Lazy Morning - Back Yard Beauty

I am definitely running slow today.  Perhaps it's because it's the first really cold morning we've had (at least by Hampton Roads standards).    I will concede that it is pretty as this back yard photo of the crape myrtles and creek with the tide out suggests.  I need to get moving and run errands, go to the gym, hit the office for a while and then get ready for the "Tennis Ball" black tie event for the Achievable Dream Foundation this evening.  The event is always amazing and a great opportunity to mingle with the "who's, who" of the area.   As I run errands, however, my mind will be on some place tropical - like the scene at the top of the blog which is a scene from near Puetro Castilla, Honduras where my late mother was born.

Post Hurricane Reflections and Possible Refittings

As noted in several posts, the repairs and water proofing that we did in 2009 after flooding in the November northeaster worked in terms of avoiding having to rip out water saturated materials and also kept the water levels lower during flooding from Irene. Nonetheless, they did not keep the water as minimized as we had hoped. The result? We are likely looking to installing three battery powered sump pumps to take care of flooding in the future in the lowest areas of the house. The bigger effort - assuming we can pull it off financially - would be to add a third floor to the house and have the main kitchen, dining area and living area on the top floor. We'd benefit from greatly enhanced water views and be free of having to move such extensive amounts of furniture, etc. from the first floor when faced with a hurricane threat.

We will be working on plans and feasibility issues. Conceptually, when completed, the house would look very different with the faux mansard added in 1999 before the boyfriend bought the house stripped off and a two story porch added across a portion of the new front facade and a totally new roof line and an elevator for easy higher floor access from a resale perspective. The first floor would remain largely as is, although the staircase would be reversed in direction and much of the heavy furnishings would be moved to the third floor once completed. In short, the first floor would be turned into more of an upscale recreation/party area with a first floor kitchen (which is already fully in place) for such events. A friend is going to help us see if any government assistance is available so that we can "evacuate" the flood prone portion of the house. A friend who is an architect will be helping with design ideas and layout. I'll keep you advised as things develop.

Hurricane Irene - Things Continue to Look Worse for Hampton Roads

It's bad when you feel like you need a stiff drink at 6:20 AM, but that's how stressed out I'm feeling. It clearly looks like this area is going to receive a major hit. Before running over to secure the office, the boyfriend and I are moving stuff out of the bard/shed in the back yard to take some to the third floor storage space at the salon building. Other things like the lawn mower, etc. will be put up on tables. Other folding tables will be used in the garage - the convertible is already at a downtown Hampton garage - the get stuff up off the floor. The amount of things that need to be moved is mind blowing and demonstrates how you don't know how much stuff you have until you have to move much of it. Here's highlights from the latest from the Virginian Pilot coverage:

As Hurricane Irene's broad path veered closer to Hampton Roads on Thursday, Gov. Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency but stopped short of ordering widespread evacuations and reversing lanes on Interstate 64 to speed traffic out of the region.

By this morning, Irene had weakened slightly to a Category 2 hurricane - with top winds around 110 mph - with the potential to restrengthen today, according to the National Hurricane Center. Its winds are hitting at tropical storm force 290 miles from its center. Storm surges of 5 to 10 feet are expected along the coast, accompanied by large, life-threatening waves. Rainfall of 6 to 10 inches is forecast - and up to 15 inches is possible in some areas.

All five South Hampton Roads cities are preparing to open some of their emergency shelters tonight. Norfolk residents who want to move their vehicles to higher ground may park for free in city garages at MacArthur Center, Boush Street, Freemason Street and York Street beginning at 6 p.m. today. In Virginia Beach, Oceanfront parking garages will open; for details,see www.vbgov.com.

McDonnell said residents need to be prepared for the possible closures of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, the Midtown Tunnel and other water crossings in the region, likely on Saturday morning.

Army officials ordered everyone to leave Fort Monroe, a 565-acre island at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, by 6 p.m. today. Fort Monroe is home to about 800 soldiers and family members; separately, a few hundred people live in apartments at The Chamberlin. The Army base was badly damaged by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. That storm caused $100 million in damages.

More than 200 aircraft from Oceana Naval Air Station and Norfolk Naval Station also are preparing to get out of the storm's path. The evacuating aircraft - F/A-18 Hornets and Super Hornets, E-2C Hawkeyes, C-2A Greyhounds, H-60 helicopters, and C-12 Hurons - are headed for airfields as far south as New Orleans and as far west as Fallon, Nev.

Yes, the foregoing is definitely enough to stress you out when your home is on a tidal creek and across the street from homes directly on Hampton Roads harbor.

NOTE: the Norfolk flood zone maps are here: http://www.norfolk.gov/emergency/storm_surge_maps.asp. Norfolk readers need to check their zone.

Sunday Morning This and That

My level of posting has been down considerably over the last three days since we have been basically crazy busy in various activities. The slow down is definitely not due to any lack of desire to write on my part. Thursday evening we were with a group of people - academics and community representatives - who are working to help establish a post-graduate position at Old Dominion University in LGBT studies which would also work on an interdisciplinary basis with other departments at the university. Following a lecture by Hollis Griffin from Northwestern University, we had dinner and I had the pleasure of getting to know Lisa Turner, one of the authors of the Dallas Principles, who is also a committee member. By the time we arrived home, it was getting too late to write.

*

Friday evening we had dinner with a new local TV reporter who found me via this blog and wanted guidance as to how to get involved in the local LGBT community. He is a nice guy and joining us was one of the weekend anchors and another reporter. Having made these acquaintances perhaps we will be able to get improved media coverage on local community activites. Typically, the local media acts as if gays did not exist outside of stories that touch on DADT or the latest outrage by Ken Kookinelli and/or Taliban Bob McDonnell. Once again, by the time we got home, I was to exhausted to blog coherently.

*

Yesterday, at long last we moved all of the furniture back into the house and unpacked the kitchen and pantry and finally have the semblance of a normal home once again - for the first time since the photo above was taken on November 12, 2009, before the house flooded. It was an all day ordeal followed by a birthday party for three of our friends. By the time we got home, we were both ready to collapse (I still feel half crippled). This morning has been consumed by cleaning the second floor - much of which was so full of furniture and boxes that it was impossible to dust or vacuum until now. Needless to say, living like we did for so many months drove the boyfriend (a/k/a Martha Stewart) crazy.

*

The new and improved house is beautiful and better yet, everything up to 3 feet above the floor level is water proof and cannot absorb water: Styrofoam sheet insulation in place of spun fiberglass; Duroc concrete board instead of sheet rock; a PVC wainscoting layer over the Duroc finished with a non-wood trim to give an appearance of wood paneling; marble for all of the first floor flooring. While we hope and pray never to be flooded again, if we are, no tear out will be needed and we can literally hose out the first floor.

Sunday Musings

Before coming to the office to (A) finish some work for a client and (B) post on this blog, I did the usual weekend drill and cut the grass, weeded the flower beds and vacuumed the house. The house was built in 1917 and was in very bad shape when we bought it and we - mostly Raymond, who is a natural talent - have restored it back to a semblance of its original condition, except for a modern kitchen.

I will confess that I got a slow start (and did not make it to church), having been to a birthday party yesterday evening and then going to The Wave to dance - both for exercise and to sweat off the alcohol consumed at the birthday party (a 2006 photo of the club is posted above). One thing I always take pleasure in seeing is the large number of confident young gay and lesbian couples out dancing and having fun. When I was their age, there were few gay bars and very few, if any young gays would go out as couples. It gives me hope for the younger generation that will not know what it was like in the bad old days.