Skunk. I thought that I knew what a skunk smelled like after all I have driven by many unfortunate skunks that had been struck by cars; they stink. Well…… last night I learned that when your dog gets sprayed by a skunk it smells worse than you can ever know. When the girl dog came in last night just as I was eating my dinner my olfactory nerve was struck by a odor so noxious that it brought tears to my eyes. Needless to say dinner was over and the girl had a bath there and then! Not that it did a whole lot of good but had to do something. This morning I bathed her again this time in vinegar. It helped for a while but after she “helped” split wood and then ran round the yard for awhile and laid in the sun she stunk again. I bathed her again this afternoon. While at EMT class this evening I asked the folks who live here how they deal with skunk smell the consensus is use tomato juice followed up with a concoction of baking soda, vinegar and dawn dish soap. Tomorrow I will try their recommendations.

I saw my first lady bug today. Not the first one I have seen all summer but the first one of the fall lady bug blitz. These are not really lady bugs per say. These are the orange and black , real lady bugs are red and black. Every fall they congregate in my camper I am usually not here, this is my first full fall in Willis, but every spring I clean thousands of dead lady bugs out of my camper. They are attracted to the white siding of the camper and the warm interior but unbeknownst to them it is not a safe place to be; I spray the camper for bugs when I close it up for the final time in the fall.

Fall colors are starting to really stand out. The reds and yellows against the deep greens with bright afternoon sun light filtering through is just amazing. Ahhhh. I love the cool mornings and warm afternoons that fall brings and the night time sky is so deeply black that the stars just shine like bright clear white light. It could stay this way all year for me.

Today I have spent the day doing as little as possible. This past week has been very busy. My builder started on the house, I have been splitting and stacking firewood, I helped place a dog who needed a new home, spent a few days explaining to Amerlink why I needed my logs delivered, went to EMT class, took a friend to the doctor and I worked a little with the church yard sale (there must have been a million of those this weekend). Tomorrow starts a new week and hopefully Amerlink will deliver the logs tomorrow morning as promised; that would sure be a good start to what will most likely be another busy week.

Another week has flown by, almost another month. This week had kinda been a work week. I personally, with my own two hands (and a pick ax, shovel and post hole digger) built a fence where the old barn had been. The girl dog had stopped worrying about the “electric” wire fence I had put across the area and any time she thought she could get away with it she went through it. The road I live on is not that busy but it is my responsibility as a pet owner to keep my animal under control. I needed a fence and until I can afford to have a better one built this one will have to do!!

These past few days we have been getting some much needed rain (that’s what they tell me anyway). This rain hampers my ability to do stuff. With two good size dogs and a cat there’s not much use cleaning a 19ft camper when its raining so for the past few days I have reading and watching movies. This mornings view was a pleasant sight; patches of blue sky and morning mist. My living conditions are not ideal but I am so fortunate to live here.

When I moved from the beach I left a lot of my plants. I had tons of geraniums and hanging baskets. I had grown these from cuttings of plants I had for many years. Each year I would take my plants indoors for the winter clean them up and do a few more cuttings all in anticipation for the next spring. Getting things ready for the move up here I could tell it would take more than one trailer load to move all my plants so I decided to give all but a few away. My logic being that all the plants I had started out as cuttings so I’ll just do more cuttings up here. These are the first 6 new geraniums. If as in the past they all make it to spring I will have a nice spread of flowers.

My plants I brought up here seem to be doing well, the fox glove my #2 son gave me last Christmas is really happy.

It has been raining today, a nice light rain that brings with it perfect reading weather.
The rain has been coming and going.
I can tell when it starts and stops by the noise the rain makes on the roof of the camper.
When I stepped out of the camper during one of the times the rain had stopped I was confused for a moment, for while I did not see the rain I did hear it.
All around me was that soft sound that I have heard rain make on my walks in the woods.
So after that moment of confusion I was able to take in the gentle breeze that shook the leaves and caused the rain to rain again.
I love days like this.

For the young man who lost his mom and his friends surfing is a way to be together in this unfortunate time.
Two of these young men are my sons and one is like a son to me.

I’m back from my visit to the Outer Banks and while it was a trip I am sorry I had to take but I am darn glad I went.

September on the Banks is a great time to visit. The weather is still warm, this weekend was darn right hot, and there are a lot fewer people. As you can see from these photos the water is still good for swimming and surfing.

Sunset on the sound

A friend of mine passed away early this week and I returned to the beach for her funeral. It was a nice service; my condolences to her son and the rest of her family. It was nice to see so many young men attend the funeral in support of her son. She would have been pleased.

Living in a 19ft camper gets to be a bit cramped especially on a rainy day but Jean Gray my cat has a comfortable perch near the window. Jean very seldom stays inside but today she is enjoying a long nap. Me…. I guess I will just sit here and study. I am taking an EMT course and while I have been a nurse for quite awhile there are differences in what an EMT can do and what a nurse can do. I have learned that I need to get away from “how it’s done” and back to “how it is suppose to be done”. The class is turning into a good refresher course.

