Well, another month has come and gone. Fortunately for us, May was a much better month than some of the preceding ones.
Mothers Day was a big success. We had brunch at Stack 'Em High in Kitty Hawk with Jenni, Sean, Jantaporn and Phoenix, then went to church with Jenni at the Unitarian Church in Kitty Hawk. Sean had to work that day, so we dropped Jantaporn off and took Phoenix and with Jenni we went to Manteo to the NC Aquarium. Phoenix was impressed with the river otters, but generally underwhelmed with the fish. He mostly enjoyed running around and trying to go into non-public spaces. After taking Phoenix home to his mom, who had been catching up on shopping and housework, Hilda and I came home before the big storm hit.
Memorial day weekend was the big event for May. We went to Bobby and Kathy's on Thursday and were joined by David & Susan & the girls later that day. On Friday, we went to Brycen's kindergarten play and graduation ceremony and had pizzas at his other grandmother's house. Saturday was the big day of the weekend, with a pig-picking for 35-40 friends and family at Lake Wateree. Bobby Johnson cooked the barbecue pork and chicken, and was up to his usual standard. We boiled a bushel of peanuts, and a lot of them were eaten as appetizers before the main event. Most everybody who came brought a side dish or dessert, and everyone got thoroughly stuffed before heading down to the lake for relaxing, swimming, or boat riding. David and Susan had to leave early Sunday, so we just relaxed with Bobby and Kathy and Bobby's brother Tim and his wife Laurie. We headed home on Monday, with a stop in Dillon for a brief visit with Cecelia, Ronnie and Hilda's aunt Joyce. All in all a pretty satisfying weekend. You can view all our photos from the weekend at http://earlwooten.smugmug.com look in the family catagory for the Memorial Day 2008 album.
On Tuesday, we went to the annual Dare County Friends of Youth picnic. These events are always fun, watching the kids play all kinds of silly games to win prizes. As usual, John Bennett was the chef in charge of the burgers and hot dogs. Lots of fun, also.
I'm doing pretty well with my exercise routine since finishing up at the rehab place, I'm trying to either ride my bike or walk every day, and I'm being pretty successful. Today, I walked about two miles on the beach. The weather is perfect today, and the ocean looked like Lake Atlantic, as they say. Not very many people on the beach for a holiday week.
So went May.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
On my own, now
I finished up my eight weeks at the Pulmonary Rehab center that Medicare is willing to pay for today. Now I'm on my own to stay disciplined and exercises every day. I don't think that will be a problem for the next couple of months because I'll be getting ready for the Iowa ride. After that, I'll really have to be conscientious about exercising to keep this lung problem from getting any worse.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Cycling group
I was asked a couple of weeks ago to make a little presentation to a group of young people about to leave on a cross-country bicycle trip. The reason they asked me, specifically, is that I'm a cycling instructor certified by the League of American Bicyclists and the group went to the league for a referral for an instructor close by their starting point. Anyway, I did that yesterday.
The group is cycling with an outfit called "Bike and Build" and is made up of college students and recent grads. To qualify for the trip, each participant must collect $4,000 for the group's cause of helping provide housing for those in need, and during the trip they have several days when they stop to work on homes, Habit for Humanity style. Their website is http://bikeandbuild.org . I looked them up when I was preparing for the presentation, and discovered that the organization sponsors seven trips each year, each with a different starting point and destination. The one I talked to was leaving today from Virginia Beach. On the website, I was able to view the profiles of each of the participants, and I was impressed with the quality of the group.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun going up to Va Beach and spending some time with the kids. I, along with another man from the Tidewater bike club rode with them on their short shakedown ride, and naturally I couldn't keep up with a bunch of twenty-somethings but I really enjoyed trying. There were about thirty in the group, including four leaders who were in the same age range as the participants, and they came from all over the country. They were very hospitable and seemed to take my words of advice very seriously.
I'll be following their trip on their website for the 2.5 months they're on the road. Oh, yeah, they gave me one of their t-shirts!
The group is cycling with an outfit called "Bike and Build" and is made up of college students and recent grads. To qualify for the trip, each participant must collect $4,000 for the group's cause of helping provide housing for those in need, and during the trip they have several days when they stop to work on homes, Habit for Humanity style. Their website is http://bikeandbuild.org . I looked them up when I was preparing for the presentation, and discovered that the organization sponsors seven trips each year, each with a different starting point and destination. The one I talked to was leaving today from Virginia Beach. On the website, I was able to view the profiles of each of the participants, and I was impressed with the quality of the group.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun going up to Va Beach and spending some time with the kids. I, along with another man from the Tidewater bike club rode with them on their short shakedown ride, and naturally I couldn't keep up with a bunch of twenty-somethings but I really enjoyed trying. There were about thirty in the group, including four leaders who were in the same age range as the participants, and they came from all over the country. They were very hospitable and seemed to take my words of advice very seriously.
