Gifting

Once upon a time a long, long time ago in a state far, far away I packed everything I owned in the world into my car & headed to my parents house for the summer.  I had just finished a very good semester at Michigan & as I drove west I realized that I didn’t really have to go to my parents house.  I could go anywhere I wanted – I had plenty of $$, I was of age & I could just drive somewhere I wanted to be, get a job & get on with life.  It was a moment of immeasurable freedom.  Of course I didn’t take that path, I went to my parents place & on into life by more conventional routes. 

Now I’m at the point in life where retirement is less than a BA degree in time away.  I’m  concerned with divesting myself of things I no longer need & I’m pretty sure all I own wouldn’t fit into a large storage locker.  A  friend of  a friend has suggested “Gifting” as a way of reducing what one owns.  “Gifting” involves leaving good usable things one no longer needs on stranger’s porches in the dark of night.  A fun idea to consider, but not one I would actually implement.  Gifts are best given to Goodwill, the Salvation Army or the Habitat Store. 

I however have been the recipient of “Gifting” of a sort. One of my neighbor’s put this nice green plastic lawn lounge out for trash pickup a year or two ago.  I saw it on my way home from work one morning, stopped, looked it over & took it home with me.  I has proved to be a wonderful place for sitting & reading in my yard.  I’ve even taken a nap or two on it. 

More recently the same neighbor put these two lawn chairs out with the trash.  Once again I stopped on my way home from work, determined they were in good condition & brought them home.   They now live out by my fire ring.  Eventually these items will in fact crack & break, but until then they are very useful & I enjoy their “Gifting”.

The mantis is now 1.75 inches & looking very good.

James River Batteau Festival

The James River Batteau Festival is an annual event where reproduction colonial era batteaus travel the James River from Lynchburg to Richmond.  The festival uses prearranged camp sites & the trip takes 8 days.  This year the river rose as the trip progressed, which made it easier on the crews.  These photos are from the Scottsville camp on Wednesday evening. 

Most batteaus have shade canopies against Virginia’s hot sun.

Some boats use a simple center ridge pole & tarp instead of the half circle canopy.

This gives a fair view of a bateau’s construction. 

Looking downstream, these boats had landed when I got to Scottsville about 4:30 pm.

This batteau’s crew is cooking dinner on an onboard woodstove

Batteau are float boats which are also poled downstream.  They can be poled upstream if the river is deep enough to float the boat in slack water.

These boats have no keel so steering oars at both ends are need to keep the boat on course

This is an older boat that’s both well caulked & the wood has swelled nicely.  This makes for a heavier boat & thus its floating lower in the water.

This is a fairly new boat & thus floats higher in the water.   As the wood absorbs more water, it will ride lower in the water.

Scottsville usually arranges for old timey musicians to play in the batteau camp area.  This group was doing old style fiddle tunes.

My friend the Paddling Potter – I also know him from OVPR & have a couple of pieces of his work.  I’d hope to get one of his jugs latter this year.  His wares are available in Waynesboro.

Of Wine & Song

Saturday I went to visit my Urchin & she took me to the Clifton Wine Festival.  I’ve never been to a Wine Festival but it sounded interesting so off we went.  They had 12 to 14 wineries, several food vendors, a couple of jewelry crafters, 2 tobacconists & a dozen other assorted vendors.  There was also a stage showcasing various local electric bands.  The music wasn’t much to my taste but it wasn’t loud enough to be annoying, the jewelry was lovely (and way beyond my price range) & the food selection was decent.  It was well attended, too crowded for good photos but not so crowded as to be physically unpleasant.  Mostly my Urchin & I wandered around listening to very entertaining descriptions of the various wines while we waited our turn to taste  whatever caught our fancy. 

The wine tasting part was delightful.  I sipped every dry, semi-dry and semi-sweet white wine there.  I tried wine aged in oak barrels, wine aged in stainless barrels.  Most the wines were made from French varieties of grapes with 2 Australian, 2 Bulgarian & 1 Georgian (as in Russian) grape wines for variety.  Prices ran from $15 to $22 with a few fruit wines at $12 and 3 or 4 premium ultra award winning wines at $25-$30.  I even sampled a semi-dry cranberry wine, which was excellent but since it had some red wine in it is likely to give me a smashing headache.  Those sulfides do me in big time.   Urchin bought a bottle of rose to share with JR and a bottle of the Georgian Rkatsiteli for each of us. 

