Going Redneck..... May 2010

This is Elizabeth


redneck cooler




A friend of ours invited us to go to Charlotte Court House, VA for the weekend to relax and unwind. We headed out on Friday packing only what we needed for the weekend...jeans, tee shirts, shorts, flip flops, tennis shoes, baseball caps, sunblock, and oh yea....guns. We were going to ride ATVs, shoot guns, hunt (depending on whats in season) and relax. So that's just what we did all weekend, played on big toys and took turns showing off each others shooting skills with rifles, shotguns and hand guns and on Saturday night we were treated to a wonderful fireworks display..thanks to Dan and "Ronbo".

Roland, our host, lives on 30 acres of wooded bliss, surrounded by streams, deer and occasional bear. He grows various vegetables; tomatoes, corn, and peppers, as well as strawberries, blackberries, grapes (of course) and apple trees. Roland, in between maintaining the land and the house, also makes wine. There was Apple wine, Strawberry wine, Dandelion wine, Honeysuckle wine, Blackberry wine, Concord wine, Banana wine, Honey wine, Cherry wine, and a few other varieties. The Concord was a favorite of mine, but then again I haven't sampled all of them, yet(I did manage to bring home a bottle of each).

All of the food was taken care of by Elizabeth. She planned every meal and fed us very well.....thanks Elizabeth! We dined on Venison, BBQ, italian sausage, homemade mashed potatoes, grilled veggies and Corn on the cob (just to mention a few), as well as huge breakfasts, and all of it wonderful!

We met most of these people for the first time, but felt right at home from the moment we arrived. Great bunch of folks! Looking forward to the next time.

Note the photo of Roland's redneck cooler....an old fridge!

New Kent Winery - May 2010

The winery in New Kent, Virgina is adding on to the winery with a new building, so they were selling off part of their Chardonnay grape vines a couple weeks ago, so Linda asked if I wanted to take a road trip with her and head up there to dig up grape vines with her so we left the menfolk at the marina after breakfast and headed out. It was a beautiful warm day with enough breeze to keep us cool. The deal was if you dug up the vines yourself they were $2.00 each, if you had the winery dig them up with the backhoe they were $3.00 each....hmmm....dig them up ourselves (back breaking work especially in the heat)...or let them do the dirty work for just a buck more?? Yep, we let the backhoe do the work.

Now came the question of how to get the 4-5 ft tall plants in Linda's Mercury Marquis....see earlier that morning Linda made the suggestion she drive her SUV to do the job but her husband insisted on her driving his Mercury. The only way to get the "6" plants in the car was to put half in the trunk and half in the back seat. Now had we thought to bring lawn bags to put the root balls down in it might have helped to keep most of the dirt out of the car...but....we didnt think of bringing any. So we carefully shoved the plants, having to bend the branches a bit, in the trunk and back seat and headed home.

Linda knew Ken (her husband) was going to be a bit surprised when he saw the car full of grape vines, and I knew the look on his face was going to be a Kokak moment, so when we arrived back at the marina and Ken came up to the car to see what we spent most of the day doing (he was thinking the plants were going to be 1-2 feet high) I was ready with my camera when he exclaimed, "Holy Crap look at my car!".... it was a good day.

Booze Cruise - April 3, 2010

Took a cruise around Lynnhaven with some friends just to get out and enjoy the nice weather. After leaving Lynnhaven we anchored off the beach in OV watched the sunset while enjoying a few libations and a horse doovers with friends...such a nice day!

Fernandina Beach, Fla - February 2010

Chip, my brother Paul and I headed down to Fernandina Beach in February for the first annual Last Leg Bike Rally to benefit the Veterans in that area. The weekend consisted of a bike show, rally each day, bike games, flea market, pub crawl and all around camaraderie and fun. Here are a few pics of the weekend. I will elaborate about the weekend at a later date.....

Bluefin Tuna Fishing in Hatteras March 2010

Chip, Rob, Andy, Kenny, and Rob's dad chartered a boat in Hatteras and set off after Bluefin Tuna. They drove down on Sunday and stayed in an apartment they rented from the charter boat captain. They were up bright and early on Monday and headed out.

Winter Snowfall January 2010

We were blessed with a couple of snowfalls this winter. This one, on 1/30/10, was the most beautiful in my opinion. Everything seems so calm and at peace with its blanket of white soft snow.