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

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!

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

Black & White Wednesday

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Maier Farm Road . Spec . Botetourt County

Back to school today...trying to get into routine again! Happy Wednesday :)

Old Commissary

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Remember on Friday I told you I was going to show you so much more on Tom's Tuesday's Treasures? Well I didn't lie so have a seat and let's go!

Maier Farm Road . Spec . Botetourt County

We weren't sure what this little abandoned building was at the time but doing some heavy Googling I discovered that this was the Old Commissary or Fringer General Store. Spec was a little mining town and this was the commissary for the mine workers back in the early 1900's!








I really, really loved this door knob!


Dalton giving Kaile a little help so she can look inside the window ;)



Ok, you want to have a peek inside don't you?!

These were all taken from the windows...we could have actually jumped right in but I was too chicken...


Time to go and see what's up the road! (I'll show you that next week!)


My exploring sidekicks!

Some facts and links for ya:
I found one of those "Google Books" that had some interesting info on the store, you can see that right HERE ...there's also a picture of the store with a Mr. Vassar standing in front, I think it is from the 40's/50's...funny, the boys have a friend by the last name Vassar...wonder if he is related to this man?!

I also found a good story in the Richmond Times about Spec and they interviewed a life-long resident, Mr. Bobby Falls...You can read that HERE and there are also some more pictures in the news story...not too long of a story but interesting just the same...

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

And in current news, school is closed for the 3rd time in a row...that makes Friday, Monday and today! I'm not complaining...we had ice yesterday and overnight so the roads were bad...before it started to ice yesterday I drove the boys to the Bedford DMV and they took the test and got their learners permits...The ladies at the DMV were so nice and the Bedford location is easy to get in and out of ....really no wait at all...all the ladies congratulated the boys on passing and said they don't like to normally get twins to come in and test because usually one will pass and the other won't which is upsetting so they were quite excited that both the boys passed!

Also, our weather will be out of the freezing range for the first time in like 2 weeks! We will be in the upper 40's which will feel like beach weather considering!

Ok, that's about all, I've caught you up now :)

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 157

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On Wednesday, our last day of Christmas Break, I took the boys and Kaile out for a little adventure...I had just read about this little mining town in Botetourt County called Spec...I hadn't heard of it before and it isn't even far from my house...I read about the old mine there and there's a trail people hike but what really piqued my interest was an old abandoned canning warehouse so we went in search of it!
1)
Spec was easy to find and this abandoned building was the first thing we saw when our gps told us we had arrived at our destination...I was so excited to check it out, but it doesn't really look like an old canning warehouse does it? We poked around for a while, took a lot of pictures, then headed down the road to see what else we could find...

2)
Whoa, whoa, whoa!! Wait a minute, what is that?! Not even a mile down the road is this old building...we were surprised that we didn't even notice it from the first building...Now THIS is definitely the canning warehouse! We were so excited to go investigate...we poked around for quite some time before jumping back in the car and see what else we could find!

3)
I guess we are now officially in Spec...let's turn here...

4)
These caught my eye...I really wanted to get out and walk around but we weren't sure if anyone was living in that big house so we didn't take any chances...it didn't seem like someone was living there but still...we didn't want to take any chances! So we drove a little bit further and Kaile yells from the backseat, "oh look, an old truck"...

5)
Wow! This is just parked on the side of a gravel road with a little river running next to it, which was frozen! While we were there taking pictures of it, a truck was coming down the road and pulled over...a really nice older gentleman told us "it's not for sale" haha...so I asked him if he knew anything about it and he said he's been living just up the road for about 10 years and it has been there the whole time but he didn't know anything more...told me this was the old stagecoach road and not far up the way was the old inn...I asked if we could drive up and see it and he said "sure, but you will be disappointed"...I thought, surely I won't be...but yeah, it really wasn't much haha...someone does live in it and it really just looks like any other old farmhouse...so he was kind of right haha....it was getting late and I had told Ashlyn I would bring her Christmas stocking stuff by before she had to head to work (I had forgotten to give it to her on Christmas)...so we turned around and went downtown to Ashlyn's...and since we were downtown we of course had to run into our favorite pizza spot Benny's for a slice...then back home we went...it was a really fun day!

I of course have SO many pictures of the stuff we saw and will share with you at Tom's Tuesday's Treasures! Don't want to give it all away in one post...that would be a really, really long post! ;)

That's my 5 friends!! I hope you will join in too! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others!! Stay warm and have a great weekend!!


School was cancelled today because of this freezing weather...the wind has it feeling in the negative!!

Even The Cows Think It's Cold!

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Nace Road . Botetourt County

Baby it's cold outside...I know, I sound like a broken record here but seriously! Today and tomorrow especially with crazy strong winds making wind chill values in the negative! We go back to school today since our Christmas break is over but have a 2 hour delay...not sure why since it won't be any warmer in 2 hours!

Today I am thankful for our hard working trash collectors! Holy moly, I saw them come by early this morning to pick up our trash and I felt terrible for them, but there they are, dumping our trash cans into the back of the garbage truck, then they jump on and do the same at the next house, all day long, in the FREEZING weather! God Bless them! Linking up with Michelle's Thankful Thursday

How's your weather? Stay warm!

Christmas Wreaths

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Daleville . Botetourt County


"At Christmas, all roads lead home."
Marjorie Holmes

Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Have a great day!

Cookout

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Buchanan . Botetourt County

These were taken this past April. This is where LAST WEEK'S car is parked...you can kind of see it in 1 or 2 of these pictures. Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

It's cooling off a bit here...only in the 70's today and our low tonight will be 55! Brrrr!

Free Parking

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Parked in the yard of an old, abandoned house in Buchanan...

Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Train Tracks & An Old House

Buchanan . Botetourt County

“Ruins are the cathedrals of Time.”
― Marty Rubin

It's back to school for us...spring break was sure quick and fun...on the bright side, there's only a month left before summer break!

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Have a great day!

Nap Time

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Old mattress along side of the road near yesterday's bridge. How does that even happen?

Linking with Wordless Wednesday

The Phoenix Bridge

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Phoenix Bridge in the Eagle Rock area . Botetourt County

A couple of weeks ago I saw someone post this awesome bridge on Instagram and I was wondering how in the world I didn't know about this! So the boys and I set out to find it! It was built in 1887 by Phoenix Ironworks and crosses Craig Creek.

For some interesting info on the bridge and style Click Here and for some info on Phoenix Ironworks Click Here

Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

2 more treasures :) these boys never leave home without a basketball!