After the wine fest the Urchin & I headed out with Carly & Dean for a house concert at Andy & Sandra’s place.  This is the front of their little home in the country – colonial mostly with some later anti-bellum additions.    Plenty of porch for socializing.

Here’s the back porch just as folks were moving inside for the potluck & concert.

This grand dame in the back yard has seem more than a little history.

I really like the way Andy blended the modern kitchen fixtures into the room.

The servants’ staircase in the kitchen and a sideboard.

The solar where the concert was held & the main staircase.

The old dining room with some of the potluck spread out.

The new dining room with most of the potluck spread out.  What’s an FSGW event without good food ?

George & Lorraine brought this – it looks almost too good to eat & it tasted as good as it looks.

The concert was Deborah Robins & Larry Hanks.  I hadn’t heard Larry since the late 70’s & had never heard Deborah.  They do western music -  swing band numbers from regional & family bands, Carter family, U. Utah Phillips, Woody Guthrie, cowboy, lumbering & mining songs as well as humorous novelty songs.  And Larry plays a seriously mean Jews Harp.  Larry put on a great set when I last heard him and Deborah adds her own wonderful voice & guitar picking to the mix.  They’re two great performers who compliment each other very very well. 

I drove home Sunday morning still a bit tired but very very happy.  Thank you Urchin, Carly & Dean – it was an awesome day.

Two Steps Forward–One Step Back

Wednesday was wonderfully productive.  My Harley & my Urchin’s Ninja have been cleaned up & both are on trickle chargers.  The eaves on the left side of the house have been washed, sanded where needed, primed were sanded & the 1st trim coat is 2/3 done.  The pine limbs that overhung the roof are partially cut back.  Various things around the yard have been cleaned up.  And there was still time for music practice in the twilight & firefly watching in the gloaming.  I did hit the bed more than a bit stiff from all the high ladder work, but a good long soak in a hot bath, aspirin & Icy Hot plus a good night’s sleep fixed that.

The trim after the 1st coat was finished.

Thursday I got up early.  Early as in 6 AM, which is very early indeed for this night shift worker.  I went to Quicke Lube for an oil change & tire rotation on the truck & then came back to Ruckersville & got an eye exam done.  Its been 7 years, so I was way overdue on the exam.  Next month its new glasses time – woot!  The afternoon was most pleasantly spent in Fredericksburg with my friend Connie catching up on all the news.  We had lunch at this small Greek restaurant just over the river in Falmouth, its out Rte. 3 on the left before the motorcycle shop.  I highly recommend the place to all & sundry.  They have a deli, small grocery section & do take out too.    On the way home I meandered through the Chancellorsville Battlefield Park, stopping to read this or that marker & generally enjoying the afternoon as it moved into evening. 

Friday broke heavily overcast & it was quickly raining hard with lots of lightening.  Definitely not a good day to paint.   I started the Harley during one of the breaks in the rain, its running fine.  The Ninja battery wouldn’t start the bike, its only holding a 10.5 volt charge after more than 24 hours on the Battery Tender charger.  So I talked with the Urchin & then went on line to locate a Kawasaki dealer.  Found 3 within 32 miles of the house or less, called all 3 about the battery, windshield mounting hardware, an oil filter, oil & an air cleaner/battery tie down strap.  Drove over to Harrisburg, the farthest dealer but the only one who said all 5 items I wanted were in stock.  Got there & the battery was much more than they had told me on the phone (they had quoted a standard battery not a sealed battery), and they didn’t actually have the proper filter or the tie down strap in stock.  Phooey, I’m not likely to shop there much.   So I got the battery & windshield mounting hardware & drove home into another monsoon thunderstorm.  Got the battery in, the Ninja started but it won’t idle or respond to the throttle.  So a trip to my local bike mechanic is in my future.  At least he’s very good & very dependable.   But mostly I put forth much effort without much to show for it all.  I ended the day by practicing knife throwing & then watching Harry Potter #1, which redeemed the day somewhat.

A Week of My Own

I’m off work from 6/13 until 6/20 – seven glorious days to do projects & visit folks.  Nothing like some quality time to do with as you will to brighten one’s outlook on life.  I slept for a few hours after I got home from work on Monday, then mowed half the yard,  went to Lowes to buy more paint for the exterior trim on the house & read several chapters in a book. 

I’ve been watching for the little orange lizard in the back yard as well as keeping an eye on the various Praying Mantis in the yard.   I haven’t seen the lizard since I last mowed the yard, but the mantis are now an inch to an inch & a half long.

