the road side stalker

Picture this a small flock of snowy white egrets on a small quaint fishing dock with the bright morning sun reflecting off their white feathers making the birds appear to glow. Would that not be a beautiful shot? Well that’s the shot I went for this morning but the egrets would not cooperate. They are shy birds and would not let me get with in a 100 feet. I tried twice following them from the fishing dock to a boat dock. I tried to “sneak” up on them at the boat dock but when they saw me they must have thought enough was enough and flew off into the marsh. I must have been a sight to the folks traveling up and down the busy road, a woman dressed in exercise pants and a tee shirt wearing flip flops caring a camera stalking a bunch of birds. But who cares it’s a beautiful day on the Outer Banks and today I don’t have to work so if I want I can stop on the side of the road and stalk birds.

snow day

yard shots

dogs eating snow

snow everywhere but here

In Dare County today is a snow day. Early this morning we got a dusting of snow but with the temperatures in upper 20’s to lower 30’s there will be slick spots on the roads, Dare County has no salt trucks so they did the correct thing and cancelled school. The really bad part of this snow day is that this snow is not the kind of snow you can play in, its wet and there isn’t much of it so the kids will be stuck inside “board” and then they will most likely have to make up the lost day on Saturday. Oh well it is pretty.

The dogs have discovered that they like the taste of snow. Looking out my window I see them grazing on the snow like cows graze on grass, this is funny.

Well folks the lion of March has hit the Outer Banks a few weeks early or is it that winter has finally come a few weeks late. Either way it cold out there, 29 degrees with a wind-chill of 19 degrees. The wind should lie down as the day progress and with low humidity it should be an OK day for quick trips outside.

I have lots to do this next few months my #2 son has moved out again and my #1 son has laid odds that he will be back by summer so I figure I have a few months to get my house back in order. March 15^th is the beginning of planting season here and I’m going to try peas and lettuce (again) so I need to prepare the soil. I bought my first bit guarding “stuff” the other day, composted manure. I have told myself that I would not be spending a lot on the yard this year but I really want to put some more rock around the house and there is a spot under the deck that I want to place a nice wooden swing bench I bought at a yard sale and I have some cool solar lighting ideals……..

I’m glad to hear that the Cheany thing has died down a bit. I’m in NO way republican but it was a hunting accident. 24 hours is not too long for news of a shooting to get out. The patients well being is of first concern then the police have to notified, all hospitals are required to report shootings and dog bites, and the process takes time. Then you have to conceder the patient’s right to privacy. I will admit I did gloat a bit and the comedians had a field day but as Jon Stewart said if the guy died the story would become brechtian

I'm back

black skimmers in flight

a cool calm friday
hot day at the zoo on Saturday

cool choppy day at the beach on Monday
taken from the Naples fishing pier

I’m back. It’s been a whirlwind 2 weeks. I left for Naples Florida a week ago Thursday (the 9^th). In that time I have spent 5 nights and 4 full days in Naples plus a day and a half in various air ports. Before I left and since I have been back I have been working my bummies off, this is the first I have been able to sit down and write!

Naples was nice. For me the weather was almost perfect although it did get kinda hot on Saturday. You could not have asked for nicer people. The people we meant in shops and restraints were friendly in a genuine way, I am told that by the end of the season that changes a little. The beaches there are beautiful. Wide and white and on most days the water has a aqua blue look to it and it just laps at the shore. I did not see any of the pounding waves we have here on the Outer Banks. I did go to the beach on one of the rougher days and saw a few folks try and surf but there really was not a whole lot to surf on. My oldest son would have liked the clear waters for snorkeling but I don’t think any of my guys would have liked the surfing.

Traffic in and around Naples was bad. It took me an hour to travel the 20 miles to the beach but I am told that February is the busiest month and many of the locals stay home. Sounds a lot like the Outer Banks in mid July and August.

I had a good time in Naples thanks to a great friend and her family and I will go back.

Weather on the Outer Banks has been nice and I have been spending any “free” time outside. I love this time of year when its not raining the days are crisp and bright. The air smells of sea salt and the cars and homes get a thin film of sea spray on them even those like mine that are 4 miles fron the ocean. What I like most about this time of year though is that it’s not as crowded. President’s day will bring a little trickle of visitors here but until Easter the Banks are for the “locals”.

