Greenbrier River Trail - Flood Plus 6 Months

We hadn't been on the Greenbrier River Trail since the major flood last June. Today we walked the southern end to the where the trail is still impassible -- 8 miles round-trip. The damage to the trail will probably take a few years to repair. The power of water is impressive.

A major stream wash-out is at the beginning of the trail. Fortunately, it is very easily bypassed along a road.

About 3 miles up the trail, is a small landslide. It's been cleared, but the wreckage is sobering.

Mostly the trail was in good shape.

About milepost 6.8 (the trail starts at milepost 3), another small, but deep, wash-out makes the trail impassible. The next 6 miles are closed for the foreseeable future.

As we walked, several of these military C-130 Hercules cargo planes were going west-to-east overhead.

Born in a Manger - Redux

After the disaster (previous post), we put our older, smaller, and less elegant nativity set on top of our fireplace.

This nativity set we've had for decades, although there are a few new onlookers: Two elephants and a horse from India, and a terra cotta soldier from China.

Here it is in context on our Tulikivi soapstone heater.

While we were unpacking ornaments, I opened an Advent Calendar we hadn't used in years. Each of the doors holds an ornament. In the process I found another Nativity set that I didn't even remember we had.

This is a pretty minimalist (and small) set, but since it doesn't take up much space, it was easy to find a place for it ...

... right in the middle of Lon's hedgehog collection.

Nativity Disaster: 3-D Jigsaw Puzzles

Sooner or later it had to happen. Our fancy Lenox nativity set (see last year's post) was heavily damaged when a display case fell off the wall onto the set. I should have taken a picture of the scene, but I was too concentrated on cleaning it up to pull out a camera.

Fortunately, the Holy Family survived. Most of the other pieces lost hands, heads, and wings.

Over a few days, I was able to glue together many of the pieces. Angels and animals took the biggest hit. Our son, John, was visiting and proved to be excellent at 3-D puzzle solving.

First, one of the success stories:

Most of the angels merely lost their wings, which stayed mostly intact and were easy to re-attach.

The glue line is basically invisible on this wing.

This hand had also broken off.

Now for not-so-good results:

This angel had shattered into many small pieces. From a distance, it might look OK, but close up there's a lot of small shards and pieces missing.

The camel is one of my favorite pieces. From this side it doesn't look too bad.

But the other side shows that I'm not great at getting pieces to fit together exactly. Clearly I'm not ready to become an archaeologist!

Like the camel, the donkey (another of my favorites) looks OK from this side.

Even the back side doesn't look too bad. The big piece in the left front belongs in his belly, but I just couldn't maneuver it into place.

This is the remainder of the largest pieces. Many smaller ones were practically dust and had to be discarded.

I packed up the set and will use it when I can find a safer display space!

Christmas Trees and "Bugs"

Every year we search our property for a suitable Christmas tree.

This year's selection: the top 11 feet of a 20-foot Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana). Since they are wild-grown and not shaped by pruning, our trees usually have a certain "Charlie Brown" aspect, but strong the branches and wide spacing of Virginia pines make them good for hanging ornaments.

And here it is without the benefit of flash.

As we were preparing to decorate the tree, I noticed this unusual structure hanging in the tree. I got help from Virginia Tech foresters and entomologists to identify it. (They suggested that we just spray paint it gold and leave it in the tree as an ornament!) It is most likely the egg sac of a "Basilica Orbweaver" spider (Mecynogea lemniscata). I've moved the egg sac outside and we'll see if anything hatches in the spring.

A closer view of the egg sac.

At the same time, I found this (very dead!) monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in the grass near our house. Butterflies scan nicely!

Back to Christmas trees! We're not the only people looking for trees. Our grandson, Amos, is checking out an Amos-sized tree in southwestern Pennsylvania.

 

And to conclude, here's the reflection of tree lights in our windows.

Sunrise - Sunset

We've had some spectacular sunrises and sunset lately.

