My Guardian Angel, Citrus Devastation and Lake Okeechobee

Our house after the two January storms.

Before the storms reached their peaks I sent Molly and Tory up the hill to cousin Cliff's and Norah's house.  I stayed in our house except for 90 minutes when my escape route was getting too narrow.

As waves crashed at our main steps, I could hear things being banged around in the basement.

To what do we owe misfortune – bad luck, poor preparation on our part, the wrath of God or maybe God helping prepare us for life?  Likewise, to what do we owe our good fortune – luck, good preparation on our part, the grace of God?  It helps, I believe, to look on the bright side of things, and I have always had the feeling of a guardian angel watching out for me.  The concept of a guardian angel has many roots although not specifical referred to in the Bible except, perhaps, Psalm 91:11 that reads ‘For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”

This was taken from our front porch before the dune was washed away.
One can see the height of the wave crashing over the rocks next to our house.

Our misfortune began in January with two of the most devastating coastal storms ever recorded.  They occurred only 3 days apart and were both worse the Storm of 1978, which, at the time, was considered a once in a 500-year event.  Tides for both January storms were more than 6-feet above normal, and 20-foot waves crashed over our 300-foot wide rock promontory to our house.  The waves took out our steel basement door and destroyed everything in the basement including our heating and water systems.  

Our propane tanks used to be here.

Our wonderful sandbag party in 15 degree weather.

We lost our propane tanks, our shed, 25-feet of dune, one deck support and three sets of outside stairs. Yet, other than some shingles ripped off the house from waves, our first floor was untouched.  Then, just one week after the second storm, 65 friends and neighbors showed up to clean up our yard and beach, fill 1,500 sandbags and place the sandbags around our foundation.  Insurance monies have funded moving the furnace to the first floor and our water system repairs.  We may ultimately lose the war to rising tides, but we will be much better prepared for the next big storm.  Thank you, guardian angel!

Good friends Jon and Otto stand
in front of the finished work. 

On our way south!

This side of the trailer axle moved
4 inches back after hitting the curb

Molly, Tory and I are now in Florida on Salty Paws.  The trailering south was not without mishap.  We had a tire blowout, and a trailer axle hit a curb in a gas station and moved back, crushing the left-side fender.  Yet, these mishaps emphasized the importance of checking and tightening all the brackets on the trailer.  What if the trailer axle had moved back when we were going 60 mph, not 3 mph?  Thank you, guardian angel!

Getting ready to leave with a wonderful
goodbye from granddaughter Charlotte
and her good friend Ella.

Our RVs looked a little different!

We met our Looper friends Barb and
Jay after 4 1/2 years.  They are now
RVers, and we met at an RV park.

We stayed with friends, relatives and Hampton Inns on the way south, and after spending a week with daughter Liz and family, used the boat as an RV in Florida.  As we headed further south through Central Florida, we could not help but notice some of the devastation to the citrus groves.  As much as 90% of the Florida citrus crop has been impacted by Citrus Greening, likely the deadliest citrus disease in the world.  

Orange grove.

These young, covered orange trees almost
look like a grave yard.

The disease first appeared in Florida around 1995, carried by an Asian beetle.  Once a tree is infected, there is no cure.  Much work is being done on developing a resistance orange tree, and younger trees are being blanketed with netting to better protect them from the disease.  Citrus Greening has resulted in the layoffs of thousands of farm workers, and essentially eliminated the small orange farm producers.

We finally launched Salty Paws in Indiantown, just each of Lake Okeechobee.  The marina here will store our truck and trailer, until our cruising ends, likely by mid-April as we need to get back to Maine to start planting beach grass.  After a night at the marina, we began our cruise west on the St. Lucie Canal and entered the Mayaca Lock for entrance to the Lake Okeechobee.

Looking out from the Clewiston lock to the Lake.

This large, shallow lake is roughly 50-miles across, and its depth can range from 12-18 feet.  The depth is impacted by rainfalls and runoff and is regulated by the Army Corp of Engineers.  Flooding is a big concern, and adjacent towns and the extensive agricultural lands and cattle ranches are protected by levees, locks and dams.  What was not understood at the time during this 1930s construction was that this would impact the natural flow of water to the Everglades.  Today the Everglades is half of what it was in the 19th century.  While land has been used for development, the State has also lost some of its biodiversity, natural flood control and water quality.

In addition, the levees, locks and dams do not protect Florida waters from being overwhelmed with chemical and nutrient runoff to the Lake and down the canals and rivers to the west and east coasts.  Friends in Cape Coral and North Fort Myers tell us of pristine coastal water turning brown and leading to algae blooms after the Lake is lowered by the Army Corps of Engineers during the winter.  The lower lake level is needed to ensure that summer rains will not overwhelm the levees and flood local communities.   

Tory put her ball in the water in one
of the 4  locks we went through.
Molly was able to retrieve it.

Salty Paws in Clewiston.

Both Molly and I are fighting colds, maybe because we are not used to this warm weather!  We have now cruised 150 miles to the West Coast after visited Clewiston (known for bass fishing), LaBelle (known for honey), Cape Coral (dinner with friends Sue and Alan and Captiva Island (celebrated my birthday with cousin Cliff and Norah).  Our destination is the Burnt Store Marina, where we will participate in a Rosborough Boat Rendezvous March 3^rd-6^th.   

We met Cliff and Norah in Captiva.  Their
rental car was very distinctive!