Blue Ridge District Championship

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Heritage High School . Lynchburg

On Saturday the boys competed in the Blue Ridge District Championship in Lynchburg...Braden and Dalton were both in the high jump, triple jump and 4x200 relay and Dalton in the hurdles...here's Dalton coming off the track after placing 1st in his heat in the hurdles...they make it look so easy!

Linking up with Mersad's Through My Lens

Whatta Face!

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Botetourt County

How cute is he?!

Linking with Saturday's Critters & Camera Critters

Now heading out to Lynchburg for a track meet! Happy Saturday! :)

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 160

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Things I saw around Roanoke last week...
1)
No Parking here, and No Parking there...

2)
Just a simple wreath but looks so pretty!

3)
How about this grand entry?! LOVE!!

4)
This one may not be big and fancy but I like it just the same! Look at the cute little snowman star to the left of the door!

5)
Always a fan of red doors!

That's my 5 this week friends! I look forward to seeing what you have to share! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others...have a great weekend!



Since linky isn't working, I'm creating a new linky to see if that helps! I'm sorry this has been glitchy today :(

On The Sunny Side Of The Street

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Old SW Roanoke

That's Braden...last Friday we had to go to Ashlyn's to walk her dog Riley since she was out of town...Braden beat me across the street and that's when I noticed this cute little house? garage? shed?....whatever it is, I like it!

Today I am thankful for routine! Monday was back to school after several snow days...I think we have only been in school a couple of days since Christmas break ended...on Monday Braden and Nick stayed home sick (they are better now) then Tuesday I had to go do some errands with Ashlyn and so on Wednesday it felt good to start back on my exercise routine again and eating healthier and took Ozzy out for a walk, did a few loads of laundry and picked up the house all before I had to be back out to pick up the boys from school...it was nice having a break from things but happy to be back on track! Linking up with Michelle's Thankful Thursday

Black & White Wednesday

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Greenfield . Botetourt County

The other day I took the boys out to practice their driving skills when we drove by this tree and I yelled "Stop the car, I need a picture of this shadow!" They don't mind obliging me since they get to practice their driving...at least right now ;)

Fringer Canning Company of Lithia

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I think it was last week when I showed you the commissary...well this is just a little bit up the road from there and from what I can gather it was originally a mine called SPEC for the type of ore mined there called "Specular Hermatite"...the company owned the housing, about 12-15 houses, the commissary and the power plant which is this building...the mine shut down in 1926 or 27...


Going in to investigate...


Be warned, I'm probably going to show you every detail so jump ship now if you're thinkin' "ain't no one got time for dat"...


I was in arch Heaven!


So in the 1930's the Fringer Canning Company took over the former Spec Power Plant and ran until the 1950's canning tomatoes, peaches, apples and beans under the Banner Mill Brand...you can see a copy of the label if you CLICK HERE




You knew we were going to have to go up those stairs didn't ya? They were surprisingly sturdy!


A portal...hellloooo down there....


It's kind of like this arch was made as an after-thought...


Everybody is busy checking things out...


Potty break anyone?


This must have fallen off a piece of equipment...it says...Trademark Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. No. 125...just so you know :)






The train came by (remember I showed a picture of the front last week?)...I thought it was kind of neat to get a picture of "strange" since this building was a little strange, in a good way!



Something leaked out of that can years ago!


That little white spot is ice...it was the only ice we saw anywhere in or around the building...it was freezing outside, but this was the only tiny bit of ice...weird huh?!


Time for us to be going now...I'll show you more sights around Spec next Tuesday!


Oh look, that little building with the green roof is the commissary!

Some links I used for info are HERE and HERE
And while I didn't see anything about the Fringer Cannery HERE is an interesting read about canning and labels in this area!

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

If you made it through this whole post today, you're a trooper!

Oh and one more thing...while searching around the net I found that Black Dawg Salvage had been out to the Fringer Cannery and salvaged a few things...it's Season 3, Episode 12 titled Fringer Cannery...I'm going to see if it's available On Demand!

Frozen

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On Saturday we took the boys and Ozzy out to Day Creek in Blue Ridge...It's a nice area for Ozzy to get a walk and Nick wanted to see how frozen the creek was since we've had all this wintry weather...

Dalton testing it out, looking a bit like Bambi haha


Now he's got his balance...


Crack, crack, crack went the ice...he jumped back quick! No worries, even if he did fall in it wasn't deep!


Ozzy has the hang of it!