Here its noticed the knat at the upper edge of the leaf its been sitting on

Picnic lunch in progress

I’ve also been watching for either of the two snakes I saw under the kitchen porch – I’ve seen each of them just once.  But they or others like them must be about since I found this shed skin in the grass at the base of the porch this morning.

It seems large for either of the snakes I’ve seen but my memory could be off.  I haven’t seen all that many snake skin sheds in my life & thus I’m not sure how they relate to the living snake.

Monday evening I sat outside watching the lightening bugs rise somewhat longer than usual as I made a phone call.  The “J” pattern bugs had risen thickly around 7:30 pm & were mostly 8 to 10 feet above the ground when a 2nd rising began of different bugs.  This 2nd rising consisted of bugs that flashed a single long horizontal flash.  They weren’t as numerous as the “J” bugs & quickly moved into the wooded area behind my yard.  The “J” bugs stayed mostly in the yard proper, moving into the yard trees & bushes but seldom going into the woods.  About 10 to 15 minutes after this new lightening bug was flashing about 3 feet above the ground in the woods a 3rd pattern appeared, 3 short horizontal blips from down among the ground cover in the woods.  All in all it was quite a show.

Today I worked on various projects.  The laundry is done, the lawn finished, the pine limbs hanging over the left side of the house have been cut back, the motorcycles moved into the driveway where I can easily charge their batteries & the pine trimming have been burned.  Tomorrow I start trim painting.  The week has started well.

If You’re Given a Lemon, Make Lemonade

The last 2 days have been ugly hot.  Too hot paddle on the river, too hot for yard work, too hot to go play with the horses, to hot to ride or even clean a motorcycle.  Heat advisories both days from before sunrise until after sunset.  I filled every water bottle I own, put them in the fridge and emptied each and every one of them at least once each day.  I have worn a wet T-shirt all day both days.  And a wet scarf on my head.  If I enjoyed heat like this I’d live in Florida.  But I didn’t get heat stress or worse and I did get things done – lots of little easy to do things that needed doing.

My file of Important Papers has all its Important Papers put into the brown 9x12 envelopes where they belong.  Stray trivial papers pretending to be Important Papers have been put where they belong in the Recycling Bag.  Both computers have the latest OS and security software updates installed, all security program scans have been run as well as various other computer housekeeping utilities.  All kinds of things sitting around in the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom have been put away. 

Hobby projects got done too. I cut down the white leather blank I bought at the Ft. Frederick Trade Fair to fit my 1812 Virginia Militia Canteen. Here’s the front & back of the buckle end of the strap. I bought the wrong size buckle at Ft. Frederick, this is a Rev War English style buckle I’m using until I can get a proper 1.5 inch “D” buckle to replace it. I have to make a wooden stopper for this too.

Here’s the whole canteen – I do have a cork to fit it so it’s usable.

I’m also working on making wind screens for the fire rings Gypsy Jane & I use at our lodges.   This is one idea – a 6”x24” piece of sheet metal held to the outside of the ring with movable metal clips. 

Here’s another idea – letting the springiness of the same piece of sheet metal hold it in place on the inside of the ring.  However I finally work this out, the sheet metal will need its edges smoothed down, the corners rounded off and the whole thing painted barbeque black.

It was comfortable enough under the backyard shade trees to work on the canteen strap outside today.  At one point I looked up and saw this lovely lady walking through the yard next door.  I managed to sneak into my kitchen, grab my camera, get back outside, catch sight of her again and take her picture from behind my truck.

At this point Paws-in-Trouble walked across the street and the doe had to check him out.  She decided he wasn’t very scary and went back to nibbling her way into the back yard across the street.  Mind you, this is happening in broad daylight shortly after 1:30 PM.  It was definitely the high point of the day.  

I didn’t get any more trimming on the driveway pines.  I tried, but couldn’t reach where I needed to reach even with the ladder set up in my pickup truck bed.   Maybe I can reach the last few branches from the top of Gypsy Jane’s RV.  Or maybe not.  Some things are just not Hobbit things. 

There’s thunder and lightening outside, time to sign off. 

Ya All Stay Cool.

A Quiet Day at Home

The temps have been in the lowers 80’s here & yours truly is most grateful.  I worked on trimming the pines that flank both sides of my driveway.  Gypsy Jane’s Holiday Rambler is a bit wider than her Escaper, it would be nice if it cleared the trees. 

