe had long since melded into the much larger building that replaced it but it will never be forgotten by anyone who ate there in the late 60's. 

     Basil Daniels did all the cooking in the early days and Beulah waited on tables.  Their success was such that waiting an hour for a plate of fried oysters---after being seated---was de riguer even during the off season.  Nobody except an occasional tourist complained, though, because Basil Daniels' fried oysters and shrimp were unmatched anywhere on the planet.   Their extraordinary success wore the proprietors out after a few years and others took over and began the decades long expansion and evolution which disappeared in a cloud of smoke early Tuesday morning.   Sic transit gloria mundi. 

     Click on the link below to connect to an interesting article on the plight of some oceanfront homeowners down in Florida.  Further evidence of the very high cost of building too close to the ocean.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050207/nep_166761705.shtml

     The calendar says it's May 1 but the ambient air on the Outer Banks feels more like July 1.  All indications are that today will be just as perfect as yesterday was and that is no cause for complaint by anybody except possibly the poor bulldozer operators who have to ride their clanking beasts in the hot sun all day. At $250 an hour they will probably manage to bear the discomfort.

     Photography-wise Uncle Jack could have stood in bed this morning because the sunrise was a carbon copy of yesterday's.  The ocean is still flat calm and the wind imperceptible.  He didn't bother to make a video but if you feel the need for another early morning fix you can take another look at yesterday's by clicking on the YouTube link in yesterday's blog.

    When Uncle Jack turned the page on the calendar this morning he was reminded that one month from today he and Mrs. U.J. will be ensconced in their new summer residence on the harbor in Camden, Maine.  In preparation for this major upheaval in their lifestyle he has been poking around on Google looking for information about the cultural assets of mid-coast Maine and yesterday he hit the jackpot.  He ran across the website of a remarkable man who calls himself "The Humble Farmer".

    His real name is Robert Skoglund and for nearly 30 years he has broadcast a one-hour program of music and commentary on the Maine PBS network.  He plays what he calls "old-fashioned music" which is really classic jazz ranging from early Louis Armstrong through Benny Goodman which happens to be precisely the kind of music Uncle Jack loves most.

     Between musical offerings he delivers himself of wry commentaries, most of them hilarious, on whatever comes to his fertile mind.  As a public service Uncle Jack herewith presents a link to Humble's website and invites you to check it out. Be warned that he has the power to become habit-forming very quickly so don't click on this link unless you think you can find an hour a week for the Humble Farmer.  Even if you don't like old jazz that much it will be worth your time.

http://www.thehumblefarmer.com/ThisWeek.html