“USA 🇺🇸 North Carolina ~Monthly Blog Series of….It’s Never Dull!! ~MARCH 2024”

• April 2, 2024
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

March sure came on strong like a Lion. Hopin she leaves like a Lamb….. (and she did)!

Soccer Games Commence

Soccer with the grandboys have had some challenges. It seems the rain started up, big time, right when they needed the fields drier to practice and play their games.

Rylans first soccer game was on a soppy field, but it did happen. He is on an impressive co-ed team, and those little tykes did a fantastic job! It was a lot of fun to watch, and Rylan did so good!

Thankfully, McKenzie is playing volleyball, inside a gym. Their practices and games are indoors! They won their game this week and that was thrilling!

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Oh Yes, More Shark Teeth

I’ve been staying plenty busy during these days. I like the stormy weather for what it does for shark teeth hunting on the beach. The waves get wild and more sand continues to get dumped on the beach…. It’s like mother natures answer to beach erosion. With the sand, comes more shark teeth, too!

The beach changes almost everytime we go, during and after the storms. Last visit we planned on searching at a time when the tide was higher, and washing through shell and tiny rock beds, to help reveal teeth, but we got there and during the high tide of the night, those beds were buried again, with about 4 inches of sand. So, new plan!

We have warm days, cold days, rainy days, and sunny days. In my opinion, there is never a bad day at Onslow. As long as there are teeth to find, I want to be out there finding them! It’s a bonus when Chelsie gets to stay and play!

⬆️ This is called a Sea Biscuit. They are smaller than most Sand Dollars. Until this visit to N Carolina, I had never even heard of a Sea Biscuit. They are not found on Onslow very often, but a few now and again do wash up during stormy weather. They are heavy like a rock. Inside the delicate coveting, it looks like dried concrete.

⬆️ I’m not sure exactly, what this middle item is. It’s about 1/2 inches long, and broken at the top In researching, it is possible that it is the very tip of a Stringray’s Barb.

⬆️ This fine tooth specimen is very likely from a Tiger Shark, and possibly an extinct one. 

My Cool Caution Light!

Funny story:
When Chels and I were doing low tide before sunrise, last week, it was very dark for over a hour. As I’m searching around for shark teeth, I see this blinking yellow light bouncing around out in the surf. I thought I was seeing things. I kept an eye on it and it finally landed on the beach.
It was a yellow caution light that obviously fell off something…..the magnet on the bottom is strong, and had picked up a lot of metal, in its ocean journey. Of course I kept it!

After I got home with it, Daryl got it all cleaned up. The salt water had corroded the on/off switch, pretty bad, but D got that cleaned up, too. It’s solar powered and I just love it! We will keep it, in case we have an emergency on the roadside and have to put out “flares.” I’ll just use my blinking yellow light. 🤣

We continue to feed the birds and squirrels off our picnic table. Nothing fancy, and we hear zero complaints. We have seen a few Red Cardinals. I just love those birds! 

We also have no shortage of beautiful sunsets on the Carolina coast.

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Canoe Time

Daryl got himself a very nice, high quality blow up canoe. He got the paddles and life jacket. On his maiden voyage all went well, until a 12 foot alligator, decided to come over to check out the big guy. It is def proving difficult to practice in the canoe (balance) in North Carolina. I suggested he get a small Kodiak with a small motor. It would be WAY more stable on the water…. Just sayin

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A Look-a-Like Shark Tooth or the Real Thing?

I recently learned about the “digested” tooth…

I recently found this. It is over 2 inch long and a potential shark tooth.

It does make sense the bourlette or the crown would not survive stomach acids, whereas the enamel can survive for much longer, but acids still can caused the normally smooth enamel to become pocked or swirled-looking.

I very seldom overlook good fakes or “possers” as our family calls them. I take them home and look at the “potentials” in good light, with more time; and when off the beach.

This may not be a Megadolon Shark tooth, but other extinct shark teeth, from the same era were also pretty big, but with a narrower shape. I recently found one such tooth, in good shape (un digested). Here is that tooth in a picture  ⬇️

⬆️ Usurus Retroflexus (extinct) Short-Fin Mako. Lower Tooth

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For Spring Break

Way back in December, I searched and searched for just the perfect beach house to rent during spring break, for the kiddos. I had that beach house in the movie; “Rodanthe” in mind, of course, since we are in the Carolinas!

