Yes We Will

Something big is happening today and I don't think there's anyone not feeling the energy. You have to admit that there is a charge in the air - that everyone has something to look forward to, today - when our government will go through a peaceful transition.

The papers are full of stories today on what's ahead, on the historic nature of this dawning presidency. Here on the morning of the big day, something we've been looking forward to for eight years, a couple of perspective induced thoughts come to mind.

While we didn't agree with him then, and we never came around to any sort of agreement with outgoing President Bush's perspective, views or direction, he came to office with no less an enthusiastic group of supporters. And they set out to do what they thought were great things - a promise and optimism that was quickly squandered and then lost when it became clear this wasn't a vision that included everyone, only a powerful few.

Change we can believe in became the theme, echoed in 2004 and then again in 2006, and now, finally, creating the change will absorb the bulk of not just President Obama's energy - but the energy of the entire country, and it will be a long road ahead.

We heard the call to action this week, the call to service. Each of us has to make a contribution in the days ahead. What is the best way to have an impact? What is the best way to make that contribution?

One thing is for certain, this is a journey with many steps. The most important one is this first one, the one we take today, when President Obama is inaugurated.

(The poster pictured is Shepard Fairey's great work, which became the iconic image of the Obama campaign).

Inauguration Traffic - Update from Alexandria

It's America's big celebration of democracy, and the peaceful transition of government. But if yesterday is any example for what's to come, folks planning to attend the celebrations at the Mall tomorrow should be prepared for some challenging logistics. There is a link to a WaPo pdf map of the mall at the end of this post.

We went into Old Town Alexandria yesterday, a short trip for us that takes us by the King Street Metro station, which offers a direct trip into DC via the Blue or Yellow lines (they will both be re-routed tomorrow, a standard practice for big Mall events).

In every direction, for six blocks around the station, all of the street parking was taken. Fortunately as residents we know some secret back street locations to park and had no problem, however, I'd expect the parking challenge to be worse tomorrow.

Once you are on the train, from King Street you progress through Crystal and Pentagon City stations - both areas are rich with tourist and business hotels, so already crowded trains will be delayed and only get more crowded.

Finally, at the destination, there will be all the walking and check points - not to be underestimated, the distance from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol is 2 miles. So this note is not to discourage attendance, but to let everyone know to be prepared.

A few more random notes. A big news story going around is about the lack of sanitary facilities - they are saying that only about half of the number of port-a-potties for the estimated crowd size will be available. Also, we heard that yesterday there were more police in DC than there are soldiers in Afghanistan.

Here is a link to a pdf on WashingtonPost.com - a map of the Mall.
http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/inaugcentral/maps/parade.pdf

9-1-1 Bob on the AT

This weekend a friend of mine, let's give him a trail name of "9-1-1 Bob," checked out the blog. He sent an email after he read the post about the Awol on the Appalachian Trail book.


Bob was stationed with me in Berlin in the '80's, and like me he was a Russian Linguist. While our time in the USAF pretty much overlapped, he'd had a great tour in Crete before his arrival in Berlin. He now lives in Pensacola (I fondly remember a visit there where we went to a Greek diner and enjoyed incredible seafood). After reading the post, 9-1-1 Bob told me a story about an encounter with the AT back in the '70's.


Here's his story:


"...glanced atcher blog this morning. saw the bit about the app trail. in 1973 a buddy and i hitchhiked to the start in georgia and hiked it for a little more than a week. extremely nice."


I followed up, asking about the Georgia start, which I've heard is tough because you get into some difficult country right away.


"...the terrain wasn't too tuff, of course i was about 19 also. we ate different berries and puff ball mushrooms with our freeze dried food and drank out of springs w/out purification tabs.i remember we met a fella on the trail day hiking. for retirement his kids bought him a VW camper van. he was out on the trail with a canteen, knife, and camera. we went to his van for a shot of whiskey and a pack of real cigs (my buddy and i were rolling bugler or some such crap). i remember thinking that guy had it made. we stopped at a small rocky bluff at a stream to laundry and there were some city punks there. freaked em out: i'd raise my hand and extend a finger and butterflies would alight.we ran into a boy scout group one eve and they insisted we save our food and join them for dinner. even the people we caught rides with on the hitch back in that part of the world were extremely nice. young folks, old folks, just nice mountain folk. keep in mind we were both very longhaired college types at the time.i'm to the point that my idea of camping is the holiday inn, HBO, room service, and a heated pool.the pics of yer place and that whole area look quite nice and calming."

In the final exchange, I asked him if he'd made it out of Georgia.

"...we didn't. we weren't seasoned vets, but we didn't lollygag. then again, we had no agenda to be at such and such point by whatever date. one of the best times of my life.

"...i'm gonna check out that book, but i'm into about 6 right now so it will be a bit."

The original Awol on the Appalachian Trail post is here, and there is a link to the book on Amazon if other readers are interested: http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2009/01/book-review-awol-on-appalachian-trail.html

Facebook Experience

We're working through the process of getting the blog put up on Facebook - if you are a member there, check us out.

So far, it's been a great experience checking in there. I've reconnected with several past communities, and looking forward to running into other friends there.

I've posted about it before, but in particular the veterans' group of folks who were stationed with me in Berlin are as close to a fraternity as you can get. Many of them are on the Facebook network. This Thursday we had a virtual reunion - back in the old days, our NCO club, "Silverwings," had Rock 'n' Roll night on Thursdays.

