You Are Here

I don't even know where to begin! I guess I start by saying we don't have chickens anymore. Well, that's not entirely true. We have three. We still have Bucky and China. They're starting to show their age now, though. We've also got Honey Boo Boo Chick. She was supposed to belong to a friend that was a neighbor. But she moved and Honey Boo Boo stayed. That doesn't mean we're gonna stay chickenless. We just needed a chicken break for a bit. So, now I gotta say that we're moving! My great aunt passed away a few years ago. My mom and dad had been taking care of her, and got her house when she passed away. My brother and his family were living there for a while. Then Hurricane Irene happened. There was a lot of damage to The house, as it got flooded. So now we're gonna move out there and fix the house back up. Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of work, but it will be so worth it in the end! Three bedroom, two bath, two car garage, brick home...3/4 acre. Yeah, that's what we're looking for. Plus, we'll be just around the corner from my parents. We enjoy spending time with them, but we'll be nearby if they ever need any help. We've got four dogs now, too. We've still got Max and Minnie. Now we've got Ladybird (Birdy) and Daisy May. Birdy is a Boxer mix that belonged to another neighbor friend that moved to an apartment where they couldn't have a dog. So, being the animal lovers we are....voila. And Daisy is a Dachsund Beagle mix. She was a puppy of another friend's dog. I picked her up and BAM! She was mine. I'm still working for Airgas driving the CO2 truck. I actually love it! At one point I hated it. My route was too big and spread out that I couldn't keep it up. I was getting calls all day and night, and I was so stressed out! But the finally hired another driver, changed my route, and made things easier on me. I can breathe easier now, and I'm back to a regular schedule. Of course, since we're moving, my route will change again. We're moving an hour and change away, and my supervisor wants to redo my route based of where I'll be living. I don't have any pics on here to share yet, but I'll see what I can come up with for later. It's really good to be back! I look forward to seeing you guys around!

My Home Town-Belhaven, North Carolina

I thought I share a little about my home town, where I grew up.  But first, I wanted to let you know about yesterday's pic.  That was a pic of a Atlantic Bottle-nosed Dolphin.  Several times a year they swim up in the creek behind my parents' house.  They are chasing the plethera of speckled trout, mullets, and other tasty fish.  They were actually partially breaching and blowing water, but my camera just wasn't fast enough to catch all that.  They are nice to look at, but they ruin the fishing.  You can forget catching anything when they show up.

I grew up in the small town of Belhaven, North Carolina.  It's a lovely little town nestled right on the Pungo River.  It is only 8 miles from the Pamlico Sound and sits at only seven feet above sea level. 

I actually grew up at Pamlico Beach, a small waterfront community about 13 miles southeast of Belhaven.  It is really country living, but quite the peaceful life.  There's no hustle and bustle of city life.  You won't find night clubs or twenty-four hour grocery stores.  In fact, there's only one grocery store, Food Lion, in this quaint village of approxiamtely 2,000 inhabitants.  The big industries are tourism, bed-and-breakfasts, and fishing.

One of the more popular bed-and-breakfasts is River Forest Manor.  It is a beautful plantation type home converted into a B-N-B with a restaraunt.

My family occasionally visits for a seafood dinner after church on Sunday.

There are a few small shops downtown.  Tourists can often be seen strolling down Main Street on golf carts seeing the sights and lovely homes along Water Street.  There are a few small eateries, as well, in the area.

With any community so close to the rivers, sounds, and even the ocean, fishing for a living is quite common.  I, myself, come from a long line of family members that fish or have fished for a living.  My grandfather started with a small boat and a handful of crab pots when he was only 12 years old.  He is 78 years old today and still fishes for a living.  Of course, I have also made money at fishing, as has my dad, my mom's dad, my mom's grandfather, and many uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. 

In fact, the first job I ever had was on a fishing boat.  I was six months old.  My mom put me in a fish box, and I sat in the wheel house watching the large steering wheel turn from side to side.  My grandfather gave my mom $20.00 because I was on "wheel watch".  I could do an entire blog on commercial fishing, so I will leave that topic here.

Living near the water means there are many opportunites for water sports.  There is always fishing with a fishing pole.  Speed boating and sailing are quite common, as well as water skiing, hydrosliding, and personal water crafts.

There's a history to Belhaven, along with some of the surrounding small towns.  North Carolina is on the central eastern seaboard of the United States where many of the early settlements were.  One of Belhaven's historic buildings is the town hall.

The town hall houses the police department, the town museum, and the town hall offices.  There are nearby historic towns and districts, too, such as Bath, N.C., North Carolina's oldest town from 1789.  It's roots go further back, but that is when it was recognized as a township.