Its seams OPEC is not happy with the fall in oil prices and are going to pull back on oil production. I say good for the US. By cutting back on production and keeping oil prices up it gives the US entrepreneurs a financial incentive to go ahead with alternative energy and other energy innovations. In the 70’s when oil prices went up conservation and innovation became a big deal but as time went on and the 80’s gave the American public a false sense of energy security we put the worry about the cost of energy on the back burner and forgot about it. Well that pot is burning and we need to do something about it. Now we Americans have a short attention span and if oil prices go down too much we will add a little water to the pot, put the pot back on the back burner and forget about it again. We need to try to think in the long term and do what is good for now and the future.

The cost of energy affects me just like it does everyone else; I drive a Jeep wrangler and live 4 miles from the nearest convenience store, 15 miles from the nearest town and almost 30 miles from the nearest Wal-mart. To save money on gas I kept my sons Sentra that was wrecked back in May (her tail looks bad but she gets better than 30mpg) and I drive it when the weather is fair. I feel safer on these mountain roads at night and in bad weather in my Jeep. I keep a list of what I need and plan my road trips accordingly. I have planned the placement of my home to take advantage of solar energy and while I can’t afford to put solar panels on it now the placement of windows will help heat the house using passive solar techniques. I hope that the US government will support the advancement of alternative energy. I hope some day to be able to afford to put solar panels on my house and be able to buy an alternative energy vehicle that would meet my needs. As long as the American people are adversely affected by the cost of energy I believe that energy innovation will be supported by the people and therefore by the government so good for OPEC, they are doing more to promote energy innovation in this country than any of us tree huggers ever could.

The dogs have gotten into the habit of an evening walk/run and they don’t care if I want to walk or not they pester me until we walk. At the end of the walk we go through the fruit trees. Theses trees are a sad sight. They have not been taken care of and are surrounded by wild roses and some type of scrub tree with 2 inch thorns. My plan is to clear the brush out from under and around the trees this winter. I am hoping that by cleaning things up the fruit will look better. I am fortunate to have apples, pears, cherries, peaches and grapes.

I have been cooking apples for about a month now. I don’t know what kind they are but they are green turning to red and right now kinda tart. The redder they get the sweeter they become. There is so much brush and dead branches around the tree that it is difficult for me to pick the apples. Every day I pick up the apples that fall to the ground keeping the ones that are not damaged and tossing the others over the fence for the deer to eat. I am hoping that next year I will be better able to harvest them for apples sauce and such. The pear tree is also producing well and I should be able to pick some of them soon.

It’s been a long three weeks but today I got rid of the last bit of fire debris. I took a load of old tires that were in and around the barn that burned down. I had options on how to dispose of the debris the cheapest was to bury it on my property the most expensive was to have it removed. The only place I had to bury it was down near the small creak that flows through my property. This is the area I hope to build a pond and while some folks told me this would not be a problem I did not believe them. It looked like it would create a big problem in the future not to mention my “earthy” side just could not do it. Burying it would be bad for the environment. The waste from that fire had to be bad for the water that was nearby. So I opted for the more expensive way, a way that was not in my budget but the only way I could live with, I had it removed. The person who cleaned it up Booth Creak excavating removed everything but the old tires, today I got rid of the tires and it really did not cost that much.

I took 23 tires to the Floyd recycling center. It cost me $1 per tire ($23), 2 hours of my time I feel I’m worth $20 hour ;-) ($40) and 2 gallons of gas (We will figure high $8) for a total of $71 of which just $31 was out of pocket. It does not cost much to do the little things that help our world so much.

This is not a political blog but…..

I am deeply disturbed with my fellow Democrats. I have had many conversations with people who like me voted for Clinton and are not real happy with Obama. More than one of these folks tell me they are not voting for Obama in fact many are not planning on voting at all. Here is my answer to that: If you don’t vote you are voting for McCain, If you vote based on race Obama is half white vote for his white half, vote for the candidate that offers you what you want.

Here is what I want:

I want a president that will help keep the county strong. I want my president to be willing to protect the US and its allies but not be quick to anger. My president must work to make the US a respectable country by being willing to listen to what the world has to say while at the same time paying attention to what his people are telling him they want. The president is not a king he is accountable to the people.

I want a president that promotes alternative energy and is environmentally friendly. My president needs to listen to the scientist that tell us that more drilling will not be a “cure for all” and that we need to put our money into real ways to make the US as energy independent as possible.

I want a president that will promote some type of universal health care in this country. I am so tired of seeing families lose everything they have because of health issues. I am tired of seeing emergency rooms used as primary care providers because people can’t afford to go to the doctor. I am tired of sick people not going to any doctor because they know they can’t pay for it. I’m in the medical profession; I know what I am talking about here.

And most importantly I want a president that will help keep the Supreme Court balanced. The next president has the potential of placing three new Supreme Court Justices.

Obama is young and somewhat inexperienced but I feel of the candidates we have to choose from now he is the one who will give me more of what I want.

There goes the metal!!!

Wow its September 1^st already my golly where has the time gone?