I thought we might try something interesting and announced the return of this event. There were some challenges for all of us learning how to use the various features (I think that is a process we will be going through for some time). But by the end of the evening, we'd had 8 or so of the group check in, post some YouTube videos, tell the same old jokes, and chat. A good time, only the 85-cent heinekens were missing!

On another note, I've added the blog to the Amazon Associates program. So from time to time a "badge" will be included in the blog post, usually related to books, music or films. As with the Google Adsense ads in the right column, any revenues associated with either of these programs will be donated to animal rescue charities, such as the Page County Shelter, Lost Dogs, ASPCA, other others.

Luray's Hawksbill Greenway

The Hawksbill Greenway was one of Luray's first charms we noticed on our visit to Spring Fest in 2007. This park stretches almost 2 miles through town, following the Hawksbill Creek, providing both a riparian buffer zone and a community recreational resource.

Completed in four phases over 7 years, at a cost of about $1.4 million (according to a Page News and Courier article by Benjamin Weathers on November 13, 2008), Mary and I took a walk last weekend to look at the newest, fourth phase. These photos are some of the highlights of this .25 mile stretch.



This portion of the Greenway joins where the last phase leftoff, crosses under the railway bridge and US 340 Business, then crosses the creek on a footbridge before ending near an old mill race almost at the edge of town.

There are only a few 90 degree turns in the trail, owing to its path following the creek, but those spots are typically widened out and feature resting points or other items of interest, like this millstone near the foot bridge.

Almost every time we pass the trail, we've been impressed with the number of people out taking a walk. During the holidays, we often saw family groups of 10 taking in some fresh air. Lots of dog walkers and bicycing use the trail.

The PNC article quotes a couple of Luray residents:

Hank Overton, who said, "...a place where you can meet your neighbors."
Susan Kline said, "{the greenway} is the reason my husband and I bought bicycles."
Finally, Priti Lal said, "It has only improved everyone's lives. This good for us." The paper noted that Lal was walking her dog during the interview.

It's a charming feature, and we're looking forward to using it more in 2009.

Thoughts on ... Canine Renal Disease

I hesitate to write this post - while the blog is meant to journalize experiences, and is certainly personal, once I make this entry I'll have started down a path revisiting this topic until a final post sometime.

(May 2009 update: Gracie is still with us and doing well. If you are finding this post from a search engine, click the "canine renal" label below for follow-up posts. My wife has put together a series of posts on our experience dealing with the disease, and they are in the process of being published - clicking the label will take you to them.)

(August 2009 update: Gracie is still with us. We are managing the canine renal failure, which requires quite a bit of prescription medicine, careful attention to diet, and plenty of vet care. Knowing that she has this condition keeps us attentive to subtle changes. It can be expensive; we're very lucky to have the resources to manage this. If you click the "canine renal" label below, you'll be able to resource a good 15 to 20 posts on the topic.)

(September 2009 update: We had to put our beloved Gracie to sleep on September 7. Given time, we'll add a few more, backdated posts about our final few visits to the vet, and the care we were giving her at the time. She was a real trooper through it all. We were very lucky to have had so much time with her, and we all - Mary, me, and Sofie Dawg, miss Gracie very much.)

This week we learned that Gracie is very likely in chronic renal failure, which means her kidneys aren't clearing all the toxins from her body. She has progressed from a mild stage of the disease which was diagnosed last Fall. About three weeks ago, she started boycotting her food, and we thought, okay - she really doesn't like the food (a special diet we had been treating the early stage with), and the battle to try and get her to eat it isn't worth it.

So we went to the vet for alternatives. In the meantime they tested her again - she lost 5 pounds over the last month and although she was always pushing it on being just a tad overweight and this brings her in line with typical border collie weights - it was an abrupt loss and concerned us.

We found another version of the food (wet - of course - the previous one was dry), and the vet confirmed that her condition had progressed in a positive direction yesterday. This dog is still a nut, driven like the border collie she is, constantly trying to tempt us with her toys, as always. She even tried to convince a Page County Deputy to play football with her over the weekend!

But the simple matter is she is 14 and her body is starting to wear out. Stage 2 renal failure is the final stage, and the vet tells us it could be weeks (! given the spirits she is in this is hard to believe) but it could be months. In any case, the news was that it is likely that we'll lose her this year.

She's been with us a long time and we've been blessed to have her by us over the years - she's been really special to us the whole way. And meanwhile, Sofie the Chow Mix still amazes everyone, thanks to her hybrid vigor!

Hiking Prospects for the Winter

With all these posts on outside activities the last few days, readers may have wondered what I was coming around to...while nobody has told me they put more hiking down on their 2009 resolutions list, a couple of hiking compadres have mentioned they'd be interested in doing a few hikes this year.

So I've been thinking, and in my reading (Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine, specifically) I came across this two-day hike in the GW National Forest (excerpting from the description here):

The Massanutten Trail

Two-day hike: a 19-mile mini-loop that combines pieces of the Massanutten Trail with the Tuscarora Trail for a two-day highlight reel of the area.

Day One: Park at Signal Knob and head north on the orange-blazed trail, where you’ll climb to the Buzzard Rock overlook. After that, two miles of ridgeline hiking leads to views from Signal Knob, from which you can see Great North Mountain on the WV border. Signal Knob is 2,100 feet, the high point of this trek. Descent past the junction of the Tuscarora Trail into a small creek valley. For campers, look in the meadow near the creek. 8.5 miles.

