The Bees Have a Good View

On Sunday I decided that Tessie and I should drive over to Hawksbill Hop Yards and scout for progress on the bines.  While it's early in the season - May 14 is the frost free date in the Valley - I wanted to see how things were going.  And since the dog was along, we took a walk out into the other fields at Public House Produce once the scouting trip was over.


Just across the little drainage from the hop yards is an "idle" field - at least it appears that way.  But at the produce farm this field has two key purposes - one, it's a key forage area for the bees that will be busy pollinating the crops later in the season, and two, it's a food patch that serves to keep some of the deer at bay from the other crops.

With the proliferation of the varmints, you could argue whether or not it's a success in that second role, but as far as the first goes, I think the bees are happy.


David has a cover crop in right now that will serve to nourish the bees in the early going.  As Tessie and I walked along I noticed the incredible view of Stonyman Mountain in Shenandoah National Park just over there in the distance, so I had to stop for a moment to admire it.


Then as we turned to walk back to the hops, I went to have a look at the apiary.  It was too cold for much activity in the hives, so I was able to get close.  I had to cajole Tess a bit to keep her away from the electric fence, fortunately this was a listening day for her and she didn't get a "life lesson."

But that could happen some day - I wouldn't bet against it.

Sunday Greenway

By Sunday morning at Hawksbill Cabin, the little border collie can barely contain herself, she wants to get out for a walk and adventure so badly.  So, blessed with a sunny winter morning, she and I decided to take in Luray's Hawksbill Greenway - and better yet, since we had time to spare between errands, we took in the whole 3.5 mile loop.

There are a couple of fun things about this.

First off, the Greenway is the place where Tessie and I first took a long walk and I let her off leash for a little romp.  In fact, it was very near the place with the bees and buttercups painting shown here in the photo.  We obviously go back often, it's such a great asset to the town.

Second, this year I am hoping to keep better track of walks like this.  I've started to track our daily walks and finding it very motivating - we only go about .80 miles and it takes about 20 minutes, but since I have been keeping an eye on it, I'm already trying to figure out how I might add that little bit more to round it out to a mile...and possibly how we might add to the route and make it 1.5 miles someday.

I'm using the Map My Walk app for tracking this activity right now.  We have an initiative at work with challenges, and I am thinking about signing up with a commitment to do 300 miles this year with the dog walks - a stretch would be to take it up to 500 miles; to do that I would add in some hikes in Shenandoah National Park.  That doesn't seem hard to imagine at all, so I'll see what I can do.  In the meantime, Sunday's walk is documented here.

The third and final fun thing about this walk? I stopped to take a look at some of the paintings that people have added along the way.  Luray already has a number of murals around town - some lovely, some whimsical.  The ones on the Greenway have a folk art quality to them because they are often done by scout troops, but I did like the butterfly on the cone flower because of how it reminded me of summer days that are still a long way off.

Soon enough our little walk was over, and we got back to business.  I had some work and errands to take care of...and I needed to make some time to relax on the brick terrace.

Tessie's "AT Section Hike" Adventure

Tessie is conditioned to think that anytime I pick up the car keys while we are at Hawksbill Cabin, she is going for a ride.  On weekend mornings she has a pretty good chance of being right - but at other times, it's just as likely I'm heading out there because I forgot my phone charger.

However, last Sunday morning she was right, and we went out for a walk of a mile or so on the Luray Hawksbill Greenway.  We got back after and hour or so and I went to work writing - that came easy to me, so I finished earlier than I expected.  I decided we might head up to Shenandoah National Park for a short hike.

 The parking lot at the trailhead I wanted to go on was full, with spillover traffic on the shoulders, so we passed on.  I settled for the Pinnacles picnic area instead, with the thought we might explore a stretch of the AT in the direction of Mary's Rock - no plan for how far we'd go, just a leg stretcher and to keep Tessie trained on how to walk on leash in those conditions.

