This is called the thunder moon

I have just 2 days left before I leave my mountain retreat and head back to the beach, family and work. My dog Zeke and I have enjoyed the past week walking and enjoying the scenery. I am looking forward to my bed and my bathroom back home both are cramped in a 19 foot camper but I cant wait for next year when I get to make a go at living up here year round.

In the past 7 days I have worked 82 hours. That’s a lot of hours but it’s ok because today starts my 2 week vacation. I will be spending 10 days in the VA mountains, ahhh cool nights and warm days (at least that is what I’m hoping for). Now I haven’t posted any beach photos recently so I thought that before I go I would post a few shots I took a couple of weeks ago.

the photos above are of skim boarders. Parents and grandparents don’t try to teach your kids how to skim board if you have never been on one yourself. I can’t tell you how many broken bones and sprained whatever's we have seen in the ED because of older folks trying to teach the younger ones to skim board. One grand parent recently had to schooch back to the car on their bumm accompanied by a gaggle of grand children after trying to “teach” the kids to use one. Notice the age of the skim boarders.

Now these are two activities we less agile older folks (and younger) can enjoy

Looks like rain today, much needed but I’m packing the trailer today in hopes of an early start tomorrow. Yaw be good.

Work was a bit less busy at 3am Monday morning so one of the ladies shared this with me and the others on that shift

I think its cute

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 10:44 AM

Subject: Minnesota Bird Feeder

To my friends who have to worry about their bird feeders. All of a sudden, squirrels don't seem so bad.

Minnesota Bird Feeder

Thats one determined bear and one strong rope
I wonder who took the photo?

I spent yesterday morning with the roses in my garden. They are not doing that well this year. I have put irrigation around, fertilized them, sprayed for every thing there is to spray for (I don't like chemicals in the garden but I used them) and I mulched them big time. They are starting to show some new growth but this is a very disappointing rose year for me.

I love roses but they are not as easy to grow as some would have you believe. They require a lot of care but the reward of the flower is worth the effort. Most of the important things in life are that way. A persons relationship with family and friends is one of the most important things in a persons life. These relationships require a lot of work to make them grow and regular maintenance to keep them healthy. I love going out with friends and family or simply talking to them on the phone. Talking to people who I have shared experiences with is very comforting. Next week I will be in the mountains visiting with one of my best friends . I look at this as a really great "maintenance" trip, one that will allow me to catch up with an old friend and may allow me to make new friends. I cant wait!

Yesterday was my boy dogs Zeke's yearly visit to the vet. This year I decided to have him chipped. What this means is that they insert a small chip that contains a number under the skin. This chip can be read by a scanner. The number that the scanner picks up is unique to that chip. That number is used to access information stored in data base somewhere. This information starts out with the vets information and for an additional fee can include the owners address and phone number. Its not cheep, it was $40 to have it inserted and another $18 to have it registered under my name and every time I move or have to change any information (phone #) its another $6, but I travel back and forth to the mountains often and its not inconceivable that one of my animals could get lost so to me its worth the price. Zeke was not bothered in any way by the procedure and today he is no worse for the wear.

Zeke waiting for the big moment

the chip is in this syringe

Dr. Bell inserting the chip

reading the chip (making sure it works)

Zeke no worse for wear

I do want to add that this is the same procedure that the government wants to force farmers to use on their farm animals. This procedure cost me nearly $60 for one animal. I have a friend with 50 cows. Even if it cost just $20 a head that's a $1000 and for a small farmer thats a lot of money. Support small farmers pay attention to the farm bill: Take Action: Support a Better Farm Bill / 2007 Farm Bill Proposals | Center for Rural Affairs / The Truth About the National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

This photo is a little out of focus but this is the first cherry tomato of the season and I ate it right after I took this shot!

We are getting some much needed rain today. The plants in the garden are looking green and succulent. Rain does that, cleans the air making the color of the foliage seem more vibrant and the air smell fresh. Rain also gives me an excuse to stay inside and do nothing. Today I’m being lazy and watching the all day marathon of “Dead Like Me”. The dogs make me go outside from time to time but for the most part my butt has been planted in my big comfy recliner. I should really be reading. I have 2 Nat.-Geos. and a few publications I need to read but I just cant get into it today. I think it’s because I have been so busy lately. My psyche just needs a rest and it’s taking advantage of the cloudy skies. Well I’m back to the recliner, who knows I might even take a nap.

