Goldsboro – Mermaid on a Raft

10/26/2024 It was 11 years ago today that we arrived on Roatan with 2 dogs and a cat. Eleven years, it seems like it was a lifetime ago. So much has happened since then. I honestly thought that was my last move. I guess the joke was on me. In Dec of 2019 I moved to Arizona, in August of 2021 we moved to Kentucky and in August of 2023 I moved to North Carolina. Am I here permanently? No. No, I’m not. I hope the final move will be back to the Pacific Northwest.

It is still summer here, with temperatures in the high 70s—today, it hit 81. We’ve only had a few cold nights; in fact, I had a fan in the bedroom window the past few nights. It’s great weather, I’ll take it while it lasts. I think Max wonders why he can’t jump in the pool.

Bill decided to visit to do a few things, like put water seal tape on the roof seams where it leaks on the porch. The whole porch needs redone but that’s for another time. The boys and I live on the porch.

He got that done and also poured concrete at the edge of the garage. He did the other side last year due to water drainage.

This is what he did earlier to the side by the walk. Man, I need to pressure wash again.

This is what it looked like. I had a large plant sitting on each side of the garage.

He dug it out and formed it. However, he forgot to bring his concrete tools so he made do with what he had.

It turned out OK for not having tools. There are fire ant nests all along the edge on the left. I hate those things.

My friend who I worked with in PA now lives 30 minutes away. She invited me to see Motown at a theater in Goldsboro. We went out for dinner before. The show was OK, kind of humorous to be honest. They did Jump, which is not Motown but David Lee Roth and Van Halen. Then they did some Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson, neither of whom are “Motown.” They didn’t suck but it’s totally not what we thought it would be.

We closed the pool on Oct. 6, which was a sad day. I floated for about an hour before I was ready to get out and shut it down.

When we put the pool up we/I never did anything around the bottom of the pool. I couldn’t mow or weed whack there for fear of hitting the pool. I decided to get a 6″ high aluminum border for around the bottom. It was currently weeds and I was tired of looking at them. While Bill was here he started to do the metal border. It required digging a trench to put it in then using a board and a mallet and pounding it into the dirt.

You can see in this pic that there is nothing around the edge where it meets the ground. It looked bad.

However, Bill got partway around the pool and I wasn’t liking what he was doing. I think either he didn’t want to do it or, I don’t know. I told him to stop, and I would finish it. In this photo I was pulling out what he had previously pounded into the ground and starting over, about 1/5 of the way around the pool. It was really difficult to get the metal out of the ground.

I finally got it out and started digging a new ditch for it to go into. It was slow going and really hard on my poor hands. I was using the tool on the far right of the pic to dig. I found if I wet the soil it was easier.

Margy came over while I was cutting cardboard. She ran home quick, changed her clothes and grabbed some more cardboard and helped me finish this.

I went to Lowe’s and bought 10 bags of rubber mulch. I then sprayed any weeds that were left with weed killer and covered that all with cardboard. I wet the cardboard and flattened it down then dumped the rubber mulch on it. What a difference. Only 3 back-breaking days but it’s done.

It’s so peaceful here with no houses or roads behind us. I pretty much don’t like neighbors so this is the best spot in a neighborhood for someone like me.

Soybeans, the whole field behind me is soybeans.

The crazies. These two are such good dogs.

My garden ended with a pile of dirt with white stones in it. I hated it. I started picking the white stones out and putting them in the wheelbarrow. Then I took them around the fence and dumped them. There were already white stones around the A/C unit.

I raked and picked and raked and picked some more.

With most of the rocks out of there, I then decided to make the flower bed bigger. Just what I need, more flowers.

You can see where it used to be by the dark mulch. I only had to buy 3 more stones.

I think I ended up moving the rocks a few times. There were also more white rocks to remove.

While Bill was here we got a half yard of topsoil. Topsoil here is really sand with a little dirt in it. Notice my yard? It’s not really grass, more a grouping of different weeds.

In spring I’ll get some manure, peat moss and a few bags of soil raked into this before I plant.

