Posts Tagged ‘Intracoastal Realty’

Thanksgiving Holiday Home Preparations

Posted November 3, 2015 by Donald Howarth

With Thanksgiving only three weeks away, many families are using the time from now to Thanksgiving Day to clean their home for guests, gather their recipes, and purchase ingredients. However, when hosting family and friends for Thanksgiving, it is crucial to be prepared for an assortment of issues that may arise. After all, there’s more to the holiday than just eating turkey and watching Football, and taking the necessary precautions can alleviate stress and ensure that guests have a memorable Thanksgiving holiday!

Before Guests Arrive

Evaluate All Appliances:

-Make sure that all appliances you are planning to use on Thanksgiving are in working order to avoid any malfunctions when preparing Thanksgiving dinner.
-Research the life expectancy of your most used appliances. Replace or fix any that may pose a threat.
Don’t use your oven’s self-clean cycle in the week before Thanksgiving, as it can be stressful on the appliance. Instead, use damp cloths to clean it to avoid a last minute break down.
-Check your oven’s temperature gauge. Place a thermometer on the middle rack, set the oven temperature, and when it heats up, verify that the temperatures match. If they don’t, make necessary repairs.
-Put less stress on yourself and your oven by using alternative appliances for side dishes, such as a microwave, toaster oven, crock pot, or grill. If there are no alternative options, ask your guests to bring a side with them.

Perform Basic Cleaning and Maintenance:

-Refrigerator: Clean condenser coils in the fridge with a coil brush, wipe down interior and door gaskets with baking soda and water, apply a thin layer of petroleum jelly to gasket at hinge, clean the water and ice dispenser and soak the spill shelf in vinegar. Clear out old food to make room for leftovers.
-Dishwasher: For stainless steel tubs, run potscrubber cycle without dishes or detergent for 15 to 20 minutes. Then, interrupt the cycle and pour two cups of white vinegar to the bottom of the dishwasher. Close the dishwasher, and complete the wash. For plastic tubs, fill the detergent cup with three to four ounces of citric acid crystals and run the normal wash cycle. Follow up with a second wash cycle and include detergent.
-Microwave: Heat up one cup of water for three minutes on full power, and let it stand for five minutes after it is finished to allow the steam to soften the food. Then, wipe up the caked on food!
-Pantry: Organize and remove old food, spices, etc. not only to make sure you have enough room to store ingredients for the meal and other miscellaneous supplies, but also so that you don’t ruin the food with outdated, poor tasting spices.
-Overall: Tidy up bedrooms, bathrooms, and common areas that will accommodate your guests. In addition, make sure your home, especially your kitchen, is safe. Put household cleaners, sharp objects, lighters, and other harmful objects where they belong. Unplug appliances that aren’t being used, and wrap up the cord. If children are present, use backburners of the stove as much as possible, cover electrical outlets, or invest in a child safety gate to keep them out of harm’s way if necessary.

Take Inventory and Create a Detailed Grocery List:

-Food: Organize the recipes that you plan to use in one book, and write a detailed list of ingredients you will need for each recipe. Look through your pantry, fridge, and freezer, and cross the items that you already have off your grocery list. Remember to check the expiration dates of all food products and spices, and replace expired items as needed.
-Cleaning Supplies: Make sure to have a full supply of cleaning products on hand in case any accidents occur. This includes laundry detergent, carpet cleaner, dish soap, kitchen and bathroom cleaner, etc., baking soda, non bleach detergent, ammonia, bleach, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, club soda, lemon juice, etc.
-Cookware and Utensils: Look through your cabinets and determine if you have enough Tupperware containers, plates, spoons, forks, knives, bowls, pots, and pans necessary to cook each meal, store leftovers, and accommodate each guest. Repair or replace any broken items that you need to use, retrieve items that you loaned out but were never returned, and sharpen dull knives.
-Seating and Eating Space: As soon as you have a head count on the number of guests you can expect on Thanksgiving, inventory your tables and chairs to make sure that they all have a place to sit and eat! If necessary, rent or buy tables and chairs, and repair defected items. Also, consider other tables, chairs, and household items throughout your home, and see if there is a way to convert them to temporary eating spaces.
-Storage: Before guests arrive, make sure any large scale projects in the kitchen are complete and do not occupy needed space. If applicable, create more room by adding temporary storage, such as a rolling island or mini fridge, or improvise with what you have, and use spaces such as the laundry room to store food and supplies.
-Prepare a Detailed Grocery List: Aside from food, spices, cleaning supplies, cookware and utensils, etc. there are other essential items that you don’t want to forget at the store, including garbage bags, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, coffee filters, batteries, etc.
-Make a note of store hours so last minute supplies can be purchased if needed.

