A Spring Day in Roanoke

I love visiting Downtown Roanoke and wandering through the Farmer's Market. There is always something interesting going on, there are all sorts of vegetables and fruits for sale, and lots of Artisans selling their crafts. The architecture is fun to photograph, and the people are some of the most friendly I have ever found. The shops are varied and interesting, and there is almost every cuisine I can think of all within walking distance. It just does not get any better than that!

I had some Pad Thai at a new restaurant, grabbed some coffee at Mill Mountain Coffee Shop, picked up a loaf of bread from On The Rise, peeked at some clothes at Le De Da, ogled the Chocolate counter at Chocolate Paper, and snagged some veggies from the Market.

I watched Mr. Saunders make birdhouses from natural & recycled materials, and enjoyed people-watching while using the free wifi.

Sadly, I did not have a chance to go to the Taubman Museum of Art. I think that calls for another visit very soon, don't you?

So Close to Spring...

The Dogs are ready for spring. I can tell they are getting the itch to roam the woods and fields, and so am I! The peepers were not singing last weekend, but the daffodils were poking green spires through the leaves of the forest floor, so I deem that enough of a sign that nature is waking up and it will not be long until we are enjoying grilling on the porch and planting all around Dog Days. I am so thankful for the small signs, as I am still traumatized from the powerful winter that roared through the entire Mid-Atlantic.

Barb and Mia recently spent a few days with us and helped out on the first forest permaculture planting. Three thousand seeds later, I really owed them a nice dinner at Oddfella's Cantina in Floyd. We were lucky to enjoy live music and a great meal; I love to go to a local eatery that has so many things on the menu that I want to eat that it is really hard to choose just one thing. I find myself trying to convince everyone else at the table to order the other menu items I want so I can sneak bites...

The deer have destroyed every bit of shrubbery we have; they know they are much faster than the dogs, so no longer even bother to feign fear or muster a decent run. I used to like the hooved ruminants, but just having a love of vegetables in common is no longer enough to keep me from resenting their locust-like qualities. I may change my policy of live and let live if they push it much further. I can deal with the loss of the ewes, nandina, holly and such, but if they put one pointy toe near my tomatoes, they will truly incur my wrath. I do have my limits!

The wood stove will soon (hopefully) get cleaned out for the last time; I have to admit I will miss being able to lay by it and snuggle with the dogs. There is no better kind of warm than the one that a wood stove makes, except maybe for the warm that you feel when there is a puppy next to you. They are so sweet when they sleep; the rest of the time they can make you a little crazy, but while sleeping, there is nothing more precious.

The last sign that spring is near; my garage smells faintly of onions. Bags of red, white and yellow onion sets are in there waiting to be planted in the next couple of weeks as soon as the ground can be properly tilled. They are in their cool, dry place until the field is dry enough to get the tiller through without bogging down. I will do my best not to try too early, but with my usual patience of a Muppet on crack, someone may be rescuing me from myself and the tiller from the mud.

Pet Nerds Challenge: Entry 2

-Chris Martin

Pet Nerds Challenge

Beat this:

Read My Hand...

I think this may actually signal the beginning of the end of the world; I think Sarah Palin may have a good idea. I hope it did not hurt her too much...

When she decided to write a few important points on her hand, she made sure she would get the points she (or her handlers) thought were important taken care of in her interview. I think ALL the folks in Washington should follow her lead, and put THIS on their hand:













SO, the next time your representative decides to get into a meeting where they start talking about how College Football should decide which teams get to play in the tournaments, they can look at their hand and act accordingly.

When they start to tell us how Wall Street's system for bonus payouts is fair and how Wall Street talent will leave because their base salaries are ONLY three times what I make so they need to hand out more money to keep the talent, they can read their hand.

When they start a filibuster to stop legislation not because they think it is wrong but because they did not write it, they can read their hand.

When they are deciding to give themselves a pay raise while we get cuts in education and infrastructure, they should put their hand down and read it.

And when they tell us that we need to spend billions on specious wars, bank bailouts, and money for projects that have nothing to do with building infrastructure or jobs, they can just look to their hand to know what we want.

Sadly, the hand failed to help Sarah look like more than the usual pandering politician with little substance and lots of fluff, but maybe with a little tweaking it might work to keep the folks we have in office reined in until we can get some new people who may not need to write on themselves to remember what their job is and who they work for.

First Snow Day of 2010

Oscar did some snow removal today, especially on the trees and truck. We may get more snow tomorrow, so in order to save some tree branches and to have any hope of getting out of the house before spring, he got bundled up and Zoe tagged along to get the cold & wet work done!



She thought it was loads of fun; Oscar seemed a little more intent on getting the job done and getting out of the cold!


Claris had her Kong, and was sunning herself while licking snow out of her toy. She tried very hard to stay under Zoe's "jealous toy" radar, but that only works for so long... especially when this is the best poker face you can muster (note: Kong hidden under paw).

















Zoe caught Claris and attacked her for the Kong (Notice that no feet are touching the ground in this picture?):























..and the Victory Lap:

Deer Living on the Porch...

We have a small herd of deer who have taken up residence on the porch at Dog Days. They are eating the shrubbery while relaxing out of the snow. I thought Ewe bushes were quite poisonous (I even think that Ewe poison was used to kill victims on the Forensic TV show "Bones" if I remember correctly), but the deer do not seem to mind and the shrubs are almost completely denuded of their foliage. Wonder if like some insects who eat poisonous plants in order to use the poisonous compounds to protect themselves from predators, the deer will become inedible too? Might not want to eat Dog Days Deer, they pack a punch!