Jolly Mon Rocks The Dock at Ocean Isle Fishing Center

It's Jolly Mon Tournament Time, and this year Capt. Brant added a new 

Fishing Tournament category for the youngest ones.  

Thanks to Rickey Beck and Chris Campbell, we have candid photos 

...and Grandson Brayden 

can show you what a Big Time he had 

at the 

"Rock The Dock" Tournament! 

He caught a Flounder within the first few minutes  - the competition was keen!

Capt. Brant weighed the many fish caught by excited and Very Serious youngsters, just like in an adult SKA Fishing Tournament.  

The young anglers had to walk the length of the dock and present their fish to the Weighmaster - and then hear the news and go back to fishing.  

They had one hour to fish, and every child fished every minute of that hour in 95 degree heat and blazing sun.  

There were No Quitters!

At the Jolly Mon Captain's Meeting on Friday night, all the little anglers received their awards - 

 along with the thundering applause of the crowd.

Champs!

Are you ready for THIS?

Catch a Poagie out of a tank without using your hands. 

Brayden didn't catch the Poagie with his teeth, but did the next best thing:

Is this kid  a winner, or what?

Back To School!

I am FLABBERGASTED and humbled by the amazing talent represented by the artists who will be in my class at Lilla Rogers' Studio School.  I've met most of them in a private group on Facebook, and now I am running to sharpen my pencils and clear my work spaces and get

 In The Zone 

for the start of this online class tomorrow.  

My work tables in Ocean Isle Beach, where I will be taking part of this course.

My graphics work desk in Atlanta, Georgia, where I will also be  working.

As a participant in the class, we will not only be getting invaluable input from Lilla Rogers and her staff for five intensive weeks, but we will also be entered in a Global Talent search sponsored by Lilla Rogers Studio for the Next Big Thing.  The entrants will have their work judged by industry experts and art directors.  Shivers!

Class starts tomorrow, and I can hardly wait.  

Back to Weight Loss After Vacation

We've been on the road for a week, which really Got My Attention on how hard it is to eat sensibly while traveling...or working.

On the Interstate, Husband insists on "Grab and Go" dining, 

which precludes a salad or anything with a fork.  

That means this:

or this:

and God Help You if you suggest anything different - it simply doesn't fly with a

 goal-oriented driver like my Husband.  You can toss the buns, but after about the third meal of this, you realize you are only saving about 200 calories.  One gets discouraged...

We visited his uncle, (who owns Andy Griffith's boyhood home in Mount Airy!) who loves Thai food, and there was nothing for it but to order up...there are no photos of that meal, but suffice to say that oil was a HUGE ingredient.

Once you get to the Beach, the Sunset Ceremony is a very special tradition that we cherish, whether with a house full of friends and family or just the two of us.

Which requires drinks to toast the sunset with.  Which puts dinner later than usual, and means you go to bed on a full tummy.  Lovely tradition, but honestly, a Diet Disaster!

We're back home in Atlanta now, and I'm getting some ribbing about serving "Roughage", but we are seeing instant results.  The extra pounds are slipping off.

Which means this:

Never give up on your new eating plan...even after a week of really bad food and sitting in a car for days, which will put a couple or three pounds back on you - never give up on your new body.  Just resume your sensible eating plan, and the pounds start melting off again.  

I promise.

Calories in, Calories out.  Don't eat more than you can burn off in a day.

Drink a lot of water.

Get back on your walking or workout plan.

Step on that scale religiously, morning and night, to track your weight.  If you have to, get extreme for a day to dump those regained pounds.

After this trip, I am seriously thinking about developing a line of Yummy, Fresh, and Convenient fast foods that could be stocked in the bigger Gas Station chains.

Like this:

Image from Live In The Now

Image from Neat Pins

  

Now.  Doesn't this look more appetizing than fried potatoes served in a cardboard box??

  Anyone want to go into business with me??

Oh, yes... this means Husband has to drive, so I can properly use my fork....

Sunday Afternoon - Aground in Shallotte Inlet, NC

All members of our family are acutely aware that navigating Shallotte Inlet, between Ocean Isle Beach and Holden Beach, is nothing short of tricky.  

Here's why:

In this aerial photo by Marinas.com, you can see the muddy area to the left...that is sand, even though there are waves that make it look like, well, WATER.   The deeper channel is clearly visible on the right (Holden Beach) side.

Because of the tides that rip through here, the sand shifts around like a living creature, piling up into bars and shoals that move around.  A lot.  Mainly because of this constant shifting, the Inlet isn't marked.


In April every year, all of us develop a heightened sense of alertness, with an ear tilted toward the inlet, because we know that visitors won't necessarily know to hug the Holden Beach side to avoid the hidden sandbars that lurk on the Ocean Isle side.  To run aground in the Shallotte Inlet on the wrong wind or sea, or with night approaching, can be deadly.

