OBX Vaca 2009: The Pictures

Cotton field on the way to the OBX.

The living room/kitchen at the house. This is the 3rd floor.

Living room/nook. 3rd floor.

View off of the 3rd floor balcony.

1st floor rec room with the pool table, Captain Hook, and the foos ball table is behind me.

Bridge out to Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

The original site of the lighthouse before it was moved in 1999.

A crab that came up to our front door.

 

Currituck Beach Lighthouse

A Great Blue Heron that I caught on film fishing. Cool!

Past Pets Hall of Fame Part Three

Next stop in the hall of fame takes us to Faline. Faline was our very first rabbit. We got her at a pet store (I know! The shame!) and they claimed she was a Netherland Dwarf. Being unfamiliar with rabbits, I took them at their word. Clearly though, she was a Dutch. We also found out later that she was a he, lol. When we moved to California, I had to give her/him to my aunt who absolutely loves rabbits so I knew that she/he went to a good home. She/he actually lived with us both in Ohio and in Florida but since I flew to California, Faline wasn’t able to come with us.

So, here’s a picture of Faline, the oldest child when she was only two, and myself at our apartment in Pensacola. This was taken in 1998.

Past Pets Hall of Fame Part Two

Next I want to tell you about Cal. Cal was the cat that we got from the Humane Society in Vermont. We originally wanted a cat because we needed a mouser. Before Vermont, we had never had mice before and we tried things like traps and poison to get rid of them but living in the country next to open fields, that stuff did absolutely no good. Plus, the ding dong mice sat on top of the traps and ate the peanut butter out of them. So, we figured a good mouser could be the solution to our mice problems.

Cal was one of the neatest cats that I had ever seen. We visited him a couple times at the shelter before finally deciding he was the cat for us.  He was already a few years old when we got him, but still playful and personable. While still very cat-like, he also liked being around us and he was fun to have.

Unfortunately, he stopped using his litter box and started using our coats, the closets, and laundry baskets to do his business in. His timing was really bad because we were getting ready to move and I, in good conscience, couldn’t move an unpredictable cat into a rental house. Had we had more time, maybe I could have figured out a way to get him to use his litter box again but that wasn’t in the cards. So, Cal went back to the Humane Society. I still feel guilty about it almost three years later so no lectures please.

I would love to have another cat someday but the Mister is pretty against it. I love cats though. They’re gorgeous and graceful and I would really love to have one. Maybe I’ll wait until the Mister  is out of the country on a deployment or something, heheheh. Just kidding.

Anyway, here’s a couple pictures of Cal the cat.

Wasn’t he just gorgeous? Oh. And Cal was an excellent mouser. He completely got rid of our mice problem.

Georgia Pictures

Here are some pictures that I took while in Georgia. All in all, I didn’t really take all that many but the ones that I have are pretty neat.

Statue in Chippewa Square which is where the bench scene in Forrest Gump was filmed.

Church spire from which the feather in Forrest Gump was dropped.

The two pictures above are of Savannah gray brick. There is quite a story behind the bricks which today, are worth $40 to $50 a piece. These bricks were made by slaves and when the slaves left Savannah, they took the recipe for the bricks with them. That’s why they are worth so much money and they are very historical to the city of Savannah. These bricks above are found in the courtyard of the Sorrel-Weed house. You will probably need to click on the pictures to make them bigger, but you can actually see finger indentations in the bricks that were made by slaves when they were forming the bricks. I really thought that was so very neat. Actual, touchable, history. Anyway…

This is the Mercer house which is where the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was filmed.

  These picture are of a 300 year old Live Oak tree which is also the oldest tree in Savannah.

The following pictures are of The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist Church. It was absolutely stunning. We had never been in such a magnificent church before and were all suitably impressed.

This last picture is of recruits marching at Parris Island. The youngest child had never been to Parris Island before and the oldest was only a year and a half when she was there.

All pictures can be clicked upon and made bigger for better viewing. I really recommend that for the brick and church pictures.

Freaky!

Is this not the freakiest picture of the sky you have ever seen?

I took this on the way to the oldest child’s school this morning.

And then this one:

I took this one on the way home.

Isn’t it weird? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a weather system move in like that before. It literally blanketed the sky. It’s also bringing warmer temps with it strangely enough. We’re supposed to have highs in the 60’s today and the 70’s tomorrow.

Just thought I’d share.

Our Vacation Revisited

I said a while back that I had more vacation pictures to share and then I forgot to share them. A little late, but here they are.

The next two pictures are views from the top of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. The Mister, the oldest child, and my stepmom climbed it:

The next two pictures are looking down:

This next picture is looking down the spiral staircase inside the lighthouse.

