Well it’s been an uneventful couple of weeks for me here on the Outer Banks. Weather has been cool to cold but the winds have been light and for me it’s the winds that make the cold hard to take. Sunrises and sunsets have been very pretty check out this site OBX Connection - Weblog he take's a daily trip to the beach and almost always has a sunrise shot, what I miss is the pounding of the waves on the shore there just has not been much of that this year

Things at home have been same old, same old. The boys have been doing fine; me I’ve been working quite a bit but that has started to slack off, thank god! I have also been, I’m sorry to say, wasting a lot of time on a Zelda game. I’m not as good at the puzzles as I use to be but damn it I will finish the game and I’m not going to use the cheats (much). In between work, the Zelda game and moms cat (from Colington to Manteo every day to give a cat a pill oh joy joy) I have been working on learning how to use 3D design software. I going to be building a small home up in the mountains with in the next 18 months and I have my floor plan the way I want it but I would like to have a 3D walkthrough just to have an ideal of how it will “look” & “feel”, so I found a free 3D program Artifice DesignWorkshop Lite and I’m trying it out. Now I bet there are some more user friendly programs out there but this is free and what else do I have to do, its winter. This will open my minds learning center’s a little. So far it’s not been all that hard but it has taken me a BIT longer to get through the tutorials. The brain has not had to work on this kind of stuff in quite a while but it is nice to use the computer for something creative, something other than surfing the net and as a photo and music storage device. Well its off to the 3D tutorial!

Well a lot can change in a day. Gas went up 15 cents a gallon, the temperature went up almost 20 degrees and I was FORCED to change over to the NEW blogger. Oh well . I think I will go back to working on my taxes. I took a break from them to relax on the computer and found I had to open another NEW account just to access my blog. Now I know I should not complain after all I don't pay anything to use this service but damn it I was perfectly happy with the way things were!!

One week ago we had a dusting of snow and the coldest temperatures of the season

You can’t tell from these photos but today is even colder and unlike last week there is no warm weather reprieve coming tomorrow.

Brrrrrrr rabbit!

Speaking of rabbits (guinea pigs & mice) what was my favorite super bowel moment last night? http://www.ifilm.com/video/2819648

• It’s been awhile since I have written but my goodness it has been a busy January and with the weather we have had no need to stay inside. We finally have a touch of winter on the Outer Banks. It’s a little bit cool but the wind is staying low and the sunshine is out so it doesn’t feel bad. I have had spring fever as of late. I went out and bought herb seed I’ll plant then in a few weeks, ah fresh basil.
  

• My boys and I aren’t big sports fans. I follow the Worlds Series and keep the TV on for the Super Bowl but I could not tell you the names of any of the players or any of the game stats still from time to time like to watch a game. I like to see form and order made from what appears to be chaos. The speed and accuracy that ball players can throw a baseball or a football is amazing. Even though I don’t follow any sport I feel that sports can teach young people a lot about life and I always encouraged my sons to participate. I loved watching my older boys play baseball and soccer but these are team sports and unlike my older boys my youngest had no interest what so ever in any team sport and believe me I tried all that were available in the area. My last option for him was the martial arts. Dare County offered TaeKwonDo at the rec-center so I asked him to try it out that was 3 years ago; this week he went to his first competition. He had been unwilling to attend a competition in the past, there are two a year, but I think he will be one of the first to sign up the next time. He had a blast and I must say I was impressed. There was a lot of power at that competition I saw a 12 year old female black belt that I would not want mad at me. The kids ages 3 to 17 were in total control of themselves while having a blast. There were adults competing and they were impressive but it is something to see a kid do the things these kids can do.

I can’t believe it’s the 14^th of January already. Here on the outer banks we like most of the eastern United States are in the mist of a very mild winter. Working in the yard the other day I noticed that some of my bulbs had started to grow. I commented to one of the guys at work that the ocean was very flat this year and he told me el-ninio was to blame “elninio brings warm weather but it also makes for no waves and no snow so that means no surfing and no snow boarding at least within driving range from here.”

