Hanna September 6, 2008

I'm still not sure how to spell her name, but she blew through here last night and early this morning. She didn't do very much damage from what we saw. Even with a high tide the water only got to the top of the landing in our neighborhood.

First, the calm before the storm, video taken from earlier in the week just off the Beaufort Bar

Terri and I rode to the beach late Saturday morning after the winds started dying down.
This was taken from the access at Atlantic Beach beside the Crab's Claw. I got sandblasted pretty well taking this shot. Look out in the surf and you'll see three dit-dots, one of whom is actually in the surfline.

This shot was taken from the old Triple S pier area, I decided to shoot this through the windshield.

Inside Sugarloaf Island, a sailboat catches the swell coming down Bogue Sound. They only had one anchor rode out.

You may remember an earlier post regarding the trash-yacht WaterWorld moored near the Morehead City waterfront. Today she was tied to the Gulf Dock and not doing very well in the wind.

All in all not a bad storm; I woke up at 2:00 AM and observed the winds, they were worse at 5:00 AM but not the "rocks on the window" and howling noise of a hurricane. Hope Ike stays away............

Croatan Game 09/04/08
The football game was moved to Thursday night due to the expected arrival of TS Hannah Friday afternoon. It was a pretty good game, very exciting although there were lots of penalties on both sides.
Jackson had 5-6 punts, and he got one off really well, pinning Croatan inside the 5. West held then and scored to take the lead, so it was a pretty important play, and a heckuva good punt.

Jackson's fan club was there; sorry this is a little blurry. They were having a good time chanting his name. I think he's going to need a bigger helmet.

Time to reason with hurricane season; the first bands of Hannah are coming in as I type this; first waterspout has been spotted offshore; oh what the heck, enjoy a little Jimmy
cut and paste http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssvOqyDumS0
Goodness, he looks like an old man! But I guess we all do. That is one of my favorites
Since the hurricanes are lining up, you know where I'll be the next three weeks: OH, GA, OH, VA, TN
Post when I can

Labor Day 2008
We had lots going on this holiday weekend; on Saturday Jackson completed the rest of his BSA Eagle work by placing the stones made during VBS in the front of the church in the form of a meditation walk. We had lots of help and the work was completed before 11:00.

Now its time to write it up and go before the board.

We took Pop and Dink to Tony's on Sunday for lunch; on the way home we went by the church to show them the work; there was a young family walking the path already. Jay, Holly and Cooper were here to help also.

On Friday night West won the Mullet Bucket in fine style, 56-0. I was recruited to film for the coaching staff so I didn't get any shots of Jackson's two punts. But here is one practice punt.

While I was up top filming plays, I did notice one young lady on the sidelines with a hand-made t-shirt sporting a familiar name and number.

Seems as though Jackson has a little fan club.

We managed to get out on the boat Saturday afternoon, Sunday evening, and Monday morning. Nothing to report except undersized flounder, a couple of trout, and believe it or not a 28-30" cobia caught up in the Haystacks. In town all week and then I'll be on the road for pretty much all of September after that.

August 22, 2008
Went to the sweetest place on earth this week; Hershey, PA. If you've never been there, the picture below is an actual street lamp in downtown Hershey. The town smells like chocolate, very nice, and a beautiful location.
I went to Hershey to participate in a customer's annual exposition. There have been dramatic events which have occurred during the APR Supply show; Jackson was hospitalized with salmonella 5 years ago, Cooper was born 2 years ago; this year the Old Paratrooper was hospitalized with a gall bladder attack. He's scheduled for surgery this afternoon.
The people at APR (www.aprsuppply.com) are first class and I plan to be there every year they'll have me.
In the lower deck of the Hershey Lodge there were a few Porsches, 39 to be exact, all of which had the semi-automatic shifters and the attached sticker. PCNA=Porsche Club North America (I think); list prices started at $109K. And, there was a big pile of low profile mounted tires at the end of the lot.
Enjoy the $4,000,000.00 views

In town next week

August 15, 2008
What the heck is this?
For those readers who have been in the boat shed beside Pop's shop; OK, that's stall number one, you know, the one that doesn't have the roof caving in (too badly), this net frame was mounted on the ceiling. It was our grandfather's; Pop said it was at least 80+ years old and thinks it's made of cedar. I can assure you it's got about 50 years of dust on it, that might be what is holding it together.
The kayak paddle is 7'6"; the net frame is 9'2"
They used these in the Tar and Roanoke Rivers and tributaries to literally scoop up shad and herring; many, many years ago they were so plentiful this is all you needed. No angling skills, just a bunch of sore muscles.

I remember having this all of my life and never saw the net which goes inside the frame, so it's pretty old. I contacted the NC Maritime Museum to see if they want it.

Off to my high school reunion tonight and Saturday night; thank goodness for name badges and good wine(stolen line). No don't worry, I won't take any pictures of those old people.

Cooper's birthday week
August 3-10, 2008
We started the celebration week on Saturday in Sanford at the Pattersons. We had great hamburgers and hot dogs, ice cream and a fun birthday party. Cooper (and his Mommy) blew out the homemade birthday cake candles. Cooper entertained us with an impromptu concert at the piano, a video appears later in this blog.
Then Cooper and a very brave Nana set out for Morehead City. They arrived just as Cappy was shutting his eyes for a nice nap, something I learned I wouldn't be doing much during my vacation week; OK, I "remembered" to sneak one in when Cooper was napping. It's hard remembering these tricks after so many years, but those of you who know me also know I'm not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. Nana bought a pool in which Cooper played

This shot is kinda dark, but shows how much Cooper is growing

A really nice shot of Cooper and Nana

On Thursday we went to the Orient, all right, Oriental. Here Nana tries to keep Cooper from stepping on everyone's toes.................while something glides by on our port side.

After all of this fun we went to Beaufort Friday afternoon for the Pyrate invasion. It wasn't very farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhto go. Cooper met lots of pyrates, and had a lot of fun talking with a parrot. Sorry no shots, we forgot to bring a cameraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhh

OK, enough pyrate jokes, for now anyway.

As promised, here is a video of Cooper singing VeggieTales songs. He looks around as he finishes, and would point to anyone who didn't clap. Sorry I didn't catch that on film, but I was filming and he was pointing at me. I think an Elton John duck suit might be a good Halloween costume for him, wonder where we can find those goofy glasses?

And the last video shows Cooper playing in the pool. I turned the camera off just as he looked at me and said "cheese"

In town one more week and then I'm on the road quite a bit until Christmas

Championship! July 31, 2008
Well my trophy from the Ocean Club/ARI tennis tournament last fall finally got here; received it this afternoon from UPS.....kind of thought there would be more pomp and circumstance surrounding the presentation; as long as I waited I thought Prince Ranier or Queen Elizabeth would show up to present it; but, it was just me and the UPS driver. Even though its really hot today he was not amused by the champagne shower.
Hey what kind of contest was this anyway? This picture is a little better
At last, a place on my trophy shelf right next to my coin jar, always thought I saved this place for something special like this. The player looks more like JFK Jr than me

I would like to thank the Academy, all the guys back at the shop, my buddies in the engine shop, all the sponsors, aw gee I'm afraid if I start listing them I'll forget someone............
Tune in next week for pictures of Cooper's second birthday!