Thief! MUGGER!!

What would you do if you were standing in a big box retail establishments' parking lot and heard a young damsel in distress crying those words?   I'll tell you what happened when I was the damsel...

NOTHING! 


I was loading my groceries into the car when from out of nowhere this guy runs up and snatched my wallet right out of my hand!!  I can't believe it!   ll of my cards, my DL, even my ID to get into the office... GONE!!  What am I gonna do now?!?!  AT LEAST it didn't happen two days BEFORE Christmas (that's when I get all of my shopping done.)

Het up hourglass

I've seen better.
BUT
 it took me almost a year to realize there was something in the sand!!

I can't believe I've never turned that thing over before!

you REALLY need to read it all

What a day

I spent all day down in South Mills and Moyock.  I really think I am getting close to this thing... whatever it is.
I also spent sometime looking into this spyglass, literally and figuratively.  8-)  There's something unexpected there that's for sure.  It is in near perfect condition and if I wasn't convinced that this thing has survived for more than two hundred years I'd be dubious.  But I AM convinced.
I'll bet those numbers are important.
hmmmm
You know, I read something somewhere about using the name of the knot... a BOWLINE is a knot, right?

flyin' time!!

I'm not quite sure what to think of a guy who sews his initials into a hat, but then carries a gorgeous gold pocket watch without a single mark on it. I wonder about this guys mindset.

This watch is beautiful.  I found what I could online and it is a mid-range piece from the late 1800's which jives with everything I've read about IV.   It almost looks like the hands were frozen in place at exactly fifteen seconds after Seven O'clock. Does this mean something? You know, you start reading all these stories about pirates and stories about people getting hurt or conned and you start wondering if EVERYTHING means something.  I'm starting to worry about myself. Am I getting paranoid?

Ivy

With no label it's really hard to investigate clothing.
But then, the lack of the label is, in itself, an indication of the ERA that this was made.
I guess...  The important thing about it seems to be the initials sewn into the side of the hat.
I can't imagine what kind of person is so worried about loss or theft...

This style of hat has its roots in 14th century England.. but to me, the minute I see one I think of the newsboys in Annie. or the burglars in old comics.  Not that any of that has any bearing whatsoever on the fact that their was an OLD hat in a box in my attic that seems to have belonged to IV.  A guy who just vanished 108 years ago.

There is no record of him anywhere after he graduated college.  His journal tells of living with his parents for awhile before being summoned to Kitty Hawk to help the Wright Brothers.  It also mentions his getting fired... or kicked out... or whatever it is you call it when a free ride in terminated.
I wondered what happened to him...

Halloween bash? NO!

I do have to focus on my work during the week.  One thing that came out of the Bahrain experience was MORE WORK for me.  They were so pleased with my performance that I have become an even more important member of the team... or so they tell me.  So every Saturday is treasure hunting day.
NOT REALLY...   YES REALLY


I've spent the last week reading IV's journal and today I headed down to E-city to retrace his steps and see if I can't get a little insight into the area 108 years after the fact.  I took a bag lunch since there's really nowhere special to eat down there.  I spent some time at the library, then wandered the tiny downtown for a little while before stopping at Moth Boat Park to eat.  This is a cute little pocket park that would be at home in any big city... except of course for the view!!  And its a very familiar view, isn't it?

I'm BaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaaaack!

Well.
Two months in Bahrain is just enough to fully appreciate what we have here.
I'll get into that some other time.

The important news is, I've been back for a week, I am well rested and fully prepared to attack this project with renewed focus and energy.  I did a LOT of reading while I was in Bahrain and I feel like I know everything that can be known about the subject.  Remember the polaroids I found? They were pictures of doubloons that Uncle Nick found somewhere....He left the polaroids in the box, the ACTUAL COINS were in his safety deposit box and they are stunning!!!   I haven't found anything in his notes about where he got them....  

What I DID find though was a newspaper article about a treasure hunter who found a ship sunken near here that had the VERY SAME KIND OF COINS!!!  interesting...  I wonder.... Could that be JP's ship??  I can't remember the name... it always slips my mind...

