We have had a change in the weather here on the Banks. This weekend we got some much needed rain followed by some not so needed wind. I'm tempted to bring in the plants but its calling for temps in the 70's by weeks end and the night time temps are still in the upper 50's to 60's. I just can’t cut those mandevillas yet, they are so happy right now.

I have been spending a lot of time getting mountain home "packages" together for the builders. I’m hoping to get at least two bids to choose from. I have found three builders that come highly recommended but no matter who I choose most likely no one will be able to start until the spring so its going to be a hurry up and wait kinda thing which is fine with me. Once the house is closed in I need to be up there to get the inside work done. There is going to be a lot of sweat equity in this house.

I haven't had much time to write lately you see I have decided to go on a head and build my mountain home and that has been keeping me kinda busy. I have a very strict budget so I doubt I will be able to have my "Dream" home but it HAS to be paid for free and clear and that requires a LOT of "home" work. I also want my home to be passive solar so I have decided to place it against and into the hill side, a modified burm home. the drawings above are my renderings of the homes elevations. I know they will require modification after all I'm not an architect or engineer but this does let me relate to others how I want it to look. I will be starting a new blog that will document this adventure. My my my what have I got myself into... cant wait to get that first stake in the ground marking the foot print!!

I just got back from a trip to the mountains. It was more of a business trip than anything else.
This is a photo of where the new house will be. I'm looking for a builder now. I hope to break ground by the first of the year. aye ....

I discovered a nice little restaurant outside of Willis Va on 221 called Dino's Greek Hillbilly restaurant. They had some of the best peta bread I have had outside of Philly, I believe it was home made. The gyro was great and Rosa one of the owners and Tina the waitress were both very nice. Along with great Greek food they also serve traditional US and Mexican foods. Check it out if you are over that way.

Nice composite shot of "Lovers Leap" off hwy 58

These two shots are of a lake out side of Clarksville Va I have been going this way for a long time and I have never seen the bottom of this lake before. Not good.

Nice morning for a walk on the beach. Nuff said!

It was an exhausting weekend at work. Columbus day weekend is one of the weekends that a lot of owners come down and check out their properties so while staff is down to winter levels it feels a busy as summer. I guess at 48 I just don’t have the stamina I once had and 12 hours running 2 days in a row just wore me out.

Today is a bit warm for my tastes. 82 degrees on October 8^th is just not “natural”, tomorrow it’s predicted to be around 88. I have been spending the day inside just doing little things and watching Modern Marvels on the history channel. They had a very interesting program on sugar that dealt with among other things ethanol in hybrid cars. It seems that back in the 70’s Brazil after feeling the pinch of the oil embargo mandated the use of bio-fuel. Brazil is now only 10% dependent on foreign fuel. Imagine where we the United States could be now if we had learned from the experiences of the 70’s and really did something about our use of fossil fuels instead of returning to our wasteful ways when the oil “crisis” was over.

Fishing on the Outer Banks

All the plants on my deck are happy, my Bougainvillea is finally flowering. It is unusual for it to start flowering so late normally it flowers all season long

Its nice on the Outer Banks and it has been nice for the last few weeks, very mild temperatures and only the occasional rain shower and while we could use more of the rain visitors to the Banks have to be liking life.

I’ve been taking things slow, enjoying some down time and piddling around in the yard. Next week I’m off to the mountains. I’m hoping to see some color but NOW I’m hearing that the color may be later than usual. Go figure. I hope weather up there is good I would love to ride on the parkway with the Jeep top down.