Izzy v. Laser Pointer

Broke out the laser pointer this morning. Hours of entertainment.

Ryan #7 in NoVA Swim League

I brought Ryan back to NoVA for his swim meet on Saturday morning. Ryan swam the 50 freestyle and the 50 backstroke, as well as relays. Ryan swam very well - particularly in the first lenght of back - up until the flipturn. We'll work on that. Even with a slow turn, Ryan posted a nice time of 48.45, and according to this morning's league results, is ranked the #7 fastest 9-year-old in the event. Sweet, Ryan!

League standings:

9/10 Boys 50 Back:

1 37.93 Christopher Murphy 10 ML 2008-06-21 ML Division..3 nvsl
2 39.06 Michael Murphy 10 SOR 2008-06-21 WC Division..4 nvsl
3 40.38 Austin Henry 10 SR 2008-06-21 HM Division..7 nvsl
4 40.68 Griffin Morche 10 CB 2008-06-21 CB Division..1 nvsl
5 40.8 David Gent 10 HSC 2008-06-21 HSC Division..1 nvsl
6 41.34 Brett Norwood 10 G 2008-06-21 MVP Division..6 nvsl
7 42.5 Chase Brown 9 T 2008-06-21 VW Division..2 nvsl
8 42.72 Brady Almand 10 O 2008-06-21 CB Division..1 nvsl
9 42.77 Connor J Morche 10 CB 2008-06-21 CB Division..1 nvsl
10 42.95 Jared Nirenberg 10 HV 2008-06-21 BF Division..6 nvsl
11 43.09 Billy Yost 10 LRR 2008-06-21 LRR Division..1 nvsl
12 43.19 Grant Barnsback 10 WC 2008-06-21 WC Division..4 nvsl
13 43.4 Carson McEver 10 LRR 2008-06-21 LRR Division..1 nvsl
14 43.84 Zachary Koons 10 HF 2008-06-21 HF Division.13 nvsl
15 43.88 Chase Collins 10 CW 2008-06-21 CW Division..9 nvsl
16 44.0 David Tammaro 10 G 2008-06-21 MVP Division..6 nvsl
17 44.12 Jack Clancy 10 VR 2008-06-21 WW Division..4 nvsl
18 45.0 Phillip Sullivan 9 VAC 2008-06-21 LRR Division..1 nvsl
19 45.01 Collin Fiala 10 SS 2008-06-21 ML Division..3 nvsl
20 45.37 Grayson M Campbell 10 VW 2008-06-21 VW Division..2 nvsl
21 45.53 Gus Leyden 10 MVP 2008-06-21 MVP Division..6 nvsl
22 45.54 Christopher Margraf 9 LBR 2008-06-21 LHP Division.13 nvsl
23 45.64 Sidney Williams 9 M 2008-06-21 CSC Division..7 nvsl
24 45.88 Riley Pfadenhauer 10 ML 2008-06-21 ML Division..3 nvsl
25 46.0 Alexander Epp 10 PH 2008-06-21 PH Division..7 nvsl
26 46.1 Henry Brooks 10 ML 2008-06-21 ML Division..3 nvsl
27 46.15 Adam Speers 10 HSC 2008-06-21 HSC Division..1 nvsl
28 46.37 Garrett Anderson 10 PV 2008-06-21 LB Division.12 nvsl
29 46.55 John Sturgill 10 LE 2008-06-21 LE Division..6 nvsl
30 46.68 William Aubry 10 LG 2008-06-21 HSC Division..1 nvsl
31 46.87 Brandon Arcari 10 HSC 2008-06-21 HSC Division..1 nvsl
32 47.24 Max Russell 10 MVP 2008-06-21 MVP Division..6 nvsl
33 47.47 Jonathan Gannon 10 WW 2008-06-21 WW Division..4 nvsl
34 47.49 John Fitzpatrick 10 CP 2008-06-21 CP Division..3 nvsl
35 47.5 Jason Guidi 10 GF 2008-06-21 BKS Division.14 nvsl
36 47.6 Christian Meneses 10 NF 2008-06-21 FO Division.13 nvsl
37 48.07 Colton Heuple 9 HS 2008-06-21 OH Division..3 nvsl
38 48.36 Jimmy Bailey 10 FO 2008-06-21 FO Division.13 nvsl
39 48.44 JW Clark 10 F 2008-06-21 LE Division..6 nvsl
40 48.45 Ryan Moore 9 LG 2008-06-21 HSC Division..1 nvsl
41 48.46 Michael Kroeger 10 HM 2008-06-21 HM Division..7 nvsl
42 48.48 Joe Miller 10 BF 2008-06-21 BF Division..6 nvsl
43 48.68 Kyle Richbourg 10 LRR 2008-06-21 LRR Division..1 nvsl
44 48.86 Aidan Grealish 10 LB 2008-06-21 LB Division.12 nvsl
45 48.93 Austin Ludolph 10 FCE 2008-06-21 FCE Division..9 nvsl
46 49.04 Nick Roberts 10 LBR 2008-06-21 LHP Division.13 nvsl
47 49.08 John Stahlman 10 CB 2008-06-21 CB Division..1 nvsl
48 49.38 Nathan Youmans 9 PL 2008-06-21 PL Division.15 nvsl
49 49.56 Gianmarco Terrones 10 HS 2008-06-21 OH Division..3 nvsl
50 49.59 Benj Welland 9 T 2008-06-21 VW Division..2 nvsl

Putt Putt Golf with the Casey's

Ryan and I had dinner over at the Casey's house on his last night in town. Mike cooked up steak, and Ryan... ahem... had a PBJ sandwich.

