September Fishing

North Fork of the Shenandoah

Our mornings have been cool, but the afternoons have been warm, even hot. It’s great weather for being down at the river.

A Glimpse of an Outdoor Meeting

Seven Bends State Park

I’m still on a committee that supports our local state park, which is still under development. Our group is part of the Friends of the North Fork. Esther (in yellow) is our chairperson.

On Monday, I attended a planning meeting for an event that’s taking place next month. We met on the Lupton Road side of the park because that’s where the concert will take place.

It was a 6 PM meeting, and by the time I left, the sun was ready to set.

Cow, Complaints, Canines, Cat

Since this was a rather stressful week. I thought I'd start with something amusing. I took this picture of a cow yesterday morning, but it was not what I was trying to photograph. I was trying to get a picture of a hot air balloon, so I drove closer to it and then went down a side road, hoping to find an interesting foreground with the balloon above it. Instead, I found cows. They looked friendly though. The balloon was not visible from my viewpoint.

Here’s the balloon, with nothing interesting to frame it. There’s a company in my area that gives balloon tours.

In case you case you missed my post about going to the ER, it was caused by several days of lightheadedness, which prompted me to go to me to urgent care. They insisted I should go to the hospital for more advanced tests, probably because they fear that any senior citizen is in mortal danger at any time. The most striking thing about the test results was that I was extremely low in sodium. Did you know that drinking a lot of water can deplete sodium? About half the water I drink is highly filtered and contains no minerals. I also drink bottled spring water which does contain minerals, but that may not be adequate in the summer. Furthermore, air pollution can make you lightheaded and short of breath, and we had several days of haze caused by a distant wildfires. I had noticed that my eyes were irritated from the smoke. 

Speaking of eyes, I went to the retina specialist yesterday for my follow-up visit. I’ve had vision problems in my left eye ever since cataract surgery in May 2024. The doctor said the druzen (which looked like a small bubble in the middle of my eye) is gone but there is now a gel coating that is clouding my vision. He said it is not thick enough for surgery yet, but we’ll keep an eye on it. 

Oh, this is supposed to be a Saturday Critters post, so I’ll turn it over to my canine in residence.

Hi, it’s Charlie! I had a pretty good week. Mom only left me in daycare one time. One day she left me with Deborah and Sadie, and I had a good time. Sadie is a fun dog except she won’t stop licking me. 

Mom took me to the state park a couple of times. One time I took off my harness in the car by chewing the strap. She had to find the extra collar because the red one was too loose to put on my leash. She keeps an extra collar and leash in the car.

The park is across the river.

We saw a dog named Lucky. It had just rained, and he jumped on my mom with his muddy feet. But he was friendly.

Today we went to Petco. I rode in the backseat with Miss Deborah. I wore a new harness. 

There were some kittens from the shelter at Petco. I wanted to adopt one, but Mom did not understand.

 That’s enough for now. You probably want to take a nap. I know I do.

Wildflowers and Overlook

Shenandoah River State Park

 

Travel Tuesday / Wordless

Captain Canine

North Fork of the Shenandoah

When I stopped by the Strasburg Town Park on Monday to see the new skateboarding ramps, I also drove to the boat landing to view the river. The water was high and muddy, but not at flood stage. I watched a couple of kayaks approach and was surprised to see a dog standing in one, as if guiding the way.

I was startled when the dog jumped out and swam to shore. He was on a long leash and looked like he had done this before. Unfortunately, I did not react quickly enough to get a picture of him swimming. 

He shook off, and then supervised the men loading the kayaks into the truck.

Water H2O Linkup

In the Dog Park and by the River

 Let’s start with a couple of pictures of Charlie at a dog park. I edited both of these in PicsArt, making the first one black-and-white and the second one extra-colorful.

Now, here’s Charlie to tell you about his adventure this afternoon.

Hello! I had to wait for Mom to get ready. I don’t like it when she goes in the other room, so sometimes I peek in the door. She was putting on her shoes.

