Saturday's Ramble

B69°f/20°C, overcast, then partly sunny.  An unsettled day, humid, breezy, looking like rain but it never comes....and no sooner than I typed it, a nice storm blew in! Rain at last. 

I mentioned that Saturday we were out and about, so here's a few photos of our little road trip.

We didn't go anywhere special, just up the road about 30 miles to where gas is 50 cents a gallon cheaper than it is here. A stop at Aldi's,  then Lowe's for a dowel we need to replace a chair rung and plants for me because you know I needed more. I particularly wanted spigelia and scabiosa, both recommended by a friend, and was lucky enough to find them both. Another lavender, some half price geraniums and another lavender squandered my $100 birthday gift from a son.

Then we took the long way home along the Ohio River and rambled on down to a little community called Evans, where a small country store advertised that they are now selling Ellen's Ice Cream. Ellen's is a shop in Charleston well known in our state for their  homemade ice cream. What a treat to find it in our county! Pricey though, at $6 a cone. But worth every bit in my book.

This barn near Medina, WV has had this mural for at least 

15 years.

Just traveling the back roads...

Tanning, bait, groceries and ice cream, all in one store!

Across the road from the store

Oh, and they offer a nice variety of home-cooked food too.

I chose raspberry chocolate, Larry got Dutch chocolate.  Both were exceptional.

Haying is almost finished here, just a few farmer's still trying to finish. The wet weather, followed by intense heat, has made their work difficult this spring.

Larry about wrecked the van when he spotted this WWII-era Jeep rusting away in a field.

Just an old cabin along the way.

Otterbein Church, which I wrote about some years ago.

The outhouse looks like it may keel over any day now.

Rollins Lake is really just a very large pond, popular for fishing and stocked and maintained by the state. It used to be privately owned as a pay-to-fish operation. Now it's open to all, free of charge. Our youngest went ice fishing here a few times as a teenager.

And then we were back home in time to enjoy some porch time before it got dark. It was a nice, relaxed day.

Old Barns and Back Roads

36°f, about 3°C, overcast, a damp chill in the air.

Today we had a leisurely day planned. Online van-hunting in the morning, then lunch with a friend and the last, I hoped, of Christmas shopping. I think I have remembered everyone.  Usually we give quite a few homemade gifts--things from the cellar, dried herbs mixes, baked goods, etc. But this year I just wasn't feeling like it, so we made our small contribution to the economy instead. 

We met our friend Suzy at our favorite place, the West Virginia Artisan Market. When Shari started the business in 2020, she had no plans to get into the food business, but she did want to serve beer and wine to customers strolling the aisles of arts and crafts. In order to get the proper State license,  however, she had to serve food. Weird, she thought, but she devised a simple menu and figured she wouldn't sell many meals anyway. Wrong. Her prices are reasonable,  the food is good, and now in her new location the place is usually packed. 

As we dawdled over our coffee, my phone rang. The auction company, reminding me that the online auction pickup would be over in an hour and did I want my stuff. I had totally forgotten! So off we dashed, fortunately being only 35 minutes away from the auction site. 

Google maps took us to the place expertly, but boy was it out there. I mean, I live on a gravel road, 4 miles from the 2 lane highway, 12 miles from town. This place was 9 miles back on a one-lane road--paved (called a hard road here) but narrow and twisting with many a blind hill and curve. Just the kind of road we like. 

As we drove,  I was struck by the number of barns and silos. 

While there was some good bottomland here and there, this was hilly, steep country. 

Where, I wondered, did they grow all the corn to fill those silos? 

Obviously most of them were no longer in use, just silent reminders of the days before regulations shut down almost all the small dairies. But still, they had to have grown the corn somewhere. My mind is still ruminating on that.

There were so many things I wanted photos of, but I was only able to get a few as we drove along.

Our destination, Ghost Hollow Road. And my mind is also busy with that: where did the name come from? Was it based on the 200 year old story from that area of the bear hunters who camped under a shelving rock one night? It was winter, so the men built a fire right at the front of the shallow cave. The rock here is sandstone, which can have water trapped between layers of rock. The rock exploded from the buildup of steam, crushing the men. Sadly they did not die instantly but sent a young boy who was sleeping outside for help. The area was so remote that it took hours for help to arrive, by which time the men had died. Is it their ghosts this sign refers to?

