She's Coming Right For Us!

With all this talk of hurricane Gustav slamming in to New Orleans, it appears as though a much more sinister lady is making her appearance much closer to home. Ms. Hurricane Hanna is rearing her ugly head, and it's possible that she may hit anywhere between Miami and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Outer Banks? Why, isn't that where we live? Indeed, it is.

Now everyone, here's what you need to do. You need to stop donating money to these "victims" of Gustav and start sending money to the potential victims of Hanna. We are much more vulnerable than the people in New Orleans were. Besides, they already received a boat load of charity. It's our turn now.

So, during this holiday weekend, we ask you to search deep within your hearts and deep into your pocketbooks and give graciously to the soon-to-be potential victims of Hurricane Hanna.

Thank you.

She is Just Kasia

Kara has taken the plunge and attempted to do something that I have to admit, I was to scared to try.  She and Kasia broke out the finger paints and created art.  I don't want to brag, but she is a natural.  Her paintings, err.. rather her "work" is astounding.  She sees the world in colors and shapes that the rest of us can't imagine.  She is a great artist.  She will be known to the world only as "Kasia."  

One-name artist have always fascinated me ever since I met the marine life painter Wyland in Orlando years ago.  Somehow, I had snuck in to one of his showings were a bunch of know-it-alls were sipping champagne and patting themselves on their backs for how much they appreciated art.  There was one guy in particular who was very vocal about his appreciation for Wyland's art, and as it turned out, the guy was his agent.  Out of curiosity, I asked him what Wyland's first name was.  

"He has no first name.  He is just Wyland!  Like Madonna or Cher!"  he told me in a very thick French accent.  He was very adamant that Wyland was just Wyland.

A little while later, I noticed that there was one guy hanging out in the corner who looked like he didn't belong.  Instead of wearing a suit and tie, he had on jeans, a t-shirt, and a really bored look on his face.  I went over and talked with him for awhile.  As it turns out, he was Wyland.  Great guy.  Really down to Earth, unlike Madonna or Cher.  So I asked him what his first name was.  "Robert," he said.  Apparently his agent never asked him what his first name was, otherwise he would have known that it wasn't just "Wyland!"

So, while Kasia may have a middle and a last name, in order for her to be taken seriously as an artist, we're going to ignore everything but her first name.  

SHE IS KASIA!  Like Madonna, or Cher, except more down to Earth and a lot smarter.

I Love My Digital TV!

Anyone who has visited our house probably knows that we are too cheap to pay for cable television.  We rely solely on a set of rabbit ears in the garage to help us pick up local television broadcasts.  The problem is that since we live in the boonies (or the chums, as some affectionately call it) our reception was never that great.  We could get a fuzzy version of Fox or a slightly static-y picture on NBC.  If we moved the antenna just right, we could also pick up ABC and possibly PBS.   CBS was a station that we have heard of but have never actually seen in our house.  

Digital television has changed all that.

We finally decided to go out and get the digital converter box so that we could see what this digital television stuff was all about.  Holy cow, does it make a difference.  We finally found CBS and it comes in crystal clear.  We have ten different PBS stations now.  In total, we have gone from getting 5 channels to 25 channels, and they all come in with crystal clear quality.  Truly unbelievable.  We can now watch television like most people and still be as cheap as we were before.

I have to admit though, I'm going to miss our daily routine of me in the garage moving the antenna around while Kara would shout, "Still not good... still not good... wait, it's a little better now.  Try to keep it there!!"

Breakfast Boogie

Kasia really likes to listen to the Backyardigans while eating her breakfast.  The only problem with that is she gets so involved with her dancing, that she forgets to eat.

We Are The Three Amigos!

What a weekend.  We decided to make the trek down to Salvo so that Kasia could get some quality play time in with her second cousins, Kylie and Kinzlie.  It looked at first as though the day on the beach was going to be a bust as we were quickly rained out, the skies eventually opened and we had a beautiful beach day.

Kasia and the twins were a little hesitant of each other at first, but after a few minutes (and a couple cookies) the three made their way along the beach looking to cause mischief.  Later in the evening, as the adults were enjoying dinner, the girls bonded even further by all refusing to eat their meals in unison.  It was a display of solidarity that was on the verge of being admiral.  But as the night wore on, and the kids got sleepy, we had to say goodnight and make the long haul back up to Moyock.  

Hopefully we'll be able to get the three of them together again soon so they can discover what other kinds of mischief they can create together.

Grunt Like A Champ

With all that grunting she does, you'd think she was a tennis player. She really does give it her all when she does her chin-ups in the pool.

An Armed Society Is A Polite Society

Kasia and I were having lunch at Chick-fil-A this afternoon when we noticed this nice gentleman sitting across from us.  Actually, I noticed his sidearm, and then noticed him.  Was he a cop?  Nope.  Detective?  Nope.  Just a guy packing heat in case things get a little too intense.  Maybe he was expecting those cows from the billboards to come in and attack.

I think that what really was going on was that he had the gun concealed, but that's illegal here in the South.  So he had no choice but to show it off to everyone.  I noticed everyone was extremely polite to him.  Interesting.