10.5- Air supply

Compressed air hose at Village Hardware

Village Hardware, on Broad Street (Hwy. 55) is a great place for such things as nuts, bolts, mosquito control, mulch and boat parts.

Not everyone may know that it is also the place to go to fill your tires with air. Even when the store is closed.

An air hose protrudes from the south side of the building, ready for all your low-tire issues, free of cost. I suggest you bring your own pressure gauge, however, since the built-in one seems to be off by about 10 psi (they always are).

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9.24- "Slow No Wake"

A driver ignores the "No Wake Zone" sign posted at the Hodges Street causeway, which was inundated by rising "wind tide" waters as a continuing Nor'easter pushes Pamlico Sound waters all the way up into Raccoon Creek.
(click on picture or here for full size)

... But of course this is not an official town of Oriental sign...

These three notorious pranksters (identities obscured) were photographed in the vicinity of the sign soon after it appeared... one of them carrying a roll of duct tape...
(click on picture or here for full size)

















Sandy (on right) rescued the Farmer's Market signage from the rising waters covering the Farmer's Market area,
Melinda (left) and Sandy then stored the signs in the "Witts End" building, where they will be marginally safer from floating away...
(click on photo for full size)

Town Dock, also on the Hodges' St. causeway, was crowded not with boats, but with "street-gulls" who were enjoying undisturbed (mostly) access to the dock and to the 18 inches of water covering the roadway... Jack (the canine), who normally claims control of the centerline of Hodges St. by lying down on it, decided to let the gulls know just whose house they were in:

The seagulls adjusted to the unfamiliar sight of water-covered Hodges St. by gravitating towards the more familiar...

The mural on the side of the Garland Fulcher Seafood Market building... perhaps they were hoping some by-catch would be tossed from the "Brooke-Morgan"...

OK, here is the artsy shot of the day... You know it's artsy because it's monochrome... for full artsy effect, click on picture or here for full size:


Thanks to the Nor'easter, Capt. Ben didn't even need the dinghy to get out on the water today... the Dinghy Dock itself did the job nicely!

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9.06- Hanna aftermath

Electric Co. vehicles and line workers assembled under clear skies and a half moon in the parking lot at Mac's gas station as the sun sets.

Tropical Storm Hanna came through Oriental as dawn approached this morning, bringing 20-30 mph winds from about 2:00 a.m. through 8:00 a.m.

From about 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 winds were in the 30-40 mph range, with reported gusts near 60 mph. After 10:00 a.m. it became a beautiful clear day with 5-10 mph winds the rest of the day.

No flooding overnight, no storm surge, no heavy rains, and winds similar in strength to common thunderstorms in the area, though the winds persisted at strength for longer periods of time.

The storm did knock out power to the entire town for a few hours this morning, with intermittent power outages throughout the day as "Progress Energy" crews made repairs around town.

All in all, Hanna was a lot of not much around here. Should be a nice day for sailing tomorrow, and I hope to be out, either in the Bauer Classic 10 dinghy or crewing on my neighbor's Catalina 25.

Ike looks to be headed for FL and the Gulf, and Josephine appears to be petering out. It will be nice to not have everyone talking hurricanes 24/7 around here, as they have been for a few days now.

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