So tomorrow is back-to-school for the kids. It's always amazing how fast the summer goes, but we sure did a lot. The great thing about Cape Cod after Labor Day though is that the summer actually continues. And we locals can keep it to ourselves with more elbow room on the beach, less boats on the flats, and less cars on all my secret routes to work. The exotic fish are in (like Bonito and Albies), waves are up with the occasional passing tropical storm, and best of all.... Amy's home on Saturdays. It's back to a slower, more controlled pace, but still just as nice out... Ohhh but look what's looming. Its our first chance of a good tropical storm or even maybe a hurricane. I've always loved a good storm, just as long as it's not too severe. I don't think I'd like to deal with a major hurricane right now, especially since we just got our house finished... or close to finished, well, pretty much stalled, but mostly done... I'll probably never be done with it...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Back to School and Tropical Weather
So tomorrow is back-to-school for the kids. It's always amazing how fast the summer goes, but we sure did a lot. The great thing about Cape Cod after Labor Day though is that the summer actually continues. And we locals can keep it to ourselves with more elbow room on the beach, less boats on the flats, and less cars on all my secret routes to work. The exotic fish are in (like Bonito and Albies), waves are up with the occasional passing tropical storm, and best of all.... Amy's home on Saturdays. It's back to a slower, more controlled pace, but still just as nice out... Ohhh but look what's looming. Its our first chance of a good tropical storm or even maybe a hurricane. I've always loved a good storm, just as long as it's not too severe. I don't think I'd like to deal with a major hurricane right now, especially since we just got our house finished... or close to finished, well, pretty much stalled, but mostly done... I'll probably never be done with it...
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Will Comes Home
Will came home today. He's such an awesome little guy, so tiny, very alert and he's been sleeping all day... which means he'll be UP ALL NIGHT! Photos coming on Flickr, so if you haven't signed up yet, please do. Here he is with his big bro and sis!Click Here to sign up, then email me your screen name and I'll get you set up as one of my contacts. Also, if you already have a yahoo account, just send me your yahoo email and I'll make you one of my contacts.
(click photo for a larger view)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Whirlwind Weekend and right into Wednesday
Wow...
So we never made it to Hammond Castle. The kids opted for the beach, and who could blame them, it was gorgeous out. The water was the typical August water in Rockport at about 65 degrees and slightly painful to get under. Once in though, it was pretty nice. After leaving the kids and heading home, I tried to catch up on some work, but ended up dozing off in front of the TV before I even started. Next thing I knew it was 8:00am and I was going to be late to work if I rode my bike... so I used that as my excuse to drive in. Work was crazy and I never looked up from my monitor until 5:30pm, when I just put everything down to pick up the mess the next day. But something went off track for that plan. A few hours after I got home, at 8:00, Amy's water broke (3 weeks before the due date) and we were off to the hospital. Now it's 46 hours later and we have our 3rd child. He's beautiful and doing great and so is Amy. More later... (click photo for a larger view)
So we never made it to Hammond Castle. The kids opted for the beach, and who could blame them, it was gorgeous out. The water was the typical August water in Rockport at about 65 degrees and slightly painful to get under. Once in though, it was pretty nice. After leaving the kids and heading home, I tried to catch up on some work, but ended up dozing off in front of the TV before I even started. Next thing I knew it was 8:00am and I was going to be late to work if I rode my bike... so I used that as my excuse to drive in. Work was crazy and I never looked up from my monitor until 5:30pm, when I just put everything down to pick up the mess the next day. But something went off track for that plan. A few hours after I got home, at 8:00, Amy's water broke (3 weeks before the due date) and we were off to the hospital. Now it's 46 hours later and we have our 3rd child. He's beautiful and doing great and so is Amy. More later... (click photo for a larger view)
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Off to Rockport
(click photos for a larger view)
So we are off to Rockport for the weekend. It's a beautiful day and my much-neglected weekend chores are done. The big one was mowing the crabgrass, which I was using rockport as an excuse to avoid for just ONE MORE WEEKEND... But Amy said I had to do it. She was right as she always is and now the yard's green weeds are all the same height. Amy has to work this weekend, so it's just the kids and me who are going up. I'm hoping to get them over to Hammond Castle. I've always wanted to take them there... don't even know if it's still open... Chase, we'll look for your mom.
Maybe we'll get over to long beach. No surfing... but maybe some stream leaping, or a trip back to the whirlpool. We found a place for the kids to leap on Cape Cod. This stream runs into one of our Bay beaches. The kids had a blast.
So we are off to Rockport for the weekend. It's a beautiful day and my much-neglected weekend chores are done. The big one was mowing the crabgrass, which I was using rockport as an excuse to avoid for just ONE MORE WEEKEND... But Amy said I had to do it. She was right as she always is and now the yard's green weeds are all the same height. Amy has to work this weekend, so it's just the kids and me who are going up. I'm hoping to get them over to Hammond Castle. I've always wanted to take them there... don't even know if it's still open... Chase, we'll look for your mom.
Maybe we'll get over to long beach. No surfing... but maybe some stream leaping, or a trip back to the whirlpool. We found a place for the kids to leap on Cape Cod. This stream runs into one of our Bay beaches. The kids had a blast.