Well, enough of that chilling train of thought! A few other sights along the way:

And finally, after picking up the few things I had won, we made our way down the steep driveway to the road...

and back to town to do that shopping.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

On Tug Fork

65 this morning, a beautiful start to the day after another stormy evening.

Photos from our drive to pick up furniture from a friend's barn Sunday.

The creeks were muddy after recent rains.

Hard to see but this is one field in our friend's 10 acre pumpkin patch. He also has 5 greenhouse of tomatoes.

Black- eyed Susans and Queen Anne's lace bordered a long stretch of the road.

Roadside traffic--wild turkey.

A nice garden, lined with sunflowers.

Driveway traffic--guinea hens

Whitetail deer are everywhere these days. Our county is overpopulated,  I think. 

There must have been a house here once, as there is that blooming bush. I am not sure what it is, perhaps Althea? More pumpkin plants in the background.

An old tractor, out to pasture.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Water, Dryers, Covered Bridges and Friends

67 this morning and light overcast. Stayed hazy and humid all day, repeat of yesterday. High of about 85.

It's been a busy few days.

Staats Mill Covered Bridge, Cedar Lakes, Ripley, WV

Saturday I went with Leah, the owner of Riverbend Antique mall where I have several booths, to hunt up some furniture and other things to sell. We had a great time, ran through several strong rainstorms, and came home with her box truck loaded. It's still full; that will be tomorrow's work, unloading and sorting it all out.

Larry stayed home to work on a water line leak. After a frustrating day, he gave up. So Sunday morning we just went out to breakfast. The other frustrating thing was our dryer quit working, so we had to find another ASAP. I hunted one up that was over in Ohio, so after Sunday breakfast we went to pick it up. He came home to work on the water and thankfully got it fixed. This morning we swapped out the dryers, me still in my nightgown as we lugged them in and out. Ah me.

As soon as we were done I got ready for a lunch date with my friend Suzy who had a knee replacement 3 weeks ago, and Nancy, the friend visiting from Arizona. Surprisingly, they discovered that they shared the same September birthday. What are the odds of that?

After lunch we decided to take Nancy to see the two covered bridges in our county. At the first one, which was relocated to a local park from its original location, band camp was in full swing. The bass drums and cymbals were practicing near the bridge, so we had a pretty cool cadence to walk to while we were exploring the bridge.

At the second bridge, on a small country road, we were taking our time looking at the bridge but apparently we disturbed a local resident--a skunk. He made his displeasure known to our noses, so we took our pictures and left his territory.

Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge, Sandyville, WV

It was a fun day, even though it was hot. I've been to both bridges many times--one of them was on a mail route I used to run back in the early 80's and was my lunch stop most days that I subbed on that route. But seeing them with friends is like seeing them with new eyes. Now I'm home and tired, and it's time to catch up on some house work so I'll sign off here and get to it.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

COVID Journal, Day 158: Green on Green

67 this morning, cloudy. Warmed up to the 80's and humid, looking like rain this afternoon but nothing so far.

There is a large watershed lake a few miles from here that is one of the most beautiful places in our county. Unlike other local scenery which usually features rolling hills and valleys, this is a strange place with rotting tree stumps sticking up out of the water, and many narrow backwaters and marshes. I am fascinated by it, especially the area with the stumps, which sprout a fine crop of grasses and other plants every summer. I have wanted to photograph this for a long time, and finally took time to do so the other day.

A Great Blue Heron surveys his watery kingdom. We have spotted eagles and egrets here too, but not this day. The heron had the stumps to himself.

This lake is called Elk Fork Lake, and it's located on Gay Road, just a few miles from the town of Ripley. It was constructed to control runoff that used to regularly flood Ripley and other low-lying communities. 

This is a popular fishing lake. There are usually quite a few boats in the water every day. It must be tricky navigating among the underwater snags.

There were seven lakes built altogether; the one on my road, Joe's Run, was the first, completed in the mid-70's, and I believe Elk Fork Lake was the last. All have provided recreational activities that were not formerly available. There was some opposition to the flooding of prime farmland to create these lakes, but I believe their worth has been proved by the reduced flooding and the many uses they offer--not to mention the abundance of wildlife and waterfowl that the lakes attract.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.