Since our western horizon is behind mountains (especially in the summer), really great sunsets like this one are a rare sight.

An unusual sunrise rainbow over Fore Mountain. Note the double rainbow at the left edge. It doesn't show in the photo, but the entire atmosphere had a rosy glow.

Notes from Breakfast

Two observations from breakfast in a diner in Decatur (Atlanta).

From where I sat, it looked like this Christmas wreath was somehow just hanging in the tree. The window frame obscured the lamppost it was attached to!

From the menu: Another in my "foodie signs".

India in Atlanta

We went to Atlanta for a wedding this week. Along the way, we came across an area that clearly had a certain ethnic bent. Unfortunately, we were not able to stop and enjoy a thali meal or Indian street food. Gotta keep this in mind for the next time we're in Atlanta!

At first it was the Patel Brothers grocery store that caught my eye, but then I noticed that the entire strip mall was Indian food and jewelry.

More food!

There was a lot more that didn't make the sign!

And across the street was a large sari shop.

Hikes with Dogs and Miscellany

We always take the dogs on our hikes.

Sitting on the steps of an old foundation deep in a "holler" on our property. Local legend has that the house burned down in a moonshine accident. Even if not true, it's a good story.

Lon and friends on the Fore Mountain Trail.

This looks like spray paint marking utility lines. I couldn't figure out what was going on -- there are no utility lines in this area of our yard, and we didn't ask "Miss Utility" to come out and mark them. Instead, it's a reflection off our truck's taillights. But even close up, it looks like paint.

An interesting set of clouds on Sunday afternoon. It's too bad the photo had to be taken through our windshield and is marred by power lines.

Covington Mill at Night

I really like the "Handheld Night Scene" setting on my camera:

The WestRock Covington paperboard mill is a large installation along the Jackson River.

Steam coming out of the power generation stacks. When David was young and asked what his Daddy did, he would say "My Daddy makes big steam."

Jackson River Scenic Trail - New Section

Yesterday we biked the existing section of the Jackson River Scenic Trail (Intervale to Smith Bridge). Today we walked the under-construction 3.5 mile extension from Smith Bridge up to Natural Well. There's a lot of work left to be done on this section; in particular, three bridges (one currently under construction) need to be replaced.

The trail and heavy equipment near the Smith Bridge parking lot.

After about a mile we came to a bridge under construction. Fortunately there was a scaffolding plank set across Falling Spring Creek.

Sue and Dakota crossing the creek.

A small bridge over Dry Run was easy to cross, but clearly needed repairs or rebuilding.

A ready-to-go section of the trail near railroad milepost12 (trail mileage about 9.25 from Intervale, 2.25 from Smith Bridge).

The bridge over Board Tree Run was more exciting. Most of the cross-ties were rotted out and very spongy when walked on. The spaces between the cross-ties were large enough to catch your foot. Even though it was clear that vehicles had crossed this bridge recently, it felt like it could collapse as we walked across.

Another view of the ready-to-go part of the trail.

The turn-around point of our walk today -- Natural Well and the intersection of Rts 687 and 638. Eventually, the trail will continue for a few more miles to the Bath County line.

Lon with Dakota and Sadie. The dogs will sleep well tonight after a 7 mile hike!

Fall Colors

While I prefer the delicate subtle colors of spring, most people prefer the bold colors of fall. Locally, fall is just about at peak color right now. Here are some highlights.

One of the roads on our property just as the trees are beginning their fall color.

Dogwood (Cornus florida) leaves.

Winged (or Shining) sumac (Rhus copallinum) turns a brilliant red.

Pignut hickory (Carya glabra) provides a golden glow.

Red maples (Acer rubrum) live up to their name in the fall.

White pines (Pinus strobus) contrast with black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) and pignut hickory.

A striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum) in the process of turning red.

Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is one of the few woody plants that blooms in the fall after the leaves have dropped.