Nothing fancy but Bill cut a timber to hold the stones in around the A/C unit on each side. Once it rains and the dirt gets washed down in it will look better. And the stones are not all over the yard anymore.

My neighbor messaged me that she had a turtle in her yard. I said, cool. She responded, can you come move it? I said sure.

I’m not sure how she got in their yard but she was desperately trying to get under the fence and back into the field. Joyce opened the gate and I picked her up and set her on the other side of it. She took off into the field. It was a yellow-bellied slider and I’m pretty sure it was the same one that attacked (J/K) Barrio and that we saw digging a hole for eggs.

It’s dinner time for the boys and then we’re going for a walk.

I was hoping it had cooled down some, but we just got back from a walk and I’m sweaty again. Damn humidity.

In other great news, Trace is coming for a quick visit in Nov. He has to go to Mississippi for work and then will fly to Raleigh and spend 3 full days here. Just me and the baby. I think it will be the first time in 25 years that we have been together alone. My friend Terry, who now lives on Roatan, is coming to the states to get some stuff done and is planning a visit here too. I love having things to look forward to.

I’ll end it with this.

Our island home is for sale again. The people are going back to Texas after 3 years.

And, riddle me this…..They’re poisoning us with sugar and all the dyes and chemicals in our food.

In two months Christmas will be over. I know, I’m just a harbinger of joy.

11/2/2023 to 11/12/2023 (That’s how long I’ve been trying to do this blog)

On Sunday and Monday, the last few days of October, I was outside in the backyard, catching some rays. I had 2 dog cots out there and my chaise, it was beautiful and sunny for two days. Then Tuesday was gloomy, ushering in much cooler weather. This morning it was a balmy 30 degrees when we started our walk. In the blink of an eye, the weather changed. I really don’t mind the cold weather, it feels good and I know Max loves it because he’s always in a fur coat. Luckily I have my dog hair-covered fleece leggings that are warm enough for cold winter walks.

The dogs and I have been hanging around the house most of the time. I usually walk them 3 times a day, morning, early afternoon, and after dinner. I try to wait until after 8 on weekdays so that most of the “going to work” traffic is gone. After dinner I wait until 6-ish, most people have gotten home and are inside. Then on the weekends, I try to walk before 8 AM, when people are still sleeping. I have met a few people walking their dogs, that’s the easiest way to meet people in a neighborhood. Several people comment on how well-behaved Max and Barrio are. They don’t know that they are secretly psychopaths, that Barrio does the loop around the house, crying, with a toy in his mouth for 30 minutes at a time, or that Max has to smell my breath every time I eat something. Max has food issues, Barrio has mental issues.

All day long. I pick up the toys and put them in the basket. He takes them out.

Thoroughly into his peanut butter and yogurt-filled Kong.

Right after we moved here my neighbor said I needed to get my yard treated for fire ants. I hadn’t seen any and didn’t bother to call anyone. Then we had torrential rain and the fire ants came out in full force. I found out just how much fire ants hurt, and how much they itch and then blister, by stepping into a nest in flip-flops. My fear was the dogs getting in them, especially Max with the tons of fur on his body. I called several places to come treat the yard and they were all booked out for a few weeks. Most charged $125 and said I would need to have it done a few times a year. I called several different exterminators. One guy came out and said he could do it that afternoon but it was $200; however, there is a year warranty. So if I see fire ants again within the year, they will come back and spray. That sold me. He came back that afternoon and treated the yard. The front yard didn’t have as many nests as the back so I was letting the dogs out front to go to the bathroom. I kept them in for a few hours after the yard was treated and he said to give it a good week to kill the ants. Ten days after he treated the yard I decided to let the dogs out back again, it’s fenced out there, and much easier to keep an eye on them. We were just coming in and Barrio was on the porch jumping around and licking at his feet. Damn, his back legs had fire ants all over them and they were crawling up his legs. I tried to get as many off as I could, then took him out front to the concrete and the hose. I laid him on the driveway and washed them off. I was picking ants and squishing them but they were still crawling on me and biting me. I took him back inside, stuck him in the tub, and filled it up. I shampooed him really well and rinsed him a few times. Once he was dry I gave him a Benadryl and canceled my dinner plans for the evening. I wanted to keep an eye on him. He was groggy but not scratching. I didn’t want to put anything on him because he would lick it off. He was fine the next day. I called the guy who sprayed and he said he could come on Tuesday. He re-did the whole yard. He was surprised there were so many new nests after he treated the yard. This time seems to have done it because I don’t see any ants in the nests. However, I see so many nests along the road when I walk the dogs, it’s crazy.

