European hornets finished ; Another Biden visit ; A week in West Virginia with Orat ; Frankenstorm of 2012

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 - 31 October 2012)

------------------------

Wednesday, 31 October -

After a morning doing my regular web patrol and some minor chores, we drove to Mom and Dad’s apartment. Dad bought one of the water alarms I had found online and it had arrived yesterday. As I had mentioned earlier this one has a four-foot sensing cable. That allowed me to simply string it all along the vanity lip. If water goes over the edge anywhere along there, the alarm will sound. We also allowed the sink to overflow so we could see exactly how the water would flow over the lip. It worked perfectly. As soon as water started down over, the alarm went off.
I did run into a bit of a problem, though. Dad wanted me to mount the alarm sound unit outside the bathroom. He had an extra length of phone cable but I needed clips to attach it to the baseboard.
It was time for supper anyway, so we went ahead and went out to Red Lobster.
I’ll finish up tomorrow.

------------------------

Tuesday, 30 October -

We made it through the night without apparent problems. The wind died down quite a bit overnight. This morning I took a walk around the property. No shingle damage, no tree branches down (ok, just a few small ones but I picked them all up on one trip around the yard).
Checking WeatherUnderground I see the highest gusts were still under 55 miles per hour and rainfall was only about 3” in the last 24 hours. Looks like we got lucky.
Later on I drove in to Starbucks to work on the blog a bit and then on to the grocery store for a few items. I was surprised to see how high the water was on our nearby creek. The little stream which defines one edge of our property was only running moderately high but the big stream a half mile away was at a record-setting height. Apparently the much-heavier rain upstream had caused the creek to overflow but we didn’t have all that much rain in our immediate area.
That evening we watched the second film of the ‘Jean de Florette’ series. This one was ‘Manon of the Spring’. I had thought the first film a bit slow but this one was perfect.

------------------------

Monday, 29 October -


Today was our storm day. Predictions said we’d be getting two to three inches of rain today and three to four inches tonight. The storm track showed the center of the storm passing right over us.
Winds picked up enough to concern us mid-morning. We kept a close eye on the trees and I checked the basement hourly. By mid-afternoon we were taking a bit of water in the mud-room door. I cleaned up the water with a few paper towels and took a close look at the door. Water was coming in when the bands of rain would come from the northeast and hit the door directly. I realized I might be able to redirect some of the water by covering the sill with a garbage bag and closing the door on it.
Predictions called for up to 65 mile-per-hour winds and we had a few scary gusts but I don’t think we had that kind of numbers. I tried checking nearby personal weather stations on WeatherUnderground.com but it had a message that said excessive bandwidth was being used and the personal weather station links had been shut down.
As darkness came on I took a quick look around outside and saw nothing to concern me.
That evening we watched “Jean de Florette”, a mid-Eighties French film with Yves Montand, Gerard Depardieu, and Daniel Auteuil. I had been convinced when I ordered it (from Netflix) that we had seen in many years ago. But we didn’t remember a thing. And since Labashi has such a great visual memory, there’s no way we saw that one before.

-----------------------

Sunday, 28 October -

With rain due this afternoon I spent the last dry time clearing around the walls of the house, particularly the western side. I also tied down the motorcycles so their covers don’t blow off and they don’t blow over. I moved Labashi’s car up to our side street so we don’t have all our vehicles trapped at once if one of our trees is blown down (we have trees on one side).
A light rain started mid-day and the wind began picking up. The rains came in steady around 1600. Fortunately the rains came in in bands. We’d get a good dousing but then it would let off for awhile.
I spent most of the afternoon and evening watching tweets and news about the storm and checking the basement every couple of hours.

-----------------------

Saturday, 27 October -
Today I had a full day of storm prep. I cleaned the rain gutters, mowed the lawn, and painted the second coat of Drylok Extreme on the previously-unpainted section of basement wall. Labashi put away all the loose lawn furniture, trash cans, etc and raked leaves away from the street drains.

------------------------

Friday, 26 October -

Today I painted the second coat of Drylok Extreme on the painted portion of the wall and the first coat on the unpainted section.