Well its summer on the outer banks. Temps near 90 with god awful humidity. I think my going to the beach days are over for now. The traffic is HORRIBLE. I hate this time of year here. I'm glad its time for my yearly sabbatical to the mountains. Two weeks from today I'm off for 10 days of peace and quiet. There is very little to do in Willis, I have very little TV reception, the cell phone only works when I'm on the road I don't have a washer and dryer and how messy can a 19 foot camper get. I will be forced to slow down. Allowed to read or just be lazy. Oh I cant wait.

I guess that's why we Americans so like our vacations. Weather we are going to the mountains or the sea we are going somewhere else. We hope that when we get there things will be different . Some hope things will be slower, others want to tie one on either way we hope to be rejuvenated.

I hope for a slower pace and I know after 10 days away I will be ready to come home and things wont seem so crazy here (I hope).

These photos were taken in Kill Devil Hills near the Avalon pier. The pier was on fire during some of this show.

I hope every one had a great 4th

for a not so good video of what the beach is like after the big fire works show visit:
YouTube - 4th of july 2007

It was a so so weekend on the Outer Banks. We had a good amount of rain with patches of sunshine but since for most visitors the weekend is change over time and my yard really needed it I don’t think the rain was a bad thing. It did put a little damper on my grand niece and nephews visit but they had fun riding around in the Jeep and getting wet. They wanted the side panels off and I obliged them. I don’t think they cared if the sun was out or not they all they wanted to do was play on the beach.

the kids on the beach: a little bit of a ghost in that photo

ghost crab; web photo

I brought 2 of my nieces kids down for the weekend. I had promised them a long time a go that I would take them to the beach and let them look for ghost crabs but it did not look promising last night. On our way down from Norfolk I stopped at the “Grave Digger” monster truck “dungeon” to let them see the monster trucks. Right after we left it started to pour rain with a little lightning and thunder thrown in for good measure. It rained a good while and I thought we might not make it to the beach but as luck would have it things cleared enough for us to take an evening stroll on the beach. As we were leaving we saw a ghost crab scurry by we followed it with our flashlights. The kids were amazed at how big the crab was and when right in front of their eyes it disappeared into the sand unfortunately it happened too fast and there was no time to get a shot.

Things have really picked up here on the Outer Banks. The tourists have arrived in droves and the traffic is, for lack of a better word … bad. This past week my son was involved in his first auto accident. He was rear ended by a local. You see it can take a month or so for us who live on the Outer Banks year round to get use to the heavy traffic. We are accustomed to be-bopin along at the “speed limit” and making right on red turns this all changes when summer hits. Once the “visitor's” get here you are lucky if you can get to 50mph on the bypass and right on red turns are very dangerous. The folks at “Ron and Phils body shop” told me that work for them really backs up until around July 4^th then it levels back out. I think the point here is that when summer hits ya gotta slow down and take a little more time to get where you are going also remember if your late your late so don’t get your self hurt over it. Drive safe and stay off my bumper.

My mother and I walked over to the “farmers market” in down town Manteo today. It was a good walk for me, mom lives about a mile from town, and we got to walk down some of the quiet roads in town. The market did not have much to offer by way of local produce, I did find some local blueberries and cherry tomatoes yum, but I did know some of the vender's and they were local and that is what farmers market’s are about, local people selling fresh and when ever possible local products to the local community. Hopefully there will be more locally grown produce when the local growing season reaches its peak in mid July. I can’t wait for the fresh corn that will be available around July 4^th!

This is a shot of an actress that I think is portraying Queen Elizabeth. She is sitting on the old court house steps down town Manteo

Mom trying to figure out how to use her camera as we wait for coffee at the Coffeehouse in Manteo

Thanks to my new jeep and my neighbors I have been to the beach a lot this year. Each time I’m thrilled to see some type of cool wild life yesterday was no exception

Why are these people out of the water

photo of a bull shark thanks to a search on google

The life guards earned their money in my eyes when they blew the whistle letting us know about this shark. Seems this “little” guy had been moving up and down the coast all day. The guards think it was a bull shark and that it may have been between 12 and 14 feet long.

Sharks are an important part of the ecosystem. They are to be respected and as far as I'm concerned feared but this shark had every right to be where it was, the ocean after all is its home.

Just some folks enjoying the beach

Dolphin's and boats

Wet jeep

I went down with a few friends to Oregon Inlet yesterday and other than the fly’s it was a great beach day (the wind was out of the west and that always means biting fly’s) As you can see from the photos it’s a great place to bring the family. You can only get to this beach with 4 wheel drive and you need to take note of the tide. If you go out at low tide you have to watch out; you would not want your vehicle sinking in the sand when the tide comes back in. Anyway we were treated to pelicans, dolphins and boats so there was always something to watch.

