Passing Through Florence

 Travels With Jerry (to borrow from Steinbeck)
    Another post for loyal readers and for the other few who wonder where I am (and more importantly, where my wife is.) I just mentioned (bragged) that we were recently in Paris and Rome and, given that we were in those two well-known places, decided to bypass Florence. The Florence passed, I will add, is the one in South Carolina, not the other one in Mississippi. That one was named after some guy's wife, the one skipped was named after General Harlle's daughter. That we skipped Florence was not because of General Harlee's southern past, but because my companion didn't like the name of the river passing through it - the Pee Dee.
   Having attracted you with the names with which you are familiar I will now say that we are in Lumberton, which you may not have heard of, but which once was on the 'Grand Tour' for those returning from the 'Low Country.' From here, I will say only that we are descending to Duck, which will actually be the high point of the trip except, of course, for those encounters with family members.
 
The Bonus:
   Not much substance again, so here is something else to read. It is actually brought to you courtesy of a very large billboard, which displayed in very large letters, these words: VEGETARIAN RECOVERY CENTER. It was for Smokin' D's BBQ. (As an aside (and actually another bonus), I will say that the billboards advertising "adult-type" places seemed to have toned down a bit, perhaps because of the purifying effects of the current President. The one noticed mentioned in it the word "mindful", which may sound a bit 'woke', but not at all prurient. But, back under Biden we passed one that said - "Every Day Is Hump Day."

Post Script: The Duck destination exists. It is at the higher end of the Outer Banks and should still be there this year.

The Outer Banks

Things Are Rough in Rodanthe 
   Recently we were in the Outer Banks (OBX, for marketing purposes) and told you about the Wild Horses up near Corolla which is north of Rodanthe. If you enjoy fine beaches and the ocean, I highly recommend a visit. Go very soon, but wait until about a month after Labour Day to avoid the crowds. 
   I suggested "soon" because this long strand of sand along the east coast is disappearing. I mentioned a while back that in some areas of the U.S. it is now difficult to get home insurance; this is one of those areas.
   The picture above is from this article: "Another N.C. Beach House Just Fell Into the Ocean: Others May Follow." Brady Dennis, Washington Post, May 28, 2024. It begins this way and the section includes a rather odd metaphor in this context:

   Another home has crumbled into the sea in Rodanthe, N.C., the scenic Outer Banks community where rising seas and relentless erosion have claimed a growing number of houses and forced some property owners to take drastic measures to retreat from the oceanfront....

The demise of the five-bedroom house, which county records show had stood since 1970, makes it the sixth house to topple along that part of the national seashore over the past four years, the agency said.

   “Another one bit the dust,” David Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, said in an interview. And it probably won’t be the last, as many homes in the area are perilously close to the surf. “This situation will continue.”

  Septic Problems in the South
   That picture is from the same article and there is a link in it to another article that indicates that the septic tank, around which those waves are crashing, is something to else to worry about. The water level is rising in areas throughout the south, compromising the septic systems which exist in very large numbers in states like Florida. For more: "A Hidden Threat: Fast-Rising Seas Could Swamp Septic Systems in Parts of the South," Brady Dennis, et al. Washington Post, May 22, 2024. Here is a bit of the bad news:

"On the worst days, when the backyard would flood and the toilet would gurgle and the smell of sewage hung thick in the air, Monica Arenas would flee to her mother-in-law’s home to use the bathroom or wash laundry.

“It was a nightmare,” Arenas, 41, recalled one evening in the modest house she shares with her husband and teenage daughter several miles north of downtown Miami....

  For all the obvious challenges facing South Florida as sea levels surge, one serious threat to public health and the environment remains largely out of sight, but everywhere:

Septic tanks.

Along those coastlines, swelling seas are driving water tables higher and creating worries in places where septic systems abound, but where officials often lack reliable data about their location or how many might already be compromised.

“These are ticking time bombs under the ground that, when they fail, will pollute,” said Andrew Wunderley, executive director of the nonprofit Charleston Waterkeeper, which monitors water quality in the Lowcountry of South Carolina...

 To work properly, septic systems need to sit above an adequate amount of dry soil that can filter contaminants from wastewater before it reaches local waterways and underground drinking water sources. But in many communities, that buffer is vanishing....

  An estimated 120,000 septic systems remain in Miami-Dade County, their subterranean concrete boxes and drain fields a relic of the area’s feverish growth generations ago. Of those, the county estimated in 2018, about half are at risk of being “periodically compromised” during severe storms or particularly wet years.