-----------------------

Thursday, 25 October -

With the so-called ‘Frankenstorm’ due this weekend I spent the morning researching small generators. I’ve wanted one for some time and could have really, really used one two summers ago when we lost power for a few days. At the time we were very fortunate that our neighbors still had power. They offered to let us run an extension cord over to them and that kept us going. But what about next time?
This morning I noticed there was a different kind of perfect storm brewing. Not only did I WANT a generator, I now NEEDED a generator. But on top of that, I found just the one I wanted on sale! Now THAT’s a perfect storm!
I called to double-check the store had them in stock and drove in and bought it.
I also picked up some more hydraulic cement from Home Depot and a gallon of Drylok Extreme waterproofing paint.
I spent the afternoon finishing up the patching of the basement wall using hydraulic cement and painted the first coat of Drylok Extreme on the other section of wall I had prepped.

------------------------

Wednesday, 24 October -

This morning I researched water alarms for Mom and Dad’s apartment. They had an overflow of a bathroom sink which caused a good bit of damage so we need some way to avoid a repeat.
I found a Honeywell Water Defense alarm which uses a water-sensitive cable and believe that will do the job. I also found a dial-out system which I think I’ll buy for our house. It detects temperatures below 45 or above 85, water, and loss of power. Once it detects the alarm condition it dials up to three phone numbers and announces the alarm in English (rather than a beep-code).
In the afternoon I got back to patching the block wall in the basement. It’s slow going.

-------------------------

Tuesday, 23 October -

Today I rushed ahead (at a snails pace!) with the basement wall repairs. I washed down both sections of wall with Drylok Etch to rid them of any efflorescence (a powdery residue of salts which prevents the paint from sticking). I then had to let the painted portion of the wall dry but could proceed with repointing the joints of the unpainted portion. I made up small batches of hydraulic cement to do this since the cement hardens within a few minutes and I had to work quickly to avoid waste.


-------------------------

Monday, 22 October -

Today I finally got around to working on the basement wall. I have two projects--- (1) repair about 20 feet of Drylok-treated wall which had been damaged by water intrusion in the last storm and (2) repair and then Drylok about twelve feet of block wall which had been exposed when workers tore out the brick area used for a wood-burning stove.
I used a chisel and an X-tool with an old scraper blade to remove the ‘blisters’ in the paint and then used a concrete-grinding wheel to prep the surface. I also used the X-tool scraper blade to remove loose cement so I can repoint between the blocks.
Using the grinder quickly stirred up dust so I had to use it sparingly. Late in the afternoon I had to abandon the project to allow the dust to settle. When I realized it was seeping up into the house I set up the RabbitAir air cleaner to get it cleaned up before it created an even bigger mess. The RabbitAir on high seemed to make a difference very quickly.

-----------------------

Sunday, 21 October -

This morning we had breakfast with Orat and gave him a brief tour of our home and the new project we had finished this year. He then had to depart to make it back home by mid-afternoon for a family get-together there.
I spent the rest of the day catching up on twitter and the news and make a few blog notes. That evening Labashi and I went in to the Democratic office to enter data.

