If it wasn't humid enough for you before last night, I am sure the 1.5 inches of rain that we got will do the trick.

It is about time to say enough with the rain.  We have gotten close to 4 inches of rain in the last five days.  We have had well over a foot of rain since the third week in July.

If we get some more rain, I might switch my yard from centipede grass to rice paddy.  It is good thing we live and sand, and that the water drains off easily.  If this much rain hit the mountains, there would be flood, and our insurance rates would go up here on the coast. 

I am sorry, but that's pure coastal insider humor.  The last few hurricanes to hit North Carolina have done most of their damage inland, but our insurance rates have gone up and some insurers like State Farm are backing out of the area.

I have gotten to really "appreciate" August's humidity in the last week.  As is the case with almost all homes in Carteret County outside of Beaufort, Morehead City, and Newport, our home is on a septic system.  We have been in our home four years, so now is a good time to have it pumped.
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I am back from a little break in writing, and yesterday was a great day to gather my thoughts before posting

Saturday evening we received seven tenths of an inch of rain which was a nice addition to the three inches of rain we received early in July.  With the latest rain came cooler temperatures and lower humidity.

An early morning bike ride was my first choice to take advantage of the great weather.  After a few miles on the bike, I retired to the swimming pool for some cooler exercise.  Then I decided to invite my friends, Gail and Dean, on a boat ride.  The invitation was quickly accepted.

Given this is still part of our busiest week of the year, we decided to head up the White Oak River instead of out the inlet.  That turned out to be a great decision.  We only saw a couple of boats, and we enjoyed some wonderful sights such Bald Cypress trees encroaching on the river.
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I will have to admit to being lazy yesterday.  A boring day of desk duty at the real estate office and a visitor-less open house the next day got me to the point of needing my batteries recharged.

I actually do much better when I am busy.  I would rather do anything than sit at a desk waiting for the phone to ring.  Sitting in a house waiting for someone to drop by is equally mind numbing.

Before the heat got bad yesterday, I took the boat down to Swansboro harbor.  It was a perfect morning cruise.  I went down the river at almost 30 mph on a perfect plane, and came back up almost as fast.

When I got home, I was saddened to see that the fiddler crabs had stolen one of my nice tomatoes.  We are getting three or four a day, but I still do not like to lose one to the crabs.
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After a winter which bedeviled the whole east coast, there comes a time when you need some beach time.  Yesterday was the time and the place.

The weather also cooperated.  After a quick morning boat ride from Bluewater Cove up the river to River Oaks Plantation, I managed to finish up some trimming around the yard.  We dropped the pine branches and palm fronds at the trash transfer station and headed over to the beach.

It was great to see a nice crowd of folks in Emerald Isle.  The Dairy Queen was packed, and there were plenty of visitors wandering the Island.  We were surprised to see the Eastern Regional Access parking lot filled to the brim.

We traveled on up the Island to my personal favorite spot, Third Street Beach.  There we only had to share the beach with another couple of people.

The water was really low and had exposed the sandbar that runs parallel to the shore.  While I consider May 1 early for getting in the water, I waded over to the sandbar and had a great time taking pictures.  read more »

While weather can easily change, you know that we have turned the corner when temperatures at night do not get out of the sixties.  The sixties are just right for sleeping, and I plan to enjoy them as long as they last.

We will need temperatures at night in the seventies and eventually eighties to really warm the area's waters, but we are finally off to a good start.  When I see that our morning temperature differential is twenty five degrees Fahrenheit compared to my old stomping grounds in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I feel safe in saying that we are on track for spring and summer.

There are some other signs of spring.  One was our trip yesterday down the White Oak to Swansboro.  It was the first time since fall that I had been down the river in the skiff while I was wearing shorts and a tee shirt.  It was a pleasant ride, and we recorded it with my GPS tracker, the i-gotU.
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There is something very pleasurable about getting your boat ready for the season.  Maybe the end result, a shiny new looking boat, is all the reward that you need.  It is nice to work on something as uncomplicated as cleaning a boat.

When it is as warm as it has been, getting wet does not matter. Cleaning a boat is just different.  I know cleaning a house is very frustrating because it just gets dirty again. 

Well a boat is even worse because it can get much dirtier, and if you wait to clean it, strange things can start growing.  Still the fun you have in a boat seems to more than compensate for all the scrubbing.

Even with the knowledge of how easily that clean boat gets messed up, I do not mind the effort.  Seeing the grime and stains disappear, just builds anticipation for that first trip out the Inlet.  You stand a little taller at the console if your boat is clean and shiny.

I still have a little polishing left to do, and I have to give my push pole and oar a coat of varnish.  Even with getting the oil changed, we should be ready for some early season boating in another week.  read more »

I know this is not the end of winter, but I think yesterday might have mortally wounded the old man.  It might take a while for him to disappear, but we have seen spring and any return to winter will not drive the memory of yesterday's warmth away.

It was just a great Sunday. By the time we headed to church at Cape Carteret Presbyterian, I knew we were going to have a beautiful day.  As we walked back to car after the service, it felt like spring.


After lunch, we celebrated our first day with the temperature reaching to sixty by trimming our roses and hauling the waste to the trash transfer point.  It was like grand central station with pickup trucks.  Everyone was hauling yard waste.  We even saw my colleague, Ed from the real estate office, backed up to the bulk container.
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