I'll be following their trip on their website for the 2.5 months they're on the road. Oh, yeah, they gave me one of their t-shirts!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
OBX WEATHER
is always interesting, if nothing else. After a cool, cloudy and breezy Mothers day, topped off with a violent thunderstorm, yesterday looked for all purposes like a hard northeaster except that the wind was out of the southwest. During the night the wind died down a little and shifted to the northwest and then to the north.
I had to deliver some work and call on a couple of clients on Hatteras Island today, and I went to bed thinking that was not going to happen because late yesterday afternoon the road was flooded at several places on the island. When I got up this morning, I called the sheriff's dispatcher and was told that the road was open and passable, so I quickly got ready and took off for Buxton. The wind was blowing hard out of the north, but it was low tide, so there was no water standing on the road to amount to anything. There had been a serious ocean wash-over at the place north of Rodanthe known as the S-curves, but since it was low tide, the water was just in some puddles beside the road. There had also been sound side flooding at Salvo, Avon and Frisco last night, but that was all dried up by this morning.
I finished my business as quickly as I could, and high-tailed it back up the beach to beat the 3:30 pm high tide. I got through OK, but I'll tell you that is one angry ocean out there.
I had to deliver some work and call on a couple of clients on Hatteras Island today, and I went to bed thinking that was not going to happen because late yesterday afternoon the road was flooded at several places on the island. When I got up this morning, I called the sheriff's dispatcher and was told that the road was open and passable, so I quickly got ready and took off for Buxton. The wind was blowing hard out of the north, but it was low tide, so there was no water standing on the road to amount to anything. There had been a serious ocean wash-over at the place north of Rodanthe known as the S-curves, but since it was low tide, the water was just in some puddles beside the road. There had also been sound side flooding at Salvo, Avon and Frisco last night, but that was all dried up by this morning.
I finished my business as quickly as I could, and high-tailed it back up the beach to beat the 3:30 pm high tide. I got through OK, but I'll tell you that is one angry ocean out there.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Breezy Mothers Day
Yesterday was Mothers Day, and we had a nice day. We went out to breakfast at Stack 'Em High in Kitty Hawk with Jenni, Sean, Jantaporn and Phoenix. After breakfast, all of us except Sean, who had to work, went to church with Jenni at the Unitarian Meeting in Kitty Hawk. Jenni joined that congregation a couple of month's ago and invited us to go for the Mothers Day sermon. It was an interesting experience, not like any other church I've been to but just about what you would expect. Very open and all-encompassing, very casual, very mindful of social justice. Phoenix did pretty well for a half hour or so, then Jantaporn had to take him outside to the playground where the rest of the kids from the church were playing.
After that, we dropped Jantaporn off at home because she had errands to run and shopping to do on her only day off, and the rest of us went to the aquarium in Manteo. It was nice, as usual, but Phoenix is just a little too young to fully enjoy it. He liked the river otters a lot, but was kind of underwhelmed by the fish.
After the aquarium, we took Jenni and Phoenix home, and Hilda and I came home, too. The weather had been cool and cloudy all day, but just about when we got home it started blowing pretty good. We were listening to the radio, and the weather alerts kept interrupting every few minutes with news about severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings. As we listened to the alerts, they kept getting progressively closer to our location.
It had been raining on and off since about 5:00, but around 8:00 it really hit. We got lots of rain and some hail (though it didn't seem like a lot) and some pretty hard winds, which I guessed to be around 70 mph. The really severe part only lasted four or five minutes, then it settled down to a regular thunderstorm.
This morning, I read on a local website that a tornado had passed between us and Sanderling (about 5 miles north of us) but there was no damage reported, so I guess it didn't touch down, and we were getting the fringes of it. That was enough for us.
It's been cloudy and blustery all day today, with the wind blowing around 30 pretty steadily, and gusting a little higher. I have to go to Hatteras tomorrow, so I'm just hoping the road doesn't flood. The wind is supposed to stay out of the west and north most of the day, not turning to the NE until late tomorrow afternoon, so maybe I can get in and out before the tide comes over the road.
After that, we dropped Jantaporn off at home because she had errands to run and shopping to do on her only day off, and the rest of us went to the aquarium in Manteo. It was nice, as usual, but Phoenix is just a little too young to fully enjoy it. He liked the river otters a lot, but was kind of underwhelmed by the fish.