-----------------------

Saturday, 20 October -

This morning we left Lake Sherwood after a quiet night. Shortly after exiting the campground area we saw a black bear cross the road some fifty yards ahead of us. It was a smaller one and we hoped to see it in the woods and slowed to look. We were surprised to see it had come very near to a campsite occupied by tenters. Perhaps it was sniffing around for food around the tent or cooler. In any case we didn’t see it again.
We plotted out a course to Green Bank which took us first to the Seneca State Forest. After driving back to the pretty little lake and topping out on the hill behind, we came to an intersection with Loop Road and decided to circle back that way rather than re-trace our path. After passing the fire tower we had a sign warning us of road hazards ahead and decided we’d proceed knowing full well we might be in for an extended backing session or worse. The key is to not get in over your head before you realize you made a bad decision to proceed through an iffy spot and then have a long walk out for help.
The road became a bit rougher and we were careful in evaluating several mudholes before using momentum to zip on through. The mud looked slick but it turned out to be shallow.
We had several steepish descents behind us and were about a mile and a half in when we saw a pickup ahead and someone walking about. It was a ranger and he was trying to determine whether he could fell a very large broken tree. The tree had broken in half some 30 feet up and the top had fallen across the road, blocking our path. As we spoke he decided it was too dangerous to handle alone. He had cut a few branches and it was unstable. He’d need to come back with a cable (and a safety lookout) to get it down. That of course meant we’d have to backtrack.
Forturnately the two-track was extra wide and we had room to turn around with a six-point turn. We retraced our path to the hard road by the lake and were soon down out of there.
We proceeded to Green Bank and the Green Bank radio telescope facility. We went to the visitor center and, after a quick look around, bought tickets for the tour. The guide first gave us a brief slide and video presentation on the mission of the facility and answered questions. He then gave us a few small science demos. He poured some liquid nitrogen into an open pan, blew up a balloon and then dipped the balloon into the pan. The nitrogen caused the molecules of air in the balloon to become less active and the balloon shrank dramatically. With the balloon out of the nitrogen, it began heating up to air temperature and the molecules became more active, restoring the balloon to its inflated state. He then put a digital camera into a Faraday cage with a probe from an oscilloscope. The scope picked up the digital camera’s radio-frequency emanations, demonstrating how something as simple as a digital camera can impact scientific research by interfering with the radio-telescopes via the camera’s radio-frequency electrical emanations.
Our guide led us out to a small tour bus for a ride out to the radio telescopes. I was surprised to see the number and variety of them. Up close the largest is absolutely massive. The reflector is more than two acres of panels, each the size of a queen-size bed. Painting them is a massive job in itself. Only 10-15% of them are painted in any one season so painting never completes. After ten years, it’s time to re-do the oldest ones yet again.
After the tour we had a quick snack and then got back on the road by about 1400. We set the GPS for Chambersburg and along the way took a 1/2 hour drive into and out of the Smokehole, a pretty little drive back a canyon road running along a crystal-clear stream.
After Moorefield, our trip across SR55 and through Wardensville, VA were unremarkable and we were soon on I-81 at Winchester. We quickly made it to Chambersburg and picked up Orat’s truck there before continuing on to my house.
We spent the rest of the evening regaling Labashi with tales of West Virginia and giving her a taste of the three varieties of ‘shine we had picked up at New River Gorge.

---------------------------

Friday, 19 October -

We had an exceptionally warm night last night. The low only reached 55 degrees and we were very comfortable in Mocha Joe.
We woke this morning around 0730 and took our time about getting breakfast (instant oatmeal) and having our Doubleshots (breakfast drink of champions).
We left the Thayer boat launch around 0830 and enjoyed the drive back through what yesterday evening had been dark and foreboding woods.
We drove up through the Thurmond area and through Hilltop (an odd little place of very narrow roads) and on to Fayetteville. We elected to go back to the same liquor store and this time bought a quart of moonshine cherries, another Midnight Moon apple pie, and a quart of Georgia Corn, all for sampling.
We also hit the nearby Walmart for ice and a few groceries.
We then headed south to Beckley and stopped at its Starbucks for a coffee and to do a bit of internet research on the Hatfield and McCoy ATV trails. When we found a trailhead for the Pinnacle Trails only 45 minutes from Beckley, we made a beeline for it.
At the trailhead we spent a good hour with the friendly folks in the visitors’ center and then had lunch in the parking lot. We’ll definitely be back and now have a set of maps to pore over in our planning.
We retraced our steps to Beckley and I-64 and turned east. Around 1530 we hit Lewisburg where Labashi and I had done some family research some ten or twelve years ago. I wanted to show Orat the survey record of a great uncle who had claimed land here in 1778. We found the record after a few false starts and then found other land records of my family I hadn’t previously known, all prior to 1800.
After Lewisburg, Orat and I drove east on I-64 to White Sulphur Springs and then north on 92 to the Lake Sherwood Recreation Area in the Monongahela National Forest.
We picked out a campsite in the West Shore camp loop and paid our $5 at the iron ranger. We built a fire and cooked supper (the latter on a butane stove, not on the campfire) and finished up as darkness fell.
We spent the evening watching our struggling fire and chatting. After 2100 we retired to the van to read and catch up the blog.

