When company comes, cooking breakfast can be a chore. There’s bacon to fry, cheese grits to stir, potatoes to roast, eggs to fry and toast to brown. But what if you could put an entire breakfast into a single muffin tin? You can, and it’s both good and easy - allowing more time for company and less to spend in the kitchen. And it’s fun! I saw a recipe from Betty Crocker that triggered my recent … [Read more...]
Gill Lice Found in Virginia Trout
Fisheries biologists with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) recently identified gill lice on rainbow trout in Blue Springs Creek, a tributary to Cripple Creek, located in Smyth and Wythe Counties. Gill lice are tiny, parasitic copepods, a type of zooplankton, that attach to a fish’s gills, mouth, and fins. The gill lice recently found is likely Salmincola californiensis, a … [Read more...]
The Art of Changing Diapers
I recently read that with inflation rising like a hot air balloon, many young families are being squeezed tremendously in buying diapers. I did a little research, and a throw-away diaper today costs about 50 cents each – give or take. Babies go through lots of diapers, maybe 8 or 10 a day. That’s $5 a day or $150 a month. Twins would set you back $300 a month. Wow! Boomers, however, … [Read more...]
My Amazing Worms
I had waited patiently until mid-March to begin my early garden – lettuce, onions and peas - and I decided to till it myself, by hand. After downing the required 3 Ibuprofen, I set out to the task. With my first plunge of the shovel, I was surprised at how easy it was. Each shovel full returned the same experience. It was almost as if the garden had already been plowed, and it had. By the worms I … [Read more...]
What! No Hardees?
Nancy said the other day that she didn’t think we had a Hardee’s anymore in Charlottesville. I knew they had closed the one on 29 N. when the $64 million tunnel effectively put it out of business, but don’t we have another one? Nope. They closed the one on Pantops, as well. The world, certainly, is going to hell when there are no more Hardees in town. I remember the first Hardees … [Read more...]
Oh, Christmas Tree
I am still enjoying my Christmas tree. Really. No, it’s not decorated and clad in lights and ornaments. It’s a little, brown, actually, and sitting beside our patio firepit. I clip off the dry branches and limbs, put them in the bottom of the firepit when I’m ready for a fire, light it with a piece of newspaper and “Whoosh!” It’s up in flames. The dried branches and twigs make … [Read more...]
Violets of Blue
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...]
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