Red Robin Alarm

I have had an odd history with birds at my current home. I have had a few come into my bedroom and sit a top my canopy. A few on my screened in porch as well, both of these occurrences are extremely odd and rare, nobody else seems to have this problem. It is a screened in porch with a mostly closed door, how are they getting in and why? The biggest problem with them getting in is my one dog Calli, she is a bird dog by design. It is very tricky to get her out of the room and close all of the doors without her hunting the bird who by this time is already freaking out and flying into my windows. The entire episodes are distressing for all involved. I returned on Monday from a trip north visiting my oldest and dearest friend. She is also the mother of my god son who quite frankly is amazing and exhausting. I was beyond tired on Monday night and needed a good nights rest. I awoke on Monday morning to a tapping on my bathroom window. I woke up and was thinking is someone knocking on my window? Not good since I don't have a blind on that window and its inside of my privacy fence. I hear the noise again and decided I need to get up and see what it is, in my heart I already know though. I peak around the door to the bathroom and what do I see but a Red Robin trying to break in.... He was there again this morning, not sure what is enticing him but it needs to stop. I really don't think I can't handle the birds anymore enough already. Plus the poor thing is going to get hurt.... In addition I was driving to work today with the dogs and almost killed a large part of the flock of geese living in my neighborhood. I will admit I was not paying attention but what on earth were they doing in the middle of the road.... I could have killed a poor innocent duck and hurt my own dogs, that would have been a bad morning! Damn BIRDS

Rain Dance Please

I am sure you all remember back in the late winter early spring when I was complaining about the rain we were getting. Someone really should have shut me up, we have had exactly one day of rain since my birthday, 47 DAYS AGO. My back yard is dying, most of my neighbors yards look dead, it's a DISASTER. I know that one good storm from mother nature will fix this, I hope anyway, as it is worse than I have ever seen it. Today we had a 80% chance of rain at 1pm and somehow at 80% we missed it, now some of the area got it but not me, my neighbors, or my friends and that really is all that matters. So again tonight around 6pm we have a 60% chance, please pray for us as if we don't get it today I don't know what we will do. Of course since I am out here begging for it I am sure I will see no rain for another ten days.

We're Back

We're back from OBX.  The house there is truly special. We have stayed there six times now and will be back in November. There is a great story to the house which has been in the same family for three generations.  To take a virtual tour go to:http://www.mouseonhouse.com/property/16/1610/  Some of the pix are older (different furniture) but you get the idea.  The view from the master bedroom is wonderful and the balcony is a great place to sit when you had a little too much sun but still want the beach view.

We had great weather and I spent a lot of time on the beach.  Walked, read (yes you can read from a Kindle on the beach--no glare and no flapping pages), and viewed the pelicans, osprey, gulls, terns, dolphins,sand crabs, and more.  The feel of the wind and the sound of the surf. YES!!!

We went for lunch everyday.  Mr.P. does not beach but he does love sea food and we had it or fish everyday.  One of the spots we love the most is the Black Pelican,an old rescue station that has been refurbished into a restaurant.  Lots of old pix of the station as a station. It's named for an actual Black Pelican that saved ships during storms by guiding them to safe harbor, or so the legend goes.  The menu is good.  I love the brick oven thin crust Margarita pizza and their fries are the bestest. It's on the beach road about mile post 3.5. Although it is ocean front, all you can see is the dunes but somehow it all feels right. Another favorite on the beach road is in Nags Head.  A little old house that is Sam and Omie's. A hangout for watermen, this place feels very local and I love their clear broth clam chowder, kind of a low country recipe with a twist. 

This is kind of a last stop before heading on down 12S to Hatteras. Didn't make it to Hatteras this trip but did swoop in on Bodie Island Lighthouse. It is covered in scaffolding with a "dress" on the top.  This really looks weird from a distance. They are sandblasting the lead based paint off the iron work at the top and have it covered for environmental reasons. The workmen have to be tested weekly for lead poinsoning.

