July 31, 2009
Cooper's Big Adventure

It's hard to believe it is the end of July, what happened to summer? Oh well, Master Cooper visited us last week and delighted us with his antics. Nana (grandma Terri) kept him really busy with activities throughout the week; good thing, we weren't able to get him out on the boat until the Sunday before he left, and that was for our monthly Church on the Beach at Bird Shoal. Too much wind! Hope that is not an omen for the fall......

First thing with Master Cooper: don't go past this line on the driveway, even though we're on a cul-de-sac we still don't want the best little grand baby in the world playing in the street. Although the chalk wore off Cooper knew this was the limit.

Nana took him to the aquarium; she took a lot of pictures, this is my favorite.

She took Cooper to the Teacher's Pet; he loves the train sets. His birthday is August 3rd, hmmmmmmmmmmmmm................................

Bubbles was one of his favorite past times, and no, I'm not talking about the FO's favorite dancer at the "club." In this picture Cooper is getting pretty tired, I think; it's either that or he inhaled instead of exhaled.

Here Nana resurrected one of Jackson's favorite toys and Cooper really enjoyed it, especially the medieval catapult, but after all who doesn't like a medieval catapult?

Nana took him to the pool where he slipped through the ring and tried to drink the pool on his way to safety.

Nana also decided to have a little fun and put Cooper in a sewage pipe for a few minutes of quiet. It worked well until he found an opening.

One afternoon we thought we would have some fun and let Cooper and Pop take turns driving the roadster. Here Pop helps Cooper start the car; Cooper was disappointed the car has a stick shift and not the paddle shifter with which he is accustomed. Surprisingly Pop had the quicker lap times!

Here Cooper relaxes after pulling an old fat inebriated man from the surf. Way to go Cooper! (Does my bathing suit make my butt look big? Does the ocean make my butt look big?)

While at the beach Cooper did his mandatory fill the hole up with seawater trick. All of this is encouraged to wear him out.

Speaking of mandatory, here is his July GQ shot in the dunes.

Caught in the wash, Cooper helps the same inebriated old fat guy to safety......again. Way to go Cooper!

Nana, who made all of this possible. She took Cooper to the beach, numerous stores, McDonald's, the country club, the playground, and yet no matter where she took Cooper he was always able to find his way home. Way to go Cooper!

We really enjoyed having him around for a week, but we understand why young people have babies. Cooper is a lot of fun and it is really neat to see him experience new events. Can't wait to get him back down east.

July 27, 2009
The Video
Terri wanted me to film her going down the slide on the liner; so here t'is. Enjoy!

July 24, 2009
Been busy, finally got around to posting some pictures from our cruise. Strangely enough I didn't take as many pictures as you would think, no reason why or why not, just didn't. But anyway, here is the selection followed by a very special video.
First picture is for # 1 son Jay who was always interested in the beginning and ends of highway routes. Highway 1 is a huge national highway and this is where it ends. For you Jay.......

Next picture is the departure from Miami deep water terminal. The USCG escorted us out complete with a crewman standing behind a .30 on the bow . Hope we're on the right ship Terri and Jackson in Cozumel with our ship and her sister in the background. Looks like they were getting along here

Before we left Key West there is a local law that you have to go-a-drankin, so go-a-drankin we did go. While in Sloppy Joe's we saw a wedding party come in, reminded us of Heather and Kevin; except that Heather and Kevin didn't go to a bar after they got married. In truth their attire reminded us of the Riley newlyweds.

For Kristi, Kevin and Jay, a restaurant in the cruise ship "safe" section of Cozumel.

And for the rest of you a cake resembling the float in Animal house....why? I haven't the foggiest

In Cozumel with another ship

Two shots of Cozumel; we had a great dinner downtown and went shopping
Sunset as we headed back to the ship
Each night our towels were folded into animals; this one sported my reading glasses one night
Some cool dude and an old codger on our last night at sea
Sorry, for some reason we're not able to load short videos today, or yesterday for that matter. So you'll miss Terri going down the water slide, sorry. It's available for home presentation if you're interested.