We've had a nice warm weekend so I'm sure it has all thawed out by now! Linking up with Mersad's Through My Lens

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 159

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The first 2 photos Nick took and sent to me:
1)
Downtown Roanoke taken from Nick's office building Wednesday morning...after our "big" snow ;) Some of you might recognize the Hotel Roanoke because I've shown you around quite a few times...if you don't remember, what's wrong with you?!! Just kidding!

2)
St. Andrews Catholic Church...I love this church and if you don't recognize it, I won't get on you for it...it's my fault...I think I've only shown it to you once or twice and why? I don't know...This is probably my favorite church of all time, architecturally speaking...

3) Do you like Lasagna? I love Lasagna but I'm about the only one in my house that does...Nick likes it on occasion and the kids don't like it at all and sadly (in my case) when you make it, you end up with enough for the whole block...so last week I happened to find a recipe for Lasagna For 2 and I made it and Nick and I both thought it was super good! So, HERE IT IS if you want to give it a whirl!

4) Another recipe I made last week was Beef Tips and Rice...I've made THIS crock pot version quite a few times and everyone loves it!

5) Today (Friday) is another snow day for us! I know, those of you living up north have to be laughing...we had about 1-2 inches of snow of Tuesday and still milking it ;) ....but it has been freezing and our county is big and much of it rural so a lot of those back roads are sheets of ice still...this week we have only had 1 day of school! We warm up over the weekend though so that will be a nice break!

That's my 5 this week friends! I hope you will play along too! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others! Have a great weekend :)

#Snowanoke

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Botetourt County

#Snowanoke is the clever hashtag used for sharing your snow pics of Roanoke on social media ;) This is another view from my backyard yesterday because you know what? I didn't go anywhere...in fact, walking down into my backyard was the furthest I went all day long! Today we ended up with another "snow day" because everything froze over so it's really icy out...So on this Thankful Thursday I am thankful to end up with 2 snow days this week to spend with the boys and Ozzy...you know how much I love that! Linking up with Michelle's Thankful Thursday of course!

Black & White Wednesday

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Botetourt County

Current situation...this is my neighbor's house behind me...I wonder why they aren't picnicking on the picnic table today? ;) I think we have ended up with about an inch but our temps won't be above freezing today so this won't be going anywhere! It's not a very pretty snow since you can see the grass poke up out of it...need about another inch! We did end up with a snow day though and probably will get one tomorrow, or at least a delay because of the icy roads...what did you end up with? :)

New Bethel Church of the Brethren

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Bethel Road . Fincastle . Botetourt County

I think this was built in 1927 because that is the only bit of info I can find...I tried and tried and not a thing more could I find...so frustrating! I did see a tiny bit on the Google Book site just a brief line or two stating that it was originally known as The Old Valley Congregation and something about a fire in 1907 but I don't know if it was referring to this church or not because I have to buy the book to find out so....if anyone knows go ahead and speak up!



Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

A little snow is in our forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning...they went from saying a dusting-3 inches to now just a coating...we'll see what happens!

Indoor Track

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Roanoke College . Salem

Indoor Track is getting started now...On Wednesday the boys competed in the High School Invitational held at Roanoke College...here's Dalton getting ready to run the 4x200 relay...

On Saturday we had another track meet, JV Invitational held at Heritage High School in Lynchburg...Braden and Dalton's relay team for the 4x200 won the Silver! Dalton also won a Silver in the Hurdles!

Linking up with Mersad's Through My Lens

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 158

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It's Willy Nilly time!

A small tour of Spec...

1)
This pretty old house sits across from the abandoned commissary I showed you...

2)
And so does this house...

3)
A butterfly? That's what I see anyway!

4)
Moose...???

5)
Here comes the train!

That's my 5 this week friends! I hope you have the time to join in too! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others! Have a great weekend :)

Private Property

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Spec . Botetourt County

I don't know about you but that bridge looks a little rickety!

Today I am thankful for a short visit from my older son Christian...I was just about running out the door as he was coming in...he stopped by to pick up some receipts so he could exchange some shirts I had gotten him for Christmas...I bought him large shirts but he's just a medium...I bumped him up to large because the boys are mediums now...how in the world did they catch up to their big brother in size??? We chatted for about a half an hour, exchanged hugs and "I love yous" and then we were both out the door again...I just don't see enough of that boy but am thankful for the times that I do!

Linking up with Michelle's Thankful Thursday