------------------------

Thursday, 18 October -

Last night was magnificent. We had a 50+ degree night and sat around the campfire until late, then slept wonderfully.
This morning we drove to Cranberry Campground and parked at the gate blocking access to the Cranberry River. In the parking lot an outfitter was rigging up two mules (Jack and Clyde) to a utility wagon to haul customers up along the Cranberry to a fishing site. We heard he takes them to a site where he has wall tents with wood stoves and picnic tables and plenty of beer coolers for their fishing adventure. His motto is ‘Biggest Asses on the River’.
We walked to the first shelter at Queer Run and back, a distance of four miles. Near the shelter we met ‘Bruce’ a mid-Sixtyish fisterman from Huntington, WV. We spent a good half hour chatting with him and watching fish in the river. What a super-nice guy he was.
Back at the van we had a light snack and then drove across the mountain to Dyer and up along the Williams River for a bit. Time was weighing upon us so we turned back downstream. We stopped at the country store at Dyer, hoping to buy a gallon of water but instead talked with the clerk. The little store had a counter of American Indian specialties from the owners’ visits out west. There were dancing sticks with bobcat and coyote skulls as well as fossilized dinosaur dung and teeth.... quite the eclectic collection. We ended up buying a bag of sage for four dollars before saying our goodbyes.
We drove back across the mountain and back to the Cranberry Visitor Center, where we both bought hats. After a late lunch in the parking lot we set the GPS for Mount Nebo, WV in order to get routing near the New River Gorge.
We arrived at the visitor center around 1530 and were caught inside it during a dramatic thunderstorm. While waiting I obtained directions to several new campsites and to the local liquor store.
At the liquor store I was looking for an irish cream when I came upon ‘Midnight Moon’ apple-pie moonshine. I bought a mason-jar of it to try with Orat at supper.
We went back across the river and past the visitor’s center to a road leading down the gorge and up the other side, a spectacular little drive for the first-time visitor.
We then drove to Thurmond, WV, a ghost-town of the locomotive era. I had visited it on last year’s trip and was so impressed I bought Orat this year. We enjoyed a walk about the old town but didn’t linger since it was getting close to dark.
We drove to Stone Cliff and checked out the campsite I had used last year, then crossed the river and followed the narrow dirt road up to Thayer and then down to the river. We parked at the launch ramp and had a few sips of the excellent apple-pie hooch.
We had a supper of Dinty-Moore homestyle beef stew and sat around watching stars. Orat found three different visible satellites and saw a very bright shooting star. The satellites were moving slow enough for me to see them but the shooting star was long gone.
After a long and balmy evening of sky-watching and listening to tree-frogs we returned to the van to read and blog.

-------------------------

Wednesday, 17 October -

The low temperature at our Bee Run campsite last night was 28 degrees but we were comfy. I did get a bit cold in the middle of the night and it gave me vivid, inexplicable dreams. Once I retrieved another cover I slept soundly.
After breakfast we drove to Elkins and the Monongahela National Forest office. There I finally was able to get my America-the-Beautiful Senior Pass. The agent on the desk, Marc Grimby, was a very thorough and friendly guy so we took our time and ended up chatting with him for the better part of an hour. We also met two other Forest Service employees and we regaled with tales of coyotes and rattlesnakes and turkeys we had learned in Thomas.
On the way out of Elkins we hit the new Walmart for a few items and them continued south.
As we neared the turnoff for the Highland Scenic Highway we happened upon Sharps Country Store, a very cool antique shop with a Bantam car ourside. We chatted with owner Tom Sharp for a half-hour or so, learning about the history of the store and the area. The store opened in the 1880’s and Tom has inherited it. There’s a cave under the property and Tom plans to plant the old farm soon after spending several years cutting locust trees and pulling out there stumps.
We took the Highland Scenic Highway and stopped at multiple overlooks but felt some time pressure to get to the visitors‘ center. Unfortunately we found it closed today.
We then drove west on 39 and up into the Cranberry Wilderness. I found a string of dispersed campsites I had visited last year and we found #10 to our liking.
After settling in, we dug out the fishing rods and fished for an hour or so and then split firewood for the night and made a supper of mac-and-cheese. We made a campfire, this time with some difficult because of the wet wood. But Orat eventually prevailed and we had a great evening.

