Frankie says Relax!

I said it in my last entry but it was buried. So at the risk of sounding shrill:

Dear visitors:
RELAX! Breathe! You are on vacation. Not only that, you are vacationing on an island. Getting two cars ahead isn't going to do much. There's no other place to go. We are surrounded by water.

Everyone wants to get to their beach/minigolf/bar/house as much as you do. Understand that. So please wait your turn. Gunning 5 cars ahead will save you, what, a minute? That's not much time and not worth raising your blood pressure.

Also, when you are at the beach with your wife and daughter, and the sun is warm and the wind is just right and you have your feet buried in the sand? Put away the Blackberry. Heck, don't even bring it to the beach. Nothing is so important it can't wait a few hours while you relax.

Talk to your wife. Find out how she is doing. You're likely always working and she might miss that connection. (Then again, maybe she doesn't and this is part of the arrangement! Who knows!)
Look at your daughter! She is gorgeous and sweet and smart. She won't be that size much longer, where she is still excited about playing with a toy dolphin in a bucket of salt water.

Your email can wait. Your daughter can not.

Hard day at the beach

Saturday I finally did the beach bum thing and spent 6 hours at the shore! It was a tough day of lying on a beach blanket, curled up under an umbrella while reading a book. (Or, if you are my lily-white friend, laid out flat on a beach blanket, roasting in the sun with your eyes covered.)

When we got too toasty, we went into the ocean to cool off. Well, or we just got excited by the fact that there is a giant beach and played in the water, splashing each other, giving each other boosts so you flew into the water and jumping waves. We walked out to the sand bar which is a cool feeling because you can't feel the bottom of the ocean and suddenly you can walk on water...or so it seems.

I went home at one point and brought back sandwiches so we could stay at the beach and not have to go home for lunch and brought back my goggles. With those, I saw tiny little sand crabs scooting along the bottom of the shore. I'm not going to deny that they were cool to see, but I wish I hadn't seen them because now I will be constantly conscious of the fact that there are palm-sized creature with pinchers just under my feet. Would they pinch me if I accidentally stepped on one? If I were them, I'd see my big toe as an enemy.

I applied sunscreen at regular intervals, determined a)to not get too dark and b)prevent skin cancer. Unfortunately, the bikiniied girls around me appeared to be applying something other than sunscreen out of their gold-brown bottles. I thought oil was so 1986? At least no one had one of those reflector things to hold under their neck!

At the end of the day we stumbled home and lay comatose on the couch. It is really hard lying on the beach all day! For reals, though, there is apparently some scienc-y thing (thats a technical term, you may not know it) about how being in the sun all day saps your energy. We mustered enough to grill some salmon (made with the sage and lemon thyme from my garden!), go see a movie (surprised we didn't fall asleep) and stop by a friends' house for a midnight margarita (okay, pina colada, but midnight margarita has a nice ring to it.)


I guess it could be worse.

waves crashing

So, I popped my ocean cherry, which is the totally inappropriate way of saying OMG I WENT IN THE OCEAN AND NOW I NEVER WANT TO COME OUT AGAIN.

I seriously had so much fun this morning, and we really didn't do anything. Katie and I grabbed boards and walked the two blocks from her house to the beach, paddled out, and sat on our boards for about 45 minutes. There were absolutely NO waves to be seen, besides the gentle swells that mark a calm sea.

Despite the water feeling like Lake Superior only two and a half weeks ago (seriously, we let the waves wash over our feet just once and they felt ice cold; twice brought on numbness), the water was warm. The perfect temperature, really. I didn't feel cold at all, even after an hour of bobbing in the waves. This is good cause I didn't feel like investing in a wetsuit.

We eventually ditched the boards and walked down to the swimming beach to try some body surfing. That didn't pan out too well, plus there were some creepy guys who thought a good opening line was "have you seen my swimsuit? I think I've lost it" while in the water.

Anyway, now that I know how wonderful the beach is, I'm going to go there every morning! My usual routine has been to make a big pot of chai and drink several cups of it while I sit on my front deck reading a book. I still can do this...but on the beach and with my chai in a thermos.

And now, 10 hours later, I can still sort of feel the the feeling of bobbing in the waves and having water crash over my head. Its surreal, but I love it.

Last note: the beach badger checkers cameth! What my made-up word means is that, as we were preparing to leave, someone actually came to check if we had beach badges. Since Katie's family has been in Beach Haven forever and since they all lifeguard, we were fine, but I guess I will be bringing my beach badge with me since its a myth that they DON'T actually check.

