Hey Kip

surffishn · 09-14-2005, 10:55 PM

The big storm has me thinking of you.You probaly are not in the area but I hope your home there is ok.I talked to Andy and Jessica A hour ago.The Electric was out in Jacksonville and lots of rain but not too bad.They said Swansboro had lots of water earlier starting to flood. High tide im Am could be bad in spots,where this slow moving storm is.I hope all is well! Paul

kip · 09-15-2005, 10:16 AM

Thanks for the message..... We are headed down today after work to check out the damage. Not really anticipating much to the house, but I know the dock was underwater as of 4PM yesterday, and a restaurant down the road had 3' of water in it as of 11PM last night. Our house is 25' above sea level so we're not concerned about that, however with the power being off for an extended time, the stuff in the refrigerator will begin to thaw. I told our neighbor that if the power went out for a long time to come on over take anything that he wanted from the frige (as long as he took everything out of the freezer

). Hope that Jessica and Andy are doing well, haven't seen them on the beach lately......but I've been nursing a herniated disc for the last several weeks and not been doing any fishing.

Again, thanks for your expression of concern and let me know when you get down this way...

kip

ghost · 09-15-2005, 11:04 PM

Hope all is well with your vacation house and sorry to hear about your back.
We had a great time down there in August. Caught lots of blues, a sting ray about 35 lbs and the biggest eel I ever saw much less caught on a rod and reel. It was fun
Hope it all works out for you. Lance

surffishn · 09-16-2005, 09:40 PM

Kip take care of that disc I have been told that can be rather painful.Andy is going back to Iraq tonight.Jessica is coming home till his return in the spring.I will try and plan a trip down in the spring maybe we could meet up then.I have a houseful right now my other daughter lived in Biloxi Miss. They evacuated the day before katrina hit and have not been home since.Her husband is in the USAF and is going to return this coming monday to see what they have left.There place is still standing so they are better off than most but not knowing is killing them.The USAF told them to only return when told which is proably best.Again I hope for a speedy recovery for you, and that E.I. is Ok also. I read in the local paper that there was some damage on E.I.These storms have been brutal lately. Take Care, Paul

kip · 09-19-2005, 03:47 PM

Thanks you guys!

We did OK through the hurricane, and at least a lot better than those dealing with Katrina. Had some roof damage from one of the nine trees blown down, luckily it was cosmetic rather than structural. The dock is missing about 20 feet from the end attached to the beach (pieces of it are down 250' from us) and the remaining structure looks like a roller coaster ride. I guess it could serve as a good sobriety tester. The very end of the dock was a covered 12' by 20' deck, the top is at a strange angle now and there are no boards remaining on the flooring.

In addition we lost 9 trees on the property and have the remnants of about 4 other docks on our beach. The upside (if you can call it that) is our view of the water has dramatically improved, I now have enough lumber (and then some) to build that elevated walkway all the way from the house to the pier, and with all of the downed trees, I'll have enough firewood to last a couple of seasons.

Paul,

I knew Andy was heading back to Iraq soon, I hope that he will be safe (will be sending positive thoughts) and look forward to seeing he and Jessica once again on the beach. Let me know when you're coming down, maybe we can wet a hook, or at least our whistle....

Lance,

Sorry we didn't get a chance to get together on your most recent trip. I'm glad that you were able to catch a few fish and I bet that ray was fun on light tackle..... take care and perhaps next time...

Thanks again for the kind thoughts...

kip