It’s hard to drive 5 miles without seeing a crumpled up, dead deer along the side of the road. That’s because we are in peak season - the deer are in rut. Bucks are chasing does and they run across roads after the enticing females and worry about cars and trucks later. Some say to watch out for deer in the headlights, but I say just watch out. Recent studies say that Virginia is now the 11th … [Read more...]

  My daughter, Laura, has a big-time case of fly-fishing fever. My oldest daughter, Angelin, loves to dunk squid in saltwater and my son, Jimmie, enjoys tormenting largemouth bass with a buzz bait, but Laura is drawn to the gurgling creeks and the trout lurking within. Creeks like Mossy Creek in Augusta County. Mossy Creek is hallowed ground for Virginia fly fishermen. It was here that I landed … [Read more...]

  One drawback to a vacation stay on the Middle Peninsula is dealing with the water. First, it tastes bad – it sorta’ smells. It most definitely alters the taste of coffee, and you really have to be thirsty to drink a glass straight from the tap. The second problem is taking a bath. If you hop in the shower and put soap on your hair or body, it stays there. The water does not rinse away the … [Read more...]

  Bird lovers: Brace yourself for an amazing product. This is a real game changer in the war against squirrels. The mortal enemy of every bird lover, that group which spends millions of dollars each year on bird seed, is the lowly squirrel. Squirrels will find a way to steal the seed from its intended beneficiaries; they will gnaw through expensive feeders, and they will foul even the … [Read more...]

  Milkweed is rapidly disappearing from our landscapes primarily because homeowners consider it an ugly, invasive weed and VDOT poisons it regularly alongside the roads. There is one place, however, where milkweed is flourishing, and that’s on golf courses. Well, not on the fairways and short grass, but in places where a golfer really shouldn’t be – like the rough and the edge of the … [Read more...]

  We have a table umbrella on our patio that we usually keep rolled up, so the wind doesn’t scoop down and blow it away. That happens. The other day, Nancy decided to crank the handle and spread the umbrella for company and her first guest was none other than a sleeping bat, and he was most upset. He had worked his way up into the nice, dark folds of the umbrella and had been sound … [Read more...]

  Ken Ham was a high school science teacher in Australia, but in his teachings and studies, he had a problem with the theory of evolution. Rather, Ham believed the biblical account was more accurate and even more in line with science. He gave up teaching and went into the ministry, then became haunted with building a Creation Museum to visually display the biblical account of … [Read more...]

A Typical Oyster Mushroom   I remember as a boy going with Daddy to take our bird dogs for a walk in late August and September. It gave the dogs much needed exercise and allowed us to take inventory of any new quail coveys. What I most remember about those walks is mushrooms. We would often happen upon a stand of spores and Daddy put many of them in a sack he carried just for that … [Read more...]

  The clock is ticking. It’s the time of the year for Lyme disease and it’s nasty. Some sturdies report close to 300,000 new cases of the disease each year and many cases go unreported because they were not properly diagnosed. Lyme disease is transmitted from infected ticks. Deer are most responsible as carrying hosts, but other mammals such as bears, mice and other small animals may … [Read more...]

“There are bees on our new plants,” Nancy said. “That’s good,” I responded, thinking she may have seen a couple of honeybees. But there weren’t just a couple, there were dozens and dozens of honeybees dipping in and among the tiny white blossoms of our two Mountain Mint plants. I often go an entire summer and don’t see that many. These lovely plants are amazing bee attractors. Last fall, … [Read more...]