Cedar Creek from Bowman Mill Road

 Near Strasburg

I took Bowman Mill Road last week for a change of scenery. It’s a winding country road, so it takes longer. It crosses Cedar Creek on a  low-water bridge. 

The first time I saw that bridge was decades ago on a Civil War field trip. A Confederate army crossed here in 1864 when they carried out an early morning attack on a Federal encampment near Middletown.

Water / Reflections / B&W

Ricochet Weather

March madness could refer to Virginia weather. We had early spring weather, but winter came rushing back. 

Yesterday was unseasonably warm, with temperatures in the 80s. Today the temperature dropped to 33°F. It was the greatest drop in temperature over a 24 hour period in 90 years! And it snowed this morning! 

Flowers had already started to bloom.

Yesterday was warm. I took Charlie for a ride and he actually did very well in the car. We’ve been working on his fear of the car for over three years. He finally seems to be enjoying himself.

We took a walk in Strasburg. I wanted to get a few pictures of the “Signs of Fascism” demonstration. It takes place on Wednesdays in varying locations.

I heard one man in a pickup truck call them effin’ communists. They responded with “Have a nice day!” 

At the risk of stating the obvious, name-calling is not productive. Education can be, but it has a long way to go in rural areas. This is not a political blog, but some issues are too big to ignore.

Last night it rained, and it was still raining this morning. When I tried to take Charlie for a walk, he turned around in the driveway and pulled me back to the house. He did not like the cold rain. Well, I was taking him to daycare after breakfast anyway because I had a physical therapy appointment. 

I was there doing assigned exercises when someone said it was snowing! It snowed hard for a little while, but by the time I left, it had turned back into rain. 

I went shopping and use the “Gas Buddy” app to find the cheapest gas around. The price has gone up by forty cents a gallon since the latest war started in the Middle East. 

The rain stopped this afternoon and the sun came out. After I picked up Charlie, I stopped behind the county recreation building to take a Skywatch picture. The temperature was still cold.

Blog Post #9400: House Finches

 This male house finch kindly posed for my Nikon. The rest of today’s pictures were automatically taken with the Birdfy feeder cam.

Male and Female

This last shot was taken on a snow day. You can see why it’s easy to confuse the house finch with a purple finch. I’m not positive about this last one, except that house finches are very common here in Virginia and can be seen year-round. 

Article: House finch vs. purple finch.

New Valley Health Building

Strasburg, VA

I’ve been linking up to a blog hop called Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday on a fairly regular basis. Recently Sue, the hostess, announced that she is going to discontinue blogging. I thank her for hosting for a long time.

There are other blog hops called Wordless Wednesday, so obviously, I can link up somewhere else. The idea behind these link parties is to let other people see your blog. I enjoyed hers because she always shared interesting pictures of her own and also showed thumbnail pictures for each participant.

The number of people posting blogs appears to be declining. There are easier ways to share your thoughts and pictures on social media, but often your work gets lost in the crowd. I like the structure of blogging, and the interaction with others who have similar interests. I appreciate all of the hosts and hostesses out there in the blogging world.

Quilt Mural

Luray, VA

This is on an exterior wall of Hawksbill Trading Company. I’m not sure I should call it a mural, as it is mounted rather than painted directly on the brick. I did not find information about it, but it has words to inspire the viewer and represent community values.

The name Hawksbill refers to nearby Hawksbill Creek, which apparently originates in a gap on Hawksbill Mountain, a popular hiking destination in Shenandoah National Park. 

There are a number of murals in Luray, many of which I have shown. There are still some I haven’t found yet. Here’s one that is along Hawksbill Creek that I shared previously in 2020, but the view was partially then obscured by foliage.

Monday Murals

It Might As Well Be Spring

Today was another mild, spring-like day. It was also the first day of daylight saving time, which meant getting up earlier this morning. I changed the time on my analog clocks and the microwave and range. By the time I finished morning chores, I felt tired and decided that today's main goal was to adjust to the change in time. That took some of the pressure off from working on my to-do list.

I ate lunch on the deck and noticed that there were daffodils blooming in the backyard. Spring is on the way!

Charlie likes to go out for an adventure every afternoon, and I needed to take recycling to the transfer point because the cardboard collection in the garage was getting in the way. After I did the recycling, I took Charlie to Seven Bends State Park. Here are views at the Hollingsworth Road bridge.

Other people were out enjoying the warm weather, including some kayakers.

Mosaic Monday / Water H2O / Garden Affair

After we came home and had dinner, we still had Charlie's evening walk to do. It was nice to be able to do it before dark. There was a flock of robins in the air and in the trees.

The Weather Changes and Time Changes

 Charlie’s Report, First Week of March

Hi! I made it through this week, even though the weather was changing all the time. The first day was nice and I went over to Sadie‘s house to play. That was fun!

Sometimes we open the front door and it’s nice outside and other times, it’s raining. I don’t like rain because I get wet and cold when I go for a walk. Sometimes I look out and it’s snowing. I don’t like that either. It’s even colder.

Sometimes I look out and I see a cat in my yard. This one is the cat who doesn’t like me. I’m not mean to cats, and the other cats like me. This one stares, and then it hurries away without saying anything.

Filtered in ArtCard

Filtered in Picsart 

It’s snowed on Monday. It looked like a blizzard, but then it let up and it didn’t get deep at all. We watched it from the back door. The next day it melted.

I heard that my sister Lynn had a skunk living under her house. I think it looks like this. Lynn has a red dog that I haven’t met, but it got in the picture somehow.

Our weather turned warm so yesterday Mom and I sat on the deck, but then it started to rain. This morning was foggy, but this afternoon was hot. We picked up Mr. Frank and Deborah and went for a ride. Here you see me taking Deborah for a walk in Luray. 

We also went to a place and got hamburgers for Mr. Frank and me. On the way home, we saw some sheep and cows. The sheep had lambs, but Mom was driving and didn’t get pictures of them. Here are some cows for now.

See how clear it was? But later it rained. I hope tomorrow is nice again. I heard that the time is going to change, but it doesn’t really change for me. I still get up when I want to get up and I eat when I want to eat. Taking care of yourself is important.

Page Co-op Farm Bureau

Luray, VA

This farmers’ cooperative was formed in 1921. I decided to show it in black-and-white to give it a vintage feel, although the vehicles tell us that this is a contemporary view.

Across the parking lot is a store called the  Hawksbill Trading Company, named for Hawksbill Creek. We can see the reflection of the farm co-op in the window. 

The front of the store has a loading area where farmers can pick up bags of seed or feed or whatever they need. (Ha, that sounds like a slogan, doesn’t it?)

The Old Massanutten School

Luray, VA

This building served as a school from 1875 to 1937. It was moved to downtown Luray in 1974 so that it could be preserved as a historical attraction.

Blue Jay Visits the Feeders

The blue jay is one of the larger birds that visits my deck. I remember as a child, I picked up their tail feathers from the ground and admired the colors. My mother cautioned me that feathers could have germs, but they were irresistible. 

The first picture was taken through a window using my Nikon. The second one was taken by the feeder cam a month ago. Jays don’t come to that feeder as often as the finches and cardinals, but this one was probably hungry when snow was on the ground.