Suburban Geese

These geese visit Tony's yard every day but also spend time on the lake and on the opposite shore.

A Gaggle in the Snow

Snowy Field and a Hill

Winter Scene in Shenandoah County

Here they call that hill a knob, but in other places it's a hillock, a hummock, or even a hammock.

Mountain View in Jerome

Here we are looking toward Great North Mountain from Jerome. Through the trees on the left you can glimpse the old schoolhouse, now restored as a residence.

See all my pictures of Jerome, VA or

view a photo of the old school on Shenandoah GenWeb

Winter in Jerome

I spotted this charming farmhouse from the church in Jerome, Virginia. I like the pattern the fence makes on the snow.

I added a Photoshop filter in a duplicated layer to bring out the edges of the branches and the buildings, then softened it a bit by adjusting the transparency of the layer.

Winter Afternoon in the Country

Farm near Mount Jackson, VA

Today we saw rain instead of snow and much of the white stuff that has made getting around so difficult is finally starting to go away.

I still have a few pretty snow scenes that I haven't shared yet so I better get them sized and posted. This one is near Mount Jackson in Shenandoah County.

Winter at Bear Wallow Springs

Pond at Orkney Springs, VA

See pictures of this pond in February 2008

Sunset Seen from Strasburg

Seen this evening in Strasburg, Virginia

Some Bryce Mountain Homes in Winter

These are actually houses that Frank has listed for sale in Bryce Resort. I wanted to get photos in the snow so that skiers might be attracted to them. (Many skiers seem to be infatuated with snow.) I took these before the big snow.Above: A ranch style home on Supinlick Ridge.

Next: Condo with loft on "The Hill" in Basye.
Below: Large home in the woods, Strudel Court.

See Creekside Realty's listing page.

A Path to a Bird Feeder

The snow is finally starting to melt. I'm glad to see there is less ice to slip on.

On Thursday I finally finished shoveling a path to this bird feeder. It had been empty for over a week but since the snow was deep, I ignored this one and instead put up a new feeder close to the path that I had already shoveled to the basement door. Now I have four birdseed feeders in use plus two suet feeders! There's still a squirrel feeder that's empty because it's an additional ten feet out in the snow.

Don't worry, the squirrels aren't going hungry -- they manage to get seed and suet out of the bird feeders. They aren't bothered by that plastic "squirrel baffle" over the feeder because they can easily jump to the feeder from a nearby branch.

Junco on a Branch

The most common visitors to our bird feeders are juncos. Gray and white in color, they have a cute round shape and are enthusiastic about eating. They travel in flocks and hop around in a lively way.

Sometimes one of them peers in the window as if summoning me to bring more seed to the feeder.

My 1031 Exchange

I finally purchased an investment property to replace the rental house I sold in Dale City. I had it handled as a Section 1031 Exchange for tax purposes, which basically means that taxes on the profits of the first property are deferred, transferred to the new property.

It took months to find the house and go to settlement, mostly because I tried to purchase a townhouse in Stephens City which did not work out. (Dealing with bank-owned property can be frustrating!) Finally I gave up on that one and made an offer on this one which is in Woodstock. The picture on the left shows the rear view of the home and the ones adjoining it. As you can see the first picture (above), the front of the house is brick.

A foreclosure, the house needs some improvements, the most serious being repair to the furnace. It also needs painting and some carpeting. Once those items are completed, we'll put it up for rent. It's a nice house and has two master suites.

It isn't a dream house like the one we found for Frank's 1031 exchange but it was a lot cheaper and should be a good investment long-term. I feel this is a good time to buy property for investment because prices are very low.

See also the post on selling my previous property and FHA.

Drooping Roses

If you place your valentine roses on the mantle and someone makes a hot fire in the fireplace, your roses just might bend down and die. Well, we live and learn!

I wanted to salvage something from our error, so I took several pictures of the poor sad flowers. Below is one I altered in Photoshop, using several steps including a filter to bring out the edges, inverting the colors in a duplicate layer, and experimenting with layer blending modes to get an effect that I like.

