Around the Mountain to Shenandoah River State Park

Yesterday’s weather was strange: wintry with icy cold rain in the morning, warming up to springlike temperatures in the afternoon. It was my “day off” from Charlie because I had a reservation for him to stay in day boarding. After I picked up a few groceries, I went off to enjoy the afternoon. 

I drove to Strasburg, dropped off donations at the thrift store, and headed to Shenandoah River State Park. It stays open when our local park cannot be reached due to flooded roads, as well as when Shenandoah National Park has to close Skyline Drive due to snow and downed trees. (The mountain tops get hit hard by winter winds and cold temperatures.)

Here we see the visitors center reflected in a water feature.

I stopped at Cullers Overlook. A pair of chromatic binoculars are mounted on a stand. These not only bring in distant details, but they are said to help people with color blindness.

From the overlook, we see the South Fork of the Shenandoah curving around a bend. The Massanutten Range is in the distance.

From there I drove south to Luray and took pictures for another post. 

High Water Again

Edinburg, VA

Yesterday I noticed that the mountain streams were bubbling out over their banks, so I was curious to see if the low-water bridges were closed. Yes, Chapman Landing Road was closed. The building in the picture is the historic “Inn at Narrow Passage.”

This is where the road is blocked by the rising waters of the North Fork. Compare it to the picture I showed on January 26. That snow melt contributed to the high water, and then we had rain and sleet this week.

I zoomed in on the bridge, which now looks like a raised line across the river. I find it interesting that we still have these antiquated bridges, but they are very expensive to replace.

Sharing with Water H2O Thursday

This morning, I read that both entrances to Seven Bends State Park are closed due to the bridges being flooded. The Virginia legislature is considering a plan to replace the Lupton Road bridge at the state park.  

All this water winds up in the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry, so I imagine there will be flooding downstream. 

Sunset with Water Tower

Strasburg, Virginia

This is not the first time I’ve taken a picture from this spot. When I lived closer to Strasburg, I often shopped at the Food Lion, and the parking lot has a great view to the west. Actually, it confused me because it did not feel like I’d be looking west from there. I was standing parallel to the Valley Pike, which is thought of as a north/south route. Yet it actually runs at an angle, and the valley itself runs at an angle, so you are generally traveling northeast or southwest. To complicate matters, the Valley Pike (U.S. 11) is an old road that made turns almost constantly in order to avoid river crossings and ridges when possible.

You can see the Allegheny mountains from here, which are part of the Appalachian mountains. If you drive west across that mountain range, you find yourself in West Virginia.

Squirrel Shows his Rear

On the Birdfy Feeder

The motion-activated camera got plenty of pictures of the squirrel’s furry rear end.  This is the closest he came to showing his face.

In contrast, the Northern Cardinal looked like a real gentleman. Well, except when he was stuffing his beak or eating with his mouth open. 

I haven’t emptied out the feeders yet. I guess I will if bird flu is reported in my county. I’ve stopped buying birdseed in anticipation of that happening.

A Farm and the Massanutten

Seen from Henry Ford Drive

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

Campground Scene on a Mural

In October, I visited Natural Chimneys Park and I shared one of the murals there. For some reason I didn’t get around to posting this second one. It is next to the swimming pool, and shows a campground scene next to the river. In the background are trees, the chimney-like rock formations, and a mountain.

It is signed by students at BGHS, which is apparently Buffalo Gap High School. 

Monday Murals

When My Mind’s a Mishmash

Thoughts go racing, colliding with each other.
Am I depressed? Is it the weight of news that seems to get worse and worse?
Is it the physical stuff: my knee, the toothache, vision problems?
And what the hell is wrong with people?

I shake it off. Over and over, I get up and do what has to be done in my little corner of the world. Not as well as I’d like, but I have to make allowances for temporary infirmities. Yet they’re a warning about long-term problems of old age. (Yikes.) Meanwhile, there are still things worth fighting for.

Okay. I should explain the first picture. I held my cell phone camera up to an empty bottle and pointed it at an ornament in the window. 

I can still share small delights like this early morning scene that I saw while walking the dog.

Here’s a collage that I made from some pictures I took in November and filtered in an app

Garden Affair / Mosaic

Oh, it cut off one of my favorite ones from that batch, so here’s another look.

You know, I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions so I didn’t try to come up with any, but now, a month later, one came to me. I’m going to start asking for help, and not just from my daughter, but from other people. I need more help with my dog and with cleaning or organizing the house. Even if my knee is better in a week, I am way behind. Maybe making this as a statement will motivate me to call someone.

I think a lot of people feel overwhelmed right now. I wish I had answers. Keep breathing. Keep on truckin’.

Birds and a Word from Charlie

Birds have been coming to my feeders and I’ve enjoyed seeing them. Here’s a tufted titmouse with a seed in its beak.

My new birdfeeder camera stopped working during the snowy cold spell because it ran out of battery power. After I finally cleared the path to reach it, I broke the holder to its solar panel. Then I discovered I didn’t have the right kind of cord to charge it on a USB outlet. The first replacement cable did not work because it had a bulky grip that would not fit in the recessed port. Finally, I got the right kind and today I got the camera charged up and working again. 

