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...]

  My wife Nancy has spent a lot of time working in our yard and it really shows. She has watered and weeded regularly and keeps things trim with her edging and weed eaters. Throughout the yard, her flowers and shrubs are lovely. But the ones I believe both of us are proudest of are the wildflowers she planted around our birdbath. They were perennials and are flowers like you would … [Read more...]

  Photo by Gary Youngblood   Every morning, we amateur birders look out our windows in hopes of seeing a unique bird at one of our feeders. Not that there is anything wrong with our regular visitors, but to catch sight of a cedar waxwing or a red breasted grosbeak every now and then is nothing less than exciting. But imagine, if you can. taking a sip of morning coffee, … [Read more...]

  Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to reuse Ziploc bags? We go through literally thousands of Ziplocs a year at our house, and it seems such a waste to be able to use these plastic bags just once. But I had heard of reusable bags, and I tried a pack. They are called Re-Zip bags and they work extremely well. The bags come in both Stand-Up and Lay-Flat sizes. They are leak proof - really … [Read more...]

  Is there such a thing as a State Record for a fallfish? Apparently. A fellow named Josh Dolin caught one of these “trash fish” on the Cowpasture River on May 6. He weighed it in at 3 ½ pounds and they say that’s a new Virginia state record. Fallfish are nightmares to trout fishermen. They live in the same kinds of waters. Two fallfish I have caught in the past stand out in my … [Read more...]

  Ever wonder why there are so many deer in Virginia? When a doe has four at a time, it’s easy to see how there are now over a million animals in our fair state. My buddy, Chris Johnson, sent me this picture of a mother deer with four little ones resting in the shade. With quadruplets, she certainly has her hands (hooves) full. Jimmy Graves of Graves Mountain Lodge told me not long ago … [Read more...]

“Bob white! Bob-bob-white!” That’s a call very few hear anymore. It’s the call of a male quail in the spring, searching for a lady friend. Unfortunately, there are very few quail remaining, but my daughter Angelin recently sent me an audio of a quail whistling behind her house in Adams Farm, a suburb of Greensboro. Nearby are some fallow fields (awaiting development) and somehow a few quail have … [Read more...]

  Some unexpected visitors appeared in our back yard this week – about 25 or 30 of them and they went skinny dipping in our goldfish pond. It was a large flock of Cedar Waxwings and what beauties! I have been seeing Cedar Waxwings in the last few years, but only passing through. I see them along about this time of year and again in mid-fall. I suppose they migrate through this … [Read more...]

  I had never eaten a morel until my old friend Carl Oakes asked if I wanted a few. Not wanting to offend, I said, “Sure”, but I had no idea what they were or what to do with the strange looking spores. Later I found out that morels, wild mushrooms, were mountain delicacies and highly desirable. On several occasions since then, I have taken to the hills and picked them myself. … [Read more...]