Deep Freeze

Each year, Barb and I go to our timeshare at Canaan Valley, West Virginia in early January.  It provides a wonderful change of scenery and a welcome respite from the busy Christmas season.  It's a time for calm and relaxation.  This year, however, has been a little different because it got cold.  Really cold.

The thermometer in our car read "minus seven" degrees at 11:30 am on Tuesday, January 7.  I was lucky the engine caught quickly and started because the battery didn't have much juice left in it because of the cold weather.  I let the car engine run for several minutes to warm up before moving.  This question is often asked: "How does it feel when it gets that cold?"  To me there isn't much difference between "minus seven" degrees and zero degrees.  It just feels cold.

Among the victims of the bitterly cold weather are the wildlife.  I found these two geese at the pond outside of "Big Johns Restaurant" in the heart of Canaan Valley.  It's a landmark and the porch of the restaurant is adjacent to a pond that is populated with lots of hungry fish and a few birds.  These geese were keeping a small hole open at the pond and you will notice how they have their heads turned back and inward to shield against the strong wind.  Normally, Canaan Valley is populated with lots of deer, ground hogs, and bear, but none of them were to be seen today.
Too cold.

The other creatures that were missing in this cold weather were people. Last night, when the recorded temperatures in nearby Davis, West Virginia dropped to "minus 15 degrees", the Canaan Valley State Park closed their ski lifts.  There was only one car left at the facility. Probably a maintenance person to keep an eye on the lodge.  And the town of Davis was empty at Noon today when I drove through.

Yesterday, we visited Blackwater Falls. This is what we found:

First eggs

Our neighbors, Barb, and I have had a lot of fun this year with our four hens that we raised from chicks and it has prompted us to learn a great deal about chickens.  But the payoff always was the eggs.

What would they look like?  Would they be misshapen or fragile with thin shells?  Would they be brown as we had hoped? Which hen would be the first? How soon would they start laying eggs?

Yesterday came the first eggs!  Both smallish (as we had been told they would be) but both with strong shells and a nice brown color.  The only question would be: which hen was responsible?  And since we got two eggs in a 12 hour period, was it two hens that laid the eggs.  More questions. More mysteries.  I can only report that the Buff Orpington (Buffy, as Art likes to call her) was particularly vocal yesterday morning.  I rewarded them with sunflower seeds and adult chicken food. This morning, all of them were up on the roof of their coop or on their roost bar which is five feet off the ground. They are big girls now and we can't wait for the next eggs to arrive.

What a neat Christmas present!

Volunteering fun

I have been helping my high school class find missing classmates in preparation for our 50^th reunion next year (see www.catonsville1964.com) and I discovered that one of the classmates uses the name “volunteeringfun” in her e-mail address.  What a wonderfully appropriate description of what I have been experiencing this year.

It’s been said many times that you “get more than you receive” when you volunteer and that certainly was the case when my Cockeysville church (Epworth UMC) sent 24 volunteers to the annual Goodwill Thanksgiving dinner to help serve.  John McGucken was again the perfect “Santa Claus” and he was helped several of our youth who were “elves”.  In part, it was fun because it was multi-generational.  The energy and vitality of the youth brings a little livelier step for us older folks.

I’ve been doing a lot of other things for my church this year including

construction of a new office, going on a mission trip, and even painting several of the exterior doors to the church to give them a consistent dark green color.  I also helped paint the storage shed and that’s when I got to learn about the new HVLP latex paint sprayers.  Very ingenious.  I’m also the “sign guy” who changes the message in front of the church and now I have been tapped to be the chair of the Staff-Parish Relations Committee.  It’s a lot of work, but its fun.

The Hereford Community Association needed my help this year with representing them at the Baltimore County Police Community Association meetings.  This was a particularly good fit for me because of the many years that I served on the Washington, D.C. Police/Media Relations Council.  It was a place where police and media officials could discuss their problems without being in the heat of a crisis and an opportunity to build trust.  In the 60s and 70s, trust was a big issue separating those groups.  I found that trust can still be an issue today when people don’t know how they feel about devices that automatically scan their license plates at shopping centers and create a record of where they have been.