Things with me are going ok. They still have not started on the house, maybe tomorrow. I’m getting to the point where I will believe the house will be built when it happens. The barn debris has been cleaned up. Yeaaaaaa….. Tim Boone of Booth Creak Excavating finished the job today and it was very well done. While I did not intend to spend the money to clean that area at this time and the clean up will make things a little tight financially it does look a lot better. It should look real nice next summer. This spring maybe I can put a pond in that would look great, we shall see.

I haven’t heard from my brother, he and his wife live in Harvey La right outside of New Orleans. They went to my sisters in Pensacola fl to wait out the storm. I tried to call them today and as could be expected the message I got was that all the circuits were busy. I’ll try again tomorrow. We won’t know if everything is OK levee wise for a few days anyway. Now all eyes will turn to Hanna. Looks like it will be an east coast storm but if it stays on its projected path I’ll get more rain up here than my family on the North Carolina coast; oh boy

My brother and his wife live in Harvey La. just outside of New Orleans in Jefferson Parish. Katrina flooded their home 3 years ago and it has been less than two year's since they were able to move back into that house. New Orleans has been through many hurricanes and most likely will be just fine but the wound that is Katrina is still too fresh to allow its residents to relax. Every storm is going to have people asking : Is this the big one? Is this the one that wipes the crescent city from the map?

Yesterday was a good photo day as can be seen by the photos I have posted today. I could not post them yesterday because I only have a dial up internet connection and it would have taken hours to down load.

My contractor is suppose to break ground on the cabin today but we will see. X-tropical storm Fay is threatening to drop some much needed rain all this week so I won’t be surprised if nothing happens this week. I’ll be disappointed but not surprised. The guy who is going to clean up the fire mess said he will be here rain or shine Wednesday so something should get done around here this week!!

Oh another week has just flown by and as I sit here I can’t think of all that much that has happened. Oh yea I did take a quick trip back to the beach. I left on Monday and was back Wednesday night. I needed to get my certificates so I can prove I can do what I can do and get a job and they were at the beach so the dogs and I took a trip. All I can say is I miss my family and friends but I do not miss the beach, not this time of year!! (To those of you I did not see in town sorry... the next time I will be there for a week and I will definitely hook up with you) I did not tell many people that I was heading down that way because to be honest I did not want folks to know that I was away. The fire debris is still there and I fence is still down and to be quite frank I don’t want my other barn burned down so I stayed mum on the subject.

I did have a good time visiting with my family and a few friends but the traffic was horrible. I was almost hit twice by the same car. This person was what we called a wanker. The first time she almost hit me she was riding in the left lane with her left signal on when she decided that she really needed to turn right so she cut right in front of me I’m telling you she looked me right in the eye and did not even mouth sorry. That woman missed me by inches. I pulled in to the bank did my business and got back on the road. Now I went into the left lane because I was going to be turning left went down the road a little ways when this same woman whooshed in front of me and stopped halfway in my lane and the turn lane. Luckily there was no one to my right so I was able to cut around her but the guy behind me had to screech to a halt. God I hate the Outer Banks in the summer. Give me the spring and fall, that’s the time to go!!

While the dogs and I were away I put the cat in a kennel and she came home a changed kitty. This cat has never been affectionate. She was separated from her mother before she was fully weaned and they say that when this happens the cats are less social. She does seem to like the company of dogs and I but she never seemed to like to be petted. She not the kind of cat that would lie in a ball in your lap enjoying a pat: she would rather nip you but after 4 days in the kennel she has become almost too affectionate! She still won’t get on my lap but she curls up in a ball right next to me on the bench and when I go some where she is very voicetress when I get home. She seems almost to be saying “why did you leave me? You can’t do that! You can’t leave me!!!” Cats….

It’s nice to be back in Willis. You can’t beat the weather and aside from the arsonist the folks around hear are a lot like the folks on the Banks in the winter very nice. I’m working on my work applications and I hope to get them out buy Tuesday. I’m just looking for part time employment; with the construction of the cabin starting soon I want to be available as much as possible but it will be nice to have some inward cash flow even if it’s just a little bit

Well time is passing quickly tomorrow is one week since the barn fire and things are for the most part unchanged. It looks like the fire was set and the scuttle butt is that we have a piro around here who has set fire to quite a few buildings in the past few years. If what is said is true this person or persons is good at covering their foot prints. Well such is life, its discouraging that there are people like that around and I’m not happy that I will have to take measures I did not plan on taking to make my property less inviting. As Mr. Burns would say close the gate and "send out the hounds”.

Other than the fire things have been good. I made the first draw payment on the cabin. My builder hopes to start next week. I can’t wait!!! I had some trees removed and I am very happy with David Zemmer of DZ Tree Removal. There will be much to keep me busy this year. Does any one know what kind of splitter I should get? There is a LOT of wood to split. I don’t have any wood for this year but I’m probably set for the next few years after that.

The roses are doing well in the raised beds I made for them. I will most likely lose at least one of them but at least I tried. The bougainvilleas are not happy. Next year they will most likely have to stay inside better yet I should build a small green house for them. I know it seems foolish to worry over a plant but I have had one of the bougainvillea longer than I have had 2 of my 3 kids and the person who had it before me had it for quit a while; something that like that is worth a little extra work.

