Tonight, we broke the rules.  “We” being myself and Moxley.

In season, dogs aren’t allowed on the beach in Southern Shores.  (One neighborhood north, they are allowed year round.)  I understand why - in any given population, there is X% that don’t clean up after their critters.  In the offseason, in real numbers, that percentage is tolerable. ( Read more... )

When the wildlife comes up and poses for you.


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How to take care of the edginess that goes along with selling a townhouse and waiting for the other shoe to drop between now & closing:

- Get text message of: Beach?
- Call realtor to make sure you can disappear for 60 hours.
- Drive south for about 4 hours
- Drink beer and read books on porch since you beat your host to the house. Sleep. Go ( Read more... )

The last day here always sucks. At least I know this year there’s a decent chance I’ll get myself down here in the off-season rather than starting the 365 countdown as has been the case in years past…

Wanted to get one last afternoon on the sound, but there’s a storm just a bit inland that has been stalled there all afternoon - not exactly a good ( Read more... )

First afternoon out on the kayak, you might want to go slightly less than two hours… But, it was gorgeous and the fact that I can’t move my arms today is still worth it.


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Wildlife sightings:
- Frog (on car windshield)
- Baby Praying Mantis
- Bunnies
- Lizards
- Deer
- Red Fox
- Water Moccasin eating an eel (in the same location where I put in the kayak today… I did well and it wasn’t 100% obvious that all I was doing was looking for snakes as we put in.)

The weather cooperated today and I hooked up w/ North Beach ( Read more... )

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Tonight little bro & I had dinner at The Left Bank - the only 4 star* restaurant on OBX. It was completely phenomenal. This is the same restaurant where cooking school weekend took place in April. You have the choice of the chef’s tasting menu, which is 7 courses and it’s all plotted out for you, or the 3 course menu where you have 4-5 options ( Read more... )

I’m a Navy brat, so in theory, I should be able to be completely at home anywhere in the world that you may drop my ass. (With some limitations - Tikrit may take me a couple extra days.)

But, that’s not quite the case. While I can fake my way through most places and survive, being “at home” somewhere is a different story altogether. There are ( Read more... )

I always knew I wasn’t normal, but I would prefer if it would manifest itself in ways other than randomly waking up at 5:45 AM while on vacation. Took the dog down to the dune deck and we sat and watched the waves for a while, and I’ve got my coffee, so it’s all good.  (I’ll probably be napping at 10AM…)

We have made it to the happy place, with ( Read more... )