   Miami, where seas have risen six inches since 2010, offers a high-profile example of a predicament that parts of the southeast Atlantic and Gulf coasts are confronting — and one scientists say will become only more pervasive — as waters continue to rise.

Rising seas will only exacerbate the problem, he added. “As the water table gets higher, all bets are off.”

Miami-Dade County is racing to replace as many septic tanks as possible, as quickly as possible. But it is a tedious, expensive and daunting task, one that officials say will ultimately cost billions of dollars they don’t yet have.

The Bonus: 
   To take us away from the bad news, consider "Rodanthe" which is a rather odd name. The place was originally called "Chicamacomico" by the Indigenous, but the derivation of "Rodanthe" is unknown. Now you are probably wondering how to pronounce it and you should say it this way:  row-DAN-thee.

   This gets me to the real bonus and again to the subject of libraries. While I plan to bring up the topic of "Names" (particularly the problematic ones) again, I will say here that we encountered a lot of interesting ones, like "Fuquay-Varina" also in North Carolina. Click on that link to find out how the simple "Piney Woods" became "Fuquay-Varina." If you want to actually hear how these words are pronounced, visit this link provided by the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina. 
Talk Like a Tar Heel (North Carolina Place Names)

Fuquay-Varina sounds like: FEW-kway vuh-REEE-nuh. Listen here to hear it.

Your CASTLE

 Insurance Can Be Interesting
   This illustration attracted my attention even though it is alarming and would be even more so if I could have also grabbed Wisconsin, which appears below Washington above. The main point from this major article is that it is now not uncommon for insurers to refuse to insure your home or drop you after they read the latest weather forecast. If you do not have a home, you now have a good excuse in that you cannot buy one if you can't insure it. Such dire news coming from me is likely not to be believed, so here is the source: "As Insurers Around the U. S.Bleed Cash From Climate Shocks, Homeowners Lose," Christopher Flavelle, et al., New York Times. Some of the points made:

   The insurance turmoil caused by climate change — which had been concentrated in Florida, California and Louisiana — is fast becoming a contagion, spreading to states like Iowa, Arkansas, Ohio, Utah and Washington. Even in the Northeast, where homeowners insurance was still generally profitable last year, the trends are worsening....
  In 2023, insurers lost money on homeowners coverage in 18 states, more than a third of the country, according to a New York Times analysis of newly available financial data. That’s up from 12 states five years ago, and eight states in 2013. The result is that insurance companies are raising premiums by as much as 50 percent or more, cutting back on coverage or leaving entire states altogether. Nationally, over the last decade, insurers paid out more in claims than they received in premiums, according to the ratings firm Moody’s, and those losses are increasing.    
   The growing tumult is affecting people whose homes have never been damaged and who have dutifully paid their premiums, year after year. Cancellation notices have left them scrambling to find coverage to protect what is often their single biggest investment. As a last resort, many are ending up in high-risk insurance pools created by states that are backed by the public and offer less coverage than standard policies. By and large, state regulators lack strategies to restore stability to the market....
 Even the insurance companies are having trouble getting coverage. Reinsurance companies, global giants like Swiss Re, insure the insurers, sharing some of the risk of the policies they write. As disasters worsen, reinsurers have become more reluctant to underwrite insurance in parts of the United States. That’s made insurance companies even more conservative about where to do business....
 “I believe we’re marching toward an uninsurable future” in many places, said Dave Jones, the former insurance commissioner of California and now director of the Climate Risk Initiative at the University of California Berkeley law school.

  The author did not have second thoughts since he published the next day, this article: "4 Takeaways From Our Homeowners Insurance Investigation: Across the Country, More Intense Heat, Storms and Fires Are Causing the Home Insurance Market to Start to Buckle," Christopher Flavelle, NYT, May 14, 2024. In condensed form, here they are:
1. Climate change is upending the insurance market.

2. Insurers are pulling back coverage in surprising places.

3. The consequences of that pullback could affect the broader economy.

4. States are intervening in different ways.

   If H5N1 hits, life insurance could be next. 

CANCON - I will just say, "Coming Soon to an Area Near You." 
The Bonus: This news has not reached Florida as you can see from these new headlines: "Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Scrubbing 'Climate Change' From Florida State Laws," and "DeSantis Signs Law Deleting Climate Change From Florida Policy."