------------------------

Tuesday, 16 October -

After a windy and rainy night at Dolly Sods, Orat and I woke about an hour before sunrise and drove to Bear Rocks, hoping to see the sun come up. We could see a large cloud lying above the next mountain ridge east as we drove there but hoped for the best.
Shortly after 0730 the sun showed itself between the ridge top and the cloud layer. It was only visible for the width of the sun but then its light backlighted the valley and cast magnificent sun rays to the valley floor.
We had parked at the favorite sunrise-photo spot, where Forest Road 75 begins its descent of the mountain. The wind was so strong we had trouble keeping control of the doors of the van as we’d enter and exit. At one point Orat got out to take a picture and couldn’t close the door for three tries. He finally jumped back in and pulled it shut behind.
After a few minutes I realized I could move the van a few car lengths to another vantage point and in doing so could turn the van sideways to the wind. I could then open my window and shoot out the window, avoiding the wind and keeping warm. I remembered I had my window-clamp camera mount and that made all the difference. Despite some rocking of the van by wind gusts, I was able to get several good shots.
As we sat there watching the light changing we saw four hunters come through, each in a pickup with a dog box and two with dogs riding atop the box. I believe these were bear hunters since I had run into and talked with a bear hunter with a similar rig during last year’s visit to Dolly Sods.
Orat and I hung around the sunrise for about 45 minutes and then returned to our campsite at Red Creek campground. We had breakfast and an espresso (ok, a DoubleShot Light) and were ready to rock.
We drove back across Dolly Sods to FR19 and down over the east side. Finally, Orat got to see the incredible fall colors here. The trees in the Canaan Valley had mostly been stripped bare but on FR19 we saw the intense yellows and firey orange-reds of a primo West Virginia autumn.
At Route 28 we headed south for Seneca Rocks and were quickly there. I was looking forward to finally buying my America The Beautiful senior pass but today was not to be the day. The visitor’s center was closed.
We walked around to the deck and looked for climbers on the rocks, then walked to the nearby Sites homestead site and did the same. As we returned to the van we noticed a car take a side road we hadn’t noticed and turn back. When we looked closer we saw a sign recommending against vehicle travel on this road. But that just means it’s possible, just not recommended!
We drove back the road and it crossed the North Fork via a low-water concrete bridge, then started to climb. We quickly realized we were getting very close to the end of the Seneca Rocks massif and just below it. In fact we had incredible granite spires on both sides of us.
The road ended at private property so we turned around and stopped several times as we descended back through the base of the spires. We got out of the van and could hear climbers on the rocks above but couldn’t quite see them. They seemed too close to not see them but we never did lay eyes on them.
Once back to the main road we drove a mile or so south and toured the Seneca Shadows campground. Nice. This will become a stop on my West Virginia Fall Patrol in the future.
We then turned west on Route 33, planning to go to Elkins. But when I saw a sign for Spruce Knob, I instinctively took the turn. I’ve not been down that road before.
We drove to the Spruce Knob Recreational Area and began seeing beautiful dispersed (and free!) campsites along Gandy Run. We stopped at a few to check them out and slowly worked our way up toward Spruce Knob Lake.
After a quick look at the lake we drove up to a small tent campground and had lunch in the parking lot, enjoying the sun.
We then drove to Spruce Knob itself and climbed the panoramic view platform and walked the trail through the red spruces.
We then headed back the way we had come but selected a campsite along the Gandy at Bee Run. We hiked up into the mountain and back on the Bee Run trail for an hour and then gathered wood for a fire.
Orat built a nice little fire while I heated up some beef stew for supper. We then sat around the fire as darkness fell, chatting and watching stars and the Milky Way.