Lazy summer days

The days really are flying by, I can't believe its June and I can't believe its been almost a week since I updated! I honestly felt like it wasn't that long ago. It looks like I've fallen into a weekly schedule of updating, despite having a mental backlog of posts.

I blame it on the lovely days we've had lately. I have no desire to sit in front of my computer. Even first thing in the morning, when I am gross and unwashed, I go outside on the front porch with a mug of tea and something to read. It's really amazing. I love where I live, for reals. The sky has been a beautiful blue with just enough fluffy, white clouds to bring out the absolute blueness of the sky.

Today I went to the dollar store and bought a beach mat, some beach shoes and a beach umbrella. I work nights now, leaving me free to go to--you guessed it--the beach in the morning. I'm very excited to learn the fine art of "laying out." I heard about it on "Laguna Beach," which I probably shouldn't admit I watch since I am over the age of 18, but I need a little junk food too!
From what I surmise from the show, this means tanning for most people, but since I'm already a burnt sienna color, I'll be using the umbrella and sunscreen to help me enjoy the outdoors minus the extra pigmentation.

----
Its also been a weekend of a taste of home. One of my high school friends and her husband came down for the day on Saturday. We lazed around and grilled, then headed to the Barnegat Lighthouse. We also went through old high school pictures, teehee.
Then Monday my friend Chao, who still lives in Minneapolis, came to visit. I took Tuesday off to show him around the island, including, yes of course, the lighthouse. Back home in Minneapolis, we used to take most visitors to see some of the Lock and Dams along the Mississippi, but most people were more interested in the Mall of America.

This weekend was one of those times I was really glad the meteorologist was wrong. It was predicted to be heavy, heavy rains all day Tuesday. The rains came...but not until Tuesday night when we were already asleep. And by the time we woke up, they were already gone, replaced with that same blue sky and white fluffy clouds. Amazing.

---
I made Chao into my little model...and he did the same for me. We had a lot of fun playing around with different techniques on our cameras. One of my favorite shots I did is on his camera, but I'll share it with you next time.

Lazy days in the lighthouse


Long way down (I know I keep taking pictures like this, but I love how it looks!)


Framed.


Portrait of the two of us. Can you find me?


Impending storm


This is Obadaiah Seagull. I call all seagulls Obadaiah after a book I read in 2nd grade.

Lies I told

I totally lied to you guys because I promised to tell you what potachos were on Friday, and here it is Monday and you STILL don't know.

Like all good liars, I have an excuse. This weekend was GOR-GE-OUS and any time spent in front of a computer was a total waste of time (aka work on Sunday.)

So what are potachos?
Like nachos, thick potato chips, covered with cheddar, bacon, tomatoes, onions, ketchip and chives with sour cream. In other words, perfection. They were just as delicious as anything with bacon can and should be. Forget how strange they sound and fly/drive to New Brunswick and eat them!

So let's get back to this past weekend thing. What a taste of life to come. Though, life to come will probably be considerably warmer than this, the idea of eating lunch in a sunspot on my back porch, grilling dinner, having a beer on my front porch and leaving all the windows open is definitely part of my future.

Of course, its only a taste as its going to rain the rest of the week, but I do plan on grilling again on Saturday (and tonight for that matter), so I hope it stops raining.

In more other news, this was one of those weekends where I loved my job. First I went to the top of Forked River "mountain" (its more like a tall hill), which is a private area. It was beautiful. Then I went in a rescue boat in a lagoon for a water drill.

Here are a few views from this weekend:

Flooding, the end

The flooding is pretty much gone except for some reason when I came home tonight at midnight it was slightly flooded again.

Tonight I worked on election results. I find it so odd that voters vote on budgets, only because I am not used to it. In Minnesota school funding is mostly through a per pupil formula that is a combination of state and local monies. Voters don't vote on their local tax impact because its all combined in that per pupil formula...but this means enrollment is really important to schools!
What is voted upon by voters are operating referendums for when districts want more money for teachers, staff, programs and bond referendums for facilities like new wings or such.

I have no idea how NJ finance works.

inothernews, here is something funny. I am watching the songs for a Hindi movie and one of the songs says "Wanna dance all night," but they mixed the Hindi and the English and just put the word for dance in Hindi. Well that word is naach so it sounds like they are saying "Wanna nacho night" when they sing it. Why yes, I do want a nacho night.

But what is a potacho? Check here Saturday to find out!

Flooded in!

