Dangers of Arctic oil drilling

The senate has approved oil drilling in the Arctic. Environmental organizations are still hoping that people will convince the House of Representatives that they do not want to endanger the Alaskan wilderness for a few-months supply of oil, which won't reach the market for ten years anyway.

I am starting to feel very sad for the environment. Human beings seem bent on destroying the climate and our most precious resources. What will future generations do when ocean levels rise and animals and plants die off to the point where our food supply shrinks? Well, that nightmare is for future generations.

Union of Concerned Scientists | Environmental Defense

History on cassette

Listen to history!

I'm a fan of books on tape and I like to just browse Amazon for a history book to listen to when I'm driving. This is a lot safer than talking on the cell phone!

Report unsafe products

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission gives you a place to report unsafe products. We have a tendancy to assume that products sold in stores are safe, but 'taint necessarily so. And we should always glance over labels for warnings and if there are any, read and heed!

Historic Preservation

The Civil War Preservation Trust is working to purchase historically significant land so that Civil War sites are not spoiled by development. Here in Virginia this is a definite problem. This snapshot at Wilderness Battlefield shows the entrance to a subdivision next to a Civil War site.

Meanwhile, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is dealing with the damage that hurricane Katrina did to our country's historical landmarks along the Gulf Coast.

Leaf peeping

We went out today and enjoyed the fall leaves. The colors are lovely in spite of a very dry summer. Some of the leaves are mottled but they still glow with color. Even walking the dog is a beautiful journey. Virginia in Autumn is a marvelous place.

Tonight I posted the November Calendar of Events for Spiritual Singles.

Web updates

Today I updated the Maryland meetings list for the Chemical Sensitivity Support Group. Also added pages covering the Wilderness Battlefield to my Civil War website. The picture above is the view from Clark Mountain, a Confederate Lookout Post. I took this in 1996 when their was an orchard there so the view was accessible to the public.

Site meter added

I added a counter from sitemeter.com. This was recommended by Marie Javins.

Meanwhile, Frank is adding pictures to his Walcroft blog.

Spotsylvania Photo Pages

The "large" photos of the Spotsylvania field trip are up and linked, starting with Todd's Tavern and progressing past battlefield monuments and landscapes.

I get emails from folks who visit my Civil War website wanting to know the best sites to visit, how to get to certain places, and so on.

Shultz History

We spent some time in the Shenandoah County Library today looking for information on Frank's ancestors with the surname Shultz. I was surprised at the large amount of Pennsylvania and German-American genealogical information that they have here.


Last week we visited Marklesburg, PA to see the old Shultz cemetery. The image at left is the marker on route 26 that led us to it. It was erected by Lawrence Shultz of Indiana in the 1960's. He also published a family history which we located in Huntingdon. Here's what the marker says:

Shultz Cemetery
------->
John Shultz, 1791-1851
Mary (Beaver) Shultz, His Wife

Henry Shultz , 1762-1830
Salome, His Wife, Mother of John

Anthony Beaver, 1761-1839
Susanna (Clapper) Beaver, His Wife
Mother of Mary

Lawrence Shultz of Indiana, A Descendant

The cemetery is on private land and is overgrown. Across the road is a lovely pastoral view which probably hasn't changed much since the Shultzes saw it.

Spotsylvania

I'm posting photos of Spotsylvania Battlefield on my Civil War pages. A good overview of sites can be seen at www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/bycampgn.htm

We're supposed to follow more of Grant's Overland Campaign this weekend but rain is forecast. Stay tuned.

Back home with our dogs

We just spent a few days in Pennsylania, a state rich in history and greasy restaurants. Today we went to the Seven Bends Kennel to pick up our dogs only to find no one there! It was 4:20 PM and we had been told to come between 4 and 5. Apparently someone did not show up for work, but other customers kept arriving to pick up their pets. We all had to wait. Finally the receptionist arrived just before 5:00, so we were able to retrieve our dogs. It's good to have them back.

I just posted the October list of Spiritual Singles Events. I see that Marie has some new adventures in Africa. Visit her blog to share her visit with some friendly seals.

Film Processing and Scanning

I received my prints and CDs today from A&I Photo and I am pleased. The colors are nice in the prints and the scans have good resolution.


In the past I have used Photoworks and Kodak Gallery. Photoworks offers nice features but their prints lack snap. Kodak Gallery has gotten very slow and the colors aren't as good as when they were Ofoto. (I'm not even linking to Kodak Gallery because their customer service is so bad, I can't recommend them.)

This is my first print film order with A&I and I am happy that the results were so good. I used them before for slide processing when I was taking a photography class at Lord Fairfax Community College.

The pictures you see here were taken at Assateague Island, a barrier island on Virginia's Eastern Shore. It is near Chincoteague and it's a beautiful place to visit.

Relative's blog

Kate and Rusty have posted a blog at http://rustyandkatieashley.blogspot.com/.

I just posted a couple of changes to Chemsense.com.

Here's a picture of swans that I took in Glebe Harbor. Of course, I played with it in Photoshop, making it lighter.

We're back in Basye and I love it here, but I will miss the great water birds that we saw in the Northern Neck. In addition to the swans, we had regular visits from Great Blue Herons and some ospreys, and we occasionally saw a bald eagle.

I read in the Gloucester paper that many of southern Virginia's old oak trees are dieing off. Apparently a combination of drought and bad storms is too much for them. We're having a very dry spell here in Shenandoah County. Hope it doesn't hurt the trees.

More photos

I added a page of photos of Civil War sites at VirginiaPhoto.com. I've still got some work to do because they don't look as good on a big screen as they did on my laptop.

Meanwhile Frank has posted a blog at walcroft.blogspot.com.

Peggy goes to Germany

Peggy has published the story of her trip to Germany at pegsadventures.blogspot.com.

Meanwhile, I updated my Civil War Tours homepage, enlarged the thumbnail pictures of Belle Grove and added a new post to the Javins genealogy page.

Eastern Shore of Virginia

We just spent a couple of days on the Eastern Shore, that peninsula of Virginia below Ocean City. It has changed little since we last went there a couple of years ago, except that Cape Charles has had some new developments added.

The town of Accomac is still charming and undeveloped and Chincoteague is a fun place to visit. We saw both a sunrise and sunset from Assateague Island, a wildlife refuge on the ocean.

Miskel Farm

I have posted some more photos of Miskel Farm, where Mosby's Rangers narrowly escaped capture in 1863. It is located near Leesburg Park and Route 28 but is not open to the public. However, you can stand on the edge of the road (I think it's called Dairy Lane) and read the historical marker.

Great Blue Heron

We have been honored by visits from large birds here in the Northern Neck. I got some pictures of the Great Blue Heron. I saw his shadow as he flew over and heard him land in the creek beside our deck.

At first he was hard to see because he stayed in the shady little creek, standing still for long periods of time, watching for a tasty fish to come along. Finally he ventured out into the cove.

Some other birds flew into the cove, diving down to snatch up some fish. I think they were ospreys. Eventually the heron grew tired of their antics and rose into the air, honking at them. Another heron joined him in the air, probably his mate. She had been hiding in a nearby bush.

Hurricane!

Like many people, I've been watching the reports on Hurricane Katrina and getting depressed. What terrible suffering and loss!

There are a number of agencies helping people such as the American Red Cross. A small group is trying to help pets, such as the Humane Society. If you cannot afford to donate, you can at least click to generate a small donation at pets.care2.com and theAnimalRescueSite.com.

Modest Needs is raising funds to help individuals who have specific requests for temporary help and they accept Paypal.