Obviously I’m not quite done, there’s 2 branches on the left & 4 on the right that need trimming plus a final squaring up.  Since this is all high ladder work I cut until the height gets to me, go work on something else & then come back & trim a bit more latter.   Hobbits aren’t fond of heights.

Took a ride to a few of my favorite spots in the afternoon, this was a beaver pond, the beavers seem to have left.

The den is half gone & the water too.  In 2004 I spent the summer checking on this pond weekly – there was a pair of swans raising their cygnets.  Of the 8 cygnets I first saw the cob & pen managed to raise 6  fledglings & at least 4 were still around in September.

This little stream feeds the area.  It held several nice rainbow trout.

The South River is looking good coming out of Shenandoah National Park.  The great egret pair &  several blue heron pairs were nesting in their usual areas. 

Nearby these butterflies were feasting on horse poop.  To each his own. 

There’s a spot along the South River I like to visit, its my forest quiet place.  The hills are steep & covered in cedar, the river narrow & swift moving.  After I had visited my Urchin in Japan it always seemed that if I got to this spot at just the right time of an evening & crossed over the river then there would be a narrow asphalt path up that hill abit.   That path would soon have little stone guardian figures in faded red capes, small stone shrines & signs in kanji.  If I followed that path it would take me to Minobu & then the road to my daughter in Nambu. 

Sunday evening saw a very nice lighting bug rising.  The solitary fireflies that flash 3 short horizontal blinks have now been joined by their cousins who flash a rising “J” pattern.  They were right on time, they appear June 4-6 in my yard most every year.

These are my throwing knives for rendezvous with their new leather handles I cut out from a vegetable tanned belt blank. The knives themselves are “Otters”, designed and sold by a buckskinner trader. They come in 2 sizes, I own the smaller size. These handles are slightly thicker than the original handles and completely cover the tang. (The original handles left about a quarter inch of tang exposed.)   I’ve altered my knife grip & now get a solid stick in 9 of 10 throws with almost half my throws hitting there I’m aiming.

The Goddess of Yard Sales also gifted me with a Western Digital My Book Essential 250GB external hard drive with USB cable & power supply.  Cost $2.00.  I’ve reformatted it & loaded  iTunes on it.  I really need to spent some time getting my computer files better organized, maybe the next to-hot-to-do-yard-work day.  I also got 2 nice white plastic chairs for yard sitting & lightening bug watching from a “For Free” pile of stuff.

Strawberry Festival & Tour de Greene

This weekend everyone & their uncle seemed to be hosting some kind of event.  I’d heard about the the Norfolk Pirate Festival, the Folklore Society of Greater Washington’s Glen Echo Festival, the Waynesboro Street Fair and a Nelson County Bluegrass Pasture Party.  So much to do, so little gas.  So much as I would have liked to go to the FSGW Festival, I opted for the bargain – the Strawberry Festival thrown by the Methodist church in Stanardsville. 

This festival started as a strawberry pancake breakfast 21 years ago. It grew into a 2 day affair with a daily parade, living history demos (yours truly held the fort for the colonial period), craft fair, live dance & music performances, classic car show and of course many many delicious strawberry deserts prepared by the members of the Methodist church.  Well the economy has taken its toll here, so now its once again a one day affair with a strawberry pancake breakfast, various strawberry desserts through out the day, some music & clogging performances, a few vintage vehicles and some craft & public service displays. 

The music area was too crowded for decent photos but the cars were a different matter.

This is a 1970 Mustang with an as sold engine.

A 1966 Mustang with a period performance engine – there is something wrong with a vintage plate on a car made the year I learned to drive!

A lovely & truly vintage Ford

This Chevy reminds me of the cars of my 50’s childhood – the color is certainly a hoot.

Greene being a very rural county, there were also vintage tractors in the show.

This guy seems totally unimpressed by it all.

The Greene Historical Society was also open.  A very modest affair housed in the old county jail, it had very nice displays of everyday things – but was too crowed for pictures.

Back over by my house the Spring Hill Baptist Church was hosting their Tour de Greene.  This is an bike race/tour with circuits laid out for 60, 40 & 20 mile rides.  The 20 mile riders were finishing up as I got back from the Strawberry Fest.  The registration fees all go to the Greene Habitat for Humanity housing projects.

These guys volunteered to get blogged.  The 20 milers all seemed to be having a grand time of it.   I had passed several groups of riders going to & from the strawberry fest, most were in road race gear except one group of 8 teens riding mountain bikes and wearing X Game stuff.  Helmets were required of all by the Tour.