On The Rocks

We’re hitting the sweet spot of the summer here on the sandbar as folks and kids are transitioning back into school.  The next couple of weekends will be some of the busiest we experience on the Island as families are trying to wedge in some of those last summer vacations before collecting their books and heading back to the grind.  Don’t forget your baby oil when you head to the beach to get that tar off.

Don’t forget the teachers

Speaking of heading back to school, I have a lot of teacher friends, and if you don’t know a good teacher, they always pour their own money into getting school supplies and teaching aids.  I’m not saying that school districts send them into classrooms with a handful of used pencils and scratch paper, but the teachers I know want to give as much as they can to their students in helping them learn and grow.  These are the salt of the earth people doing God’s work.  Many of them have wish lists on the Amazon, and please consider visiting their pages and helping them give the future generation every tool to succeed.

Water woes continue

I foresee that we will hear an announcement that we are about to enter “Stage 4” drought restrictions in light of the belaying of seeking additional water resources.  I did a quick search of the interwebs on what Stage 4 even means, and I think we’re already there.  About the only thing that the city can do at this point is either turn the pressure down on the water supply, so we literally use less, or enforce infractions more stringently.  So, make sure to look over your shoulder for the water cops if you’re rinsing something off in your yard.  I also foresee folks that were on the fence getting a little more serious about putting in a personal water well in their yard, and talks about water re-use coming forward.

Leo made it down the beach last weekend, and he said that the log at the 40 mile marker has been moved and is passable.  He made it down to the Mansfield jetties and said that he had the place to himself on a weekend, which is interesting.  Driving on low tide is ok, but as the tide comes up, it gets a little dicey as you have to push up into the middle road, which is lumpy.  He said that he didn’t see mullet in the wade gut until the 50’s, which makes sense as they are just now coming out of the pass down there and heading north on the southeast longshore current.  Fishing was pretty good and they caught trout and reds from the beach on lures.

ISAC meeting cancelled

The August Island Strategic Action Committee has been canceled for next week.  I’m not sure if it’s a quorum or location issue.  Some things on the agenda were to be the future of the study of a Seagate, the potential reshuffling of recently de-scoped items from the TIRZ #2 (see Dale’s article on the subject) and the cleaning out of the culverts at Encantada.  You loyal readers know by now that there is a good-sized sand plug on the north side of the culverts that keep the water from flowing through.  I did some back of the napkin calculations, and there needs to be around 850 cubic yards of material that needs to be pulled out of the canal to allow the flow to continue.  That’s if figuring an around around 6,000 sq. feet and 4 feet deep.  An average dump truck holds about 10 cubic yards, so 85 dump trucks worth of sand needs to be pulled out.  I’m sure that someone on the Island could use that material, which is likely pretty good sand.

Paper streets to be paved?

One of the paper streets, Crowsnest, will hopefully be built soon.  This would connect Whitecap with Access Rd. 4 and beyond; with the connection with Elliff Rd, you could get all the way to Briscoe King and Bob Hall pier on a paved street.  I’m sure the County would like people to be able to get safely to and from their venues.  I went and looked on the ground, and the wetland issues are minor; I’m thinking a Nationwide Permit could get it done.  That street is high on the list of the Island Mobility Plan.  Let’s get these things done folks.

My Mom2 was down from Ohio the other day with her new husband Steve (they were both widowed).  I loaded them up on the skiff and ran them down to the cabin, where we pretty much hid in the shade, but had a great visit.   Delbert has his sailboat up for “sail”, and times are a changing.  Stay hydrated, wear your sunscreen, drop me a line at jaygardner1032@gmail.com and we’ll see you next week On the Rocks.