Charleston, SC

03.15.10

The Folly Beach Flaming

Folly Flamingo

Took a trip to Charleston— actually, all the way to the ocean to an island called Folly Beach. I’ve been to Charleston before, but it was always by sea. This was my first trip coming by land. OK, I would still rather sail there, but if you’re driving, it’s an easy place to get around.

Folly Beach Island reminds me of the Florida Keys about 1970. The place is on the up swing, but it’s also old, with many old cottages and businesses. Nothing looks new, even the newer businesses are styled to look as though they’ve been there for a long time.

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Entrance Gate at Folly Flamingo

There are not much in the way of franchise operations— even the Holiday Inn was bought back and turned into a non-franchise hotel. The central business district is essentially a single street that leads from the island to the mainland known as (you might guess), Folly Road.

I stayed at a cute place named the Folly Flamingo. Basically, it’s two nice units with an extra cabana outside. I stayed in the smaller of the two units, which still features a nice great room and a large bedroom with a king-sized bed.

The Folly Flamingo is a half block from the main business district with an assortment of eateries and choices for night life. And it is also one block from the ocean. The town has little trails that cut through to the beach so you don’t even need to walk down to the next corner.

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Courtyard and entrance.

Folly Beach is the kind of place that you can easily walk or bicycle everywhere you want to go. It’s a lot like Traverse City in that regard, but a lot more quaint.

A nice feature of the Folly Flamingo was the shaded courtyard. Even the balcony off my second story bedroom had shade. It has a very tropical feel.

The owner of the Folly Flamingo is Janet Crouch. Janet gave me tours of Folly and Charleston. Then we shared meals cooked in her wok and lots of conversation.

If you are interested in trying something different than Florida, you might like Folly Beach. It’s got that old Keys feel and the winters are generally quite mild. Everyone I met was friendly and seemed generally delighted to be at Folly Beach. Get more info at: FollyFlamingo.com

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Spiral stairs to bedroom.

And if you do go to Folly Beach, check out the Folly Flamingo! You might like it there as well.

Writing

My visit to Folly Beach was also a return to writing. When I got back to Sanford on November 22, I forced myself to stop writing until I got my Prairie Schooner resurrected and helped Todd hand off his house to the new owner.

Well, anyone familiar with that sago knows that the house here in Sanford has been under contract since late September. Todd and I finally let the new owner move in, even though no one knows yet when the sale will be completed.

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Morning sun shined through the window over the bed.

So now the schooner is ready to roll and I’m ready to get back to writing. Folly Beach was a great place to write. Most of the time, I just left my computer out, and in morning and in between all the exciting moments of the rest of the day, I was getting my work done.

Feels great to be writing again!

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March 15, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Shrubs & Stella

03.07.10

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Shrubs to remove (center). Note new facia over the porch in preperation for new gutters.

Fun with Shrubs & Stella

Finally, a great day for being outside!

Calin decided he’d like to open the front yard up and remove some of the bushes. I volunteered to transplant them along the lot line in the back and create more privacy with the neighbors on the pool side.

Of course, Stella wanted to help. Her job for the day was learning to be alone for a few minutes at a time, being quiet, and chewing as many sticks as possible. Stella did very well at all of these.

Stella busy making kindling

Stella is a good age for training. Puppies have all their learning abilities by 10 weeks— so when you hear someone comment that their dog’s undesirable behaviors are because of the ‘puppy’ in them, well, they don’t know dogs. The challenge with young puppies is that their personalities are fragile; training must be slow and patient, or you’ll end up with a dog that’s young and very well behaved, but won’t ever look you in the eye. A dog Stella’s age (about a year) has a firm personality, so as long as you keep it fun, you can stuff ‘em with as much training as their little pea brains can handle.

Stella has been here 4 days. She’s getting the basics like: ‘stay off’, her door manners, ‘don’t bite’, and staying in her inside kennel with the door open (a prelude to car training and other skills). The most important thing for Stella right now is getting over abandonment. She needs to know that if she’s left alone that we will be back shortly and not to worry.