Off we went, her leading the way - she is a border collie, after all.  There was an easy leg on this hike, about 3 tenths of a mile and negligible altitude changes, to Jewell Hollow overlook.  I decided we'd keep it short and I'd work with her coming up on the rocks there with me, and on walking carefully on brick walls.

We did take a little side trail for another tenth of a mile maybe.  All totaled, 8 tenths of a mile or so, and then negligible altitude change.  We did get to take in a wonderful view of Page Valley, with Lake Arrowhead in the foreground, and she had quite a few good sniffs along the AT.

One thing I've come to enjoy about stretches of the AT in the vicinity of Thornton Gap - that is the construction of the trails.  Although the main tread areas can be well worn, often the masonry has held up very well, considering some of it was laid down in the 1930's by the CCC.  You can see this along the right side of the trail in the photo above - nicely mitered edge to that border.

This was Tessie's fourth hike in Shenandoah National Park.  It's fun to think about this as an actual shakedown for a longer day hike with something that could seriously be called a section - say 10 miles or so.  I'll have to think about how we would provision it, and maybe we'll take something like that on in the fall.

Jones Run Falls - More Photos

In the post yesterday, I mentioned I had a couple of photos and such, taken with my new iPhone 5s, that I wanted to share.  Let me start off with a photo of Tessie and me, which Mary took of us down at the falls. Good times! 

Next, here's ten second video of Jones Run Falls.  At 42 feet, this is not the tallest in the park, but still it's pretty grand. This was my fourth hike down to it - I think it has become my favorite in the park.



Here is the first of a couple of panoramic shots I took, using that feature on the iPhone.  The first one is of one of the two falls you reach before you arrive at the main falls - there's a cave and some pretty interesting rock formations in this part of the gorge. Even though the waterfall here hugs that large boulder, there is plenty to take in at this spot.

The final shot here is a panoramic view of the main falls.  It shows how the falls plunges over a rock ledge through this part of the gorge, and the abstraction from the pano feature makes for an interesting perspective.

The Snowshoes

A while back, Chris, Tom, and I took a weekend trip out to Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia for a hike - there's a label for Dolly Sods on the blog, if you'd like to check that trip and hike out.  Later that year, Tom and his wife went back out for a visit during the snow, and they took a walk around the ski resort there using some snowshoes.

That seemed like a good idea to me, and after the Snowpocalypse winter we had (also a label on the blog, if you'd like to check it out) I got Mary and myself a set.  This weekend was the first time we'd had enough snow to break them out, so we took them over to Hawksbill Park in Stanley for a wintry walk with Tessie.

We probably should have know from the difficulty Tess was having getting around in the snow that conditions weren't optimal - the freeze thaw cycle caused some bridging, where there is a hard crust on top and soft snow underneath.  So with each step, you'd crunch through the hard layer down to the soft below, sinking in about a foot, and the snowshoe would catch on the lip as you made your next step.  It made for an awkward and unnatural motion, so we only stuck it out for a quarter mile or so - a nice loop around the little scout cabin, although we had thought we might adventure out onto the half mile nature trail if things went well.

Meanwhile, Tessie was having a great time on the family outing.  I think she got the most out of the weekend, with all the fun she had being with us and romping and exploring everything.

We decided that better conditions will be after a fresh snow, when everything is still powdery and the shoes sink into a soft footprint.  We'll look forward to doing that during some future snow storm.

Mary went out for another short walk in her pair around Beaver Run and back in our wood lot on Monday.  She took the dog with her - Tessie enjoyed every minute of being outside with us this weekend!

Super Sunday, Border Collie Style

We decided to stay in Alexandria for the weekend - next weekend is butchering day, so I will be out for three days.  Just seemed like a good reason to chill and not drive.

So Tessie got in the game by climbing up into the bed while we were downstairs.  She was very relaxed when Mary went back up to make the bed.

As I posted elsewhere:

Some border collies work for a living.
Some border collies just work it for a living.

