Meanwhile on the North Fork...........

[RTH10260]

Are you sure your local Walmart does not have a hidden tunnel system that allows residents in the know to quickly bypass the traffic jam

[Volkonski]

Are you sure your local Walmart does not have a hidden tunnel system that allows residents in the know to quickly bypass the traffic jam

Mrs. V's family has been coming out here for over 100 years. If there were tunnels we would know.

The rich folk get here via helicopters.

The super rich get to their private islands via megayachts.

Really.

[keith]

While he was gone our gal Texas guest, Mrs.V's cousin across the Circle and Mrs.V went out to lunch in Aquebogue and then went to the seafood shop in Cutchogue.

Geshundheit!

[Volkonski]

Now that the July 4th week is over, the relatives in the three cottages to our left have departed. Piles of trash and recycling are the only evidence they were ever here.

The Circle is quiet again.

[bill_g]

... until the lawn services show up enmasse.

[Volkonski]

Good old European American Waste Disposal just came through the Circle so only the recycling remains.

That gets collected tomorrow.

Should be quiet until the lawnmowers start again on Thursday.

[Volkonski]

Yesterday evening the Greenport Band performed at the Southold Summer Series concert in the Gazebo at the Silversmiths Corner Park. A different free concert every Wednesday during the summer.

Friday the Band has its regular concert at Greenport's Mitchell Park.

Next week is the Jamesport Volunteer Fire Department Carnival and Parade. Another excuse for folks to party and set off illegal fireworks.

The parade will be Wednesday so all the roads around the Circle will be closed from midafternoon until about 10 PM.

Saturday night fireworks will jam our small business district. Parking, as always, will be a mess since the carnival will occupy the entire municipal parking lot.

Mrs. V's cousin's husband will head home to DC next week. With him gone Mrs. V and her cousin are planning a trip into Manhattan.

I get to take care of all the cats.

[Volkonski]

What with the rain early today and more rain coming this evening there are cancellations.

The Greenport Band concert tonight is cancelled. The Riverhead Main Street Festival is cancelled. The Greek Festival tonight is iffy.

Just as well. After a hard day of thrifting Mrs. V doesn't need to play a concert this evening. The French can celebrate Bastille Day without the Greenport Band's help.

[Volkonski]

South Fork-

Off South Fork Beaches, Dolphins, Whales, and Sharks Too

https://www.easthamptonstar.com/police- ... dIb9hvaxs8

Some 20 sharks, mostly spinner sharks but also threshers, were spotted off Main Beach on Saturday. Noting the media coverage of sharks off UpIsland beaches recently, Drew Smith, the head lifeguard in East Hampton Village, said he closed swimming at village beaches because of their presence that day. The only village beach that remained open was Georgica Beach.

“We’re monitoring our beaches daily with drones and with personal watercraft, if necessary,” said John Ryan Jr., the head lifeguard for East Hampton Town, adding that the sharks spotted from town beaches had been 400 to 600 yards out, feeding on bunker. “We don’t have swimmers out that far,” so he kept beaches open.

“It’s their ocean,” Mr. Ryan said of the sharks.

Mr. Smith said he starts thinking of closing the beaches to swimming if a shark gets within 100 yards of the shore, but even then, he assesses the number of swimmers, and conditions. It’s not a hard rule.

He and Lee Bertrand, the village’s assistant beach manager, both received Federal Aviation Administration licenses to operate a drone and are employing one owned by the village this summer to help safeguard swimmers. “The drone has been extremely helpful because we can tell if [the sharks] disperse,” Mr. Smith said. When they are spotted, he said, village guards will drive a personal watercraft parallel to the shore in a grid pattern to push the bait balls

— the main attraction for whales, sharks, and bluefish — farther from the shore. Town guards use the same methods.

Calm waters like what we’ve had this week after many days of rough seas are often the time when marine life is most evident, since much of the bait gets pushed closer to shore.

Portuguese man-o-war sightings continued over the weekend; however, their numbers appear to be dwindling from the prior week. A maximum of five were removed from village beaches by lifeguards in a single day last week.

[Volkonski]

Saturday dawns with high humidity and loud lawnmowers.

[RTH10260]

your lawnmowers sound like the zombies attack game recommendations i get on Youtube. They appear at the wrong moment and are disturbing

[Maybenaut]

Saturday dawns with high humidity and loud lawnmowers.

