[TO NARRATIVES AND PHOTOS LIST]
October 7, 1999
Page Two
The Wharf at Handy's Point. This is the access pier to Pier 5 where we're moored. Ellen's walking up to the parking lot.
The tall growth is some type of marsh grass that thrives in the shallow Chesapeake water. We've purchased a used Ford pickup.
We now have access to the grocery store and the laundry in nearby Chestertown. We even went to dinner and to a movie.
I could live here year around if the winters were not so harsh. "Be careful," some local boaters said. "During July and August the
heat and humidity are oppressive. You wouldn't want to be here then either, unless you had air conditioning
in your boat." At this time, to me it seems perfect.
The water is covered with fallen leaves. There's no smog. Canadian geese nest and winter over on the opposite
side of the harbor. I've counted 80 to 100 flying overhead at one time. They get startled by the noise
from the nearby Aberdeen Army testing grounds. I thought at first that the occasional boom was thunder, but it's really
the Army exploding things for practice. Still the place has a certain peacefulness that we haven't found anywhere else.
The road to The Wharf at Handy's Point. It's easy to get used to Maryland in the fall.
The media constantly warns about bucks chasing does during
this time of year. The bucks have a better eye for the does than for autos, and deer collisions
are common. We've seen foxes, ducks, geese and some deer on this road.
Our view from the deck of "Silver Heels." This place is almost perfect. Almost perfect, as I have said. They have
summer lightening storms. Ted at the yard showed me a marina boat that had a lightening strike last summer.
Outside, the boat look fairly normal, just the ports were a bit darkened. He slid open the hatch for a look inside.
The whole interior of this boat was charcoal black from the cabin sole to the cabin top. Everything was burned.
This boat was a total loss. Luckily no one was aboard. I thought back to my childhood days living in Kansas where there's
sheet lightening. I don't like electrical storms. One night the weatherman predicted "thunderstorms" late in the evening. Hmmmmm.
I said to Ellen, "Let's go out to dinner. Maybe, we'll go to a movie. And take the overnight bag." If there
was a heavy lightening storm when we left the movie, I was going to stay at the Comfort Inn in Chestertown.
Two boaters in the harbor told me that they were aboard their boats when the boat had a lightening strike.
They survived. Hmmmmmm. Still, I do not want to test nature's mettle.