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02 May, 2010

What's Going On

Well, let's see now, what is going on?

Ah, yes. The wind continues to blow. We've had strong east winds for the past two or three days. Pretty steady winds on the order of 15-25 Kts with some higher gusts.. And man, is it ever piling the water up in the bay and more especially, the canal. Some folks places look like they may be about to become somewhat squishy in their yards.
A-Biking Through the Surf
Walking the doggies this morning, Twyla and I took the back road into town so we could avoid the spray from waves crashing onto the seawall in front of Caribbean Village (Menzie's). Just past Menzies, in front of Caribbean Tire, here's what the waterfront looks like.
Miami Beach Seawall Disappearing
A little further along Miami Beach, the waterfront looks like this. Even with the water piling up like this, Twyla said she saw people swimming in the bay yesterday.
More of the Disappearing Act
Looking behind us along the seawall, you get a good perspective of just how high the water is. I've never seen it this high, unless we had a tropical storm or a hurricane.
All Along the Watchtower Seawall
As we continued our walk, coming up to the Ho Kol Kin Guest House, we had to take another detour to avoid a soaking from the spray against the seawall.
Seawall in Front of Ho Kol Kin
It all made for an interesting walk this morning and, of course, took longer than usual because of the lengthy detours to avoid getting soaked. Since we ended up soaked because of sweat anyway, I'm not sure it was entirely worthwhile. The doggies liked it since it was new areas to them.

Along the canal, the water is way higher than I've seen without a storm.

Here's a shot looking out the No. 1 guesthouse bedroom.
Water's High
Looking northward up the canal to Bob's house.
Bob's Yard Right Level With Water
Jim said yesterday that "The waves are crashing about ten feet beyond his seawall."

This is all pretty amazing considering that we have no storm right now. Might be an interesting hurricane season.
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St. Paul's By the Sea Anglican Church Elementary School has finally replaced a tree that once was planted in the planter below. They replaced it with a silver-leafed Mangrove, which is fine, I guess. They also replaced the plaque.
Silver-leafed Mangrove
Originally, the tree that was planted there was a Corozo palm tree, which is supposed to be how Corozal got it's name - at least that's what the plaque used to say, of course, when I took the picture below, there was no tree.
Corozal's Corozo Tree Memorial
So, at least there's a tree there now. Better than before. I'm just curious what will happen if and when the mangrove matures and starts sending out root structures all over the place.
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Progress on the guesthouse is moving right along. Dianna watched for a while to make sure Mayo had the technique down for the random 'rough' texturing that she was after.
Dianna and Mayo Discussing Technique
Changes are occurring speedily with the guesthouse. Here the rough texturing is being applied to the front of the place.
Rough Texturing on Front
The interior doorways and windows are just about finished with their smooth plaster coat. The shower is almost done being roughed in. Here, Mayo has just started adding 4" blocks to the shower outline.
Shower is Underway
And here, the walls of the shower are beginning to grow.
Shower is Taking Shape
Last of the shower shots for now is this one.
Final Shape Appears
Still to come is plastering the shower, getting the glass door made at Texaco, tiling, etc.

Here's some shots of the outside of the guesthouse showing off its new plaster coat.
Rear Bedrooms and Utility Room
Kitchen-side Back View
Cindy Showing Off the Guesthouse Front
Well, that's about it for today. It's lunch time, then, it'll be pool-time. And we're not even going to wait an hour. Cheers!

2 comments:

Alan said...

Hi Dave,

The replacing of the Corozo tree with a silver buttonwood mangrove tree was the brainchild of Judy Yablonski.

She identified the tree as being the best one for this location, which according to this website: http://www.floridata.com/ref/c/cono_ere.cfm it definitely is.

She arranged the procurement, planting and hopefully the maintenance by the school children. She also had the new plaque made and fitted.

The silver buttonwood is not your regular mangrove. It does not shoot out air roots. It grows up to 50ft tall with a 20ft canopy and as well as beautifying the area it will provide some welcome shade if it allowed to mature.

Dave Rider said...

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the info. Kudos to Judy for her efforts.

Let's hope the school kids remember to water it till it matures.

I'd still like to see a Corozo tree planted somewhere with something similar to the original plaque - after all, it is Corozal's namesake.

Cheers,
Dave