Mr. AJ!

Take Me Out...

To the ballgame we went on the best Saturday of 2007 up here. On a gorgeous day, Angela, AJ, Bic, Titus, and I went to watch the Hokies play top ranked North Carolina. Bic’s cousin is a pitcher for the Tar Heels and his kin were there as well. It was a great lazy day to watch baseball. We brought a Weber grill and sat under the thin shade of a tree about to bloom. The greatest thing was we actually won, 6-3! Though we lost the three game series, the new coach will build a good program in the ACC. AJ had some difficulty sitting still despite several other dogs nearby he wanted to sniff, but we gave him some hot dogs… which is only mildly ironic. The small stadium was packed and many students enjoyed sunning themselves on the adjacent hill. We are playing UVA this weekend there, and are considering a bigger grill out this time, as well as learning interesting tidbits to yell at the wahoos.

The Huckleberry

Due to the great Spring weather, we were able to enjoy one of the great advantages of living in the New River Valley. An old railroad grade has been turned into a paved trail connecting Blacksburg and Christiansburg through woods and well tended farms. With a warm day reaching the low 80s, we got AJ out of the house as he had become stir crazy from a lack of walks. Parking on campus, AJ immediately made friends with Tech’s cows. AJ sniffed out the cows, and then his tail started wagging as one came up to him, which scared the little guy. His barks attracted other cows, which proceeded to follow us along the fence. Angela is skittish around cattle, so we quickened our pace as a silent, ominous crowd of cows followed us. But after jogging and bike riding the Huckleberry many times as students, we enjoyed the coming of warmer weather! We didn’t find where that crazy guy, Morva, was hiding out. Nothing was really in bloom yet to hide anyone.

Spring!

Angela and I were able to eat lunch outside for the first time today! The 70 degree weather is great after months of frigid temperatures and wind chills. Seeing daffodils bloom on campus is a welcome touch of color!

Ferocious Hunter

Stuffed mice beware!

The French

St. Pats

We had intended to celebrate St. Patrick’s day in style as usual in Blacksburg, but Angela came down with a bad sinus infection, so we relaxed and watched basketball all day.
Tall James brought us some green shamrock bread, which was really good! Unfortunately the Hokies lost to the Salukis… but really, when are we going to make the NCAA tournament again?! Our roommate, Bic, was in Columbus for the game and seems to have had a great time on Ohio State’s campus.

Fort Monroe

Later Spring Break we had a chance to visit Fort Monroe in Hampton, VA. Angela’s childhood friend, Jen Wyse, who is now a grad student at VPI, was interested in checking out the Casemate museum. She had just written a paper on the “beast” Ben Butler of Civil War fame and wanted to check out where he had proclaimed the “contraband” decision essentially freeing slaves who made their way to Union armies. Along with Nathan, Jen’s man, we checked out where Jeff Davis was held in jail for a few years for his alleged connection to the Lincoln assassination. Fort Monroe is a neat little base still used by the US Army and would be a great place to be stationed, but it is about to be closed. After we checked out the museum, we took a walk on the old embankment, and were rather surprised to find a pet cemetery. We discovered headstones as old as the late 1800s, mainly of dogs. I suppose officers can bury pets up there, around the old gun emplacements?!

Groomed Dogs

While in Virginia Beach seeing Dad Burley again, we had AJ and Lizzie groomed. As an odd, formerly abused dog, AJ did his best to bite anyone at the grooming place, which usually cuts show poodles. He was not very happy with us when we picked him up, and I personally miss his curls.

Fort Trumbull

While visiting Tony, we had the opportunity to visit old Fort Trumbull near where the Eagle (America’s Tall Ship) was docked. The Fort was built in the 1830s as one in a string of coastline defenses (which included Fort Monroe in Hampton). Tony told us the Coast Guard Academy used to be at Fort Trumbull until the 1930s when it was moved to the other side of New London. Apparently he was disappointed that the academy was not moved elsewhere, like Florida. In any case, the Fort was well preserved and has been turned into a state park, though the interior of the fort was closed off when we were there. We were able to get near the Eagle, which was docked across the river from Electric Boat which makes most of the submarines for the Navy. The enlisted Coast Guard people on the Eagle waved to Tony, who will soon command them! The Eagle is a weatherly tall ship we plundered from the Germans at the end of World War 2 and now used to train Coast Guard cadets. Tony will spend six weeks on her this summer in the Caribbean… tough life!

