Saturday evening we went to Inverness, Small Town Done Right! We had reservations at McLeod’ House Bistro but wanted to take a walk through town to check out what’s new.
We had heard that Fox Den Winery, our favorite wine bar, was closing. The owners were there so we stopped in. Yes. Closed. Didn’t want to renew their lease and are moving to Ocala. Kind of sad.
Most of the same places are open and very busy and there were are a few new spots. Good to see!
We’ve seen manatees many times in the canal behind our house. I often spot the “manatee footprint” which looks like a giant figure eight on the top of the water. Usually it’s not a “kodak moment”–the water is too dark and when the manatees surface it’s either just a snout or the back which just looks like a big gray rock.
But this time, it was high tide and a mama manatee and her calf were feeding on vegetation that had grown over the banks and seawalls on the canal. I was able to go out on the kayak ramp and have an up close and personal experience with the two.
It was a thrill to have them this close and being able to get some good photos of them! They weren’t afraid of me and only left when they moved on for more food.
Just when I decided I’m really going to make a better effort at updating this blog on a regular basis, Hurricane Hermine paid a little visit to our fishing village in the wee hours of last Friday morning. And there went all my good intentions.
When I woke up that morning, Terry was in the garage. Me, still kinda sleepy eyed, wondered why my shoes that I had so neatly arranged on their little shoe tray were on the other side of the garage.
They had floated there. Three inches of storm surge in the garage. As the sun peeked up, we could see that our house had turned into an island.
But…..
We were one of the fortunate few. Our neighbors’ and friends’ homes and cars were flooded. Trees came down. Power was out for 36 hours. Boats, canoes, trash cans and other miscellaneous bric-a-brac just floated away. The small amount of water quickly drained away.
We headed out in our Jeep late in the morning, thinking that the water had receded enough. Some of our friends that don’t live here full time were a bit anxious about their property. Hey, it’s a Jeep, no problem!
My boots came in handy.
My friend Rosey, that said she tied her canoe on her deck? Wise advice. We left ours on the kayak ramp and had to wait until the water receded enough to get out to the kayaks to make our next attempt to check out the neighborhood. (And Rosey’s house was fine but she lost her car to the flood waters.)
I told another friend yesterday that walking in that water creeped me out. She said they had to swim across their road to get to her mother’s house. But she did buy her mother some white boots the day before the storm.
Yeah. That made me feel like a jerk.
I could show you photos of all the debris stacked along the roads and the storm damage but I’m not going to. You’ve probably already seen it. And if you haven’t, it’s bad. And sad.
The Homosassa Civic Club Campus was flooded. We’ve got professionals in to clean up the office building. But members took on the task of cleaning up the Civic Center.
Thank you Christine, Rhonda, Dave, Jake, Bill, Clay, Terry, and me. Bleach, water, and 1 1/2 hours of labor.
Some of our regular hard working club members were still cleaning up their own property.
Still have to get in a contractor to rebuild the areas that were dry-walled.
I promise.
Next week.
I’ll post more.
Really!
Have a great weekend!
Kathy