Day Two: Follow the Massanutten Trail for a mile, intersecting again with the Tuscarora Trail. Take a right following blue blazes to the ridge to Three Top Mountain. Hiking 3.5 miles on the ridgeline via bolders and scrambles – with views of the Valley along the way. Continue following the blue blazes past another intersection, 5.5 miles to the day one parking area. 10 miles.

I'm going to check Hiking Upward and other resources on this route. We'll probably base out of the cabin for it, since we are so close to the route, and use car shuttling so we don't have to camp.

The route is outlined as a winter hike, but we are more likely to do this in March - may be slightly overlapping into the spring.

From the Outside Blog - best adventure sites

In a recent post on the Outside magazine blog, they reviewed the 100 best adventure web sites. I was curious – when I check out Backcountry.com and others, there is a strong west-of-the-Mississippi flavor, and while it’s beautiful country out there, we have boastful charm here in the mid-Atlantic as well.

So much for my own prejudices. This Outside post (link to the blog below) is organized by sections – travel, sports, adventure and environment, health, gear, weather, maps, widgets and friends, and phones – and is a one-stop review of a host of web-sites, rather than some adventure travel rating site.

I found the environment section pretty interesting, with citations of eco-news and commentary, sustainable business, and enviro-culture sites. These included grist.org, greenbiz.com, and thedailygreen.com. The inclusion of newwest.net does make the reference to the Rocky Mountain West, but including it among the others rounds out and softens the tendency to emphasize west over east.

The nutrition section has some pluses, too – eatwellguide.com has local sustainable food vendors by zip code (unfortunately HBBlogs own abowlofgood.com wasn't there - hopefully they'll keep up the good work and make it on this list someday!), and of course there is a link to livestrong.com (Lance is on the cover of the hardcopy magazine this month).

A final highlight for me are two sites I am going to take some time and explore further – breadcrumbz, a site that allows you to log a picture and gps route, and peakbaggers, which is a journal about summiting (I’ll start with Hawksbill and Stoneyman, of course, but I also did the Half Dome a few years ago…who knows, I may do Shasta or Washington someday!).

Here is a link to the Outside post: http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200902/outside-guide-to-adventure-web-sites.html

Book Review: Awol on the Appalachian Trail

Lately I’ve turned to a few outdoor adventure stories, and this is the second I’ve recently read (a few weeks back I read "Into the Wild" and I recently read Bryson's "Walk in the Woods"). Like "Into the Wild," I picked this up at Evergreen Outfitters in Luray.

Thinking back on the experience of preparing for some longer day hikes I was especially curious about the motivation for a thru-hike, so I picked up Miller’s well-written book – it’s one of quite a few books and web journals out there but I’d rate it the best I’ve read on this topic so far.

He does a great job of describing the trail experience – the people he meets and the natural world the trail moves through; for example, how a community naturally forms around the annual class of thru-hikers as they make their way north or south, how one is always fairly close to civilization (they call it the “outside world” while they are on the trail) yet far enough away so that there could be real trouble with even a slight injury or other accident.

The jacket blurb says it is a book about “liberation, motivation, and perseverance;” that comes through in the telling. The book may help those thinking about taking on an AT thru-hike to make a decision about doing it. But, it was enough for me to read the story to know that section hiking is the way I’ll go…for now.

Keep your refridgerator happy

Mary and I host an annual New Year's Open House, and this year was no exception. One of my perennial problems with the festivities is how much beer to buy...will people feel like having one "the day after" - what kind should I get - how much lite beer should there be - etc.

As an example of the problem, last year I bought four cases, including a 12-pack of Amstel Light. That was clearly too much, as I had beer until May (except for the Amstel Light - I finally poured it out - all 12 bottles - in November).

So this year, I adapted two guiding principles - first, I would buy three cases and suffer with the leftovers, if any; and second, I would only buy beer I'd drink.

So, we had Bitburger, Stella, Warsteiner Dunkles, Sam Adams Winter Lager, Dominion Lager, and a few others. No light beers. One of my neighbors commented on the stock out in the back yard - I stored it on the deck during the party, as the temps were in the 30's - "you're a rich man when it comes to beer!"

To this, generous visitors added a growler of IPA, a mixed six of homebrew "Recession Ale" and lambric, and a six of Shiner Bock.

I gave my neighbor a mixed-six of the leftovers. He gave me back two Leinies he'd brought back from Wisconsin. I still have a case and a half in there, as the photos will attest.

What's the point of the blog entry today, you ask?

The way I see it, you have to understand and embrace your neighborly responsibilities. When they recognize you as a leader, you have to respond and you have to deliver. Or the next thing you know, they are parking their car in space in front of your house. That won't happen to me.

He's an Alpine Mountaineer

My friend Dave is an alpine mountaineer. He is the only person I know who actually lists this as his avocation on his LinkedIn profile. I’ve known him a few years – he’s my friend Felice’s fiancé.

Yesterday, checking my Facebook page, Felice was on line. After catching up on the holidays, she told me Dave was in Antarctica. “What’s he doing there?” I asked. Her answer: “Climbing Mt. Vinson, the highest peak on the continent.”