I promise I'll be safe

I know it's not why I started writing this...
It's not even why I decided to continue writing this...
The softball just consumed 6 weeks of my life.

I was just tagged to head over to Bahrain for 60 days to fill-in for a co-worker (at the corporate level) who has to return to the States to see to her sister's health.

I SWEAR, Mom...  I will be safe, I will be back in 2 months and I will get back to my project.

Irony?

The more I work,  the more time I spend at the softball field, the more I find myself thinking about the things I found in the attic.  It's like I'm obsessed or something. It's been almost a month since I've spent any time on research and I woke up at like 4:15 this morning from a dream about that journal.  I don't know what it is about draws me in... I wish I knew why Uncle nick just dropped it.  He's not the kind of guy to put a lot of work into something and then just drop it.

The softball team is working hard and they are starting to work together.  That's what it's really about is learning to be part of a team and to pull together towards a common goal.. It makes me feel bad sometimes when I catch myself thinking about the box of dusty things from the attic.  I've thought about using the spyglass for decoration on the hallway table.  Of course, I don't.  I feel like it I'd be telling a secret, or it would cheapen the whole thing somehow.   I don't know why but I get the sense that this thing is HUGE... whatever it is..

Softball!

So, all of this... STUFF... has been put on hold.  I volunteered to coach a softball team!! It's the county youth league but the girls' are super awesome and it is a TON of fun to be back on the field.  The hardest part of coaching the girls..? The parents. OMG!!  I swear, if one more dad threatens to talk to Mr. White, the commissioner, I will beat them with one of our bats.  (Okay, not really) but SRSLY!!!  These people are nuts!
and our schedule is a little weird. Every Saturday and every other Tuesday is a game, but if we don't play Tuesday,  we practice Wednesday.  so two nights a week now, I am at the field with the munchkins.  I've been doing this for a week or so.... 6 to go... I swear some nights I go straight from work to the field to bed. that's how it feels any way.

May 15

I decided to shift gears and instead of focusing on the names, I am going to figure out what I can on all of this stuff..

First things first.

The maps.  As far as I can tell, most are authentic and were published.
But there is one that is hand drawn.  There are a bunch of notes in French, and apparently either Uncle Nick hid his knowledge of French or... he had someone do some translation. NOT that I know enough to say it is right or wrong.   I don't know what some parts even refer to, but I do know that there is a big number   9 neuf
right there as plain as day.  I don't know why.  Maybe it was JP's favorite number.

I decided to refer to them as JP and IV.

The next thing I pulled out of the box, was a hunk of metal.   To hold it, it feels like the handle of a sword, but to look at it, there doesn't seem to be a blade, or even the remains of a blade...  From what I can tell most swords from the era that JP came up would have been made from one piece of steel, thicker at the hilt, and hammered thin and shaped to a point at the blade.  This doesn't really appear to have even had a blade.  OR... it was broken or cut and filed for some reason....    These two holes are also a little strange.  Everything I read indicates that the handle would have been wrapped and formed with wire and leather and the like, the concept of putting wood on either side came later... so these wouldn't be for the handle.  Gosh, does it even matter?!        OF COURSE IT DOES

LAWYERS MAKE ME WANT TO SCREAM!!!!!!!

That son of a scumbum....

First, he calls and pretends like he is just checking  up on me, since its been a couple of months since the will and all that.  THEN he suggests that I should be thankful that the best uncle ever is DEAD and had such foresight because now I don't have to worry about the TAXMAN next week!!!

Then the guy has the NERVE to actually stop by my house!!!
He says he was in the area and then HE GAVE ME A STACK OF DARN BUSINESS CARDS!?!?!?
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT.
What kind of lunatic does that?   I honestly thought he was going to ask me on a date... I might have even taken pity on him and gone on ONE.... ONE date.. but OMG I can't believe that...

"just in case, you know.... one of your friends needs some help."


I need a drink.

