Learning to Blog

Ok... just to let everyone know you can teach an old dog new tricks. I think (I know) I'm wearing on Mary's patience. Today we went to Morehead City and Beafort. These are neat old fishing towns on the outer banks of N.C. Hopefully I'm playing golf Saturday...enough of this site seeing stuff, its time to have some fun.

Tasha

We had Tasha Drama today. She seemed to be adjusting to beach life just fine. This morning when we went for our walk, she went right down to the water and even sat and posed to have her picture taken. This afternoon, when we rested in rocking chairs on the porch, she rocked along with us. But for some crazy reason, this evening she chewed up an ant bait that we had put out to poison those pesky critters. Scared us half to death and so we whisked her off to the nearest veterinarian hospital. The vet was more worried about any plastic she ingested than poison but she seems to be doing okay. Thank goodness!

New Years Day at Fort Macon

We went exploring today and found Fort Macon, approximately 10 miles north of where we are staying. It was built in 1826 and was similar design as Ft. McHenry in Baltimore.

The weather today wasn't so wonderful. The wind howled and the ocean had eight foot waves. As a front passed over us, it rained for a while, pretty hard, and then the sky cleared. And even thought it was windy and rainy, the temperature stayed in the 70's. Unbelivable.

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We decided against New Year's Resolutions this year. Instead, we're going to try new month resolutuions. That way, we can start over again in 30 days or so if we fail. Our resolution for January is to walk 100 miles. So far, we've walked 5. Only 95 to go.

New Year's Eve

We are here! Emerald Isle, North Carolina. It took 8 hours from Darlington, Maryland, which included plenty of stop-and-go traffic in Virginia and a few stops for Tasha walks. We arrived last night just in time for a gorgeous sunset as we crossed over the bridge to the island. We were tired and saddle-sore but happy to be here.

This morning we woke up to an incredible sunrise and headed out early to introduce Tasha to the ocean. She wasn’t too comfortable the first time out but later in the day she did fine. It was warm enough for flip flops, near 70 degrees, but not for wadding, which Mary accidentally did while trying to photograph sandpipers. Our cottage is right on the beach and we spent the day taking several walks, as well as unpacking and buying groceries. We both had a beer with dinner and were sound asleep before the new year entered.

We are so happy here! A big thanks to our friend John Lawless for sharing his connections to make this happen and to our landlords, John and Gloria, for offering us a deal too good to refuse.

Birthday Surprise

On our way to North Carolina, we stopped in Maryland for a couple of days. We did such a good job of ignoring Jim's birthday that he actually forgot about it. Friday night, several members of the Shelsby family stopped by for dinner, cake and ice cream. Jim looks good for 54, doesn't he???