August 29, 2004
Fox Grapes
Along many of the small spring fed branches, a profusion of wild grape vines span the creek with clusters of these just now ripe summer bounty. In less than an hour, we picked a bushel! Lots more for hungry animals, but no apparent interest on the part of birds, foxes, or possums! All ours!
Sam and Betty Getgood are supposed to figure out how to convert all this into jelly while we're getting ready to move into the cabin over the coming week.
Sam surprised a black snake as big as her wrist, causing it to regurgitate a good size bull frog. Looked pretty rough, but still managed to swim away when placed in a nearby pond! What a story she'll have to tell when they all start croaking tonite!
Buffalo Mountain Nature Preserve
This is a PDF file about the Nature Preserve abutting the property and extending northward over the backside of the Buffalo. A thousand acres of playground with creeks, cliffs, mountain tops, deer, turkey, and bear.
The Man Who Moved a Mountain
An Amazon, on-line first chapter, of a wonderful book about this place in time (1929) when a Presbyterian preacher by the name of Bob Childress civilized a wild corner of the Blue Ridge.. The cemetery across Buffalo Mountain Road still holds the grave markers of those who fought family feuds, and died across the flanks of the Buffalo.
Appaloosa Stud
Comanche is an old one-eyed Appaloosa stallion with his Appaloosa spots faded into imperceptibility. He was given to a local who has a number of other horses on his grandmother's land, with visitation rights for Janet to insure his happiness.
Out Building
This is the other major building on the property. The enclosed portion on the left is a secure storage area with a concrete floor. The far right compartment is the stall for the Appoloosa stallion, Comanche, who has recently found a new home. The two center slots will be for our old diesel Mercedes and a 4WD farm truck we'll need to get out in the winter.
August 28, 2004
Sam Atop the Buffalo
Sam is standing on top of Buffalo Mountain, just below 4000 foot altitude, and about a mile and a half north of the cabin. The area between the two is a Nature Preserve, and a subset of an original land grant to Light Horse Harry Lee, in recognition of his service during the American Revolution. It passed to his sons, Robert E Lee, and his brother Carter. An area rich in history, and we hope to trace all the ownership paths as we have time. In this century, the acreage including the cabin and our land, was owned by various generations of the Sutphin family. The Buffalo itself was sold by Jack Lawson of Floyd to the Nature Conservancy, which passed it along to the State of Virginia.
Winter Quarters 2004-5
This is a 1850? vintage old mountain log cabin built of chesnut logs on a 30 acre property adjacent to ours. Right at the 3000 foot level, so we should get to do some cross country skiing getting down to the mailbox. It has been in the family of Willis and Janet Reid of Martinsville VA for the past 25 years as a vacation getaway. Willis was an Army retired O-6 MSC officer, and passed away recently after a bout with cancer. We will winter over in the cabin while we are getting ready to start on our place in the Spring. Be a good chance to get acquainted with the local folks and fauna. The goat on the porch is a temporary resident, now gone.