Here’s the story of Mt. Vinson, from the website http://www.7summits.com/:
“Vinson Massif, at 78°35'S, 85°25'W is 21km (13 miles) long and 13km (8 miles) wide. It lies on the southern part of the main ridge of the Sentinel Range. Named for Carl G Vinson, a Georgia congressman and a major force in 20th century US Antarctic exploration, it was first climbed in December 1966 by a combined group from the American Alpine Club and the National Science Foundation.

Four members of the joint expedition led by Nicholas B. Clinch made the first ascent of the mountain on 17 December 1966. During the next days the team continued climbing in the local area adding Mount Tyree (4845m/15,892ft), Mount Shinn (4801m/15,747ft) and Mount Gardner (4686m/15,370ft).”

At 4897m/16,067ft) Vinson is taller than these three, making it the tallest peak on Antarctica. Dave’s goal is to climb the “7 Summits” – the tallest peaks on each of the seven continents. He’s been working on this goal for two or three years, and with Vinson will have completed four of the seven. The other three he's done are Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mt. Elbrus (Europe), and Denali - also known as Mt. McKinley (North America).

Despite the training and preparation that these and the remaining two ascents, Carstenz Pyramid (Australia) and Aconcagua (South America), will provide, the preparation for Everest (Asia) will involve additional work and training. It’s dangerous, you have to master specialized equipment including oxygen apparatus, and you have to be able to help with rescues and first aid in your expedition.

Dave’s pursuit gives a new meaning to adventure travel. Hawksbill (4049 ft) and Stony Man (4010 ft) pale in comparison to these, but that’s what we’ve got in the Valley. Just think of it though, our two mountains could be the early stepping stones for someone achieving this great feat!

On the Way to Clementines: The Shops at Mauzy

During one of our weekends last month we decided to make the trek down to H-burg for lunch at Clementines. We'd heard a lot about the place through 81 Monthly, the HBBlogs site, and our neighbors. While we didn't catch a show, we enjoyed lunch, and found a lot of things on the menu we'd like to try sometime - not to mention we'd like to visit the neighboring institutions too.

We drove via New Market to US 11 and made a stop at this rustic set of shops in "Mauzy." Apparently, the main building was built as a stage coach stop. It's heritage as an inn is easy to make out, and it has a number of associated outbuildings as well. The first photos are of the inn and the general store.

There doesn't seem to be any historic certification or protection in effect with the buildings, and to a large extent their exteriors seem to be neglected. It does give the impression of a rustic, even primitive decor, which matches a lot of the items for sale here.

Here is a photo of one of the outbuildings, which include a lock-up, school house, and ice house among others. I was particularly interested in the mill stone, since you find them around the area. Milling was a major income source in the Valley, historically. I didn't see an acknowledgement of where this one came from.

There were the typical booths of antiques in the store, and a number of small displays of crafts: jewelry, soap, and candles, etc. It was a pleasant stop and the building was interesting, but I couldn't say we'd go out of the way for another visit. After a half hour or so we packed it up and headed south on US 11 to Clementines.

Enough with the BCS already

A colleague sent me this.

The Presgraves Saga Goes On and On...

Over the weekend, I took some time to catch up on my Page News and Courier reading – I had about 6 back issues I wanted to get through. The focus of this post was the contents of a cover story, two letters to the editor, and a two-column, full-page editorial on the charges against Sheriff Presgraves.

In several past posts I’ve mentioned the breaking news from October about 22 counts ranging from sexual harassment to stealing sheriff department property. If convicted, the sheriff could be sentenced to 200+ years in prison and more than $2 million in fines.

There are strong sentiments both ways on this – he has his supporters and detractors, as evidenced by a petition to remove him from office and a fund raiser to get some money together to support his defense. By the way, the photo included here is from the paper – it’s often a part of the reporting that appears there.

Since we live in Alexandria and are not Page County voters, our thoughts won’t necessarily be counted in the final outcome on Presgraves. Still - and these are my own thoughts - I come down on the side of not paying him while this process works itself out. That doesn’t mean he’s out of office. I think it would be most efficient to suspend him without pay.

In a November 20 editorial, the paper headlined with “Resign, Mr. Presgraves” and subtitled the article with “Page County Sheriff has Lost Credibility.” On the sexual harassment charge, the article mentions that prosecutors allege that Presgraves told some victims to “take it to the grave.”

The letters to the editor alternatively support a referendum to remove him from office, or encourage him to “admit wrongdoing and stop wasting people’s time and money.” Finally, the article I read is about the rejection of the petition to remove Presgraves, signed by 800+ Page County voters, for various shortcomings. The petition’s sponsor has vowed to revise and resubmit the petition.

From other reports, we know that the county has needed consultation from the sheriff to complete the development of its law enforcement budgets – a process that keeps him out of direct contact with the responsible staff by allowing only written communication back and forth.

This is an example of how the case clearly has a potential impact on public safety and effective law enforcement in the county. Suspending without pay would allow the county to obtain a well-qualified replacement while the sheriff’s case goes to trial and is resolved.

The Bourne Marathon

Last weekend I did an overnight at the Hawksbill Cabin. Since Mary didn't join me, I was left to my own devices and goofed off, of course. I created a project for myself and watched all the Bourne movies over the course of 24 hours.


It's pretty old news by now, but the movies are very well done - great action scenes, great pace, facinating location work. They're pure entertainment.

