The Year in Review
Lately I’ve been on the sick, lame and lazy list as we called it when I was in the service. Okay, I’ve just been plain lazy and haven’t been out with the cameras much. However, while backing up all my files, cleaning up the hard drive on the laptop and transferring all the photos over to my dedicated portable hard drive I decided to go through some of my better shots from 2011 and share them with those of you who haven’t already seen them.
January
Buddy LOVES snow!
February
The view from the top of Big Walker Mountain late on a winter afternoon.
March
Did I mention that Buddy LOVES snow?
Even though we had snow on the ground Frankie’s daffodils were gorgeous.
April
Milder spring temperatures meant Buddy could hang his head out the window and take full advantage of the wonderful smells passing by.
The apple and dogwood blossoms were a welcome change from winter’s ice and snow.
May
May brought our baby girl’s 19th birthday. Where do the years go?
Of course, EVERYBODY got a piece of birthday cake.
June
June brought a trip back home to Virginia Beach to visit Mom. This is the stretch of beach, known to locals as Chic’s Beach, where I grew up and spent a good portion of my life when I wasn’t deployed by the US Air Force. Even though I love living in the Blue Ridge Mountains I have to go back to the beach at least once or twice a year to recharge my soul.
Now you also know one of my secrets; I usually shoot with two cameras and I shoot a LOT! Thank God for digital cameras or I’d be sticking up gas stations to pay for enough film and processing to feed my shutterbug!
Buddy taking his first dip in the Chesapeake Bay. Since we adopted him up here in the mountains we’re pretty sure he’d never seen this much water before but he’s a Labrador Retriever and followed me right in as soon as he figured out the foot high waves wouldn’t hurt him..
What can I say?
July
These folks will sell explosives to anybody…..even me!
We saw our first white tail fawn while out for a ride one warm July evening.
August
A couple of weeks later this guy stepped out of the tree line right behind the house.
He brought the family along with him.
August also brought the annual re-enactment of the Civil War Battle of Saltville, Virginia. THE BOSS (my wife, Frankie) has been a Civil War buff since participating in re-enactments while she attended East Tennessee State University so we gathered up her sister and her husband, piled in Godzilla and headed down to Saltville for the action. Catching the muzzle flash of a musket firing was a real accomplishment considering she had just appropriated one of my DSLRs. You may have noticed the NRV Girl (New River Valley Girl) copyright,
“You’re not getting it back, either! Just be glad that long lens of yours is too heavy for me to handle!”
September
September was when we rescued Molly from the shelter in a neighboring county, just a couple of hours before she was to be put down..
Buddy quickly got over his jealousy for the most part and they are now the best of friends…….and partners in crime.
October
Autumn here in Southwest Virginia can be spectacular if the weather conditions have been just right and this year they were perfect!
November
One good reason for not carving your Jack-O-Lanterns is they last longer and make great autumn decorations…….unless you happen to mention to the teenaged kid who lives in this house that they also make great targets for that new rifle he just bought. This idea is so popular that I sometimes half expect to have to chop my way through pumpkin vines to get to the target line at the county range.
That big guy is back in our yard and he is BIG! Folks say that darker winter coat is an indication of the winter to come while the redder the spring coat is will tell you how hot the summer will be. I’ve seen the deer a lot darker than this in years past and hope we’ll have a mild winter.
December
Well, that;s it for this year. Time to give the cameras a good cleaning and get ready for what the new year brings. From me and mine to you and yours we hope you have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
Y’all play nice now………Bubba Claus is watchin’! Scary, ain’t it?
DOH!
Lesson learned: Hex tubing is white; CPVC is yellow.
The outside diameter of 1/2” Hex tubing, for example, is smaller than that of 1/2” CPVC. Maybe that’s why they’re different colors. No wonder the repair kept blowing out as soon as I turned the water back on! The white tubing I was using is not supposed to work with the yellow fittings I was using!
I thought I had forgotten how to use primer and glue to make a watertight joint. I also thought it might have been caused by my inability to display a proper plumber’s butt crack because I was wearing bib overalls.
Many thanks to my brother in law, Fish Hook, for setting me straight and helping me make the repair for the 6th, and final time. Thanks also to my darling daughter, Laura, for spending the afternoon handing Daddy tools, helping me cut and glue water line, fetching tools I threw across the yard when the repair blew out……again, making numerous trips to Lowe’s for more parts when the repair blew out……again and being there in case I got my crippled old butt stuck under the house and needed help ……….rescue squad………. fire department……… tow truck to drag me out from under the house……….etc.
Did I mention the leak was in the hot water line coming out of the water heater and turning off the main water supply didn’t make the water stop draining out of the tank until it was empty…….and it emptied itself in the exact spot I had to occupy while wresting pipe?
Did I mention that I had turned the power to the water heater off when I first heard the leak to prevent burning the coils out as the tank emptied so the water leaking all over me was no longer warm?
You know, it’s amazing how dirty you can get laying in a puddle of COLD water all afternoon! The water heater should be full by now. I sure hope the water gets warm soon!
Anywho, our annual “Cold weather’s here, time for a plumbing leak!” episode is over and it’s time to move on to other mischief!
A Redneck Christmas Wish
I received this in an e-mail and just had to share it with y’all, the folks I consider my online family. Even though it’s intended for an American audience and y’all are scattered across the globe I think the message still applies.
We have enjoyed the redneck jokes for years. It’s time to take a reflective look at the core beliefs of a culture that values home, family, country and God. If I had to stand before a dozen terrorists who threaten my life, I’d choose a half dozen or so rednecks to back me up. Tire irons, squirrel guns and grit — that’s what rednecks are made of . If you feel the same, pass this on to your redneck friends. Y’all know who ya are.
You might be a redneck if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, ‘One nation, under God..’
You might be a redneck if: You’ve never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.
You might be a redneck if: You still say ‘ Christmas’ instead of ‘Winter Festival.’
You might be a redneck if: You bow your head when someone prays.
You might be a redneck if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem
You might be a redneck if: You treat our armed forces veterans with great respect, and always have.
You might be a redneck if: You’ve never burned an American flag, nor intend to.
You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren’t afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.
You might be a redneck if: You respect your elders and raised your kids to do the same.
You might be a redneck if: You’d give your last dollar to a friend.
You might be a redneck if: You believe in God & Jesus and believe that others have the right to believe in which ever God they believe in as long as their God does not tell them to kill anyone who does not believe the same as they do!!!!!
Keep the home fires burning, my redneck friends.
Merry Christmas and God bless all y’all!
Outside My Window
Taking advantage of what may be one of the last warm days this year the dogs and I spent some time outdoors watching the local wildlife at my wife’s feeders.
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
I was about to put the cameras away after doing some much needed cleaning, especially the sensor on the camera mounted with my long lens, when Frankie called me to the bedroom where Molly was laying on the foot of the bed intently studying something outside the window. The sun was setting fast but there was just enough light to get a few frames of these whitetails grazing in the back yard.
Tufted Titmouse
The undisputed Boss of Burd Town, the Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) is always the first to arrive at the feeders.
They are loud and fearless, often landing within 5 or 6 feet when I’m filling the feeders and never shy about telling me to hurry up and get out of the way. On several occasions I’ve seen several of them gang up to chase a much larger Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) away from the feeders.
I shot these frames from less than 10 feet while standing on the picnic table behind the house. This little guy tolerated my presence for a while but was soon sounding off at the top of his little lungs.
P.S. Around our house standing on the picnic table to get close to the burds will also cause THE BOSS to yell “If you fall off and break your neck I’m not driving you to the hospital, you big dummy!” More on that here.
