Spring Celebrations

Being back in Blacksburg has enabled us to celebrate important dates with old friends. A few weeks ago, two friends from the Marching Virginians turned 21 and 23, respectively. A large gathering of people went to a few restaurants and bars for dinner and pool to celebrate. To make the event more festive, Angela found cheap light up crowns and wands for the birthday girls. The two (Sarah and JJ) also donned self made tee shirts, which were good for a few free drinks from charitable bar tenders. Angela felt old, as she can remember Sarah's first day of band-camp as a piccolo player. :-) Bic had a merry time, leading one bar in a chorus of song, "Ole, Ole, ole, ole, oleeeeeee, ole, OLE!" He is also pictured here stealing Skippy’s beer! We left for home amidst a sudden and unexpected snow storm.

Slasher film?

It was an awesome scene for a horror movie. Six unsuspecting college students pull off on a scenic overlook to enjoy the beautiful views…little did they know what was in store for them. Evil laughing. But really, the cabin was super creepy. There was this old man sitting in his beat up truck, just hanging out I guess, the entire time we were there. At first we thought he was sleeping, but then we realized he was kind of watching us…probably not really a creepy man, but he could’ve been. Bic scared me when he came back from locking his car, and was like…that guy isn’t in his truck anymore. My heart jumped for a second…and then he was like…Just kidding!! We hiked up to this creepy “love” cabin that had very nice views. It was quite an eventful little hike!

does this place EVER get warm?

Our Texas native...

On Top of the Big V A

Being adventuresome wine tasters, we stopped at a few overlooks along the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way back to Blacksburg. Living in flat Texas for even a few months left me longing for the spectacular valley views mountainous terrain can produce. Though the day was slightly overcast and hazy, we were still presented with great views of the Old Dominion. Being unseasonably warm, some trees were starting to bud producing pockets of color to be enjoyed. At our second overlook stop, a small trail abetted the parking lot that looked enticing, at least to David, Kris, and Mary. Angela, Bic, and I followed the three up the steep incline after locking the cars. At the top was an older, sketchy cabin with a fantastic view. After some candid pictures, gnats drove us off the mountain. The weekend was great and made us hopeful for Spring, but then Winter came back. We had snow on Good Friday and a frigid Easter. The few days of 70 degree weather are to be missed, but much more appreciated when they get here.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Chateau Morrisette

Last weekend Angela rounded up a small gang of people to go off to wine country! No, not Napa Valley, but South West Virginia. Nestled outside of Floyd County and along the Blue Ridge Parkway lies the Chateau Morrisette. Angela, me, Bic, Kris, Mary, and David arrived at a luxurious expanse of vineyards and timber framed buildings. The tour was short but great, there being many curious wine tasters there. One group of more wealthy students had rented out the Hooptie Ride from Blacksburg for the event, apparently in the anticipation of consuming much wine. The tour wandered through a gigantic timber framed building with hundreds of oak barrels for the dry wines and large steel canisters for the whites. The theme is a black lab, which was the owner’s only companion when he started the winery 25 years ago. Several labs later, the current Black lab wanders around the Chateau and apparently aids in the wine process by tasting reds to help decide when they are done. After the tour, we paid 5 dollars to try over a dozen wines at a nice bar within a gift shop. Attending a wine tasting greatly aided us decide which our favorites are. Angela loves sweet whites while I really enjoyed a buttery chardonnay. Bic liked an odd red, “Chambourcin”, which had a rather leathery taste. The last wine we tasted was an expensive desert wine. This was their “Frosty Dog,” and it reminded me of drinking spiked sugar water, but I can see the appeal. After the tasting we wandered around the property and gift shop, which was conveniently placed next to the tasting area. It was a very pleasant atmosphere, as you could buy a bottle of wine, have it uncorked, and enjoy it on a patio overlooking an expanse of mountains. There was an expensive restaurant attached to the Chateau, where there was a 130 dollar “Titanic” themed dinner later that evening. After enough site seeing we headed down the Blue Ridge Parkway to catch some Spring overlooks.

Gobble Gobble!

Spring Football Practice has begun! The stories this Spring center around the offensive line, backup linebackers, running backs and defensive ends, as well as any possible signs of a quarterback controversy. It seems that Sean Glennon has indeed stepped up his game in the weight room and Ike Whitaker is out of alcohol rehab… so I suppose Beamer is going to go with an established starter/white boy from NOVA over a talented but drunken Ike. Spring Game is April 21, and we are really excited! We really can’t believe we missed a football season for grad school. We should have prioritized better! I hope I can at least make the November games of FSU, UM, and UVA as well as the bowl, depending when/if the military wants to train me or not. In any case, I feel that Jim Weaver ought to post live turkeys behind each endzone. Whenever the opposing team scores we can feed those awesome turkey legs they sell at games to the turkeys, hoping the inhumanity will inspire our philanthropic defense!

OUCH!

So, throughout a normal walk with AJ today I noticed some odd behavior. He kept stopping to lay down instead of trying to mark EVERY post we come across. After inspecting him later we discovered a tear in his left hind paw and he wasn't putting much weight on that leg. We cleaned out the paw and wrapped it up so he didn't lick it... but the bandage was temporary.

Can you hear me now?

She said she'd call... but she never did :(

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!