Time has flown this past two weeks. January 3^rd saw the addition of a bouncing baby boy to the family. My niece and her husband had a son so I spent a little time with them. This good weather has brought out the “gotta do yard work” side of me so I’ve been out side a bit. Work has been steady all this good weather has brought a lot of folks to the Outer Banks. But I have definitely wasted a bit of time this past 2 weeks you see my #3 son bought a new Zelda game and I’m addicted to it.

I don’t usually play video games because if I get into one I find it hard to put it down until I finish the game. I have always had an affection for the Zelda games, and the Sonic games and the Mario games and the Jak and Daxter games…… oh well I like cartoons, speed and puzzles so shoot me, anyway these games are my weakness but if it were a normal winter sitting under a lap blanket with a controller (wireless yea!) would not be all that bad after all who wants to go outside in 40 degree temps with cloudy sky’s and 30 mph NE winds. Under those circumstances there is no guilt to playing the games but when the winds are calm, sky is clear and temperatures are nearing 70 sitting in a chair playing games for hours on end is not good. Oh well, today I am going to get the basement cleaned, rake the side yard and do a few loads of laundry then I know it will be back to Zelda but hay its winter right!

Sunrise New Years Day 2006
Kill Devil Hills NC

Happy New Year
YouTube - sunrise 01-01-07 Kill Devil Hills NC

In with new out with the old, Happy New Year

The first of the year is a time when tradition says one should reflect on the year past and prepare for the year ahead. The nice thing about a blogg or any type of journal is that they provide a glimpse of how the writer felt and maybe what was important to the writer right then and there at that time not later after other opinions and views are introduced that may sway the writer in a different direction. I keep two “journals” one is my blogg the other is my day calendar. The blogg is less personal than the calendar and I keep it as positive as possible. The very nature of a blogg is to be open to all. Any who want to read it can, so to me the most personal of things are not voiced there. The calendar on the other hand list’s when I worked, doctor appointments, accidents, deaths, visits and vacations. It is where I staple movie stubs and right little cryptic notes to myself. I can review what gifts I gave to whom and what was given to me (I would not want to re-gift to the wrong person;-)) I like looking back in my calendars, I have a box full of them, I find old letters and photos in them. They are my diaries. My blogg is a diary of sorts I also I review it from time to time, looking back on what I have written noticing the spelling and grammar mistakes cringing sometimes at what I said but I don’t change anything. I like the photos I share on the blogg. I like trying to express to others what it is like to live where I am and how I feel. The difference is that you can’t touch the blogg. You can’t look at the hand writing and tell what emotion was being felt at the time it was written. Bloggs are great things but the hand written word is much more expressive.

After reviewing the above calendar and blogg I can see that this past year, except for a one very major tragedy, has been the same as most. I have had a quiet year, kinda, my main focus being getting my youngest son through the next year and a half of school and preparing for my relocation to the mountains. My family is the most important thing to me and except for my youngest sister things are good. My boys are healthy, my mom well she’s my mom; as aggravating as ever. My brother and his wife who live outside New Orleans are back in their home. My niece and her family were relocated to Norfolk so I have had the absolute privilege of getting to really know her and her family, not just know about them. This move has also allowed my niece’s mother, my older sister, and I to have something more in common to talk about and may bring us closer together.

I have to say that I have been lucky this past year. I have a job, a home and good health. I have not agreed with the way the world is going and I am not happy with the political environment. The wars invoked in the name of “good”, “god” and “democracy” angers me. Global warming worries me. I do not watch the news because it is so negative. To me this is a dark time BUT I see hope for the future. We are a resilient species. We will progress beyond this weather we want to or not. Either human will and the use of technology or natures wrath will cause the species to switch directions and become more planet friendly. I believe in humanity. I believe we are all family and there is nothing more important to me than family. I believe the future hold much for us all.

For me personally I am hoping for another “normal” uneventful year. I hope my work stays steady. I hope my garden does better this year. I hope I can get up to the mountains a few times and maybe make it to the family reunion (it’s an Irish theme this year). I hope my boys stay well and that my #2 son is able to move out (again). A normal mundane life is fine with me.

