February 26, 2015

Sunny Signs of Creativity

Warehouse Art, Luray, Virginia


The Warehouse Art Gallery is an intriguing place to visit on a weekend, as long as the weather is not extreme. Most of it is not heated or cooled. 

The last image shows a parking spot across the street at the town's Visitor Center. Frank pointed out to me that the wheelchair image is built into the brick pattern. 


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A White Barn Along VA-55

farm
View from the Transfer Station West of Strasburg

February 23, 2015

Random Winter Shots

Good, Random,  and Fun

wall with muralIt's good to be indoors on a cold day, and a mural in a store is a nice surprise! This one's in Winchester. 

My random picture is a snapshot of bridge construction in Front Royal. The project is pretty much paused by the snow.

squirrel eating seed

This squirrel appears to be having fun eating the bird food. He managed to unhook the seed bell and now he's finishing it off at leisure.

Meanwhile, look who's watching him (below)!

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February 22, 2015

Frozen Lake this Evening


Sometimes I do things at the last minute, like posting one more set of photos just before midnight, or feeding the birds just before sunset. When I went out at 5:30 this afternoon to fill a bird feeder, I took my camera because the sky was pretty. The deepening colors of dusk were highlighted by glowing jet trails. We live under the route that planes from Dulles Airport take to head west so we see many planes overhead and their vapor trails. 

I saved this second image in monochrome for Black and White Weekend. They spotlighted my photo of two geese from last week. I'm also linking to Sundays in My City.


This final image is in color but the palette is limited. The lake is partially frozen, with snow resting on ice.



Stines Chapel, 1903


 Stines Chapel is in Winchester, Virginia near the Trex Building. 


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Our Pileated Guest


Here's the pileated woodpecker showing off her red crest in the sunshine. She doesn't visit us very often; at least, we don't see her if she does. These large birds are rather shy.

The female does not have the red stripe on the face that the male has. A male one used to visit our yard when we lived in Basye.
Hylatomus pileatus
By the way, today was sunny and somewhat warm. Some of yesterday's snow melted and we were able to drive to the store, thanks in part to a neighbor boy who shoveled a wide path in our driveway late yesterday.

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February 21, 2015

Birds in the Snow Storm

birds competing for seed

Snow fell all day today. We got around 10 inches. The wild birds didn't mind but they seemed very hungry! There were dozens of them at our feeders and on the snow below.

The picture of the geese is from the last snow, which was fairly mild and only amounted to a few inches.

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February 20, 2015

Warm Orange Wall (On a Cold Day)


It's been cold here in Virginia. Records have been broken and tomorrow's forecast includes that 4-letter word: snow.  Again!

We haven't had the deep snow that some places had, but the cold is really getting tiresome. I suppose we need to accept that extreme weather is the new normal. I have a certain spot in the closet by the front door dedicated to emergency supplies, for that inevitable time when the power goes out.  I'm glad that LED lights mean batteries won't wear out as quickly, and I have little solar chargers to boost USB devices.  However, I see on the Virginia Emergency Management list that I should add a few more items.

I'm also thinking we should replace a screen door with a storm door. When it's well below freezing and winds pick up, every bit of insulating can help.




February 19, 2015

Winter Around Woodstock

On Church Street, Woodstock, VA

Farm Just North of Town

The snow is pretty but I'm tired of the cold! I got some shots for Good Fences; now let's get indoors where there's a fireplace!

Cracker Barrel Restaurant

Veterinary Visit Followed by Snow

man walking dogsThese pictures are from yesterday evening. We got about 3 inches of fresh snow on top of the light snow that we had already.

It began to fall in early afternoon. We had left the veterinary hospital and had stopped at a store for some supplies. A larger volume of snow had been forecast so we picked up a few things.

The reason I took Benny to the vet was that he had briefly collapsed the day before. Frank was walking him and the poor dog lay down on the cold snow. He lay on his side, not moving except for breathing. We called to him and he did not respond. After a couple of minutes he struggled to his feet and walked around slowly, looking a bit dazed. I didn't know whether he had a seizure or some sort of heart problem. He has a heart murmur.

Within 15 minutes or so he seemed to have recovered. But we took him to the vet on Monday and Dr. Vick examined him. She thinks the episode may have been caused by his heart murmur and advised that if it happens again we should call for an appointment for an echocardiogram.

On the plus side, Benny really enjoyed riding to and from the vet's office. He loves riding in the car, although he found it frightening when he was a puppy.

Ben C. Spaniel
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February 16, 2015

Mural in the Sky

water tower
Mount Jackson, Virginia

If you've driven through the Shenandoah Valley on I-81, you may have seen the water tower at Mt. Jackson. It's painted to look like a basket of apples! Until recently the apples were on giant decals, but they faded, and earlier this winter an artist painted the apples and basket on the tower. 

When I took these pictures, I ran into a representative of Utility Service Company, which handled the repair and painting of the 150-foot tower. He said that the apples in the mural are Virginia apples, representing the apple-growing industry of the local area.

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February 15, 2015

Meadow Mills Union Chapel


This church shows it's historic charm from two angles. A brick addition can be seen from the other side and the back, and from those angles it looks like a more recent building. It's currently used by the Church of the Brethren.

This is near Belle Grove and the Cedar Creek Battlefield in the Shenandoah Valley. The stormy sky indicates that snow is probably on the way.

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