Birthday Parties are Different Now

In my day, some hot dogs on the grill and a few friends over to bob for apples would have been a big birthday party. Not today. Checkout these pictures of my grandson Brendan's party.

So the bus pulls up in front of your house and the games begin. 

Inside the bus are all types of video games for the kids. 

There were even screens on the outside. The girls are Wii dancing in this picture. 

 

And you must have a Super Mario cake.

Robert

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This is Robert Surles of Angier, NC

Robert is a prominent Angier citizen who sometimes visits the Red Barn Restaurant where we all enjoy his wealth of knowledge at the table of wisdom.  Other regulars at the table include Walter Parrish, Dink Partin, Randy Collins, Stuart Gardner and Robert's brother Larry. 

Wedding

Becky and I attended the wedding of the son of our friends from Morehead City. The venue for the reception was Cline Farm which is just outside of Lincolnton.

It was a beautiful day and a very nice place for the occasion.

The bride and groom

 

The proud parents of the groom

The dance floor got a lot of use

 

The music was provided by the Carolina Breakers

Birds

The Haystacks in Morehead City is abundant with birds. We have egrets, ibis, and green heron. The ibis and egrets feed during the day and the green heron feed at night. Pictured below are some of the egrets roosting in the trees by the lagoon early in the morning. They will be leaving soon to feed and the green heron will return to roost. In the Navy I think they call that "hot bunking".

Harlow Canal

The Harlow Canal connects the Newport river to the Neuse river.  Legend has it that it was originally dug by the Indians. Later it was enlarged in colonial times as noted below from an article I lifted from the internet.

"In 1766, an Act was passed by the General Assembly of the colony of North Carolina for joining Clubfoot Creek and Harlow's Creek in Carteret County - from Old Topsail Inlet to the Neuse River. Nothing happened until 1820 when Hamilton Fulton surveyed the proposed route. Construction began in 1821.

The canal had a tide control lock at the northern end on Pamlico Sound to keep water from surging through. This lock allowed small vessels to pass from the freshwater Pamlico Sound into the saltwater Atlantic after 1827.

The original company had many financial problems and foreclosure came in 1844. In 1849, the company reorganized and resumed operations. The State of North Carolina held some interest in the company until around 1872, even though the original canal was abandoned arounc 1856.

The 1885 Annual Report of the Albemarle & Chesapeak Canal Company cites incorporation of the Newberne and Beaufort Canal Company acquiring interest of the Clubfoot-Harlow Canal. Newberne and Beaufort Canal Company organized on 11/10/1881 and contracted to the A&C Canal Co. to do the dredging of a new canal next to the old canal. A&C Canal Co. owned 2,500 shares in the Newberne and Beaufort Canal Company. The new canal should be opened 1/1/1885 as dredged by the "Cyclops" from Clubfoot Creek to the site of the old locks at Harlow.

This new company built a totally new canal (now named the Harlow Canal) parallel with and to the east of the old Clubfoot-Harlow Canal, which later came under control of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of the Intracoastal Waterway."

 

We took the boat up the canal Monday to show Matt and Lndsay who had never seen it.  Doug, Paula, Becky and Gypsy also went.  Following are pictures of the trip.

 

 

The entrance to the canal is through Harlow Creek.  Try this only at high tide.

 

Lindsay takes advantage of some of the many photo opportunities.

 

 

 

 

Becky and Paula enjoy the ride.  Doug is driving the boat and giving Matt some of the canal history.

 

 

The "Scarlett Marie" is docked on the canal.  This is as far as we could go on the boat due to the hwy 101 bridge.  Smaller boats are able to make it all the way to the Neuse.

 

 

Gypsy also enjoyed the trip.

 

Lunch at Finz

We took the boat over to Beaufort Sunday for lunch at Finz.



 

 

Matt had the fish tacos.

 

Becky had the shrimp salad.
 

 

I had the chicken wrap.

 

 

On the way back to the condo we stopped in at Fish Tales to wait out a rain shower.  They were running a special on Bloody Marys.  This is a picture of Lindsay and Becky sittng at the outdooor bar.

 

Booze Cruise

The conditions were perfect for a booze cruise on Friday. We switched the engine off and drifted from the Haystacks halfway across the Newport River.

Pelican

Sunset over the Newport River