I was super excited! Apparently it’s a big thing to do around here, as I found many beach houses for rent, but spring break was already booked for a lot of them, even as far back as December! We want to make this a family tradition, so I will start way earlier next time!

I spent hours and hours, and finally found a house, RIGHT ON THE BEACH, in Topsail. It was perfect and we ALL looked forward to a little vacay.

……Wait… What? Our beach house rental got cancelled?….. I honestly did not see that one coming; only a few weeks from our date of spring break! I felt panicked, because how would I find another rental so close to spring break, now?

The rental company had selected five rentals for me to choose from, as a “replacement” house. I had my doubts, before I even opened the links. What kind of  “bottom of the barrel” would there be, this late in the game? Well, none of the options were on the beach, and a few were condos, and not being able to still be in Topsail, was super disappointing.

I had little choice but to pick one of the ones available, or the other option was to get a full refund; thus no getaway. So, I picked the one that was an actual house, and the one closest to the beach. It does have easy beach access, with a beach view and the home is quite lovely and huge, with an elevator in it!  Of course, I told the rental company I was not a happy camper AT ALL, so I asked for a couple extra nights, free of charge for the trouble, and all.

So, we now get a bigger house, and extra free nights, and at $500/night, the upgrade was nice at no extra cost for us, since the original beach rental was $370/night. We are not on the beach, and the excuse  “beach refurbishing” going on is very lame.. but that’s why we got cancelled. Who knows, maybe that part of the beach will really be closed down. We will now be 11 minutes further south, in the next door town to Topsail; Surf City.

Now, we are looking forward to our spring break, after this hiccup. I hope there are no more issues and we are all so looking forward to a fun time, this month! 

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Getting Crafty

One rainy afternoon, I had some fun putting together some lighted displays, showcasing my beach finds. I added some decorative lighting and was happy with my trial run. These vases I got are 5” around and a foot tall. It’s a work in progress.

As I mentioned… trial run. I have since removed everything in the vase and started over. The shark teeth in the shells did not stay put, so I got myself a glue gun to help with that, and I am adding way more tiny LED lighting, next time. There will be less sand, and more space will be left at the top, for a more balanced look.

In the meantime, I was very pleased with how my large shells turned out, having added some lighting on them, too, along with some shark teeth. ⬇️

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 Due to another storm with lots of rain and gusty winds, we were very surprised Rylan’s soccer game wasn’t called off. Luke’s afternoon game got cancelled, but on this Saturday morning, we dressed in rain gear, grabbed our chairs and headed for the game!

…Gotta say, by only the second game, Rylan has caught on to the strategy and rules, and was super focused and engaged. He had a lot fun, even in the rain. He got right in there to help move the ball on down the field. He’s quite the soccer player, now, just like his big brother! 

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Tonight we happily turned our clocks forward, before we went to bed! Anything to get more daylight in the evening!

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King Tide Weekend 

Also, on this Saturday, there was another King Tide going on at the beach. I was actually at Onslow beach on January 11th of this year, on the last King Tide. It was pretty wild and very loud with gigantic waves, crashing!

When the beach completely disappeared, with the tide coming in, as far as the sandy pathway from the beach to the parking lot, there was no beach left to look for shark teeth; so I called Chelsie to come pick me up. 

The day after, Chels and I got to Onslow in the morning; this second King Tide event of the year, the swells were expected to reach as high as 6 feet, with only 3 seconds in between each swell! 

After several hours, Chels had to leave and get back home, for the kids. I opted to stay at the beach, to keep searching.

Rylan and his daddy had a pre-planned day together; (that just so happened to fall on the day after King Tide). It was just the two of them for some one-on-one time.

❤️ So cute: Rylan wanted to go to Onslow Beach, to “show his daddy how to find shark teeth!” 

The day after the King Tide, ended up being a rather slow day for shark teeth hunting, actually. Even more sand came up from the swells, during the high tide, instead of taking sand away. The new sand covered a lot of shell/rock beds, but the new sand will also reveal more goodies, eventually. It’s truly the ebb and flow of Mother Nature.

