Crystal Coast – Page 3 – Our technological infirmity

The Real Spirit of July 4th

US flag flying — Our Crystal Coast Home, July 4, 2019

I posted this yesterday to my friends. The message resonated well with many people so it has now made it to my soapbox for all.

I love my country of birth, but having lived in two countries, I also feel great pride when I hear “Oh Canada.” Having visited many countries, I feel great respect for a number of them and understand that there are other paths to happiness besides just ours.

Today the Fourth of July, I salute the vision of our country’s founders and hope that we can live up to their thoughts and ideals which have helped us evolve to a better but far from perfect place. We will eventually emerge from this nightmare of children caged along our borders.

Any student of our battle for independence will attest to our founding fathers great fear of standing armies. Changing times have resulted in the need for a professional US military. There is little doubt that we have the best armed forces in the world but why brag about it?

Our founding fathers would be appalled at a Four of July celebration of military power. There is a big difference between honoring those who have served in the defense of freedom and celebrating military power.

Celebrating military power is no more a part of the American tradition than separating children from their parents and holding them in intolerable conditions. We will overcome this at the ballot box.

New Beaches for the Fourth

Third Street Beach, Emerald Isle, North Carolina

Hurricane Florence reshaped and changed many beaches on the Crystal Coast. Even the sand is different in places. Read more.

TOLERANCE LEADS TO ACCEPTANCE

Each of us is an interesting mixture of what we were born with, who raised us, where we have lived and the people whose lives have intersected our paths. How we have reacted to all those situations ends up defining us and our world view. Some of my best friends are living just miles from where they grew up. My wife, Glenda, and I have lived a far different life and it is about to get even more interesting again. Read more

Pinch me when it is over

The fall of 2018 has not been a fall to cherish. Fall is usually a wonderful time on the Crystal Coast but unfortunately, the slow movement of Hurricane Florence over the North Carolina coast set the tone for the fall. Along with Florence, we have had more than our share of rainy and windy weather. Read more

Time to Take a Breath

On September 11, 2018, we heeded the county’s mandatory evacuation orders and headed west from our home along Raymond’s Gut which flows into the White Oak River just three miles upriver from Swansboro, North Carolina. The garage of our house is just twenty-five feet from the water but we have never suffered water damage from a storm, even Category 3 Hurricane Irene. Florence looked like it was going to be very different. Read more.

Florence Stayed Too Long

afterflorencewm It did not take us long to make the decision to evacuate for Hurricane Florence. The potential for damage was just too great to stay. Read more

Summer 2018 Update

There is nothing like finishing the evening fishing in the surf. A good summer on the Crystal Coast and the weather looks like it is headed in the right direction. Read more at this link.

Peace in the Inlet

Kayaking is one of the things that makes living on the Crystal Coast so special. The challenge is that we live on big water and you have to pick the days when you venture out into the river. Sometimes the inlet is a good choice. For more click here.

Escaping the Heat

The heat has found us on North Carolina’s Crystal Coast. It is part of life here. This time of year, taking three showers a day is not unusual and those of us who manage to get really hot, do not even bother to turn on the hot water in the shower. For more thoughts click this link.

Overcoming Technology

springboguesoundwm As is often the case, technology is wonderful when it works and not so much when it does not. My problem started when I tried to use the automatic backup software from my hosting provider. It failed in mid-backup and left lots of strange files and destroyed a few files. I got the site back up but my email quit working. I talked to the technical people to resolve the email issue and in their infinite wisdom they decided my site had been hacked and took it down. They offered me a solution, which would have cost $600 a year to fix the problem which their backup software inflicted on me. I declined their solution. Eventually they gave me a list of over 500 PHP files that they wanted removed. I removed them all but of course WordPress depends on PHP to run and I have been unable to get my hosted WordPress site up and going again. Fortunately this site is fine. While I continue to work on the other site in my limited spare time, I have brought back a number of posts as flat HTML files. They can be found at this new landing site for my Crystal Coast Life blog.