The next two pictures are of a blue heron that we saw on a nature hike. I thought it was neat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that close before.

The next set of pictures are of the beach in Corolla. This stretch of beach is only accessible by four wheel drive. People live out there and there are beach houses for rent as you can see in the last picture. Definitely not where you would want to be during a hurricane I wouldn’t think.

The next picture is of the most fabulous crab cake sandwich on the earth that I had for lunch from a deli. It was delicious.

This was our view as we ate our lunch:

Nice, right?

I think that’s it.

Day 5

Day 5:  NaBloPoMo

I’m almost 100% today. I must’ve had some sort of flu though because tonight, the oldest child is feeling the same way I did. Oh well. I survived and so will she, lol.

Pam asked to see the picture of Nicholas Sparks’ new house that I took the other day. I’ll post it but the picture doesn’t do the house justice in the least. The sun was shining through the windshield and the house is too big to fit into one frame. Yeah. It must be nice to be a successful author, lol. I also have pictures of his kids because they went to the same elementary school that my kids used to go to. But don’t even ask. I’m not putting them on the Internet. Nope. No way, no how. But you can rest assured, they’re cute kids. Anyway, here’s the pic:

What you can’t see is the humongous three car garage to the left, the two story deck in the rear, the docks for their boat and jet skis, the river that runs behind their house and the fact that it more closely resembles a castle than an actual house. It takes three heat pumps to heat and cool the place. My house takes one. Maybe someday I’ll go back and try to get a better picture. I like the house because it’s gorgeous not just because it belongs to someone famous but I feel very stalker-ish going out to it because it’s on a dead end drive so you really can’t pretend that you were just driving by. Heheheh.

Three days until we leave on our vacation.

Things Seen

Through the lens of my new phone…

I took the above picture in the Target parking lot. It was Wednesday night during the wind but before the rain.

The above picture I took yesterday afternoon during the rain, in the carpool lane at the oldest child’s school. Why? See the silver SUV behind the gap in the cars? You may have to click on the picture to make it bigger. Anyway, that car pulled out of line from behind me to drive up there and block the bus exit so that it could be that much closer to the front of the line. About five car lengths. Wth difference did it make is what I would like to know. The carpool lane always has a bit of drama in it every day. It’s amazing how “adult” parents can behave sometimes. Horns blowing, people getting out of their cars to tell people to move along. I’m not kidding either. When I get there, I hunker down with my latest read and try to pretend I’m somewhere else. Life’s too short to get your panties in a twist in the carpool lane.

Anywho, that’s all I have so far aside from the house pic I posted yesterday. The non-tropical storm we had is moving along. No more high winds but we’re still getting tons of rain. My town has the highest rainfall amount in the area so far and they said we could end up topping out at 5 inches when it’s all said and done. All this means to me is that I don’t have to water my grass, heheh.

Gotta run and brave the morning carpool lane. We’ll see how it goes this morning.

Some Stuff to Share

Today’s my birthday. I’m firmly entrenched in my 30’s now. I really hate that. The Mister and I went shopping yesterday and I got a new purse and wallet to match and a new pair of sunglasses. I told him that I didn’t want anything, and I really meant it, but we were out so why not. We also got Fools Gold, Juno, and the first season of The Shield on DVD. It was a fun time and good enough for my birthday.

Friday night we went to Jacksonville for dinner. We got there early so we did a little shopping that day too, heheh. I got the cutest pair of sandals. Check them out:

I absolutely love them and they are very comfortable and they were on sale too. I also got a new pair of running shoes but the arches hit my feet wrong so I’m giving them to the oldest child. It’s too bad too because I really liked them and I have the hardest time picking out running shoes. Just ask Jennifer. She went with me back when we both lived in California and it was probably the most painful shoe shopping trip she ever suffered through. I still need new running shoes though because my current ones make my toes go numb on the elliptical. Not a good thing.

Oh. And I also got the newest “Stuff” pack for the Sims 2. It’s Ikea furniture and I love it!

When I’m depressed, I shop. I’m not a comfort eater, I’m a comfort shopper. I’m feeling much better these days, LMAO!!

I also have another picture that I want to share because I find it hilarious:

This is Bailey being silly with her rope. She cracks me up when she does this.

And this picture is the oldest child’s guinea pig, Bacon. We’ve been Bacon-sitting for her while she's in Ohio and he’s a cute little guy. He likes to sleep in this dish which used to be his food dish. Now he has another food dish that's too small for him to sleep in.

Lastly, the following picture is the view from our hotel room in Asheville. It was pretty nice, huh?

That's it for today. Sorry for all the previous funkiness.