I found it!!






not really.




But you could, all you have to do is pay attention.  Kinda like that movie Sixth Sense




You ever wonder about all the free space?

It's so funny

For reasons that I won't go into right now, I felt it necessary to do some self-assigned homework!!  I know, it seems ridiculous.  However, I decided I would go down to Elizabeth City and try to find out everything I can about the area and about Pirate stories.  While trying to figure out how to navigate the weird streets and construction going on I noticed a sign about the Wright Brothers.  Then I noticed more.. and still more.  I guess it's funny because they were kind of important to this Isaac dude.  Apparently, on their first trip to Kitty Hawk, well... back up...  Wilbur came down solo first... but it took him FOREVER!!  When the guy from the lifesaving station in Kitty Hawk told him that it was easy to get to the Outer Banks from Manteo, but he didn't actually tell him an easy way to get to Manteo.  So, he went by way of Elizabeth City... but no one here had heard of Kitty Hawk... How ridiculous is THAT?!??

anyway, I find it ironic that here I am in E-city to do a little personal research about one guy in the box... and stumble on something about the other guy...  I wonder why none of the stories about the Wright Brothers... from Langley to the Smithsonian... none of them ever mention Isaac Vance... did they really dump him like a bad habit?!?

That is COLD!!

Work gets the better of me

So... it's been forever since I've written.  But, really.. I've done nothing but work and eat.  I can't begin to describe how utterly mundane my life has become since getting completely moved in and settled.  I went back to work and was immediately swamped with all kinds of projects.  Don't get me wrong I like my work. I really do.  But the past two weeks have run me ragged.  I've decided that this weekend I am getting out of the house.

I am going to go to the library. and I am going to go for a drive down to the outer banks.  I've always wanted to see the Wright Brothers Memorial. 

IT sounds like a really bad joke

I had some errands to run this morning, so I figured I'd get up with the sun and get them out of the way!
I went over to Greenbrier and did some shopping, picked up my meds. Stopped by Home Depot and Lowes to grab about a bajillion paint chips.  The attic is going to need a LOT of paint and I want punch! pizazz!  Each room in this house is going to be a BLAST of color! 

Anyway, I pulled up to the house around 7 or 8, much later than I intended but it sure was a great shopping day!  I noticed that the light in the attic was on.  I always forget that thing. although I guess I should be thankful(??) it served as a not too gentle reminder that I really need to get through that very last box. 

So I drag it down into the kitchen. Since I had not yet eaten and I figured I could multitask even better when in close proximity to the food, and port!  I started some water for the pasta then turned to the table and started laying out the contents of this box.  Either I need glasses or the attic is darker than I realized because I noticed some words written on the side of the box in what appears to be permanent marker... really old permanent marker.  Beauregard?  What's that?

Inside the box I found maps of North Carolina from, like... the Civil War era and some more from waaay back in colonial times.  There were a couple of books that looked old enough to be worth something on eBay.  A journal that belonged to some dude named Isaac Vance, all I could think was "what would Uncle Nicky want with that?" tucked into the back of the binding were drawings of all kinds of contraptions. like rube goldberg fails or something.  "that's funny, this journal mentions Beauregard just like the side of the box." There's a hunk of metal.  just rusty old ugle metal.  Theres a telescope or whatever they called 'em in those pirate movies ,it looks broken and old, old old... but the hourglass that I found in there actually looks like its in near perfect condition. There's a nasty old decrepit hat.. I'll have to google it to find the proper name.  I've only ever heard it called an Ivy hat.  OH GOODY!! I was right!  YAY ME!  That deserves a celebratory drink! There's a pocket watch that seems to have been on its last leg about a hundred years ago... did they even have time back then?

At the very bottom of the box was a notebook filled with Uncle Nicky's handwriting. It's really old and really hard to read. I'll have to spend some more time on it later..

The strangest thing...

So... There I am.  THE ATTIC.

