At Last!

As of yesterday we had not slept in our house for 263 nights.  And then it happened!

At 11:45 the Hyde County Building Inspector arrived along with Woody, our builder.  It was at last time for the inspection that we hoped would lead to our Certificate of Occupancy and our permission to move back into living in the house.  We passed, and, now we are free to gradually move all our living from the garage back into the house.

So, we slept in our “new” bedroom in our new bed and had the finest night of sleep we can remember.

Our beautiful new bedroom is ready for our sleep.

All the work is not done.  When the hurricane flood was over, as the ServePro people emptied the house, everything was randomly and quickly put into boxes and stuffed either in the garage or the second floor.  We have had these two spaces that looked like a Hoarders TV episode since the flood.  Now they are beginning to be opened one box at a time.  We are finding a mixture of ruined and useful, trash to now be thrown away and treasures we are happy to rediscover.  This will be slow and take a long time.

But...we can be in the house while we do this.

Only three big jobs remain:  the roofers have to come and put on the new metal roof, the painters will come back and totally paint the exterior of the house, and the tree people come in Friday to take down several trees that are dead and still a danger after the hurricane.  How can so much destruction happen in a single hour?

So, COVID-19 aside, our world is very bright right now, and we are profoundly thankful!

Eduardo is Back!

One of the great losses that occurred during Hurricane Dorian was the destruction of Eduardo Chavez’ Taco Stand and everything around it.  Eduardo is a treasured member of the Ocracoke community and his wonderful taco stand food was loved by residents and tourists alike.

Eduardo received a great deal of focused support after this loss, much of which was dedicated to helping him reestablish  his business. In addition to individual support, there was a tee shirt sale fund raising drive that raised so much money Eduardo declared he did not need that much and directed that it be shared with others who had had devastating losses.

As time moved forward Eduardo set out the specifications for and ordered the new custom built food truck.  While it was being built in Florida he secured a new location beside Spencer’s Market, a location with better utility hookups than he had before.

Several weeks ago the beautiful new food truck arrived and on Saturday Eduardo opened with a limited menu to get things started.  Since his business is take-out only, he can operate totally during the COVID-19 quarantine period, much to the appreciation of the island community.

Eduardo’s is back!!

On Saturday we ordered breakfast tacos.  I ran down and picked them up and Trish and I had tacos in bed for a slow Saturday morning treat.  Yesterday we went back and got tacos for lunch, the first real meal we had not cooked for ourselves in the past five weeks.

The full menu will be coming soon! 

Eduardo’s food is always fresh and excellent, but, right new it is more delicious than ever.  We are glad for him and for ourselves that he is back in business and better than ever!

Instant Neighbors!

When Hurricane Dorian devastated Ocracoke Island on September 6, more than fifty homes were totally destroyed.  One of those homes was that of Cira and Valera, our diagonal neighbors just across and up the street.  This week, they have a new home!

Like several other families on the island who totally lost homes, our neighbors opted to buy a  pre-manufactured home.  This has often been a decision after the hurricane based on many factors from cost to value to the long wait time involved in getting a new house built from the ground up.  Once here, with a little bit of installation work, the house is ready for occupation.

The fascinating thing about this house, though, was the day of its arrival.

Our street is just a one block long dead end street that is not wide enough to have even a center line.  The location for the new house was not only off to the side, it was both elevated and perpendicular to the street itself.

Liftoff!

So, a giant crane arrived first.  Then the power company people came and took down the wires, turning off all the street’s electricity in doing so.  Then the first half of the house was backed down the street, closing the street totally and “trapping” all the residents for the next five hours.

All the way over the trees.

But...what a good show.  The crane was hooked to the half-house with cables, then hoisted high in the air over the trees.  It was guided by men on the ground who had hold of “leashes” fastened to the ends of the house.  They perfectly guided it into place, along with the skill of the crane operator, and set it precisely on top of the piling structure where it was intended to go.  This entire process was repeated a second time with the other half of the house, and, it was in place.  As these halves were lifted, we could see that even the appliances and furniture were already in place inside the new house, just waiting for residents.

A perfect landing!

Now there will be a few days of final connection and finish work and Cira and Valera will be back in Ocean View Road!

A Different Kind of Easter

In normal years on Ocracoke the community gathers at the beach for an Easter Sunrise Service held jointly by the United Methodist and the Lifesaving Assembly of God churches, the only two churches on the island.  Since the beach runs from southwest to northeast, the ocean forms the perfect backdrop for the Easter sunrise to come up out of the sea as the service proceeds.

This year there were two problems:  first of all, the beach parking lot is still being used as the storage-prior-to-removal place for continuing refuse collection from Hurricane Dorian.  The parking lot is not open legally and, even if it were, it is filled with collected refuse that is on its way to some off-island land fill.  The second problem is the coronavirus.  Even if we could gather at the beach, the dangers of public assemble have made that fail to be an option for this season.

Easter Sunrise 2019.

The solution?  A drive-in sunrise service in the parking lot of the store!  Before 6:30 the lot was filled with rows of cars reminiscent of the drive-in theatre.  We missed the first row, so we could not see the masked leaders well spread out on the porch of the store.  Our tiny community radio station, WOVV, broadcast the service live so we could listen on the radio in the car.  It was a welcome and memorable community non-gathering!

Easter Sunrise Amidst COVID-19.

The remainder of the day was very beautiful indeed.  With the temperature at seventy we walked around the house, entertained by the beauty of our blooming Siberian Iris and glorying in the beginning appearance of baby figs on our fig trees.

Baby figs on the way!

If the plumber gets here tomorrow for one final day of work, we will be free to start moving full scale back into the house this week!

A Good Report

The best thing is that there are no reported COVID-19 cases in either Hyde or Dare Counties.  We are still snug and secure on our little locked up island and actually enjoying each day together.

The good things are that our house is almost ready to start moving back in and a beautiful spring is here!

The kitchen is coming together.

The painting is now finished.  The appliances and furniture have been delivered.  Great news is that we have gotten a temporary LP tank and gas is now hooked back up to the house.  And...our on-demand water heater is installed.

Our new water is here with the gas to run it.

This week, Andy, our electrician should complete his work and the plumber may come.  We are very excited.

Besides this, flowers are blooming.  We had no frost this winter and some flowers have lived all winter.  Besides, the first iris blooms are popping out.  We are celebrating!

They made it through the winter!