Playing with Picture Tubes

In Paint Shop Pro, a Picture Tube is a collection of images packaged with software that distributes them on your virtual canvas. You request them and choose the group but the order that they appear is not controlled by you. This makes them amusing by adding an element of surprise. (Sometimes however, I "undo" the last action if the picture doesn't look right.)
Above: I started by spraying pebbles across the bottom, then layered on some other tubes including wild animals.

Below: In order to make a winter-themed image I selected picture tubes that sounded like something we associate with cold weather and applied them at various sizes.

Updating the Bryce Homes Site

Frank moved his real estate site to a different web host and he's been trying to straighten out the redesign. Finally I got involved and fixed the broken links to the Contact page and the Recent Listings page. On the latter page, I directed the frame code to import his Postlets realty page.

While I was it, I changed a link on his Walcroft page to also bring up the Postlets listings. Now I need to careful to keep his Postlets from expiring. We also use them as a basis for listing Bryce Resort homes on Craigslist.

Neighbor's House in Snow

Only two houses on our street are occupied full-time: ours and this one. There are two other houses here but they are used as vacation homes and they are unoccupied 90% of the time.

A View from Supinlick Ridge Road

Great North Mountain from the Gas Line Clearing

The natural gas pipeline makes a jarring interruption to the forested landscape but it does provide a clearing from which you can see views in both directions. This viewpoint is from the section of Supinlick Ridge Road (611) that heads southwest toward Broadway.

Another View of Great North Mountain

You can see Great North Mountain from Orkney Grade (Route 263) as you travel down Supinlick Ridge toward Basye. This view is near The Pines Rental Office. A really pretty viewpoint is at nearby Sky Chalet, and a number of homes in Bryce Resort have spectacular views.

Valentine Card-inal

Crafted in Photoshop

Road Closed Due to Ice

This was not a sign we wanted to see on our way home earlier this week. We had been on the road most of that day, having driven to Charlottesville and back for my medical appointments.

Until we reached the resort, all the roads had been pretty much clear (although we passed a couple of trucks that had gotten stuck in the snow next to I-81). Unfortunately, the road that was closed was the one that our little cul-de-sac sprouts from. There is another entrance to the road, but what if it were also marked closed?

"Call security and ask them if we can get through to our road," I suggested. We did, and the man on duty said that the really severe ice patch was farther down near the bottom of the ridge so we should be able to make it home.

Frank drove cautiously and we made it home safely.

Studel Court in February

I don't know why the resort named this road after a pastry! Perhaps it's because it's a tasty après-ski snack and Bryce is a ski resort (among other things).

Icicles are Pretty

Unfortunately, icicles weigh down the gutter. They also drip on the deck and form treacherous icy pools, so we knock them down every couple of days.

Conquerors of the Snow

The guys from Macanie Trucking show up the day after a snowstorm and clear out our driveway. I am always glad to see them! Our drive is fairly long and a bit steep so snow that's more than a few inches deep makes it hard to navigate.

Below: A tire came loose from one of their snow blowers but they got it fixed quickly.

Snowed-In Phone Booths

Seen Near Fishersville, VA

Shenandoah Snow

Near Mount Jackson, VA

We stopped for a moment yesterday west of Mt. Jackson to grab a picture of this scene of a pond covered with snow. It's more recognizable in this photo I took on a snowy day a year ago.

The location is along Mount Jackson Road near exit 273 of Interstate 81. Although all the signs lead tourists through the town on their way to Basye or Orkney Springs, locals use Mt. Jackson Road (CR 703) and South Middle Road as a shortcut to Orkney Grade. I suppose the directional signs were suggested by the town in order to lead visitors past the stores instead of out into the country.

Pine Boughs Loaded with Snow

Trees and Great North Mountain in February

I filtered this image in Photoshop in order to outline the snow-laden trees.

I don't recall any winter in Virginia that was so snowy. With the heavy coats of two snow storms already covering the ground about 2 feet deep, another shipment of white flakes has arrived and will continue unloading on us through tomorrow. Enough already!

Snow-Swamped Fox

There's a figure of a fox dressed in a gentleman's hunting outfit that has kept watch near our front door since we bought the house. Saturday's snow transformed him into an even stranger apparition.

If you are curious about what he looks like sans snow, click here.

How Much Snow?

