Blue Ridge blog

Today's Tom Sawyer...

With apologies to the band 'Rush' for the title of this post, it is none-the-less more appropriate than any other. You see, today was Earth Day and I found The Last American Man working a piece of wild cherry into a utensil on Sanford Mall. Yup. I found Eustace Conway again. Don't know him? He founded Turtle Island Preserve This quote sums him up, almost:

"Like Thoreau, Eustace has gone to the woods to live deliberately, fronting only the essential facts of life, to see if he could not learn what it had to teach, and not when he came to die discover that he had not lived. He has lived in the woods for over 20 years. He learns by visiting extremes; once when Eustace severely cut his thumb, he sewed it back together with twelve stitches, and used plant medicine."

Most outsiders adore Eustace. The rest of us appreciate his marketing genius as well as his ability to turn  hillbilly living into a commodity. Heck, even Tom Sawyer could only convince others to do his hard work for a limited amount of time. Yet City folks still queue to have Eustace allow 'em to do the really grubby hard ass work of mountaineer living after a decade and half. Still, Blogs and the mainstream media continue to be amazed at his choice of everyday life.
But, who can blame them. Eustace has an affectious personality. Personally, I like his smile. Sigh.

( A personal note to Dr. Fletcher via the BRB from Eustace Conway: Dr. Fletcher, Your photography class still stays with me after all these years. It tickles me to be able to pass this message along to you through a blog, whatever that is. The word 'blog' sounds like 'blob,' like a mass bigger than I know what to do with. Still, I hope you are well. Eustace)

Coming full circle...

Perry Greene held audience yesterday as he sat on his John Deere Sulky plow while being pulled by three Belgian Percherons in the field behind the Mast General Store Annex.

"Ya just don't see this see sort of thing much anymore, " one passerby commented.

While resting his horses, I ask Perry why he enjoyed tinkering with this antique method of farming thinking his answer would lean towards the aesthetic and reminiscent yesteryears.
Instead his response was more telling:
"It's cheaper than paying for the diesel fuel to run the tractor and besides, this field is going to be used to grow feed for these horses. Reckon they ought to work for their meals."

If gas price continue to rise, we may see more and more of this...

I've been missing my Valle Crucis News. I found out it is temporarily being stored here.

Blazing new trails....

I might fall asleep before I finish this post...
On my second holiday I ventured up Hwy 143 in Carter County, Tn., line to the border of NC @ Carver's Gap. I was hesitant to hike the grassy highland balds alone, but couldn't find a hiking partner. I really missed Harley...but was armed with my camera, backpack and taser. I mounted Round Bald and went all the way to Grassy Ridge Bald. On Jane Bald I stopped and ate an apple and contemplated absolutely nothing of importance but do remember asking myself why anyone needs drugs when they can get high on a mountain? Seriously, the feelings of being so close to what truly is large compared to how immeasurably small one is, seems easy to see on the Appalachian Trail.

The above photo is a familiar blaze marking the northward trail towards Jane Bald and Grassy Ridge.

Lingering snow on the fraser firs frame the Black Mountains and Mount Mitchell (far far right) in the background.

Checking back southwest from atop Jane Bald towards Tennesse looking at Round Bald and Roan Mountain.
I ate my apple on this here rock.

Looking Northeast I have attempted to note from left: Stone Mtn, Ashe County, Hump Mtn (foreground), Beech Mtn, Sugar Top and Grassy Ridge Bald.

Mark VanDyke schools me with his seasonal images from the Highland Balds. Go see. He's got some phenomenal images.
Wanna know more? Here is a wiki on Roan Mountain

Oh and if you are at all curious about what happens when you accidentally fire a taser: When test firing it without reading the instructions or watching the DVD, I found that not only are you left with a potentially electrocuted body, but also with a metal hypodermic needle attached to at least 40 feet of trout fishing line and a room full of confetti.
My husband was not nearly as amused as I was. But that is a story for another day:)

An Appalachian 'almost' Spring...

It was hard for me to chose which shot to share with you from the 8 gigs of photos I took on my Monday holiday. I spent my entire day hiking trails around the Grandfather and Linville area off the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is almost spring in the Southern Appalachians yet you couldn't tell from the ocassional snow showers and fiesty winds which prevailed during the day. The shot above was taken around 6:30 pm from just beyond the Scotchman on Hys 105 at the Tynecastle intersection. The snow was intense yet not nearly as daunting as the effects of the cold temperatures upon my fingers. I fumbled with a neutral density filter to subdue to masked sun through the clouds. I should have used a tripod but after a long day of shooting, was lazy.
Tomorrow I may venture the Appalachian Trail near Carver's Gap on Roan Mountain....depends how soon I wake up.
Hey. Did y'all see National Geographic has printed an online map: Discover Appalachia? It is interesting, yet I find that many of the sights and scenes I value as Appalachian icons aren't noted. Maybe this is for the best...

Cold toes and a piggie nose, that's what Marie's morning was made of....