Happy New Year

As I sit here with stopped up ears and a stuffy nose, going through my third box of Puffs, unable to do more than 15 minutes of work at a time and totally bored out of my skin, I have been reading the news and surfing the internet. Today I found this interesting article about people realizing how wide open personal information on the net can be. Some rethink posting of private info - Yahoo! News I will be emailing it to my kids

Well I’m off to disinfect everything I have touched. My #3 son is back at my house today and I don’t want him to get what I have. This is ridiculous. I’m in the medical field and my immune system is supposed to be top notch. I hate colds!!! (Just a little venting)

It’s the day after Christmas and I’m feeling the effects of the kid that cough and sneezed all over me last week. I have spent the dayjust watching TV and thinking that when I feel better I’m going to diet and exercise BUT! I think I have changed my mind. While I was watching Paula Poundstone it occurred to me that today, the day after Christmas and 6 days from the new year, that just about EVERY commercial is a about weight loss. Normally commercials are not the big of a deal to me I don’t watch that much TV but I’m not feeling well today; My head is way too stuffy to read and I just don’t feel like getting into a movie so I’m channel surfing and these commercials are sooo bothersome to me that I think I’m not going to diet. Right now I think I will keep these ten pounds I have gained and buy bigger pants. There have been no paints commercials at all today. Now I may change my mind about the ten pounds tomorrow but today, at this very moment in time, diets be dammed I’m buying new paints.

I was watching one of my favorite Christmas shows NL "Christmas Vacation". I just love the animated intro so I went looking for it on the net. No luck finding it but I did find these sites that I thought were cute

YouTube - Christmas Vacation

YouTube - x-mas lights

YouTube - Next Door Xmas Vacation 2004

Well here it is Christmas Eve 2007. I have been up since 4am baking but even though that seems early it really wasn’t you see I crashed last night sometime between 8 and 8:30pm. I worked a lot this week and those 12 hour shifts take a toll especially when I don’t sleep like I should.

I had planed on going by the Poulos place last night; they are the family that won NBC’s "Al be home for Christmas” house last year but I only took a short nap yesterday after work, I then did a little house work, went to see “Night at the Museum” (not as good as I had hoped but I liked it and will buy it when it comes out in DVD) and then went with my son as he did a little last minute shopping by 7pm I could hardly move And I don’t remember much after 8pm.

My schedule is light today a little precooking for tomorrow and some gift wrapping. I hope to ride around and look at the lights and I will make it to the Poulos house; they go all out every year. Good people.

Well to all who read this I hope you are able to take a breather today, be safe and:

Merry Christmas

* “What do you want for Christmas mom?”

“I would like 48 feet of 2 by 8 pressure treated lumber and some large bags of Miracle Grow potting soil”

The boy’s face goes blank, an eye brow goes up then the forehead furrows and he says “what?”

I have had this same conversation with all three of my boys. I don’t need anything; they can never find the perfume I like even when I tell them where to look and god forbid they try to buy me cloths (shutter) so to make it easy on them I ask for the things I need to make raised garden beds. Lumber and dirt are perfectly good gifts. They have asked for things to use in there hobbies like paint ball stuff and tae-kwon-do sticks. My hobby is guarding I want dirt.

* I spent the day with my niece’s kid’s ages 1 ½ to 9 and this is what I learned.

• The reason kids paint is nontoxic is because the 1 ½ year old is going to try and eat it as soon as the adult that is supervising the painting of ornaments turns her back and that the paint that said 1½ does not eat will end up on the cloths said 1½ year old is wearing so remove the good cloths and replace with old cloths or the good cloths will become the old cloths in short order.
  

• Newly 4 year old kids will paint everything in site so have plenty of rags around. Forget paper towels there aren’t enough of them to stem the mess a 4 year old can make. You need something that can be reused. What I really don’t understand is how that 4 year old can make such a mess and stay relatively clean.
  