--------------------------

Monday, 15 October -

After a nice, 58-degree night at campsite 8, we woke around 0800 and left shortly thereafter. We explored back Camp 70 Road a bit more to the dead-end turnarounds at the trailheads and there found nice trails leading off into the Refuge (for another time!).
We then drove back through Davis to Rose’s Cafe just before Thomas. We both had biscuits and sausage gravy, some of the best ever. It turns out Rose makes nearly everything from scratch and has quite a following in the valley.
As we ate we talked with another customer. I didn’t catch his name but he’s an older Nam vet with a flowing white beard. We somehow got to talking about coyotes and he said the valley is now full of them. He claimed they had been brought in by the DNR because of the out-of-control whitetailed-deer population. He said the DNR had trapped turkeys locally and exchanged them with some western state for coyotes.
He went on to tell us the DNR had also had a wild turkey population problem so they brought in rattlesnakes and dropped them from the air (whether by airplane or helicopter wasn’t clear from our conversation) to handle the turkeys. He said when he first heard about it he wasn’t sure he should believe it but then several other guys also told him about it, so it must be true.
After breakfast and a fun chat with our waitress Tina (who sometimes goes by ‘George’, she said with a grin), we drove to what I thought was the Mountain Arts building.... but they’ve moved since my last visit.
I then took Orat to the nearby coke ovens. At one time there were 400 coke ovens outside Thomas, all making coke from coal but driving off the impurities in oxygen-starved coke ovens. The coke was then hauled by train to steel mills for the making of steel. That process here ended in the 1950’s.
We explored the roads in the area a bit more and found Canyon Rim Road, a dirt road running for seven miles. But it was too rough for Mocha Joe today.
We then went into town to the new Mountain Arts venue and took a look around at the upscale crafts.
Next we drove to Blackwater State Park and drove slowly through as rain threatened. We did manage to see the main falls but the water was very low.
After the park, we stopped at Boomtown Coffee for a mocha before finding our way out of town. After gassing up in the valley, we drove to the Beale Trails trailhead where once again we encountered rain.
We then drove on to Canaan Valley State Park and visited the Nature Center and drove through the campground and the road to the golf course. A large addition to the lodge is under construction.
I then took us south on Route 32 to the Route 72 junction and followed it west. I’m familiar with four dispersed campsites along the river and took Orat there, both to see the sites and to capture their GPS coordinates.
We then proceeded back to 32 and then on to Dolly Sods Wilderness. At Red Creek Campground we picked a site and then walked from it to bird-banding location about a quarter mile east. We spend a half hour or so following the trail up along the drop-off getting better and better views as we went.
Back at the van we went for a sunset drive to the northern end of the Sods road but again found rain when we got out to take a look at the view. We returned to the campsite and spent the evening blogging (me) and reading (Orat). The van had been nice and warm from driving but the windy and rainy day soon cooled it off as the temperature rapidly dropped from the mid-fifties at sunset to the mid-thirties a few hours later.

-----------------------

Sunday, 14 October -

This morning I had a bit of panic as I realized I hadn’t yet found my SPOT satellite messenger and I needed to leave within the hour. I finally remembered I had packed it with my ATV-riding gear and retrieved it with a sigh of relief.
At 1030 I departed for Chambersburg and a birthday party for my five year old grand-niece. Orat met me at the party and we celebrated with the little one and family for a couple of hours and then left from there at 1400 for West Virginia.
Our drive to Mount Storm, West Virginia only took three hours so we still had more than an hour of daylight as we approached Davis. I decided to show Orat part of the national wildlife refuge and took A-frame Road into the refuge. There we met a very nice couple at an overlook and talked of coyotes in the area. The male half of the duo is a hunter and swears the coyote population is exploding.
After leaving the couple Orat and I continued to the dead end and stopped for a break, then returned to the main road for the rest of our trip. Our destination now was not Davis, but rather nearby Thomas, West Virginia and, more specifically, the Purple Fiddle for supper.
We had an excellent supper as a live band set up and decided to stay for the show. In this case the band was ‘The Dirty Bourbon River Show’, a “gypsy, New Orleans, blues, and circus band’.... whatever that is.
The band turned out to be unique and very entertaining and we stayed for the entire show. That got us out of the Purple Fiddle after 2300 but fortunately we only had to drive a few miles to the dispersed campsites along Camp 70 Road in Davis. We found campsite 8 to our liking and turned in for the night.

-------------------------

Saturday, 13 October -


Today I had some final trip prep work, mostly in finding all the gear, checking it over, and packing it neatly. I also dug out my hunting and fishing gear as well as maps and guidebooks.