We measured 21 inches of snow in the driveway yesterday. My sister got more than that in Loudoun County but I'm not jealous. In 2003 we had about 30 inches up here, and we got snowed in for 5 days. (Maybe it was 4 days and just seemed longer.) We weren't permanent residents then; we had a chalet on the other side of the resort and had come up for a long weekend.

Snow removal equipment kept breaking down and the crews did not get to our little court because it was all they could do to clear the more-traveled roads. Finally Frank located a neighbor who had a small backhoe. He came over and plowed a lane from the corner to our car so that we could get out.

Now we have an ongoing contract for snow removal and two men showed up this morning and cleared our driveway. It doesn't look as pretty as it did when I took the photo but it looks a lot better in a way.

Snow on a Bird Feeder

Saturday: The snowstorm that started Friday morning finally swirled away and headed southeast around 4:30 this afternoon. I took this picture around 5 PM. (Yes, the days are getting longer!)

The valleys you see on the rail next to the feeder were made by birds, who kick away a bit of snow every time they land or hop closer to the feeder. They visited our feeders constantly as the snow fell. I fill the feeders on the deck with Nyjer seed because it does not draw squirrels to the deck. Don't get me wrong, I like squirrels. I just don't want them leaping onto the deck from the roof because the sudden boom when they crash-land upsets the dogs and can't be good for the squirrels either. Our deck is about 8 feet from the ground and there are no steps to it so the squirrels just about fly to get on it.

We have other bird feeders in the yard and I fill them with mixes of seed that the squirrels enjoy as much as the birds do. However, the squirrels usually take shelter when the snow is coming down, leaving those feeders to their feathered friends.

Lady Cardinal in Snowy Tree

Getting Ready for the Snow Storm

In addition to buying groceries, there are things we do to prepare for a heavy snow. Here you see Frank bringing in some firewood and me filling the bird feeders.

Another Snow Storm

As if we needed more snow...

Another snow storm reached Basye this morning. It began as a wet snow, pelting down almost like rain. In order to drive to the post office, we had to clear snow off the car windows but once the interior warmed up, the snow melted as it hit the windshield.

Still, it piled up outside on top of the snow that was already there from the 5 inches we had a few days ago. And by evening, we had about 7 inches of brand new snow on our driveway. More is in the forecast, probably a lot more.

I hope the prediction of a snow storm of "historical proportions" is just hype. I like the clean white look of fresh snow but I don't like getting snowed in.

View of Short Mountain from the Valley Pike

Winter View Near New Market, VA

Here we are looking toward Moreland Gap in the Massanutten Range. In the foreground is U.S. 11, the old Valley Pike.

Related Posts:

• Moreland Gap in March
• View of Short Mountain

Mid-day on February 3rd

Looking toward Great North Mountain

Our View on February 3rd

Yesterday we awoke to six inches of fresh snow. The sun was shining and the view was glorious!

More snow is forecast for tomorrow and I'd rather that it miss us. I'm really tired of getting snowed in.

Left: A bird tries out our new suet feeder.

A View from Stony Creek

From the Resort Drive Bridge Over Stony Creek

To the right of Stony Creek is the air strip and to the left we can see the ski slopes.

Read about Virginia's Small Towns

I came across Co-op Living's Down Home web pages featuring small towns in Virginia. The linked articles date back to 1997 and feature quaint towns and a few mid-size cities including Mount Jackson, Staunton, Raphine, Millboro, Montross, Port Republic, Wachapreague, Cape Charles, Strasburg, and so on.

Originally published in Cooperative Living, a magazine distributed to electrical co-op customers in Virginia and surrounding states, the articles tend to romanticize the towns but are still informative. And the photos are fun to look at.

Abandoned Buildings in Basye

Seen from Orkney Grade

I don't know why these rickety old buildings haven't been torn down. They look rather hazardous. I once came across a blog entry in which someone posted some interior shots of the old hotel, which clearly involved trespassing and some risk of injury. They mentioned a leaky roof, mold, and postcards strewn about.

Saturday's Snow

We had snow on Friday night and throughout the day Saturday. I was glad I had filled the bird feeders for birds flocked to our yard. Can you see the cardinal?

Sometimes Great North Mountain disappeared behind the snow and fog, but here we see it rising in the distance.