Soooo, when I got the call from Husband around 4:00 Sunday afternoon that he was aground in Shallotte Inlet, I jumped in the car and drove down there.  All photos from my Iphone...sorry for the quality, but you'll "get the picture"!


This is my first view when I emerged from the beach access path:

No boat.  But, the inlet beach is very long.  So, walk, walk, walk.

 

Aha!  There he is - the boat with the black bottom.  Looks like water under him, until you get closer...

The Ocean Isle Fishing Center World Cat is standing by, and a smaller boat that came to help is in the middle.  That's Husband STANDING in the inlet.  Know what I mean?  Standing in the inlet??

In the time it took me to walk around to the tip of the sandbar, the tide almost completely went out.  That fast!  You can see the waves out on the horizon, thankfully calm and a couple hundred yards away.  Those are what get you in trouble when you run aground in an inlet. 

Husband has just figured out that I am in the neighborhood, and taking his picture.  He yells out, "Little White Dove!  I'm  Running Bear!".  Stand-up comic, he is.

Nothing to do now but put the anchor out, abandon ship and wait for the tide to come in.

Walking where water was, only 15 minutes ago.

You can see from the shadows that night is fast approaching - the absolute worst time to be trying to maneuver a boat off a sandbar with the tide coming in behind you.   

The dogs are unconcerned, and wait with us for the incoming tide and son Barrett to come join the fray. 

Barrett arrives later in the evening, and deftly ushers Dad down the waterway in inky darkness.  Working together, they swiftly engineer the boat off the sandbar with the help of the incoming tide, retrieve the anchor, and head home.

Thankfully, all's well that ends well.  Lesson learned.  Hug the Holden Beach side of Shallotte Inlet.  

No harm to the boat or engines, just to my Husband's bruised ego.  As you might imagine.  But it could've been a lot worse.  Thanks again, good old Guardian Angel!

Hurricane Irene, Hurricane Parties, and Evacuation

This whole week, Hurricane Irene hasn't been too capricious...until last night.  Sometime during the night, she took a little Westward Shift, which puts the Outer Banks back in the realm of landfall.  And we're going to get more than a stiff breeze, if she doesn't straighten up.

We are still Just Below the Pink Zone, which is the Hurricane Watch area.

The 11:00 AM update from the National Hurricane Center  has nudged the track even more Westward, and keeps it there because of a ridge building out in the Atlantic.  Which means a lot more of the East Coast is going to get torn up, all the way up into New York City, Cape Cod, New Hampshire and Vermont.  New York City is contemplating evacuation of low lying areas - you can read about the plans HERE.

Yesterday, the Town of Ocean Isle Beach hadn't pushed the panic button yet and called for evacuation. Which is a Good Thing.  No one wants to evacuate unless it is absolutely necessary...

 

Here is the website for Ocean Isle Beach visitors, and what they had to say yesterday afternoon:

Browse > Home / Around The Town / Hurricane Irene Expected To Track East Ocean Isle Beach!

Hurricane Irene Expected To Track East Ocean Isle Beach!

August 24, 2011 by gary  
Filed under Around The Town

There are no mandatory or voluntary evacuations declared at this time.
At 11:00 AM, Hurricane Irene was located at 22.4 degrees North and 73.9 degrees West, or approximately 900 miles south of Brunswick County.
Hurricane Irene is now a Category 3 hurricane and is expected to track to the east of our area.  It is expected that we could feel tropical storm force winds of 30-35 knots beginning around 10:00 PM on Friday night and continuing into midday on Saturday.
High surf and rip currents are also anticipated with rainfall varying from one to two inches.
There are no mandatory or voluntary evacuations declared at this time but with any storm of this category, we urge property owners and guest to continue monitoring the storm as is approaches our area.
This site will be periodically updated as new information is available.

_____________________________________________

That was the update from Gary, at Ocean Isle Beach website before the Westward Shift. 

Here is a link to the Town of Ocean Isle Beach - that is the site to watch if you are a property owner or renter looking for information online.

Now here is the amazing news...

A local restaurant here on the island is actually planning a Hurricane Party on Friday night, just as the storm approaches our coast - complete with live music by Bailout. You KNOW that Hurricane Drinks will be de rigueur.  Which means a lot of tipsy folks could be trying to Batten the Hatches at 3:00 in the morning if Hurricane Irene DOES decide to get capricious and take a  Westward Waggle.  Everyone will truly be trying to Bail Out, and it will be too late.

Now that is what I call thumbing your nose at Hurricane Irene, and potentially asking for trouble. 

I will keep you posted!!