Trumpet Vine

Not in my Backyard
I've always liked the flowers of the trumpet vine. Years ago when I lived in a townhouse, I planted one of these rapid-growing plants next to a fence. Within a few years it practically covered the back yard.

Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) in Wikipedia: "It grows well on arbors, fences, telephone poles, and trees, although it may dismember them in the process."

Hanging a Door

Our handyman in Dale City cut a window in the new door for the furnace room. After he and Frank hung it, he added a vent panel.

The door has to be ventilated because the gas furnace is in a little room that opens to the outside.

On the Market: My House in Prince William County

We have listed my investment property for sale. It's a rambler in Dale City, Virginia - see the Realtor.com listing or go to Frank's Homesdatabase site and click on "My listings."

We listed it at $164,900 but will consider reasonable offers. It's been painted inside and out and the hardwood floors are newly refinished. We still have a bit more work to do on it.

Dale City on Wikipedia

Deer oh dear!

Friday morning I opened the vertical blinds in our living room and saw two deer in the yard. I went for my camera but they saw me move and strolled among the trees. I was able to photograph this one before he disappeared into the woods.
"How magnificent they are!" I thought. That evening as we left to go to a concert, we saw them in the yard across the road, calming munching foliage. One of them tasted leaves from Harry's dogwood before slipping out of sight.

The next morning I walked Ben down the driveway and there they were again. They stared at Ben and he stared back. Seeing that he was on a leash, they stayed a minute before disappearing down the hill.

I felt fortunate that we lived among these pretty animals. But when Ben and I changed direction and walked up through the yard, my mood turned to dismay. My planters near the pond had been ransacked! The deer had eaten all my geraniums, the pretty parsley, a new plant that I had used to replace one that disappeared, and impatiens. They left a coleus and some fragrant herb that is supposed to repel insects. They also tore leaves and flowers off a rose bush, shown here.

Since then I've sprayed a fresh coat of animal repellent on our other flowers. It has to be applied again after every rain or the hungry critters help themselves.

Post #2020 - Reviewing Recent Posts

Last month I ran a brief series sharing photos from 2001-2005 including some family pictures and a few travel snapshots. Also in July '09 posts, you can see pictures of Kernstown Battlefield, our local Garden Club, visits to Pennsylvania and Savannah, and an Independence Day Celebration.

In June, we've got photos from a trip to North Carolina and South Carolina, some Civil War sites, and some Suiter family history.

I posted Civil War site pictures in May too, including a tour of Petersburg Battlefield and a visit to New Market. Spring flowers are in that month's archive too, along with some pictures of horses.

So far this month, I've devoted a lot of space to photos of cute children visiting Woodstock and Basye. The kids have gone back to their homes in South Carolina and Washington state, but here's another picture showing Frank and his grandkids.

At the Ice Cream Stand

Josie and Ryley

See their blog.

Fun Center Photos

Thought I'd post three more pictures from last week's visit to Woodstock's Stoney Creek Roller Rink and Fun Center. First, Justin and Josie in the snack bar.


Above: Kate and Frank

Left: Josie and Austin play an arcade game.

Route 11 Yard Crawl

The annual yard crawl on Route 11 is August 8, 2009. Come shop the yard sales along the historic Valley Pike! A 45-mile stretch from Stephens City to New Market will be full of sellers and shoppers.

The Shenandoah Valley is really beautiful this summer. We've had ample rain and the fields are emerald green!

At the Roller Rink

Above: Frank's grandkids lace up their skates at the Stoney Creek Roller Rink and Fun Center in the Shenandoah Valley.
Below: Justin's mom helps him skate.

Skating Partners

At the Stoney Creek Roller Rink in Woodstock, VA

Above: Doug and Susan

Right: Josie is helped by her big cousin Austin

Buttons from EWG

Someone inquired about the graphic I placed at the bottom of Chemsense.com which refers to the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act. I got it from the Environmental Working Group's page of web buttons (or badges as they call them).