Finally, she was ready and we went to Seven Bends State Park. The river was high, but the bridge was open. From it, we could see that a little island was under water.

Here is how that island looked on Tuesday Some people were standing on it, fishing.

Mom parked the car and we walked down the steps to the water. 

We went back up and watched some people in kayaks.

We saw them bring their kayaks up the ramp that’s in the middle of the stairs.

Then someone else came with a pretty golden dog.

This dog like to play in the water. I always thought the water was a little scary, but she jumped right in to catch her ball.

She even found a big stick and brought it back to her mom.

I think she saw us watching, and she came up to meet me. She shook some water on us, but that’s okay.

Getting Ducks in a Row

My older daughter has been replacing fixtures in my vacant condo. On Monday, she asked for some measurements because she was going shopping for additional items at Habitat’s Restore and Mercy House Building Supply Store. They both carry used home improvement items, and also brand new overstock items.

I put Charlie in the car to head for the condo, but first we stopped at the county landfill to drop off recycling, including a defective battery from a drill. (Did you know that lithium batteries have caused house fires? And you’re not supposed to put them in regular trash because they can explode in the garbage truck!)

After we did that and took a few measurements at the condo, I headed for nearby Edinburg Mill. There is a picnic table near Stony Creek where I could sit with Charlie for a little while. Ducks who were on the shore hurried into the water when they saw Charlie, except for a single brave one.

After sitting a while and taking a short stroll, I put Charlie in the car and walked closer to the creek to take a few pictures. The ducks are not afraid of people, but they don’t trust dogs.

There were some cute little ducklings. My cell phone pictures were not as sharp as I’d like, a problem that I’ve noticed around bodies of water before. Here’s an explanation from Bing:

“Cameras often struggle to focus on water because water surfaces create reflections, low contrast, and refracted images that confuse the autofocus system, making it hard to determine the true subject to focus on.”

Bringing Fire Back to the Mountains

George Washington National Forest

This sign is across the parking lot from the Lion’s Tale Trail. It explains about intentional fires conducted by the Forest Service.

"Fire has been an essential natural process in Appalachian oak and pine forests for thousands of years. Lightning caused some fires, and Native Americans intentionally set fires. Fires opened the forest understory, which increased plant diversity, improved browse for wildlife and made traveling easier. Early European settlers continued to use fire as a tool to shape their surroundings. 

Teams of skilled fire experts are using controlled burns to safely reintroduce fire to these forests. Burns take place only when the weather conditions are best to control smoke, manage fire behavior, and ensure the safety of the fire team, nearby residents, and private property."

Nearby I saw scorched trees that are recovering from a fire in late 2024 that burned a significant portion of this forest in the Massanutten mountains. It was a wildfire, not a controlled burn, but fortunately firefighters were able to keep it away from homes and businesses, although some of them suffered smoke damage. The forest is already recovering.

A short drive away, I pulled over to admire a pretty creek that  passes through the forest.

Heading Toward Normal

It was a fairly busy week, with a visit to the dermatologist, several afternoons at the condo where Lynn is replacing old lighting fixtures, and a few local expeditions with Charlie. I still can't walk very far without aching, but it’s getting better by the day. I've been having prescriptions and groceries delivered with a trial membership to Walmart+. That's a big help when you have back pain.

Charlie is going to tell you about our expedition yesterday, but first here is a picture of him that I edited using a filter called Technical in the BeCasso app.

Hello world from Charlie!

Here I am on the way to a new dog park in Mount Jackson. We had to wait for the rain to stop before we went. There was a lot of rain this week.

The dog park is grassy, and there is a water fountain. I met a little dog named Ponzi and his people. I showed Ponzi how to run fast.

Today we saw Lynn and her friend Barb and we walked in Edinburg Park, but it started raining. Mom drove back to the state park and talked to the ranger, but we didn’t stay because the rain was coming that way and the river was high at the bridge.

I hope we start having adventures every day like we used to. It is more fun to go to parks than it is to stay home or go to the vet.