Roanoke River

This is the same river that the power plant from yesterday's photo sits on. Accessible from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Niagara Power Plant-Roanoke River

Built in 1906, this is the smallest hydroelectric plant in the country. The plant brought the first electricity to Roanoke.

Inside Kelly's

So here's the inside of Kelly's Real Deal Antiques store. That's not all, it goes way over to the left and over to the right, and I don't think there's an inch of space not occupied with something you can buy!

That mannequin, and there's another that you can't see that is sitting on the horse, freaked the boys out though,lol...they are pretty creepy looking!

The boys found a toy kind of pirate gun that they want to go back today and buy with their money they've saved. It's heavy, made of wood and metal, that shoots those rolls of paper caps, and made in the USA! (remember those?) not the cheap plastic junk we get from China that breaks in a day and gives our kids lead poisoning! Grrr!

Speaking of those paper caps, our neighbor told us (whose mother in law used to own the house at one point 1940's-90's)t he old original barn that was built at the same time as our house sat on the hill. My neighbor's little cousin was out in the barn one day, years back, hitting the caps with a rock when a spark caught the barn on fire and it burnt down. Our neighbor told us this story one night a few months back and a weird thing happened that night. We were all sleeping when Nick and I were awakened by the sound of a child running down the stairs out in the back, which run near our bedroom window, yelling "fire". We jumped up out of bed because we both heard it and ran to check on the kids and they were all sound asleep. Neither of us could figure out what it was but we both thought we heard a kid yell "fire" as they ran down those stairs. I told him it must have been Daisy barking and he asked me "when did she start talking like a human"? lol...I can still hear it plain as day, so weird!

Christian, Braden and Dalton were supposed to have baseball practices today, but they have been cancelled because of the rain. It will be a good day to hide inside. Have a great weekend!

SkyWatch Friday

This afternoon after picking Braden and Dalton up from school, we tried a new road that I've never taken before, which dropped us out onto Lee Hwy. While driving down Lee Hwy, we passed Kelly's Real Deals Antiques, which I've seen before and always meant to stop in but just hadn't done it yet. It looks like a fun antique store to browse so I asked Braden and Dalton if they wanted to check it out for a bit, which they did, so we did! The place is jam packed with lots of goodies, definately a place to go back to without little hands that want to pick everything up! Tomorrow I'll have a peek on the inside for you :)

So, that's my skywatch, a drab, grey sky...we've been getting rain for most of the day today, and it's chilly out too.

For skywatch photos from all over the world, visit SKYLEY


Happy skywatching :)

Oh, one more thing! Have you always wanted to be in a reality show? I just got this email and thought I'd share. I'm not cut out for this but will probably be fun to watch :) Good luck!

NBC
CASTING IMMEDIATELY-
"THE GREAT AMERICAN ROAD TRIP"
NBC's new show, is now casting outgoing, fun-loving families of ALL KINDS with AT LEAST TWO CHILDREN aged 10 -16 years old to participate in a
CROSS COUNTRY TRIP OF A LIFETIME!
(ALL TYPES OF FAMILY DYNAMICS welcome)
(Adults can be extended family members if you are not a two parent family)
CHANCE TO WIN A HUGE, GRAND PRIZE!
IT DOESN'T GET BETTER THAN THIS!
All families cast will receive $2000 each week they are on the show in addition to a daily per diem
Tutors for the children will also be provided for those families cast on the show that still have children with school commitments!
MUST be available between approximately early May to late June 2009

WHAT TYPE OF FAMILY ARE YOU?
Are You the Ultimate Jersey Family, Ultimate New York Family, Ultimate Tattoo Family, Religious Family, The Loud Mouth Family, High Maintenance Family, Clean Fanatic Family, Slob Family, Germaphobe Family, Sci Fi Family, Ghost Hunter Family, Salvage Yard Family, Vegan Family, Cheap Family, Gastronome Family, All American Family, The Real Life "Griswalds", The Hippie Family, Circus Family, The Rancher Family, The Brainiacs , The Sports Fanatic/Fans Family, The Farmer Family, City Slickers, The Blue Bloods, The Outdoorsy Family, The Biker Family, The SciFi/Trekkie Family, The Fishing Family, The Musical Family, Collector Family, Animal Family or ANY OTHER TYPE OF FUN FAMILY
WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!
Feel free to think outside the box, have fun & tell us the type of family you are! ALL WELCOME TO APPLY
===========================================

