Blue Ridge blog

A High Country's April Fools Joke....

I feel so sorry for the leaves and flowers currently budding in Boone, North Carolina. They sure are gonna feel a frosty turn of events overnight. But ya know, it's their own bloomin' fault for poking their heads out too soon. I mean, everyone knows it always gets cold again in April. Always. 73 degrees is gonna be feel like a tropical vacation once the 27 degree temps and breeze smacks me in the face when I'm shooting spring sports on Wednesday.
But this always happens up here in April. Always.

A usual day...

Hey look! This is a post without animals or my children. Heh, that comment could be considered redundant. Instead, I'm back to showing y'all the entry of spring unto these hills. My husband and I enjoyed an evening brew midst a storm while comfortably poised upon our deck. I was able to drink a beer, shoot this scene and listen to his eventful day all at the same time. I savored it all. I'm a mean multi-tasking Marie, that's what.

For those interested: I used a tripod and and a really cheap Cokin neutral density graduated filter to photographically aid me. It was important to me to bring out the white blossoms of the ornamental crabapple tree as well as the hint of red blush in the other trees. Maybe I should have added some exposure to bring out the mid-tones, but this is what it is- a photo by Marie of today.

Hippie Hill in Boone, North Carolina

A sure sign Spring is in the air is the site of students gathering on the lawn of Hippie Hill. Yesterday, there was a pleasant little group chilling out, playing hackey sack and watching traffic flow on King Street. Cake was blasting on the boombox. I stopped and visited the students. I told them I too had lived in the Rock House on Hippie Hill back in the mid-80's. It was just me, a bunch of nice kids who I didn't really know so well, and the biggest rats in town. I immensely enjoyed the communal-like experience then...especially because there was always someone around, hanging out. The music of choice in my day was the Grateful Dead and someone always had a spare beer to share.
It was kinda neat to spend a few minutes remembering my King Street/Hippie Hill days. And, after talking with the students, I found that little had changed. The kids assured me that even the rats still like to linger in the area.

A cloudy day...

OK. Hitting Photoshop's Auto Level button makes this image much more ominous than it was in reality. The real photo is much more flat and grey--still cool looking though not nearly as contrasty between highlights and shadows. I'm not sure what kind of clouds these are, they could be Mammatus clouds but I'm no expert. As I came to work this morning I could barely keep my eyes on the road for watching the swirly textured skies above...
It is raining now and forecasters are predicting that it will be a good day for ducks.

Here ya go, Jo! This is the original photo un-Photoshopped.

****Update****
Chuck sent me this email. He is both a photographer and a pilot nearby in Tennessee so knows a bit more about clouds than me. He says:

What you have on the "Cloudy Day" posting are probably Kelvin-Hemholtz wave clouds that
are more or less embedded in an overcast. They look different from
the better known lenticular clouds that look like a stack of
saucers. Wave clouds are one of the prizes you get for living in the
mountains. I don't think these are a mammatus formation.

The picture looks just a bit like an Abraham's Tree formation, but
probably is not. I really think it is a Kelvin_Hemholtz
formation. Here is a Link to the only picture I have been able to find of this truly odd formation on the Internet
Thanks for the info, Chuck.

Going above and beyond...

It was a relatively calm day on Grandfather Mountain. Wind gusts were only 35-45 mph. It was spitting snow. A group of Grandfather Mountain employees decided the time was just right to install a new anemometer atop the Mile High Swinging Bridge. In a couple of days, everybody in the whole wide world will be able to see what the weather is like on Grandfather Mountain's Mile High Bridge. Hopefully. The technology in such extreme conditions is a work in progress--so check back often.
Me?
I was happily planted terra firma hoping I would not be forced to document a bizarre tragedy--especially because these guys were not only particularly nice but it was righteously cold up there despite the temperate February weather. These guys are rock stars! There is no possible way I would climb that ladder. Ok, I might, but not without every single one of those dudes at the base holding on. Even then, I would be nervous and someone would need to dangle a cold beer, like a carrot, nearby. Truly, the only way it would work for me is to guarantee an excellent shot (of the photographic variety) could be taken from that vantage point...

Notes: To even out the highlights and shadows of this photo, I took liberal advantage of the 'curves' in Photoshop. Additionally, I did use a high-powered flash to better capture the humans against the sun and clouds....

The cornfield is colder than it looks...

I briefly shared this field of fodder with out about one hundred and fifty crows for five minutes, or so. It snowed today the way it does up here--on and off and on again. It really isn't too impressive until you drive through a snow squall as the sun shines and the flakes of snow fall magically as they do in digital movies. I have not yet found a way to capture it upon my compact flash card. And somehow this photo fails to translate how freakin' cold the wind is. This scene is of the Mast General Store Annex's backside from the perspective of the Valle Crucis Park, just so you know.

Now, for my family news...
By the time most of you read this, Harley will be under the knife. Yep, at 8 a.m. on Friday she will have her torn ACL kinda sorta tethered back into place. She was injured about 3 weeks ago while we were on a walk. Frankly, it has been pitiful to see her limp through the days. But you know Harley, she smiles through the worse of times--bless her heart. I didn't say anything about it here because we were given many, many options--some which were more expensive than say, sending my eldest to Appalachian State University for an entire year and I needed to think and be a grown-up and decide all by myself the right course of action. I am confident in her doctor and the procedure she will have and of course I will take a photo of Harley smiling afterward. She is such a good dog--the best dog ever...

A few snow photos...

 

All of these photos were taken in Valle Crucis, North Carolina today. Click to get a better view of each image. More area photos by by Brent who also has some freakin' awesome tunes  on his blog. I'm going to go chill now....

It is 10:49 a.m. and nary a flake of snow in sight....

...but if the noise level of clucking office clerks or bread lines in the grocery store are a weather indicator, we are in for a doozy of a storm. Personally, I don't think it is a big deal. People just want another day off from work...
But I'm in it for the ride so I'll let you know as soon as whatever is going to happen, happens.
Here is our current radar .

I was deeply sadden to see one of my favorite cartoonists has passed away. Zoinks!

All heck, I just posted this and it starts snowing. It is 10:59 and there are many flakes in the air.

Snow Kidding...

Just sitting here watching the other football National Championship game because I promised this huge Buckeye fan that I would. I also promised I'd root for her team...

Also keeping an eye on the weather. Looks like SNOW on Tuesday. Some models even predict white out conditions. Keep checking back on Tuesday and I'll give you a look see at the weather up here.

Weather or not....

I spent an enormous chunk of time yesterday at Valle Crucis Park looking for birds and attempting to document the focusing issues I'm having with one of my lenses for the repairman to understand. The park is a favorite place for both birds and birdwatchers . I have no clue what kind of bird this is, but I found it posing for me while perched upon a cattail near the edge of the pond. It looks like a sparrow, but I have been wrong before. So if someone knows what it is....

So all everyone is talking about these days is the warm weather and lack of snow. After talking with a bunch of old timers last week it was pointed out that there is a whole lot of winter left. And, as they also were quick to add, this winter has started out exactly like the winter of 1960. My new studded snow tires are ready...