Show me your Guns!

Cadet Freak Burley defending the sub base...behind those aviators!

Sub Mariners!

While in Connecticut, we took a visit across the Thames to check out the US Navy’s submarine museum, adjacent to the Groton Sub base. We were pleasantly surprised at how nice and thorough the museum was. After checking out some exterior displays we wandered through new display galleries marking the history of the US submarine force. The highlight of the museum is the tour of the first nuclear powered sub, the Nautilus. Encased in glass within the Nautilus was a first printing of Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” hence the name. The greatest disappointment in the museum was the snub at Southern submarines. A “yankee” mini-sub, the Turtle was developed to combat the blockading British navy in the Revolutionary War outside New York. The timeline of sub history picks up after the American Civil War, apparently overlooking the CSS Hunley, which actually sunk a ship. I suppose the natives of Connecticut were still sensitive towards the Housatonic, sunk by the Hunley outside Charleston. We discovered a somber display on the USS Wahoo, which was sunk in 1942 apparently by its own torpedo.

New London, CT

New London, CT...home of the United States Coast Guard Academy and Cadet Anthony "FREAK" Burley, c/o 2010.

Mystic Pizza

I didn’t have to work the week of spring break, so James and I decided we would go visit Tony at the Coast Guard Academy! We hadn’t seen him there since we dropped him off for swab summer last July, and we didn’t know when we would get a chance to go and visit again, so we decided to go. It was only about an 11 hour drive, so we got there Saturday night in time for dinner. We ate at Mystic Pizza, a famous pizza joint where Julia Roberts filmed “Mystic Pizza.” The pizza was actually fabulous, and the restaurant is in a quaint whaling town that has been restored. It was very cute, and I would love to spend more time there during the day, especially at some of the galleries and boutiques. Tony was allowed to stay out until 1:00 am, so we went back and watched movies before we took him back to base. On Sunday morning we went to church on campus, which has an absolutely gorgeous chapel and listened to Tony sing in the choir. It’s funny at church, because you can tell which class is which by the way the cadets dress. First years have to wear their uniform at all times, which kind of look like pilots’ uniforms.
Second years can wear khakis and a coast guard academy polo, which Tony is very excited about, and Third and Fourth years can wear whatever they want to.

Glowstick Fun!

I am such a little kid, and love things that glow in the dark! James and I brought lots of glowsticks to play with for Sarah and Abigail’s birthday…and it was so much fun. We made balls and necklaces and bracelets, and played outside in the cold with them. Grandma Gouger made a “bling bling” necklace with three balls that was awesome, and even AJ had a glowing collar. I’m sure the people driving by that night thought something crazy was happening at the farm, which made us laugh! When we were done playing with them, we decorated the front porch so that everyone driving by would enjoy a nice scene!!

Virginians!

It is sooooo good to be back in Virginia!! This is where we were meant to be! We love the winter and all of the beauty it brings. James and I intend to enjoy every chance of it we get!!

Can you see me?

The Old Mill

For three years now, I’ve wanted to go to the old mill at the farm, but it was always the wrong season. You can only go in the winter, because the path is too over grown in the spring, summer, and fall, and last time they went during the spring, Abigail picked up a copper head. So…it’s safest to say the winter is the time to do it. We went on an awesome short hike through the woods to the creek. Branches kept hitting us in the head, and Colin wasn’t too impressed with the branches, but we made it! Abigail and Brent have this awesome baby carrier for him… I think we are going to get a doggy one, because AJ was super tired out by the time we got back. The mill is from the late 1700s, and probably went out of commission in the 1830s. Some of the maps show the mill and some of them don’t, so there is some conflicting data as the size, purpose, and age of the mill. The ruins are really neat though! I enjoy being around ruins, because it makes you think about the past so much, and how awesome it is something could survive for hundreds of years! We got some awesome pictures while we were there…we only had seven digital cameras!! :-) We looked for the wheel, but couldn’t find it, although it has been seen before. >We think the hole was filled up, and we couldn’t differentiate between the wheel and the rest of the rocks. We followed the creek down to the old dam, which was also very neat!