Roses are red, my love Violets are blue Sugar is sweet, my love But not as sweet as you So go the lyrics of “Roses are Red” by Bobby Vinton, circa 1962. I think of that song and slow dancing at Myrtle Beach when I drive through the hillsides of Virginia in early spring. That’s when the “Violets of Blue” are at their peak, often draping in splendid clusters along … [Read more...]
Grackle Wars Continue
I have two pests to contend with as I feed my backyard birds – squirrels and grackles. Both can lay waste to expensive bird seed intended for bluebirds and other songbirds. I have more or less stopped the squirrels with a baffle on my primary feeder. But baffles don’t stop grackles. They fly in and have figured out that if they stand on the side of the spring-loaded perch, they can still snatch … [Read more...]
Cake Mix Cookie Bars
We get coupons in the mail from time-to-time from Kroger’s as “Preferred Customers”. I’ll generally pull out the ones for butter, avocados and eggs - things we use all the time - and redeem them. But they often toss in a “free box” of yellow cake mix from Betty Crocker, so I get one of those for sure. The other day I looked in the cabinet and saw four boxes of yellow cake mix … [Read more...]
Lake Orange Open for Business
It’s spring, for sure. Lake Orange is open for business. Darrell Kennedy with Angler’s Landing at Lake Orange says the water temperature at the lake is creeping into the lower 50’s and things are starting to happen. Bass and crappie are leaving their winter haunts and are in a preseason feeding mood. They’re hungry! Bass are taking advantage of the lake’s large shad population as well as … [Read more...]
Lassie: A Boomer’s Favorite Dog
“Bark, bark, bark!” “What’s wrong girl? Is Gramps in trouble?” “Bark, bark, bark, bark!” “Show me where he is, girl, and hurry!” For non-Boomers, that was a typical Sunday night television conversation between a young man named Jeff and Lassie, a collie with the uncanny ability to communicate to human friends about any problems on the farm. Or the young man may have been Timmy, who assumed … [Read more...]
Making Sam’s Chicken Salad
Sam’s Club is widely known for its Rotisserie Chicken. At $4.99 for a perfectly seasoned, ready-to-eat chicken, I have often made a last-minute stop at Sam’s to pick one up for diiner. Several years ago, Sam’s started cutting up their leftover rotisserie birds and making chicken salad, and it is the best. This week, I thought I’d pick up a package of chicken salad from Sam’s and Nancy and I … [Read more...]
Darrell’s Restaurant Saves the Day
It was our 54th wedding anniversary and Nancy and I were off to Nags Head to celebrate. Being the offseason, we knew there would be limited activities, but we were looking forward to relaxing and eating some great seafood. On our way down, we were trying to decide where to eat for this special occasion. We decided on Miller’s for a romantic waterfront experience. But Miller’s was closed. So was … [Read more...]
Spencer Sausage: Simply the Best
Attention sausage lovers (and by sausage lovers I don’t mean fans of Jimmy Dean), if you like the old-fashioned sausage like your Grandma made in the kitchen, there is one product you must try. It’s Spencer Sausage and I’ve only been able to find it on the Outer Banks and in the far eastern part of North Carolina. When Nancy and I were at Nags Head last week, I made a special trip over to … [Read more...]
Fields of Purple
We first saw the first field of purple along Rt. 460 near Waverly. The further south we drove, the more plentiful and the more spectacular these fields became. By the time we hit the NC state line on our way to Nags Head, the fields of purple were breath-taking. The blooms from the small ground plants glowed like the reflection of a splendid purple gem. There are many farmers and … [Read more...]
Frog Sightings
A goal of mine has been accomplished. For a number of years, we have had frogs show up in our small lily pond, but they always abandoned their digs before winter. We never had one to stick around - until this year. With our new and improved frog/goldfish pond, we had a couple frogs going into late fall and then they were no longer visible. I read that when the temperature drops below a certain … [Read more...]
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