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Saturday, August 15, 2009

I Hate Sea Gulls!

I've always hated sea gulls, ever since an incident in Atlantic City in 1980. Now, I think I'm allergic to them, too. I'll get back to that.


Our 24 hours on Rose Island was a success, despite the rain on Thursday. We survived a wet, bumpy boat ride out to the island and were assigned several tasks: sweep out the bunkers, scoop the goose poop and remove the feathers from the lawn. Sounds like fun, right?!

But look at all the quilty goodness! The multi-colored slate tiles on the roof are hexagons!


We started with a tour of the keeper's quarters and
this cool old treadle.


There is a quilt on every bed. I didn't have time to look very closely, but I thought they were pretty and suited the beds they were on.



The red one is in a display case and is probably the only vintage piece.


The sun didn't emerge on Thursday until just before sunset. That's the Newport Bridge, just beginning to twinkle.


Since it was so wet, we set up our tents in the bunkers at Fort Hamilton. The bunkers have served as barracks and torpedo storage. We would have been safe from enemy cannon fire, but we were not protected from the noise of the sunrise alarm. You cannot even imagine the cacophony of bird calls that woke us before 5:00 am. It is a bird sanctuary, after all.


I don't want to blame Iggy the Egret for any of that racket. He was far outnumbered by the gulls.


We were given rakes to clear the feathers off the lawn, but they were too wet and just shriveled up. So off we went with our garden gloves, picking up one seagull feather at a time. I think that's what kicked in the allergy. I don't even want to talk about the goose poop!


The wild honeysuckle had the most delicious aroma. And the sweet peas were everywhere.

If you'd like to experience the fruits of our labors, the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation is having a clambake on the island today, and it looks like the weather will be perfect.


How about a joke?

What do you call a sea gull that lives by the bay?

Give up?

A bagel!

(bay gull, get it?)

Please forgive me. I was up at 5 again today, and I'm not a morning person. I'm hoping these early mornings will prepare me for the 3:00 am wake up call on Monday!

The 100 post giveaway starts tomorrow night!

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