Recent Random Nature Scenes

Random-osity

The Good: I saw this pretty tree swallow at Blandy Experimental Farm and kept my camera on him for several minutes hoping to catch him in flight. It wasn't until I reviewed the pictures later that I saw that I didn't miss him.'

Sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday
and The Bird D'Pot

The Random: We've had a lot of rain lately. This slope on Skyline Drive is normally dry or slightly damp from a tiny spring on the mountain, but here it has a mini-waterfall.

The Fun: A couple of our neighbors are fishing in the community lake. They drove over on their lawn tractor.

Sharing with Wednesday Waters and Seasons

An Antique Car

In Bridgewater, VA

New Shenandoah Mural

When I learned that a new mural was being painted in Strasburg, I went to see it. After all, I photographed last year's murals in progress. These are organized by a small nonprofit, Staufferstadt Arts.

Artist Erik Burke

This artist's medium is outdoor spray paint. Here he is working on a realistic depiction of grandparents and a baby. 

On Sunday I went back to see the finished mural, which turned out to be two separate images. I puzzled over the blue one, but since the signature block says "Shenandoah," I think this represents the river. 

238 King Street, Strasburg, VA

You can see more of Erik Burke's incredible artwork at ErikTBurke.com.

Sharing with Monday Murals and Mosaic Monday

Just West of Mt. Jackson

Otterbein Chapel is a charming Methodist church on Middle Road. This is in Shenandoah County, Virginia.

The nearby town of Mt. Jackson was once the terminus of a railroad and is now the location of an exit on I-81.

The farms shown below are within walking distance of the town.

Changes Coming to the Hatchery

In late March I went to a talk about the Shenandoah River and the efforts being made to remediate damage that was done to it by industry many years ago. DuPont Chemical has agreed to a $50 million dollar plan to help improve the river and bring back some portion of the commerce and recreation that were lost to this pollution.

Mercury was released from 1929 to 1950 at a DuPont fiber production plant in Waynesboro and was found in the river in the 1970s, leading to years of corrective measures, monitoring and warnings about tainted fish. (I have posted a little about this before.) Not only were more than 100 miles of river affected, but unsafe levels remain even now. A different kind of pollution (PCBs) from Avtex Rayon in Front Royal complicated efforts to clean up the river but that has been addressed separately.

"Riverkeepers" provides details on the Dupont agreement so I just want to mention the planned improvements to our local Fish Hatchery. The goal is to provide more smallmouth bass to the river and bring fishermen back. 

It seems a shame that the people who depended on fishing for their livelihood before the pollution will not really benefit from the settlement, since so many years have passed. Those people have either died or retired.

This is a post about fish but I don't have any pictures of river fish to show you. In order to not completely disappoint those who love seeing critters, here is a pet fish that we had for a while. His name was Patrick.

The hatchery today is a modest place, rather dated. See also my 2015 post.

This closing picture is one I took several years ago when we spotted goslings at one of the ponds there. 

Five Images for Friday Linkups

It's Friday already! I'm using the Willy Nilly Friday format to share some pictures and linkup to some blog hops.

1. Roses are the theme for My Town Shoot Out but I haven't seen roses blooming yet, so I found a shot from November. I'm also sharing this with Black and White Weekend.

2. This plant is a wildflower called Jack in a Pulpit. You might walk right past this one and miss the flower because it's obscured by the leaves. 

Sharing with Weekend Greens

3. We've had quite a bit of rain lately. This evening we saw a rainbow as a shower moved on.

Sharing with Skywatch Friday

4. A new mural is being painted on a building in Strasburg. Here artist Erik Burke is being interviewed by a reporter.  I plan to show a picture of the finished mural on Monday.

Orange You Glad It's Friday

5. Our local muscovy ducks didn't seem to mind the rain.

Have a good weekend!

Finding Trilliums

For a number of years I've heard about the display of trilliums in the G. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area. A photographer mentioned recently that the season for these wildflowers would be over soon, so on Tuesday I drove out I-66 to Route 55 in Linden to visit the place. It's not far from Front Royal and I have passed it a few times while going other places.

There was a sign to it near the Linden Post Office so I turned onto Freezeland Road and went up the mountain. Since the road is not very familiar to me and I was watching for signs, I wasn't driving very fast and soon a pickup truck was right behind me. Since I don't like holding up local drivers who are in a hurry but I didn't want to speed, I looked for a place to turn off and let him go by. I spotted a wide turn-off and swung into it. The truck driver honked in annoyance and sped past.

I noticed that I was at the entrance to a monastery.

I've read about this place in the local paper. It is home to a small group of Dominican Nuns. Curious, I drove down the lane. The monastery building was bigger than I expected.

It is situated on top of a hill, and the view is spectacular!

Sharing with Fences Around the World

After taking a few pictures of the mountain view, I returned to the main road and continued until I saw a sign for the Wildlife Management Area (WMA). I parked in the first parking lot and it turned out to be surrounded by wildflowers. 

A sign says you need a hunting license or fishing license to enter the WMA, but my understanding is that you can hike or take pictures without a problem. I wouldn't hold a party there or pick the flowers though.

The flower with three petals and three leaves is a trillium. A hiker told me that a week ago the forest was carpeted with these blossoms! They still looked pretty special. There were plenty of other wildflowers too.

Seen from My Window

One of my older cameras has a pretty good zoom lens so I keep in on a table in front of the window that has a view of the lake.

The other day I saw a fire department crew spraying water into the lake. I don't know whether they are testing the equirpment or just letting off pressure.

We have bird houses in our yard and little birds have been nesting in them.

This morning I saw a couple of rabbits in our yard. Here's one of them. Later when I came home from the store, I saw a baby rabbit near our driveway, but I didn't have my camera ready so he escaped having his picture taken.

Yesterday I missed another cute shot when I saw a squirrel carrying her baby in her mouth! She crossed our deck and went up a tree.

Finally some neighbors got the fountain working in the lake. It helps to add oxygen to the water, keeping algae down. 

By this morning, the spray height was reduced. Perhaps the nozzles are already clogged. In the final photo, we see Frank enjoying the view this afternoon.

Sharing with Through My Lens, Wednesday Waters, Not So Wordless and Wild Bird Wednesday.

Two Garden Week Collages

Antique Shop Phone Booth

May Day Monday Miscellany

Our nice spring weather beckoned me outdoors to take plenty of photos, so I'll catch up on posting some rural scenes and also share with some linkups. Tamar's Random-osity format works well for this.

The Good: The farms of the Shenandoah Valley provide food for many people.  I've got some barns for Tom's Barn Collective, starting with this one near Mount Jackson which is being repainted. 

Here's a collage of barns for Mosaic Monday.

The Random: Mail Pouch Tobacco was advertised on many barns in the past. I think this mural is a modern recreation because it's on a backyard shed and barely visible from the road. 

Sharing with Monday Murals

The Fun: Ice cream! And having it as a picnic is even better.

"Let's Eat" is the current theme for City Daily Photo.  Since I have food allergies, my diet tends to be limited. Cow milk doesn't agree with me, but fortunately the health food store in Front Royal carries goat milk ice cream and the chocolate flavor is delicious! Sometimes I buy some and take it up to nearby Skyline Drive for a picnic treat.