Julie K

Justin named him Choppy — how original

Yes Mom…that is my bath scale

He plans on shark fishing with the head and eating the rest

I’ve posted a couple pics of Grayson and his new friend Flash but you can find all of my pics of Grayson on Flickr.

For those of you who visit my blog often, you’ve probably already noticed that my site looks completely different. I’ve had this blog for over a year now…so I think it was overdue.

Here’s what I’ve changed:

• My Wordpress theme…it’s no longer pink
• Added my Twitter feed
• Added the Follow Me plugin which links to my social media profiles
• Changed the name of my my blog….it became more of my life and less fishing - which is okay (my address is still http://www.broadandreel.com)
• Edited and added my blogroll

Hope you like it!

This picture is probably a year old or so…he’s beefed up a bit since then. Still cute as a button though.

I learned last week that I was approved for adopting Grayson. As of today, his foster Mom is planning to bring him down on Friday, May 1…I even took the day off

Well my whole car debacle came to an end a couple weeks ago. After some thinking and weighing of pros and cons…I bought a 2009 Nissan Versa.  Love, love, love this car! Super fun to drive! Anyhow, see pics below.

Varuka nexted to Daphne

The front…obviously

Me waving from my new car!

And it looks like I’ll have the best from both worlds. I punched some numbers and it looks like I will be able to get a horse. I submitted my adoption application for Grayson…if all works out well he’ll be coming home during the first weekend in May

So Friday morning I received an e-mail saying that I could apply for Grayson…apparently the other woman didn’t want him. That same day, I took my car in for some regular maintenance stuff. I called the shop at around 2:30p.m. to find out my car is apparently a rolling death trap (maybe a little bit of an exaggeration). It needs a tune up (spark plugs are carbon fouled), front pads and rotors plus back drums…one of them is apparently cracked. The guy wouldn’t even touch my fuel filter because the gas lines running to the filter were so fragile. And to top it off, my car’s sub frame is rusted through. So needless to say, I’m in the market for a new car.

I was sooooo bummed because of the horse but at least it happened before I got him. I’m not giving up on having my own horse…I just need a few months and some more side work.

Justin and I went to look a cars today. I’m looking for something that is a couple years old and known for it’s quality. I’ve been digging on the Mazda3s for the past couple years so I knew I wanted to test drive one of those. The Nissan dealership here in town had three, so we stopped there.

The salesman there quickly steered me to a 2007 Nissan Versa that was priced at $12,000. He said that the Versas  are great little cars and have awesome gas mileage. This is also a car that my Dad pointed out last year…but back then I quickly dismissed it because it was a hatchback

Well this little Nissan’s battery was dead so I test drove a new one and what a peppy little car!!! Super fun to drive and I could actually see because I sat up pretty high. When we got back I drove the Mazda3 and unfortunately I didn’t like how it felt…very stiff!

The salesman jumped the 2007 Versa and I took it for a test drive. Loved the little thing!! The picture to the left is a 2007 Nissan Versa in the same color that I looked at but it’s not a picture of the actual car.

We’ll see what this week brings. But so long Daphne…you were a good hunk of metal

This past weekend the weather was spectacular and it was due because my Mom came down the week before and it rained-the-entire-time.

Justin and I went to breakfast at the Pier House and I even went on two bike rides on Saturday. 

On Sunday I went to see a man about a horse…no really I went to look at a horse. I am looking to adopt a horse from the United States Equine Rescue League. I fell in love with the face of a 4-year-old Paso Fino Cross named Grayson (see pic below). Things are still up in the air right now because another woman has first dibs on him since she looked at him first. And yes, I know I’m crazy And yes I know the responsibilities of owning a horse.

Remains of the Beauregard…a blockade runner that sunk in 1863

It’s only visible at super low tide

Ashley enjoying the sun on our warm deck

Grayson…his color is called Rose Gray. He’s much more gray in person

Grayson…he’s four but still has his baby face

Back before I enjoyed fishing…I looooooved horses, I’m talking about obsession. I rode competitively in college at a beautiful facility named Peace Point Equestrian Center. I quit riding when I moved to Wilmington, NC (about a year and a half ago) and boy did I miss the horses but back in December I found a place to ride. There are plenty of horses to choose from and other friendly animals such as goats, chickens and roosters to play with.

I’ve taking a liking to an 11-year-old American Saddlebred Paint named Lightning. He used to pull a wedding carriage with his sister and now he’s the big dog of the farm. Sweet guy…

Me and Lightning

Grazing

Below are some other pictures from around the farm.

Skippy (30-years-old) and Red (my favorite rooster)

Geronimo (Paint mini)

Princess (An ex-racer who lives up to her name)

Other than riding I haven’t been up to much in the past few months but…

My Christmas Cactus bloomed when it was supposed to

And…

It snowed at the beach…not once but four times this year

Within the past week and half or two Justin has caught some really really awesome fish.

It all started with his first red drum…massive red drum. I believe he was 43″ long and he has since caught two other red drum that are of a comparable size.

One night when he was fishing for red drum he landed a nice sized sand tiger from the shore…no yakking! Of course Justin’s friend Jason was uber excited and came out of “winter retirement” to try and catch some sharks.

Coming out of retirement paid off for both of them, on Friday night the boys both hooked up with some massive sharks at the same time.

Both sharks (see pictures below) were sand tigers around 9′ in length.

Justin went out with me last night instead of going fishing but Jason, his girlfriend and a couple others yakked out some baits and caught a 5.5′ tiger shark…boy is she pretty.

Most people assume that the best beach fishing is during the summer but I think we have proof that summer fishing may be over rated.

And for fun… I could resist this super cute pirate spade fish. All the bronze spade fish at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher were dressed up as pirates for Halloween.