Waterspout Sighted From the Outer Banks Beachfront

I got a telephone call this morning from Veronica who was at work.
She wanted to know if I had heard anything about a tornado warning in the Nags Head area.
Veronica told me that a couple of her Associates had a weather app on their cell phones and that their phones were sounding off a weather warning alert.
As it turns out, there was at least one waterspout that touched down in the water.
Here is a link to Wavy.com that reported the bad weather and the waterspout that was in the area.......
Wavy.com news reporting the waterspout in the OBX
Here is a photo of the waterspout taken by Daryl Law, a local photographer.

Couple Of Evening Photos

Just a couple of evening photos

Veronica's Birthday Sneak Peek

Veronica's birthday is coming up in 11 days and yes she is actually still 29. I don't know how she does it but I sure wish she would share the magic with me. I have been working in the stealth mode on a special birthday project for Veronica's birthday. She had no idea that I had been working on anything but my tan until I slipped up and made mention of it to her. She is currently out of town but I had a chance to talk to her and I let her know that the project would be done this afternoon and that I would  be putting up a sneak preview for her. Just a little something  something to add fuel to her inquisitive nature. So here you go honey...as promised:

We will call that one curtain number 1..oh I almost forgot...we only have one curtain...silly me...but we do have a FREE drink at Starbucks for your birthday treat. And now for the last sneak peak....lol...what do you mean its out of focus! Did you think that I was actually going to give you something worthwhile and spoil the surprise. You know that I am a better surprise gift giver than that...lol. I can name this surprise in one note...how about you dear...lol

Slow Motion Lightning Strike

I was playing around with my movie/video processing software and found that I was able slow the speed way down so that you can see the lightning strike better, from the storms that passed through our area last night.

Strong Storms Came Through Our Area Last Night

We had a strong storm come through our area last night. We had lots of rain, lightning and thunder. It kept me busy taking photos and videos of it.
Below are some of those photos and videos:

Here are a few videos from the storm

Watch for the lightning strike at the end of this video. It will be near the tree

Here is a night video showing some of the lightning

Our Cruise Vacation Is Getting Closer

As of today, Veronica and I are 59 days away from sailing off into the sunset on our 2012 Cruise Vacation.
Since we plan on traveling more and more as time goes on, we went out and got ourselves 3 new suitcases. They are very lightweight, have spinner wheels, are 29 inches tall and are expandable.
The only thing left to get for our cruise is a soda pass for each of us. I have to wait until we are 45 days or under before I can call NCL to get these passes. NCL will give us a souvenir mug, which we can fill up with our soda of choice as many times as we choose during our 14 day cruise.
We plan on starting our packing about 2 weeks prior to our leaving.
I will do some checking on the current projected weather conditions for each of the ports that we will be visiting, so that we pack clothes that will be best for the weather conditions.

We have another cruise scheduled for 2013 which will include Italy and the some of the Greek Islands
Only 1 year, 2 months and 23 days until that cruise departs......but who is counting!

More Osprey Photos

On my morning walk I saw 3 Osprey sitting side by side in their huge nest.
By the time I got home, retrieved the camera and returned to the area, the 3 Osprey were down to 2.
Here are some additional Osprey photos:

Osprey Sightings

This morning while going for my walk, I noticed quite a bit of activity coming from the area of a huge Osprey nest.
I have been watching this nest though out the seasons over the last 2 years.
Each Spring the Ospreys come back and fix this huge nest up by adding additional branches and such.
Based on the size and density of this nest, it must be years that they have been coming back and working on it. This nest is pretty massive.
This morning I heard the "chirps" of the latest batch of young Ospreys to be born in this nest.
I also watched as one of the adult Ospreys delivered breakfast, a freshly caught fish, to the anxiously awaiting and hungry youngsters.
By the time I got back to our place, grabbed my camera and returned to where this nest is, all I could see was the one adult Osprey. I stood by for approximately 15 minutes to see if the other adult Osprey returned with additional breakfast items. Unfortunately none were delivered but I did catch the other adult Osprey hovering around while I was taking photos and caught a photo of him/her leaving the nest area.
Before calling it quits, I observed one of the youngsters sticking up from the nest.
It won't be long until these young Ospreys are sent packing and move onto making their own nest with their mates. A nest that will last them many seasons...a strong and sturdy nest that will pass the test of time and one where their own youngsters will grow up in, before the cycle repeats itself.