CAPE FEAR, THE INNER BANKS

Long-awaited days at the beach.  I picked Wilmington, NC, because a lot of rescue friends live close by, a friend from CT is moving there next year and it was only a five-hour drive.  This is Oak Island.  We went specifically to see the lighthouse.  It would be fun to do a coastal NC lighthouse tour one day.

It's not the blue waters of the Gulf in the Panhandle, but I'll take it.  The beaches were quiet and the historic downtown of Wilmington was very nice.  

My friend Vickie met me Sunday night to have dinner on the pier of the Oceanic.

After dinner we took a walk on the beach and sat and talked for a while.

The next morning we had quite a few coffee shops to choose from, but dog rescue people can't pass up a coffee shop named Java Dog!

Dogs are welcome.  This Akita did not look impressed with the coffee, though.

A nice morning stroll with coffee along the Cape Fear River on the riverwalk.

Downtown Wilmington reminds me of Asheville, but on the water.  A young town with lots of unique shops, more bars than restaurants.

We walked around the historic residential district looking at old houses and gardens.  I think I could live here.

We met up for lunch with one of Vickie's sons, Marshall.  He has his own clothing line that is taking off.  He is a very nice guy.  He was trying to show me ways to adjust my camera for better photos, but I've forgotten it all! Yes, storms rolled in and they were bad as you can see from the clouds behind them. The breeze felt pretty nice, though!

A shot from the car going over a bridge looking down on marshes.  I thought the trees were really neat.  I think taking photos while driving is probably as bad as texting while driving.

On my way back I stopped to meet Gina and her daughter Amber, transplants from NJ,  who just adopted Willow.  I was so happy they kept the name because the rescue let me name her.  Willow on the other hand would not let me pet her and would sneak behind me to get a sniff of my dogs.  

Oh, and another reason to go to Wilmington, I sold my bed!  The lady stays in the mountains for the summer, but lives in Wilmington, so since I was coming her way, I loaded it in the car and it is history and it paid for my vacation!  

Snakes

Sitting in the living room, I felt something watching me.  Yep, my snake was peering in the window.  

That same day my friend Debra sends me a photo of the snake that was in her hen house.  The thing is as big as she is!  She told me she was chasing Randy with it, he's afraid of snakes.  This is what I was telling you about mom!

The Fourth

Guess who came to work on the Fourth?  That would be Shaggy, my painter.  He was here a whopping four hours, scraped two walls.  Won't see him again until next Monday.  This is going to be a slow and agonizing paint job.

First scraping, then washing with bleach, then painting.  

He believes this is the one and only coat of paint that the house ever got, it's down to bare wood.  That would make the paint about 70 years old, probably lead, don't want to know.

Meanwhile, I finished the other side of the living room now that Daddy has passed and is not being housed in that area anymore.  I took a photo of this ladder because it is the last time I will be up on it.   My painting on ladder days is over!!  Even Shaggy said to put that heavy ladder on a yard sale.  He didn't even want to use it because it's such a beast. 

In the kitchen I finished the walls that needed spots finished and a second coat, the same color that was used in the living room.  Kitchen is now a done deal, at least paint-wise.  Still needs a backsplash and floor sanded.

I decided to paint the backsplash for now.  The bark shingles I would like to use as a backsplash are going to cost some $$.  I stopped in the local hardware store that can order them for me and told me they were $9 a square foot, which didn't seem like a lot, but when I measured and it came up as 20 square feet, we're talking a couple of thousand dollars, so for now paint will have to do.

This is the glue that was left behind when the laminate was removed.  At least the paint will hide that and make it look cleaner.

The finished product.  Painting and scraping will be on hold for a little while, need to let my arthritic hands have a break, they hurt right now, so cleaning out everything I can to take to the church for that awesome sale they have, which will be in August.

My toad has been hanging out by my fountain, so I thought I would treat him with his own ceramic dish of  water.  He is in there every night.

The snake dropped by for a drink at the dogs' water bowl.

Ziggy, my goat farmer, got himself two piggies.

Bamboo is now the high-ranking senior in the house.  Lookin' pretty good for 16 years old!  Just missing a few teeth!