By Charles Crenshaw I am at our home in Earlysville, sitting in our back yard watching another day come to an end as the sun sinks in the west. I am surrounded by God’s creation and nature except for the sounds of airplanes and one very loud automobile. It has been a hot day with temperatures up in the nineties this afternoon. I am surrounded by the sounds of … [Read more...]
The Rudee Angler
Not everyone has the time or the money for an all-day charter fishing trip in the Gulf Stream, but lots of folks would enjoy spending a half-day fishing out of Virginia Beach without paying a king’s ransom. For them, it’s the Rudee Angler, a head boat out of Rudee Inlet on the southern end of Virginia Beach. Some head boats take trips and return with barely legal trout or small croakers, but … [Read more...]
Sparklers and Bottle Rockets
Tomorrow is Fourth of July and there will be fireworks – serious fireworks, but you’re not supposed to have any in Virginia. That’s because our state would trust you with a 3,000 pound Ferrari that will do 250 miles an hour in about 10 seconds, but they think you might hurt yourself with a bottle rocket. So we can buy things that smoke and sizzle but nothing that leaves the ground. If it’s fun, … [Read more...]
Black-eyed Susans
Our roadsides are now coming alive with beautiful blooms and flowers – most coming from what we consider to be plain old weeds. Black eyed Susans, for one. Lots of those pretty flowers and weeds we see alongside our roads and highways are “come-heres”, native to other countries – Europe, Asia, Africa and the like, but the friendly little Black-eyed Susans are as American as apple pie. They are … [Read more...]
Squirrel Plantings
Each spring, we are always surprised to see things growing in our yard and gardens that shouldn’t be there. They are our “squirrel plantings”. One year, a very strange looking plant popped up in Nancy’s flower garden. It didn’t look like a weed, so we let it grow. It grew and grew, blossomed, then died. I finally pulled it up and found a cluster of peanuts. An enterprising squirrel had … [Read more...]
Mexican Chicken Wraps
Every now and then you stumble on a really good recipe – so good you want to make it again and again. That’s how I feel about the Mexican Chicken Wraps I tried this week, I needed some kind of dish with a little meat in it to serve alongside a Mexican Quiche I had prepared. I had some chicken loins in the freezer and thawed them out before leafing through some recipe ideas and saw the one … [Read more...]
Grass Fed Beef
It was Friday night – often our steak night. TGIF. Time to celebrate. Besides, we love steak. I stopped by Food Lion and they had a couple New York strip steaks that looked good - nice and marbled. Then I saw a strange package. It was Spring Crossing Cattle Co. They were grass-fed rib-eyes, a little higher in price than the others, and not nearly so marbled. But I had eaten a … [Read more...]
A Nighttime Visitor
We’ve had a nighttime visitor in our little goldfish pond. The reason we know is that our after-hours “guest” has turned several water plant pots in the pond over during his visits. We also found one of our big snails laying upside down beside the pond the next morning. But he was fine when we tossed him back in the water. I have to suppose that our pond invader is and was a … [Read more...]
Neat Stuff: Patio Fans
Nancy and I are blessed with a sprawling, tree-shaded patio in our backyard. Since the grass wouldn’t grow among all the tree roots, we poured concrete and created a nice outdoor room, which we thoroughly enjoy. But! Here comes summer and 90 degree weather, which makes sitting outside beside our new goldfish pond– even in the shade – not so enjoyable. Christmas before last, Nancy had the … [Read more...]
What’s a Ribbonfish?
The ribbonfish are back. Boats trolling for Spanish mackerel off Virginia’s coast are catching them with regularity. But what’s a ribbonfish? Also known as cutlassfish, ribbonfish look exactly as described – long, sleek and an iridescent blue with a mouth full of teeth. The “ribbons’ mostly hang on the ocean’s bottom, until they get hungry and swarm to the surface to intercept menhaden or … [Read more...]
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