Prepare Guest Rooms:
-If the rooms have not been used very often it may be helpful to change sheets.
-Check to make sure ample towels are in guests bathrooms (2 per person).
-Update toiletry items by ensuring lotions, etc. are still in date.
-Replace batteries as needed in clock radios, etc.
-Ask guest ahead of time if they have any special needs and prepare accordingly.

Thanksgiving Day Cleaning Tips:

Garbage Disposal:
-Remove build up in your garbage disposal by grinding harder items, such as fruit pits, ice, or small bones, that scrape the inside of the disposal and pipes before grinding any other foods.
-Flush food waste through the plumbing system and prevent debris from settling in pipes by running cold water for 30 seconds before and after each use.
-Throw away non-food items, grease, and fat that can clog the disposal.
-Take your time when cleaning up.

Dishes:
-Set up stations of plastic tubs, and fill them with soapy, lukewarm water. When you run out of room in the dishwasher, place dishes in the tubs until you can clean them or run another cycle through the dishwasher.
-Line baking dishes and pans with foil before you start preparing the food. Then, when you are finished and remove the foil, the dish will be nearly spotless and require minimal cleaning!

Then sit back and enjoy the time with your family and friends.

Thanksgiving Table

Waterfront Home Open House September 30

Posted September 28, 2015 by Donald Howarth

Open House Wednesday September 30

11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Pizza and pasta lunch will be provided

Also enjoy a tasty treat from the Side Street Bakery

**Register to win 1 of 2 $50 Visa Gift Cards

5952 Dutchman Creek Road

This beautiful, meticulously maintained marsh front home has panoramic views of Dutchman Creek, tidal marshes, ICW and distant Caswell Beach. Architect designed plan with full living quarters, kitchen, dining and master suite on the first level. Direct access to the open deck, spacious screened porch and a relaxing sunroom completes the spa package. Two further bedrooms and bathroom on the upper level create a totally private family or guest area, complete with a study area and ample storage.

MLS# 686658
Listing Agent: Donald Howarth
Cell: 910-279-9398
Email: Donald@coastalrealtyconnections.com

See more about this home.

Why we have the Cape Fear River Pilots

Posted September 9, 2015 by Donald Howarth

Since Europeans first viewed the area, the river known ominously as the Cape Fear has been vital to the fortunes of both buccaneers and businessmen. History shows it was the pirate Stede Bonnet – by most accounts a poor sailor who already had been convicted as a pirate and pardoned – who may have realized the river’s name. After returning to piracy, he tried to escape capture in the early 1700’s by hiding up the Cape Fear. But he forgot the first rule of pirates – always have more than one escape route. Bonnet was caught as soon as the British reached the mouth of the river.

Union vessels didn’t have as much luck with the blockade runners of the Confederacy, who continued to escape capture and bring needed supplies back to the port at Wilmington during the Civil War. In fact, Wilmington was the last port open to blockade runners. When it finally fell in early 1865, it signaled the end of Confederate hopes.