Scenes from a Dog Walk

During some recent performance review conversations, a colleague and I were talking about the need to get out for exercise on a regular basis in order to take a break from work and recharge.  I mentioned that in the past I'd found that difficult, even though I knew it would be good for me.  Eventually, that was one of the reasons we adopted Tessie, because I remembered how much I had enjoyed taking walks with Gracie and Sofie in the old days.

By the time we started going to Hawksbill Cabin, those two were too old for the walks I take with Tessie now.  One of our favorites is a figure 8 route that winds around the nearby Hawksbill Recreation Park in Stanley, where there is a nature trail back in the woods and some open grounds.

I spied this river birch there along the banks of Little Hawksbill Creek last weekend, and then, since there was so much water coming down the creek, I stopped to make a short video of the scene:

Along the Greenway

Frequent readers know that Mary and I enjoy frequent walks along the Hawksbill Greenway in Luray.  It's just an excellent community resource that provides so many people with a recreational outlet.  One of our favorite things is to take Tessie for a Sunday morning walk out there.

A few weeks back, around the time of those big rains, I took Tessie out for a walk, only to find that the little pedestrian bridge was closed, with some of the lateral railings down.  There is a walkway like this in the Potomac Gorge around Great Falls that is constructed with similar rails, designed so that it can be taken down quickly to protect it from seasonal flooding.  When I saw the closure on the Greenway, I thought, "Well, that's why they put this kind of bridge here - when the creek is up they can protect the bridge."

Flash forward a few weeks, and there is a front page story in the local paper about vandalism to the Greenway.  It turns out that some one vandalized the bridge, twisting the gates out and tossing them in the stream.  There were other impacts too.

While the paper mentioned an investigation that was still ongoing at the time, I got the impression that the vandals were mischievous youths - the final results haven't been published in the news yet.  However, what is known is that the damage cost about $7,000 to repair...the good news is that the bridge is reopened, as shown in the second photo.

Mary, Tessie and I took our walk last Sunday and were happy to see it.

The Pumpkin Patch - 2013 ed.

There's a pumpkin patch every year up at Valley Star Farm - they're a Page County Grown member, which is great, but I love to go by there and check out all the varieties of pumpkins for sale.

Brett and Tessie in the pumpkin patch.

When we're lucky enough to have visitors with us during the fall, we'll take them to it.  This year, my nephew Brett was up for a visit so we went by there to check things out.  Brett went with us a few years ago too, so a repeat visit for him.

We didn't check out the corn maze this year, just a few snaps of everything.  They had the pesky goats again this year, and Mary bought a bunch of decorative gourds for the annual fall tableau - there'll be a future post.

Lots of varieties, including those banana squash.

Speaking of Page County Grown, there's a bike ride this weekend that honors it:  the Page County Century. The course is designed to ride by the farms - there is a quarter-century, half-century, and century ride.  Don't misunderestimate the distances - that translates to 25, 50 and 100 miles, respectively.

It's the first year for this one and I hope it comes off great - I'll be volunteering, but don't know my role yet.

South River Falls: An Easy SNP Day Hike

Seems like I haven’t been up in the Shenandoah National Park much this year, so on Sunday I decided to take Tessie and head up for a little hike.  I hoped it would turn out better than the last one – we got rained on, and she had the most pitiful look ever in the car after.  We took a little drive to Elkton and took the short drive north to the South River Falls trailhead.

Heatwole describes this hike as 2.6 miles roundtrip, total climb of 850 feet, and about 2:15 in duration – that’s all pretty accurate in my book.  The hike qualifies as a moderately easy one by his rating, and by mine, because I like to see 5.0 miles and 500 feet before I consider a hike moderate. 

Along with not getting to the park as much this year, my exercise has tapered off too.  Where I used to walk Tessie a mile a day and then added 1.5 miles of walking back and forth to the subway, I’m down to the dog walk and maybe ½ mile of walking back and forth to a shopping center for lunch.  With the entire climb facing us on the return trip to the car, both the dog and I suffered on the second half of this one.

We took in some nice forest views on the way down, and I made a video of Tessie as she experienced crossing a stream that was hidden away under some rocks.  I’ll upload that at another time.  The outward leg of the hike ended at the little overlook with a view of the falls.

