Castles made of sand…

10 hour work days are just too much.

I’ve rediscovered apple juice.

I’m also working an outside computer job this weekend for $$.

I went to the beach yesterday… well, what’s left of it. Besides being drenched with rain and wind nearly all week, Ophelia showed her weak strength at the beach. It seems that the waves wrestled with the beach, and the waves won. At a point that was supposed to be closer to low tide than high, the waves were still coming up close to the dunes. The dunes had obviously been further eroded by the wind and the waves. High tide eroded enough sand to leave greater than foot drop at the beach for several dune walkways, like it was when I first came in February. In one spot there was a wall of sand like 3 times my size and too steep to climb. In another spot, some sea turtle eggs in the sand had been exposed by the waves.

The beach was like a war zone; it was littered with debris. Everything from trash, pieces of wood, seashells, and other things of the sea. The waves were surging up the beach several feet, leaving some white foam. The wind was still strong enough to blow up a light spray from the waves. Those that braved the pounding waves, mostly surfers, did it at their own risk. One surfer received a beating to the head while I was there.

In the wildlife refuge, the water level of the lakes, ponds, or rivers was higher than normal from all the rain. Part of the road near the beach had standing water from what had pooled on the side of the road. Typically there isn’t any pooled water in that area.

AHHHH! I’m still alive!

Yea, so life has been going on. Working from 6:30 (AM!) until 3 PM during the week. This means I get up at a nice 4:45 or 5 (AM!). I’ve been fairly busy at work… lots of things going on. I have the project that I’m started last time I was here, I just created a new one for myself, and of course there is helping with whatever else is going on in computing systems.

It appears that I also have an outside computer job to help with, which I can earn a good bit of money. More on that later.

Ophelia finally went away and its actually sunny! I might go to the beach. I didn’t go last weekend because gas prices jump and I managed to make my tank of gas last a whole two weeks. I did go swim in the pool last weekend, though. They finally patched it and filled it up. That was almost as relaxing as being at the beach. Oh yea, I had last Monday off cause it was a federal holiday.. so I went swimming that day too.

The sun is shining and the NWS brings me wonderful news at this time…

ALTHOUGH TROPICAL STORM OPHELIA IS MOVING AWAY FROM THE FLORIDA ATLANTIC COAST…VERY DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE ALONG THE BEACHES OF EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA THROUGH TODAY.

So should I go to the beach?