Wahoowa!

Melissa and the UVA gang return this week for another long weekend of fun in the sun!

Young father gets an “A”…sort of!

I was sitting on the beach a couple of days ago reading a book and working on my tan (I look marvelous…actually stunning, but that’s another story), when this young father appears to the right of me with his 4-year old son and a fishing pole.  I’m thinking this guy is doing the fatherly thing by teaching his toddler how to fish.  I examine his fishing pole a little closer and notice it is one of those 6 foot pre-packaged rigs with the bright yellow fishing line that can be bought at Ace Hardware for $19.99…certainly sufficient for doing a bit of surf fishing.  After looking a little closer I notice he is using a whole fish about 5-6 inches in length for bait and has two of them hooked through the mid-section on a double rig.  I wouldn’t classify myself as an expert fisherman, but this is not the normal bloodworm or squid bait that one uses to catch spot, croakers, flounder or the occasional small shark.

I knew things were a little off, but really had my doubts when the first cast traveled about 10 feet and barely made it to the crashing surf.  At this point he handed the pole to his young son and opened the bale so the line would get pulled out and down the shoreline by the current.   While the boy is standing there letting his line disappear into the surf, Dad leaves and returns moments later with an identical pole that is rigged the exact same way.  He proceeds to cast this pole so that it crosses the line of his son’s pole.  Things are really getting interesting (who needs reality TV?)!

There is a big burly guy staying in a cottage across the street this week that we have affectionately named the “plumber”…probably TMI, but he has earned the nickname by showing everyone on the beach a little more than they bargained for.   After watching Dad try to untangle the lines for 15 minutes, the “plumber” decides enough is enough and starts pulling the fishing line from the young boy’s pole out of the surf by the handful.  At this point at least ¾ of the line from his reel is in the water and the “plumber” has an enormous amount of yellow line in his hand that he promptly hands to Dad.

Dad finally retreats to the beach with both poles, sits down and starts to work on untangling the two lines.  I left the beach an hour later and the pole surgery was still in progress.  It has been several days since this incident.  I’ve seen Dad and the boy on the beach every day (and unfortunately the “plumber”), but no fishing poles.  I think it is a good thing the lad is so young; he will have no memory of this debacle.  Nice try Dad, you get an “A” for doing the fatherly thing, but building sand castles gives you the same father-son beach bonding experience and is much easier on the ego.

The Order Testudines

This box turtle (from the order of Testudines) was sunning himself on our driveway this morning.

The Joys of Being Somewhat Colorblind

So I was at Conner's supermarket yesterday doing some grocery shopping and stubbed my toe on something while I was in the produce department.  Looked down at my big toe and it was bleeding under the nail, but not so severely that it was dripping on the floor or making a mess of my $5 flip flops.  Returned to the house and ate lunch, and then headed down to the beach.  Spent a considerable amount of time in the ocean boogie boarding and my toe was still an unsightly mess.  Came back to the house and took a shower.  The toe was still a mess, so I got out the nail clippers and prepared for minor surgery.  Starting digging around under the nail, and what a treasure I did find!  I stubbed my toe on a watermelon at Conner's and spent the day with a green watermelon rind jammed under my toenail...no blood, no damage.  If I was not partially colorblind I probably would have noticed earlier in the day that my toe was green, not red!  Such is life for those of us afflicted with this colorblindness thing!

Hatteras Like You Have Never Seen It!

Carolee and Kristyne are at the beach this week for some mid-January R&R and they got a little more than they bargained for!  It is a rare occurrence to have snow stick on the ground in Hatteras...happens every 10-15 years, but the girls timed it right. (Double click on the picture below for a larger view of the slideshow!)

OoO

We mark our calendars at work with 'OoO' whenever we are going to be out of the office.  I've come up with a new meaning for 'OoO'...October on Ocracoke.  Carolee and I spent five days at the house by ourselves (not a complaint...we love to have other people around) last week, a rare event, and enjoyed some pretty spectacular weather.  Carolee celebrated her birthday on Sunday the 17th by running 11 miles in preparation for her upcoming 1/2 marathon in Indianapolis and we had dinner with Dennis and Alita at Oceana's Bistro that evening.  On Monday the 18th I took the ferry from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island and biked from the north end of the island down to the village of Ocracoke and back, a 27 mile round trip.  It was a perfect day and I highly recommend hitting the Outer Banks in October when the crowds have died down (except the fisherman) and the daily highs are still in the mid to upper 70's.  We are heading back to the beach next month and will spend Thanksgiving at the beach for the first time.  The weather will be cooler, but the beach is good any time of the year.

Earl (is no pearl)

Earl had Nora so wound up her hair was sticking straight up!  Actually we sweated Hurricane Earl out Thursday evening from Indianapolis by watching The Weather Channel for a ridiculous amount of time (like it would change something!).  The biggest problem was sound side flooding, but the island is back open for business and Highway 12 did not sustain any structural damage.  If you know the area, slide 6 of the slide show (see link below) will give you a good reference point. The picture is taken going north on Highway 12 and you can see Dillon's corner on the left, which is right across the street from Old Lighthouse Road.  Everyone is feeling fortunate that the area came through relatively unscathed considering this was a Category 4 storm at one point with winds of 145 mph!

http://www.islandfreepress.org/2010Archives/09.03.2010-HurricaneEarlSlideShow/index.html