2010

2009

Breakfast at the Jolly Roger is a must.  This is an OBX tradition. Once again lots of locals. If you want to see Kill Devil Hills' finest at one table get there early. They're all there. The decor is indescribable.

Yes it looks like this all the the time. The ceiling in th main dining room is covered in tinfoil and thousands of glass Christmas ornaments.

Up in Duck on 12N there is the Roadside Cafe and the Red Sky. Both are unassuming from the outside but funky inside with cool menus. My fave at the Red Sky is the blue water burrito.  The Roadside sits right on the, yup, you got it, roadside and is a little brown shingled house.  Inside the tables are sea glass in old windows with a sheet of glass over it.  You can sit outside separated from 12 N by a high hedge and its really pleasant.  If you sit in the bar area you can watch the chef cook for you.

 Last, you have to go to the Sunset Grill in Duck. Sit and look at the sound from inside in the AC or out on the huge deck and bar area. I sat and watched a guy drinking a blue drink out of a fishbowl. It's name: The Titanic.  They  have sushi grade tuna and I love the Ceasar salad with grilled medium rare tuna. Yum.

We tried two new places Goombay (ok but nothing exciting) on the beach road in KDH and the Nag's Head Pier Restaurant.  Talk about sea side dining.  Sitting over the surf. Glorious.  I had calamari and Ceasar salad. Mr.P. had his first ever soft shell crab. Speaking of which I had soft shell six ways from Sunday. Got to love it.

We also hit a few favorite shops but later for that. The Baby Girl is due home and I want to get this up.

What I Just Read

"Girls in Trucks" it was written by a local author and is an excellent read. It is especially poignant for anyone who has lived in the south and understands it is not like the rest of the country. The author Katie Crouch also wrote a 2nd novel called Men and Dogs, I can't wait..... I will crack it's spine this afternoon and spend a whole Sunday home with great reads, can't think of anything better. I did unfortunately have to leave at some point to find food.... This is not an ideal situation as it kills me to have to go grocery shopping at all but especially on the weekend!

Hanging Balls

Kelly picked this gorgeous glass ball up on our vacation in Florida recently, more exactly in St. Armand's Circle which is one of my favorite places on earth. We found this store a couple years ago and fell in love with it for it's variety and uniqueness. She had been looking for something to hang over her new wine rack. Originally we were going to hang a light from the ceiling but Pottery Barn while having it in the catalog no longer carried it so we moved on. She saw these balls in the garden store and wanted one immediately, the cashier didn't know what to call the ball so on the receipt she wrote hanging balls, so funny. What's amazing here is that they hand right and hand do the math for the receipts. Kelly asked for help with color choice of the ball but I said it did not matter you should get the one you love the most. The acquisition was about a month ago and she has been dying to hang it ever since. I have only ever twice hung something from the ceiling, the first time it crashed in the night, the 2nd is still up thankfully. Last night in preparation for our progressive non-progressive dinner event tonight I agreed to help her hang it. It has been a process from the start including finding the fishing line to hang it with. Oddly I spied it in a gas station window the day we attended the tennis matches a few weeks back. Odd thing to find there but an awesome one none the less. I didn't know what would work best for the hanging so I had gathered many options. We ended up using a hook that I formerly had on my porch that I had taken down because it wasn't secure enough for what it held. It didn't take very long to hang the ball we just took more time to be extremely cautious. We measured the line length, tied it, tested it, agreed where to hang it, and marked the ceiling. I climb the ladder and started screwing the hook in, problem is I am freaked and below me is her new wine rack all perfect with all this glass on it and in it. I drop things, this is not news and especially when I am screwing screws in. Well in goes the first screw, the 2nd, and its up. I tell Kelly to turn around, she asked why and I said just do it because I needed to pull on it and test it, she grimaced but turned. I pulled on it and felt OK, not great. I then asked for the anchors I had brought, unscrewed the screws, asked for a hammer, placed the anchors, and screwed the screws back in SUCCESS. I felt better, I told her to watch it though, never trusting a screw in sheetrock. She is thrilled and it looks awesome, my first concern though this morning was the damn ball and I could not wait to know if it was still up, it is!