If interested in this casting , please email Immediately: Twinsworld1@aol.com
WE ARE PUTTING FAMILIES ON TAPE IMMEDIATELY

PLEASE INCLUDE: Full names of Family members and who they are ie: mom, dad,etc, family photos, your contact info, where you live(city/state), ages of all family members, type of family you are (have fun with this answer) & interests of each of the family member and WHY YOU WOULD BE PERFECT FOR THE SHOW

PBR

Ok, so I lied,lol....well not really. I'm still on a blogging hiatus for the week but here it is Sunday, early afternoon and I've found myself with a few extra minutes to myself so what's a girl to do, but blog,lol...Nick just ran off with the boys for a haircut and Ashlyn, the poor thing is still asleep. It's 1:30 here but she so desperately needs the rest. She's been up till all hours studying and my suspicion is texting too, but for the most part, studying.

Anyways, we had a blast at the PBR last night and here's just a few photos. We were able to stay later and get autographs from the riders and I have to tell you what polite young men they all were about giving their time and signing things for the kids. None of them had any attitude and were just as nice as can be, impeccable manners (they must have some super great mamas!). There's a couple of pictures of Dalton getting his ticket and hat signed by a couple of the riders. If anyone knows who they are please feel free to let me know! I lost track! These guys were from the Enterprise team and wow, it's amazing what they do out there and the beatings they take. I asked Dalton if he wanted to try to ride one of those bulls and he asked me in an overly excited tone "really, can we?"...what's wrong with that boy?!

Now the boys have their coveted t-shirts, hats and tickets that were signed and want to attend every show the PBR puts on.

So, now back to my regularly scheduled blogging hiatus! Have a great week :)

Cherry Tree

I'm going to take a blogging break this week. Things are crazy around here at the moment. Ashlyn is running for a State Officer position for FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America). She was a State Officer in Georgia and it's that time of year for running again. In order to win her spot, she needs to prepare and rehearse a speech and know rules and regulations and know FCCLA history/facts. She goes to Virginia Beach on Thursday to run for office. In the meantime, we've been shopping like crazy trying to find a white, formal dress. If she wins, she will have to wear the white formal and it is nearly impossible finding all white. It's prom season, the stores are full of prom dresses, but none are all white of course. This is the part of it that I just don't like, the shopping. I'm not a big shopper, especially when there's something specific that needs to be shopped for. I'm just missing that girly gene I guess.

This photo of the cherry tree blossoms was taken at the mall yesterday, tracking down that dress. We did find one white dress and we bought it but not sure if it will work as it has black straps on it. It's a beautiful gown, but just not all white. We have the phone numbers of some shops we'll call today and see what they have. That's the hard part about being new to a town. When you need something, you just don't know where to get it. I've exhausted all the options I know about, so we dug out the phone book and Ashlyn asked friends, who were helpful with shop names and locations. Now I'm just waiting for them to open so we can call them today.

Today Christian has his first baseball practice of the season and I'm waiting to hear what Braden and Dalton's baseball schedule will be. Tonight we are going to the
PBR show at the Roanoke Civic Center. That will be fun.

So this is why I need a blogging break, I've got so much to do with shopping for Ashlyn and getting her ready, baseball starting up and trying to keep some order in the house! I'll be back by the end of the week, hopefully less stressed and having successfully packed Ashlyn!

Have a great week and take care :)

SkyWatch Friday

A sliver of greying sky with the Lord Botetourt High School baseball team warming up down below. This was my view earlier this afternoon as I was waiting for Ashlyn. We are supposed to be getting some rain anytime now so the skies aren't very exciting at the moment, just a plain old grey with some darker shades of grey thrown in. For more skywatch photos from all over the world, visit
SKYLEY or hey, you could always join in on the fun :)

Happy skywatching!