Tomorrow I’ll be heading Naples Florida. Leaving the beach for the beach. Hummm.

I am looking forward to seeing a really good friend and I’ve never been to Naples and change is good so I should have a good time.

Where has the time gone? Its Sunday already, Super Bowl Sunday at that. I would say that my family in PA is happy at this point Pittsburgh is up 14 to 3. We are 5 days into February Punxsutawney Phil has forecast 6 more weeks of winter which I guess makes sense seeing how the first day of spring is March 20^th and that’s just a little over 6 weeks from now. I never did trust that rodent’s forecast but I do like the movie “Groundhog Day”. (Damm I’m glad I’m not a foot ball player, Sea Hawk player 86 just got hit hard!) Well anyway things here on the Banks have been good weather wise, this morning was sunny but it was windy and with a temperature of 45 degrees that made it a bit cold but it was good weather to fly a kite. Now you would not find me flying a kite this time of year but the folks in this picture seemed to be having fun.

Well back to the game. Go Pittsburgh!!

Addendum: I have some happy family members, half of them would have been happier if the Eagles had made it to the Super Bowl and one would have liked to have seen the Cowboys there

There be faries

In the US developers sometimes have to work around wild life but in Scotland a land developer had to redesign his development so as not to disturb the fairies that are thought by some local folks to live under a large rock. It happened in November but we in the colonies seem to only just now be hearing about it. faries

The bush speeks

I’m one of those people who gets a lot of her news from places like the “ the Daily Show” and “Wait Wait -- Don't Tell Me!” so I felt that it was my “obligation” to listen to the presidents speech last night. I wanted to hear “it” from the horse’s mouth without any outside influence. It was hard for me to listen to, the man opens his mouth and my blood boils, but I will say this, the speech was relatively short less than an hour and he kept his rhetoric to a minimum. He really did not say anything new. He thankfully said little about foreign issues but he did manage to mention 9-11 less than 5 minutes into the speech. He did mention the need to become less dependent on foreign oil and said he would support research but at the same time he said he wants to lower taxes. The democratic rebuttal was pretty much what you would expect; “we somewhat agree Mr. President but it’s not enough”. The governor of Virginia was not the best speech maker but he did not have a lot of time to practice the rebuttal. All in all if you missed the speech, no great loss it was very typical and uninspired.

Now just a little soap box on the tax issue. Democrats have been called tax and spend liberals and to some extent that may be true but at least they spent money they had. Bush is living like someone with 20 credit cards and a check book that thinks as long as you haven’t meant your limit and you still have checks you can spend. Folks if I spent all I wanted and at the same time worked less I would lose my house my car and everything else I own. Get real. I hate taxes as much as the next person but taxes are going to have to go up or this country is going to go bankrupt.

Geese

The weather on the Outer Banks was a bit blustery this morning but these Canadian geese seemed to have faired well. This photo does not give an accurate rendering of how big these animals are nor does it show how beautiful they are. Each year their well known V formation and trumpeting voice are another sign to those of us who live here that the seasons have changed. Although in the 25 years I have lived here I have never seen it, I have been told that at one time the sound was full of wild geese, duck and swan as far as the eyes could see.

this is what happens when I have time to think

Justice And Independence '85 Lyrics

John Mellencamp

He was born on the fourth day of July
So his parents called him Independence Day
He married a girl named Justice who gave birth to a son called Nation
Then she walked away
Independence he would daydream and he'd pretend
That some day him and Justice and Nation would get together again
But Justice held up in a shotgun shack
And she wouldn't let nobody in
So a Nation cried

CHORUS
Oh, oh
When a Nation cries
His tears fall down like missiles from the skies
Justice look into Independence's eyes
Can you make everything alright
Can you keep your Nation warm tonight

Well Nation grew up and got himself a big reputation
Couldn't keep the boy at home no, no
He just kept running 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round
Independence and Justice well they felt so ashamed
When the Nation fell down they argued who was to blame
Nation if you'll come home we'll have this family again
Oh, Nation, don't cry

CHORUS

Roll a rock across the country
Everybody come along
When you're feelin' down, yeah, yeah
Just sing this song, yeah yeah

I have been listening to Mellencamp for over 20 years but the album Scarecrow was the first of his albums I ever bought, yes it was an album. I remember how his lyrics expressed how I felt at the time. I had begun to mature and the old rockers just did not “speak” to me. I liked their music but I was drawn to the likes of Mellencamp and Springsteen. I had children in 1985 and had begun to be concerned with US and world issues. To be honest the political atmosphere then like now scared me. As I was listening to my old music I was again moved by what the artists had said in the past. Things have not changed much in the past 20 years. Some of the players have changed but the game is still the same and the American people are the losers.

