Go Hokies

Another far fetch from outdoor adventures, but I had to add this to my blog!!!!!

Crafty Crochet

This has nothing to do with outdoor adventures or gardening, but who wants to go outside when it feel like 0 degrees outside. Plus since I've had a couple of snow days I've had time to venture upstairs and dig through my yarn baskets. I'm not sure who is suppose to have the time to crochet little mini stuffed animals, but for some reason I've been a little hooked on them, simply because they're so darn cute. When I visited my cousin Jessica last summer in Kansas I bought a book called "Amigurumi World." I'm not even sure how to pronounce the Japanese word, but it translates to "knitted stuffed toy," but the instructions are for crocheting. They are a great way to use up scrap yarn, but more time consuming than I expected because of sewing the pieces together, which I'm really not so good at. Below are my first two attempts. I will have to do something to make the bear's eyes stand out more. In the background are a few easy coasters that I made.
The following two pictures are afghans that I had previously made. These patterns were also chosen to use up scrap yarn. My mother-in-law is always giving my bags of yarn, which is fun because I never know what I'm going to get. The granny squares were really fun to make, but a pain to sew together. I've seen blankets since then that have a border between the squares and I think that looks a lot better.
More coasters.

Field Guides

Since I started the Virginia Master Naturalist class I have been reading/reviewing various field guides. Santa left Clay and I each a field guide one for Insects and one for Caterpillars. They are part of the "Peterson First Guides" series, very small and easy to use. I needed to clean out the leaves and other various trash items that had blown under our rhododendron plant near our porch. As I was raking I discovered this little jewel tying to overwinter beside our porch.


You can see how we rolled up into a ball for protection and reviewed the red stripes on his body. They are easier to see if you click on the picture.

So I got to use my new field guide and discovered I had a Giant Leopard Moth. My little guide discussed what to do if you want to "rear" the larva, and I couldn't resist, my students will be so fascinated by this guy. Wish me luck, I will feel terrible if he dies before emerging. This is a link about the moth that another curious naturalist wrote, notice the adult moth picture!

At the same time I took the picture of the caterpillar I discovered the little bugs in the background and got to use my other field guide.
These appear to be a scentless plant bug called Box Elder Bugs. They congregate in large numbers to hibernate during the winter, sometimes choosing human abodes to do so.

I also wanted to include a couple of sunset pictures that Clay recently took. I really like the pink reflection on the river.

Current Reading

My posts are far and few between, due to the lack of any outdoor adventures. I am looking forward to browsing a few seed catalogs as we prepare for next years garden. I have had more time for reading since I'm not outdoors as much, plus having a winter break from work helps. The following is a quote from the current book I'm reading titled, " The Unsettling of America."

"It is possible, then, to believe that there is a kind of work that does not require abuse or misuse, that does not use anything as a substitute for anything else. we are working well when we use ourselves as the fellow creatures of plants, animals, materials, and other people we are working with. Such work is unifying, healing. It brings us home from pride and from despair, and places us responsibly within the human estate. It defines us as we are: not too good to work with our bodies, but too good to work poorly or joylessly or selfishly or alone."

The last sentence really rang a bell for me. The following review is a great summary of the book highlights.

I hope to post more pictures again soon, I've neglected using the camera for awhile, although we've had some beautiful sunsets and a few birds at our bird feeders that I would like to photograph.

Devil's Marble Yard

Clay and I took a Black Friday hike to the Devil's Marble Yard to work off a few Thanksgiving calories. You can see how the destination got it's name! We didn't spend too much time at the marble yard at first because we were concerned about not having time to complete the rest of the 11 mile hike before dark.


I really liked how something as simple as tree bark could make such a cool picture. Great texture and colors.

Late fall colors.

The two pictures above were taken after we left the Gunter Ridge Trail and met up with the Appalachian Trail. We then left the AT to an un-maintained Sulphur Spring Trail with an opening called the "Helicopter Pad." The deep blues and purples of the Blue Ridge Mountains were spectacular.


After the 3 mile detour on the AT we were suppose to do a loop back to the parking lot, but didn't want to get caught in the dark. So we headed back to the Marble Yard, cutting the hike short by about 2 miles, and spent some time exploring the boulders. This picture does a decent job of showing the magnitude of how big the boulders were. One of the dark patches on the right is me (click on the picture for a clearer view). I didn't realize how much my legs would hurt after hopping from rock to rock. My legs felt like jello and didn't want to function at all after we got back on the main trail.

Here are a few more pictures of the Devil's Marbles.

Flurries and Brussel Sprouts

We had a dusting of snow on the ground today. All the surrounding counties were either delayed or closed, but Montgomery County schools were on time. All the teachers were a little pouty for the first couple of hours to say the least. I was just happy to be able to stand up straight after spending two days in bed, feeling very SICK.

We fixed a yummy pizza for dinner, and my appetite is almost back to normal. We actually have leftovers, which doesn't always happen. Clay also had his first taste of Brussel Sprouts, and said he would try them again, just not in large amounts! I use to turn up my nose to these little mini cabbages when my mom fixed them, but have grown to like them. Plus I'm willing to eat almost anything that I take time to plant in the garden. They were attacked by pests pretty bad when still young. I did end up spraying them with an insecticidal soap, but tried my best just to hand pick any little green worms off. Clay kept teasing me about the plants because the edible parts were no bigger than peas for the longest time. Then after it stayed consistently cooler they really took off. So they ended up being a fun plant that I will try again next year I hope.

These pictures are not the prettiest, but it is rare to have anything green left in the garden at this point!

Chocolate Eclair Cake

I can remember my mom asking me what type of Birthday cake I would like and my answer being chocolate eclair. It has now become my staple go to recipe for special events. The fifth grade teachers are hosting a Goody Day for the staff at CES tomorrow, so I prepared old faithful. As I stood stirring the homemade icing I thought about how many times my mom has stood over the stove waiting for the chocolate mix to boil. I also wondered how many people besides my mom and I actually cut the graham crackers to make them fit just right in the casserole dish. Then after all is done and the cake is chilling in the fridge using the broken pieces of graham crackers to clean the pudding, cool whip, and icing bowls, yum, yum! I can remember my first attempts at the dessert didn't go so well. I tried putting the icing on too soon and didn't have the cake layered evenly so it all just rolled off to the side, looking like a soupy mess. So I hope my attempt tonight still looks pretty by the time I get to work tomorrow.

Besides chocolate eclair I have also made mom's stuffed peppers a staple recipe at home, as well as her spaghetti sauce. Nothing beats the taste of home sweet home. Although I know Clay is waiting for me to master a few recipes that remind him of home, potato soup keeps coming up as a suggestion!

For any of those that read, what are your favorite recipes that remind you of your childhood home?

I'm off to hope the Hokies pull off a win!