The Animal Trade Again

 

   Perhaps it was because I have written about the "Plight of the Pangolins" that I noticed this startling headline, which is startling even in our age of startling headlines: "More Than 100 Animals Found in Luggage at Thai Airport: 2 Women Arrested," Andrew Jeong, Washington Post, June 29, 2022.  The nerves of these ladies are undoubtedly much stronger than those of people like me who break into a sweat when we think we might have mistakenly packed some liquid toiletries. 

   The animals were, at least, not large ones.  Lots of lizards were found, along with 35 turtles and a Peter's Banded Skink. There were also two porcupines. Chennai (Madras for us oldsters) was the destination and it appears that it is not unusual to find animals among the passengers in Indian airports since over 70,000 were seized between 2011 and 2020.  The smugglers face up to 10 years in prison and large fines. 

The Bonus:
   It is through such trading that the Burmese python made its way to Florida where there are now many of them. Last week, the largest one ever found there was captured. She was 18 feet long and weighed 215 pounds. "Conservancy of SWFL Documents Largest Burmese Python in Florida," Naples Florida Weekly, June 30, 2022.

Tailgating

    I thought of this subject yesterday while watching the Vanier Cup, which was played in Quebec City and won by the Western Mustangs. Although it was the national championship game, the crowd was a small and shivering one. University football is not as important here as it is in the United States, only partially because it is played in much colder conditions.  The temperatures during the game had a - in front of them and catching a football and being tackled after doing so while freezing, is surely very difficult. So is tailgating. 

Tailgrillin'

   In Baton Rouge, when the LSU Tigers play the Florida Gators, gator is on the menu and it looks like it would be fun sampling it under such balmy conditions. It would also be interesting to know how the guys hooked up the windshield motor to the barbecue and what they would do on the ride home if it rains.  The finished product looks like this:

 It was caught in a ditch and carried to the game where it was rubbed in Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning. Even Gator fans are invited to feast on the gator. “Laissez les bons temps rouler.”

High Livin'

   I mentioned that the Americans take their college football seriously and as proof, I offer the photograph above. The fellow giving the thumbs up is Brian Kelly who was the highly paid football coach at Notre Dame. He is now paid more highly at LSU where he will pocket about $100 million over the next few years. He is only being given a salary of $9 million for the first year, but there are some bonuses - for example: 

Kelly will earn an additional $500,000 if LSU makes a bowl game. LSU has been bowl eligible for 20 seasons straight, earning them the fourth-longest active streak in the NCAA and the second-longest in the SEC.

For his first SEC championship, Kelly will receive a $250,000 salary increase for the remainder of his contract. He will receive a one-time $75,000 bonus if LSU appears in an SEC championship, and $150,000 if they win the game. If LSU wins a national title, his base salary will increase by $500,000 for the remainder of his contract....

He will also receive two courtesy vehicles or two car allowances worth $1,000 a month along with an interest free home loan of up to $1.2 million to buy a house. LSU will also cover 50 hours per year of travel on private planes, relocation funds, and the cost of his buyout at Notre Dame, which remains unspecified due to the school being private.

Unfortunately he left his daughter behind in South Bend to finish her classes at Notre Dame and her fellow students there are not too happy about his sudden departure. 

Sources, etc.

  For more about LSU and gators see: "The Gator Finds a Place at the Tailgate: Alligator, long a food source for Louisianians, has become more popular nationally. But its big moment comes at an annual football matchup in Baton Rouge, By Christina Morales, New York Times, Nov. 30, 2021.  The Cajuns are also mentioned. 

  For details about the Kelly contract see: "Inside Brian Kelly's 9-figure Deal: New LSU Coach Set to Make $100 Million by 2031," Gabby Jimenez, Dec.1, 2021, lsureveille.com.

  For the few of you who are wondering if it is okay to eat alligators or to buy some new shoes or a belt, it is. They were classified as endangered back in 1967, but "In the last 50 years, farming and hunting regulations have helped to increase the alligator population to about two million, from 100,000, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries." For more details, the image above comes from the USGS. 

Clifton Johnson

   Clifton Johnson wrote many books, some of which are about rambling along roads in the United States and abroad. The subtitle of one book about travelling in Florida early in the last century includes these words: "... human interest information for travellers in Florida; and for those other travellers who are kept at home by chance or necessity, but who journey far and wide on the wings of fancy."