For the most part it has been a nice few months. I have never taken this much time off from work but it was worth it. Unfortunately the bank account is down low and end of summer is coming so that means its time to look for a job, besides I’m ready to get back in the swing of things and meet more people. Its going to be hard to go back to work. I will miss coming and going as I please, sitting on my “porch” with lap top in hand listening to good music as I alternate between just looking at the things around me and pounding on the keys writing aimlessly about nothing all that important..

This morning my dogs woke me up and for good reasons my lower barn was on fire. I’m a little loss for words at this time but I want to thank the Floyd county fire department for there help.

Well another week has gone by and for me it has been a good one punctuated by a great Saturday. Today a friend and I went out to check on wood stoves but after finding out that the store we were going to visit was not open on Saturday we decided to see what we could find in Floyd. We spent the day checking out the shops. We found some wood stoves at the Farmers Supply on Main Street that gave me something to think about. We went to the Jacksonville Center and looked at what the artist had to offer. On the second floor they had an art gallery and a room where they exhibited quilts. I found the Star Trek quilt very interesting. We then checked out a few of the antique shops in town and then went El Charro Mexican restraint for lunch. The food and atmosphere were very good but the service was a little lacking. I will give the service a little leeway this time because they were busy and did not seem to have a lot of help. After lunch we checked out the shops that were in the same building as the restaurant. In one shop that sells variety of local artist’s work we met one of the artist Gretchen St Lawrence. She gave us a history of how the art shop came to be and told us a little bit about her life. Be sure and check out her website she has some nice art work posted.

After all this eating, talking and walking we decided it was time to head on home. The weather for the day had been great, neither of us was hot or cold, it was like the baby bears porridge, to Goldilocks, just right. In fact it was so nice that when I got home I put the top down on the Jeep so that I could enjoy an open air evening ride to and from church. I’m ending the day listening to “The Thistle and Shamrock” (Irish music) on NPR. Some times it’s great to be alive!!

I’m in heaven today, cool temperatures very little humidity and lots of sun is what greeted me this morning. Last night the Buffalo was surrounded by fluffy pink clouds and as I was taking in the view the old saying “Red sky at night sailor’s delight” popped into my head along with the wish that today would be fair. That wish has been fulfilled.

Things are moving along on the cabin. I went to check out windows and doors and have talked to the cabinet man. Hopefully the foundation will be down by the end of the month and the cabin dried in by the end of September. I have been told that the cabin should be ready for me to move in to by November but I’m hoping I'm in by the first of the year. November is doable the house is only 720sf but………

Well I’m off to clean and organize the shed; my project for today.

Over the past month I have had a bit of work done on my property but I really have not done anything myself so to get my hands dirty I have started building raised beds for my roses. I brought the roses from my home on the Outer Banks and I am hoping they make it up here. Each of the rose bushes has a meaning to me most were given to me by someone close and it would be very sad for me if any of them did not make it through the winter but any time a plant is moved there is the chance that the plant won’t make it. We shall see what the spring brings.

The swing bench in the foreground is one of my favorite rest areas. In the early morning and late evening I enjoy sitting and just looking at the view. At night it’s a great place to look at the stars. The heavens here are so different from the Beach. There seems to be so many more stars. Last night I saw a few shooting stars and I hope to see a lot more, the Perseids meteor showers appear in August.

The boy and girl in a hay field, run Trip run

Well I have been here 4 weeks now and things have been good. I will say in all honesty that I am a little lonely I miss my family very much but the animals and I have settled in nicely. This past week I settled on a builder and if all goes well they should start on the house by the end of August and it hopefully it will be done by November. The house is going to be a log home and quite small about 700sf but it is in my budget and it should be very comfortable.

Living in the mountains is a bit different than living on the beach. I have acclimated very quickly to the temperature, this morning when I woke up I was hot, the temperature in the camper was 70 degrees and I was very uncomfortable. I very much like the upper 50’s and 60’s. The hilly ground has caused my glutes (butt) to hurt. Walking on uneven ground uses muscles differently than on flat land, I expected my leg muscles to feel the burn but not the glutes. It’s a lot dryer here which is nice for me but it has been hard on my girl dog. I had to take her to the vet, it seems she has environmental allergies and the dry air has caused her to have dry skin, so now she is on a steroid, an antibiotic and an eye ointment she will be starting on fish oil tomorrow. The girl dog has also developed an attraction for wild animal poo. She has had more baths this past 4 weeks than she normally has all summer. The boy dog is doing just fine he does like to sit on the hill side and howl but.. if he’s happy. The cat is keeping busy being a cat.

I will be heading to PA the end of this week for the yearly friends and family party at my cousin’s house. It should be fun.