Next week, Cooper at the beach

July 19, 2009

A good walk spoiled.......................

Someone wrote a book about golf which used that Mark Twain quote "golf is a good walk spoiled." Reminds me of my fishing adventure of today.I left early this Sunday morning at 5:00 after checking the radar and latest weather report; chance of thunderstorms after 2:00, winds are calm growing to 8-10 after lunch. Radar showed a line of thunderstorms 25+ miles offshore; should be a good morning to find a few Spanish and maybe a keeper flounder or two.As I motored east and as the sun started hitting the tops of clouds I could see what seemed to be a couple of squall lines approaching from offshore. Well that can't be, but just to keep dry I decided to take advantage of the calm seas and go offshore. Got to the inlet and found a respectable 4 foot swell with more SW wind than expected. Went on out to AR 315 and found some preacher's ...............lizard fish and undersized flounder; and nothing else. Saw a little bait, but no Spanish or blues...odd.About 7:30 I looked offshore and saw two serious squall lines coming in. Having little luck, and being on Dink and Pop duty, I decided go home and to run between the two lines and then follow the first line in. In retrospect this wasn't my best move, especially since Jackson told me later that it didn't rain at the Sheraton where he was at work. Anyway the move was made and I started for the shipping channel. As I neared the channel Shackleford Banks disappeared into the rain, then I watched as Ft Macon did the same. By then I was in the channel and watched as the channel markers vanished. At some point I put the top up, probably brought on by the fact that the radio speaker started sounding kinda funny; it was soaked and so was I. Rode it out in the channel, visibility improved past 100 yards, so I started for the eastern side of Beaufort Inlet. Did I mention the calm winds? Well they weren't.Got inside and went up into the Middle Marshes. No fish at home I decided to scout a creek in the middle of the marshes, tried to punch it a little too far into skinny water and ended up hard aground on an oyster rock. Lowered the trolling motor to pop off the rock and then discovered the trolling motor took a sick leave day. Got out of the boat (where is barefooted Jay when you need him?) and thankfully was able to get into deeper water. By now it was 9 or so, and I've got my day planned to transport Dink to Pop's place, so I decided I'd had about enough. Tried the east side of the inlet with no results, went to the railroad trestle and didn't get a bite, the heck with it, it hasn't been my best day, I'm going home! My neighbors went by and asked me later if I saw the waterspout behind me; just as well that I didn't.
As I got up to speed coming out of the Turning Basin I saw something in the water that caught my eye. I turned around and netted a NC Seafood Festival hat that someone lost overboard. My luck has changed! Someone is getting a nice hat for Christmas so act surprised. Ran on to Spooner Creek, turned into the channel, and as is my custom as I throttled back I reached for my visor on the post, but it was gone! Talk about karma......

Got to the landing, backed the truck in, hit the parking brake and broke it in the locked position.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Got it unhung, got home, hit the engine skeg backing in the driveway, realized I'd lost my sunglasses in all the confusion. After searching the house and garage way too long, finally gave up and got my shower to go pick up Dink. However I did find my visor which must have blown off of my head but stayed in the boat, a la Davis Powers.Before leaving I went to the landing to try to find the sunglasses; oddly enough I found them as I got back into the truck.....I'd been sitting on them the whole time. Who didn't see that one coming? Hope I fixed them well enough to keep the lens in.

So that was my day, which is some kind of circular logic comes back around to golf. I taped The Open, sure hope Tom Watson won.................................

July 17, 2009
I know some of you are looking for cruise pictures, and we have a few but not many, and they are pretty; but not anywhere as pretty as these pictures:

Kevin is home and in the arms of his wife, and that makes today one of the happiest days of my 54 years here on this planet. You're my hero buddy, and words can't describe how proud I am to be your uncle. Rest up and thank you for a job well done.