Today I am at home, awake and nobody knows it. They think I worked last night and that I am now in my bed fast asleep. no one knows that I was called off last night due to low censes and that today I am cleaning my house to the sound of loud rock and roll music and enjoying every minute of it.

There is a certain satisfaction that comes with a good deep cleaning. I like getting into that zone. There is something to be said for being alone, allowed to think uncluttered or for that matter cluttered thoughts that are you own. Allowing your self to listen to music the way it was meant to be heard, in this case loud.

I can guarantee you that at 3pm the phone will start to ring. Kids will start to come home and my time to myself will come to an end and that’s ok, but as soon as I finish my oatmeal brunch I getting back to cleaning and listening to loud music; 3pm will be here before I know it.

Music thanks to Discover Music - Pandora
I was turned on to this music sight by Fred First of Fragments from Floyd

Today started out sunny but as time wore on the clouds came in and now we have rain. I spent most of the day on dog duty. I have 2 large dogs and I can’t walk them together so I take them one at a time. Today I decided to take them to the beach so they could run; unfortunately there were too many people for them to run so they were restricted to a 30 foot rope (rope is tied to his collar, choker is for the lead) . Anyway Trip the girl dog went to the beach when it was sunny and Zeke the boy dog went as the clouds came in. Both times I was fortunate to see lots of pelicans skimming the water and on one occasion two dolphins could be seen (First photo far right). My next Tec toy is going to have to be a camera with a longer lens.

Only 2 more months of winter, spring officially begins March 20^th however if the temperatures could stay like this all year I would be very happy. It’s been kinda like Goldilocks and the Three Bears not too hot not too cold but you know that old Poppa bear Winter is going to show up any time now and things are gonna to change. I keep eying the patch in my side yard that I loosely call a garden wanting so badly to put something in it but knowing it’s not time. This happens every year here on the Outer Banks. It never gets really cold until the end of January beginning of February. Being surrounded by water helps to even out the temperature. If only the summers weren’t so hot.

Midnight flights of thought

As I was preparing for bed tonight I began to think about words. I know thinking about words is not the most normal thing to do before going to bed. Maybe it has something to do with the five hours I slept this morning after working last night and that I am preparing to “make” myself go to bed. My mind is not ready to shut down so flights of thought pass through. So if you wish join me on my journey.

It starts something like this: my two favorite words are epiphany and conundrum. I like the way they roll off the tongue and out of the mouth. I like there definitions:

epiphany

• 2 : an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being
  3 a (1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery b : a revealing scene or moment

conundrum

1 : a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun 2 a : a question or problem having only a conjectural answer b : an intricate and difficult problem

I had and epiphany and it was quite a conundrum. That sentence is an oxymoron. And so the mind continues to throw out words. Rocephin is my favorite sounding word. It’s not a word whose definition gives it character. Rocephin is an antibiotic I just like the way the word sounds. Rocephin. The next flight of thought is that of language and how privileged the human animal is to possess such a variety of languages. How privileged the human animal is to be able to produce so many sounds. How privileged the human animal is to be able to communicate on so many levels. How privileged the human animal is. And with that last thought I’m going to bed hopefully I will not dream of words I will just sleep my brain having already fired its neurons in a haphazard manner through my flights of thought.

January 20, 2006

It’s a nice day on the Outer Banks. On my way to the grocery store I stopped by the beach. As can be seen by these photos it was a good day for fishing. As I was leaving I had a short conversation with a lady dressed in business cloths. Smiling she said “Where else can a person take her lunch break walking on the beach”

• One of the more colorful characters on the outer banks has passed away. Commissioner “Mac” Midgett of Rodanthe on Hatteras Island died on Sunday the 17^th. If they gave him a good Irish wake there would be a lot to say. He was drinker and a fighter but he loved the outer banks and served it well. I think he will be missed. I know the local government channel will be a lot less interesting. I raise my glass to Mac Midgett may he rest in peace.