More Reading For the Recumbent

   Since we are kept indoors and have to remain in-country because of the Great Covid Flu, here are some more books which you can read from the comfort of your couch. Although some 'publisher' on Amazon will offer to print and then sell you these books, you can read them for free since they are in the public domain. If you want to buy a copy, purchase a real one from AbeBooks. 

Highways and Byways of America

   Here are the titles in this series:

Highways and Byways of the South

Highways and Byways of the Mississippi Valley

Highways and Byways of the Rocky Mountains

The Highways and Byways of the Pacific Coast

Highways and Byways of the Great Lakes

Highways and Byways from the St. Lawrence to Virginia

Highways and Byways of New England

Highways and Byways of California

Highways and Byways of Florida

   If you choose to go to Florida since we are having snow flurries on Mother's Day eve, here is a review of the book about that state:

(The review is from the Journal of American History, Vol.6, No.1, June, 1919.) Copies of books such as these can be found in different places on the Internet. As mentioned, he wrote books about other countries, for example: Along French Byways and Along English Hedgerows. He also wrote about rivers: The Picturesque St. Lawrence and The Picturesque Hudson. These books are also available for free. Sources: Johnson was an interesting fellow as you will learn from the good Wikipedia essay about him. His archives are located at the Jones Library in Amherst where there is also another biographical profile. The Library up at Western University has a few of his books and that is where I got the copy of Highways and Byways of Florida. I recently posted about a related series: Historic Highways of America, by Archer Butler Hulbert. The Bonus: Surely Clifton Johnson must have had an interesting life travelling along all those roads. Perhaps his son had a more exciting one since he and his wife Electa "Exy" Search, sailed around the world several times. If you are too busy to start reading the books recommended, simply go to the Wikipedia entry for Irving Johnson. Their archives are, suitably enough, at the Mystic Seaport Museum.

Nathaniel P. Reed -Environmentalist

    

     Mr. Reed died recently in Quebec and since I didn’t see much about his passing in the Canadian English-language press I thought I would mention it here for two reasons.

Life Well Lived

     He was active in the environmental movement and worked hard to ensure that the Endangered Species and Clean Water Acts were passed. Those Canadians who enjoy a trip to Florida should pause and think of him when they visit the Everglades and the Big Cypress Preserve. More details about his good works are provided below.

The Way To Go

      

     The second reason is that he died the way he wanted to and for that, as well, he should be envied. His son reports: “He had many times told my brother, sister and me, ‘If I could choose to leave this earth, I would catch one last beautiful salmon and it would be lights off,’ ” Adrian Reed said in a telephone interview. On July 3, Mr. Reed caught his final salmon — a 16-pounder — and soon after that, he slipped and his head hit a rock, causing traumatic injury.”

Sources:

Salmon Fishing on the Cascapédia River, by Albert Bierstadt


Mr. Reed was fishing on the Grand Cascapédia River in Quebec.

There is a blog dedicated to him: http://nathanielpreed.blogspot.com/
   
     There are many obituaries. The quotation by Mr. Reed’s son is from this one:
“Nathaniel Reed, 84, Champion of Florida’s Environment, Is Dead,”By Richard Sandomir
New York Times, July 13, 2018.
See also:
“Nathaniel P. Reed, Leader in Efforts to Protect Endangered Wildlife and Wetlands, Dies at 84," Matt Schudel, The Washington Post,  July 13, 2018.
"Nathaniel P. Reed, an environmentalist and onetime Interior Department official who was a key architect of the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act and who spearheaded efforts to preserve wildlife and open spaces from Alaska to his longtime home state of Florida, died July 11 at a hospital in Quebec City. He was 84....
     Mr. Reed was a courtly developer and investment banker born into wealth. His deep-seated appreciation for the environment had its roots in his mother’s efforts to block the development of an early Florida theme park.He went on to fight the state’s environmentally damaging sugar industry and led efforts to block the building of a barge canal across Florida and an airport that would have paved over much of the Everglades.“He was a transformational figure in Florida,” former senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.) said in an interview. “Florida’s a different place today than it would have been without him.”
     As one of the few Republicans prominent in the environmental movement, Mr. Reed served as an assistant Interior secretary from 1971 to 1977 under presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. In that role, he helped preserve millions of acres of wilderness in Alaska, banned dangerous pesticides and endured death threats from Western ranchers after he sent federal agents to stop the widespread killing of federally protected eagles.”