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?
