Pack up all my cares and woe. Here I go, singing low Bye, bye catbird This shows how old I am, that I would remember some of the Jerome H. Lemrick’s lyrics to Bye Bye Blackbird. It also speaks to the annual departure of one of my favorite backyard birds – the catbird. They came as scheduled this April, two catbirds, and they hung around constantly in my yard, visiting … [Read more...]
A Round at Heritage Oaks
Weather permitting, we are playing golf again every Wednesday, my day off. Last week, we chose my favorite course, Heritage Oaks in Harrisonburg. Heritage Oaks is owned and operated by the City of Harrisonburg. Lots of municipal courses are grossly mis-managed as are many government-run projects. But not Heritage Oaks. For starters, it is a most friendly and welcoming course. After you … [Read more...]
Log Cabin Barbeque Restaurant
We had played a round at Heritage Oaks Golf Course in Harrisonburg and were headed back across the mountain. I suggested we stop and eat at Log Cabin, a barbeque restaurant in Elkton, not far from the entrance to Massanutten. I had eaten there before on several occasions and found the food very good – not as good as Lexington Barbeque, of course, but still good barbeque The … [Read more...]
Making Apple Rubber Jelly
My wife Nancy has become quite the “canner”. We have more Mason jars in our basement than Wal-Mart. Regularly, Nancy cans jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, pickles, doorknob peppers, pickled okra, beets and whatever our gardens produce. She is also into jams and jellies and recently put up 9 pints of peach preserves that are simply delicious. She calls it her “Liquid Gold”. Really … [Read more...]
The Natives of August
Native trout fishing in August? Absolutely. Our mountain streams are full and brook trout are sipping flies and bugs from the surface. With more rain on the way, the great brook trout fishing should only continue. All this water also bodes well for the coming spawn in October. So often, brook trout nests are exposed to predators because of drought conditions, but not this year, or so it … [Read more...]
The FBI Has Really Changed
This week, an FBI agent admitted to lying to authorities about the FBI’s involvement with the Russia collusion hoax. More inditements are likely to follow as the trail of corruption leads to the very top of the G-man hierarchy. There once a day when the FBI represented the ultimate in integrity. Times have changes. My dad was a Special Agent for the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover in the 1950’s, 60’s … [Read more...]
Mystery Scratches
My friend Beverly Carson called this week to ask my opinion about a freak thing that happened to her. Beverly lives out in the boonies, in the woods. Her house is about ¼ mile from the road and she always puts a cover over her automobile when it sits in. her driveway. But one morning she came out and saw that the top of her cover had been ripped to shreds, Not the hood, just the top, and she knew … [Read more...]
Snakeskin Skirmishes
Last week I found a snakeskin in our flower garden, the same garden with our small lily pond, which happens to have a baby frog. Snakes have gone for my resident frogs before, so I was concerned about the snake, not for myself, but for my frogs – I have others in our new goldfish pond. Discarded snakeskins are the result of molting, which occurs regularly in snakes. When the old skin … [Read more...]
Emergency Tuna Salad
On that fateful day in March when I thought Governor Ralphie might close all the grocery stores, I closed up shop early, headed for the closest grocery store and bought nearly every non-perishable in sight. Since then, I have been chipping away at my “emergency” stash in the basement and have slightly reduced my inventory, though I have no idea what I will do with those 8 cans of fruit cocktail, … [Read more...]
Cage Free Squirrels
I have planted my last garden. Unless, there is a cage around and over it. By this fall, that will happen. A backyard gardener faces many obstacles. A deer can level a garden, decimate it. Likewise a single groundhog. I have had both and no longer have that problem, but I do have squirrels and they can be disruptive and extremely destructive to a garden. This summer, they have picked off my … [Read more...]
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