Only one thing bugged me, that they killed off the girlfriend in the beginning of movie 2. I guess it was necessary to move the story along, but didn't they do this in the 2nd Austin Powers movie too?

A quick look at other web sources tells me that there is a "Bourne 4" sequel in the works, with Matt Damon again starring as Jason Bourne. And that there are four books beyond "Supremacy."

Has anybody read the books? Do you recommend them?

Into the Wild - Book Review

I recently posted on Amazon.com - a review of Into the Wild, by John Krakauer. Here's the full text.

"Just finished this one. I think there is something in all of us that wants to get in touch with the great big world outside, a hunger, a keening...and it's especially true with US corporate types challenged to find the balance. While Alex McCandless embraced this search early in his life before he had other responsibilities, and he was reckless about it, the picture here is one of a man who - by looking inward - comes to terms with his need for external relationships. The book was recommended to me by my local outfitter - Evergreen Outfitters, in Luray, VA. I found the experience reading this fascinating and moving."

Bottles and cans - clap your hands!

I've posted about my home brewing friends at Beaver Run Brewery before - since I did, the home brewing community is coming out of the woodwork. There is a whole lot of interest.

On 1/1, Mary and I had our traditional open house in Alexandria. It really is a wonderful opportunity to catch up with the neighbors here, as well as old friends from past work - for Mary that includes Skidmore Owings Merrill and the National Building Museum, for me, Berlin, Jacobs, and Booz Allen, among others.

This year, Stan (who was in Berlin with me way back) and his wife Beate dropped by. Stan just bottled an IPA, and brought a growler along. It's about a week away from being finished, and I've stored in the basement. The problem with a growler is, you have to finish it once it's opened. What to do?

Also, our friends Bill and Barb showed up - Bill went to the same program as I did at USC, and did the road trip with me this summer. He did some holiday bottling as well - this recession ale is the product. "It's good for what ales you!" he says. Also hidden away in the sixpack are some "high volume" Belgians.

Excuse the lame attempt at a glamor shot with the holiday lights. But, like the dude says, "careful man, there's a beverage here!" Thanks guys!

Hawksbill Mountain Holiday Hike - part 2

Of course I like to observe the change of seasons on the Hawksbill Mountain hike, but another thing I find interesting about it is the clusters of evergreens along the way - I have a couple of photos of them to post today. But first, here is a view of Bird's Nest #2, one of the wayside shelters along the Appalachian Trail.

This photo is taken just as you get to the crest of the hike, where the access trails meet the AT. A second note to mention is that for the past couple of years, there has been a nesting pair or pairs of ospreys coming to these cliffs. The Park Service has closed about 200 yards of the AT, detouring hikers around the nesting area to protect the birds.

The two unusual evergreen species that we have here are red spruce and balsam fir. Virginia is the southern extent of their ranges, although some trees can be seen here and there in the mountains in North Carolina. In the Park, they are all above 3,500 feet or so, and usually they are seen clustered in little groups of a few trees.

Oaks are the main trees seen in the Park these days, so during the winter there is not much foilage. That's one of the reasons these trees stand out so much. With average temperatures climbing, I wonder if they will begin to recede to the north.

Last photo is from the summit, looking northwest to the Shenandoah Valley. Luray is visible below.

Hawksbill Mountain Holiday Hike - part 1

I mentioned last week that Mary and I set out on the short hike to Hawksbill summit last weekend. We were greated by a sparkling day - in the mid-sixties, with a lot of the haze that typically hangs over the Valley cleared out by a front that had moved through, bringing the warmer air with it.

Once we were on the trail, this inviting view of the fairly easy way ahead greeted us.

Here are a couple of photos from our drive up to the trail head. There were a number of visitors in the Park, having taken inspiration in the weather change, even though all of the facilities are closed at this time of year. Since there were typically no other cars in most waysides, I pulled off more frequently than I typically would have.

Here are two photos overlooking the Valley, first in the direction of the New Market Gap, and second, looking north of Luray.

Next, a photo of Old Rag Mountain - I think this is the clearest shot of it I have ever taken from Skyline Drive.

Looking ahead at 2009

On Saturday, Mary and I went up on Hawksbill Mountain - here's a snapshot from the summit.

It's the time of year where we think about change - what's next year going to be like; how am I going to be a better person, a better world citizen; things like that.

I've never been one to set down a list, but I usually have a general concept of things I want to try and do during the year - things I know I need to and want to prepare for, and some of them turn into plans, or work themselves out. So here are a couple of thoughts about that this year - hopefully I'll tread the thin line between trite and corny with this post!

In 2009, beginning with the inauguration and Obama's new presidency, we'll begin to see change and the reemergence of American leadership because of the new direction and reversal of some policies that have genuinely failed, and frankly, dishonored our great country. And sometime during the late summer or fall, we will emerge from this recession, already a year old and longer than average.

Between these two events, in the US, I think a larger transition will be shaped or even take place, and I hope it is one that impacts our lifestyles - moving us from net consumers to stewards, while allowing us to continue to prosper, and even grow - that'd be my hope.

For me professionally, this is my second year at AECOM, and it should be the breakthrough year if typical patterns hold. I already have a speaking engagement lined up in March, and a proposal for a paper was accepted for publication also in the spring. The company is still digesting about a dozen mergers from the last two or three years, creating what my friend Dennis calls an unfrozen moment. I want to create a practice that fosters collaboration with some similar work going on in offices in San Francisco, Denver, Roanoke, DC, and Alexandria. So the plan here is to press ahead, while things seem to be working (and there are at least two United routes in that group - maybe we'll accumulate the remaining miles for a European vacation while I am at it!).

