This bloom is about the size of my thumbnail. It's one of the first flowers I've seen in our yard this year. The other one was a dandelion.
February 28, 2014
Little Crocus
This bloom is about the size of my thumbnail. It's one of the first flowers I've seen in our yard this year. The other one was a dandelion.
Linking to: Orange You Glad It's Friday
and Today's Flowers
Labels:
Gardens,
Linky's & Memes
Skywatch from Strasburg
Linking to: Skywatch Friday
Labels:
Linky's & Memes,
Massanutten Mtn.,
Shenandoah,
Trees
Street Scene, Harrisonburg

Since the topic involves people, allow me to crop in tightly so you can see them. The store with signs depicting cats is Blue Ridge Dog. Sorry, I don't know the story behind this.
Linking to: Signs, Signs
Labels:
Linky's & Memes,
Shenandoah,
Signs
February 27, 2014
Potholes!
I took this photo two days ago showing one of the county roads between our subdivision and Strasburg Road. As you can see, it was pretty rough.
After numerous complaints by residents, workers showed up today and spread new gravel. This is a temporary fix, of course. Another round of snow or rain will open the holes back up.
This is a gravel road and so far we've been unable to get it paved. Apparently Warren County has to put it in their 5-year plan before Virginia Department of Transportation will pave it. It's a county road but maintained by the state.
If you are a Virginia resident and want to report a road condition, you can do it online on the VDOT site. I've found they respond quickly to requests for warning signs and such, but potholes can take a while.
After numerous complaints by residents, workers showed up today and spread new gravel. This is a temporary fix, of course. Another round of snow or rain will open the holes back up.
This is a gravel road and so far we've been unable to get it paved. Apparently Warren County has to put it in their 5-year plan before Virginia Department of Transportation will pave it. It's a county road but maintained by the state.
If you are a Virginia resident and want to report a road condition, you can do it online on the VDOT site. I've found they respond quickly to requests for warning signs and such, but potholes can take a while.
Linking to: Little Things Thursday
Labels:
Linky's & Memes,
Winter
February 26, 2014
My Mother's Wedding Day
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Scanned Black and White Photo |
Next to my mother is her sister. I believe the flower girls were neighbors. My parents met at the University of Chicago.
Linking to: Black and White Wednesday
Labels:
Family,
Linky's & Memes,
Monochrome
February 25, 2014
Mid-day at the Oasis
Downtown Harrisonburg, VA
The Oasis Gallery is on the corner of Main Street and Water Street. It's on the far left in the the first photo.
Harrisonburg is home to James Madison University. It's in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley.
Linking to: Our World Tuesday
Labels:
Arts and Crafts,
Linky's & Memes,
Shenandoah
February 24, 2014
Looking Left and Right
Mourning Dove in a Tree

My photo of a dove with a blue jay was popular with readers last year. Normally they don't hang out together.
Labels:
Birds,
Linky's & Memes
February 23, 2014
Proud Wings
I like to watch the geese stretch their wings. Yes, I've posted this sort of pose before. I hope you like it.
Linking to: Sunlit Sunday
Labels:
Birds,
Lakes and Ponds,
Linky's & Memes
Lecture in Strasburg
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St. Paul Lutheran Church |

