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!

July 26-27 2008

Bobby came down Saturday afternoon and we motored through the ICW to the Neuse River. From there we found Garbacon Shoal and set up to try our hand at fishing for old drum. I hadn't heard of anyone catching any this year yet, so I thought maybe we'd be pioneers. Turns out there may have been another reason I hadn't heard of any successful reports.............

In this shot you can see how we're setting up, two heavy rods out the back with 2 oz. weights and a big cut of fresh mullet. We also set up a chum trap to get the bait scent out behind the boat

Here Bobby shows how to cast with a baitcaster reel (I was very impressed), and we get an immediate bump; but sorry, no fish; the bumps we were looking didn't happen this night. Most of you probably do not remember the Southern Sportsman Franc White, but that tune I'm trying to hum is from an old local hunting, fishing, and cooking show that was on for many years in eastern NC. I think most of the recipes I use today were learned from watching his show and reading his cookbooks. Happy Jack of Kinston NC was a sponsor, they made pet supplies and their slogan was "ask for it, {sound of a dog barking} your dog would!" Always thought that was rather clever

We had a little rain come in, the wind shifted as it got dark, and messed up our chum trail; we never got the big knockdown we were hoping to see. Oh well it was a good time. So now it was time to head home, my biggest concern was finding the Adams Creek entry, and then making it to the Highway 101 bridge; from there I have the markers in my GPS, just have to make sure not to hit the unlit ones. Of course as we headed South the bow nav lights petered out as they do sometimes. As there was a miltary supply ship in port with battle-ready gunnery positions, I had a good feeling we would get stopped, and we did. I had trouble finding some of my paperwork, the whistle wouldn't work, my flashlight played out; I think the Coasties had a good chuckle. They cited me for the light but not the whistle; after I couldn't find the extra whistle I thought about stomping on Bobby's foot and telling them that was my noisemaker, just as well I didn't.

Below is a video coming down the ICW by the Haystacks area, and going through the Radio Island bridge. The phosphate port is lit up on the starboard side, the front deck is illuminated when I use the spotlight to make sure I'm lined up correctly, you can see car lights as we approach the bridge, and as we go between the reds and under the greens you can hear an astute observation from the FishinOptishin:

We fished Sunday AM with only trash fish results. As one of the Coasties said "there is no bite on" No kidding

Off to Sanford this weekend for Cooper's 2nd birthday!

July 25, 2008

On Monday Jackson, Mark (or is it Patrick, you know he really looks like a Patrick, ok, Matt) and I went to take the cured stones into storage. I had some people ask how they looked after curing, here it is...........
Now Jackson needs to schedule a work day to plant them.

Then I went to Ohio where I got the opportunity to ride in the new Earlmobile, a Corvair from the mid-60's. If Corvette owners call their cars "vettes," do Corvair owners call their's "vairs?"

Anyway, I didn't know that car had a flat 6 cylinder engine with one barrel carburators on the right and left.

Three cylinders per side, Chevy designed this for great fuel mileage.Nice looking ride, sitting in downtown Marietta

Earl at the keyboards, "unsafe at any speed." And ironically that is what Ralph Nader said about the car too!

In the Skuttle parking lot

Bobby is coming down Saturday, we're going after old drums in the lower Neuse tomorrow night. Hope I can leave enough bread crumbs to find my home after dark, maybe we'll have some pictures from our adventure next week

Jackson's Eagle Project
July 20, 2008
Jackson got a lot of work done with his BSA Eagle project yesterday
His project involves making concrete footstones for a meditation walk on the Arendell Street side of our church. He used tbe first night of the Vacation Bible School to individually decorate the stones. He had lots of help and instruction for the kids; it was really needed with the little ones.
We used lots of items to decorate with symbols. Shells, buttons, colored glass
A rainbow was seen at the end of the day
About 40 stones were produced. We were fortunate that tropical storm Christobal didn't rain on the project
The next step is to plant the stones at ground level. Who is ready to help?

It's July 19th
And believe it or not, it's Kristi's sweet 16th, no wait.............18th, hang on I'll get it..............21st, oh my goodness can she really be that old? Enjoy your adventure sweetie, the ride goes by too quickly. I'm so proud of you and love you more than you'll ever know.Your favorite uncle John

July 14 2008
First of all, a good shot of Cooper Amadeus Riley; our new piano prodigy, and the cutest little grandson in the whole wide world.
Feel free to insert your own caption here for the picture below. I'll get it started "we're number one in number two" Go ahead, have some fun; besides I'm tired of writing, I mean I'm really pooped.

Got some video here of Captain Kevin blowing something up in Alaska. This was on the Military Channel Sunday night; see if you can catch Modern Weapons: Alaska

The boat owner and I went out yesterday afternoon and did a little riding and touring. Pretty day and not too many boats on the water; at $4 + a gallon, who can blame them? Shackleford was nearly empty at 5:00. One interesting site, I saw a spotted ray broach in the sound, very impressive and a big splash. I'd hate to think of that thing getting into the boat with us
And since he likes the watershow so much, and since this week is his sister's birthday, and since he's going to take care of me when I'm in the old folks home and slobbering all over everybody, and since he's my favorite nephew who lives in Alaska and ok, since he's going overseas tooooooooooooooooo, this video is for you Captain Kevin; you be careful over there; you'll be in our thoughts every day. Enjoy the sprinklers!

Might be out of the office a couple of days this week

Busy week, lots going on
Last weekend I went to Weirton WV for Heather and Kevin's wedding reception, part two. We had planned on having a long weekend away, but Terri had to stay and help with Pop and Dink. Here's the sign that greeted me as I arrived
It was a good time, but unfortunately my flash didn't "do right" and this was the best picture I got of the happy couple. Sorry about that, it was a lot of fun and good to see the newlyweds. Kevin is getting ready to go to Iraq in a few weeks and we wish him the best. BTW, he is now Captain Kevin Riley.

GUD was there; here is rewarded with a sugar cube after doing a really swell trick

Went by Gettysburg on the way and the way home, took this picture from Cemetery Hill as the 145th anniversary of the battle neared.

On to the weekend of the Fourth, and also Jay's 28th birthday on the 5th. Pretty sunset from the new deck

Cooper strikes a thoughtful pose as he wonders about the uncertain mental condition of his grandfather

Terri sneaked out to take this surprise shot of the other Captain and his grandson. In case you are wondering about the spots on the picture, we were watching the irrigation system.......yes, another activity we Southerners enjoy; often we applaud after the performance

It's the night of the Fourth, and as Jackson explained, "we Americans like to celebrate by blowing up something." Jackson demonstrated this is an interpretive dance pictured below

Earlier that day we went to the Weinholds for a great lunch, but the wind blew us home earlier than planned.

Another shot of the best little grandson in the world; Cooper was a lot of fun