Lucky Dog

 

I spotted this dog riding around in Kanawha City. At the stoplight, he was barking at the cars that got too close to his car.

Man's Art Cannot Compare to Nature's

Viola

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Dandelion

Gratuitous Cat Picture of the Day

Sometimes I can hear this old earth shouting

"Sometimes I can hear this old earth shouting
Through the trees as the wind blows
That’s when I climb up here on this mountain
To look through God’s window
Now I can’t fly ...
But I got two feet that get me high up here
above the noise and city streets
My worries disappear"

- Arlos Smith

Thanks to my husband for that wonderful quote (actually lyrics from a song). Apparently Smith says that he wrote that part of the song while he was on top of Seneca Rocks, looking out over this beautiful valley.



I can soooo relate

Kitties

"I has a sleep"


"I has a bench"


“Mommy, no look at Roscoe, look at MEEEE!”

Pansies

Free Kolaimni Healing

Free kolaimni healing starting at 6:00 p.m. this evening at Mountain Mama's (702C Jefferson Road in South Charleston, West Virginia). Last sign in at 8:00 pm.

 

I'll be there but you don't get to choose who works on you, you have to take whoever is available.  But there are lots of great healers there if you want to come by!

 

<i>I think I need to post about kolaimni, don't I?  It's a healing method similar to reiki that I am learning. More later.</i.

Happy Birthday Kittens

Five years ago today, Stubby, Rascal & Junior were born. Take a walk down memory lane with me and see pictures from their first few months of life. They were such cute kittens!! And I love them so much. They have been a true blessing in my life.

Miss Bobbi & the Kittens: April-June 2004

Unfortunately, Junior is no longer with us in "body", only in spirit. I miss you, my little sweetie!

Daffodils

 

Mom got me this Ikeban-style vase made from pottery at the Arts & Craft Fair last year. I finally tried it out. I like it!

Oh how I love SPRING!!!

How old is that tree?

By looking at the core of a tree, we can count the annual circles (rings). Each ring represents one year of life for the tree. As I understand it, the lighter circles are the growth in the spring and the darker circles are from the summer growth for the year. So you just count either the light or the dark (usually the dark because it's easier?)

I would like to know how old the larger trees in our yard are. I examined one of my sitting stumps.





Those two photos are of the same stump. This is a tree that came down in a storm a few years ago. I didn't count the rings, but it appears to be fairly old, maybe 100 or so? Maybe not. I don't really know.

This tree is a younger tree that was growing beside the sourwood tree and Husband cut it down. It wasn't very big around.

Frank Leach & the Leewood Fire: A Piece of My Family's History

My father grew up in the coal mining community of Cabin Creek, West Virginia. I bought him the book A Pictorial History of Cabin Creek at Christmas. In it, he found a story involving our family. I found it very touching, as it involves my great-grandfather (dad's grandfather) and my great-uncle.

"The beginning of the year 1936 would bring to the town of Leewood, much sadness and destruction. On the night of January 1st the Cabin Creek Consolidated Coal company store at Leewood caught fire and was soon completely engulfed in flames and destroyed. The company suffered between $15,000 and $20,000 in damages, but even greater was the loss of human life. Three of Leewoods citizens perished in the blaze. The following is taken in part from articles that appeared in the Charleston Gazette in January 1936:

While fighting a fire that was believed caused by a defective flue which completely destroyed the Leewood store of the Cabin Creek Consolidated Coal Co. yesterday, Dennis Matthews, about 33, an employee of the company was burned to death.

Matthews, who had volunteered to fight the blaze was trapped in the building and was overcome by smoke. His charred body was recovered at daylight, the fire having started a few hours after midnight.

Gamer Williams, store manager, said smoke had apparently overcome Matthews while he was carrying water from the wash room to the blaze. A wall of flames prevented volunteer fireman from going to Matthews' aid, observers said. He had apparently gone into the building to fight the fire before it gained much headway and had apparently thought he was not in much danger.

On the following morning two additional bodies were recovered from the charred remains of the store building. The bones were all that was left of the bodies of Frank Leech, age 34 and Ernest Whitt, age 33, both of Leewood. The body of Dennis Matthews, whom they tried to save, was discovered soon after the fire.

Lying in one small pile of bones was an octagon shaped watch and an automobile key on a small steel string which was identified by W.A. Leech as the property of his son, Frank, who had left his automobile about 100 feet from the store when he and Whitt went to help fight the flames. Whitt's bones were found about five feet from those of Leech and about the same distance from the body of Matthews.

Company officials said the bodies of Leech and Whitt were found under a huge pile of salt which it was believed had fallen on them and knocked them unconscious. Whitt and Leech had been missing, but owing to reports they had left with another man in his automobile going to Charleston delayed the search for their remains.

T. L. Turner, an employee of the store said he observed both Whitt and Leech holding onto Mrs. Matthews about 100 yards from the fire, while her volunteer­ fireman - husband was inside the burning building. When Matthews began yelling for help the two released their hold on Mrs. Matthews and ran into the store in an attempt to rescue him. Neither of them returned.