My neighbor Joyce told me about two groups I should join, one is a local FB group for our neighborhood and the other is called Next Door. That’s an app, once you download you enter your zip code and are in a chat group with people in your area. The first time on there I saw a woman post that she wanted to meet people and didn’t know how or where. She said if anyone was interested in hanging out to message her. Totally out of the norm, I responded. We messaged a few times, and then she came over to meet me and walk the dogs with me. She lives about 5 miles away. Since then we have gone shopping and we do Saturday night dinners, checking out the local restaurants. Margy and I went to Mezcalito twice, it’s really good and the atmosphere is not your typical Mexican restaurant.

On the other side of the plants is a large bar area.

These were chicken quesadillas with a side of fries.

Last night we went to Longhorn’s. It’s a meat restaurant and it smells like a cooked cow in there, but they serve several chicken dishes and other no-meat options.

These were called Firecracker Chicken Wraps. They were sooo good. There was an avocado lime dip for them.

My friend from PA (she lives thirty min. north of me) is coming down tomorrow and we are trying the new Thai restaurant. I’m excited, I love Thai food.

I have been sitting on the outdoor furniture couch I bought in KY because I left the leather couch in KY for Bill. Sitting on the outdoor furniture isn’t bad for a little bit but night after night, my butt was screaming. It was so uncomfortable.

I finally broke down and ordered a couch and oh my gosh, what a difference.

It’s so comfy, my butt is extremely happy.

One of the things I liked about this house was the fact that there were no houses behind my yard, it was just fields. I never gave much thought about the fields, until one day a week or so ago. I was in the yard on my chaise, the dogs had their cots out there and we were chilling in the sun. I kept hearing a noise but didn’t give it much thought until it got closer. Damn. They were cutting the fields and producing a huge haze of dust. I schlepped everything inside and got the boys in too, just in time. It was dust and tiny particles of the crop that had been previously planted everywhere.

I hope they are done cutting here for the year.

Now we can see the deer better and the dogs can bark at them.

I live in the flight path of Seymour Johnson Air Force base. It is home to the F-15E, strike eagle. Luckily, they consistently fly over the house and I am captivated every time they do.

The following is from the internet. The F-15E Strike Eagle is a dual-role fighter designed to perform air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. An array of avionics and electronics systems gives the F-15E the capability to fight at low altitude, day or night and in all weather.

The aircraft uses two crew members, a pilot and a weapon systems officer. Previous models of the F-15 are assigned air-to-air roles; the “E” model is a dual-role fighter. It has the capability to fight its way to a target over long ranges, destroy enemy ground positions and fight its way out.

To me, these planes scream FREEDOM. God bless our military.

Margy and I went downtown and checked out a few stores. They are revitalizing the downtown area.

Flowers and plants are two things I love.

My boys, sitting in front of the ratty nasty steps to the back porch. This house needs some serious love.

I was on the back porch reading, it was sunny but super windy. All of a sudden my neighbor’s pool flipped completely over. A few days later they turned it upright and set it where it was supposed to be but it doesn’t look very good. It may be usable, who knows.

This is a new painting Trace did, I got a print and framed it. He sees many goats when he is climbing, this one is amazing. It feels like he’s looking right at you.

I rarely take my phone when I walk the dogs but happened to have it this morning, the sky was beautiful.

I just got back from walk #2 and it’s damp and cold out with more rain predicted. I just made a chai latte and I’m going to plop my butt on my new comfy couch and read.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and thanks for the push from Florida Maryanne. This would have still been in the editing process if you hadn’t messaged me.

Tag: Goldsboro

Define Old.

The ants from hell.