July 14, 2009

Happy Bastille Day!

The first entry is a guest post/guest post from my brother; a good piece so enjoy......
Guest Post: Dave on "Letting Go"
The last weeks have been quite an exercise in “letting go”. We are in a continuing process of this it seems. During my “Best Man” speech at Kevin and Heather’s wedding, Bev and I thought that “letting go” would be a good theme. I spoke of instances when with both of our children, we had to let go. Whether it was the first day of school, sleepovers, campouts, summer camp or trips to Europe, we knew in our heads it was part of a process we had to go through. Our hearts certainly felt differently when that bus pulled away or we left them at the airport. As they grew older, the “letting go” did not get any easier. College was a big adjustment with Kevin 6 hours away, and K. 1 ½ hours away, both leaving within a 2-year span. Their graduations meant more ‘away’ time with Kevin in Washington, DC working for Senator Helms as an intern and K. getting involved in her career. We jokingly say our children grew to the fine young people they are today in spite of us, not because of us. K.’s marriage was another big step for Bev and I, but knowing that L. was her soul mate and would always be there for her made the “letting go” somewhat easier. It really hit me when, as they were leaving the reception, K. waved and said “Bye Dad”. Kevin’s graduation from grad school, commissioning in the Army and duty stations in Washington, Kentucky, Alabama and Alaska were also big for us. His tour in Iraq has been a tremendous test of our faith. His meeting and marriage to Heather meant as Bev put it, “We are four times blessed”. Kevin, Heather, K. and L., now make up our growing family. Which brings me back to the “letting go” over the last weeks. After many months we were finally able to sell both of the houses in Rocky Mount to one individual. After my grandfather died, my Dad sold the small farm my grandparents lived on and built a house next door for my grandmother. John and I grew up with my grandmother next door. She was one of the best cooks and some of the things she made, still make me hungry. She was a tremendous Christian lady and loved us all. My parents are “depression era” people and if you know anything about people growing up in that time in history there are several traits they have. They never throw anything away and they always buy products on sale even though they don’t need them right then. We joked that my Dad started preparing for the Y2K scare in 1959. My sister in law and wife cleaned out the closets when we moved them to Morehead, and you would not believe what they found. Multiple cans of food, paper towels, soap, shaving cream, as well as an array of unused washcloths and towels. The attic was more of the same. It is no telling how many loads we took to the dump. Electric frying pans with missing cords, free (important word in the Riley house) glasses, plates and tons of paper bags were just some of the junk that went out.I guess when you live in one house for over 50 years; you can accumulate a lot of stuff. My Dad’s shop area was an entirely different animal. Dad built a 20X25 foot shop in the 1960’s. I remember his excitement as the floor was poured and the framing was started. He wanted to be able to house all of his tools, welder as well as the freezer. He built workbenches with a vise and grinder. Having worked at the railroad, there was always plenty of scrap metal that was made into knives, fish scrappers, bowls, and anything else he could think of. The guys at the railroad “traded” their skills. The upholstery guys made sheaths for the knives, and zippered carrying bags for your pistol. Dad always also had plenty of car maintenance products. As mentioned earlier, if oil filters were on sale 4 or 5 were bought. Same with just about everything else in the shop. People coming in the shop said it looked like a mini-Wal-Mart. The shop was a great place to be on rainy days. John and I would play baseball with a stick and one of the many sponges Dad had. I think we could have been on the cutting edge of “nerf’ products had we know what we were doing. When we got our first boat, (a big step since we just had a motor before), Dad built a port off of the side to park our 16’ Carolina boat under. This was also one of the areas where John and I got our haircuts. When Calvin Creech, the neighborhood barber went from .25 to .50, Dad decided that was too much, bought a set of clippers and learned how to barber. Thank goodness John was blond and Dad’s workmanship or lack of it didn’t show too badly. After the boat port, was added, Dad built a trailer from more scrap metal, an old car axle and put wooden sides on it. Of course he had to have somewhere to put it, so he had another port built off of the boat port. Since it was a long sloping roof, it made a great place for our Lab, Jake to jump from his doghouse onto the roof to keep watch on everything. Every night at dinner, Dink would announce that Jake would jump off one day, but he never did. Cleaning the shop was quite a task. We offered close friends some of Dad’s tools that we could not use or have anywhere to store. I am glad these are in the hands of friends that knew Dad and hopefully will think of him when they use them. John and I finally had given away all that we could and last Saturday decided the time for the final cleanup was at hand. Armed with 32-gallon trash bags and boxes we began. We had the option of leaving some of the trash on the front curb, but decided with the closing on Monday, it would still be there when the new owner took over. We loaded up the Jeep and hauled and hauled and hauled to the dump. Dad never bought ice for our trips. He always took the cardboard juice cartons, filled them with water and put them in the freezer. This is also a good way to freeze cleaned fish. Anyway, I loaded 2 or 3 of the 32 gallon bags with just” Old South” empty orange juice containers. “Old South” was the house brand for Winn-Dixie, Dad was into generic products way before it was the thing to do. Plus Winn-Dixie has been gone from Rocky Mount since 1980’s After we finished the shop, we walked through the yard to make sure we cleaned up everything. As we walked through one corner of the backyard, John caught himself looking for deposits made by our last dog, Duchess. Old habits are hard to break. One last walk through the house and it was time to say good by to the house we grew up in. Many memories of the smell of Dink’s fried chicken, Grandma’s pineapple cake and apple turnovers, Dad, John and Bobby High watching “Cade’s Country” every week, John kicking a hole in my bedroom door and many Christmas mornings are just a few. As we went to the closing today, I told Bev we had closed another chapter is our lives, or maybe just another “Letting Go” that we needed to experience.
Posted by Bev at 12:32 PM 1 comments