The shadow of the tragedy that was not understood at the time appeared at the North-South Football game at Laidley Field that afternoon when a little old man dressed in overalls and wearing a miner's cap approached the press box. He sought out the announcer at the press box and meekly pleaded; "See if he's here, say over that speaker for him to come home if he is here. The store burned down last night and Mom and I think he might be burned up in it. They told us around home not to worry he might be here at the ballgame". The announcer had to have the little old man repeat his plea and he was then unable to make any meaning out of it as he had not heard that there had been any store fire. The announcer explained that he was only there temporary and that permission must be given by the game committee or James Duggan before he could make any such announcement over the speaker.

About 15 minutes later the little old man returned and stated that he had been unable to find the person in charge that he had been sent to locate. "Please mister", he pleaded, "ask for him, Mom's worried to death." The announcer, after explaining again that he could not make such an announcement without permission, asked "who is it you are looking for?" "He's my boy," the little man said. "My name's Leech, I want you to ask for Frank Leech, to come here or to go home. "

Virgil Frizzell, the chief announcer then appeared and over the loud speaker he asked Frank Leech, if present to come to the press box. There was no response.

The old man returned sorrowfully to his home. There he learned that the young man had gone into the burning building the night before in a heroic effort to save the life of a friend.

His boy, Frank Leech was dead."

The little old man in the miner's cap was my great-grandfather, William Allen Leach (I think it is misspelled in the story), and his son, Frank, my great-uncle. I never knew them and had never heard this story. It just broke my heart hearing my dad read it to me over the phone, the image of my great-grandfather begging the announcers for help in locating his boy. I am sure he and my great-grandmother were devastated at the loss of their son, but I hope it gave them some comfort to know he died trying to save someone else.

From the book: A Pictorial History of Cabin Creek, by Dale Payne 2008

iPod touch Kindle app - my first impressions

I downloaded the Kindle application last night and played around with it just a little. The selection of books is GREAT. You could browse through them for hours on Amazon. I actually browsed on my computer instead of my Touch - I should have done it on the Touch too but didn't - maybe I'll do that tonight. There are lots of cheap (old, obscure and/or classic) books for less than $1. And then there are lots of current books as well, usually for $3 or $4 less than the paper versions I think (I didn't look at many of those yet).

 

I wish I could convert all the books I have waiting to read to Kindle versions!

 

The reader works well. It's very basic. I was disappointed that it doesn't include some of the features available on the actual Kindle and which are available on other reading apps (eReader in particular). eReader allows you to highlight text, make notes and look up words. The Kindle app does not. It does let you bookmark sections at least. Hopefully future releases of the app will improve the functionality.

 

I am still glad to have this option for my iPod. What a wonderful thing it is to have my games, music, photos, calendar, email, contacts, internet and now books in one small device I carry with me everywhere I go.

 

Someday I will have the iPhone and then I'll have my phone and camera in it too! And internet everywhere I go, not just in wifi spots.

 

I wonder what the future holds for these devices. Thinking of the things I carry in my purse - someday maybe it will also be able to be used as a debit card, hold a scan of your driver's license or identification, be coded to be used as a security card to get in my office building or a parking garage card. I love technology!!

 

iPhone and Touch now have access to Kindle books!

I'm way excited about this!   There are some reader apps for eBooks already and I have enjoyed reading some free books on them, but I was frustrated at the price and selection of the eBooks. The Kindle app takes care of that!  I have not had the chance to try it for myself yet because I just found out about it this morning.
 
And if you have both, the second article talks about how the sync feature will keep your place so you can read the same book on both at the same time.  Very cool stuff!
 
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/03/04/the-rumors-were-true-you-can-turn-your-iphone-into-a-kindle/
 
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10187912-1.html

 

(thanks Oncee for the news!) 

Around the House Today and a plug for La Carreta Elkview (go eat there! now!)

Sunshine!!


Bird tracks, cat tracks and dog tracks!




My cute husband. Time to go get some Mexican food and buy some groceries


Our little road is still snow and ice covered


Thank goodness the hill is no longer a sheet of ice!


La Carreta! My favorite! If you're in the Elkview/Pinch area, go and eat at La Carreta in Elkview!! Off the Elkview Exit on I-79 (exit 9). In the little plaza behind K-Mart. It's muy delicioso!!


Hey these pictures are making me hungry


The view from our booth


Yay, we're home!

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Weekly Cat Pictures

Miss Bobbi the Snow Cat


Miss Bobbi was rolling around on the driveway for some reason


Rascal balancing on top of the lawn chair we fashioned into a gate to keep dogs off the porch


Me and my Baby Boy Stubby

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Gratuitous Kitty Pictures

Miss Bobbi




The Kitty Tent for the outside cats

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Snowy Day

We had a bit of snow this morning! The roads were not very well treated when we left but we didn't have too much trouble. Our hill was pretty slick and the worst. I didn't think to take a picture there, darn it. Husband drove down it with the car in reverse!! I wouldn't have attempted it alone.


Driving through Pinch


I-64 West


Leon Sullivan Way (Broad Street) Exit


Downtown Charleston


Tonight, the trees were encased in ice! But the temp is rising slowly and the snow has been mixed with rain.


Rose of Sharon bush encased in ice - and raindrops!

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