Deer Me!

For Eileen's Saturday's Critters I have some more mule deer photos to share!

two little ones through the deck fence

 

"Just passing by" the side of the house

Resting doe and magpie

"Hey, what's this?  There's seed or something up here!"

Just out of reach

 

and a short video I forgot to include before when I posted the deer buck under the deck....

 

 

 

Virginia Five

Joining Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday Five and Tricky's Five on Friday with five very Virginia views captured on my recent visit....

1.  Gwaltney Store was once owned by members of the family better known for the meat company, and is now closed but stands as a monument to the days in the recent past when general stores were where one shopped!



I couldn't get a better shot of the front, as I was almost standing in the street....it's located on a curve in the road.

A view of the window

And the merchandise that is still inside...

2.  The waterways, rivers and inlets abound in the Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk area where my husband is from, and where we have lived several times over the years.  The waterways are beautiful and created the water-oriented industry and lifestyle of this "Tidewater" area since Europeans first arrived...

 

 

 

 

3.  Cotton is a common crop and has been since the early days of the state.  In September the plants haven't yet been defoliated.  There are still flowers mixed in with the cotton bolls.

 

I love cotton blossoms!

 

  

4.  Home of Smithfield Hams...

 

 

With statues of the founders at the Smithfield Headquarters building

 

photo from burlapandblue.com

and Mr. Peanut....

 

See Mom's recent Mr. Peanut post at Living Life on Main Street for more info!

 

 

 

 

 

5.  And finally, there is history.  I am not even going to go there...I could do hundreds of in-depth individual posts about Virginia History and only scrape the surface.  It is so entwined with the history of our great Nation there is far too much to include on one little number, so I will save some of it for later times....but it is a BIG part of Virginia and had to be mentioned.  So, till later....







Thankful For Mom

For Michelle's Thankful Thursday...
So thankful for my time with my Mom this past week!  I hadn't seen her in so long!   She picked me up at the Richmond airport and we had a wonderful five days visiting old familiar sites, eating out, talking and sharing, looking at photo albums and home movies. The first two shots below were taken at her church on Sunday morning.  It was an amazing visit!  I have the sweetest, most awesome mother anyone could ask for, and I am so grateful that we have had all these years to share.  She's a very special lady!  More of Virginia will be posted over the next week or so....





Visiting the Smithfield Foods hdqtrs

At a quilt exhibit in Suffolk

Black Headed Grosbeak and a question

For Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and later Anni's Bird d'Pot...I have been looking forward to sharing this bird!   These photos were taken about a month ago on our back deck, and we have only seen this particular type of bird a couple of other times, within maybe two weeks of when the shots were taken.  

female?

Now for the real question...one day about the same time I saw this bird in the top of a very tall tree.  It's coloring screams "goldfinch" but....

the tree is roughly three feet in front of and to the side of the pole in the pictures where a vulture decided to spend some time one day....

soooo.....by size comparison, wouldn't that mean that the yellow and black bird is closer to the size of a kingbird than a goldfinch?  And, if so, then WHAT is it?  I can't find anything in my books that has this exact coloring and is that size!

Brave Line of Defense

For Tom's Tuesday Treasures and Mersad's (newly re-worked) My Town Shootout Wednesday I would like to share our local Fire Station.  Hope you will join in both, or at least visit!  The Crooked River Ranch Volunteer Station recently held a breakfast fund-raiser and we were in attendance.  These are the people (and awesome trucks) that are on hand to protect us from the fires that have been raging throughout our state this summer (a couple all too close at times) and help us in medical emergencies.

Residents of our neighborhood gather for the breakfast in our beautiful modern station

The fire fighters man the line serving the food

My husband chats with Asst. Fire Chief Mark Wilson about emergency rescues.  Not only is the median age of CRR 50 years old, which means there are medical emergencies and even deaths each year, we also live in a rugged rural landscape where people sometimes fall hiking, or have other distressing situations, like snake bites.

Equipment ready!

The top notch fire trucks and emergency vehicles

Who doesn't love a pretty red fire truck!

The retired version, a vintage truck parked out front

She's earned a rest