Well I have been here in Willis for a little over 2 weeks now and I think I have finally settled in. now admittedly living in a 19ft camper makes it hard to really settle in but the things that make a house a home are here for me. I have a bed & bath, a place to eat, a DVD player and a Wii. the dogs and cat have settled nicely. trip the girl dog is loving the 4 1/2 acer yard so much that I had to increase the amount of food I feed her. She seems a little disappointed over the fence I had installed this past week by Tracy Blevins of Beaver Creek Fencing but I love it. gravel was delivered this past week boy does that help keep the mud down, of course I did not mention that I needed it spread so I will have to drive the Jeep because the Nissan cant get through the rock. Shortts Excvating are the folks I had deliver the rock and they are going to send some one to spread it as soon as possible. They are also the ones who cleared the building site and I think they do great work. Still working on getting a house built, ... it will happen.

I'm heading back to the beach tomorrow to pick up a load of stuff. Its a quick trip down and back. My #3 son want's to come up. He will follow me up and then drive back to the beach by himself.

great view except for the mud

Paradise comes with a price which in my case is mud and lots of it. Mud is something I have had very little experience with in the past 27 years but in the last week I have had more than I want. Other than the mud and the mess the that comes from it I am very happy to be here. the weather is great and I am enjoying daily walks and visiting friends. Friday after going to a friends house for a cook out I went to my first July 4th celebration in Floyd and had a great time.

This next week I will be working on getting a house built. I think this will prove to be quite a task, we shall see what is to come....

Well I’m here in the mountains and I must say the beginning of this adventure has been an adventure. My house at the beach closed last Friday as scheduled and believe me I hope I never sell another home. I was a wreck. What were the appraiser, inspector and surveyor going to say? What unreasonable requests/demands were the buyers going to make? How am I going to pack the house in 30 days and where am I going to put all the stuff? Well I did it and it has taken me 3 days to recover from the move.

All my sons helped me prepare for the move but #3 son was the only one who could help me move. He drove my car, the car that was wrecked in May up while I drove the Jeep pulling a fully loaded trailer. We got up here Friday night right after a storm so we were welcomed by a beautiful mist covered mountain view and red mud. Mud, 2 dogs, a cat a fully loaded trailer and two very tired people make for a very messy 19ft camper, my home for a while.

We had to head back to the beach Saturday morning because my son had to be at work Sunday. So we got up early and braved the Saturday traffic to the beach. It only took about 15minutes to get over the bridge to the beach, a 5 minute trip normally and while traffic was heavy it was steady. My son helped me load the trailer I then took him to his dads house so he could go on line and load my Wii with some games (I’m a Mario & Zelda girl) I then headed to the other storage room to finish filling up the trailer. With the trailer full I went to #2 sons house took a shower, went to the kids dads house collected my Wii and headed back to the mountains. How convenient that #1 son was in a sailboat race and #2 son was helping a friend in a surf competition when I need brute strength for a move.

I was surprised how depressing the trip back was. It was on that trip that the move and all that it entails hit me. I have left my home of 27 years, my family and friends and am moving to a place that I have only visited. Tears welled up and WHAT HAVE I DONE screamed in my head. I was stressed and tired, the weather sucked and everything was a mess my out look was grim.

Sunday was not much better. I had gotten back to the mountains at 2am and was up by 7am. A look at the sky was all I needed to see that rain was again on the way so I quickly unpacked the trailer and headed to Galax for a phone jack and groceries. By the time I got back to the camper, put everything away and connected my phone the rain came and I exhausted and again close to tears decided to take a short nap. It was 4pm and I just wanted a 20minute rest. When I woke up at 8pm I felt better. Fixed some dinner played some games and went back to bed around 11pm.

Monday was a much better day. The day started clear and bright, I had slept well for the first time in weeks and with out the use of Ambien. It is amazing how much better the world looks after a good night sleep. I went to a friend’s house and did a few loads of laundry came back to the camper and enjoyed the afternoon rain.

Today is starting out beautifully. The temperature is cool the air is crisp and view is great. I have no doubt that I will miss my family and friends and yes even the beach from time to time but I also do not doubt that this is the right move for me. I don’t know if I will be here forever but today I am glad to be here.

Well its less than 12 hours until my house closing and I am bushed. Above is a photo I took this morning. My last sunrise on the Atlantic for a little while. I stayed talking for about an hour to a tourist I guess starting tomorrow I'll be a tourist also. Well I'm off to bed tomorrow comes early.

It is less than 2 weeks from the closing date on the house sale and boy do I feel over whelmed. I have been in this house for almost 10 years and have accumulated a lot of stuff. I have had to rent two storage units to hold my things. I have gotten rid of a ton of stuff but just cant let some of my momentous go. Many years ago I heard a George Carlin skit that dealt with the American need to collect stuff and as I look at my different piles, the keep pile the sell pile and the toss pile I have to smile just a little because he was right; stuff does start to add up.

One of the hardest things for me in this move is leaving my kids. as aggravating as they might be I do enjoy their company so #3 son and I set up a web cam. its not as good a being there but it is nice to see their faces and talk real time. It kinda has a Jetsons feel to it.

Today is graduation day!!! Son #3 is graduating from high school I am sooo proud of him. I just can’t say that enough! Tonight is his night the whole family is going to celebrate his success with what else; food family and friends!!