After the aquarium, we took Jenni and Phoenix home, and Hilda and I came home, too. The weather had been cool and cloudy all day, but just about when we got home it started blowing pretty good. We were listening to the radio, and the weather alerts kept interrupting every few minutes with news about severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings. As we listened to the alerts, they kept getting progressively closer to our location.
It had been raining on and off since about 5:00, but around 8:00 it really hit. We got lots of rain and some hail (though it didn't seem like a lot) and some pretty hard winds, which I guessed to be around 70 mph. The really severe part only lasted four or five minutes, then it settled down to a regular thunderstorm.
This morning, I read on a local website that a tornado had passed between us and Sanderling (about 5 miles north of us) but there was no damage reported, so I guess it didn't touch down, and we were getting the fringes of it. That was enough for us.
It's been cloudy and blustery all day today, with the wind blowing around 30 pretty steadily, and gusting a little higher. I have to go to Hatteras tomorrow, so I'm just hoping the road doesn't flood. The wind is supposed to stay out of the west and north most of the day, not turning to the NE until late tomorrow afternoon, so maybe I can get in and out before the tide comes over the road.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
It's been a long time
Since I posted anything, so there's a lot to catch up on.
Once I had sufficiently recovered from my earlier illness, I became completely immersed in work. Even so, I was way behind, and finished tax season with more undone work than ever before since I've been in business, so I guess I'll be working right on into the summer months.
I've started a serious exercise program in an effort to get back in shape for cycling. I've been going to the pulmonary rehab facility at the Regional Medical Center in Kitty Hawk since the middle of March. The facility is really a glorified gym, but with very close supervision by medical personnel (nurses & exercise physiologist with MD oversight.) I've enjoyed using the facility, and I've really gained a lot of my stamina back. I'm now up to riding my bike 30 miles a day for about three days a week.
The first time I rode my 30 mile training route, it was a real morale-booster, I had been feeling kind of down about the progress I was making, and one day I just decided to go for it. It felt great, and really gave me a mental boost. I think I'll soon be ready for a long ride. Maybe in a couple of weeks, I can go 50 or 60. We'll see. I'm signed up to do a ride in late July called RAGBRAI, it's a seven day ride across Iowa. It's the oldest and largest cross-state ride in the country, and it has a couple of 80 mile days, so I need to be in pretty good shape by then.
So, I got through tax season with minimal damage, and now have had a couple of weeks to recuperate, Hilda and I didn't go away on vacation in April this year because of all the stuff that's been going on, but we did manage to go to a couple of concerts in April. Sean and Jantaporn gave us tickets to see Garrison Keillor's one man show for our anniversary. The show was on April 28 at East Carolina University in Greenville. The show was great, and we really enjoyed seeing him in person. We're faithful listeners to his "Prairie Home Companion" show on NPR radio.
We were lucky enough to land tickets to the Jimmy Buffet concert in Charlotte on the very next day, April 29, so we just continued our trip south and west. We've seen a number of Buffet concerts over the years, and we both agreed that this was one of, if not the best. Buffet is an amazing phenomena, he's 62 or 63 years old, and everyone on his stage is over 50, and yet he has a loyal audience of young people as well as those of who were "parrotheads" before some of them were born. I guess the philosophy he represents spans generations pretty well.
Now, it's back to work for me.
The weather on the Outer Banks has been normal for Spring, cool and dreary followed by warm and beautiful and then back again. It seems to have pretty well settled on being nice for May, although it's still a bit chilly at times.
I guess that'll about have to do it for now. Till next time.
Once I had sufficiently recovered from my earlier illness, I became completely immersed in work. Even so, I was way behind, and finished tax season with more undone work than ever before since I've been in business, so I guess I'll be working right on into the summer months.
I've started a serious exercise program in an effort to get back in shape for cycling. I've been going to the pulmonary rehab facility at the Regional Medical Center in Kitty Hawk since the middle of March. The facility is really a glorified gym, but with very close supervision by medical personnel (nurses & exercise physiologist with MD oversight.) I've enjoyed using the facility, and I've really gained a lot of my stamina back. I'm now up to riding my bike 30 miles a day for about three days a week.
The first time I rode my 30 mile training route, it was a real morale-booster, I had been feeling kind of down about the progress I was making, and one day I just decided to go for it. It felt great, and really gave me a mental boost. I think I'll soon be ready for a long ride. Maybe in a couple of weeks, I can go 50 or 60. We'll see. I'm signed up to do a ride in late July called RAGBRAI, it's a seven day ride across Iowa. It's the oldest and largest cross-state ride in the country, and it has a couple of 80 mile days, so I need to be in pretty good shape by then.