-------------------------

Friday, 12 October -

I continued trip-prep of the van today, vacuuming it and cleaning the interior. After spending most of the day at it, I decided I’d better take a look at the roof vent. I need to paint the edges of it with rubber roof paint every other year and had done it last year so thought I should be okay. But I saw cracks in the paint so retrieved the paint and made preparations. But when I opened the can, I saw the paint had dried out. I contacted the RV dealer only to learn that paint had been discontinued and they’re now using a special tape called ‘EternaBond’. I researched that on the web and decided it might be a better solution than the rubber roof paint. I rode the GS in the Ben’s RV and bought a very-expensive roll of the tape. Back home I cut four pieces of the tape, laid them out around the vent, then cleaned the vend area with acetone and applied the tape. That should be good for years.

------------------------

Thursday, 11 October -

Today I washed Mocha Joe in preparation for an upcoming trip with Orat.
I then rode the GS down to York for a quick coffee and then returned home for a two-hour session with the mower.

------------------------

Wednesday, 10 October -

Today we drove to Greencastle to visit my 86-year-old aunt. We had a wonderful lunch and afternoon with her, catching up on our many years apart.
Late in the day I decided we’d go to Mercersburg before heading home to try Flannery’s Pub. We arrived in town a bit too early for drinks so we walked around town and Mercersburg Academy. We then had a light supper at the Pub and tried out a flight of craft beers.
Afterwards we drove on over the Tuscarora Mountain to McConnellsburg and back up US30 to the top. I took us to the fire tower to take a few photos in the fading light of day.
We then dropped down through Cowan’s Gap State Park to SR75 and the PA Turnpike for home.

-----------------------

Tuesday, 9 October -

This morning I did my regular hornet patrol and then took Labashi with me to our tax-prep specialist to sign our tax submissions. The deadline for the extension is quickly approaching and we’ve just received some of the info needed for them.
That afternoon we went into the Democratic office at 1500 to help out with the last-minute rush of voter-registration forms. We buzzed through the forms quickly and took a break for supper at Bistro 19. We continue to be very happy with the food there and today’s roasted tomato bisque, and the hummus and bar-be-que-roll appetizers did not disappoint.
After checking back in at the office after supper we were able to go home early. There we watched a Dexter 6 episode.

------------------------

Monday, 8 October -

This morning we drove up to Harrisburg to attend Jill Biden’s visit at the county Democratic office. This time I made it through the event without problems.
We then had lunch at ‘Raspberries’ in the Hilton. It turns out Mondays are a great day for this because the brunch bar is well stocked after Sunday’s big brunch. Peel-and-eat shrimp, steak au poivre, haddock with crab plus more than a dozen choices for dessert. Wow.
That evening we watched the ‘Breaking Bad’ finale.

--------------------------

Sunday, 7 October -

This morning we met our visitors at Accomac Inn for brunch at 1100. We took our good old time and enjoyed our meal for more than two hours.
After our friends split for home, we returned to the house and had a mini film festival. We watched ‘Happy’, ‘Urbanized’, ‘Eames: The Architect and the Painter’ (all documentaries) and then ‘Winter’s Bone’.

---------------------------

Saturday, 6 October -

I enjoyed ‘Groove Jones’ very much last night so I spent an hour on YouTube checking out their music and interviews. I sent an email to our guests with links to ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’ and a rehearsal video as a souvenir of our wonderful evening together at Bistro 19.
I filmed the hornets again today and was surprised to find two live ones walking about the entrance. I wasn’t sure what to tell the exterminator guy. If they were just two workers who had been missed by the mid-day spraying, well fine. But if their presence indicated the queen was still alive, that’s a completely different thing. I sent him an email asking what he thinks.
Labashi was out with our guests today so I had the place to myself. I walked the mile up to the garage and picked up Mocha Joe. The oil leak turned out to be a rusted-out oil pan... which turned into a bill for almost $500.
I gassed up at our local Giant since today’s the last day to use up my gas points. Gas was $3.89 before discount, $3.39 with it. That saved me $13 for my 25-gallon fill-up.
I then drove on to Starbucks and to Rocky Ridge for my walk. Along the way I chatted with a bow-hunter preparing to go in to his stand and two visiting mountain bikers.
By the time I arrived home I was exhausted and took a short nap to recharge.
That evening we watched ‘Into the West’s “Manifest Destiny” episode.
And when I checked email before going to bed I learned the pest exterminator had dusted the hornet nest this afternoon while I was gone. Now THAT’s service!