While Tessie and I took a break there, I was remembering that Chris and I did an extended version of this hike a few times when we were preparing for the Half Dome hike in 2005.  That route goes all the way to the base of the falls, and Heatwole has it as 4.7 miles with a climb of about 1,315 feet – so it still wouldn’t qualify as moderate by the standards I use today, but it was an effective early hike for us as we undertook the preparations for Half Dome.

I think the dog had a good time, despite our struggles on the return, and the time outside certainly inspired me to want to get back to the park more often this year.  I even bought a new annual pass, good until next September!

Tessie Gets a Job

Unusual focus.  Or maybe not...Mary was making noises in the kitchen.
Here's a link to the rescue organization Tessie was at:
http://www.arcbcr.org/

On our first check in with the vet, the tech said, "Tessie would be a great pet therapy dog."  We recently passed the two year anniversary of adopting her - Mary's had that vet tech's words in the back of her mind ever since.  On Sunday, Mary and Tessie finished their evaluations, and they are now able to participate freely in pet therapy visits throughout the DC area.

(Editor's Note:  Mary added some information after reading the first version of this post.  Her entire message follows:  Saw the coverage of Tessie's new career on your blog.  You should add the name of the organization: People. Animals. Love (PAL).  It's located on Capitol Hill and the Web site is http://www.peopleanimalslove.org/  ...Technically, Tessie will be a therapy assistance dog, meaning she visits and offers companionship rather than participating in a program of therapy that has goals to meet and measure.  She just has to be her sweet self.  PAL has relationships with a number of locations, mostly retirement homes, senior centers, and rehabilitation centers.  She can also visit libraries and have kids read to her.  I might try that one next.)

I can't fully express how proud I am of the two of them.  The dog has been a real treat, certainly - but Mary saw this opportunity for service and has been persistent in tracking down the hows and whens, and finally over the last month, managed to get the evals over with during a visit to the Armed Forces Retirement Home in DC (link below).

Tess is a border collie - you can check out that breed at Wikipedia and see all about the intensity and focus they regularly exhibit, which makes them excellent working dogs.  On the other hand, this one's a little different...180 degrees removed from Gracie, the border collie we had for a long time before losing her in 2009.  Where Gracie wanted to run and fetch every waking moment, Tess would just as soon hang close and keep you company.

It's exhausting work, being a pet therapy dog.

That's the trait the vet tech picked up on, and I suppose it is a real talent.

Mary embraced the idea and tracked down the organization that manages this process, and followed up on the appointments and evaluations that were necessary.

I know Tessie is a natural at it.  And I really appreciate how dedicated Mary has been in finding this new opportunity for service in the community.

Here's the link to the Armed Forces home they visited on Sunday:
https://www.afrh.gov/afrh/wash/whistory.htm

Who Rescued Whom

Hanging out on the deck in Alexandria, while I
grilled some pork.

Here she is the morning after coming home with us -
we'd just seen some deer in the yard.

The vineyard collie - at Wisteria for last year's harvest.

This week is our second anniversary of adopting Tess the border collie.  She was about two years old when we got her, and during our two years together she’s been a good companion and a lot of fun.  I thought I might do a little show and tell this morning with some photos of our good times together.

This one's from last weekend in the snow.

After a walk in the park last summer - she'd stuck her
nose in some hitchhiker seeds.

When we started looking to rescue a dog, we worked with three organizations, and we were matched up with a new companion at Atlantic Region Central Border Collie Rescue.  Here are the three we worked with – I definitely recommend any of the three, although check to be sure there isn’t one closer to where you live if you are looking for a new dog just now. 

http://www.arcbcr.org/ - Atlantic Region Central Border Collie Rescue

http://www.brbcr.org/ - Blue Ridge Border Collie Rescue

http://glenhighlandfarm.com/ - an independent border collie rescue organization in New York

After a hike on a rainy day in Shenandoah
National Park.

We’re happy Tess is with us and we’re looking forward to many more years.