The Baltimore Public Relations Council is another place where I volunteer (I’m their treasurer) and except for a snafu concerning our tax –exempt status, it also has been a lot of fun.  It’s an opportunity for me to keep my hand in media relations, hang out with a lot of people that I truly respect, and even get a free meal once in a while.

Volunteering fun.

Roy, the fast growing kitten

I have mentioned Roy a couple times, but this is the whole story.
Roy came to us from "Lucky Cat Rescue" which has a volunteer named Kara Stambach who attends our church.  She had mentioned to Barb (my wife!) that she had kittens that had been rescued from a Habitat for Humanity project by a worker named Roy. Kara works for Habitat for Humanity and is a wonderful person.  Barb, who also is a wonderful person, accepted the offer.   Here's how Lucky Cat Rescue works.  Volunteers like Kara take in the cats after they have been found and they go through a process in which they are checked out by veterinarians who participate in the rescue service and before they are released to families, they are spayed.  By the time you get a kitten, it has been nursed back to health and thoroughly checked out.  Turns out the person who created Lucky Cat Rescue is Sally Gibson. another remarkable person who is the schedule keeper for Jay A. Perman, MD, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore where I used to work.  But I learned that later.  The fee for the Lucky Cat Rescue cats is $100 and they come with their shots already done.

Roy came to us as a very small kitten and we weren't sure what to expect. The first couple days were spent with Roy being very tentative and unsure about his new surroundings.  But slowly, his "world" began to widen and he started to cuddle and spent the nights with Barb and me in bed...usually with his body touching both of us at the same time.  He also developed a very loud "purr" which delighted us.  And he developed a habit of sleeping close to our heads...often with his back against the headboard.  Can't explain why he does that, but we enjoy it.

Of course, now he is getting much bigger and he loves to play!  One of his favorite tricks is to follow us into the shower and play patty cake with our legs as the water drains down our body.  He also likes to lick the shower water, so there is no accounting for his taste.  Kara was kind enough to send along a box of toys and a scratching pad for Roy which keeps him and us busy. Surprisingly, one of his favorite items to chase is a foil ball.  It's very light and moves quickly.

Now Roy wants his world to expand.  He had taken his first steps outside (without our permission, I might add) as he was pursuing a chipmunk that was feasting on the droppings from our bird feeders in the front yard.  Roy never made the pounce toward the chipmunk but he was very observant. He is spending more time now at the windows looking outside to watch the birds and anything else that is moving.  But for now, he is our loving, fun, active little guy who is behaving like a teenager.

Now, a brief update on the chickens who are approaching three months old.  They are due to begin laying eggs at the five or six month mark, so we have begun making preparations.  We added electricity to their coop so we can heat their water during the winter (there is a light bulb hidden inside that concrete block) and we added light to their chicken coop so they wake up at 4am even though the days are getting shorter.  They continue to grow and our neighbor Art is spicing their menu with lots of other things that hens like including sunflower seeds and warm oatmeal!  Who knew?

My quiet 67th birthday

This was supposed to be a low-key and quiet birthday with no celebration.  After all, we already had plans to do a joint birthday dinner for Barb and me on Oct. 16.  Barb’s birthday is the 28^th and mine is on the 12^th.  Our son, Matt, and his girlfriend Mary Louise Roberts had planned to bring us a wonderful meal.

But the day got started with our new kitten named “Roy” deciding that he wanted to make my day special and he got in my face every way possible to insist that I know that he is purring up a storm and wanted to snuggle while I was at my computer checking e-mails.  What a guy!  We have had him for a few weeks and he has doubled in size.  He is a “rescue cat” that came to us from Kara Stambach, a member of our church, and the Lucky Cat Rescue.  A gentleman named Roy found our kitten after it was abandoned in a Habitat project and Kara nursed our Roy back to health.  He is so much fun…full of energy…and runs around the house like crazy and then plops on our laps or shoulders and purrs loudly.  We are so grateful to Kara.

Then we headed out for the main event of the day, a trip on the “Steam into History” steam railroad out of New Freedom, Pennsylvania.  The event was sponsored by the Epworth Everybody Else group at our church (nicknamed E3s) and it began with everyone gathering at a nice café in the heart of New Freedom close to the train tracks.

We arrived just in time to see the replica steam engine arrive from the morning trip.  Lots of loud whistles and the sound of live steam gushing from the engine.  How exciting!

