In the grand scheme of things the overwrought weather forecasters predicting nationwide mayhem this Christmas weekend would probably look at Ocracoke’s forecast and, if they noticed it at all they would shrug it off as nothing. However for the more delicate among us I’d like to think low temperatures near 20 degrees Fahrenheit and daytime highs barely breaking freezing would be of some note. They will be for us as we wait for the freeze to reach us.
We drove up the highway yesterday to check out the beach and with a plan to fly an actual kite. I’m not a kite expert but I’m pretty sure some vital part was missing from the assembly because the kite folded itself double and refused to fly in a stiff breeze.
A not entirely successful flight so we contented ourselves with a more modest walk. It was a good day for that.
Highway 12 through the Hatteras National Seashore on Ocracoke is rather featureless, perhaps you could say stark in its austere beauty. In any event it does not make for interesting driving.
To my horror I discovered a pool of fluid underneath GANNET2 and I groped around wondering which hose might be loose. Layne suggested, idiotically of course, that it might just have overflowed since the last time I topped off the fluid reservoir. I worried but there has been no sign of more leaking since so she as usual was probably right. I shall just keep an eye on it.
Naturally my spare gallon of OAT (organic acid technology) coolant was low because the van does require topping off occasionally. By way of compensation Promasters require coolant changes only every 150,000 miles which boggles my mind. Modern cars do amaze me for their reliability and ease of maintenance. Anyway I went looking to buy another gallon and I figured it was hopeless in Oacracoke but lo and behold the hardware department at the variety store had what I needed. Amazing.
The other modern technology that blows my mind is shipping and receiving. I had been thinking about buying a new lens for my Panasonic G95 camera and I happened to browse KEH’s online store where I spotted the 14-140 mm lens used for $275, less than half the brand new price. I ordered it shipped to Bruce in Arizona for pick up on our way to Mexico. Thank you Bruce, who tells me he has the lens already and it looks excellent.
However KEH also buys gear and I set up a zoom call wherein their buyer looked at my two lenses for sale and offered me $135 and sent me an online label. Just like that. On Ocracoke. Layne had an empty box (of course) and we went by the Real Estate company who are our landlords where they printed the label and put the box in their UPS shipping pile. It’s probably half way to Atlanta by now and we get a PayPal payment next week from KEH. The ease of modern commerce leaves me stunned. Forgive me if I sound naive, but all this modest little commerce carried out on line with zoom and instant responses leaves me breathless.
I met (and forgot to photograph) the young guy who drives the UPS truck to Ocracoke daily. He loves the route as it mostly involves driving with not too many deliveries in the village. He drives about three hours down the Outer Banks from the UPS warehouse, rides the Hatteras ferry and drops off about 60 parcels per trip. His last route was about 260 so this is light by comparison and with 15 more years to go before he gets his Teamster pension at age 50 he’s hoping to keep the simple Ocracoke route. He also told me how to get my lenses shipped which was very helpful. We shared a laugh when he told me his mother told him to go to college or get a proper job with a pension and I said the same thing about my wife…
At the Island Real Estate company they were super friendly and helpful and dealt with my lens package in no time. It turned out the employee’s husband is a sheriffs deputy on the island and as he was hanging out at his wife’s office on his day off we got to talking shop which I found fascinating. They have five deputies and are dispatched from the mainland by a call center that covers three counties. They have a small holding cell on Ocracoke but they have to transport prisoners to Manteo several hours north. That with the ferry ride is an all day round trip. Making an arrest on Ocracoke takes manpower! And just like Key West alcohol seems to be the big driver of crime, drunk Dingbatters and drunk O’cockers are the main criminals. I was really impressed by the way he understood his community and the empathy he has for dispatchers who may not know the subtleties of finding addresses on Ocracoke which is a village that lives by landmarks more than street numbers. I made him laugh when I could recite my street address and describe the house as the “one behind the pizza parlor” without hesitation. When you’ve been a dispatcher you always want to know exactly where you are in case the worst happens. There’s nothing worse than a dying tourist whose family doesn’t know the name of their hotel or their room number, and that has happened to me on the phone more than once. I noticed they have an ambulance on the island and an airstrip…just in case!
Obviously with a major storm approaching we needed to stock up with liquor so we stopped by the third business in the variety store complex, groceries, hardware and…the ABC liquor store. The clerk told us it was quite cold enough and she wasn’t looking forward to freezing temperatures. Most likely the power will go out was her prediction, noting that the wind blows salt spray onto the power poles shorting the circuits. She was surprised I was familiar with the concept from similar situations in the Keys.
She laughed when I said we would do five as long as there is electricity. Her suggestion was to turn up the heat as much as possible. That way when the power fails it will take longer to cool down. I got a spare bottle of whiskey instead.
Thursday was rain all day, scudding clouds and lots of rain. I took Rusty for a walk which he seemed to enjoy less than I did when thunder rumbled and the wind picked up.
There was no one else out on foot but trucks kept rushing by. It wasn’t even that cold and I was in Crocs and shorts. The cold and very high winds are coming Friday and the realtors sent us a note saying we should let the taps drip during the freeze. This is new stuff for us.
So far so good as they say. I’m curious to see what the weekend will bring.
