Fish on...

The trout have finally returned. Fished this morning off the Little Bridge in Nags Head - caught 6 specks in my first 6 casts. Sweet! 9 in all today, but no big 'uns. Tomorrow will be the day for some keepers and resultant fish sandwiches.

;-)

Fishing Report

The fish are late arriving here this year. I went fishing on the little bridge on April 2nd for the first time this season, and started off with a bang. First cast, hooked up and landed about a 4 lb. striper. Amusingly, when I pulled it up to the bridge, I actually overshot my landing zone and threw the fish into traffic. Fortunately, it was still prior to daybreak and traffic was light, so I was able to get the little bugger back prior to launching him back in the drink. Turns out my friend Rob - who was the only other guy fishing at the time - saw the whole thing and, needless to say, found it quite amusing. Anyway, I didn't get another bite that morning.

With the weather nice this morning, thought I'd give it another go - this time off the shore around Avalon pier. It was actually really cold overnight, and I had frost on the truck. Nonetheless, a beautiful and vibrant orange sunrise greeted me on the beach. Unbelievably, first cast, I hooked into a striped bass again. Smaller this go around, but still a fish. And, once again, I didn't get another strike the rest of the morning, despite trying both sides of Avalon, the OBX pier and the little bridge [sigh].

Spoke with the regulars on the bridge this AM, as well. Not a one has caught a single trout this year yet, so they are definitely late. Most are guessing its because of our unseasonably long and late winter - after all, it actually snowed here 4 times, believe it or not. Plus, March was absurdly cold and windy. At any rate, the weatherman is calling for warmer days ahead, which will hopefully bring the trout back soon enough.

Cheers!

Florida Room Refurbishment

When we originally moved into our home, the florida room out back needed some work.

For whatever reason, the previous owners had the hot tub on the deck within the room, which made no sense at all to us (no fresh air, open skies or breeze...come on?!?). Plus, the home at one time had a wood stove, and the Florida room housed a smokestack which served no purpose and really took up alot of room, as well as ruined the flow of things. Lastly, the shingles were their original battleship grey, and the ceiling a solid blue.

This remodeling required some serious demolition with ye ol' sledgehammer and subsequent repatching of both the wall and ceiling. The wall was particularly challenging, as I had to locate and install matching replacement shingles. I then rerouted the electrical from the breaker underneath the house to the new location for the hot tub outdoors.

The original decking was a traditional wood (painted grayish-blue), but wasn't in great shape. So, I tore it all out as well and replaced it with trex. Ditto the steps.

Lastly, the dogs had a habit of busting/tearing the screen in the porch doors, so I replaced each lower side with plexiglass.

Naturally, the walls and ceiling were painting yellow and white.

Before and after photos:

Powder Room Painting

Our powder room - much like our master bathroom - was a former wallpaper victim, boasting not one, but two differing patterns. Again, creative, but not our cup of tea.

Thus, I stripped the paper (which proved far easier than the other bathroom for some reason), recaulked and spackled, and painted the ceiling white, the walls the off-toupe color again, and the baseboards ultra white. Additionally, the room lacked a mirror and adequate lighting, so I added that, as well. Following a few new fixtures, paintings and a little plant life, we had a brand new room.

Before and after:

Skeet Shootin'

Our friends Wallace and Nancy invited us over for a birthday party the other day. They live just a couple hundred yards from our house as the crow flies - right on the banks of Roanoke Sound. As Wallace's birthday happens to correspond to the time of year when his neighbors are off to Florida, he normally celebrates with a little skeet shooting. Sounds cool to me!

Well, I've only shot skeet once in my life - back when I was, maybe, 10 years-old. Sherry, on the other hand, has never even used a shotgun so, naturally, we had her shoot first. Hehehe. While Wallace launched the clays, Sherry shot a 20-gauge... without much luck, but resolved to practice more with immobile targets. I followed with a 12-guage and managed to hit every clay but one the remainder of the afternoon. Beginner's luck, obviously. We got to meet a whole new group of folks, and the Casey's were in attendance, as well.

A really, really enjoyable afternoon... thanks Wallacy and Nancy!

Master Bedroom Painting

Up to this point, our master bedroom has been the ubiquitous yellow walls with a blue ceiling... and in this case with 'clouds' as a bonus. Creative, yes, but just not our cup of tea.

So, we decided to revamp the room, and selected a deep red color for the walls with a standard white ceiling. Additionally, I wired the room for surround-sound, which was a pretty big job.

Check out the before and after photos. Note the spackling that goes on pink and dries white. Cool stuff!

Master Bath Renovation

While our kitchen project is on stand-by, I recently tackled our master bathroom. It had featured not one, but two different wallpapers - very brightly colored and hard on the eyes.

To fix her up, I had to:

* Strip the wallpaper and repaint the walls

* Repaint the ceiling

* Strip the wood surfaces and stain/seal them

* Refurbish and shorten the pendant lights

* Add a recessed medicine cabinet

* Caulk and repaint the windows

* Repaint the baseboards

* Move/replace various amenities

While we chose not to replace our toiletries, we'll likely completely renovate the room sometime in the future. In the meantime, we're pleased with the new look. Click on any photo for a larger image.

Snowstorm on the Beach

A rare occurrence for the OBX day before yesterday... a snowstorm. It snowed most of the day for a total of around 3". Naturally, the kids were out of school the following day. I'm not sure if we even have plows or sanders down here to do anything about the roads anyway.

If was a beautiful scene, but we opted not to cross the big bridge to take a beach photo. Looking over Roanoke Sound yesterday, though, Jockey's Ridge looked like a giant snow mogul. Pretty cool. Here's a video & stills:

Skiing Trip

Ryan and I went skiing with the Jones family at Massanutten this past weekend. The conditions were excellent for VA skiing, and we even had a bit of light snow. While Jared and Jalyn took beginner lessons, Ryan opted out. Turns out, Ryan is a pretty darn good skier! While Jenny and Jared spent most of Sunday in the lodge, Jon, Jalyn, Ryan and I skied mostly the green trails.

On Monday, we went to the waterpark most of the day. No photos, though.

Birthday Party Plus Lizards?

The Casey twins celebrated their 11th birthdays, and Ryan was invited to the party. It was a beautiful night for a bonfire, and the kids had a sleepover - playing ping pong and goofing around late into the night. The next day, the boys went lizard hunting. While most of the lizards survived their captivity, the boys discovered that hot tubs are not to a lizard's liking.