All in all, Belhaven is a nice place to live, particularly is you like the peace and quite of a small town.  There are drawbacks.  It's about a 40 minute drive to the nearest Wal-Mart in Washington, N.C.  As previously mentioned, there are no 24 hour stores.  Some of the stores even close by 7 p.m. And where my parents live, it is a  20 minute drive into town.  But that is a small price to pay for the peaceful, picturesque place to enjoy life.

What A Week

I am so ready for the entire week to be over with.  Of course, we look for the weekend to escape from the problems of the week, but they don't go away.  They sit right there and wait for you to return to them on Monday.  I had some unpleasant news this week that has put me in a bit of a predicament, and I am left having to make a decision I really would rather avoid.  I don't want to share any details right now, but I'd appreciate any thoughts and prayers I can get.

With that said, my weekend plans changed today.  My sister had asked Mike and I to go to the Dogwood Festival with them in Farmville, NC on Saturday.  There will be street vendors, live music, rides for the kids, and such.  That was the plan for Saturday.  But my mom didn't see my truck at work this morning when she drove by and thought I was out sick or something.  She called Mike and said that all my brothers and sisters were taking their kids to the festival and it was gonna be pretty quiet at home (for a change).  She asked if we'd like to come out for dinner, and maybe help her plant some flowers or something in the yard on Saturday.  So that's what the plan may be after all. 

The circle is the area where my parents live.  That's the Pamlico River that empties into the Pamlico Sound, which in turn, empties into the Atlantic Ocean.  We live an hour and a half west of them on the same river.  But it changes names to the Tar River half way in.

 Lost a chicken a few weeks ago.  Mike and I left Saturday morning and return Sunday evening.  I fed and watered the chickens well before we left, and when we returned we found our splash silkie dead.  She only had one eye.  The guy we got her from said she had Merek's as a chick, but had recovered well except for her eye.  She was with a blue rooster named Blueberry.

They were camera shy.  In fact, they were handled very little and any other type of living thing shy.  But now he seems severely depressed.  He only sits and refused to walk.  He eats and drinks very little.  I'm not sure if he will last through the weekend.  I tried putting another hen with him, but she does her thing, and he ignores her.  I've given him some antibiotics, but it all seems hopeless. 

SKY WATCH FRIDAY

I got this rainbow out our back door one evening with my cell phone. That was before my sister gave us a nice camera.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

P.S. Found out where Stripey Cat was for three days.  Farmer set out live traps to catch varmints around his chickens.  Nosey little Stripey Cat wandered over to his place and got himself into a mess.  But Farmer and his grandson realized he was a pet (but didn't know he was ours) and let him go.  He's home safe and sound now.

Holiday Scenery

I do love my holidays and weekends.  My parents live about an hour and a half away from us.  But we like to go there whenever it is convienent.  Our place is fairly country.  There is a field behind our house and plenty of wild life.  But my folks truly live in the country.  They live down a long dirt road with only family living down there, as well.  Their land is surrounded by water on all three sides.  Occasionally there are deer around, and once in a great while a black bear splashes out of the water.  The fishing there is just great!  We catch tons of Speckled Trout, Puppy Drum, Sting Rays, and Black Drum.  Sometimes we catch Blue Fish and Flounder.  The creek surrounding the house is Wrights Creek and is a big estuary.  Sea Hawks build nests around to raise young, and in the summer the dolphins swim up in the creek chasing bait fish.  We even catch large shrimp in the cast nets and Blue Crabs in crab pots during the summer.  Seafood is a staple for us.  This is the wonderful place that I have always spent my holidays.  And it is where we will be spending our Christmas, as well.  I thought I'd share some pics I took out there this past weekend.

From the creek, looking out into the Pamlico River.  That bouy marker is often topped with an Osprey nest in the summer and filled with a chick or two.

From the front yard, looking out across the creek.  There's marsh land in the little cove, home to all sorts of wild life.

Several wild Mallard ducks skid across the creek in back of the house.

From the pier, looking out across the creek at the tall pines and marshland.

In the back yard, the sun was shining through the tall pines.  It looked so cool on the camera screen, I just had to snap a pic.  I forgot who recently posted a snippet of Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken, but this reminded me of it...my all-time favorite poem.

A marsh snail climbing a branch of a Waxed Myrtle.  When I was a kid I kept an aquarium with these in it.

A crab boat cruising into the creek.

I thought it was a Sea Hawk, but it turned out to just be a Buzzard.  It looked cool soaring in the cloudless, blue sky.

Another Mallard (f) smimming behind the marsh grass.

A final shot of those beautiful wild Mallards.  I love it here.  It's so peaceful.  It's so....HOME!!