Ye Olde Jail

This is the old jail located in Fincastle. It was built in 1897 and has a long history, which you can read about HERE . I came home and googled information about the jail and was pleasantly surprised to find such a great, informative story written by my very own local blogging friend Country Dew! .

Also I have to thank another local blogging friend Blue Ridge Gal for hooking me up with my awesome new header! Thanks BRG!

Hauntingly Beautiful

Yesterday I had to take Ashlyn to the 4H office in beautiful, historical Fincastle. Ashlyn had to interview for a camp counselor position for summer camp. I love Fincastle and some of you might remember the Christmas Parade I brought you along to, which was in Fincastle. I didn't have much time to drive along Fincastle's historic old streets as we had a long list of errands to run and Ashlyn kept me on task,lol...but I did manage to drive a couple of the back streets and talked Ashlyn into quickly taking a picture of the tree for me. With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she finished the text she was working on and sat her cell phone down, then quickly took this photo, all the while informing me that we need to hurry,lol. When the weather warms up (maybe this week even) I plan to go back and actually walk the streets, with Braden and Dalton. They took a field trip there with their class and love telling me the history of the things they saw.

This tree which stands in the Godwin Cemetery, is estimated to be approximately 200 years old. Imagine the things it has seen! I will definitely have to come back and capture it in all 4 seasons. You can read more about this beautiful old tree in the
Botetourt View ...just scroll down a bit, it's the 2nd story.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Braden and Dalton woke up to a breakfast of green eggs this morning and are proudly wearing their green to keep from being pinched today! For some reason, they've grabbed onto their Irish roots and love the fact that they have some Irish in them (my maternal grandmother's side is Irish and I think Nick has some on his side). Tonight Nick will make us dinner, Corned Beef sandwiches and the kids will have green Sprite and Nick and I will have a green beer, or two!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Blue Ridge Library

This is the Blue Ridge Library. We spend quite a bit of time here. Saturday Dalton and I stopped in to drop off some items we had checked out. The library is small, but has everything we need and I prefer a small, personal library to a bigger one. Whatever they don't have, they can get it delivered from any of the other libraries. Every so often they will play a children's movie for the kids. I've taken Braden and Dalton a couple of times. They set up a movie in the conference room, line up seats and serve chips, candy and bottled water. I was going to take them last Thursday to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua but ended up having to get tires put on Nick's truck instead. Ashlyn goes into the library to use their computers for school work. They have better programs than my old computer so she likes to use theirs. It was funny, one night when she was there doing homework, she called me to tell me that their internet was down and needed to see how to spell a word. Being so used to the high tech world now, I told her I would log on here and see what the spelling was when Christian said "she's in a library where they have dictionaries" lol...How we've come to depend on the computer!

Hidden Mountain

Friday was a dreary, cold and rainy kind of day. I had to run to WalMart to pick some things up and as I was leaving the parking lot, I got a good view of the mountain draped in clouds with the pretty trees blooming. I think I've mentioned before how much I love the way the clouds fall over the mountains here. The scene below is the intersection of 460 and Cloverdale.

Exhausted

Poor Ashlyn. This semester has worn her down. Each class sends home too much homework. One day this week she was sitting at the table working on her school work when I walked in and this is exactly how I found her, sound asleep. I grabbed my camera which was sitting nearby (lol) snapped a pic then tried to get another when she very faintly whispered out a little "stop it".
The kids get a 3 day weekend this weekend so the extra rest will definitely do her good!
Have a great weekend :)

Skywatch Friday

The sun coming up on the way back home after dropping Braden and Dalton off at school yesterday. Can you believe today we have a 2 hour delay because of ice? Yes, we got more rain/snow mix overnight, nothing stuck because the ground is too warm, but there are some icy conditions out. This cold weather is supposed to carry on through the weekend. Winter's having a hard time letting go.
For a peek at skies from all over the world, visit SKYLEY

Blooming Lilacs

I think this is my Lilac bush...the fragrance is sensational!