The second piece is from my sister in law; and we've been waiting a long time to announce this news:
Kev's Coming Home!
Made a banner to celebrate my son coming home from Iraq! Any day now, he'll be getting home to AK and Heather! I'm thrilled and touched for Heather to hang this banner among the others made by herself and loving, hopeful families, as we all await their safe arrival home. We are so proud of Kevin and Heather and the way they have not only survived a year apart, but have thrived and grown together in the process!WELCOME HOME from all of us, Kev! Can't wait to see you both at Christmas!
Posted by Bev at 12:07 PM 1 comments

Now that's important news and makes everyone happy!!!!!! Cruise pictures and videos when I get the chance

July 13

Back from vacation, will post pictures later. We had a good time, the food and accomodations were much better than we expected.

Right now I have a lot of catching up to do with these piles of paper on my desk; but I will put some up this week. In the mean time.............................................Wednesday is going to be a GREAT DAY!!!!

More later

Have a good week

July 2, 2009
Hard to believe that number one son Jay will be 29 this Sunday; happy birthday Jay, we'll be thinking about you while we're on our cruise.
That's right, cruise. I got a really good deal with this man called Skipper, his first mate is Willy Gilligan, we're taking a three hour cruise, a three hour cruise...................
Heading out of Miami this weekend, coming back next Friday from a western Carribean tour. It's our first cruise so we'll see how we like it.
Meanwhile we're getting ready to celebrate independence and freedom. Let freedom ring.
Pop was in the hospital twice last week but is rebounding well and happy to be back at Crystal Bluffs; a place he considers home now, and that's a good thing. Dave will be down here next week to watch Bonnie and Clyde while we're gone.
Things found while looking for something else

The man seated right behind the piling is my father's father, in FL in the early 50's on a jungle cruise. The other shot is Pop and me from 1956. yes I know, you didn't think I was that old.

And here is another shot from many years ago; I'll date this one in the early 80's. No, it's from last year's famous Expo in Cleveland. I was going through their website and found it the other day.

More later, behave yourselves.