Fish and whistle

Posted by: ShenValleyFlyFish, 7:17 PM GMT on July 10, 2011

This is in response to some stuff over on Orca's blog so if you want to know what sparked this off (other than random firing synapses) check it out. Its a fun blog. If you lack a warped sense of humor don't bother, but then again you probably wouldn't be checking in here.

Trees and folks I have Known

Re: Chestnut
I grew up on Chestnut Ridge. Used to be if you hiked back in far enough you could come across trunks of old trees that had toppled over. Any time an old structure is torn down around here they scrounge through the timbers and lumber for salvage. Old fence rails are a premium, most have been bought up by "Renovators". I have actually eaten American chestnuts, they are sort of like prime 'shine, a currency of their owen based on friendship. What a loss!

Re: Locust
Yep that's a Geeky Response. :)

Lumber can be bought, just have to know which saw- mill/yard to go to.

Since I too have geekizoid tendencies I know the black/honey dichotomy. However depending on who you are talking to the term Honey Locust can be confusing as the Black Locust is the more prolific bloomer so you actually get more honey from that. The nomenclature is based on the taste of the pods. WARNING : Black pods are toxic raw. "Some folks say you can eat em if they been boiled, but I ain't nervier tried so I don't recommended it." What He said!

If you are sticking to the vernacular you say black/yellow. Black is the preferred for lumber. Both are prized as firewood although yellow (honey) is more commonly used as it rarely attains saw-log diameter and is fairly easy to obtain if you have connections with farmers. It "Volunteers" in poorer soils and is allowed to grow as it has some nitrogen fixing abilities and is nontoxic to stock. Black will "colic a horse in a heartbeat and ain't none too good for cattle neither"). However it is a "trashy tree" - breaks up in storms - so if you "get in right" with a couple of folks who have a bunch in their pastures they are glad for you to come in spring and fall and "ride around and clean things up". However you better "buck it up on the spot and split any you got to the minute you git home cause it'll turn harder than a rock you let it lying around." Which is true. I've seen it make a chainsaw "bounce and dull on the very first cut" , not mine I was standing there laughing. It is "the very dickens to split a dried out chunk, but it can be done iffen you know how to read the grain and an' work a mall en wedge. Even then you better wait for a cold day when your bout to run out of seasoned stuff an desperate for sumpen to throw in the stove first to keep the fire agoen' till the green wood dries out an catches. Otherwise your gonna wear yourself out an roll it down in some ditch in the field to cut down on the wash out." I've done both.

The old folks always said "Iffen a storm comes up don't be close to no locust tree cause they draw lightening and blow up cause of all the the sap they got under the bark, so if the lightening don't git ya all them pieces a flying will". I always assumed that It was one of those things based on coincidence turned into lore, since all the ones I had ever seen struck were volunteers standing in the middle of a pasture. One day one of my friends called me up to tell me to come over to because he had something I would want to see. A bolt of lightening had struck a locust not far from his country cabin. The tree had literally exploded with pieces breaking through one of his windows and covering the front porch and lawn. The cabin was located in a little "draw" close to a spring creek the way the "old timers" built to be close to a water source and out of the wind so there were much taller trees in the vicinity that I would have expected to be hit. There had been several weeks of dry weather previous to the storm coming through so I guess it was the most conductive thing in the vicinity. Anyhow my advice is stay out from under a tree during a lightening storm, particularly a locust.

Well, that's bout all I got to say about that.

However, who knows which side of the ridge and what sign of the moon to cut your fence posts if you want them to last? I plumb forgot. I know who to ask but he ain't handy.

Credit where do:
Most of the quotes are manufactured from memories of Lester Myers and Robert Lambert talking to my Father and both had better grammar than i've produced for effect.

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4572 3:15pm 6/10/11

Updated: 7:56 PM GMT on July 10, 2011

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Last Blast

Posted by: ShenValleyFlyFish, 6:55 PM GMT on July 08, 2011

I swore I was going to let this place die of neglect. However it doesn't seem quite fair to keep dumping the products of my compulsion to rant on other folks blogs. So here it is the latest rant.**********Reflection on ReflectionsA long time ago in a place far far away, when I was just a wee lad, my DDD (dear departed dad) was friends with an eccentric genius who was in charge of the planetarium at the local Mennonite church college. There was a great hullabaloo ab...

Updated: 11:43 PM GMT on July 09, 2011

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I'm back/ ARKANSAS TRAGEDY

Posted by: ShenValleyFlyFish, 12:08 AM GMT on June 12, 2010

Hi all. I think this air card contraption may work out. I've been playing with it for about a week now and while it isn't broadband and it sometimes gets V E R Y slow think its as good as it gets in this hole between the hills and dependable enough to venture out in public. A lot has happened and I'll do a post about that but thought I'd start back with something Weather related.I posted this over on Dr Jeff's bolg but then decided I had worked enough for one eve...

Updated: 12:13 AM GMT on June 12, 2010

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New Year outlook

Posted by: ShenValleyFlyFish, 12:14 AM GMT on December 23, 2008

Whatever your seasonal celebratory persuasion, may all who pass through have a Gooden.*************************************************************Create your own visitor map! ************************************************************Woke yesterday to dim light in the sky. It's supposed to be "black as the Bishop's hat-band"* when my alarms go off. After a brief panic I remembered it was not a day I was scheduled to work so I sank back into the pillows. Then re...

Updated: 8:41 PM GMT on January 03, 2009

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12/10 update Rockfish Gap / Afton Mt. / VA 250 / I 64 Travel Conditions

Posted by: ShenValleyFlyFish, 12:15 PM GMT on December 07, 2008

12/10/08 7:30 AM EST Fog in Gap above 1000 ft. Starts patchy and thickens on Eastern slope, rather abrupt transition on Western slope a bit higher up. Remember the Idiots. Fog should persist throughout day based on past experience and predicted weather. Travel safely.ShenNot being anything but a weather enthusiast I can't determine what VA Dpt of Transportation knows that the weather service doesn't but they have deployed quite a number of snowplow/chemical tru...

Rockfish Valley Ice Storm

Updated: 12:14 AM GMT on December 23, 2008

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About ShenValleyFlyFish

Been called an "Overeducated Red-Neck" "60's Holdout". Work with Messed-Up Kids. Fishing keeps me semi-sane. DWM-60 3 adult kids 1 GDS/1GDD

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VADOT I-64_@_Rt_250_Afton_Mtn Waynesboro, VA
Elevation:	1900 ft
Temperature:	15.0 °F
Dew Point:	-2.0 °F
Humidity:	45%
Wind:	12.0 mph from the SE
Wind Gust:	26.0 mph
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