He plans on going to collage and getting a degree in computer engineering. He really wants to write gaming programs but right or wrong I have convinced him that a degree in engineering would be a good fall back.

I know I have said this before but I love this time of year on the Outer Banks. I spent the whole morning in the yard tending my plants. One thing I will sorely miss in the mountains is the early growing season. I picked my first batch of green beans and tomatoes are growing on the plants I have in hanging baskets.

Yesterday was the home inspection. The inspector was here for 3 hours. I was at work and to tell you the truth I did not want to be here. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this house but I have heard horror stories of inspectors finding things wrong that cost thousands of dollars to fix. I guess that’s why people hire them. I know I would not buy a house with out an inspection!!

Cheese and crackers my stomach cant take much more of this!!!

We had a great Memorial Day here on the Outer Banks. You could not have asked for better weather it was the best. The traffic was horrible but what do you expect.

Things for me are moving right along. I have a contract on the house of course there are a bunch of contingencies so anything can happen. I’m going to putts along doing a little packing here and there until after the home inspection I think the last two weeks are going to be killer but what ever; I’m looking forward to starting a new chapter in my life.

#3 son graduates from hight school June 6^th I’m so proud of him I could just bust !!!!

Well it happened a lot sooner than I thought it would but my house has sold; now the ink is barely dry and there still has to be a house inspection and all the other stuff that goes into buying a house but baring any unforeseen happenings I will be moving “for good” the end of June.

How strange; I’m a little scared but very excited. I know I will miss my family and friends and my god this has been my home for 27 years but I am…. happy.

Whoh!! Stop this train and let me off!! I can’t believe it’s the middle of May already! I have been getting ready to move to the mountains for at lest the summer. I had my land up there cleared a bit more and my camper moved back to the building site. Yep I’m going to spend the summer (8 weeks) in camper with at least 1 dog and a cat. I am planning on taking a travel nursing job. It’s a way for me to afford having 2 residences. The paper work for that job is unreal and I had to get 3 shots and have some lab work done. It will be worth it I know it!!

While I was up there last weekend my #3 son was in another auto accident. Seems a lady talking on her cell phone did not notice her light had turned red and smashed into my son, the car was totaled. He had minor injuries and I think he will be OK but now I have to deal with the insurance company. Today the boy and I are going on an all day mystery tour in search of a car. Yippy kiya!

What more could happen in my already confusing and complicated world… the house could sell. There is a nibble. It would be a good thing but right now it would also be a head ache.

Things here on the Outer Banks could not be better. The weather has been to die for. #2 son says the surf has been great. My #1 son is away right now he is on the ground crew for one of the boats in the Tybee 500 catamaran sail boat race and is loving life.

Well gotta go. Looks like its going to be a good weekend.

Spring in Willis with freshly stocked streams, apple blossoms and cool fresh air

I just got back from the Virginia mountains. Spent 4 days up there while a big "hole" was dug on my land where the new house is going to be some day. Its a real shocker to see a beautiful piece of real estate get a gash taken out of it but I did not want to build on the ridge line so I had to clear from the hill side. If all goes according to plan the top of the roof will sit under the ridge line and hopefully blend in. We shall see, after all "the best laid plans of mice and men" don't always go as planed.

Weather up there and here at the beach has been a bit wet. I keep saying that we need the rain but I also need to get rid of the ants in my front yard and that will take a dry, calm day.

It has been so long since I last wrote in my blog. The past month has gone by so fast and I can’t really even say what I have been up to. I listed my house with a realtor the first of April and have been trying to keep it really clean that stops now, I’m over house work. My hat goes off to those people who can keep their house looking like a “Better Homes and Garden” magazine spread I’m not worrying about it any more all I’m going to do is try and keep the dog hair under control and make the beds. I’ll clean the bathrooms on the days the house shows!!

The yard and garden are both pretty looking good. I’m having some problems with ants, it seems they want to take over my front yard but I’m taking care of that hea hea hea. I planted green beans and they are up. I put some tomatoes and a few green pepper plants in yesterday. The flowers I transplanted last fall from a friends garden are doing well. We have had beneficial rain so all the world out side my window is green. As I sit writing this I see robins and finches in the trees their songs a pleasure to my ears. I love this time of year on the Outer Banks.

I was in Fort Myers Beach Florida last week. I spent my time there just really relaxing. Other than occasionally going out for a meal all I did was walk to the bay in the morning the ocean in the evening, ride my bike and kayak. The company was great I stayed at a friend’s beach house. She stays in the apartment under the house and lets friends and family have the up stairs. Who could ask for more?; a nice place to stay good friends to visit with and privacy.

I’m heading up to the mountains this weekend the excavator is coming and hopefully the land will be cleared and the septic will be put in. This moving to the mountains is going to take a little longer than I had hoped but It will happen.

Spring is happening on the Outer Banks. With every breeze this oak loses more of last years leaves, a sure sign of the spring to come. In the next week or so this tree will be full of buds and by next month it will be covered in light green new growth.

My niece and her kids came down for the day. the weather here on the island was warm with what seemed like light winds so we went on over to the beach. Well it was quite a bit cooler and much windier but the kids had a great time .