A Snowy Walk in the Woods

On Sunday, Tessie and I awoke to a crisp, clear winter’s morning at Hawksbill Cabin.  All day Saturday the sky was gray and spitting snow flurries, but there was no hint that we’d find such a pretty dusting of snow when day broke. 

We got up and did the normal routine – a short walk around the back and into the wood lot, then down the drive to the stream and around the bend to the neighbor’s house.  I snapped the photo here from the road, unable to resist the golden light that was just rising above Skyline Drive. 

After breakfast, one of us was still feeling her oats and she talked me into a walk in the snowy woods over at Hawksbill Recreation Park.  Here’s a shot of Tessie running to catch up with me along the pathway.

Short and sweet today, I wanted to be sure I got these photos onto the blog!

The Working Breed

Tess and I went out to Hawksbill Cabin last weekend.  I thought it would be a good getaway, since we have the new kitten and it has been pestering her.

We had a good time, like when we saw the deer in Hawksbill Recreation Park on our walk Saturday night...check out that form, and "the eye" ... it's just naturally triggered when she sees a ruminant.

Or like when we were lounging in the sun on the brick terrace Sunday afternoon...

Scenes from the Vineyard

I still have a few more photos that I took at Wisteria that I want to share, so I'll put them up today as a wrap for now on my posts about the harvest.

Mary and I have frequently vacationed in Northern California, and that often meant trips with good friends to the vineyards in Napa, Sonoma, or even the Anderson Valley.  But I never expected that someday we'd find we were lucky enough to settle in so close to one, as we have with Wisteria.  It's just a special place, and we appreciate Sue and Moussa's hospitality so much.

Between some of the harvest and grape pressing tasks, there were some opportunities to take a walk around the farm and check things out - Tessie was getting her share of attention from our fellow travelers there, and that is her primary form of exercise, but she really had some fun adventuring around the farm as well.

So we walked out the little road into the vines.  The fencing and some of the trellising comes from old cedars that were found on the property.  Here and there you'll find something that reminds you of Moussa's family vineyard in Lebanon.  But mainly what you'll find is that the everyday worries and cares have dropped away.

During the harvest it was pretty hot and humid - and part of the tasks involved moving stuff in and out of the wine cellar, which is kept pretty constantly cool. I took a few minutes break in there on Sunday morning and checked out winemaking in progress.

Here are some carafes of chardonnay standing by to be bottled or blended into a white, and here's a photo of one of the oak casks that already has a long history of vintages.  I'll find out next time I'm over how many vintages they think they'll get out of a cask like this - the fact that it is oak means it's durable, and I'd think you could get some more mileage out of it, even though this one is well used.

At the end of the day, it could always be recycled into a whiskey casks for a few batches.  And then...a flower pot, I guess.

So that's a wrap on the harvest post.  I may revisit the topic later this month - we did look on as they used their manual grape press for the Chardonnay and Seyval harvest, so I have the potential for one more post on the topic.

Hawksbill Greenway, A Ritual

After a pause to reflect yesterday, I'll return to the subject of the ritual Tessie and I enjoy on weekend mornings, walking along the Hawksbill Greenway in Luray.

Here's a photo of the old swimming hole - reader Posumcop and I have had some exchanges about this little pool in the Creek near the railroad overpass.  On most summer afternoons you'll see kids down there swimming and horsing around, but when the dog and I come strolling by, it's usually pretty quiet, as in this photo.

Luray has a tradition of having murals around town. There are some rules that they go by, generally so that nothing is too much of an advertisement.

This is a new one going up on the exterior wall of a sawmill that is along the Creek here.  The mountains are the Blue Ridge section that runs from Mary's Rock on the left to Hawksbill Mountain on the right - Luray's Skyline, so to speak.  The other items in the photo, becoming clearer day by day, are references to the tradition of sawmills in the Valley.  I'm looking forward to seeing the finished mural.

