It�s hot already this morning but that seems to be par for the course these days. On the Outer Banks we are looking for temps at around the 100 mark with a heat index around 115. Record breaking temps have been reported all around the country this month but thanks to our Canadian neighbors many of us on the east coast can expect some relief starting at the end of the week by way cold front.
 

Walking back to my car I was struck by how not one car around where mine was parked was the same. I thought if anything shows diversity in our culture it's the car's we drive. Each car in this photo has a touch of its owners personality added to it with the help of vanity plates, bumper stickers or window appliqu's.

1/3 the way to empty nest!!

My #1 son has moved out!!!!

After owning his own “place” for 1 month, it has taken that long to get it “boy habitable”, he was finally able to move in. I think the best thing about this move is that my kitchen was clean this morning. God I love the boy but he is a slob. The other boys won’t even use his bathroom. The boy is passive aggressive so you can nag, threaten and beg the hell out of him and if he does not want to do it, it does not get done. Well one chick out of the nest 2 more to go. I cant wait for my 2 minutes of empty nest syndrome.

morning on my street as seen from the deck 

Its 7am 82 degree’s with humidity of 79%. I have just spent 1 hour in the yard trying to beat the heat, I will mow the grass tonight. I don’t want to wake the neighbors. I am hot irritable and need a shower. The reason I bring this up is that the plumbers are going to be working at my oldest sons new abode today and to be quite honest the bids he received to do the work were to say the least a bit of a shock but if I had to crawl around under a trailer in this heat I would charge more!!

My hats off to plumbers, electricians, lawn matainence workers, carpenters and all those service people we all depend on.

The first car I ever owned was an Olds Delta 88, it was a boat, you could fit 5 people in the trunk. When you are young you do stupid things. After hitting a telephone pole with it in broad daylight and totally sober I bought a Ford Pinto, I actually had 3 of those, I always liked the ideal of driving a bomb and anyway they had manual transmissions were cheep to drive and did not cost a ton of money. I really wanted the MG but it was a little pricey for me. After the Pintos I had Escorts and now I have a Focus, all reasonable, reliable, boring cars.

What I want is a Jeep. Not one of those fancy smancy ones just a good old fashioned Jeep Wrangler, 5 speed rag top like the army had at one time. I have always liked driving them and any chance I get I do. I don’t own one at this time because it’s not a “reasonable” thing to do. I drive on flat paved well maintained roads. I drive 120 miles round trip to work. I don’t like the beach so I don’t need a 4 wheel drive to get to those great secluded spots the locals know about. When I do go to a beach function I can always hitch a ride with someone else.

Lately for my trips to the mountains I have been renting a Wrangler. It’s not my ideal Jeep, it’s an automatic, but its still fun and in a pinch it does its job. On my last visit to the mountains the weather was great until the last day and then the heavens just let go. The drive way and the area that was leveled for the future house and where the camper is now kept is clay. Clay is great to drive on when it’s dry but when it’s wet we have whole nother animal. The whole area turned into clay muck. One time while driving out the jeep started to slip to the side; Of course it was in 4 wheel drive but even so we slipped in a most uncomfortable way. I let the jeep come to a complete stop slapped it into 4 wheel low, took my foot off the gas and let that sucker pull its self out. It’s a great feeling when a piece of machinery does what it’s supposed to do. My son and I had some fun messing around that day; it took me a whole day to clean that Jeep!

Now mud and Jeeps go together but mud and an 80lb dog in a 19 foot camper dosent. It was an absolute mess. I just can’t describe it. It was horrible. My plan was not to do any more work to the property until I was ready to build. I did not want to work on the road or the building site just to have it messed up by heavy equipment but I want to bring my dogs. There was a choice to be made, spend the money saved to rent the Jeep on the Jeep or gravel. Gravel won out so the week after next when I go to the mountains I will be driving a sensible, reliable, boring Ford Focus but when I move up there I will have a Wrangler!

what next

Burgers From a Lab? U.S. Study Says It's Possible

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Laboratories using new tissue engineering technology might be able to produce meat that is healthier for consumers and cut down on pollution produced by factory farming, researchers said on Wednesday.

http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/s/nm/science_meat_dc

Trip and Zeke

Had a butt shot earlier here are their sweet faces. (they are nicer than they look)

garden 7-12-05

The garden 7-12-05, lots of little green tomatoes, lots of green peppers. Picked a few cucumbers all ready. The green beans are gone. I have plenty in the freezer and I will be planting more on Friday. Japs are doing well on the deck I'll be canning them soon. The garlic is stressed but still doing ok

the view 

It's a nice morning here on the Outer Banks. Although it is hot, 81 degrees with humidity of 87%, at 7:30 this morning, I did enjoy my coffee on the deck with Zeke and Trip, aka the boyz & girlz. As can be seen from the attached photo, the boyz and girlz love to stand with their noses between the railing slats and breath deep the morning smells. I am sure they would prefer to chase those smells but we live in a community where that would not be safe for them so they will have to be content with smells from the porch.