We all then piled in the Casey's minivan and headed to the beach for some putt putt. Mutiny Bay was packed, so Plan B was another course on Rt. 12 right on the beach. Sure enough, no big crowd. Wallace, Fletcher, Bryson and Ryan really get along well, and showed us the ropes around the course. Neither Mike nor I got a hole in one the whole evening, but I think each boy did, as well as Ansley.

Flounder Fishing

As promised, Ryan and I went fishing with Joe on Friday. We had great conditions - a light SW wind, lots of sun, and relatively low humidity. Joe took us down to Oregon Inlet on his pontoon boat, and we found the fish pretty quickly. Joe hooked up first with a small flounder followed by the mother of all flounder... which actually turned out to be a ten-pound clearnose skate. Ryan then hooked up and caught his first flounder ever.

Over the course of the day, we caught well over a dozen small flounder - no keepers over 15 1/2" unfortunately - some see robins, sea bass and the one skate. The fishing slowed down, so we popped back into Wanchese - just in time before thunderstorms hit the area.

Ryan had a great time, and showed some good fishing skills. Way to go, boy!

Forgot to mention, Joe's dog Monty Python made the trip, as well. So well-behaved... hopefully, he'll rub off on Izzy someday.

Ryan: Powerwasher & Beach

Ryan and I have had alot of fun this week. We made a massive "to do" list of activities, and have methodically made progress, though we won't be able to do everything this time around. The boy learned how to powerwash a truck yesterday. He did a really nice job, in fact.

We then drove to (and on) the beach for the early afternoon. Weather was beautiful. We threw a couple lines in the water to see if anything was biting to no avail. However, a half-dozen charter boats were literally hugging the coast back and forth within a stones throw. We saw them bailing little spanish mackerel and bluefish. Friday, we're going fishing with my neighbor Joe. Check back later to see what, if anything, we caught.

BTW, Ryan went Benny Hill on me at the beach:

Garden v. Garden

Sherry and I decided earlier this Spring to start a couple gardens. Apparently, she has lots of experience with this, whereas I have... well... basically none. After constructing 4 elevated beds and surrounding them with 3' fencing, Sherry seeded her garden with a variety of herbs and vegetables. Having (ahem) focused all my energy on building her beds, I decided to till a separate area of our side lot, and plant 4 rows of sweet corn.

Well, 3 months later, here are some photos marking the progress of each area. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who planted which garden (DOH!). A few of my corn stalks actually produced some ears, but between the swamp bunnies and crows, they were munched quickly.

Of interest, a 2-foot snapping turtle laid a clutch of her eggs within my (cough...cough) "corn field" the day before yesterday. I actually witnessed a crow steal one of the eggs and fly off with it in its beak.

Ryan's Orange Crush Song

Ryan has composed a new song using Splicer software.

Check it out:

http://www.splicemusic.com/songs/cheesyboy/orange-crush/compose/

Sweet!

Ryan

Exciting times for Ryan these days.

Ryan continues to make *almost* straight A's in school, and is a rising 5th grader. He's running for student Vice President, and prepared his videotaped campaign spiel this past Monday. Thursday is election day, and we'll have the results on Friday. I've got my fingers crossed. Of note, Ryan has Logan's endorsement as President. Gotta love politics. ;-)

Ryan really came on strong this past Spring season in baseball. He moved up from AAA to majors which is a big change, but apparently wasn't phased. During my last visit to NoVA, my old neighbor Gary Espinoza and I had a chance to talk, and he relayed to me how Ryan was the team's 'all star', and how well he is pitching. I played at Ryan's age, but I only really 'excelled' in hitting every other batter as a pitcher. DOH! I'm proud, of course, but win or lose, I believe the most important aspects are having fun, enjoying his time with his best friend Kyle and his other friends, and learning team fundamentals.

Ryan will swim for Lee Graham again this season with Coach Mike in between visits with Dad. Here in Manteo, we've got big plans including going to the beach, fishing, crabbing, a boating class, horseback riding, and hanging out with all the other kids on our block.

Looking forward to a great summer!

Mom, Sis & Creighton in Town

Mom, Karen and fiancee Creighton came to visit us this weekend - coinciding with the Dare Day festival on Saturday. After battling 6-hour traffic from Richmond (yep, it's officially summer), they made it here by mid-afternoon. We then scooted on down to downtown Manteo, where Dare Day was wrapping up. Toured the boardwalk, took in the sights, and Creigh bought a cool wooden marlin for his wall. Also, visited Festival Park briefly.

