A Weekend Away

Brea and Siri spent a few days in air conditioned comfort at Animal Care Associates while Mary T. and I explored eastern West Virginia and western Virginia.

We spent the first night and day in Cass, WV, where we rode the antique steam train to the top of the mountain, a five hour round trip.  Cass was once a busy lumber town; now it caters to tourists and fishermen.  http://www.cassrailroad.com/

The old Cass company store.

The old company store now has Wi-Fi.

There were several reenactors on this train, here to promote The Great Train Robbery later this weekend.

 

 

The obligatory selfie, from the top of the mountain.

 

View from the top.

 

The next morning we had breakfast in Natural Bridge, Virginia, at the Pink Cadillac Diner, before going to see the actual Natural Bridge.  Good food.  We stayed at the Natural Bridge Hotel.  http://www.naturalbridgeva.com/

 

The bridge is something like 215 feet high, measured from the base to the top.  George Washington supposedly carved his initials in the rock - we didn't see them - and Thomas Jefferson once owned the property.



There was a Monacan Indian Living History Exhibit, where demonstrated how the Monacan people lived 300 years ago.  This was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. http://www.naturalbridgeva.com/education/monacan-indian-living-history/

 

Brea's ghostwriter on the left, in the hat.

 My other favorite part was Thomas Jefferson's home at Poplar Forest, near Lynchburg.  I was last there about 15 years ago, and I was curious to see how much progress had been made in the restoration of the place.  Our timing was perfect, as Mary T. and I were the only two people on the tour, and we were able to ask lots of questions.

I didn't take very many pictures here, I was so busy just looking around and thinking of more questions.  More pictures and information here: http://www.poplarforest.org/

 

One of two matching privies.

We also toured a cave near the hotel and Natural Bridge, but caves aren't my favorite places and I didn't take any pictures there.

 

It was a very good weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cone of Shame

 

 

Last week Siri developed some skin irritations on her right hip that she couldn't leave alone, so it was time to bring the lampshade collar out of retirement.  I hate doing that to my dogs, but the alternative was medicating them into unconsciousness until the raw areas healed.  That, or getting some steroids from the veterinarian; I tried that last year and Siri had to go to the bathroom every five minutes for the week that she was on the drugs. Not fun.  I'm guessing these were due to some kind of allergy or bug bites, something that made her itch, so I've also been giving her Claritin and Benadryl, which seem to help.  The collar was on for three days and came off yesterday morning, and she seems a lot more comfortable.

 

Florida

I just returned from visiting family in Florida. The dogs stayed in the boarding kennel at Animal Care Associates in Charleston, their usual vacation place. The cat stayed home, in the house, and did not appear to miss me at all.

My brother's newest grandson, Jax.

His other grandson, Nathan.

The two dogs.

Channing the cat vs the alligator.

Channing making sure the alligator is gone.

Bill trying to repair the leak in the alligator's ear, where someone bit it.

 

I don't think the alligator will recover from its injuries.

 

Avengers spoiler alert: Captain America and the Hulk both end up in the bottom of a pool.

The following were taken at Six Mile Slough Cypress Preserve near Fort Myers

 

Water Moccasin

 

Striped mud turtle

 

 

Green Heron

 

 

 

Fort Myers Beach at sunset

 

 

My brother Bill, our mother, my sister Mary Beth

 

Tree frog waiting outside my brother's front door the morning I left.

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Almost Spring

Technically it's spring but this morning it still feels like winter. We've had two consecutive nights with frost, and there's a chance of snow this weekend. Monday morning - April 4 - I decided it was time to break in the new seat cover for the car so I took the dogs to Kanawha State Forest for a hike.

 

The dogs seemed very excited to be someplace new.  KSF is not an off leash park, and even if it were I'm not confident in my dogs' recall compliance - especially Siri, who wants to chase things like squirrels and deer.  Still, it was a nice change of scenery and the exercise left the dogs tired enough that they slept (and let me sleep) all day.

Some Video From January

Here's some video from the big snowstorm in January.