A Change of Scenery, Day One and Two

Ward and I are spending several days at a cabin in WV for a change of scenery to hopefully refresh from what is turning out to be a very long year. The cabin, courtesy of Miss Landers, is in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern WV.  If you want, you can follow along with our getaway.

 

On Sunday we drove to the cabin that is nestled in the woods and has all of the comforts of home.

It is located above the valley (The Trough) of the South Branch of the Potomac River. The river provides rich farmlands. We're looking down from a mountainside and the blankets of green that you see in the picture are cornfields.

On Monday, we took a walking tour of the nearby town of Romney. I'll show you a few of the 20 sites we visited. 

The earliest evidence we saw of people in the area was a Hopewell Indian burial mound--the small hill on the far side of the gravestones. This one has never been opened, but research from similar ones suggest that it was constructed sometime between 500-1000 CE. Other graves in this cemetery range from 1700's to present day.

Taking a huge leap in time, on the outskirts of town, we saw a replica of a stockade that Joseph Edwards built in 1755 to protect his farm during the French and Indian War. The real stockade is close by and undergoing an archaeological dig.

A few years later the first house in town was built circa 1760 just before the town was incorporated in 1762.

The Romney Literary Society was formed in 1819 and by 1850 was a large public library. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in 1862 during the Civil War.

And speaking of the Civil War, Romney changed hands between the Union and Confederate Forces 56 times from 1861-1865. In 1863 it became part of the new state of WV. This house built in 1850 served as Stonewall Jackson's headquarters for a time.

On a nearby hill, the Union forces built the Fort Mill Ridge Trenches. Present day, these are located in a beautiful hardwood forest.

Built in 1846 as the Romney Classical Institute, this became the state's school for the deaf and blind in 1870. Classes were in session while we explored the grounds.

And speaking of present day, we saw several of the Little Free Libraries around town. They had food, books, and one was even dedicated to hygiene products. 

The last stop of the day was the Dairy Queen for a Oreo Blizzard. Recently I discovered McFlurries from McDonalds and wanted to compare them to DQ Blizzards. You know, all for collecting data in the name of science. With two data points in, Ward and I both prefer the Blizzard.

(Monday and Tuesday, September 13,14, 2020.)

It will all get done.

 I'm tired and cranky. I could come up with several reasons for this, but some days just turn out that way. So what am I going to do about it? Well, instead of dwelling on the negative stuff, I'm going to try to focus on getting ready for the trip we're going on in the morning. Miss Landers has a cabin in WV where Ward and I are going to stay for a few days with hopes of working puzzles, reading, and hiking. At first, it seems frivolous to be talking about getting away for nothing more than a change of scenery when others are fleeing from fires to save their lives.  But if nothing else, the fires in the west have taught us to live for today because tomorrow things could change in an instant. And that means making the most of this little trip we're going on.

But as you may have noticed, I am writing a blog post instead of getting ready. Well, that's procrastination pure and simple. But it will all get done. It always does.

In the meantime, here are  pictures of what I've seen around my yard this week. Exploring the plants and critters that live around me is a sure fire cure for my crankiness. (However, it's not helping the procrastination too much.)

One of our crabapples has started to bloom. The very hot and dry July may have had something to do with this.

This bunny has been living in our yard all summer (and enjoying our vegetables). I think it prefers our yard over others because we're the only one around without a dog.

It's cricket season again. 

I repotted our fig tree this summer and it has rewarded us with five figs. The previous record before was one.

All of the vinca around the caladiums were volunteers. That makes me happy.

This cabbage moth took some time away from eating our brussel sprouts to visit this cosmos.

We have several swallowtail butterfly caterpillars feasting on our carrots. 

The yellow cosmos have done very well this year, but not one of the pink ones has bloomed.

Depending on the internet situation, I may report in next week from our vacation.

Until next time...

Pears

"There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat." Ralph Waldo Emerson

We have two pear trees in our yard and harvesting and processing pears is a new experience for us. We're learning about them as we go along.  We have learned that pears (European, that is, not Asian) should not ripen on the tree. They ripen from the inside out and by the time they start to give a little on the outside, they might be bad in the middle. So knowing when to pick, how much to let them ripen on the counter, all the while watching for growing bad spots is still somewhat baffling to us. However, as luck would have it, we have a good crop this year to experiment with. Below are some of our endeavors.

The trees have been limbed up over the years for easy mowing under them, so there are very few pears we can pick standing on ground. We've been using ladders and an apple picker, but there are still many we can't reach.

We have been picking from the tree or from the ground every couple of days and then bring the pears inside to ripen some more. 

We have been cooking some to make pearsauce.

Some of which we've shared, some we have eaten, some we have frozen...

and some of the sauce we have made into pearbutter. I did this in the crock pot which was much easier than the long hours of stirring over a stove when I was younger.

Some of the pears were dehydrated into sweet snacks.

and some were baked into a pie

And a pear-blueberry crisp.

We aren't the only ones enjoying the pears. The bees, flies, deer and squirrel are feasting daily on them.

Tomorrow, I think I'll make another batch of pearsauce. That seems to be the favorite so far.

Logical Thinking

 As you may have noticed here, I generally try to be positive and avoid controversial topics, but I just want to address what has been bothering me lately.

There are a lot of very vocal (and physical) disagreements going on in this country right now on some very important issues. Understandably, many people are intensely passionate about them, but that means they are thinking emotionally instead of logically. And this kind of thinking is the nemesis of a productive discussion.

I understand that people feel strongly about some issues for good reasons and most people are not disagreeing to just disagree. However, I have what I think are valid questions that I would like to explore on some issues, but hesitate to bring them up for fear of being attacked. How am I supposed to understand things if I can't even ask the questions? How can I learn why someone is so passionate about an issue if they won't let me talk about it unless I am in total agreement? And how will anyone understand my point of view if my words cause them to react immediately in an emotional way so they don't really hear what I'm saying?

Passion is a way for a movement to get started. But working only with passion that is not followed up with some logical and rational thinking will not work. Too many people will be alienated on both sides to come to any understanding. 

Hopefully, the pendulum will start swinging back to the middle soon and we can have real discussions on what really matters to people in a productive way. Until then, God help us.

Good Stuff

Here's some good stuff we're enjoying around our house these days.

The surprise lilies are blooming. Always a welcome sight in August when the heat has gotten to many of the other flowers.

We successfully grew brussel sprouts from some plants found in the middle of the road. 

 

Theo roasted them with a little oil and Parmesean cheese and they were delicious.

However, we haven't been as successful with our tomatoes this year. Between the deer and the stink bugs, we have only gotten one. Luckily, Uncle Billy's are doing well and he has shared his bounty.

We've been eating them a lot of different ways including in this yellow squash and tomato casserole.  The squash came from our garden. 

We have a large crop of pears this year.  We're relatively new at harvesting pears and we're still learning the best way to do that. However, so far we have enjoyed some to eat and made pear sauce. I may make a pear and blueberry pie tomorrow.

I refinished the top of a stand I got from my parents house. It has been in the family as long as I can remember and was very well used--meaning the top was in pretty bad shape. I forgot to take a before picture, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. 

Ward got a new replacement for his favorite backpacking tent that had developed a leak.  He mailed it back to the company for a repair that he expected to pay for, but they replaced the whole tent with no charge. He hopes to get another 10 years use out this one.