On Sunday morning, I woke Sherry and Creigh up at 5:00 AM for a trip to Matamuskeet for some serious crabbing (yeah, they agreed in advance to get up that early). We crabbed the levee and the docks, and had great success, as Borat would say. 2 1/2 hours later (by 9:00 AM, to be exact), we were done and had our limit of 3 dozen BIG honkers.

After returning home, we had a good time chilling by the pool, and cooked up a nice crabfest. BTW, the weather has been unbelievably hot, and our pool is probably already in the mid-80s. Plus, a series of wildfires in the refuge areas to our west have plagued us with plumes of smoke for the past week or so. Yuck. Come on rain!

Great to have the family down... come on back soon!

Ryan's Room

Ryan's room was originally painted two shades of blue when we moved in, and we knew we wanted to change it one way or another. So, Ryan was given the choice: What color would he like his walls? Light blue, dark blue... something else? Naturally, Ryan chose something else. After discussion, he wanted his room to reflect his favorite football team, the Washington Redskins.

This project was alot of fun, but rather time consuming. Tightly taping up the room to prevent 'seepage' of the paint from one well-defined paint layer to the next was the key. In the end, Ryan (and we) were very pleased with the final look and feel of his room.

Thinking back, my childhood room literally had clown wallpaper with multi-color stripes of red, blue and white until I was... well... grown up. I'm guessing the folks who bought my parents old house *probably* made a change or two to the whole 70's motif that was our house... including the electric yellow and green frog wallpaper in my old bathroom. ;-)

Logan's room remains the same, as when we moved in. Looking forward to her choosing her expression of herself. What exactly would a 12-year-old girl want on her walls (other than Orlando Bloom posters)?

Home Exterior Repainting

Made the decision to repaint the exterior of our home from battleship grey to 'daybreak' yellow with ultra white trim. I've done painting commercially in my younger days to make ends meet, but this turned out to be a really big job. All in all, I used 22 gallons of yellow with my power sprayer, and who knows how many rolls of tape and paper on the borders.

The most challenging parts of the home were the chimney and the far (North) side at the very, very top - out of reach of a 32' ladder, in fact. Sherry and our neighbors Joe and Evette suggested I hire a pro to finish these areas, but my pride got in the way, and I was determined to get it done. Ultimately, I borrowed Joe's 100' rope, tied it around my waist, and shimmied up to the top of the chimney and painted downwards. For the base of the chimney, I rappelled down the roof (45 degree angle, BTW), taped up the area, and painted upwards. On the far side of the roof, I again rappelled down, while Sherry fed me all my needed items using another rope.

Needless to say, I fortunately didn't fall. Ironically, in a recent conversation with an old swimteam friend Chantal DeFlumeri, she said that her husband, Tony, was also recently on their roof, fell off, and broke (fortunately only) his nose.

After viewing the final product, we're happy. It looks much brighter and beach-like to us now. However, I'm in no hurry to paint the entire house again... ever.

Ryan & the Jonses

Ryan and the Jones family came down the weekend before last, and we had a blast! We went crabbing on Saturday, and the beach on Sunday, and spent alot of time around the pool in between.

Here are the photos:

Izzy and Spalding

When we moved to Manteo, Sherry brought her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, as well. He just turned 7 years-old, but is already virtually completely deaf for some unknown reason. Apparently, this is not uncommon with this breed. At any rate, his name is Spencer, but I've been calling him Spalding, as it really doesn't matter what you call him - he rarely responds. But, he's a very sweet dog, and his primary goals in life are eating and licking humans for hours on end, if you let him. Amusingly, he also exhibits signs of narcolepsy, and will randomly plop down anywhere, anytime and immediately fall asleep.

Izzy, on the other hand, is the wound-up one in this family. I got her as a surprise for Sherry around the holidays last year, and, believe it or not, bought her online. She's a purebred Newfoundland from Ohio of all places. 'Newfies' as they're affectionately called, are usually tremendous water dogs, and stories of their rescue of humans from sinking ships abound. They're a big bred with males reaching 150+ lbs, and females 120+. Izzy's approaching the 100 lb mark already, so she could exceed their normal rate - which is cool - I love big dogs.

In hindsight, Izzy's name turned out to be wholly fitting as she's fuzzy, dizzy and crazy - emphasis on the crazy. During the past winter, she would run full barrel across our pool cover out back - seemingly briefly defying gravity. Now with the pool open, she likes to cool off all the time, and kind of swims lazily like a bloated manatee. One thing's for sure, her parents from Ohio - who supposedly lived on a pondless- and lakeless- farm, didn't give Izzy much in the way of swimmer genes. Frankly, her preference is to climb either one of us, and be held like a baby. Come on now!

At any rate, we love Izzy and Spalding, and they basically rule the roost when they want to around here.