Well it seems we are finally getting that rain we have needed. I took this photo from my deck. This is not Ernesto this shot faces west and north. On Ernesto’s present path we will get very little weather from it in fact the probability of rain after Friday has gone down. Good news for all those folks who want to come to the beach for one last summer jaunt. Me I’ll be working as will just about everyone I know. One last busy weekend. Some say its been a busy summer others disagree. Where I work it has been busy. People go on vacation and leave their common sense at home and accidents happen.

The rain has started for the day but I did get one cup of coffee on the deck. If all goes well I’ll be able to follow my plan for the day which consist of baking a cake and reading a book. Ahhh school ya gotta love it.

"free energy" post 2

Been keeping my eye on the "free Energy" claim made by Steorn but I haven't seen much. I did find this article Wired News: Perpetual Motion Claim Probed that seemed reasonably conservative with it's view on Steorn's claim. I know its only been 11 days or so and I cant expect much to have been accomplished yet but I would like to know when the "scientist" are going to test this thing and who these "scientist" are going to be. Oh well I'll just keep lookin.

Yesterday was the first day of school in Dare County. While my son was slaving away at school some friends and I kayaked, ate fruit & cheese and drank wine finishing off the early afternoon with a nice swim in the pool. Did we think of our kids? No….. Today I am a little sunburned and my arm’s feel heavy, it has been a while since I used a kayak, but yesterday was a perfect day to be out on the water. The rest of this week is looking as if it could be wet with Ernesto predicted to head north. So far it doesn’t look like much of a storm for us wind wise, which is a good thing but I do hope we get some of the rain we could sure use it.

Last day of summer

Summer officially ends September 21^st but today is the last day of summer for those of us who have school age children. The kids in dare county return to school tomorrow; gone are the days of coming and going without concern for time, of staying out late and getting up late. We now return to a life that revolves around the school schedule. Summer vacation is over.

It has been a busy summer in my house and no one has really done anything. I have hardly seen my oldest son of course he is a young bachelor living on his own he along with my #2 son have been working, surfing and sailing with the occasional trip to Wilmington to sail and surf. Those two boys (young men) have the sea in their veins. My youngest has spent his summer pretty much in front of the computer with the daily bike ride to the pool and TaeKwonDo classes 3 times a week. I asked him if he felt that he may have wasted his summer and he told me again “mom this is the last summer of my life that I will be able to do absolutely nothing” I take that as a no. My mom kept me busy by breaking her arm. Parents, what ya do ;-)

For me the summer has just flown by. I have traveled off this island 4 times putting over 5000 miles on my car. When I haven’t been traveling I have been working and work has been busy. I have this dream that someday in the not too distance future I will be spending time in my 640sqf passive solar home over looking Buffalo Mt in southwestern VA sitting in my comphy chair thinking back fondly on life at the beach with my children and being happy to live in the mountains. I can’t help it I live 2 years in the future

All in all it has been a fare summer. It started off with tragedy and ended with life going on.

Is there a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow?

View on the way to work last evening.

Manteo Wwaterfront Sunday morning

I went to Manteo yesterday to pick up a book from Manteo Booksellers while I was in there I took a stroll along the manteo waterfront. It was Sunday morning so most of the shops were closed and there were very few people.

At work the other night there was a song I just could not get out of my head it was “Ohio” written By Neil Young. My #2 son had been driving together when he turned the music to an oldies station. The song “Ohio” came up and I quizzed my son about it. “Do you know what this song is about?” I said “No” was his reply and with that I gave him a history lesson about the Vietnam war protest's on college campus’s and how 4 students died at Kent State in Ohio when a protest got out of hand. I have always said that song writers are the poets and story tellers of our times. A simple song with 2 verses repeated once can have so much meaning to those of us who grew up in that time and that same music can bring to this generation a better understanding of what it was like to grow up in the 60’s and 70’s.

I explained that I was in one of the first generations to experience the visual news that came out of the TV. To watch night after night as the number of dead in Vietnam were announced. To have friends whose brothers were dead and others who wore MIA and POW bracelets. But Vietnam was not the only change that happened at that time integration was taking effect and I saw on the news each night the fighting that was taking place in the US, citizen against citizen. Reflecting back not a whole lot has changed. We still fight unpopular wars over seas and we still fight among ourselves over stupid thing’s that should not matter like the color of a person’s skin, their religion or their politics. We humans do not learn from history we keep repeating it over and over again.

lyrics by Neil Young

--------

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

"free energy" technology

Irish company challenges scientists to test 'free energy' technology - Yahoo! News

It will be very interesting to see what comes out of this.

This is the chalenging companys home page Steorn Home

OK just a few more

#2 checking out the waves

every one takes one of these shots; under the nags head pier

pelicans!!

I did not plan on going to the beach today but my #2 son asked me to take him to the Nags Head pier. A friend of his called and told him to bring his short board; he said the waves were good, since my son’s car is in the shop (again) he needed a ride. So I was at the beach again.

