Following is a 4-part short story I wrote a few years back. It’s my attempt to describe how that first Christmas might have been. We will print a chapter each week. Feel free to reprint or use as you choose. Seeking Pasture Near Bethlehem The sheep had gone easily into the fold that evening. Young Amos was pleased that he had not been called … [Read more...]
Looking for Big Rocks
The water temperature in the Bay has dipped into the mid-50s. It’s Rockfish time. The Big Rocks have now drifted out of the rivers into the main bay and some ocean-run fish from the Atlantic have also squeezed in, all looking for a wad of menhaden to attack. Boats found the big stripers this week, many on the Eastern Shore side. The Plantation Lights and Cape Charles areas were … [Read more...]
Fads of the Fifties
The year 1955 was not a good one to be a raccoon. In fact, if you were such a masked critter, chances were pretty good you’d lose your tail and skin to a fad called “Coonskin Caps.” In the mid-1950’s, Walt Disney was a dominant program on TV. Families gathered around their Zenith, Philco or RCA black and white sets on a Saturday night, set up the trays for TV Dinners and watched … [Read more...]
Snakeheads: Another Invasive species
They first showed their ugly – and I mean ugly – heads in Virginia waters back in 2004. The Wildlife Department was most concerned. They feared these imports from Asia would cut into the bass population. As such, biologists did their best to eradicate snakeheads. But it was like finding a needle in a haystack. The “Snakes” are here to stay. Below is an update from … [Read more...]
Checking in on Virginia’s Elk Herd
We have elk in Virginia, you know. The Game Department introduced them several years ago in the far west reaches of our state and the herd is prospering. Below is an update from Jackie Rosenberger and Jessica Ruthenberg/DWR. As we head into November, the elk breeding season (also known as the “rut”) is coming to a close. At this point, most females, referred to as cows, … [Read more...]
Texas Roadhouse Delivers – Again
I don’t know if Texas Roadhouse delivers meals to folks at home, but they sure delivered the goods on our last visit. They knocked it out of the park. It had been a while since Nancy and I ate out, so when she e-mailed and suggested we let someone else do the cooking and cleaning up afterwards, I was in total agreement. “Let’s go to the Loud Place,” she suggested. Loud Place is … [Read more...]
Three Crows and a Hawk
There have been a pair of hawks buzzing around our neighborhood recently. Sometimes they’ll share the same tree, but often they simply call to one another from long range. I assume they are mates, but perhaps one is a juvenile. This morning, my three regular crow visitors let me know in no uncertain terms that there was at least one hawk in my back yard – and he was - perched at the … [Read more...]
Famous Dave’s Corn Bread Mix
I thought I was buying Mexican Corn Bread. I saw “jalpeno” on a box, but then I picked up the wrong box. It wasn’t Mexican at all. It was Dave’s Famous Corn Bread Mix, but I made it anyway. Eating this cornbread is like pulling into a barbeque joint down in Rocky Mount, piling your plate with BBQ, Collards, Black Eyed Peas and buttering up a piece of sweet corn bread. It was … [Read more...]
Ham Bones and Beans
Hams are among those things we don’t eat enough of. They are lean (comparable even to chicken), inexpensive per pound and delicious. Since it’s just Nancy and me, the Brewer’s eat hams only every so often, but when we do, we wonder why we don’t serve them more frequently. I suppose the determining factor in not serving ham is the sheer size. They can weigh 20 pounds and more, though … [Read more...]
Stripers in the Sound
I have been fishing for stripers in the sounds on the Outer Banks for over 30 years. At first, we caught a few fish, but they were largely throwbacks. Then a few 18-to-20-inch fish showed and there were lots of them. In the past two years, however, not only are there lots of stripers in the sounds, there are some big stripers. Capt. Reese Stecher of Beach Bum Fishing has been … [Read more...]
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