Weather

Living on the Outer Banks is never dull. I awoke this morning to trees swaying outside my bedroom window. In my outdoor shower I watched as branches bent and gently touched the roof of my out building. I didn't think too much of it until I received a phone call from Jude. Apparently the weather service is calling for increased winds (maybe as high as 60-70 mph) later today & through tomorrow, with a chance of beach erosion and soundside flooding.

Visitors I've spoken to are planning to leave, hoping the ferries will be running when they get to the dock. Me? I think I'll finish a few tasks I've set for myself this morning, then close up shop for the day (I've only had two customers all morning!). Then I'll put my car on a small hill and take the rest of the day off.

I'll let you know tomorrow how we fared.

(In answer to Jamie's comment on Wednesday's journal entry, the book is A Treasury of American Anecdotes, Sly, Salty, Shaggy Stories of Heroes and Hellions, Beguilers and Buffoons, Spellbinders and Scapegoats, Gagsters and Gossips, from the Grassroots & Sidewalks of America, edited by B.A. Botkin. Is that a great title or what? The story in the book of the Greatest Tobacco Chewer on Ocracoke Island is one that was told to me several years ago by one of the island old-timers. It is short, but fun. I'll include it in a future Ocracoke Newsletter. Keep looking for it in the next few months.)

This month's newsletter discusses the planned replacement of the seven bridges on Ocracoke Island in early 2008, and explains some of the issues we will face. You can read it here.