Since then, though, most seagoing traffic hasn’t needed an escape route – merely a North Carolina berth. That meant the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, and the deep water harbor at Morehead City. When North Carolina’s first major port development began in the 1850s at Morehead City, harbor pilots began bringing in ships through Beaufort Inlet.In Wilmington, the river pilots became crucial during the Union blockade of the South during the Civil War. They would steam down the coastline and bring back needed supplies to the port, making Wilmington the last port open to blockade runners. Graphic Cape Fear Pilot Assoc (2)

In the years before modern dredging and channel deepening of the river, known ominously as the Cape Fear, captains used local pilots to maneuver the sandbars at the entrance of the harbor and of Frying Pan Shoals, more than 20 miles offshore. “Think of the captain of a large ship at Cape Fear as a blind man entering an immense, strange house, cluttered with unfamiliar furniture and other hazards, with only one entrance and one exit,” writes Jim McNeil in Masters of the Shoals.

Because of the pilots’ daring runs and narrow escapes, they often were romanticized in publications as “dandies of the town,” according to an article excerpted in Masters of the Shoals. “They wore fine ruffled shirts, tight fitting boots, long black coats and plug hats,” the author writes. “Every boy hoped someday to become a pilot.” “Without pilots, captains would be burdened. There is so much paperwork involved in every port visit, and (captains) go to so many ports around the world that they can’t know each river and port,” says Kirby. Federal regulations say that all “coastwise seagoing vessels propelled by machinery and subject to inspection” must be under the direction of a qualified pilot, along with vessels “not authorized by their certificate of inspection to proceed beyond (a specified) boundary line which are in excess of 1,600 tons, propelled by machinery and subject to inspection.” In more understandable terms, that means: “Every freighter, every big ship you see coming in this port has got a pilot in it,” said Scott Aldridge, river pilot and former president of the Cape Fear River Pilots Association.

In the Port of Wilmington 90 miles south of Morehead City, eight river pilots guide ships from a sea buoy in the Atlantic Ocean, past Bald Head and Jaybird shoals, and up the Cape Fear River.
“You have to navigate all the turns and bends in the river,” said Wes Kirby, then president of the Wilmington/Cape Fear Pilots Association. “Every bend has localized shoaling.” As river pilots bring the ships close to their berth in the Wilmington port, the docking pilots take over and use tugboats to push the vessel alongside its berth. Docking pilots also use tugs to undock vessels and turn them around so they can head down the river and out to sea.

Pilots have been around North Carolina ports for hundreds of years.

“Without pilots, shipping would come to a halt.”

sourced: Cape Fear Pilots Association – Wilmington,NC

North Carolina Marinas

Posted August 7, 2015 by Donald Howarth

In a recent article by the Southport Stateport Pilot‘s Staff Writer Lee Hinnant, he highlights the ways in which marinas contribute to the local economy.

More than just places to tie-up and buy fuel and ice, marinas are substantial contributors to the economy and gateways to some of the nest spots on the Cape Feat coast.

With thriving restaurants, an inn, real estate sales and other businesses, Bald Head Island Marina is like a second village square. Everyone who visits the island passes through, wither on private boats or the large passenger ferries.

At South Harbor Village in Oak Island, the marina helps support two large restaurants and several small businesses overlooking the water. Just up the Intracoastal Waterway at St. James, the marina anchors a market, restaurant and Tiki hut. One of the area’s top seafood restaurants and a motel overlook Blue Water Point Marina. At the heart of it all is Southport Marina. During the past decade, Preston Development has turned what was an aging marina into a first class facility that has garnered numerous awards. There are 10 full-time employees and two part-time workers. Businesses based at Southport Marina include a boat brokerage, a boating club, a boat rental company, a sail supplier and an American Sailing Association-certified sailing academy. Seven charter Companies and Zimmerman Marine Service also call the marina home.

There’s a waiting list for the boat dry stack and manager Hank Whitley said that’s no happy accident. “We’ve put a lot of effort, headache and heartache to do it right,” he said. “It’s a big deal for us and a major revenue stream to bring folks from elsewhere.”