Socially, I want to stay in touch with so many friends from the past that have come back in touch, especially my veterans group from Berlin. We can tell some bawdy stories and I revel in that, but each of us has grown to be real contributors to this great country in our own way. I'm proud of this, and look forward to celebrating a reunion with one or more of these friends this year.

I want to deliver better on my responsibilities as a husband and life partner to Mary and in our home - both here in Alexandria and at the Hawksbill Cabin. There's always some room for improvement in this department. And to my family, making the contributions I'm called to make along the way in a reliable way, with sound judgement.

Through this blog and any other medium I find that facilitates it, I am going to celebrate the community we've found in Luray. We've really come to appreciate our new friends there. There are at least four projects on my mind with the cabin (Mary has more, I am sure) - so that's another thing that will keep us coming back to that community.

Last one - I'd like to get more exercise. I'm talking with Chris about a two-day winter hike on the Massanutten Trail that recently was published in Blue Ridge Outdoors; and Henry is in touch about running the Big Sur 10K - out in Carmel, CA - in the fall. Both will take preparation and planning - and achieving either will mean I've gotten more exercise than I did in 2008.

So for the few readers who've made it this far...what are your plans for 2009? I welcome your comments!

Luray Holiday Update

Here's another quick post about a couple of the local businesses in Luray, and their holiday decorations.

First shot here is this street scene that I can't get enough of - part of what makes the town special is the ever present backdrop of the Shenandoah National Park. Down Main Street here you can see the decorations. This is taken in front of a new place called West Main Cafe - great deli sandwiches (URL to come, watch for a comment on this entry).

Second, we have the Apple Cottage, which offers organics and therapies. The owner is very knowledgeable. The little organic garden space in front is actually a teaching garden.

Last one is 58 West Cafe - a coffee house that also offers high speed wireless (where I check email in town if I am on a laptop). Nice place, with a very low key (non Starbucks) atmosphere!

As promised, here are the URLs:

http://applecottagefoods.com/

http://www.58westcafe.com/

Here's the West Main Market URL - posting as an update.

http://westmainmarket.com/

Jordan Hollow's Literary Christmas Eve Dinner

Mary and I had a fine evening at Jordan Hollow last year and long ago made plans to return this year, if things turned out that way. We missed being with family this year, but it turned out that we were well taken care of at the inn. We made reservations for 7:30 - I knew I'd be working until noon, at least, so we needed just a little extra time in case of traffic (which there was) and in case we got away later than 3pm (which we did).

We were right on time for the reservation - here is the entry to the farm house inn there on the property. We were greated by a number of barn cats as we walked up. This fuzzy one was quiet, but a few of them were quite vocal in welcoming us.

On the way to the inn, we stopped off quickly at the cabin to drop off the dogs. There was a message from Jordan Hollow, they'd planned to close at 8pm, so if we were going to be late, we wouldn't likely find them open. We later learned that we were the only reservation; however they stayed open for us and we really had a great evening there.

The chef, Jarret, was our server as well as the menu designer and preparer. He'd taken inspiration from a number of sources for this meal - O'Henry, Dickens, Seuss, among them. We sat in the wood paneled room of the original cabin, shown here in these photos.

After we sat down, we started with some beverages; Mary had a peppermint martini, and I had the house red, a cab this evening.

Inspired by "The Gift of the Maggi" - the appetizer was a selection of cheeses. Next up, a Dickensian "cockaleeky soup" - with chicken, root vegetables, and leeks. And the main course - roast goose, Mary's choice, and roast beast, my choice. Finishing up was the choice of rice or figgy pudding - Mary chose the figgy pudding, which was flambe'd at the table!

All in all we were treated well and had a great evening there. I'm sure that any visitor would receive the same hospitality we did, but the sense we got of their commitment really impressed.

Happy Holidays to you

Friends, we're taking a few days off to enjoy the holidays at the cabin and relax a bit. Whatever your plans, Mary and I wish you a happy and safe time.

This is the 300th post on the blog. It's a good time to pause and reflect on all of the wonderful experiences we've had since we bought the cabin in August 2007.

We hope you can join us sometime soon.

We'll catch you on the flip side next week. All the best!

Maybe next year for Christmas

For some time now we’ve been thinking about whether we need to get a spa – and my recent visit to Uncle D’s only reinforced the question. They’ve got a sale on - almost 25% off - and in particular, this spa model seems like exactly what we need…

This one seats four and has a cool down seat. It’s 6.5 feet in diameter, and can plug into regular household current. We’d just need to get one of those orange extension cords and pass it through to the hot tub. It even has a cup holder!

Also making it attractive is the style of it – it calls to mind the retro versions I’ve really been thinking about, actual wood-fired models. These photos are from Snorkel Tubs, which frequently advertises in the Utne Reader. We’ve got no shortage of firewood to keep one of these humming.

I think we have a couple of places on the lot where we could set up and have the same woodsy setting. Our neighbors Dan and Sally have a hot tub that’s built pretty far away from the house, near the organic garden (I’ve written about his hops before). They have a great night view from there in a setting partially surrounded by woods, and Big Meadow is visible from the spot.

