21 August 2008

Fay Gives Us a Vacation Day


With Tropical Storm Fay overhead Palm Beach County facilities closed on Tuesday. This gave me an unexpected holiday and a chance to hang out with one of my favorite guys. Andy came down Monday night and we had some out-of-work celebrations. Tuesday morning met us with high winds and some rain storms passing through. We dined on an excellent breakfast of grits, scrambled eggs with spinach, whole wheat toast, strawberries, bananas, and colby jack cheese paired with some Mango juice. Afterwards we walked to Starbucks and sat outside under a covering to watch the wind sweep through the buildings and people running about in the sideways rain.


Sometime in the late afternoon we decided that the winds were calm enough to check out Lake Worth beach. If you want to know where the people go after and during storms like these then you should stop by the beach. The boardwalk was lined with people out watching the waves and surfers. We were in search of some pelagics that may have come ashore but we came up empty. The only birds we found where Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, and Rock Pigeons.


On the way home we stopped at Bryant Park in Lake Worth to see the Intercoastal up close. The Intercoastal was full of white caps and this unfortunate boat somehow got away from its dock and was slammed into the sea wall.




As you can imagine we were quite shocked to find a boat that was sinking but we were even more shocked to find this puffer fish washed up on the trail near the boat. The waves were breaking hard against the sea wall and there was a high water line of debris spilling into the park. A quick walk over to the adjacent golf course proved to be fulfiling due to the multitude of birds. The open grassy areas were littered with White Ibis, Laughing Gulls, and herons and egrets of all kinds.


I don't really like tropical storms and hurricanes because they're not predictable and you never know what kind of tornado may come barreling through your house but after the storm there's pretty cool stuff to see. You never know what's going to wash up on shore or what kind of wildlife is going to be out and about. And even in the destruction there can be beauty.

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