The talk was hosted by Strasburg Heritage Association and featured Dr. Clarence Geier of JMU. He gave an illustrated presentation on "Historical Archaeology and Sheridan’s 1864 Valley Campaign." He focused on investigations at Fishers Hill and Cedar Creek Battlefield.
This combined two of my interests, Civil War sites and archaeology. When I lived in Alexandria (Virginia), I was a volunteer in their archaeology program and edited their newsletter.
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Clarence Geier, Ph. D. |
Linking to: Inspired Sunday
Labels:
Churches,
Civil War,
Linky's & Memes,
Shenandoah,
Winter
February 22, 2014
Waiting Dog
Labels:
Dogs,
Linky's & Memes
Squirrel in the Snow
Our snow pretty much melted over the past two days but I took these photos before that.
Linking to: Saturday's Critters
Labels:
Linky's & Memes,
Squirrels,
Winter
February 21, 2014
Those Tall Crosses Near Strasburg
Skywatch: 3 Crosses, 2 Flags
If you drive up Interstate 81 through Virginia very often, you've probably spotted these huge crosses at Exit 296. They were erected by a large church along Route 55. The church was recently sold, but you can drive through the parking lot and get a closer look at this proud display behind the building.
I included a picture of the church in a 2008 post that's gotten a lot of hits via Google.
Linking to Skywatch Friday
Labels:
Churches,
Linky's & Memes,
Shenandoah,
Skies,
Winter
February 20, 2014
Little Things for West Virginia
The children who live across the street are collecting items for people in West Virginia whose lives have been disrupted by a chemical spill that poisoned their drinking water. The collection is sponsored by their elementary school. They are asking for things like bottled water (of course), cleaning wipes, waterless toothbrushes, paper plates and cups, no-rinse shampoo, and food products that don't require water.
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Items We Donated |
Although the chemical spilled into the Elk River a month ago, many people still don't have water that's clear and palatable. Not much is known about the safety of MCHM, and it has proven difficult to completely flush out from pipes. Some 300,000 people were affected including the population of Charleston, the state capital.
A thoughtful article on remediation is at Green Risks, and a charity accepting Paypal donations is Aurora Lights. I've been following the story with interest because West Virginia is a neighboring state and I've been there many times.
Labels:
Education,
Linky's & Memes,
West Virginia
Blog Post #4250
For Bloggers Only
- Do you post photos on Blogspot or Google Plus? Have you noticed that your pictures don't look quite the way you expected? That's because Google now "enhances" your pictures unless you tell it not to! You can turn it off in Google+ settings. (Sorry, if you don't use Google+, I don't know how to fix this.)
- I've been trying out blog hops (or memes or linkups … whatever you choose to call them). They present an extra challenge, and help bring new visitors. I prefer the ones that provide thumbnails so I can see a preview. Gemma has a blog listing different memes called Memeaholics.
Of course, they present new places to visit and comment and already I just can't visit all the blogs I like to follow, much less comment on all of them. Let me know if you have a way to streamline commenting! - A blogging friend emailed me to say that really short comments are rated low by potential sponsors. This doesn't really matter on my blog because I rarely get free stuff or advertisements, but now when I visit a blogging friend who carries ads or does reviews, I try to make my comments a little longer, say six words or more.
Among the hindrances to leaving comments is lack of an easy-to-find link. Occasionally I find a link that's out of date so I can't find your blog. And sometimes Google+ makes it hard to find you. Also, verification puzzles like Captcha can slow down commenting. Yes, requiring users to solve a word puzzle in order to leave a comment is one way to cut down on spam, but it also cuts down on bona fide comments. Personally I will usually persist until I solve the puzzle, but if I see a second post that merits a comment, I'll just pass it by because I've already spent enough time squinting at wavy letters. Some researchers say that many users just leave a site rather than solve one of these puzzles. Other scientists estimate that people "spend a cumulative 150,000 hours at the gates of these irritating obstructions every single day."
Labels:
Linky's & Memes,
Web Tools
February 19, 2014
Look Up, Look Down: Sand Ridge Road
February in Western Shenandoah County
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St. Matthews Church, West of Toms Brook, VA |
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Looking Down from the Church toward Back Road |
Linking to: Look Up, Look Down
Labels:
Churches,
Farms,
Great North Mountain,
Linky's & Memes,
Shenandoah,
Winter
February 18, 2014
Snowy Garden Waterfall
Water World: Winter Pond
We stopped at a store today to pick up dog food and I was surprised to see one of their outdoor pond displays had the waterfall going in spite of the snow. Last week's snow has started melting but it was refreshed by a new frosting of snow last night.
Linking to: Water World Wednesday
Labels:
Lakes and Ponds,
Linky's & Memes,
Winter
Winter in Warren County
Our World: Snow Scenes
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In the Distance: Skyline Drive |
Views from the Parking Lot,
Front Royal Warren County Airport
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Farmette with Red Barn |
Labels:
Blue Ridge,
Farms,
Linky's & Memes,
Shenandoah,
Winter
February 17, 2014
Happy Presidents Day