Here's another one of their badges. This one is for cleaner water. I'll drink to that!

Click on it and you'll learn that "Tap water in 42 states is contaminated with more than 140 unregulated chemicals that lack safety standards, according to the Environmental Working Group's (EWG's) two-and-a-half year investigation of water suppliers' tests of the treated tap water served to communities across the country."

By the way, I tweaked their code for the sake of appearance: (1) made the graphic fall on the left (align="left") and (2) added a little space to the side (hspace="6").

Ski Lift in Summer

Lift Rides at Bryce Resort, Virginia

Above: Justin and Kate are ready for the safety bar to come down, assisted by local Minister Bill Nabers.

Below: Doug and Ryley


Above: View from the top, looking down toward the "core" of the resort and across at Great North Mountain.

Left: Doug took this photo of us.

Flash and Kate's Boys

Flash was a bit unsure when our guests arrived, but he quickly learned that the boys made great companions.

The Young and the Patriarch

Front: Josie with Austin, Justin, Ryley

Rear: Doug, Sue, Kate, Allison, Frank

Masculine and Feminine

Mountain Tubing Video

At Bryce Resort

(To view, click the arrow in the image below.)

Silly Guys

When I looked through my 2005 scans, I found these two photos. I almost didn't post them, but then I reasoned that if people didn't want to be seen looking silly, they wouldn't pose that way in front of a camera.

Above: Frank and his brother pretend to fish with invisible gear at Tomahawk Pond near Orkney Springs.

Left: A goofy-acting grandson is good for a laugh. (At Glebe Harbor, Montross, VA.)

Garthright Cemetery at Cold Harbor?

Yesterday I received an inquiry from someone who saw my page on the Battle of Cold Harbor. Deanna B. wonders about the final resting place of her ancestor James Hooper whose remains where moved from the Garthright Cemetery. I'm putting her question out here in case someone searching the web has an answer.

Here are her notes:
Thomas Williamson Hooper-4 (Joseph Henry Hooper-3, Edmund Hooper-2, Thomas Hooper-1).
He was born on 02 Nov 1832 in Bedford, Hanover County, Virginia, Beaverdam Farm. He died on 26 Nov 1915 in Culpepper, Virginia.
Notes for Thomas Williamson Hooper:
Richmond Dispatch 3 February 1895

"About Beaver Dam" - Interesting Recollections and Notable Natives of the Place, Memories of Dr. Thomas W. Hooper
Near Cold Harbor stands the house where my father was born, and not far from the house there is a graveyard, surrounded by a brick wall, with a half-circle brick along the top. There sleep the generations of my forefathers. In that enclosure is buried Mr.James Hooper and at his funeral Rev.Samuel (blank) officiated in 1754 and preached a most powerful sermon on the text selected by the good man before his death 1 Peter IV:18. The cemetery is referred to by Dr. Hooper is now termed The Garthright Cemetery and sits on the grounds of the house identified by the National
Park Service as the Garthright House.

She continues, "I understand these remains were removed and buried elsewhere. Can anyone find out where they were re-buried and who in addition to Mr. James Hooper was buried with him?"

Two Historic Sites

Here are two photos I took of historic locations in 2005.

Left: A garden gate at George Washington's Birthplace near Montross, VA.

Above: Lafayette's Headquarters at Brandywine Battlefield Park in Pennsylvania.

Post #2005: Photos from 2005

Sunrise at Glebe Harbor, Montross, VA

View of the Potomac at George Washington's Birthplace near Montross

I started blogging in 2005 but did not include many photos that year. For one thing, I did not get my digital camera until December, although I usually had scans made of my film at time of processing. Also, when we spent several months near Montross, we did not have access to high-speed internet so uploading pictures took a long time. So here are a few landscapes from that time period.

These were all taken near Montross, Virginia (Westmoreland County). The river you see here is the Potomac.

Right: Tree at Cabin Point.