Unfortunately, the news today said that bird flu has reached eastern Virginia. No doubt it will reach us in Western Virginia pretty soon, so I need to stop feeding the birds. I had just ordered another bag of birdseed, but I canceled it. It seems like every time I read the news, I get sad or upset.

The pictures of the mourning dove were taken by that camera, which is motion-activated. I cropped them so that you can see the dove better.

Next up is a cat generated by StarryAI. Years ago, a software developer at work remarked that the best use of the Internet is sharing jokes and cat pictures. Sometimes I think that’s true.

Charlie has a few things to tell you so I’ll turn this post over to him.

 

<< Hi! I’m getting tired of winter weather, and I was very glad when the snow melted. But then yesterday it rained and I don’t like getting wet, so in some ways this week has been disappointing.

There was a nice surprise one day though. We went to my daycare place and my friend Sadie was there with Aunt Deborah. We were happy to see each other.

Otherwise, things have been quiet around here. I hope Mom takes me to the dog park soon.>>

Theme Day: Motors

When I saw that the City Daily Photo theme for February was "Motors," I groaned. That isn’t something that I normally photograph because it doesn’t particularly interest me. While I do have pictures of antique mechanical devices that could be called engines,  I don’t think of them as motors.

So what is the difference? Both motors and engines are devices designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. [Wikipedia] The word engine has been around for centuries, but the word motor was devised to describe the internal combustion engine to differentiate it from the steam engine.

I went out this afternoon to a Ford dealership to get a picture of something with an internal combustion engine. I saw hundreds of trucks for sale, mostly white ones. I understand the need for trucks in this largely rural county, but I don’t know why so many of them are white.

They had a few cars too, as did the dealership next door. 

Sky with Broken Panes

These windows are on a commercial building that’s been empty for many months. It isn’t abandoned, but it is up for rent. 

Black and White / Weekend Reflections

Seven Hundred Posts with Creeks and Rivers

My site statistics show that I have posted 700 times with the Creeks and Rivers label. I may owe non-bloggers an explanation about labels. Basically they are tags or topics, and we decide for ourselves what labels we want to have on our blog. They can be useful in finding subjects later, and they can help search engines find our posts.

I hope that my regular readers are not tired of seeing river pictures. I feel that pictures of the Shenandoah River are almost a requirement of having a blog centered on the Shenandoah Valley.

Sharing with Water H2O and Skywatch

Here we see the North Fork of the Shenandoah as I saw it today from the Hollingsworth Road bridge. Most of our snow has melted. 

When the snow was still plentiful, I took pictures of the river a little further down at Lupton Road. And then yesterday, I filtered a couple of them using an app called ArtCard. It gives them a painterly look.

Curious Cardinal

This female cardinal appeared to be peering at me. I was looking at her through the window so she probably knew that someone was there.

Wild Bird Wednesday

The Pier at Egypt Bend

On the South Fork of the Shenandoah

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday 

Shenandoah County in a Mural

A mural was recently created at the Shenandoah County Chamber of Commerce. The artist is Rachel Fitzsimmons and the mural is 35 feet long.

I wasn’t able to get the entire painting in a photo because the room is narrow and there’s a long conference table in it. Let’s walk along and take a look.

The artist wanted to show some of the things that Shenandoah County has to offer, including recreation in the mountains and along the river. She also painted the old courthouse and the café that is nearby.

The Chamber of Commerce is on Main Street in Woodstock. You can pick up maps and tourist information.

Mosaic Monday / Murals

Two Low Bridges, Winter

Low water bridges are intriguing because they work well much of the time but they become impassable when the river is high. They seem out of place in our high-tech world. A few have been replaced in recent years, and others have been raised higher. Replacing a bridge is expensive though, and in some places, it has been blocked by property owners who don’t want to give up a piece of their land for access. There can also be environmental concerns, the possibility of destroying something historical, and neighbors' worries about increased traffic.

Today we look at two bridges in Shenandoah County that are still low enough to flood fairly often. The first is at Chapman Landing in Edinburg. It serves farms and homes on the east side of North Fork. While some maps show another road that might provide access, it appeared to me that it was a private lane.

Looking Downstream

Yesterday I crossed the Lupton Road bridge to Seven Bends State Park. It does not serve a residential area, so when it floods the main effect is that access to the park is closed to vehicles. There is a pedestrian bridge nearby, which is a swinging bridge that is built to be above the high water mark.

North Fork of the Shenandoah - for Sunday Best

Dogs and Woodpeckers

It’s time for Saturday Critters, and I'm starting with a picture of Charlie that I filtered for the pet art blog hop. Yes, he needs a nail trim, and one is scheduled for this coming week.

I like dogs and I often take pictures of dogs that I see.

A fine sheepdog was at Seven Bends State Park today, patiently listening to a talk on woodpeckers.

This was my first visit to the park since the snowfall and cold spell. There was a food drive for charity, and I brought a couple of items to drop off.

The North Fork. Sharing with Water H2O

Returning to the topic of woodpeckers, a downey woodpecker has been enjoying a seed bell.  

I’ll leave you with one more picture of Charlie