Working against the wood-fired idea is the thought that the water needs to be changed frequently, since there is no filter, the assembly is touchy, or you have leaks, and the potential for freezing and the problems associated with that.

I’d be inclined to go with the one I saw at Uncle D’s, only that would be a big project: I need to build a deck to hold it (about 4,000 lbs. with water and people), get power out there, and then get a roof of some kind over it to keep the pine branches, needles and cones out.

So, maybe next year on this one.

Holidays at Uncle D's

I have been thinking for a long time about getting a spa set up at Hawksbill Cabin. I’ve been leaning towards a wood-fired one; there are so many downed trees on the acre and a half that I don’t think I would ever despair of fuel. So as I was walking around downtown Luray last Saturday, enjoying the decorations, I spied a very festive décor in Uncle D’s and stopped in…before I talk about the spa…here are some photos of the tree they set up in the store.

They were quite busy in the store, which has been the normal situation for them since opening. This time, they were fielding calls from the local counties and municipalities about new swimming pool regulations that went into effect last week.

Turns out that Uncle D’s is an authority on developments of this sort, and they are working on planning retrofits that will bring many of the area pools into compliance with the new codes by Spring. They were just wrapping up some coordination with a professional association on getting some training set up for local building inspectors.

Here’s a close up of the tree at Uncle D’s…those are no ordinary ornaments! It’s a bunch of sharks. Danger!

Ice on the Mountains

This weekend I went out to the cabin for the first time in a few weeks, mainly to check things out before we go out for the holiday weekend.

One of the H-burg blogs I follow - Evan Dyson's Wildlife blog, which is in the blogroll on the right - had reported some closures in the SNP due to snow and ice, I had been thinking about a drive up to check things out but the weather was pretty bad on Saturday.

Here's a photo from Luray that I took on Sunday - just to the left of the wreath, ice is visible on the mountain in the distance - you may need to click on the photo and view it enlarged to make it out. Most of the higher peaks had some traces like this, not quite snow, but more than hoary frost. The rain we had in the valley must have frozen up at those altitudes.

Also noteworthy in the picture is the White House Ford mural on the building in the foreground. There are a number of murals in town and I've been meaning to post on them. Will do that in the new year.

Luray's Outdoor Enthusiast Entreprenuers

With all the outdoor activities available in Luray - the SNP so close, the Hawksbill Greenway, the river, and all the trails in the GW National Forest - it's no big surprise that there are a number of gear stores there. I've mentioned Evergreen Outfitters a number of times in the blog - Howard and Andy were among the first people we met in town, even before we thought of buying the Hawskbill Cabin - but there are two other stores nearby, basically cornering the main intersection in town.

They are all within easy walking distance of each other, a concept that in urban economics and development circles is called a 100 % corner (you also encounter it when car dealerships take up shop in a concentrated area in suburban regions). Not to go all urban planning on you here (urban planners, feel free to comment), but this arrangement typically leads to symbiotic advantages for the businesses. We suspect that it's good planning in this case, stemming from the Luray Downtown Initiative, but there is some luck in having three outdoor enthusiast entreprenuers around, too.

Besides Evergreen Outfitters, there are Hawksbill Bicycles and Appalachian Outdoor Adventures. The phone cam being what it is, here are some photos of their storefronts, decorated for the holidays. The bike shop shows up in the clickthrough ads on the right sometimes, but here are the websites:

http://www.hawksbillbicycles.com/

http://www.appalachianoutdoorsadventures.com/

http://www.evergreenoutfitters.com/

Like Howard says: Thrive Outside!

Battle of the Species: Waterfront View of the Beaver Dam

The dam those beavers have built in the hollow across the way continues to fascinate. I did some reading on Wikipedia about these engineering habits; it says they will defend the dam from just about any damage - only a catastrophic loss will drive them away.

We are certainly not thinking about taking any of these steps. But the dam does seem to have grown, and along with it the pond. My concern is about heavy spring rains. Since the construction is so close to our little road, when the dam is overrun, will the debris cause a wash-out?

I hadn't thought of this as a battle before now...while we are not going to take active steps, we'll have to be vigilant.

Besides the photo of the main dam, here are a few of the main stream channel, and a side stream channel that has developed. Because of this one, the small 4-foot "waterfall" that is here, we now enjoy the sound of a bubbling stream full time when we sit on the brick terrace.

Pork 'n' Beans Upgrade

There are two inspirations for this post. The first is one of the other Harrisonburg blogs - "a bowl of good" - link below. And the second is the fact that there is a Whole Foods supermarket an easy three block walk from my office in Arlington.

On Thursday, with no conference call to get back to, I went for a sandwich and picked up a copy of Outside magazine to peruse during lunch. I found a review of small plate - tapas style - restaurants in ski country. Also on that page was a set of recipes - "comfort food for the coldest part of the year."

I should note at this point, as a consultant, a lot of my work centers on using tools. The knife and fork are included. In fact, some business trips to great restaurant towns, like Seattle and Chicago, are known as "knife and forkers" to my teams, rather than "pitches" or "conferences."

Here's the sausage and beans recipe from Outside; while I did try to get all the ingredients from Whole Foods I had to make some substitutions (like the canned beans I drained and soaked in the stock for an hour - they didn't have dried beans!)...the results weren't bad, but I'll continue to modify until I have it right.