Across the street from the restaurant was the company store where they had lots of Civil War memorabilia, puzzles, games, clothing, and toys to enhance your railroad experience.  Nearby, there was also a museum in the old New Freedom train station.

Our goal was Hanover Junction.  The historical importance of this railroad is the Lincoln took these trains to get to Gettysburg to deliver his famous address and Hanover Junction was the connecting point that

allowed Lincoln’s train to connect to Gettysburg.  Regrettably, it was also the same route where Lincoln’s body was taken back to Illinois for burial following his assassination.

The route from New Freedom to Hanover Junction is only ten miles long. The trip takes an hour.  But it was filled with beauty as we saw small towns, large farms, and numerous streams, rivers, and creeks adjacent to the tracks.  The railroad featured volunteers in period costumes and a talented minstrel who entertained us with songs along the

way.  On the route back, the conductor was a walking/talking history lesson.  I thoroughly enjoyed it. I shot 95 pictures and posted them on Picasa here.

And then my day got even better!  Waiting for me in my computer was a nifty video performed…and created…by our other wonderful son, Robert, who lives in Portland.  I liked it so much that I posted it on VIMEO and hope you will check it out:  https://vimeo.com/76779158  I continue to be amazed and grateful for the creativity of our sons.

And finally, a heartfelt “thanks” to all of the folks who posted a happy birthday wish on Facebook. Thank you.  It has really made this day special.

Two month old chickens can fly

Our hens are two months old now.  Their birthday was Saturday, October 5th.  They are thriving in their new outdoor chicken coop and their chicken run.  They are friendly, calm, and surprisingly able to fly.  The Plymouth Rock takes particular pleasure in flying up to the roost which is five feet off the ground.  I'm quite amazed.  I asked my neighbor, Art Wannlund (who enjoys the chickens as much as I do), for a little help identifying the breeds and this is what he was able to learn.

Chicken #1 Buff Orpington

Buff Orpingtons are a very popular breed for backyard flocks. They are extremely friendly birds, love people, and even seem to enjoy being picked up and carried around the yard. They are great chickens for children as Orpingtons might well possess the sweetest personality of the popular backyard chicken breeds. Buff Orpingtons are very hardy in all weather conditions and lay medium to large size brown eggs. Orpingtons also have a bantam (miniature) counterpart.

Chicken # 2 New Hampshire Red or Rhode Island Red

 Rhode Island Reds are very interactive chickens and are wonderful producers of medium to large size brown eggs. Though social and people oriented, they can become aggressive, especially the roosters. Overall, Rhode Island Reds are great birds to have in a backyard flock with their consistent egg production, hardiness (Rhode Island Reds are extremely hardy in both hot and cold climates), interest in people, and their entertaining antics (Rhodies have individual personalities that are endearing). Rhode Island Reds also have a bantam counterpart.

 New Hampshire Red Chickens (or simply New Hampshires) were developed from the Rhode Island Red in the early 1900's to intensify the characteristics of the Rhode Island Red in terms of hardiness, egg production, and early maturation. New Hampshire Reds are a lighter shade of red than the Rhode Island Red and like the Rhode Island Red, the New Hampshires are very interactive with people and can be extremely friendly and calm or can occasionally turn aggressive, especially the roosters. New Hampshire Reds are very hardy and tolerate heat and cold well. New Hampshires are fantastic egg producers and lay large size brown eggs. New Hampshires also have a bantam  counterpart

  

Chicken #3 Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock / Barred Rock chickens are an old American breed and come in a variety of colors: barred (most common), white, buff, and silver. Very docile and calm, Plymouth Rocks / Barred Rocks are a wonderful addition to a flock, laying large brown eggs, and are extremely hardy, especially in cold climates. Because of their kind personality, Plymouth Rocks / Barred Rocks are an excellent choice for children to raise. Plymouth Rocks / Barred Rocks also have a bantam counterpart.

Chicken #4 Delaware

Delaware chickens were developed in the state of Delaware in the mid 1900's. They are white in color with a few black speckles and are well adapted to both the heat and the cold. Delaware chickens are quite calm and friendly birds and make excellent backyard flock members. Delawares are wonderful producers of large eggs, medium to dark brown in color. Delawares also have a bantam counterpart

Busy Summer Ending

Wow.  This summer has flown by and we have so much to be thankful for!