I've gotten rid of everything that I can get rid of.
I've moved almost all of the furniture to different rooms.
Just when I think I've got this attic empty and ready to start decorating it I notice a box. It was under one of the gable windows that had a dark curtain hung in front of it.  Which I guess is why I didn't see the box.  Either way, I'm walking into the gable, sweep a web outta my face (I've gotten waaaay too comfortable with spider webs)  and almost break my nose when I trip over the box and fall against the window. The curtain came tumbling down  "let there be light!"

I go to lift the box and the thing is sooo heavy.  I figure it must be another box of books... so I rip the tape, pull back the flaps and instead I find more junk.  A stack of old maps from North Carolina and the canals. Some pictures,  a couple of books. Something that looks like a journal and more crap.  I swear this man collected more random stuff.  But then I got to thinking.  All the knick knacks and stuff I carried out of here tended to be grouped together.  He collected a lot of stuff, but he was neat about it.  and orderly.. Almost OCD about keeping like items together.  Boxes of books.  Shelves full of paper.  Racks full of clothes. 

This is a box of random, and I mean random items that only go together because they are in this box.
I left it for tomorrow, since its almost midnight and I am exhausted.

More from the ATTIC.

Back to work in what I have affectionately named THE ATTIC FROM HELL THAT TIME FORGOT AND MY UNCLE SCORNED.  OKay, not really, but my GOODNESS! How much stuff can one man collect in 67 years?  There were Christmas decorations from at least three different decades (none the most recent)  There were boxed clothes that were older than me!  I filled the trunk and back seat of my car TWICE with things that were going to local charities. 

FINALLY!  I can see the back wall of this place.  It's huge.  I might convert this to a master suite if I can get plumbing up here.   The gable windows and all the different angles of the roof add so much character!  Gosh, I love this old house!  and it's all mine!! Each floor is going to be so different.  Most of what's let in the attic is knick knacks, bric-a-brac, odds and ends that Uncle Nick collected from his travels around the country and the world.  I'm going to use a bunch of this stuff to decorate!  It's going to be AWESOME!!

My Birthday!!

WOOHOO!!!  What an amazing weekend!

My best buds took me out on Friday to start the birthday weekend festivities. We did it up right. They were all like, you need to take a break from the house, you've been giving it every minute of every hour whenever you aren't at work.  I'm like yeah, it's only been two weeks.  I've been cleaning and moving furniture and rearranging things.  Do you have any idea how disgusting it is to have to sort an old mans clothes?? It's not like they are dirty, It's NOT because he's dead... but... they're all like... gross...
Anyway, we went out and saw Dan Cummins at the Funny Bone.  THAT GUY IS SOOO FUNNY!!!
Then we went down to the Oceanfront and stopped in at HammerHeads but there was nothing going on, so we settle for old Faithful...  Everyone in Peabody's knew it was my birthday by the end of the night and I couldn't pay for a drink if I tried.  Saturday I woke up in Pam's bathroom.  That's all I want to say about that.  I spent the day recovering and trying to find my keys.  When I finally felt human enough I made a very slow, very dry-eyed drive back to my house.  I really wanted to try out the clawfoot tub that was just refinished.

Sunday was a day of rest.  I really wanted to get up to the attic, but there was no way.  I made it up to the fourth step and the extra altitude sent my head for a tail spin.  I almost ended up on my butt! kind of funny... kind of pathetic.  Really? It takes two days to recover now?
 Maybe next weekend I'll be able to spend some time up there.

Today, when I got to work, the other ladies in the office had a cake and some gifts waiting for me!They are so sweet!  I couldn't believe it..  A new coffee mug, a gift card for iTunes and one for the Day Spa we always talk about going to but never quite do.  I guess I'll be the sacrificial lamb, tee-hee...

The Attic

You ever seen GOONIES?