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Transplanted shrubs. When I finished, they looked like they'd always been there.

I tied Stella on a long lead where she can move around, but can only see part of the work I’m doing. While Stella watched, I dug the bushes out, loaded them in a wheel barrow, and wheeled them down the hill and out of sight. As I placed the shrubs in their new locations way in the back, Stella had to wait and wonder.

The first couple trips, Stella barked and was quite worried. But by the last bush, she just laid in the grass and slept while I was gone. So just by working and coming and going, I was able to help Stella gain trust and confidence. Gradually, her time alone will be extended until she can be left at home without suffer anxiety.

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Front yard without shrubs

The shrubs came up easily from the damp soil. The ground isn’t hard, so putting them back down was a breeze as well. The heart attack portion of the project was pushing the dirt from the transplant holes back up the hill to fill in the holes left in front! The ground is still wet and soft, which is good for transplanting, but hard on old farts pushing wheel barrows.

The important thing on the transplants was to get them done while the shrubs are still dormant. And they certainly won’t be that way much longer. Both Calin and I think the front looks better without the shrubs in the middle. Plus, the yard will be a lot faster to mow.

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March 8, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

New Student!

0940 Wed 03.03.10

Gutters Down Showing Damaged Facia

House Sitting

An interesting turn here in Sanford. Last month, the fellow that’s had an offer pending on Todd’s house since September, stopped by and told me his arrangement for storing his belongings was about to expire. His name is Calin. Calin asked me if he could store some things in the garage.

I told Calin that I was still using the garage, but that no one was using the house. I suggested that if he wanted to, he could just move in early— since closing was supposed to take place on the 26th of February.

Pile of old gutters

The closing didn’t take place on the 26th, but Calin has moved in early. Caiin already has a job in Sanford and was commuting from Durham. He said that it was costing him a Cnote a week to drive back and forth.

Calin is a nice kid. I call him kid, but he’s 23. He’s bright and well spoken. Doesn’t sit still much and is already fixing things on the house. His first project is the gutters. After he did a good job replacing the section of gutters on the back over the deck, I went ahead and tore the rest of the old gutters off the house.

After living here for a couple years by myself, it’s nice to have some company again. We’ve also had some fun sharing meals.

Stella in the snow

Power Failure

Last night, we got snow! Started coming down during my monthly Sons of the American Legion meeting, but didn’t start sticking until later. About 2200 it started piling up and we got several inches over night.

In the middle of the night I woke up cold. I realized that the power had gone off and come back on, which reset my electric blanket. I turned it back on, and about the time I was getting warm again, the power went off again about 0400— this time it stayed off, and as of 1000 is still off.

I’m powering my laptop off the battery banks in the Prairie Schooner.

The good news is that it looks like it’s melting pretty fast.

Learning 'Stay-Inside'

New Dog

Calin has rescued a dog from a life all alone in a garage somewhere. It looks like a young Staffordshire Terrier— I’m guessing she’s about a year old and weighs about 40 lb. Size wise, she’s not very big, but she is quite a muscle butt.

Her name is Stella— which she doesn’t recognize. She doesn’t seem to know anything. I gave her some tests and rate her an extremely affectionate type A. Her teeth look good and nearly straight.

I am concerned Stella might have a skin condition. She’s had a bath and still stinks, she scratches frequently, and there are a couple spots on her back side that don’t look right— the hair is thin.

For some reason, I told Calin I would help him train Stella. What that really means is training both Stella and Calin, but I will say this, Calin is very receptive. That’s more than I can say for Stella!

Luckily, Stella came with an inside dog kennel. So we can keep her out of trouble when unattended.

Calin would like to get Stella trained, then use her as an example dog for another mutt that would then become Stella’s companion. I think that is a good idea. If you are going to leave a dog home alone, it’s easier to have two than one because they socialize with each other and aren’t lonely.

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March 3, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »