Midnight Mutterings | Huh?

||| MIDNIGHT MUTTERINGS by JACKIE BATES |||

I had planned to write about something much different, something academic that happened a half century ago in California that has repercussions today, that is still controversial and has ties to what is going on socially, politically and personally to each of us. Something that is still difficult (for me, at least), puzzling, and still important.Something not really appropriate for a holiday season, when we prefer to be thinking about cookies, family and friends and colored lights. But that will have to wait as something immediate has diverted my brain and keyboard.

And that new subject is tonight’s weather forecast (which is from Weather Underground, I think):

“WHEN…From 3 AM to 9 AM PST Saturday. IMPACTS…Significant coastal flooding due to high tides and storm surge is expected. This is expected to lead to numerous road closures. Low lying property including homes, businesses, and some critical infrastructure may be inundated. Shoreline erosion or damage may occur. ADDITIONAL DETAILS…Highest impacts will occur in the hours near high tide at around 6 AM. Waves and winds may locally exacerbate impacts due to coastal flooding, particularly along south and southeast-facing shorelines. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS… Take the necessary actions to protect flood-prone property. If travel is required, do not drive around barricades or through water of unknown depth. Inundation above ground level refers to the height above the Mean Higher High Water (MHHW) level.

Gale Warning
From Sat 4:00 am until 4:00 pm PM”

Four o’clock AM is about five hours from now, as I write. By the time you read this, it will all be over and we will all know what happened. It’s been a few years since something like this has happened. That is, when the wind from the southeast and a high tide and rain all join together to provoke the Salish Sea to jump the low berm in front of my house at Obstruction Pass and flood the yard, garden, and yes, my basement and suggests to me that it is time for me to find my kayak pump and a bucket and spend a couple of hours relieving the concrete of the water that comes under my basement door. There isn’t much stuff on the basement floor due to my previous experiences with the wind, tide and rain triad. Sometimes my neighbors on the east have had the same experience, and I have pumped out their basement as well when they were away. However, my current neighbors have reinforced their basement door on the water side. (Neighbors on the west side don’t have a basement, or the problem. Neighbors on either side of me are gone for the holidays now. Sometimes, in the thirty years I’ve been here, the storms have been so fierce that all our yards are paved with driftwood and some of that driftwood has become part of the structure of the decks and steps (and particularly railings) of my house. Building materials delivered for free by nature.

One year in the early days in my innocence, my kayaks were delivered to the road behind my house and the next year they ended in the garden two doors away. That year I lost a small rowboat that was never to be seen again, and I received a kayak paddle I still use.

One other factor is that the front yards of properties on either side of mine have been filled, so I am the low spot. My house is possibly the oldest still standing in the neighborhood, built in 1919 according to the county, although there is a cabin on the road next door on the west that may be older. And I question that my house, as it is now, was actually built in 1919. I base that on some features that look like builds that could not have been in an original building in 1919. Most notably, there is a tiny switch built into the frame of the kitchen door on the west side that must have activated a light or doorbell or something. A mystery switch. Perhaps there was a cabin here, but I’m pretty sure there wasn’t electricity to power a mystery switch in 1019. And the foundation looks newer than 1919. I do know that the ‘plumbing’ got moved from the front yard into the house in the 1970s. Before that there was a well that serviced the kitchen sink that drained into the yard. The bathroom with a small shower is awkwardly placed in what must have been a large closet, which is sadly absent. Only a tiny bathroom closet and and another small closet/passage between the bedroom and bathroom remain. Storage, such as it is, is in the basement, which includes a fruit room with shelves, and a vent to the outside. What must have been a wonderful porch across the front of the house is now part of the house with the floor still slightly sloping toward the water, as open porches did. I have added a large, high deck on the front of the house and an enclosed ‘greenhouse’ porch with an opening skylight on the kitchen side of the house. I’ve put on a steel roof and replaced leaking ceilings and the orange carpet that was everywhere, including the kitchen, the rug having given way to wood floors. The front windows with their magnificent (in my opinion) view are replaced with double panes and you can no longer see through the rotted frames. When I say ‘I’ve replaced,’ of course I mean I’ve pointed and paid artist builders over the years, some of whom are no longer with us and are sorely missed.

It’s snug here tonight. Rose-the-Cat and I returned from Bellingham after dark tonight and the wind howling outside doesn’t bother us yet. There’s a fire in the wood stove in addition to the heat pump and the power is still on. (We do have solar lights waiting, and a propane cook stove is in the small cabin in case of a power outage. We are in good shape unless the water gets really high. Rose’s sister, Molly the Cat, and my son arrive before Christmas if we haven’t washed out to sea. In a few hours we’ll know what’s to come. Meanwhile, we are warm and content. Perhaps I’ll return to my other, darker topic after the holidays. Stay warm and dry and stay tuned. Meanwhile, happy holidays, dear Orcasonians.