I know, I know that movie is as old as I am!  But that's another thing I got from Uncle Nick. A love for all things 80's!!  He always used to say that he loved everything from the 80's Everything that even looks like the 80's... He said that he loved the movies, the music, the hairstyles,, but above all else, he loved me. Then I'd say that he was the sweetest, kindest, bestest uncle I had.  It always ended with him reminding me that he's my ONLY uncle..  was my only uncle.. I've really got to STOP crying sometime! 
Anyway, the Goonies.  I finally made my way to the top of the stairs and into the Attic.  It was like the scene straight of the movie where the kids go up and find all kinds of crap laying around everywhere they are gawking and laughing.  THAT's Uncle Nick's attic.  well... it's mine now....
GEEZ louise. these tears!! 
OKAY... THIS attic is just like that, except I don't even have room to wander around and gawk at this place. I'm going to have to clean just to have room to get up here and clean. So, I got as far as I could this afternoon.  The boxes immediately around the attic door were filled with books.  REALLY BIG.  REALLY HEAVY BOOKS!  I really need to get to the gym.  I had to unpack the books and carry them down 8-10 at a time.  These books... they were from everywhere, about every topic under the sun.

OMG this house is like a museum

SO.   Uncle Nick died unexpectedly.  I HOPE that's why I'm finding things the way they are in this house!  OMG!  I'm serious.  It's like... I dunno.  Like he expected to come right back... but then... I guess he did.  

OKAY.. BAWL-fest done.  I miss him... He was like the best uncle I've ever heard of!  Even better than any movie or TV uncle.  That goes for the man from U.N.C.L.E ... Nick always made me watch that whenever I'd visit.  He loved old stuff like that. 
I got the key last Friday, moved some of my stuff into one of the spare bedrooms. and started poking around.  Over the weekend I started making a list of the furtiture that I'd keep, and the stuff that would eventually go away.  Each night this week, I'd pick a room and box up all of the personal stuff that had no meaning to me.  I did find some pictures of Nana, Papa, and mom and Uncle Nick... Those I'm keeping.  

If you ever find yourself in this position, take the time to move in slowly.  "Joe" has been extremely considerate. He said that I could stay in the apartment as long as I needed so that the transition is easy.  AND.. I wouldn't have to pay anymore.  I guess I'll never know what Uncle Nick did, and why "joe" owes him so big.  The only big hassle of taking ownership of this gorgeous house has been getting all of the utilities into my name.  Canceling the phone service was a monumental chore.  Once I convinced them that I did in fact actually have permission to discuss the account, and the right to change things...  I then had to convince them that I didn't need a home phone.  Seriously?  I can't believe they even offer it anymore.  (I really thought this was all taken care of)

The story

I'm starting this blog at the request of my mom, Kelly Bradshaw-Culpeper. She's still in Pensacola, but wants to see the progress on my new house. It's not really new. Mom's brother, Nick, left me the house when he passed away. I actually owe quite a bit to Uncle Mark. He got me the sweet job. Well, he actually got me into college to get the degree that made the job possible. He introduced me to a friend who was going to Afghanistan for 18 months. "Joe" (if that is his real name) sublet his absolutely awesome apartment to me for like one-third of what I'd pay anywhere else. Honestly, I kinda wonder what Nick did to deserve that kind of break. NO ONE does a favor like that for nothing.

Uncle Nick sold me his 1998 BMW 325i for like $1000. I'm pretty sure that the only reason he made me pay anything is that he knows I don't take charity. The biggest thing I have to thank Uncle Nick for though, is my life. No, He didn't save me from an inferno, or from drowning in a lake. Instead what he did was put two people together in the same room, a movie theatre on May 16, 1986. If you aren't up on your Ancient Pop Culture History, that's the day Top Gun went nationwide. It's also the day that Mom gave in to Nick's pleading and went along to the movies to meet Peter Mitchell Culpeper... My Dad. They were married in August. I came along on Valentine's Day 1987. My mom thought it was important to carry some history around so I was saddled... gifted with the middle name Arizona. I'd like to think it's in memory of a family member, or some critical time in the Culpeper, or Bradshaw family story.. but no. It is simply that Arizona was admitted to the union on February 14, 1912. Yay ME!!

So here ya go, Mom... The blog