---------------------------

Friday, 5 October -

This morning I did my now-regular patrol of the yard looking for hornets and then filmed the entrance of the nest. Looking good so far.
I went back to planning the West Virginia trip until late afternoon. We then drove into York for First Friday. The plan was for us to enjoy the First Friday event until our guests arrived at their hotel and then pick them up and come back to catch the end of First Friday and then visit a bar or three.
We had a perfectly balmy evening and were in the middle of a tour of the Elks Club’s mid-1800‘s building when our guests called shortly before 2000. We were back in town by 2030 and managed to catch a few specialty shops before closing. We then walked up Clark Alley to the Mudhook Brewing Company and had hors d'oeuvres and a six-beer sampler.
We moved on to Bistro 19 and happened to catch ‘Groove Jones Jr’ performing. They were GREAT!
We then took our guests back to their rooms and headed home around 2230.

----------------------------

Thursday, 4 October -

I filmed the hornets again today and sent off the results to the pest exterminator before turning my attention to planning for the West Virginia trip.
After lunch I volunteered to drive in to the Market House to pick up some mini shoo-fly pies Labashi wants for visitors coming tomorrow. While there I had a late lunch at Essan Thai (my first visit there).
That evening we started the new season of ‘Dexter’ (season six).

----------------------------


Wednesday, 3 October -

This morning I took my video camera down to the hornet tree and shot a few minutes of the hornets going out. I also shot footage of the yellowjackets in our recycling pile then uploaded the video clips up to YouTube and sent links to the pest exterminator.
To his credit, he called me a bit later and arranged to come over. We spent yet another hour treating both the hornets and yellowjackets. He did most of the treating but I helped out by offering and setting up our 14-foot orchard ladder so he could get the sprayer wand up to and into the nest entrance. We decided to leave the ladder in place for a few days and as we departed he was stung on the neck by a dying hornet.
I also had a Skype video call with Orat today. We’re planning a trip to West Virginia sometime the next few weeks.
I then did some electrical work in the basement, mostly to eliminate a stray electrical wire. I also made several hanging outlets safer by insulating them with black tape.
That evening we went in to the county Democratic office to enter data. Afterwards we tried out the nearby White Rose bar and had a quesadilla and wine.

---------------------------

Tuesday, 2 October -

While we were at the funeral yesterday the pest-elimination guy was here to check on the European hornets he had treated Saturday. We weren’t home at the time so didn’t learn what the outcome was until he called this morning. He had indeed found a few hornets still around the nest so did another treatment. He also treated a yellow-jacket infestation we had in our recycling pile since they were acting very aggressive (as they do as colder weather approaches).
We took Mocha Joe up to the garage for its appointment regarding the oil leak and I spent an hour or two on the offline blog.
I then worked a few hours on the basement wall, chipping off blistered Drylok and chipping out much of the damaged mortar in the unpainted wall we had uncovered this Spring. The work was slow but not difficult.

------------------------------

Monday, 1 October -

Today we went to my uncle’s funeral. His death was not unexpected and he had lived a very long and accomplished life so today’s events were less tragic than might be expected.
As we drove to the service we listened to a podcast of ‘This American Life’, the ‘P.I. Moms’ episode and were mesmerized by the intricate story.
The service was, like my uncle, very low-key. Perhaps the only out-of-the-ordinary thing about it was one of the pastors calling for three cheers for my uncle’s life and we all joined in. That call for cheers sounds strange but I liked this straightforward tribute which allowed us to forcefully cheer him, both in voice and gesture. And in a funeral home during a somber ceremony, it was a welcome statement of defiance of the norm. He’s gone, dammit, but he was one of the good ones!
After the service we joined the procession to the cemetery for the interment. After the service there we had a chance to chat with my aunt and the extended family.
We then went to my brother’s home and visited a bit before going out for supper together.
Once back home, we watched the pilot episode of ‘Into The West‘. I was a bit put off by it. It just seemed too simplistic and repetitive of other stories of the West.

********** END OF POST **********