So, I got through tax season with minimal damage, and now have had a couple of weeks to recuperate, Hilda and I didn't go away on vacation in April this year because of all the stuff that's been going on, but we did manage to go to a couple of concerts in April. Sean and Jantaporn gave us tickets to see Garrison Keillor's one man show for our anniversary. The show was on April 28 at East Carolina University in Greenville. The show was great, and we really enjoyed seeing him in person. We're faithful listeners to his "Prairie Home Companion" show on NPR radio.
We were lucky enough to land tickets to the Jimmy Buffet concert in Charlotte on the very next day, April 29, so we just continued our trip south and west. We've seen a number of Buffet concerts over the years, and we both agreed that this was one of, if not the best. Buffet is an amazing phenomena, he's 62 or 63 years old, and everyone on his stage is over 50, and yet he has a loyal audience of young people as well as those of who were "parrotheads" before some of them were born. I guess the philosophy he represents spans generations pretty well.
Now, it's back to work for me.
The weather on the Outer Banks has been normal for Spring, cool and dreary followed by warm and beautiful and then back again. It seems to have pretty well settled on being nice for May, although it's still a bit chilly at times.
I guess that'll about have to do it for now. Till next time.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Well, I wasen't over it after all
On the last post, about a lifetime ago, I said I was feeling better. Little did I know. To make a very long story short, it morphed into a pretty nasty case of Pneumonia, but after trips to doctors and hospital ER's I've finally turned the corner, I think. I feel good now, but I'm weak as a baby. Going to take a lot of work to get back in any kind of physical shape, but I should be able to manage it if nothing else goes wrong.
On a more positive note, as I was taking my walk around the porch this morning (my slow start at an exercise program) I noticed an unusual bird sitting on a pole in the next door neighbor's yard. It was a male (I think) American Kestrel. Kind of rare here on the coast. Just passing through, looking for a meal, I guess.
Maybe Spring is on the way!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Feeling better
After two weeks of it, I'm feeling pretty much better. It occurred to me that people recover from surgery or heart attacks quicker than I've gotten over this cold, but that's the way it's been. After not having so much as a cold for more than 10 years, to have three or four in rapid succession this year culminated by this monster really laid me out.
Anyway, I'm getting better, as David would put it, I'm about 75% now. I got out yesterday for a walk for the first time in those two weeks. Walked down to the ocean and sat on the bench a while. Today, I walked to the sound and then to the ocean and back, about a mile altogether and it felt really good to get out in the fresh air.
The weather here is just about as perfect as February gets. It's in the low 50's, sunny, with hardly any wind, just a light southwest breeze. Yesterday there were lots of swans on the sound, and Hilda took some pictures of them. They weren't in our neighborhood today, but the ocean was georgeous, hardly a ripple except for a gentle shore break and a few dolphins lazily patrolling the surf outside the bar. Tried to get a picture of one, but you know how that is the only picture I got of a dolphin was just a black spec in an otherwise uninteresting picture.
We're heading over to Jenni's house later this afternoon to watch the super bowl. I'll probably pull for the underdog Giants, even though I could really care less about who wins a football game. Sean called this morning from Bancock to be sure we were on track to pick them up on Wednesday afternoon. All three of them have been kind of puny, travel does that sometimes I guess. I'm sure we'll get a full report when they get home.
I guess that's all for now, enjoy the pics.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Miserable
That's the only way to describe how I've felt for the last week. When I put up the last post a week ago, summarizing what had been going on here on the edge for the last few weeks, I was looking forward to attending a concert by the Ocracoke Oprey on Sunday and writing a glowing review of the show when I got home.
Well, I woke up on Sunday feeling kind of funny, and in the few hours before time to leave for the concert it morphed from kind of funny to downright awful. So Hilda and Jenni went to the concert without me, and from their reports it was wonderful. I'll never know, though, because as they were out enjoying the concert, I was laying on the living room couch covered with about nine blankets and afghans. I concluded that I was sick.
Later that night, I felt the fever abate, but I didn't feel any better. Monday and Tuesday are just a blur, mostly in bed or on the couch. Hilda took over for me fielding phone calls and warning people away from our house, lest they catch this dreadful bug. As usual, she has been a great caregiver. On Tuesday night I started coughing, and by Wednesday morning my ribs were so sore I couldn't stand to cough again, but couldn't stop either. I finally broke down and went to the doc to see if I had some dread disease. The verdict was that I didn't, and he gave me some cough medicine that seems to help some, but makes me drowsy, so I only take it at night.