Toy Tractor

Doesn't this look like a little toy tractor with a little toy farmer, driving on top of the fence rail? I was sorting through my photo files and this caught my eye,lol...actually this was taken in Georgia before we moved.

Old Red Barn

Friday night Christian stayed the night at his friend's house. He rode the bus home with him after school and I went and picked him up Saturday afternoon. It was my first time to drive over to their house and gave me the excuse to travel down Mountain Pass Road. What a scenic drive, full of these beautiful old farms. Unfortunatley, the road was narrow with no place to pull over so my photo taking was limited to slowing down and hanging out my window. Don't you hate when you find such pretty things to photograph and they don't have a pull over spot for you?!

Sunday On Tinker Creek

Yes, it really was that warm out!

Which Way Did He Go?

It looks like this little bird went to get a bite to eat for his friend and when he returned, he couldn't find him. I can hear scratching inside the drain pipe as if there is a bird inside. The bird on the top of the house keeps looking down inside of it. I'm not sure if the bird purposely went in or fell in? And I don't know what to do to get him out. I hope he's ok!

The noise from the bird scratching around inside of the pipe is driving Daisy crazy. She keeps looking at it all perplexed!

Don't Forget

This is a public service announcement to remind you to set your clocks ahead when you go to bed tonight! Don't you just love daylight savings time bringing us LONGER days?!

SkyWatch Friday

Happy Skywatch Friday from high atop Tinker Hill on the Appalachian Trail. I took you on a hike of the AT in the fall, you might remember. I didn't have a skywatch photo for today so I just randomly opened a file and this is what I got! I think this view looks down on Daleville but then I could be wrong,lol..

It feels like spring today. It's hard to believe that a few short days ago we were covered in snow and now I'm enjoying temps in the mid 70's (22.22 celsius, approx)!

For more skywatch photos from all over this great big world, visit
SKYLEY!



Happy SkyWatch Friday and have a great weekend :)

One Last Look At The Snow

It was pretty while it lasted but now I'm ready to move on to spring!

My Snowy House

Welcome to my house:



Let's sit out on the back porch and watch the snow fall!


The kids have a 2 hour delay this morning so the boys are up bright and early to get some snowboarding in before school. It was cold overnight again, in the single digits so I'm sure the roads are icy, hence the school delay. The snow is melting fast though!

More On Snow

I thought this little line of trees looked so pretty covered in snow. This was taken while it was still snowing out on Sunday. When we walked around yesterday, everything was blanketed in snow. Some areas look about 5 inches deep. I tried taking some pictures yesterday but the sun was so bright, reflecting off the snow, I couldn't even see what I was photographing. Today is another snow day for the kids. They are still sleeping, worn out from yesterday's snow day!

By the weekend, this will all be a memory as our spring temperatures will return with temps in the 70's! (about 22 celsius).

Signs Of Spring On Hold!

Remember my photo of our light snow with my theme day shot yesterday? Well that all melted within an hour or two and then around lunch time, we got new snow. It snowed all day, non stop. The schools were canceled today and we woke up to about 3-4 inches of beautiful snow! I haven't been outside yet to take pictures but these in the mosaic are of the kids playing in it yesterday. I had to limit Braden and Dalton's time out in it as they were sick last week and I didn't want them out in it too long.

Nick and I went to bed last night around midnight and took a look outside and it didn't even look late at all. The moon was reflecting off the snow and lit everything up! It really looks so pretty around here with all this snow! I have more snow pictures to show you tomorrow :)

March Theme Day-Glass

I wanted to incorporate this month's theme day with our current weather. Look what happened over night! I've shown you this view from my kithcen recently with no snow and now look! And I was so enjoying all that spring like weather...oh well, I guess winter is trying to hang on. We are supposed to get a little more today and tomorrow morning.

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