• It’s a blustery/rainy day on the Outer Banks. My middle son is off work and in the basement building a cat amusement center for his girlfriend. My oldest will most likely get off early he does survey work and if it’s too inclement they will knock off early. My youngest son who has semester finals today and tomorrow was lamenting that he would have to do the mile run inside, today’s test are in weight lifting and shop. Tomorrow will be in English and Geometry

• I’ve had a touch of mountain fever. I get it every year about this time but I’m going to Naples Fl in February so I decided to skip the January mountain trip. The fever returned with gusto yesterday after talking with a friend who lives in Hillsville, VA, and calling a farmer I know to check on my camper. My friend said she came down because a wind storm had come through knocking down trees and causing power outages. Rather than sit in a dark house with nothing to do she came down to the beach. That story should have made me glad not to have gone up there but it just made me take out my building plans. How nice it would be to sit in my cabin with a warm fire and a good book. Sigh…………

• This one is too good to pass up William Shatner of Star Trek fame sold his kidney stone for $25,000 to benefit Habitat for Humanity. I have always liked that man. He will try anything and seems to have fun doing it.

News - Shatner Sells Kidney Stone for Charity - Netscape Celebrity

First "snow"

Last night at work while I was getting report, one of my coworker’s commented that Mrs. So&So said that it was going to snow. Well all I could say was that it was not cold enough to snow but I decided to check it out anyway and since my job is wired to the web I typed in Weather.com and sure enough Mrs. So&So was right. It was going to snow. At around 11:30pm security walked by and told us that the snow “was really coming down out there”. Well I right away said “I’m taking a break” and off I went to the loading dock to see the snow. Now folks I love snow. I like the way it smells and tastes and I like the way it feels against my face and I was a bit excited. That excitement was short lived. The snow was wet and very fine and the temperature was just above freezing. This was going to be nothing more that a nuisance. The snow was very wet so the bridges and overpasses were going to have slick spots on them and I was going to have to scrape the windshield before I went home in the morning. Never the less it was a cause for excitement here (we are in the south folks if this had been a school day school would have been at the very least delayed). This was our first taste of winter.

a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work

Had to do some errands this morning. You know go to the bank, pay some local bill, buy some 2 cent stamps, by the way I got the last sheet of 20 from the Kitty Hawk post office. I guess with the cost of fuel and since they haven’t raised the price for a few years it has to be done but… well here I digress. Anyway as I pulled into the bank in Kitty Hawk I looked at the ocean and saw dozens of boats on the horizon. The ocean was calm with a single fisherman on shore but you know with that many boats out there that the fishing must be good. These are not the best photos my camera doesn’t do the long shots that well.

Did a little panorama of the Wright Brothers Monument. It’s just a good day to be out.

January sunset

I had hoped to get a sunrise on the beach shot this morning and then the sunset on the sound this afternoon but I slept in late today. Any-hoo the sunset was nice and I wish I had been in that boat. It looked like they had some fun.

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood. The temperature was in the low 50s and there was only moderate wind. You will see me mention the wind a lot because it’s the wind not the temperature that determines how “cold” it is here on the Outer Banks. It was a good day to be outside. I did some yard work and just enjoyed the fresh air.

Today is another gray day on the Outer Banks. Again the wind is up a little and the sky is over cast with a temperature in the mid 40’s. The UV index is 1. Last night I was talking to one of my coworkers who moved to the Outer Banks from up state New York. Awhile ago I had asked him why he moved here, I always ask people that. His response was that in the winter the sky was always gray where he was from and he wanted the sun. At the time I remember saying that he was in for a surprise, winters on the Outer Banks are also gray. When I asked him last night how he liked the “sunny” winters he responded “well it may not be sunny but at least I can walk outside in a tee shirt”.

Sunday he should get his sun.

This morning there was a hint of sunshine but a front seems to be coming in and with it fog and a damp coolness to the air.