I'm feeling a lot better now, although I'm pretty weak from the inactivity and still coughing at regular intervals. Maybe I'll live after all.
Well, I woke up on Sunday feeling kind of funny, and in the few hours before time to leave for the concert it morphed from kind of funny to downright awful. So Hilda and Jenni went to the concert without me, and from their reports it was wonderful. I'll never know, though, because as they were out enjoying the concert, I was laying on the living room couch covered with about nine blankets and afghans. I concluded that I was sick.
Later that night, I felt the fever abate, but I didn't feel any better. Monday and Tuesday are just a blur, mostly in bed or on the couch. Hilda took over for me fielding phone calls and warning people away from our house, lest they catch this dreadful bug. As usual, she has been a great caregiver. On Tuesday night I started coughing, and by Wednesday morning my ribs were so sore I couldn't stand to cough again, but couldn't stop either. I finally broke down and went to the doc to see if I had some dread disease. The verdict was that I didn't, and he gave me some cough medicine that seems to help some, but makes me drowsy, so I only take it at night.
I'm feeling a lot better now, although I'm pretty weak from the inactivity and still coughing at regular intervals. Maybe I'll live after all.
Friday, January 18, 2008
It's about time....
....that I posted something so that someone doesn't think I'm dead.
What with the holidays, and travel, and work work work I haven't had time to think about blogging. I take that back, I have thought about it at odd times, I just haven't made the time to actually do it.
The holidays were great. Christmas with the kids was wonderful as usual, we all went to Jenni's house for Christmas Eve and Christmas day and exchanged gifts and ate good food. The weather was a typical Carolina Christmas, that is to say warm and cloudy, but nice with no rain. Of course, Phoenix was a joy.
On Thursday after Christmas, Hilda and I hit the road down to Charleston for a long weekend. We stayed at a beautiful carriage house in the historic district, so we could walk to most of the things we wanted to see. On Saturday, we took the boat over to Fort Sumter. I hadn't been there since high school, and Hilda never had, so it was very interesting to us. Unfortunately, it rained during the trip, so we ended up spending most of the allotted hour inside but we enjoyed it anyway.
On the way home, we spent a night in North Myrtle Beach and visited with Hilda's brother Joe. That's always a treat. If anyone is interested, I have posted hundreds of pictures from the holidays and our Charleston trip at our photo site at http://earlwooten.smugmug.com/ .
Since the holidays, I've been pretty pre-occupied with work and going pretty hard. so I haven't had much time for much else.
Sean, Jantaporn and Phoenix are in Thialand for a few weeks. Jantaporn and Phoenix went early in the month, and we took Sean to the airport to join them on the 14th. Jantaporn's parents had not seen Phoenix, so we are very happy they finally managed to get over there for an extended visit.
We had a couple of real cold days in Duck around the first week in January (well, below freezing at night) but other than that the weather has been great. I guess there is an upside to global warming for those of us who hate cold weather.
That's about it for now. Check back soon.
What with the holidays, and travel, and work work work I haven't had time to think about blogging. I take that back, I have thought about it at odd times, I just haven't made the time to actually do it.
The holidays were great. Christmas with the kids was wonderful as usual, we all went to Jenni's house for Christmas Eve and Christmas day and exchanged gifts and ate good food. The weather was a typical Carolina Christmas, that is to say warm and cloudy, but nice with no rain. Of course, Phoenix was a joy.
On Thursday after Christmas, Hilda and I hit the road down to Charleston for a long weekend. We stayed at a beautiful carriage house in the historic district, so we could walk to most of the things we wanted to see. On Saturday, we took the boat over to Fort Sumter. I hadn't been there since high school, and Hilda never had, so it was very interesting to us. Unfortunately, it rained during the trip, so we ended up spending most of the allotted hour inside but we enjoyed it anyway.
On the way home, we spent a night in North Myrtle Beach and visited with Hilda's brother Joe. That's always a treat. If anyone is interested, I have posted hundreds of pictures from the holidays and our Charleston trip at our photo site at http://earlwooten.smugmug.com/ .
Since the holidays, I've been pretty pre-occupied with work and going pretty hard. so I haven't had much time for much else.
Sean, Jantaporn and Phoenix are in Thialand for a few weeks. Jantaporn and Phoenix went early in the month, and we took Sean to the airport to join them on the 14th. Jantaporn's parents had not seen Phoenix, so we are very happy they finally managed to get over there for an extended visit.
We had a couple of real cold days in Duck around the first week in January (well, below freezing at night) but other than that the weather has been great. I guess there is an upside to global warming for those of us who hate cold weather.
That's about it for now. Check back soon.
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