My North Caorlina State Fair Experience

It's that time of year, it's a special time, one I have always cherished in the years past. This year was a tad bit different as it was a.)in a new state and b.)my first without Jonathan in several years. He always makes a State Fair more enjoyable. But, my good friends and I packed up the car and headed west about 3 hours to the fairgrounds in Raleigh. First, before I go any further, let me say, all week was in the 80's until Saturday, when it was 50 ish. Ughhhh! It was painful. A very cold State Fair experience to say the least, but, the bright side was that the rain had stopped in this area of North Carolina. I have never in my life seen so many little food carts. NEVER! It was a food fair, not a state fair. Corn dogs, fries, onion blossoms, deep fried ice cream, deep fried oreos, snickers, twinkies, butterfingers, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, apples, deep fried pecan pie, if it was food, it was deep fried. Amazing! There were ribeye sandwiches, BBQ corn on the cob, turkey legs, ice cream, elephant ears, strawberry shortcake, funnel cakes, and any other kind of cake you can imagine. Chicken on a stick, gyros, french fries, caramel apples, hot dogs, brats, cotton candy and every other kind of food you couldn't or could imagine. Every once in a while, you saw an animal or two, some artwork, some crafts, several rides, and carnival games, but food, food, food. We got to see cattle, rabbits, sheep, horses, donkeys, goats and some pigs. I rode the giant slide and the zipper ride. I was such a big girl, we made the cage flip all the way around so many times I couldn't see straight or walk straight when the ride was over. Then, I rode the "extreme" mechanical bull, and they weren't kidding. This thing was crazy, it was quite possibly what one might imagine it would be like to ride a bobble head doll on steroids. I couldn't stay of for more than 4 seconds, try as I might. No matter how hard I squeezed, I was on the mats in seconds. Oh well. I can't forget the spider lady, the woman with eight spider legs and a human face. An optical illusion that I could not figure out. She was so weird, she was missing a tooth and everything. I couldn't see the mirror or how they were doing this. But it was the queerest thing to see a woman yapping at us with no body. I hated that I spent a dollar to see her, and a dollar to snap this picture, but it had to be done. It just had to.

Riding Lillie

Recently, I found a horse listed on a website much like Craigslist called www.lejeuneyardsales.com I had been a very dedicated visitor to this site when I happened upon the first real eye catching horse listing. I have been leasing her since the end of August and have been having so much fun. It was such a great deal. She is an 8 or 9 yr old Thoroughbred mare who measures 17.2 hands tall. She is a pretty big, beautiful girl named Lillie. She was originally trained as a dressage horse, so I have been learning a new craft. I have attempted a few jumps with her, but they have been very ugly. She seems so unimpressed by the jump that she won't even try to lift her feet off the ground. Lillie is a very clumsy mare, but every day she gets better and has been such a great horse to ride - I feel like I have my own horse again. The stables where she is kept are very pretty, it is called Wildwood. The owners are very good people and keep the place looking clean and much like something you would find in a magazine. It is so green, mature trees line the whole property, and there are horses in all of the pastures. One of the biggest differences between riding in this area of NC vs back home is the lack of sand filled arenas and no indoor arenas. When it rains, which happens about once per week since I started leasing her, the arena gets so muddy that I can't ride. This makes planning days to ride a little difficult. Hopefully, I will get better photos over the next few months that I can post to show her off.

Visit to the Aquarium

Yesterday, my friend Katie Petronio and I took some time during our day off to visit the Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium up the coast of the outer banks in North Carolina. We had a great time seeing all of the fish, turtles, snakes, big sharks oh and we can't forget the "pet the sting ray" tank. That's my favorite. However, some of the highlights include a funny turtle and our walk on the nature path. This turtle was hilarious, it must have been angry with this other turtle, because it wouldn't leave the turtle alone, and followed it all over the tank. Every time it got close to the turtle's head, it would stick its front legs straight out in front of its nose, point directly at the other turtle and waves its little fingers - just like spirit fingers. Oh, it was hilarious. We laughed and we laughed for a good 5 minutes. Unfortunately the video is not clear enough to post. We just sound like two girls laughing ridiculously at nothing. The other highlight mentioned was the nature trail, which is supposed to be about a 30 minute walk where you can see things like trees, grass, mud ponds, squirrels, and mosquitos. Lots and lots of mosquitos. So our 30 minute walk turned into a 5 minute run to get away from all of the biting insects as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I did not get away without 4 new mosquito bites, bringing my total for the year to something like 284 bites.

Majored in MCMAP

Jonathan recently completed the Martial Arts Instructor course while in Iraq.  This photo is from his graduation.  The Marine in the center is the Colonel who instructed Jonathan.  Now he can train Marines through the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program belts.  The belts are tan, grey, green, brown, and black.  He'll have to do additional training if he wants to help anyone get a black belt.  He had to work very hard to complete this course, he is really good at teaching, so I know that he will be a valuable asset for his unit.  Congrats Shmoog! 

North Carolina Mud Bog

Well, every state has their form of redneck adventure. North Carolina is no different. Here in Hubert on a good old hometown Saturday night, we like to put on our best pair of dirty denim levis, our favorite concert t-shirt or open button flannel variety of shirt with sleeves cut off (and if you are part of the pit crew, none at all), spray on your favorite variety of mosquito repellant, don your best ball cap and head on down to the Mud Bog . Here at the Mud Bog, you'll see things that you might see at a tractor pull, demolition derby, or monster truck rally. This includes the 15 year old romance filled with all sorts of intrigue and juicy teenager gossip, missing teeth, refined body odors, confederate flags on your car's antenna, and some good old grilled up burgers and tasty nachos. I had a great time watching with fascination the reactions of the crowd, their obvious love and commitment to the sport, and the Mud Bog fashionistas. This truck pictured here is attempting to make it all the way across a pit of mud with several small hills. He didn't do very well, needless to say. He did do a good job of getting all muddy, and isn't that the point? So, if you are ever in Hubert, NC and are looking for something to do that fits in with the local populace - get yourself some dinner at the Red Barn and stop by the Mud Bog. You will certainly get your feel of culture.

Tropical Storm Hannah - my first named storm experience

Here is a pre tropical storm "Hannah" photo. This picture was taken while I was on my way home from work in the afternoon. Most of the base had been let go so Marines and civilians could have time to make necessary preparations. The drive home was very quiet and lonely, I remember how eery feeling it was knowing that I was about to experience my first few major storms alone. At this point, we all thought that Hurricane Ike would be coming through next, and we knew it was a bigger threat. This storm turned out to be very minor and occurred about 3/4 in the morning. I woke up and watched it a little bit and wasn't all that impressed. The power did go out a few times. The city was under a curfew from 7 pm to sunrise so the streets were very quiet. Just before going to bed, it was so quiet and still outside, sound wasn't traveling very far and everything felt really close. I wish I could give a truly accurate account of the situation, but it is one of those memories that you can feel better than you can express. When I woke up the next morning, I did find the storm had left me a few presents in the back yard, specifically several small tree limbs and pine cones. So the clean up was a treasure. This was a good break-in storm, and our area of Hubert probably saw less than other areas - especially since we didn't have the threat of a tornado. I feel very lucky, especially since Ike completely avoided our area too. Maybe tropical storms are afraid of Marines?