Spring Has Sprung !

The Late Blooming Forsythia are about 1/3 Out

The Crocus in the Yard

The Early Daffodils Near the Woods

And the Spring Full Moon

Ah Spring–Its About Time

It rained more than just a bit on Wednesday & Thursday.  There was shallow water over the road in several places on my way to work, not more than 3 or 4 inches deep & clear enough to see through.

Looking upstream at the Rivanna River March 10th

I did need to detour twice on my way to work due to high water, about 8 inches of fast flowing water the 1st time & more than a foot the 2nd time. 

The tree I like to sit under March 10th

The rain stopped around 11pm on Thursday but the rivers continued to rise as water came off the Blue Ridge.

The looking upstream at the old mill spillway March 11th

Looking downstream on March 11th

Don’t think it’s a good day for swimming, canoeing or kayaking even – that water is cold, turbulent & carrying a lot of debris.  Friday was overcast but dry, Saturday is wonderfully Spring like – warm, sunny & blessed with many early flowers.

Daffodils my Urchin planted around the Pet Burial area in the backyard – they’re an very early blooming variety

More of the early daffodils Urchin planted.  They routinely bloom earlier than even the earliest crocuses.

Crocus out near the bird feeders.  They were already there when Urchin & I moved into the house.  There are more in the front garden.

OK Spring – Bring It On !  9 More Days ‘Till Rendezvous !

Is There Life After January 1st

December was a wonderful month, the best Holiday Season since I started working for DOC.   Various projects for my Historic Camp got done, the house got nicely cleaned, & Christmas presents were bought or made.  Gypsy Jane was here quite a bit, I got to spend time with my Urchin, had a wonderful day with Jo & her son Matt at their new old house,  went to a Christmas Party at D&D’s, visited with Eric & Linda & ended it all with the Rathbone 2nd To None New Year’s Eve Party. 

Then 2001 arrived & I soon felt my train had derailed, fallen down an embankment, crashed & burned.  I wasn’t able to get any time off in January, so no Julian Calendar Nativity for me this year.  No time off also meant no real progress on projects either.  There was a day of OT pay for an extra work shift, which was nice for the check book but rough on my sleep & energy levels.  February showed little improvement – a frustrating day spent at the Urchin’s doing taxes (trying to file the taxes were frustrating, not my Urchin who was wonderful), another day spent getting routine maintenance done on the truck (oil change, alignment & brake fluid flush) & far too many days of cold windy rain.   I got the last couple of CD’s loaded into iTunes & upgraded my laptop to Win Vista but accomplished little else. 

Since I seemed to be working, sleeping & not much else, it was the little things that brightened things up a bit.  I finally bought my cats a window sleep shelf.  It was an unqualified success right from the start.  It’s a rare minute when it doesn’t have at least one cat snoozing thereupon.

Skiddy & Pippen Field Testing the Window Shelf

Paws-in-Trouble & Skiddy Take the Afternoon Test Shift

I also bought myself some new silverware.  I’d been meaning to replace my Dollar General Special set a long time ago but couldn’t seem to find a set I liked at a price I was willing to pay.  Sportsman’s Guide to the Rescue – I bought a 4 place settings for less than $30 delivered to the door.

So I now have the very best that the Austrian Army Surplus had to offer.  Nice heavy weight stainless & they looked brand new.

They even have this cool bird-ish design on the handles.  I have no idea what German phrase “BWU” stands for.

I also have this really neat pocket watch hanging up in my room.  Matt gave it to me as a Birthday/Christmas present.  Its Russian, spring run & very accurate.  I don’t think these are made any more, an internet search into various watch posting sites leads me to believe that the Moinija factory is no longer in business.

So much for winter – I am ready for Spring, it can arrive any time now, I won’t mind a bit. 

Out With the Old–In With the New

The Rathbones host a Most Excellent New Year’s Eve Song Fest.  This wonderous event involves a pot luck buffet, around 2 dozen folks who like to sing, a snug front room with enough seating for all & a TV tucked away in some grown urchin’s room  for those who absolutely must watch the ball drop . 

The New Year was welcomed by the Martha Burns Fantastic Pickup Kazoo Bank playing Auld Ang Syne on Elderly Instrument kazoos.  You had to have been there to truly savor the moment. 

Presents were passed, food was eaten & a great deal of singing was done.  To keep the Dread Lyric Eater at bay some resorted to electronic gargets while most relied on the group memory to find all the words.

Bill Day lead the Kazoo Band & added an autoharp to the party instrumental mix.  Paul Clayton brought his guitar as did Gypsy Jane & I but most of the singing was accompanied only by the voices of all.

Gypsy Jane & I sang “Stuck in the Smoke Hole of Our TeePee”, it was such an instant hit we had to sing it several more times as people came & went during the party.  (See YouTube for OldHands music video of this humorous visit from Santa to a reservation teepee  at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwlR6EnOps.)  All in all we had a grand time singing out the old year & singing in the new.  But then any excuse for a singing party is a good one.

Jo’s New Digs

December was an incredibly busy month for me – I met my daughter for a morning with the horses & the farrier followed by a wonderful lunch, went to 2 free concerts at the University of Virginia, celebrated my birthday at Jo Smithfield’s Open House, visited with my friends Eric & Linda Rice-Johnson and went to the Rathbone’s New Year’s Eve Party.  Somewhere in there I also enjoyed having Gypsy Jane here at my house and got a bunch of primitive camp gear projects done.  I needed a video crew following me around so I could watch what I’d missed later !

Anyway, my friend Jo Smithfield of the NNMC (that’s No Name Motorcycle Club) got herself a  genuine 3 story with attic  Victorian mansion.  It just needed a wee bit of repair here & there – well OK then, a whole lot of repair everywhere.  But Jo was woman enough for the task, particularly since her son Matt was in on the deal & thus there to do a lot of the work. 

The Formal Parlor which looks Rather Informal to Me

Parlor Fireplace

Of course there are fireplaces in every room, along with radiators from the old furnace which are now hooked up to the new furnace  since the old furnace was well past doing anything useful like heating the house as opposed to burning it down. 

The kitchen has been modernized and has a nice pantry attached

Another view of the kitchen

Across the main foyer & behind the dining room is a spare bedroom.  That handsome Orange Tabby is one of the 2 house guard cats.

Jo had quite a spread laid out for us – that’s my Urchin in the upper photo & Urchin’s fella JR & Jo in the lower photo.

Matt’s an artist – these aren’t things he’s made but various things he’s collected just because they’re interesting.  He also repairs spring driven pocket watches, although he shuts the cats out of his workroom when he’s working on watches.  Watch parts do not good cat toys make.

Urchin, JR & Matt in the 2nd floor hall

This Tabby totally has my Urchin wrapped around her furry little paws.  The sofa is in the dinning room, its nice to be comfortable after you dine.

I’ve got a desk & chair set just like these – they were my father’s.  The handsome lady lives on the banister of the 1st floor stairs.

Of course, a Victorian house must have a place for the ghosties & ghoulies – this is section of the 4th floor attic, which obviously has never been finished off.  Nice place for the haunts.

I had planned on taking a bunch more pictures, had carefully charged up my camera batteries, even checked the charge on the way there – but then I left the camera on during the ride down & depleted the batteries & had to recharge them again, which took awhile.  Then I had an electronic fail moment back at my place & lost the directory to the JPGs.  Gypsy Jane took my SD card to her Geek son-in-law who was able to fix things but it meant I couldn’t post things earlier.  Oh well, here they are at last.