Kitty, kitty

Alice is such a pretty kitty!  And she LOVES to walk on the railing of the deck.  Ches hasn't hopped up there one time.  She seems very comfy up there on that 2" rail.    And it's about 15' down to the ground! 

Snapping turtle!

Walking to get the mail at the airport - I saw this little turtle crossing the road....I picked him up - and he wasn't too happy!!!  He wasn't shy like other turtles who usually just close up and hide!  I put him down on the other side of the road and let him be 'cause I didn't want to lose a finger!

Ahhh, a King Size Bed!

Finally....we decided our queen sized mattress bought in 1987 needed to be replaced.

I absolutely love it when we go to a hotel that has a king-sized bed!  It just seems so luxurious! 

So that's what we got!  Gotta love Sears home delivery!

Kinda fills up the room!

2014 McCraw Family Reunion

It's that time of year again!!

Nice visit with the usual suspects.....

These folks know how to throw a party!  This is just the desserts.  I sampled a few!

The brothers and sisters - looking good!

Pretty day!  This orchard on the way back to Duane's folks are growing apples a new way - very close together and supported on wires like grapes.  Interesting!

And this was just a "normal" orchard with some apples left on the ground.

Cordy and I took a ride thru their garden....I love these "turban" squash!  Cool looking!

And I nabbed a bunch of turnips and mustard greens!

And we had a little visit with Obie the crazy cat!  Good fun!  

Peach cobbler with canned biscuits

My wonderful friends are bombarding me with peaches!  Oh what a terrible thing!  

Tonite for the poker boys, I baked this simple cobbler -  1 can Grannds biscuits torn into pieces, six or seven peaches peeled and sliced, a good amount of sugar, and some cinnamon.  

Bake at 350 until browned - about 30-40 minutes.  

Yum!

Last day on Ocracoke.....

Beautiful weather!!!  Low 80's and no humidity!  

Off to the Pony to visit with Howard and crowd....

Fun pool time with Luke, Howard, Rich, Buddy and Sharon.  No photos, but I did a killer belly flop!!

Even some new friends joined in on the fun!

Luke and Emma had gone to the Sweet Tooth - thought my sis would enjoy seeing this HUGE roll of Smarties!

Just a shot of the yard at the house.  Very pretty and peaceful.

No trip to Ocracoke is complete without a few rounds of ring-toss at Dajio's.  Can't remember who won....

50 cent wings at Gaffers.....

And the evening meal was to take advantage of the clams from yesterday.

It was delicious if I do say so myself!!

My dinner!    Sprinkle some Texas Pete on top!

Then some Texas Hold'em - playing for.....well.....peanuts!

And in the morning a little relaxing in the hammock.....then an uneventful flight home to 90+ degrees.....yuck!!

More Ocracoke Fun

An action packed day!

Started early in the morning on the porch - cup of coffee and a book on the Kindle.  (The Girl Below by Bianca Zander if you're interested!)

Morning chit-chat with Rich, Jeannine, Emma, Luke and Sharon.

Then we biked over to the Ride the Wind surf shop to rent kayaks!   Sharon and I knew where to go to dig for clams (since we did that last year, albeit in a nice dinghy with motor!!)  It took about a 1/2 hour to paddle to the right spot.  

Then into the shallow water everyone went - and started clawing thru the sand with our fingers to find clams.

Then it was a long paddle back to Silver Lake.  "Miss Sharon" paddling in...

And of course there was a race to the finish between Luke and Rich!

Here's our "take" - probably 15 pounds of yummy clam!

The rest of the day was spent at Gaffer's for happy hour, then getting ready for the annual cookout.  Usually, this is held beside the parking lot at the Pony Island Inn.  But this year we had the nice, air-conditioned house.  So we took advantage!

Howard was in charge of the fish fry and shrimp boil.  Jeannine was in charge of the wonderful hush-puppies.  Everyone else was supervising.  (and sampling!)

A big spread of assorted food, of course!

More chatting!

And relaxing!

Fun game of "Spoons".  I had never seen this before, but it's a great, simple game for a crowd of all ages. 
Just like musical chairs using spoons instead.  Each round if you don't grab a spoon, you get one letter towards the word "Spoon".  When you spell spoon, you're out! 

Watch this video of the fast paced game.  Good fun!

Fly-out to Ocracoke

We're so happy that no hurricane bothered us this year for our Labor Day trip to Ocracoke!!

Approaching the airport, we could see a few SUV's on the beach (I assume they're fishing.)

Cloudy day, but very nice temperatures.

The Mooney-bird all tied down and we're ready for some more fun!

The fellow from Howard's Pub had just dropped off some Air Force pilots that had flown into the Ocracoke Airport on a training mission.  The Howard's Pub-mobile had picked them up for a bite to eat.....

So, we hitched a ride with him over the realty office - Sharon & Buddy had just arrived from the ferry so it was perfect timing!

Picked up our keys for our rental house - really nice!!  4 bedrooms and just a few blocks from town.

Lots of space!

The rental company even arranged to drop off our bikes so we didn't even have that chore to do!  Off for the afternoon of Island Fun!