Next weekend is Easter and the beginning of the summer season. Easter comes very early this year and for the first time I see businesses that are not opening for Easter. I cant blame them; things slow right back down after the Easter week, weekends tend to stay good as long as the weather is good. Traffic seems to have picked up a little and since houses are not selling and construction is way down a lot of folks are looking forward to the traffic and hoping for a good season.

I am so over this! Last month I went to Las Vegas and while I was there I saw “Menopause the Musical” and one of the main themes was hot flashes. Well folks ever since I have been home I have been flashing. We are not talking little personal summers, these are events where people look at me rise an eye brow or two and say “you seem to be a little red in the face”. It is said god is a fair and just being but from my point of view as a woman I don’t think so! The sex hormone god gave women causes them endure a “monthly visitor”, child birth and menopause. Men on the other hand get a hairy body(that they are not expected to shave), a deep voice and a desire to play paint ball…… Oh.. I forgot when they get older they also get an enlarged prostate that restricts the flow of pee….. never mind I’ll keep the hot flashes.

I took a quick trip up to the mountains this week. I Left my house here on the beach at 5am Thursday so that I could meet with a few excavators that afternoon. The meetings went too well; now I have to choose between two very nice and capable men. I think I will be going with the one with the bigger equipment. I have some rock that has to be moved and he can do it one way or the other. The other guy is “almost” sure he can do it and unfortunately I can’t afford to “try and see”. My gut says he can do it my pocket book says don’t take the chance I can’t afford to pay twice.

While I was up there I took a ride into Floyd and took care of some other “house” business and then went on ahead and introduced myself to Doug Thompson of http://www.blueridgemuse.com/. I have been visiting his blog for a few years now. He has a photo shop and show room in the Village Green in down town Floyd. Mr. Thompson is a very nice soft spoken man not at all as scary as his writing makes him seem be. He has an obvious love for his wife Amy and her work; she is also a photographer. He seems to appreciate the other photographers and artist in the area giving me the names and shop locations of a few of them. I will be sure to check them out next time I’m in town.

I left for home this morning (Friday) at around 6:30am. I have so much to do here that I had to come home. Of course the weather here on the beach has been just great. I hope it holds up for the “Kelly’s St Patrick’s day parade” this Sunday. It’s the largest St. Patrick’s parade in North Carolina and it happens rain or shine the Sunday before St Patrick’s Day every year. A few folks I know will be enjoying a picnic while they watch the parade. Around here its just as much fun to watch the spectators as it is to watch the participants. This is one of those bring the kids, bring the dogs, come as you are or get dressed up kind of events. This is a good site for up coming Outer Banks events http://www.outerbanks.org/

I let the dogs sleep on my bed last night, something I seldom ever do, but I have been neglecting them as of late so I acquiesced to their whines and let them on the bed. It was a fitful night, I’m not use to sharing my bed, which convinced me that if I am ever fortunate enough to find the perfect man I’m gonna have to get a bigger bed.

This morning I also woke up to the first day of daylight savings time, an interesting twist on time suggested by Ben Franklin in the 1700's and first introduced to the American people in 1918 as a way to increase leisure time and maybe save a little energy. I had not reset the clocks last night so this morning I have been quietly turning clocks ahead. Some of the energy stealing gadgets I have, you know the ones with the little green lights that are always on using a trickle of power all the time, had already changed their time. I know I should unplug or at least connect all these devises to power strips that can be easily turned off but the DVD recorder has to be reprogrammed every time it’s unplugged and I’ve gotten use to the convenience of just picking up a remote and just turning one of the gadgets on from any where in the room, in other words I’m lazy. With the ever increasing cost of energy I need to get un-lazy; I’ll put that on my list.

Another thing I woke up to today was a change in the weather. We have had GREAT weather here on the Banks. Mild temperatures and just the right amount of rain, I had to cut my grass last week and will need to cut it again soon. Yesterday nature let us know that a change was in the air. We had torrential rain followed by a fierce wind and sound side flooding. This morning the wind has let down a bit but the temperature has dropped. I don’t think I will be outside much today. It is only beginning March and this change in weather happens every year. That slap in the face by nature that says "get real it’s not spring yet! Did you not listen to that Pennsylvania ground hog? You have a ways to go before spring!" When I let the dogs out this morning all I could say was burrrr.

Well time to go. I don’t know what I’m gonna do today but I gotta go do it.

There was a little problem starting the plane then...... a little problem landing but we got home safe!

The Grand Canon from the Colorado River

Ok I like Star Trek...... alot

Mom & Elvis

I don’t know where this month has gone. In less than 15 minutes from now it will be March 1^st. It has been a busy February for me. Most of it has been spent getting my house ready to sell. I put a FSBO sign on the front lawn on the 23^rd.

I did get away this month to Las Vegas and I must say that I had a pretty good time. My mother, sister-n-law and I went together. My sister-n-law and I went the Grand Canon on one of the tours that let you fly in on a plane, take a helicopter down to the bottom and then take a short boat trip along the Colorado river. I had a blast. The day would have been perfect if it had not been for the “precautionary landing” we made on the way back to Vegas. We were not sure if the landing gear was down and locked. Oops. Of course while I was in Vegas I could not resist getting my picture taken with a Klingon at the Star Trek Experience and mom got her photo taken with Elvis.