When we got home I did not close up the jeep, big mistake, it stormed last night and even though I had put the roof up and closed the windows I had not put the side panels back on. The storm was so bad that the instrument panel and inside windshield were wet. I woke up at 03:33 this morning to the sound of very heavy rain and thought oh well it’s a jeep. I did not expect a ½ inch of rain water in the back foot wells, but no big deal, jeeps have a plug you can pull and let the water drain out. She is sitting out in the sun right now and by the time I have to go to work she should be dry.

Tropical storm Barry promises to bring much needed rain to the Outer Banks tomorrow but today is just another day at the beach. It’s warm this morning. It was 71 degrees at around 8:30 am today with calm seas and gentle winds those winds promise to stiffen up tomorrow which may improve the waves for the surfer boys & girls. Me I’m hoping for a good rain; my yard would love it. Say what you want about tropical systems most stay tropical storms and they bring much needed rain.

these photos were taken this morning around 8am

Oh my time has passed since I last visited the blogesphere but the weather here has just been too good to be indoors! Any one who made it to the Banks this week or last had to be happy.

My #3 son and I made it up to the mountains last weekend and it was a good trip. I did not have time to take any photos while I was there, it was a there and back trip. We did find time to see Pirates of the Caribbean (liked it) and go to Barns & Noble I also talked to a builder and made arrangements to talk to two architects when I’m up there in July. Man I guess we were busy.

Things here on the yard & garden side are going good (of course that’s not unusual for this time of year). Every thing is just so….. green. I love it!

I will say that the weather on the Banks this past week has been PERFECT. Temperatures in the upper 60’s to 70 with bright sun and mild winds. It has been a pleasure to be out. Work has been slow but of course that will change Friday when the first batch of true summer visitors arrives. I think it will be a good weekend for any who visit.

As good as things are promising to be here at the beach my #3 son and I will be leaving for the mountains Friday for a short (48 hours) trip. #3 son has found the perfect summer job, he will be installing wireless internet. This trip may be the only time this summer he will make it to the mountains and as I enjoy his company and the fact that he likes it up there as much as I; short trip or not we are going.

One little thing about the cost of gas. It went up 4 cents yesterday to $313 a gallon. I’m not the least bit surprised. I can’t wait to see what kind of profits the oil companies post this year. You would think they would have spent some of the profits from last year on refinery updates. Oh well. I love my Jeep but I will be using it less this year. All trips will be thought out, no short trips to the store. I’m also looking into electric scooters. What would be ideal is to have one that could be charged using solar. I really think that renewables are the future. When I’m living in the mountains I will need a 4 wheel drive but for short trips a scooter would work just fine. This web site is a good source of information related to electric and hybrid vehicles www.evworld.com

They promised us rain today and while it is very cloudy and there have been a few sprinkles there has been no rain. I have been spending as much time as possible in the yard planting and fertilizing hoping that this year’s garden will not be as disappointing as the last years was. Of course if the garden does not pan out this year it won’t matter because next year I will try again. Gardens are always a surprise; all of the flowers with the exception of the pink dianthus in the photo above were planted in years past I don’t even know what most of them are but they came up this year and they are beautiful. There are a few plants that have yet to flower I can’t wait to see what they turn out to be.

Now what?

Well I have one more certificate under my belt so I am now even more certifiable than I was before. Of course the course I took, which is required if someone wants to work in the department I work in, is being updated so many of the protocols we were tested on are not in use or have been updated so I really should retake the course in 2008 but I don’t have to until 2011. What would you do? No more education for me until September, right now I can relate to how the kids feel as the school year ends!!

We have had a lot of weather on the banks this week. Today is cloudy and cool, yesterday was “hot” and partly cloudy. I felt bad for my neighbors who came down from Northern Virginia for the week but that is part of a spring trip, anything can happen weather wise.

To all it applies to:

“Happy Mothers day”

view of the beach near the Avalon pier. the wind is kicking so bad that it felt like I was being hit with a sand blaster

A few weeks back I posted some photos that shows happens with the NW wind. we get flooding. With a NE wind the opposite happens the water goes out and you can see the muck that sits just under the water. The water filled areas are channels.

Another windy day here on the banks. The kids in dare county have the day off thanks to the wind unfortunately this will mean school on Saturday and no trip to the mountains this weekend for #3 son and me but heck we will go the weekend after next. Other than the wind, which is going to calm down by mid week, and a small chance each day of some much needed rain looks like a good week ahead