I actually grew up on land that was once owned by President Washington. In honor of his now-shared holiday, I'm posting two pictures from the old mill he owned at Mount Vernon. I took these pictures quite a while back; probably around 1998. I altered them in Photoshop and posted them on one of my webpages, which back then were hosted on AOL. Eventually AOL eliminated their web hosting so I moved most of my pages to other servers. These images are on my Old Mills page, which apparently I have not revised since 2008.
Labels:
Colonial Virginia,
Living History,
Mills,
Photoshop,
Web Tools
Cleared Snow
Snowy Day, Sunlit Day
After we got 14" of snow last week, we were amazed to find our driveway magically cleared! It turned out that our neighbor across the street cleared it with his snow blower. We have some really nice neighbors!

Linking to: Sunlit Sunday and
Labels:
Family,
Linky's & Memes,
Winter
February 16, 2014
Junco on Red Roof
When I bought this bird feeder it was unpainted. I painted the roof red so that it would look bright in photographs. The junco does not mind.
Labels:
Birds,
Linky's & Memes,
Winter
February 15, 2014
Critters: Our Dogs in Winter
Notice how Ben is peeking out from behind the snow.
Sometimes it's good to be indoors! Flash likes to sit in a sunny spot.
Linking to: Saturday's Critters
and Camera Critters
Labels:
Dogs,
Linky's & Memes,
Winter
February 14, 2014
Skywatch: County Airport
Temperatures went up today and much of yesterday's snow melted. This is the Front Royal - Warren County Airport.
Linking to: Skywatch Friday
Labels:
Linky's & Memes,
Shenandoah,
Skies,
Winter
A Tragedy on the Highway
A friend of my older daughter was killed in an auto accident on Wednesday afternoon. His wife was seriously injured and underwent surgeries. Here's a photo I took of him with my daughter in 2010.
Ray was Lynn's next-door neighbor when she first moved to the Shenandoah Valley some 20 years ago. He was deaf and Lynn was able to converse with him using American Sign Language, which she had learned in school. Later they both moved to other neighborhoods and Ray married Kathy, but they kept in touch over the years, especially after texting on cell phones made it easy to send quick messages. At the time of the photo, Lynn was looking at mobile homes and Ray had a neighbor with one to sell, so we stopped at his home near Raphine to look at it. More recently, he and Kathy moved to Halifax County.
A news report mentions that the accident was weather related, as snow had started falling. Another vehicle crossed over the line and hit Kathy and Ray's car.
Lynn asks for prayers for Kathy, who faces a long recovery. Lynn has started a fund to help pay for burial expenses for Ray and also for Kathy's medical needs.
Please include Kathy Ratcliffe in your thoughts for healing. Thank you.
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Ray Pickens and Lynn Javins |
A news report mentions that the accident was weather related, as snow had started falling. Another vehicle crossed over the line and hit Kathy and Ray's car.
Lynn asks for prayers for Kathy, who faces a long recovery. Lynn has started a fund to help pay for burial expenses for Ray and also for Kathy's medical needs.
Please include Kathy Ratcliffe in your thoughts for healing. Thank you.
Labels:
Family
February 13, 2014
Another Snow Day

This isn't breaking any records for Virginia, but it makes some roads impassable. We're just staying home.
Labels:
Winter
February 12, 2014
Little Tracks in the Snow
Water World, Black and White
Ducks or geese waddled across the snow leaving curving trails. Yes, it looks like sand, but I can assure you it was snow that was still on the ground yesterday near Winchester.
Linking to: Black and White Wednesday
Labels:
Birds,
Lakes and Ponds,
Monochrome,
Shenandoah,
Winter
February 11, 2014
Icy Branches

Luckily the ice we saw last week melted the same day. I don't mind a little ice and snow as long as it doesn't stick around.
Linking to: Our World Tuesday
Labels:
Birds,
Linky's & Memes,
Trees,
Winter
February 10, 2014
On Frozen Pond

I remember when I was a kid and the pond over at Hollin Hall pool sometimes froze over. An adult would drill a hole and we would not be allowed to skate on the pond unless the ice was a certain thickness. Was it four inches?
Labels:
Lakes and Ponds,
Recreation,
Winter
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