The Greenway is a pathway that follows the Creek through town for nearly two miles.  You can get a nice walk in there, nearly four miles if you do the whole thing.  Tess and I usually take in about two miles of it, though, on these weekend walks.

Adventure Dog: Not Exactly

A few weekends ago, I thought I might take Tessie on a hike with me up in Shenandoah.  I chose a simple route, Turk Mountain, in the south district, with a warm-up stop at Calf Mountain on the way, where I could evaluate how she would do on the trails.

She had a great time, but eventually we got caught in a spring rain.  The photo above is after we got back the the car at the Turk Mountain trail (2.2 miles, about 480 feet of elevation gain).  She was soaked, and I think a little tired, so unhappy.

But I think she's ready to go again at anytime.  The other picture here is of her during a break on Calf Mountain.  There's a fire road up there and I took her off leash for about a quarter mile.

She found some rabbits.  Don't let the unhappy dog look fool you - there was plenty of canine happiness.

Tessie's Rescue Anniversary

Mary reminded me yesterday that it was one year ago today that we drove down to the Richmond area and adopted Tessie from Atlantic Region Central Border Collie Rescue.  Here's a link to their organization:
http://www.arcbcr.org/index.html

It's hard to believe our pack has been together a year already.  She's a great dog, a hug bag.  Having had a border collie before, Tessie is proof that even though the genetic material is pretty much the same, what you end up with can vary widely.

Readers of the blog know that Mary and I were blessed to have two long-lived companions before in Gracie and Sofie.  Gracie was a border collie also, but driven by the natural instinct of the breed,  so that she was always there with a ball to play fetch.  And Sofie, our loving chow mix - she was motivated by pure canine-ness, very protective and watchful, but very much a companion dog.

It's funny to think how Tessie has personality traits that combine both of these - but in a way that make her her own dog.

I went outside yesterday in the morning, having let Tessie out into the backyard first thing.  When I got to where I could see, I saw the dog grab a stick and toss it into the air...that's new behavior.  Tessie is finally coming into her own, settling in with us, so that now she's inventing games.  It's a heartwarming thought.

If you're thinking of getting a dog, we encourage you to think rescue first.  There are plenty of breed specific organizations like ARCBCR; there are others like Lost Dog and Cat Rescue (http://lostdogrescue.org/); or maybe best of all, you can find a good, worthy dog at your local shelter.

The Protest

Well, the puppy, Tessie is doing well (there is a photo of her from this weekend below).  Next month we’ll pass the one year anniversary of her adoption.  We figure she’s about three, as the rescue organization wasn’t sure, and told us that she was between two and four years old.

A few months ago, I went to the vet with her for some booster shots.  She’d put on about three pounds since we got her, and the vet was a little worried about the weight gain.  We left with some dietary recommendations, and a few days later they even called me back with some suggestions about serving sizes for that Taste of the Wild dog food she loves so well.

Along with that were suggestions like, “add some hot water to it for gravy, it will make her feel fuller,” and, “get some canned green beans to mix in, dogs like them.”  I dutifully recorded all of this info to memory.

Last week, it had been a few weeks since I’d been to a Tractor Supply, and we finally ran out of canned food.  Luckily, there was only a one day gap to this oversight.  So in order to stretch the dry food by making it interesting for just one meal, I microwaved two carrots (she’ll eat them if she sees us eating them) in a cup of hot water and added that to the normal dry food ration.

Well, the hot water went over well, as you can see from the sparkling clean bowl.

The carrots? Not so much.

Fall Romp

When the underbrush finally dies off down the hill at Beaver Run, we take the opportunity to go and explore the little stream as soon as we can.  We got to do that this weekend.

Early in the morning I took Tessie down there with me.  Beside the general stimulation of being outside in the woods, she caught wind of many of her favorite critters.  The hollow that surrounds the stream is a deer migration route through the area.

In fact, the environment was such an inspiration for her that she took off on one of those puppy runs - here's a photo of the third pass.  She kept up the full gallop for three passes, maybe 200 yards all totaled; there were three or four new fallen trees, and she vaulted all of those.

We had a good time!