Put 1 lb. soft canneloni beans into 3 qts. pork stock. Add 2 garlic cloves, fennel seeds, carrots, onion, and canned tomatoes. Simmer two hours. Brown 1.5 lbs. of sausage, add to the beans. Add sage leaves, and simmer until thickened.

Well, that wasn't much to go on, as most of the ingredients weren't quantified. So, in addition to making substitues (2 15 oz cans of canneloni beans since they didn't have dried beans (did I mention it?), 1.5 quarts of chicken stock (free range organic mind you), pork with rosemary and garlic sausage (fresh made in the store, but nothing like what you get from "Two Fat Butchers" in Front Royal), and in this house nothing gets cooked without wine or beer (8 oz. of Smithwicks this time).

The photos accompanying show the results...and Mary said it was tasty. The secret was the fresh sage leaves from her pantry garden. That's pretty much what counts.

Here's a link to the "a bowl of good" blog - it's weekly, and I look forward to seeing it each Friday.

http://abowlofgood.com/blog/

Where to go for a show (in the old days)

A few months back, I posted on my Elvis Costello poster from the show in November 1983, which was held at the Metropol night club at Nollendorfplatz. I’ve recently gotten back in touch with other friends from that time and it set me to thinking I might do some web searching on this venue, where I also saw the Stray Cats, Lloyd Cole, Grand Master Flash, Talk Talk, Icicle Works and Billy Bragg, and the Bangles – probably among others I can’t remember anymore.

Here is the official Wikipedia entry on the building, along with a vintage photo of the interior outfitted as an ice rink, and one more recent as the Goya.
The Neues Schauspielhaus (English: New Theatre), on Nollendorfplatz in Berlin, was built in 1905 as a theatre in the then-fashionable Art Nouveau style. In 1927, Erwin Piscator opened his "Theater am Nollendorfplatz" in the building, and in 1951 it was renamed "Metropol“. Since 1977 it has been used as a discothèque. It was the location of the KitKatClub in 2000, and in 2005 the architect Hans Kollhoff remodeled the interior as the exclusive night club Goya.

It was a disco pretty much the whole time I was there. Many of the shows were in the room shown as an ice rink above, but there was a smaller venue in there as well where they put on shows. Some of the acts I didn't manage to catch there included Tina Turner, who came through just before the “Tiny Dancer” comeback, the Pretenders - opened by the Waterboys (I was in Barcelona during that show); but The Cure, Simple Minds, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, and any number of others will show up in a Google search.

The yellow subway cars in this photo remind me that there was an old fleamarket in the station that had been set up so that the old cars were the vendor booths. That was always worth a stop – you could find some pretty incredible stuff in there – but I always looked at the old uniform items, as well as pop culture items like buttons from pop groups and posters.

Here is a link back to the earlier post about the Elvis poster.
http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2008/10/vintage-elvis.html

Who's Your Best Friend

My friend Chris spied our next concert:

English Beat at the Birchmere in February...

Here's the Birchmere calendar site: http://birchmere.com/calendar/calendar_list.cfm

Here the Beat site: http://www.myspace.com/officialbeatspace

<---And that's a holiday greeting from their MySpace page....

Page County Sheriff News - the saga continues

In a blog post last month, I referenced the recent indictment of the Page County sheriff on 22 counts, ranging from taking bribes to sexual harassment. The charges are quite serious and carry a potential penalty of as much as 304 years in prison and fines of up to $2-million if the sheriff is convicted. Right now, the sheriff is out on $50K bail, but not allowed to work, wear the uniform, or use the cruiser; he is on some kind of administrative leave that allows him to receive his salary of approximately $100K per year while he is in this status.

Unraveling all of the activities involved in processing this case would take a couple of entries, but there has been news of late. I’ll summarize from a variety of sources, including Harrisonburg’s Channel 3 and the Page News and Courier.

The first item is the status of the petition to suspend the sheriff while the case plays out. Understandably, a number of county residents are upset that the sheriff pulls full pay during this episode – the median family income in Page, per the 200 census, is just about $40K annually – and a petition was circulated for removal, gaining 800 signatures. However, there were technical issues with the petition – it wasn’t written to match the charges, among other things, and it has been thrown out.

A second group of Page County citizens organized a legal defense fund for the sheriff. There’s not been much reporting on how much they raised, or how much the defense is estimated to cost.

The County is going through budgeting exercises right now, and an allowance has been made to gain the sheriff’s insight on the process. His communication - written only - with the staff is indirect, and must be filtered through a third party. The irony of this was not lost on the reporters, who noted that among the prosecution arguments was the issue that the sheriff was charged with using the budget of this office for personal gain.

In the Kite Hollow cock fighting ring case, an issue that is connected with the sheriff through these charges (he is alleged to have received bribes from the parties involved), sentencing for some of the operators has taken place, and jury selection for one of the defendants is just getting underway.

A last highlight of the day was the hearing yesterday in H-burg to change the venue of the trial, potentially to Roanoke, because of extensive publicity on the case. That decision is awaiting the results of the jury selection in the cock fighting case.

More to come, of course. The original post on the topic is linked below.
http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2008/11/sheriff-was-indicted.html

Something New

We've added an embedded video of Billy Idol singing "Jingle Bell Rock" in the right hand column --->. Due to layout constraints, the framing isn't the best. If you're desperate to get the big picture, click on that element and it will give you a new frame.