This morning the breeze was nice and gentle and seemed to be from the SW. Wind chimes played in the back ground couple that with the birds and those of us who are sitting outside are treated to a natural symphony.

I love mornings like this.

together 

War of the Worlds

Yesterday I went to see “War of the Worlds” the new Spielberg movie. It was not E.T. I left the movie theater feeling much like I did when I saw “Saving Private Ryan”. It was a good movie, very well done but it did not leave me feeling good. It made me wonder how I would react in that type of situation. Would I retain my civilized ways or revert to my more animal side. War is the ultimate test of true beliefs and character. I am thankful I have not had to face that test.

ramblings

*I am saddened over the bombings in London. We live in an unpredictable world. I was encouraged by what one Londoner said, she said there are risks in life and taking away freedoms will not take those risks away. I agree when you take away freedoms in response to attacks like these bombings and 9/11 the criminals win. I would rather die in a terrorist attack then lose my freedoms.

*A lot is still being said on the net about the Supreme Court decision on government’s right to take property without true public need. The Supreme Court did leave an opening for local and state lawgivers to step in and pass laws to protect property owners. Now it is our job to write our state and federal representatives saying that we want laws passed to protect the individual property owner’s rights. One way to do this is to e-mail your representatives and tell them how you feel voice your fears and concerns. Tell them what you want. I found that by simply typing (your state) house of representatives in the search box on the browser it is possible to quickly find your local state rep. For federal reps try these;
http://www.house.gov/

http://www.senate.gov/.

We can voice our concerns to each other and it might make us feel better but if we don’t let our representatives know our concerns nothing will be done.

*Tropical storm Cindy visited my brother in New Orleans. He was with out power when I spoke with him Wednesday but all in all he did fine. It looks like hurricane Dennis may visit my sister in Pensacola. Why did so many of us migrate to the coast?

fire works

Manteo is a small Mayberry-isk town located on Roanoke Island on the Outer Banks of NC. Last night my mother and I walked from her apartment to the water front to see the fire works and I must say it was a very pleasant experience. First it was nice to see that we were not the only ones to walk in to town. What started as a trickle of people became a small stream the closer we came to town. There was laughter and good will in that stream. There were conversations between stranger’s that flowed from one person to the other and subject to subject. Children ran laughing and screaming with glow sticks and shoes that sparkled with each step. It was a feeling of carnival. I sensed no discourse even though I know it must have been there; after all we don’t live in Perfect.

This feeling of community spread to the dock where we sat waiting for the fire works to begin. The effortless conversation between strangers continued, the children played and their laughter stayed in the air until the fire works began, then oh’s and awe’s filled the air as parents tried to convince the very young that fire works were great and couples sitting close concentrated only on the fire works and each other.

As we walked home I was glad I took the time to come to Manteo and walk to the waterfront with my mother. How else could I have experienced the good in this life that is so often missed?

O'conner

Yesterday Justice O’Conner announced that she would be retiring from the Supreme Court. Many look at this as very troubling. After all this gives president Bush an opportunity to place a conservative as a Justice. I decided that before I got upset over this I would review the present court make up, this is what I found.

Of the nine justices 7 were appointed by republican presidents. O’Conner was appointed by Reagan. So there will still be 7 republican appointees. From what I can see there has been no rhyme or reason to the way the justices “vote”. They have a job they can’t be fired from so they can become more open or closed minded when they get the position. More than one president has been disappointed by the decisions made by their appointee. Bush does have the potential to place 3 Justices but Reagan placed 4 and all was not lost.

This will be an interesting time for Bush and for the nation. I hope he thinks in the long term because who ever he appoints will be influencing our lives for a long time.

summer heat

Each morning I get up fix a cup of coffee, take the dogs out to the back let them do there morning thing while I mess around in the garden, then we go back up stairs they get fed and I get ready for my morning walk. Its 6:50, 77 degrees with 87% humidity. This is going to be one hell of a walk! Aggggg I hate hot weather!!!!