Let me begin with a little news about our four hens.  They are seven weeks old and they now live outside.

The redwood chicken coop is their "safe house" to protect them from foxes and other vermin.  There are bricks around the base that extend down eight inches and underneath of their coop is a buried mat of wire mesh to prevent anything from digging up and up.  Outside of their home, I have built a 12' by 8' chicken "run" which has been described as the chicken palace.  It's a lot like a jungle gym with a roost five feet up for the chicks to look down on the world.  The chicken run has a wire mesh roof to keep the hawk from attacking them.

I'm told by our chicken experts at The Mill in Hereford that we can expect them to start laying eggs when they reach five months of age. While some people say the chickens will lay eggs for only two years (one a day), others tell us that we may have eggs coming our way for four or five years.  Either way, having these chickens has been a lot of fun already and our neighbor, Art Wannlund, correctly observes that "it feels like a farm now".

The next thing that has been keeping me busy has been one of my favorite activities...videotaping and editing weddings.  The first wedding was two weeks ago at the beautiful Peabody Library.  They were a young couple...Noah and Jessica...that my sister Pegg knew and it was tremendous to videotape their wedding.  They gave me permission to invite others to see the video which is posted at https://vimeo.com/74142653 . It was a beautiful service...a beautiful bride...and a beautiful setting.

And as awesome as that was, I followed it up one week later with another sensational wedding in another fabulous setting.  This was a wedding for a young lady from our church that I knew when she was growing up (yes, she's all grown up now!) and they chose to have their service at Swan Harbor Farm in Harford County next to the Chesapeake Bay. Again, I am grateful to Zach and Nicole to allow me to videotape their wedding.  Nicole's aunt officiated at the wedding.  It was beautiful and family-oriented affair.

In between these weddings, we took a little vacation during the Labor Day week down in Ocean City and have made a discovery. That's the time to go to O.C.!  The crowds thin out, but the weather was excellent and the water was warm.  I'm an old Ocean City person from my childhood and I loved it.  One of the highlights was to visit Assateague Island and see the famous horses.  What surprised me was that DNA samples from the horses have determined that the old story about them coming from a Spanish shipwreck is not true.  They are from here.

One of my other highlights from Ocean City was to get up at 5:30 a.m. twice and go down to the beach to watch the sun rise above the water. Each time, I found fishermen who were already there and actually catching fish.  Never happened to me when I tried it.  I also found the remains of this sand castle that had been built the night before.  The tide was coming in at daybreak so it wasn't long until the castle became history.  We were traveling with our good friends, Wayne and Judy Sutter, and they just made the five-day vacation even more memorable.

Another project that has been keeping me busy these

 days has been helping Pegg and Sue clear the Christmas trees from the land where their future driveway is going to go.  They are selling three lots behind our house and the driveway cuts from my driveway to an access road owned by the Ruhl family that leads back to Pegg and Sue's property.  It was pretty hard to visualize how that was going to work, so Pegg hired a contractor to remove the trees and I've since been working on cleaning up the underbrush beneath the remaining trees and digging up many of the stumps that are not part of the driveway.   I plan to re-seed the area and get some grass growing there again.

Remember that tree top that fell on me and put me into Shock Trauma for five days a couple years ago?  Well, the other half of that tree top came down during a recent storm so I decided it was time for the entire tree to come down and become firewood.  I run a little firewood business on the side mostly for my very good friends, but this wood is extraordinary.  It is red oak and its clear of any knots and very straight.  Awesome wood.  But it is going to take a year or more for the wood to season (dry out) before it will be suitable as firewood.  I have a 27 ton gasoline log splitter and I'm putting it to very good use.

Finally, a word about my Mom and her situation.  As many of you know, Mom (90 years old) had to move to Symphony Manor in Roland Park a few months ago because of her memory loss and physical condition.  Barb and I spent the afternoon with her (red slacks) on a Symphony Manor "walk" through Roland Park and it was delightful.  The highlight of my day.  This was one of her very good days and she looked terrific.  I am really grateful to have this memory of her on a very good day.

Next time, I'll tell you about "Roy"....our new kitten.