The boaters who stayed at Southport Marina less than a month increased by about 150 last year to more than 1,500. Whitley estimates that one-quarter of the marina’s business is with transients. “We think of ourselves at concierges,” Whitley said. “The biggest thing about the impact is that just about every single one of them want to go out and eat somewhere in town.” The visitors who boat to Southport also need provisions, fuel and marine parts and services.

“It’s the same thing as a hotel,” said Cindy Brochure, tourism director for the City of Southport. “If they like you they will come back.” Brochure said the marina’s awards and favorable mention in publications such as Sail Magazine have helped introduce Southport to many newcomers. “We have big-city amenities in a small town. It’s an economic boost when these people come in.” Brochure called the area marinas “a year around economic development tool” and said her office enjoys handing out information about the community. “It’s like having a stop on the interstate highway” she said.

A 2008 study of the southeastern region of NC stated that marinas employed 783 people and had a secondary economic impact of $305-million in sales.

Real Estate Trend – Mancaves versus Woman Caves

Posted July 30, 2015 by Donald Howarth

Southport Real Estate, mangaves, Coastal Realty, Coastal Realty Connections.

Move over Man Caves, “She Sheds” are taking storm now! Alright ladies, if you’ve just about had it with the man cave trend that’s been taking the industry by storm the last few years, it’s time to put your foot down and demand your very own space. And no, we’re not talking about your bedroom sanctuary that hosts a reading nook where you can go to escape the daily grind and lose yourself in a good book. We’re talking “she sheds.”

It may sound silly, but she sheds are popping up in backyards across the nation as women look outside the confines of their own home for a space that’s all theirs. It’s the (totally acceptable?) grown up version of claiming a space and then posting a ‘no boys allowed’ sign prominently on the door.

Much like pub sheds, “she sheds” are the latest craze in the battle to add a touch of personality to any and every space. Whether you’re looking for a tranquil environment to practice yoga, a quiet space to work on your writing or just a place to get away from the stresses that come with your day-to-day routine, “she sheds” run the gamut from rustic to extravagant.

Need a little inspiration? Check out the pictures that we found on the Lighter Side of Real Estate site and start planning what your “she shed” will look like today!

Lighter Side of Real Estate

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STATE’S FIRST COMMUNITY BASED TERMINAL GROIN SLOWLY MOVES SEAWARD

Posted July 29, 2015 by Donald Howarth

Contractors have built about 150 feet of Bald Head Island’s terminal groin, an arm-shaped pile of giant rocks designed to trap sand and reduce erosion on South Beach.

Crews are digging a 32- to 40-foot-wide trench in the sand, then placing rock-filled geotextile mattresses on the leveled surface. After that, they’re stacking large boulders on the specially constructed mattress pads.

Work is going slowly because the contractors have to pump water from the excavation and make sure the construction area is perfectly flat and at exactly the correct elevation, said Chris McCall, shoreline protection manager and assistant village manager.

“The terminal groin is moving along,” McCall said. “They are putting the rocks in place.” Orion Marine Group crews place a six-by-20-foot mattress on the construction centerline, then place additional pads on each side of the center mattress.

The mattresses go down first so that the heavy boulders won’t subside into the sand.

McCall said the crew was averaging eight to 10 mattresses a day. They are staging mainland operations just east of American Marine Co. on the Intracoastal Waterway at Oak Island.

When finished, the terminal groin will be 1,300 feet long and reach into the Atlantic about 300 feet. It is designed to capture some, but not all, of the sand that washes by in the longshore current.

Four community-based terminal groins are allowed in North Carolina under a 2011 law. Other beaches seeking to build groins are Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach and Figure Eight Island.

Construction is expected to wrap up in October. Technicians will monitor the groin’s performance for at least two years before the project engineer decides whether to add another 600 feet to the structure.

Source State Port Pilot