When I lived in town I’d use my Bose noise-cancelling earbuds inside the house just to get my work done. My home office was on the back side of a four-story brick townhouse, with another four-story townhouse behind. The noise from the lawnmowers, and leafblowers in that box canyon was intolerable, but the noise-cancelling earbuds tamped it down quite a bit.

Now I’m doing the mowing/trimming/leaf blowing myself. My equipment is all electric, so it’s quiet but not silent. I don’t like working with wired or wireless earbuds - the wires get caught on things, and I’m worried a wireless one will fall out and I’ll step on it or run over it with the lawnmower. So I got some 3M Pro Protect Electronic Hearing Protection muffs.

Bluetooth, they run on AA batteries (I’ve had them over a year and haven’t changed the batteries yet), reasonably comfy, and I can listen to my audiobook while I do lawn work.

[Volkonski]

Early Saturday evening sitting on the upstairs porch.

The aroma of our neighbor's BBQ to the west is wafting over. His younger daughter's family is visiting for a second day. Yesterday was his 87th birthday.

[Volkonski]

Gray windy morning. A line of strong rain is approaching from the west.

Yesterday we set up Mrs.V's new tablet (a Samsung S7 SE 256 GB). This took a while because a certain Mr. V wanted Mrs. V to take the lead so she would learn how to operate it.

Took a while but it is all set, everything copied from her Samsung phone, music software installed, Bluetooth link established with keyboard case.

Now she just needs a foot control to change music pages and she will never need to print music for her online early music sessions again. Many trees will be saved.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Now she just needs a foot control to change music pages and she will never need to print music for her online early music sessions again. Many trees will be saved.

When you find the foot control, let me know. I have been taking piano lessons online. I use Musora's pianote and a foot pedal would be fabulous!

I took piano lessons from the age of ten to 25 and was a fairly accomplished classical player. I took lessons to learn how to improvise and play by ear. My resolution for 2023 was to play regularly and work on my improvisation and memory. Pianote by Musora has been perfect for my needs with lessons in blues, jazz, and popular music improv. I have decided I want to jam with a group, but don't have all the riffs memorized for that. I have learned the 12 Bar Blues riff with several endings, Count Basie's signature ending, and how to improvise with prescribed chord progressions.

[AndyinPA]

to both of you.

[Volkonski]

We are between rain bands at the moment. What is coming is heavier than what we had earlier.

Traffic is lighter than usual. Beachgoers and boaters have headed home early.

I can hear that the traffic on Main Road is light. A single mourning dove at some distance is louder than the traffic.

The local Oldies station isn't even trying to pretend that today is a good time to visit the East End.

Getting darker. The rain is almost here.

Oldies station just announced a tornado watch until 3PM.

And...... RAIN!

[Volkonski]

So, tornado watch, flash flood watch, rip tide warning, sharks off of the south shore beaches. Yep, today is a big disappointment to the Chamber of Commerce.

[Volkonski]

Younger cat has abandoned the chair near the front porch screen and headed for dryer accommodations.

[Volkonski]

The wind and rain have driven me into the living room with the cats.

[Volkonski]

So, tornado watch, flash flood watch, rip tide warning, sharks off of the south shore beaches. Yep, today is a big disappointment to the Chamber of Commerce.

Flash flood watch just upgraded to a flash flood warning until 6 PM.

Flood watch issued until midnight.

[Volkonski]

The sun has returned!

Yesterday during the big rain two of Mrs. V's cousins made their way to the Circle.

The younger sister of the cousin who lives down by the Bay arrived from the Buffalo NY area. Her daughter and grandchild6 will arrive tomorrow.

The younger brother of Mrs. V's shopping buddy cousin from DC arrived from Connecticut yesterday with his wife and her daughter and grandchild. More of her relatives were expected last night. Their ferry reservation got messed up so they were expected to arrive later than originally planned.

[Volkonski]

Mrs.V and her cousin dropped off cousin's husband at Mcarthur Airport and then went to lunch in Port Jefferson.

Big line of rain coming from the west.

Meanwhile our handyman is sanding our wooden picnic tables hoping to get a first coat of paint on before the rain reaches here which it may not.

Very humid.

[Volkonski]

Google maps shows that Mrs. V and cousin have stopped to shop just west of Rocky Point.

Situation normal.

[Volkonski]

Last night of the local fire department carnival. The fireworks are just starting.