Prince George: Third in line
Britain's Prince George is held by his father, Prince William, in this photo released on Tuesday, July 21 -- the day before his second birthday. Prince George: Third in line Prince George peers into the stroller of his younger sister, Princess Charlotte, following her christening on Sunday, July 5. Prince George: Third in line Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to Charlotte in May. Here, the family poses for a photo at Charlotte's christening in July. Prince George: Third in line In June, Catherine took this photo of her children at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, the family's country home when they're not at their official residence of Kensington Palace. Prince George: Third in line In December, the family released official Christmas photographs of Prince George. Here, he poses in a courtyard at Kensington Palace. Prince George: Third in line Prince George and his parents visit a butterfly exhibition at London's Natural History Museum in July 2014. Prince George: Third in line Prince George walks at the museum. Prince George: Third in line George takes his first steps in public as his mother holds his hand in June 2014. Prince George: Third in line The royal family leaves an airbase in Australia to head back to the United Kingdom in April 2014. They took a three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand. It was their first official trip overseas since George's birth. Prince George: Third in line Catherine and William react as their son bites a small present at the bilby enclosure of Sydney's Taronga Zoo in April 2014. One of the zoo's bilbies was renamed George in honor of the young prince. Prince George: Third in line Catherine holds George as he meets a bilby -- Australia's version of the Easter bunny -- at Taronga Zoo. Prince George: Third in line George shakes hands with Lynne Cosgrove, the wife of Australia's governor-general, on the tarmac of Sydney Airport in April 2014. Prince George: Third in line Catherine and William speak to New Zealand Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae and his wife, Janine, before boarding a flight to Australia in April 2014. Prince George: Third in line George plays with toys during a visit to the Government House in Wellington, New Zealand, in April 2014. Prince George: Third in line Catherine and George arrive in Wellington in April 2014. Prince George: Third in line William and Catherine speak to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby after George's christening in London in October 2013. Prince George: Third in line The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge depart St. Mary's Hospital in London with newborn George on July 23, 2013. He was born the previous day at 4:24 p.m., and he weighed 8 pounds and 6 ounces. Prince George: Third in line "It's very special," William said after George's birth. The prince had already changed his son's first diaper, the couple told reporters. Prince George: Third in line The new parents stand in front of the Lindo Wing of the hospital on July 23, 2013. http://rss.cnn.com/c/35494/f/676983/s/48fe1ec2/sc/14/l/0Ledition0Bcnn0N0C20A150C0A70C210Ceurope0Cprince0Egeorge0Enew0Ephoto0Cindex0Bhtml0Deref0Frss0Ieurope/story01.htm Build a Wall!
May 14, 2013 -- Bay Head, N.J. As long as kids have gone to the beach they've built sand castles, and I suspect they always will. And for every sand castle built most eventually end up with a wall of sand in front of them. The tide always rises and every kid, seeing his prized creation threatened by the oncoming waves, thinks the same thing: "Build a wall!" In Bay Head, N.J. that simple childhood instinct is alive and well, post-superstorm Sandy. A group of about 20 beachfront homeowners are, on their own nickel, building a "revetment wall." It will sit on the beach between the ocean and their homes, a big bit of industry that starts with digging down about 20 feet, then filling the hole with 6,000 pound stones trucked in from nearby quarries. Those massive stones are then covered with more sand. The idea is to break the wave action kicked up by a storm and provide a last line of defense with a barrier that, the homeowners hope, won't wash away. (Picture: A drawing of a typical beach revetment wall, showing the large rocks below and above grade, the top-covering of sand, and the slope of the wall, which is designed to break the wave energy.) There's pretty good evidence this system can work. Bay Head built another revetment wall about 50 years ago and even though it was covered in sand, invisible and mostly forgotten by local residents when Sandy hit the homes standing behind this wall were mostly spared during the storm. Hence the desire by those living just south of the old wall to build a new one. (Picture: Once the revetment wall is built homeowners lose most of their water views. But as one homeowner said "I prefer the view of my house still being here after a storm.") But the idea is not without controversy. Twenty-foot rock walls buried beneath the sand are not natural elements on a beach. And the wall won't stretch the length of the beach. Someone's home will always be adjacent to where the wall ends, and therefore subject to what the engineers call "end action" - an ominous term no matter how you parse it. Oh, and those nickels the homeowners are spending themselves, well, there will be plenty of them. This little wall is reported to cost $2.2 million, and there are only so many kids with buckets that big. (Picture: Revetment walls are alot of work and money. This wall is reported to cost over $2 million.) When I walk the beach in the early morning I rarely see yesterday's sand castles still standing; it seems the waves always win out. But for my money (and, of course, it's not my money) I say let them build the walls. And let them try other ideas like beach replenishment, planting dune grass, raising houses and whatever else they can think of. The houses and people along the Jersey shore aren't leaving, so it might be time for a few more walls. Posted by Kevin O'Connor | Categories: Jersey Shore Rebuilds 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0) http://oldhousemyhouse.thisoldhouse.com/2013/07/build-a-wall.html |
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