Last fall, Nancy planted broccoli in several pots in her patio garden. We had a couple of crowns before winter hit, but not much. We planted a little too late. I then advised her not to pull up the plants but to wait until spring and see if they would produce then. They didn’t. They went to seed with beautiful pale yellow blossoms. About ten days ago, my wife headed for her garden to … [Read more...]
Great Burgers By Chop House
On a recent visit to Sam’s Club, I ran across a product that’s worth mentioning. In this Corona madness we are now enduring, grocery supplies have been sporadic. Sometimes there’s hamburger, sometimes there’s not. I’m not a great fan of frozen hamburgers and patties, but I figured it would do in a pinch if I needed ground beef. I saw a product called Chop House Chuck and Beef Brisket … [Read more...]
Rustic Lighting: What’s That?
In the home magazines and HGTV we often hear the word rustic. So what does it mean? All of the following words and descriptions can describe this word: lacking refinement or elegance, lodge, wooden beams, farmhouse, simple, cabin style, handcrafted, rough in appearance and suitable for the country. Rustic lighting is typically loved for its simplistic style, vintage aesthetics and … [Read more...]
Freshwater Happenings
Things are starting to happen on the freshwater scene. Shad, herring and stripers are in the Potomac River. White perch should follow soon. Herring, perch, American and hickory shad along with stripers are now in the Occoquan River. The shad are in Fredericksburg in the Rappahannock and bass fishing has been good there, as well. Shad, white perch and catfish are now active on the … [Read more...]
The Fly That Changed My Life
When I moved to Charlottesville in 1967, I had done some fly fishing, but nothing serious. I had caught some smallmouth and redeyes on a popping bug in the Greenbrier River and I frequently put a worm on a hook at the end of my fly rod and caught stocked trout. But I never had any luck catching trout on a genuine trout fly. That is, until I met Chuck Kraft. Chuck ran a sport’s shop … [Read more...]
Poison Ivy Soap
Late at Night while you’re sleeping, poison ivy comes a creeping all around-ound-ound-ound. Poison ivy, Lawd, will make you itch. Thanks, Coasters, for that classic song reminding us of the evils of poison ivy, a plant so vile as to send shivers up the spines of those who are extremely allergic – like half of my family. Fortunately, when I accidently bump into the noxious plant, … [Read more...]
Cooking With Buttermilk
Every time I pass by Chick-Fil-A, I think about those great chicken sandwiches. Though fried chicken is not among my current diet options, I decided to-hell-with-the-diet, I’ll cook some anyway. If I was going to do it, I wanted to go all the way, so I went to the store for some buttermilk. Unfortunately, most stores don’t sell buttermilk in small bottles or cartons. I had to get a … [Read more...]
Moe’s BBQ
We went to a recent function catered by Moe’s Bar B Que. I put some Que on my plate and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t N.C. barbeque, not close, but it was very good. They use some sort of tangy sop sauce, not overpowering and not sweet. It was just right. And they didn’t chop the meat into smithereens. They served large chucks of succulent pork. Moe’s was founded by three … [Read more...]
Coffee Mate, Anyone?
First they cancelled school. Next thing you know, they cancelled March Madness. Certainly they won’t cancel grocery store visits. Will they? Fifteen minutes later, I was in my car headed to the closest grocery store, which happened to be a Food Lion. When I arrived, I found a whole lot of other folks who also thought they might be canceling grocery store visits because of this cursed … [Read more...]
Grackle Attackle
They showed up earlier than ever. At first there were just three, then ten and now fifty. Grackles! I feel the same way about them as Seinfeld did about “Newman!” If there were just a few, they wouldn’t be such a nuisance, but they come in droves, they crowd out all my songbirds and they eat all the seeds. Grackles, actually, are considered songbirds and are thus protected from BB … [Read more...]
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