Friday, August 15, 2008
My Favorite Beer
(click photos for a larger view)
This is Dogfish Head Brewery's "Raison D'Etre" mahogony ale. It's my favorite beer. They started in Delaware, but recently opened up a brewpub near DC. Rosemary and Jay (Sis and Bro-in-law) live just down the street from the new brewpub, and she got me this glass. I love it... it's sitting now on my "Dogfish" coaster, next to the mouse, full of glass number two for tonight. Their slogan, if you can't read the glass is, "Off-centered ales for off-centered people." I can't wait for my next visit to DC! Thank you Rosemania!Monday, August 11, 2008
Happy Halloween!
Max grew some beautiful pumpkins in our back yard. Back in June, his class planted seeds in plastic cups. His grew, and we stuck it in the ground out back. Amy and I both are not very good gardeners at all, so we didn't have much hope that it would survive. But somehow, with a little luck from the weather, and maybe because they stayed hidden beneath the giant crab grass, these two beauties made it. The vines are completely dead as of last friday, so I think they're done growing. So... now, will they make it 'til Halloween?
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Nausset Pizza Picnic
We went out to Nauset Beach for a "pizza picnic" earlier this evening. (It was only our second time out there this year) It's nice to get out there, even if it's only for a couple hours. It wasn't a real picnic... we picked up a pizza, some (not so) hot wings and a salad on the way. The pizza was good, but the wings were burnt and they had no kick to them whatsoever...It was cold and breezy from the east, but the waves were way too tempting. We wore bathing suits (and sweatshirts) and faced off against the big waves during mid-tide shore break... You race down to the wave just before it breaks, then turn and run as fast as you can back up the hill before you get caught by the whitewater. (we all got caught... a bunch). We threw the ball a bit, looked for purple quahog shells and played some crazy camp games that may or may not have been real games.
(photo is from last week - click it for a larger view)
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Another Amazing Morning on the Flats
(click images for a bigger view)
I got up early again to go fishing on Sunday at 3:30 am... then I turned off the alarm, fell back to sleep and woke up with a start way after first light at 4:30. I raced out of the house and got on the water by 5:00. The gulls and terns were up and making a racket on the haze-obscured horizon, and being a windless morning, I had an entourage of biting no-see-ums all the way out to the just visible bar (breaking through the surface as the tide passed the halfway point). Once they had all bitten me and I had killed them all, I had my peace.
My plan was to work the outside edge of the bar as the outging tide washed the acres of uprooted sand eels out into the wash. However, I found it extremely quiet for the vast amount of bait in the water. It may have been the lack of wind and the flat calm sea, or maybe the stripers were all full from a full night of gape-mouth feeding. Quiet yes, but the bite was still on. I found a school of somewhat hungry bass and took a few between 18 and 24 inches.
I found out quickly though, that the weather report had changed since the night before... or the 30% chance of a thunder showers that I had played the odds against, had beaten the odds and there was a BIG ONE rolling in from the South West. I figured I better hunker down... or do something to make my profile a little lower. There was no way I was going to make it back 3/4 of a mile over sand before the storm hit, so I pulled up on the sand bar to wait it out; ready to jump under my canoe if I had to. (I don't even know if that's safe or more attractive to lightning, to be under a dome of fiberglass with an aluminum strip down the sides.)
The storm built and built and built, and rumbled a few times, and it came right up to my heels. Then it went away, leaving just fog and a little bit of a breeze. It also cleared the flats of all the other fishermen out there. I had the place to myself except I only caught one more small fish. As the wind came up, and as more fish ignored my offerings, I called it a day and headed in. Still, it was a great day. I got some cool photos, caught a few fish, and saw some new things.
I got up early again to go fishing on Sunday at 3:30 am... then I turned off the alarm, fell back to sleep and woke up with a start way after first light at 4:30. I raced out of the house and got on the water by 5:00. The gulls and terns were up and making a racket on the haze-obscured horizon, and being a windless morning, I had an entourage of biting no-see-ums all the way out to the just visible bar (breaking through the surface as the tide passed the halfway point). Once they had all bitten me and I had killed them all, I had my peace.
My plan was to work the outside edge of the bar as the outging tide washed the acres of uprooted sand eels out into the wash. However, I found it extremely quiet for the vast amount of bait in the water. It may have been the lack of wind and the flat calm sea, or maybe the stripers were all full from a full night of gape-mouth feeding. Quiet yes, but the bite was still on. I found a school of somewhat hungry bass and took a few between 18 and 24 inches.
I found out quickly though, that the weather report had changed since the night before... or the 30% chance of a thunder showers that I had played the odds against, had beaten the odds and there was a BIG ONE rolling in from the South West. I figured I better hunker down... or do something to make my profile a little lower. There was no way I was going to make it back 3/4 of a mile over sand before the storm hit, so I pulled up on the sand bar to wait it out; ready to jump under my canoe if I had to. (I don't even know if that's safe or more attractive to lightning, to be under a dome of fiberglass with an aluminum strip down the sides.)
The storm built and built and built, and rumbled a few times, and it came right up to my heels. Then it went away, leaving just fog and a little bit of a breeze. It also cleared the flats of all the other fishermen out there. I had the place to myself except I only caught one more small fish. As the wind came up, and as more fish ignored my offerings, I called it a day and headed in. Still, it was a great day. I got some cool photos, caught a few fish, and saw some new things.
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