A group of assorted shots; not to be confused with sordid shots...............
These pictures came from the Fishin Optishin from his trip here a couple of weeks ago. We fished Friday and Saturday, were lucky and caught a lot of fish. When I catch fish the seagulls eat well, as shown hereBobby took some good shots of the addition

Here's a nice sailboat crossing the Beaufort BarAnother good house shotOne day's catch, cleaned and ready for consumption or freezingA happy couple relaxing on Sunday morning; after two long days of fishing it was OK that storms kept us in, and forced us to go out for breakfast.....followed by a nap, and then another napA couple of pretty blues, well I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholderWe tangled with a jaws wantabe, you can tell this was my first time out in the sun this year, nice farmer tan line going on the arm

And this film was taken today (Tuesday 5/06); this is inside Spooner Creek heading for our little landing, nice shots from a nice day. Those who have gone in and out of this creek should enjoy it; those who haven't should call me and ask for a boat ride

I'm in town all week and taking a couple of days off here and there. I plan to fish Thursday in the Neuse, and somewhere down here on Saturday with the Old Paratrooper.

New furniture is here!
May 3, 2008

This weekend the owner (Project Managing Supervisor Terri) found some new furniture for our addition. Here is our new deck furniture:
Here is our new sun room furniture:And last but not least. dinner for two at our new casual dining room table:

Yes, we're out of money. If you were to suddenly remember that you borrowed some money from either of us a long time ago and never repayed it, now would be a good time.

Seriously we're getting ready to finish the yard, a few projects inside, looking for a casual dining room table with 8 chairs, and a comfy sofa.

I'm in town all week, going to take a few vacation days this week when it's pretty and try to catch some fish.

April 29, 2008
Happy 17th birthday Jackson!
Had a few calls and e-mails asking about the progress on the house, sorry, been away for a while; in Ohio and West Virginia last week. The Fishin Optishin made his annual birthday trip the weekend before, and we were fortunate to catch plenty, and I mean plenty of fish. Pictures will follow.
In the mean time, for your viewing pleasure here's a shot from a few years ago on the mighty Pamlico River. My father and grandmother sitting on a dock with a cinder block at their feet. Dave and I got tired of the jellyfish in the river and decided to single-handedly change their population and thereby the ecosystem of the entire Pamlico River/Sound. We were unsuccessful in our attempt, and very messy. To this day our pictures still appear in jellyfish, OK, stinging nettles post offices worldwide. In 2006 there was a failed assassination attempt on me in the British Virgin Islands as a result of this jellyfish-o-cide campaign of 1966.

Fishing pictures soon, I hope. Off to Charlotte tomorrow for the rest of the week.

Lots of pictures, and none of the house!
Old KevBo got himself married today
Jackson helped Pop and Dink get settled, Dink was really sick but made it anyway.

As Kristi walks down the aisle as a bridesmaid a strange figure appears on the screen

Here comes the bride

Lance officiated

The couple exchanged vows

Jackson helped Pop and Dink with the aid of a new wheelchair especially designed for use on the beach; Fort Macon State Park purchased three of these during the off-season

The Riley wedding party: Kristi, Beverly, Kevin, Heather, and Pygmy

Part of the Camp Willlow Run crew including the famous 007; check out their work at http://www.campwillowrun.org/

The honeymoon vehicle complete with air conditioning

Time to cut the cake with an Air Cavalry sabre

Pop and James, two proud grandfathers

And now for the garter toss

It was a great weekend and I know Heather and Kevin will have a great life together with many wonderful adventures. I couldn't have dialed up a better nephew than Kevin, and I look forward to growing old and having him take care of me (private joke from when Kevin was about 12 or so, I let him go out of a choke hold provided he would take care of me in my old age; fishing, feeding, uh, other matters as well)

Now, if you came here looking for pictures of the house, well.......tough, sorry this was a wedding weekend. But I have to tell you, the house is unbelievable. Patti came in and moved some furniture around, they cleaned the inside of the house, it really started looking like what Terri imagined. We still have a long way to go to get it back to shape, but Terri's vision is really coming together.

Pictures next week; I promise.......unless Bobby and I catch a lot of fish; we'll see

Getting to the short rows now!
This week we saw some big changes; the hardwood floors were installed and nearly all of the major areas of painting done. They still have a lot of touchup work to do, but lots of progress!
Hardwood floors leading into the new eating area....guess we have to come up with a name for that place......casual dining?

Tile floor in the sun room (is that a sun room?) Hardwood in the eating area. Hardwood on the ceiling.

Column separates the two areas.

I like my ceiling
Starting into the punchlist of things to do next week; still have some electrical and HVAC work to go; and the landscaping will have to wait until it gets a little drier.

We also need to Cooperize the house as the best little grandson in the world visits us; have to make sure all the little things he might get into are taken care of

Off to TN next week, back in time for the wedding.

Oh West Point, Gettysburg, no wait, Oh Canada!
It's the week after Easter and I have a couple of days work to do at the CMX Expo in Toronto; Jackson has nothing to do this week, so I have a rider for the week. On the way out of NC we saw the truck shown below, reminded me of Chatham Mills in Pittsboro; good bologna and dog food! However I think I will stay with House Autry for my seafood breader.

Before we left Morehead Jackson made an appointment with an admissions officer at West Point. Captain Joseph gave us a good overview of USMA. Sorry no pictures, but a very impressive place. I'm really proud of Jackson for even considering a place like that.

On the way to Toronto we stopped at one of my favorite places in the world, Niagara Falls. Probably has to do with a 1960 (?) visit there with my parents, Dave, and Grandma. Absolutely beautiful.......

On Friday afternoon as we got ready to leave Jackson's new favorite city, we couldn't resist a shot up the CN Tower. Here is Jackson standing on a glass floor 342 meters in the air. We went on up to the highest observation deck at 447 meters. So that you don't have to go look up metric conversion, that's 1465 feet.Here's the view under Jackson's feet:
Here is yet another shot of Jackson at the NC monument in Gettysburg; we've taken this same picture before. This is the high water mark of the Confederacy and Great-Grandfather John W. Riley was there with the CSA Company B NC 47th infantry regiment.

As we left Gettysburg Saturday afternoon Jackson's proud Irish blood pressure got a little elevated as we saw yet another example of sterotypical bias; wonder where the leprechaun was?

Off to Virginia next week, top of the morning to you!
Oh, by the way, I know many of you read this just to check on the house; the painters started last week; the white ceilings really accentuate the height of the room! If only I had known they weren't white before, I might could appreciate them more. They made a big mess; I'm ready to get all of them out of our house.

And MY cypress ceiling is finished and looks great; trying to figure out what color paint to use on them................thinking fire engine red; just kidding, how about Ferrari red?

House pictures next week; I promise

March 21, 2008

Went fishing yesterday afternoon for the first time this year, sorry no pictures because no fish! Nice to be out at sea again, the water was 60 degrees and everything on the boat worked!
Here are some shots of the hardwood ceiling we're putting in the sunroom. This is something that I wanted during this project and I'm glad to see how nice it looks.
Here's how they are trimming the bottom

Jackson and I are off to Toronto next week, the tomb is empty, happy Easter