UPDATE2: I waded out of my house! Its a good thing I moved my car when I did or I would have definitely had to stay in my house til the water subsided (maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing, it would be like another day off. I came in to finish a story that was supposed to run tomorrow, but now its being held a week, so I could've done cop checks and weather reports from home!) Anyway, the water was almost to the top of my bottom step, along with some gross sticks and litter like cigarette packets. I hiked down the street through my neighbors' yards but when I got to the end of the road, I had to wade through calf-deep water to get to my car. I might go to the car wash today just to spray underneath my car, make sure there is no salt left in there to muck with my car. I will update soon with more pics!


UPDATE: I was listening to the news reports and they were talking about how flooding shouldn't be as bad on the Jersey Shore because the wind down here is coming from the West blowing East--so against the ocean. Um yeah, unless you live on an island! I live on the bayside (west end) of Long Beach Island, so the water is coming in from the bay.
The water is getting higher and higher. I moved my car out of the backyard so I can have the option of going to work if necessary because the water went up several inches within a half hour.

I can't get out of my driveway because the flood waters have come in past my house and are up to the next house up the street. I think they should subside soon, but if they don't do I get a "flood day" at work? hmmmm.



This is looking down my street towards the bay. You can see the edge of my sidewalk to the right of the picture. I can't tell how deep the water is in front of my house, but its definitely deeper as we go towards the bay. I also do not want to drive in this!


My car is hiding in the backyard!


This flooding is definitely worse than the last time, plus the weather is nastier. Also, that day I didn't have to go anywhere until after the flooding was over, since I hadn't started work yet (of course, it was my moving weekend!)

This is a pic from my moving weekend:


Hmmm, now that I reread my last entry, I said the waters receded around 5 p.m. I hope these waters recede sooner than that!

Storms a'comin

The storms that caused tornadoes in Texas and snow in Kansas has hit the Jersey Shore. Besides high winds and lots of rain, it is also a new moon, which affects how high the tide is. I cannot claim to have any actual understanding of tides and moons and rains and Nor'easters and how they work, I'm just going to repeat what I've (sort of) learned.

Apparently this combination of the new moon and several inches of rain is what causes coastal flooding such as what happened when I first moved here. My newspaper had me stay on the island this morning and drive up and down to report what I saw--and take a few photos.

The wind on the beach was terrific! It blew straight back from the ocean and seemed as if it was trying to push me back through the beach access point. I've never felt such a straight wind* before, usually its all swirly and going several directions at once. (*note this may not be the technical definition of a straight wind, just descriptive.)

Since the beaches in Surf City are still closed, I was unable to see the effects on my beach, but I went down to Ship Bottom, Long Beach Township and Beach Haven to see what was happening down there.

Here is what I saw (some also will probably be in tomorrow's Asbury Park Press):


Home near Merivale Blvd. in Long Beach Township. This area did not get beach replenishment, which is why the ocean is literally at their back door!



Foam on the beach near Merivale Avenue. It was sort of gross-looking and pretty at the same time. I definitely stepped in some.




Ship Bottom beach




This notorious local nightspot decided to turn storms into drinking. I wouldn't want to be the person who had to climb up there and put that up this morning!





Can you imagine thinking about going to the beach today? Apparently Long Beach Township thinks some people might, and opened their beach badge office on time.
Amazing.




Cars splash through water on the road near St. Francis of Assisi Church and Community Center in the Brant Beach section of Long Beach Township.




Sign near Long Beach Township municipal offices. It also reminded people to move their cars to high grounds.




Cars from my neighborhood park on the median of Barnegat Blvd. It doesn't appear our street is going to flood, but you never know!



By the way, today is the 10-year anniversary of the Red River Valley floods in Northwest Minnesota, that flooded Grand Forks and then caused fires. A lot of my college friends were high schoolers at that time and told me stories I couldn't believe. I heard a few nice pieces on NPR this morning, one of which was about a woman from Grand Forks who went to help Katrina victims because she understood what they were going through.

Picture this!

Something different for my blog: A picture post! I had a really nice Friday when my friend Kristen visited my island. We started Friday at breakfast at ScoJos...and I tried Pork Roll for the first time! It tastes like Bacon but looks like Canadian bacon. I think I like regular bacon better for eating, but I think Pork Roll on a breakfast sandwich would be perfect. Then we went up to the Barnegat Lighthouse and actually walked to the very end of the stone jetty at its base. It took us about 2 hours roundtrip...I wonder how long it actually is! The concrete portion is only about .1 miles, but I bet the stone part is much more.

Here is some of what we saw:

Something in the water...

Is there something in (or maybe not in?) the water down here?

Perhaps the Jersey Shore is not experiencing dumped chemicals in their water like some Minnesota surburbs are concerned about now, but somedays I think the water is a formerly from a toxic waste dump. And by that I mean, it was heavily treated with chlorine so we could drink it.