• 6 and 9 year olds are at about the right age for painting ornaments.

sunrise need I say more?
definitely a mild December

YouTube - sun rise KDH NC 12-19-06

Wright Flight 103rd anniversity

I forgot that today was the 103rd anniversary of the Wright brother’s first flight. I caught the last 20 minutes of the fly over. Bummer. I missed the big planes and only got a tail shot of the jets.

the Holidays

Two main holidays are celebrated in December, Christmas and Hanukka

At this time the Jewish community is celebrating Hanukkah. This year Hanukkah is from December 15^th to the 23^rd. I was taught that Hanukkah commemorates the Miracle of the light or Oil. According to the Talmud, at the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem following the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire, there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days - which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate new oil. (Copied from wikipedia.). A candle is lit on the menorah and gifts are given each day for eight days to celebrate this miracle

For me Christmas is summed up as the day we Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We don’t know the actual day of Christ’s birth so as it was explained to me the early church chose the winter solstice as Christ’s birthday. That time of year time was a time of feasting for both Christians and pagans so the Church decided to kinda move in on the holiday and take it over. I’m glad they did because I like feasting!

For most of the American public the December holiday season has become a time to celebrate with parties and gift giving. It is a time for families to gather. It is a time for those who have to give to those who have not. It’s a good time of year if you have family and friends and a bad time if you do not. It’s the silly season. It’s a time when emotions run the gambit from ecstasy to depression. It’s a time when the hustle and bustle of activity drains every ounce of energy from the soul leaving numbness in the brain that is indescribable. I love it.

I don’t get into the Christmas spirit until about two weeks before the actual day. At that time I start my shopping and cooking and celebrating. I’m getting older now so I need to start at least a week earlier. I don’t seem to have the energy I had in my younger days. There was a time I could get off work at 7am shop, cook, clean and not go to bed until 9pm. I fear those days are gone. My Christmas cards were late getting out and I haven’t wrapped the first gift. The house is a mess and I have not made my Christmas dinner shopping list yet.

It’s hard to believe that Christmas Eve is one week from today. Where has the month gone? Where has the year gone for that matter? Christmas is almost here and I have so much to do. But I love it

Birds on a wire.
These birds are basking in the sun on a warm December day on the Outer Banks

I've been out and about trying to get things done. Christmas is two weeks away and I have procrastinated to the point of almost no return. Still on a nice day like today one should take a minute and “smell the roses” or if you live at the beach go to the beach. This YouTube video is of the beach not too far from the Nags Head pier YouTube - Nags Head NC 12-11-06

Today we still have cool temperatures but the wind has died down. Today has a calmness to it. The wind chime on the porch is still and gone is that freight train in the distance sound that accompanies a North West wind. It is quiet inside the house too; no one except me is awake. I love mornings like this.

• I have spent the majority of the past week and a half at work and the temperatures have been great. Just the other day I commented on how little wind we have had and how pleasant it has been outside, well what a difference a day makes. This morning at around 6am I took the dogs out. I was dressed in a night shirt a pair of shorts and flip flops. When I opened the door to the basement I could tell it was a little chilly so I grabbed a long sleeve flannel shirt and continued. When I opened the door from the basement to the outside the cold wind just about took my breath away! Burr damn! I quickly shooed the dogs out and headed back upstairs to get a sip of my nice hot coffee. I checked on the weather; 28 degrees with 20-30 mph winds. I know some of you might say to yourself that’s not that cold but when you have had night time temperatures in the 50’s and no real wind and then all of a sudden wake up to 28 degrees with 20-30 mph winds out of the NW it’s a bit of a shocker. Needless to say I called my walking buddy and let her know that I’m not walking this morning. This is an inside day!
  

• My oldest son bought the new Nintendo Wii gamming machine I thought this little article was precious. Nintendo Warns Wii Owners: Don't Let Go - Yahoo! News

I was visiting OBX Connection - Weblog the other day and "Uncle Jack" as he calls himself had a good ideal that I thought I would try. He took a short video of the ocean and put it on YouTube.

This was taken yesterday YouTube - morning 12-03-06 Its very noisy and you cant hear much of the ocean over the wind across the mike but next time it will be better.

Nice morning on the outer banks