storm. Sounds like ya'll (especially those of you living in upstate NY) have enjoyed a spectacular and beautiful summer this year. That's terrific! The weather here is getting better each day with the high heat and humidity gradually diminishing now.
TURTLES, TURTLES EVERYWHERE ... Our early morning volunteer "Turtle Patrols" are starting to bear fruit. There are turtles, turtles everywhere on Edisto Beach! Well maybe not during the hot day time hours, but the eggs in our 170+ nests on the beach are hatching and the little guys are "boiling" out of those nests at night (when there are fewer predators around) and scampering to the sea as mother nature has programmed them to do for millions of years! As turtle patrol volunteers we're required to inventory our nests four or five days after they erupt. We carefully dig up the nest by hand, count and record the number of (1) hatched eggs, (2) unhatched eggs, (3) dead turtles and (4) live turtles. This data is forwarded to the SC Department of Natural Resources for
research purposes. It usually takes the hatchlings two or three days to climb out of the nest, but sometimes they'll get tangled in a sea grass root so we have to assist them to get out and make their trek to the sea. On Monday evening August 20th Martha and I inventoried "our nest" (#109), the nest we had relocated to safer ground on the
beach about 8 weeks ago. 82% of the 130 eggs in our nest had hatched ... which is very good! We've also participated in other nest inventories, found live hatchlings and gently guided them to the sea. It's quite a sight. Part of our responsibility is "crowd control". The tourists are very interested in the Turtle Project and we have to
keep them from interfering with the turtles journey to the sea. It's important the hatchlings make it to the sea on their own and "imprint" themselves on the beach for future generations. This experience has been educational and rewarding for us.
FAMILY CRUISE ... On Tuesday, August 21st nine members of our "Spritter family" (Derek, Carrie, Jack, Lindsay, Jobe, Grandy, Julie, Martha, Dan) embarked on our long awaited family cruise. Again we are sorry Stefanie and Aaron were unable to join us due to cruise ship's policy regarding pregnancy. We boarded the Carnival Fantasy and spent the next five days "eating, eating and eating more" as we cruised from Charleston to the Bahamas and back. While the ship had far more little kids running around than we would have preferred, it was a memorable and relaxing event. We stopped in Freeport and Nassau and relaxed on a couple of Caribbean beaches. Martha and I were pleased to keep grandson Jack in our cabin two nights, giving Derek and Carrie the chance to spend some time together. It was a treat to have Jack all to ourselves, a rare opportunity for us. I will always remember Jack bouncing on our cabin bed, laughing and the pillow fights we had! Jack is so darn cute and toddled around the big ship like a true yeoman. The staff loved him and catered to him ... every night at dinner he was presented with a fresh fruit bowl without our asking! And then there was Jack's love for the cold soups (peach, mango) that appeared on the menu! It was obvious he loved it as he sipped it through a straw! It's amazing how his vocabulary is developing now and how well he's doing with his flashcards ... Jack turns 2 in November!
We are proud grandparents.
CHEMO ROUND 24 ... oh yeah, my cancer ... it's unfortunately still there. This past Wednesday (August 29th) I had my 15-week CT scan to assess progress. While more nervous than usual for some reason, my scan results were good ... my cancer remains "stable". Yeah! It's hard to live your life 15 weeks at a time, scan-to-scan, with harsh chemicals dripped into your veins every 3 weeks. Oh well, just have to keep up the fight ... there's still too much good to live for. Labs were good so following my usual oncology consult, I received my next round of chemo with a bit of anxiety. The hard fight continues ...
HOME AGAIN and NEXT UP "GRANDBABY MACDONALD" ... while we've been really fortunate to have travelled a great deal lately and checked off several bucket list items, there truly is "no place like home". It was great to return to Edisto and settle back into our house. Our kids continuously remind us how fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful place and often ask 'why would you want to leave Edisto?' Well, okay it does get very hot and humid here (especially during July and August) and it's good to escape from the oppressive heat just a bit! Perhaps we're turning into "sun-birds"? Our next and exciting upcoming event is the anticipated arrival of Grandbaby MacDonald sometime in mid to late October. Stefanie and Aaron live on Daniel Island (on the northeast side of Charleston), just a little over an hour from Edisto. Rest assured we'll remain close to home until after this new grandbaby arrives.
May the good Lord continue to bless you and yours ...
Dan and Martha