Today I got a much needed dose of Valle Crucis. I went to the Goodnight Family farm and visited piggies. At first I thought they had escaped, but after a few minutes noticed a huge pile of mud in the pen. Upon closer inspection, the pile of mud was piggies in disguise. They were sleeping in. Lazy pigs. They were happy to see me, until it was clear I did not come bearing piggie gifts.
Everything about the spring morning was refreshing, especially the frosty grass. I wandered over to the Valle Crucis wetlands and waited for the sun to illuminate the reeds. During my patient moments I noted the singing birds recognizing the happy season, though my cold toes missed the point entirely.

Purple-y

I took this photo yesterday morning just before sunrise. I propped the camera on the deck railing to get this exposure. The real image is blue but because I'm in a purple-y mood, I did it my way.

I'll keep my weekend excitement brief and devoid of too many easily googled details.

A stranger broke into our house in the wee hours of Sunday morning and woke me up. The man was intoxicated. I was scared but surprisingly calm. I was able to coax him out of the house and call the police who later found him nearby.

Turns out, there was a wide-open party somewhere nearby. The cops came and the drunken kids scattered like cockroaches. I was the lucky recipient of the one cockroach who lost his way in efforts to flee through the woods. According to my youngest, at least five high school seniors were arrested this weekend.
All I can add is the kid picked the right house in our neck of the woods to wander into. Many folks round here don't take kindly to surprise strangers in the night. Their policy is to shoot intruders first and ask questions later.

Now here's some pleasant news near and dear to my heart:

Appalachian receives a grant to digitize historic photos. And there is already public access to some images in this collection.  Cool stuff--Go. Look. See. .

In retrospect...

In honor of the last home football game Corey Lynch, Kevin Richardson, Nick Cardwell and other Appalachian State University seniors will ever play and/or see as students at 'The Rock' Friday evening, I thought I'd share a couple of photos I found while digging through files at work.
The above photo is former ASU coach, Kidd Brewer. I don't know who took this photo, maybe Jamie Fletcher in the late '80's early '90's, but the man's name tag clearly reads 'Kidd Brewer.' And he is in the stadium named for him.
Trivia: His son, Captain Kidd Brewer, Jr. was featured in the movie, "The Abyss and died in a diving accident very close to the date when this photo was taken.
More on Kidd Brewer stadium via Wikipedia may be read here.

Next, we have a photo of Current ASU football coach Jerry Moore.

Again, I don't know the date of this photo but I am grooving on the 'Black Saturday' t-shirts the football buddies are wearing. I'd love to have one of these retro shirts in a large size;)
And check out Jerry's not-so-gray hair. If I had to guess, this photo is circa 1990, which means one of my daughters was almost 2 and the other was less than 6 months old. The children in this photo may have the next generation of students in the next 10 years or so... Math was never my forte...
Last but not least: Check out these ASU graphics of the ASU Yosef and ASU football helmet. The newspaper had sheets of these hieroglyphics which would be pasted via wax to the sports pages before being shot by the large camera--back in the day, ya know...
Again, not sure of the date...

Among other things, this post touches on tires, tobacco and the quest for the old mountain jug....

Nothing quite shouts November up here in the mountains like burley hanging from the barn rafters. If'n you've never had the pleasure of smelling curing tobacco in a barn, well, I recommend you put that on your 'do' list.

On the Appalachian homefront:
This weekend it is the Mountaineers vs. Catamounts in a battle for the Old Mountain Jug. I'll be there cheering on Team Yosef. Perhaps more touching is it is also Military Appreciation Day as well. I can already imagine the noise in the stadium as 25,000 plus fans cheer for our veterans.

And here's a bit of news:
Jets sign Marques Murrell. It is not difficult to understand why as he is a two time first team All American. The following photo of Marques was taken on the sideline of the football game against Gardner-Webb.

Post Office-Boone, NC

Shhhh...I'm going to tell you a secret so don't tell anybody. OK?

If I don't want to stand in line at the main post office on Blowing Rock Rd., or if I'm not up to risking life or limb to turn left crossing the traffic, I take my packages to the King Street location where the world's most friendly postal clerks work. The WPA era building was constructed in 1938 and is on the National Registry. Inside is a delightful mural depicting Daniel Boone out on a hunting trip. Here's another image, a postcard of the building sans tree. Note the postcard reads 'circa 1920,' but I beg to differ with that date.
I took this image of the Boone post office a day or two ago because the maple tree still had most of it's leaves and I liked the bright blue sky.
Note: I had to do some yoga moves to get this angle. My cheek was resting on the damp ground.

A Hillbilly Hanger

I was up at the Danner Cemetary yesterday when I noticed this leaf tangled up in the barbed wire nearby. Hanging Rock is in the background of the image. I don't know, I just thought to share this photo with you because the frost photos I tried to take this morning were pathetic. Plus, my toes froze in the process and put me in an ornery mood. 26 degrees. That's what the temperature was this morning. Grrr. I mean, brrr.