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This is a picture from two years ago. We haven't had squirrels on our deck in a long time because I stopped putting their favored seeds in this feeder. Now I just put Nyjer seed here and put the tastier stuff in other feeders that are safer for squirrels to reach. Our deck is a full story from the ground with no stairs so the squirrels had to leap onto it from tall trees and when they landed, we were startled by the thud and the dogs got upset and barked.
Supinlick Ridge is a long ridge east of Great North Mountain. Part of it is within Bryce Resort but much of it is still undeveloped and pretty much undiscovered. There are several lots for sale on top of the ridge and judging from the ones I've seen that have been partly cleared, most of them have spectacular views (example).
software is on Frank's PC so I have to wait until he's not using it.
The fields are turning green in the Shenandoah Valley. For a couple of weeks they were mostly brown, but that period was very brief because snow was on the ground for most of the winter. 
These figures stand in front of the Old Valley Pike Country Store north of New Market, VA. Across Route 11 among the cedars stands the 54th Pennsylvania Monument.
I was driving to Mount Jackson on Monday, in and out of rain showers. I pulled of onto Scothern Road just west of I-81 to take a few pictures of the sky and the Massanutten Range.
"In the summer of 1861, Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s forces captured large quantities of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad rolling stock near Harper’s Ferry, 40 miles north. To reach the Manassas Gap Railroad line in Strasburg, the equipment had to be pulled by horses and mules up the Valley Turnpike from Martinsburg. Fourteen locomotives and almost a hundred cars were brought here and then used throughout the Confederacy.
Signal Knob, the northern end of Massanutten Mountain, can be seen in the distance from here. During the war, it served as an observation and signaling station from which the Confederates observed Union positions and directed the opening attack of the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864. "
We spent a few hours in Strasburg so Frank could get a haircut and we could have lunch. Strasburg is in northern Shenandoah County.
In this house, George G. Crawford, M.D. (1876-1949) practiced medicine, and with his wife, Anne Preston (1880-1966) reared their family. This house is given to the people of Strasburg in their memory and in memory of Ellen C. Hatmaker (1904-1982).
All who have lived, visited and worked in this house remember it with affection.
A one-day class in Civil War history will include a tour of sites related to the First Battle of Winchester. Professor Jonathan Noyalas will give a morning lecture at LFCC Middletown about Stonewall Jackson’s life and legacy followed by the afternoon tour.
I found a few drawings in chalk that I made many years ago. I gave up on chalk rather quickly because it was messy and I wasn't good with it. This is the only one that I'm not embarrassed to show you.l
I'm throwing out some old sketchbooks. I found a few drawings that seem worth saving. The paper is yellowing so I'm scanning them.
The ski season is finally over; spring has arrived. I opened this photo yesterday in order to try out a Photoshop plug-in which is supposed to eliminate "noise" from digital images. Skies are my biggest noise problem, and from what I've read are often a challenge as far as showing digital noise. When I zoom in on the sky in a picture I often see blocky blotchy areas especially toward the upper corners of the image. 
These guys were feeding when I took their picture. The photo above may look a bit unusual until you look at the uncropped picture. The ducks had their heads in the water and their tails in the air.
The Summer 2010 catalog for Northern Virginia Community College is online although registration does not open until the end of March.
My MacBook has a large trackpad instead of a mouse. It's about 3 by 4 inches and that's large enough to draw on. So I downloaded a little program called Inklet and sure enough, now I have a little drawing tablet. I also got an inexpensive stylus but if it works better than using a finger, I'm not skillful enough to tell. 
When I was at Nancy M's for drawing class last week, I took a break and looked at her view of the lake. It was still covered with a thin layer of snow. Directly across you can see the public boat landing that fishermen use to access the lake.
It's the first time since last spring that we've felt we can relax as far as our properties being fixed up. A year ago my tenant in Northern Virginia lost his job and stopped paying his rent. When he moved out, I decided to sell that house and buy one closer to where we live now. Unfortunately there was a lot of work to do on that house, and even though we found good contractors, we had to make several trips down there to arrange things. By the time that was ready to sell, Frank had a house come vacant near mine and decided to sell it too. His did not need as much work as mine, but it took time because it was also two hours from home. Eventually both houses sold. 
When we arrived at the lake house on Thursday, we saw geese strolling through the yard. When they saw us, they headed for the wetlands nearby but not before I took a few pictures of them.
The geese were marching along peacefully and suddenly two of them started honking violently. I looked and two of them were fighting, attacking each other mercilessly.
Yesterday we walked the lakefront path again to look at the three lots I bought near our property in Waterlick. We located a couple of plastic ribbons tied to trees which are probably left from a survey. Each lot is about 100 feet wide and covers close to an acre except that part of the acreage is under water. The lot that is closest to the end of the lake has a boundary about 50 feet from the dam. The dam itself is owned by the community and is a popular location for fishing.
Yesterday we finished getting the lake house ready for the tenants who are moving in soon. Frank spent a painful amount of time installing a light fixture but finally it was done. We cleaned up and loaded our supplies in the car, but before leaving we walked around outside, enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. It feels like winter is finally over.
I almost called this post "Roosters" because those who roost are indeed roosters, but I realized that folks would look for chickens and be disappointed.
This photo is one that I captured through the sliding glass doors when the snow was fresh. Our snow is pretty much gone now, but I liked this image well enough to use it for a belated new year's message.
He kind of blends in, doesn't he? I added poster edges in Photoshop to try to bring him out, but the colors keep him camouflaged.