Well gotta go the house is going to be shown tomorrow and I have been cleaning all day. I’m beat and want to say hi to my bed

Folks its February 6^th, 8:00 in the morning and I am wearing a tank top, shorts and flip flops. It is 65 degrees out side right now and it is forecast to reach 73 degrees today. Yesterday we broke the record with 72 degrees. I don’t like being hot but I have been able to get a lot of yard work done and that’s a good thing.

My boys have been enjoying the surf, #2 son was out early yesterday and has gone out again today. Wet suite or not you would not get me out in the ocean in February but those surf Nazis will go out anytime the weather and surf are good.

Tomorrow we will be back to seasonable weather with temperatures in the 50’s.

Well back to work

According to Punxsutawney Phil, we have 6 more weeks of winter you would not guess that by todays weather. Here on the Banks we have warm clear weather with no wind. I must say I have a touch of spring fever.
This fever is complicated by the seed catalogs I have been getting. If I play it right I should have a nice log harvest. I plan on planting most of my stuff in pots that way the plants will get an early start on the Outer Banks and then mature in the mountains.

Gotta get ready for work. The bet makers at work are laying odds that we start out slow tonight; a lot of folks will be watching the super bowl but when the game is over we will pick up. I hoping its steady tonight we have been too busy as of late; this is the Outer Banks and we are suppose to be slow in the winter!

Took a quick walk on the beach what a nice day

This guy's owner was most likely shopping so it seems like fido took this opportunity to take a nap on a nice warm tool box. Cant say as I blame him.

I was scheduled to work 1pm to 1am today but got a call from work asking me to come in at 6pm instead well I had no problem with that and decided to get some of the running around I intended to do tomorrow done today. I’m glad I was called off because it is a beautiful day here on the Outer Banks. We are experiencing a touch of Indian summer. From the look of it this morning I thought the day was going to be a washout but right now we have Carolina blue skies, gentle winds and warm temperatures. I hope its this way tomorrow and Friday.

I have spent the past week getting work done around my house and have made a few observations.

· If a contractor says it will take a “few” days to complete a job it will take at least a week.

· Budgets are just goals and the likelihood of a project coming at or below the budget is about as good as the likelihood that man will be on Mars next week.

· If you think you have it all figured out you don’t; there is always something you missed

The house is looking good but boy will I be glad when I’m done, of course then the really hard part starts trying to sell it.

Saw a few good articles on organ transplants. Doctors report transplant breakthrough - Yahoo! News Australian girl switches blood type after liver transplant: doctors - Yahoo! News What a wonderful time we live in when we have such things to help us live longer and better. Be a donor you don’t need the organs when you are gone.

Oh wow how time has gone by. January is more that half over and I’m three days into my 49^th year, my year of change. This is the year I move to the mountains. My youngest son will graduate from high school and I will be free. I love my boys but I'm ready for a change.

I have been working hard to get my house ready to sell. I did not think there was that much to do just paining and minor repairs but prepping for painting and fixing minor repairs takes a lot of time. I have also come to the conclusion that whether I like to admit it or not I am a pack rat. I have taken at least four loads of stuff to our local charity thrift shops and I have more to go.

The house is looking nice, inside the painting and minor repairs are almost done and the new carpet will be put down in about 3 weeks. I worked in the yard this past few days while the painter did his thing inside, you know for "curb appeal"; good thing I did because it looks like the weather is not going to be favorable for yard work this next week. We have been getting some good rains as of late; tonight we may even get a touch of snow….. well “they” say we have a chance of snow I don’t think its going to happen if it does I’ll post photos.

I found this web site The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard on Fragments From Floyd it is a very interesting story it take about 20 minutes of your time but I feel it is worth it.

I stayed up late tonight because I wanted to see who won the New Hampshire primaries (and watch “The” I mean “A Daily Show” & “The Colbert Report”). Now I’m not going to say who I am rooting for but I do want change (every candidate both republican and democrat are touting that word) and I vote but after hearing that only a little over 10% of the Iowa voters went to the caucus’s it made me wonder how many people in the US vote. According to this web site http://www.accuratedemocracy.com/d_datac.htm only about 50% of eligible US voters vote.

I love my country but I’m not happy with the direction its leaders are taking it and with my vote and my voice I am letting them know how I feel. I know that my one voice means little but then just one cicada isn’t all that bad but every 17 years when they all lift their voice you can’t help but hear them. We Americans have an opportunity every 2 years to let our voices be heard, we can choose to be quiet or we can let our elected officials know how we want to be lead. Folks get off your butts and vote.

Some other sites that give world wide voting stats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout

http://www.idea.int/vt/survey/voter_turnout_pop2.cfm

This site tells you how to get up with your congressmen and what they are voting on

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

New Years sunrise 2008

Sunrise January 1, 2008
Kill Devil Hills NC

Happy New Years