Rylan had a blast, as usual, though, and found some great teeth. He’s quite a hunter in those shell/rock beds! It makes this MeMa so proud.

At the end of their daddy-son time, I was waiting near the steps off the beach, at our agreed upon time. When Ry saw me, he ran to me and couldn’t wait to show off his shark teeth finds! He reads up about the sharks and looks to see what their teeth look like. He now tells me what kind of teeth I find… (he’s 7)

I Love him so much! ❤️

Soccer On a Sunday

Right after beach time, Joey and Ry dropped me off at The Whale. I changed and Grandpapa and I headed to Luke’s soccer game. This was a Sunday, and a make-up game, from a rainy day cancelled one.

These kids are so young, but know the game and are quite good. Luke was amazing and made a couple goals. We are all so proud of him. One day they are cute little toddlers, and then they are athletes! It happens so fast!. We love that we are here, and get to watch our grandchildren do their sports! We are watching about three games a week.
Fun stuff! 

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ITS HERE!!!

We are enjoying our first hint, that Spring is right around the corner! The grasses are turning green. We have trees blooming and my favorite, Daffodils are popping up!  We are also running A/C, instead of heat; also a good sign. Soon I will put out hummingbird feeders. NOTE: for those of you who do feed the hummingbirds, please don’t add dye coloring to the water. It actually kills them. Just plain sugar water will do.

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As you can see, the beach was beautiful, too! Chelsie and I got out there for a fun; half day. I saw more Dolphins, as it’s obvious they love the calm seas, too!

I spent more time digging through shell beds, since the tide line still has too much sand, covering the small beds, there. It will take several tides to wear away the sand, to reveal places for finding teeth. In the meantime, shell beds (up near the dunes) hold a lot of goodies. I find pretty shells as well as shark teeth. I found a Great White Shark tooth on this day. Chelsie found a 1/2 of a large Meg tooth. 

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❤️❤️❤️

Daryl and I enjoyed our 8th Anniversary this month, so Happy Anniversary to us! ❤️

We did have three wedding ceremonies, back in the day, but March 13 was our first; original ceremony.

We don’t go out to eat these days, hardly at all, even for celebrations, so I made homemade Pasta for Carbonara. Yummy!

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Pampering

With the beach trip coming up, a girl needs a bit of pampering to get pretty painted toes. I found a great place nearby and they did a great job. I will def be going again!

Prior to my pedi appointment, I loaded up Jonah the Bug with my heavy winter clothes and jackets. Chelsie offered me some of her closet space at her house, and I so appreciate this. Closets and drawer space are limited, even in The Whale, so just having current; spring/summer clothing to deal with is awesome!

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We continue to find cool treasures on the beach. Sometimes we have no idea what we find, but we are saving some items to take to a museum. I’ve heard we can ask questions and maybe get some information on fossils and such.

We are taking the kids to the Aurora Museum for their annual Festival, at the end of May. They have a large sand pit they fill two times a year. Then, big kids and little kids can dig for cool fossils to keep. This will include Shark Teeth. We are all super excited about this visit!

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School Performance

Luke and his fourth grade class performed a sing/talk/read skit of sorts. It was very fun to watch and they did a great job! I especially loved watching Luke. He is quite adorable. 

⬆️ Luke is the one in the blue shirt 

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More Soccer ⚽️ Games 

This day we had sunshine! 

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Spring break weekend arrived. Joey went on a motorcycle trip to Virginia and the rest of us went to Onslow. The weather was so wild. Chels and I were there the day before and it rained, with no rain in the forecast. The same happens on this visit. Joey and his buddies drove out of it and had good weather, though.

Kenzie put a surprise up for her daddy in their garage, for his return from his motorcycle trip. We all wrote messages on balloons. Kenz is always so thoughtful. 

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Speaking of thoughtful, Kenzie made me a little candle holder from a kit I had given her. She did a great job and she knows the colors I love! ⬇️

❤️

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It’s Go Time!!!

We are now preparing and packing up for our week at the beach, now! So this blog is for the first three weeks in March, which was fabulous, and I will do a separate blog for the beach house fun, next, during the last week of March!

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Finally.
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We are just starting our third month. 

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