Sunsets in Wilmington (from the backyard...)

Where we live in Wilmington, we are located just behind the state port, which is directly on the river (Brunswick..Cape Fear...whichever one hosts the Battleship..). One of the nice things about this area is that there is a lack of 'backyard neighbors' (unless you consider trains and a port neighbors..) and you get a great view of the sunsets during the year. Below are some pictures I've taken of three different sunsets over the past month or so... You can click on the images to enlarge them....

Renovations

A few before pictures

The kitchen was covered in old tongue and groove panels with a bizarre islandish bar thing sticking out in the middle of the room. First thing was to rip it out and open up the wall into the living room......

Underneath the paneling was original plaster which had to be cut out. I saved what plaster I could but certain walls had to be completely torn out, as below.. Had to hang new sheetrock on the ceiling as well as most of the walls..... Ran new lights (5 cans,1 ceiling fan, and a bar light), built two pantries on a wall where there formally was 2 old non-working wondows, moved back door and replaced it with a new one, moved window and replaced it with a bigger, new one, made a permanent built in cat door.....

Crown molding then came next....

Then the cabinets arrived....

Then the install of the cabinets (thanks Bob!)

Then the paint goes up.....

...oh yeah, and hung a microwave...

Then the floors went in...

This is about all the photos I have now but there's a lot more to see. The counter tops have been in- stalled and the floor, for the most part, is finished. I'll post more when time permits but for now, here's a fairly dramatic before and after comparison...

September 12th, 2008

Last night, we just back from a small vacation upon which we traveled to upstate New York. While we were there, we drove up to Niagara Falls (on Tuesday the 10th). Everyone I spoke to told me to go to the Canadian side of the falls but I lacked a passport. I figured that seeing it from the American side would have to do and we drove into Niagara Falls, New York anyways. First things first: the city of Niagara Falls, New York is a shit hole. Dirty and ghetto. Nothing to see there. While trying to find our way to view the falls, we accidentally pulled into the entrance to Canada (Ontario to be exact...). We thought, what the hell, and pushed forwards. We paid a toll of something like $3.50 and pulled towards another booth, where a guard quizzed us on who we were, why we were there, where we were from, etc. You can get into Canada if you have a driver license and a birth certificate and/or a passport. All we had were driver's licenses. The guard instructed us to pull aside at the imigration office and told us to go inside. We did and after presenting them with our ID's and a 10 minute wait, they told us to enjoy our visit to Canada. YOU DO NOT NEED A PASSPORT TO GET INTO CANADA! After hitting the Canadian side, we traveled back to the American side to view the falls from there. The American side is much more like a natural park, as opposed to the Canadian side, which is far more commercial. Both have their pros and cons. The best views are from the Canadian side, though you have to put up with all the foreigners....well...uh...I guess we were foreigners on that side but dammit, at least we speak English! All bullshit aside, both were nice. Below are pictures of the American side..... Click on the image to enlarge...

Below are pictures of the Canadian side.

Click on the image to enlarge.....

The images may be a bit foggy but it is due to the mist that comes off the falls (particularlly the Canadian side on this day..). The falls emites a mist that practically 'rains' upon you. In some of the pictures, you can see a boat that will take you into the falls (called the Maid of the Mist) though we did not do it due to time constraints. Great trip, definately worth the 2000 miles traveled.