Virginia Beach weather

Monday, shovelling snow at 12°. Today, walking on the beach, 70°.

Snow

It was predicted we'd get up to 14 inches of snow, but what we actually got was about five, although there was a nice bout of freezing rain first to get a layer of ice under the snow.

Lighthouse

Several members of the Conversation Group -- Kathy, Sangjae, Eunhye and her husband Chowan, Gulcerin, and I--took a trip to the Fort Story lighthouse, and climbed to the top. Steep spiral stairs, then a ladder to get to the platform where the beacon was. After that we went to the First Landing Cross, the Seashore State Park on Shore Drive, and then the other end of Seashore off 64th Street, and on to the Broad Bay beach. Just hanging out, having a good time with friends.

First Strawberry

The strawberry plants froze at 15° this winter, then drowned this spring, but didn't seem bothered by it. That tulip-eating squirrel nearly got the first ripe strawberry this morning, but I armed for battle, drove off the foul beast, and rescued the treasure.

Ice and Snow

11°F this morning and the Lynnhaven is River is frozen from shore to shore. On the ground, the top layer of snow has melted and refrozen into a 3" thick layer of ice. Once you break out a few blocks of ice and pitch them aside, you find powder snow underneath.

Christmas Eve

Temperature is 70°, and strawberries are still growing in the garden boxes on the deck. Pretty nice weather for Christmas Eve. Josh and Gwen and Diana and I are going to the 11pm candlelight service, then coming home and opening one package each.

Eagles

We saw TWO bald eagles around 1pm today, over the river behind our deck. One flew off north, the other one disappeared into the marsh grass. I thought that one might have been injured, so I put out the kayak and went around the island. Turns out the "north" eagle had stopped at the platform for osprey nests; as I drifted down towards him, he grumbled and took to the air again, and that brought the second one up. They flew back and forth over the river for a few minutes, then one disappeared south and the other headed west.

Glass Door

One of the panels of the upstairs glass door had fogged up, either because the guys who did the residing project weren't careful enough or just because it was twenty years old. I looked at replacing the whole door and frame, but the estimates were in the $1300-1800 "and probably more" range. So we dropped back to the idea of just replacing the glass in that door.
I called Binswanger and set up a time on Friday for a guy to come measure. They rescheduled to Monday. They rescheduled to Wednesday. They never showed up Wednesday--"he'll call you right back" didn't happen.
So I called Atlantic Glass. They called me to confirm the appointment (instead of me calling them), and the estimator showed up right on time. It was a custom size, so the estimator didn't work out the price right then and there, but the office called within an hour--and when I said "go ahead", they called back within 30 minutes to confirm that the factory had the order and promised to deliver it by the date I wanted it. A couple of days ago, they called to say "It came in early, we can install it Friday if you're ready." And today, the team called me, showed up on time, and got it done in about 20 minutes instead of the hour they had anticipated. I particularly liked that they took the effort after the install to get the glass spotless; there were some gummy bits at the top, and it would have been easy for them to just leave them and say "We're done", but they got out a razor and scraped it clear. Well done.

Eagle

Saw a bald eagle again this morning, about 10:15, as we were having breakfast on the deck. Third time this summer, and each time he's been flying north over the river.

Mannino's

Diana really enjoyed going to Mannino's for her birthday last year, and had mentioned several times that she wanted to go back there. So, for her birthday, I told her to be ready to go out--but didn't say where. And  I drove to the oceanfront, which is opposite of where she knew Mannino's to be.
Except they opened another one last month, at the beach. Win.

Dinner at the Nawab

Dinner at the Nawab: Bewali chicken, chicken subz salna, Peshawari naan, and mango kulfi. The Peshawari naan, with coconut and cherry, was particularly good, and I enjoyed the bewali chicken. I'd have enjoyed the kulfi more if it had been a different flavor; the texture was a bit heavy for "ice cream" but if I'd expecting "frozen custard" or something along those lines, I'd have been okay.

Eagle

Saw an eagle, once again as he was flying north up the river.

Dolphins

Trinity had a service at the 31st Street Park this morning, and we saw dolphins in the water about 100 yards out from the beach.

A Bicycle Built for Two

Went to the boardwalk today and rented a two-person surrey bike. We took it up and down the boardwalk--not quite the whole length, because the bike is fairly heavy, there's no gearing, it's a lot of work to get it to go up a slope, and the seats weren't what you'd call "comfortable". But aside from that, it was fun. Nice clear day at the beach but not too hot, with lots of people out having a good time.

Bald Eagle

I happened to be looking out over the back deck and saw a bald eagle flying north along the river. He was moving at a pretty good clip; I saw a flash of white head and white tail and said "Hey! Eagle!" and he wasbehind the trees and out of sight.

Blueberries

We got a pair of blueberry bushes last winter, and we've just had our first blueberry harvest. Most of them are a paler blue than what you'd see in a store, but some of them are as deep and intense as you could ask for. I have no idea why the birds and squirrels haven't gotten them.

Tornado

The outer bands of Hurricane Arthur, the first hurricane of the 2014 season, arrived in Hampton Roads last night. We got a cell phone alert at 1am with a tornado warning, and it appears that shortly after that, a weak (EF-0) tornado landed about 2.5 miles NNW of here, and another one in Norfolk on Granby Street. We didn't see any sign of it, just a gust front of what was reported to be 50mph winds.

Birds

We've seen cormorants and terns, in addition to the more-common herons, red winged blackbirds, gulls, and geese.

Spring

The marsh is not yet entirely green, but it's making progress. There is a yellow-crowned night heron (as identified by Jonathan) who has laid claim to the section of the marsh just behind our deck. A lone bumblebee has made a project of pollinating the blueberries by herself, day after day. And we've planted half a dozen azaleas, plus daisies and others.

A Wind on the Bay

We had 30-40mph winds predicted last night, but what we actually got, out on the Bay, was 60-70mph. One 750ft ship went aground off the beach east of Lynnhaven inlet; eleven more dragged their anchors.