Just a few shots taken last night around 7:30-8:00pm. Same spot as the last photos. I doubt that I will go to the beach agian for a while but ya never know.

Another great day at the beach. My company that was to come this week baled so I will be spending next 6 days chilling and today I took a stroll on the beach and was treated to a cool ocean breeze and pelicans, I love pelicans. They look so prehistoric; the photo I shot today was with the sun behind the bird in such a way that when enlarged the bones could be seen I think it looks cool. Gotta get a telephoto lenses!

I had hoped to post these shots as soon as I got home but I was too tired and instead went to bed

It was great morning on the Outer Banks and since I got off work early (translation on time) I decided to take a quick trip to the beach. It was a nice morning, the ocean was flat, early morning fishermen and folks just out for a walk were treated to a very placid sight. In my opinion this is the beginning of the best time of year here. The July visitors seemed to be in a hurry all the time. The traffic is bumper to bumper and sometimes has a mean feel to it. I guess it’s got to be the families and young professionals, they are so accustomed to running from place to place that when they get to the beach its hard for them to slow down. This time of year brings a slower group of folks. You see fewer families with school age children and more with very young ones, you also see older people. I think there may be a more experienced group of people that visit the Outer Banks this time of year. Visitors who know that there is little to “do” here other than visit the beach, eat and shop so why be in a hurry. This is the time of year when walks around the Wright Brothers memorial and the Elizabethan gardens are pleasant. A drive to Ocracoke where you can rent a bicycle and explore the island is always nice. I don’t think people can truly enjoy the Outer Banks if they can’t let go and just lay back.

Boatjacked by a bear

In love the radio program calledWait Wait -- Don't Tell Me! . It deals with current events in a humorous way. This weeks "story" that hit my funny bone hard was one dealing with a Canadian fisherman who was Boatjacked by a bear. It was done towards the end of the show in what is called "lightning fill in the blank." I hope you laugh out loud we all need some funny stuff right now.

After the oppressive heat we have been having this mornings 8 am temp of 79 degrees with 42% humidity seemed like heaven. Last night while looking for meteors (I saw maybe 3 dim streaks; bummer) the air almost seemed… cool? Well July is past us and here on the Outer Banks July is the hottest month of year, and the busiest. In August the tourist start to thin out and the day light becomes less harsh as the sun begins its slow march south, I even saw some geese. I smell fall in the air. Fall is still 5 or 6 weeks away and we still have hot weather ahead not to mention the storms that seem to come at the end of August and the first of September but one of my favorite times of year on the Outer Banks is close at hand. I do not like summer, I am glad it is on the wane.

Preseid meteor shower: no show

I got up early this morning in hopes of viewing the Preseid meteor shower. On a good night in a good location a person can see between 70 and 100 meteors an hour. I had hoped to try catching some on my camera using a prolonged shutter speed. I knew I would have to contend with the moon, which would cut down on the number of meteors seen but when I saw the cloud cover I went back to bed; there would be no meteor viewing this morning. I will try again tonight and early tomorrow morning who knows maybe I’ll get lucky. I did see a few when I was at my cousins place last weekend and the meteor shower does run from July 23-August 22 but this morning was the peak. Oh well if things don’t work out this year there is always next year when the peak comes during the new moon and the viewing should be a lot better.

This is a nice site to get information on meteor showers and comets Gary W. Kronk's Comets and Meteor Showers there are lots of others but this is a fairly simple one.

Back from PA what a great time

Good food

a place to sleep

a great view

a bond fire

more food




late night conversation

and the early morning sunrise.

Every year my cousin Jack and his wife Dianna host a family and friends get together, an event started by Aunt D and Uncle Jack as a way for us to get together for a reason other than a funeral. The two of them work very hard on this and I am very appreciative of all the work they put into it. For me this is an opportunity to interact with a part of my family that I would never see otherwise. Thank you Jack and Dianna it was a great time.

It’s the first day of August and man is it a scorcher. Hazy Hot and Humid!!! There is no way that it’s not going to be busy at work today. People drink lots of NON alcoholic beverages and stay inside during the midday sun. I hope the waves are calm and the water cool and the breeze comes from off the ocean that will make for a good beach day http://www.nagsheadpier.com/

I'm getting ready for my trip to the Pennsylvania mountains for the annual friends and family party at my cousin Jacks. I'm leaving on Friday but since I'm working just about every day I have to pack in stages. I'm getting the camping gear together, those of us that want to can camp on my cousins farm that way we can party way into the night and no one has to worry about drinking and driving!! I wish I had a big truck so I could whip on by Floyd county VA and pick up my camper but I'll just have to rough it in a tent. Any hoo when I get back I have to get ready for company that’s coming after that it will be time for school to start. Boy this summer has just whipped by.