I like being in a pool, so how bad could it be brushing my teeth with poolwater. Plus, poolwater is great cause you never notice when someone pees in the pool. Of course, there is the problem of too much chlorine and then everyone looks like they are part of Ben Stein's Visine commercials.

The real problem is my face has exploded like a teen working at McDonalds. You know, like the Pimply-faced teenager from The Simpsons? I expect my voice to break soon as I try to ask a guy out on a date or something.

I attacked my face with the usual dermatological gusto: exfoliating with sandpaper, applying harsh chemicals to my face, eating nothing but spinach and moisturizing with lotions enhanced with apparently wonderful organic extracts, like essence of yak fur or something.

All that seemed to keep my teenage shame from growing, but did not improve it.

But I found the fountain of youth! It is the Minnesota water system. In just four days, you too can have clearer skin, just like Jessica Simpson Kelly Clarkson Puff P. Did that rap guy Jesse Ventura and Norm Coleman.

Since no company is bottling this June Water, I guess my only option is to start pretending I'm a celebrity and wash my face with Evian water...or, maybe just Britta filter water.

Surfing, U.S.A.

(I hotlinked that from the cocoa beach club, which is very bad, but I figured that I have low traffic, so it won't use up too much of their bandwidth. I hope. I'm sorry if it does, then take it down.)

Today I went to the original Ron Jon's Surf Shop here on the island. Growing up, whenever I would see the RJ sticker on someone's car, I assumed it was from Florida or California or someplace nice and warm year-round. Not New Jersey! But that goes in line with the fact that I didn't really think of New Jersey as a hot beach spot. I feel that is something that is very prevalent in East Coast/New England thinking, but not anywhere else in the country. You probably don't find too many people from Nebraska (or Minnesota!) on the beaches of NJ. Though, now that I think of it, a guy from my high school used to go to the Jersey Shore...

Anyway, I went and started my research for my new summer hobby: surfing! I surfed for my first time in San Diego summer of 2003 and LOVED it. And, if I may say so, I wasn't too bad at it. I had the distinct honor of being the only person in my class able to consistently get up on the board. On my first time! So, I've decided that, seeing how I seem to have some aptitude for it and I live a few blocks from the beach, I am going to take it up regularly.

It's going to require a bit of investment on my part. A basic foam board is going to cost me around $70-$100 where as a starter fiberglass board will run me around twice that. The fiberglass boards are hard to come by used because people tend to keep them for fun, but they also have higher trade-in value if you buy. If I want to start mid-May and get a jump on the season, I will have to invest in a wetsuit, a 3.5mm one. That will also run me around $70-$100. But it will also extend the season to about 6 months and make sure I stay warm, which is nice. The water in May is around 50-60 degrees, even though the air temp is higher. The ocean really doesn't get warm until August/September and then September and October are the best surfing months because its hurricane season!

It's all a lot to think about, but I am glad I went now so I can start setting aside money for this purchase. Also, I can start looking for deals in the local sandpaper and surf shops now. I have to also set aside money to buy a bike or two: I want a tourist no-gear, wheel-around-town bike, which could cost me around or below $100 and I also want a road bike, which could be double or triple or even quintuple (is that a word?) that. Maybe I'll go with a not so fancy road bike!

Question: Anyone know of a good place to scout out boards? Or, maybe, possibly, even have one to give or sell??

its almost a barn-raising...

I took this picture a few weeks ago, but today is the perfect day to post it. Why? Because its raining...a cold, steady, icky, grey, mid-February rain. I wish it was colder so all that rain would be mounds of white, fluffy snow. But, instead, the road outside my house is flooding, again.

So when the place you lives floods often, what do you do? You have raised homes. Whenever I heard raised homes, I always thought of my Children's Encyclopedia about homes built literally on the water and scantily-clothed, happy kids climbing ladders to their house. That seemed like fun, like living in a tree fort.

Well, homes here that are raised have staircases. And they are raised in all different ways. Some are literally likes houses that were built on a platform, and there is enough space underneath to act like a car. Others are just raised a little bit, and have a porch or somehing to walk up to at the house (like mine.) Still other are raised very slightly, like a car on cement blocks, and just have a few extra stairs leading up to the house.

The effect is that houses is here LOOK huge but are really your average size, one-story or two-story house. Some homes, built early-on when this island wasn't quite the tourist hot-spot and just a place where some people had nice 50s-style homes, weren't built on stilts. Whether some sort of climate change has made it more necessary, or general realization of having a house on stilits is good, there is a big business for getting your house raised. I always wondered how it happens, but I guess you can sort of see it from this picture.

Good things most homes don't have basements. Though a few older homes in Beach Haven actually do!