It’s been a month since I’ve moved into this wonderful condo on an island.  Now when you see the word “island,” you’re automatically going to get mental pictures of palm trees, coconuts, warm breezes…well, that’s not exactly the way it is in my corner of the world.

For starters, it’s off the coast of Virginia which doesn’t exactly make it tropical.  You’re not going to have palm trees and you’re not going to have warm breezes until the middle of summer I’m presuming since I’ve never spent a summer here yet, but I’m presuming that’s when.

I know it’s April, but Good Lord, when are the lions of March going to go back to where they come from?

So this leads me to the two things I’ve learned about living on an island which I’d like to blog about today. 

The first being…when is the wind going to stop blowing?  I think we might have had one day in the month I’ve been here that you could actually walk out your door without a recurring visit from Hurricane Katrina.

Okay, they say it’ll be nice in the summer time with the wind constantly moving, but what is it going to be like in the winter?  Antarctica?

I don’t mean to complain…it’s a beautiful condo and I’m really enjoying it but already because of the wind, I’ve got windows broken out of a hutch (procrastinated into bringing it up 3 flights of stairs), a windchime blown to God knows where and the siding blown off the side (which I don’t have to take care of, thank goodness). 

And since this is supposed to be the first day of Spring (or was it yesterday?), when are we going to have weather nice enough to spend it on the dock that comes with the condo?

Okay, second thing I have learned…

Don’t put your trash outside until a few minutes before the trashmen come to pick it up.

I’ll tell you why.  This is bird heaven.  Bird paradise.  Any kind of bird you can think of lives here.  A couple of days ago, it rained and my front yard turned into a pond with ducks (brown and mallards) and a piping plover (if that’s what this bird is called).  I also have an egret living in the thrush behind the house (which that is cool as shit) and I think a crane (haven’t learned my bird species yet). 

But…we also have…SEA GULLS.

Now anyone who lives on the east coast knows what vultures they can be.  I remember being at the beach one time and I had a cheeseburger in my hand and one of those dastardly varmints dove down and grabbed it right out of my hand without a moment’s notice. 

So I know all about sea gulls.

But what I didn’t realize is that you have to take their habits in consideration when living among them.

This morning, our carefully placed trash is now all over the driveway.

I know this sounds like I’m complaining and I am sort of, but living on an island has a few drawbacks. 

The plus side is that view of the water every morning I get up.  So, I guess you got to take the pros with the cons, I guess.

I’ll have pictures soon!