Snow, flooding, and other stuff

The weather provided a bit of drama last month, including this sudden Friday snowstorm. Views are from the top floor of the library looking over campus.

Heavy rains hit the New River Valley which flooded the New River. Water was released from the dam upstream at Claytor Lake and RU didn't warn students in time to move their cars from the riverside parking lot. You can see the flooded river in the photo below and the submerged cars in the photo below that. These photos were also taken from the fifth floor of McConnell Library.

The New River swelling over its banks.

Zooming in shows the tops of submerged cars.

Meanwhile, while the weather raged, I took a few interior shots.

Bottles on the windowsill.

Tops of the same bottles.

Curved things on my work desk.

Repaired section of my backyard fence. A wind-damaged branch fell and took out several boards.  These are the bright and shiny replacement boards. "Good fences make good neighbors"

December hike post that slipped through the cracks....

We took a short, late afternoon hike to the upper trails of the Bottom Creek Gorge in early December.  I added these photos and never got around to posting them to the blog.  Now I have.

Winter berries

Just some fun guys hanging out

Birds were here

Barrie on the trail. The nature preserve is right beside a hunting camp and it was deer season, so the orange was in order.

More fun guys with sticks!

Pondesque

War Spur Loop during midwinter spring

Yesterday was an unseasonable 60+ degrees so we headed up to War Spur Loop after breakfast. It rained quite late in the week and the forest floor was soaked. It alternated between cloudy and sunny and the cloudy times really brought out the greens in the forest. The moss was bright green in stark contrast to the wet brown and tan of the leaf-strewn forest floor and trail.  Asta had a blast, and spent a few minutes running in a gleeful figure-eight in the wet forest. And, it being hunting season in Virginia, she was sporting her nice bright vest. 

Asta coming to herd me as a dawdle along.

The moss was rather vibrant

Mossy rocks looking up the hill from the trail.

So, there was this hole in the tree trunk.....

....and Asta came to investigate.

Another mossy tree.

A number of recently downed trees covered the trail.

Mossy lichen type stuff.

Rock, trees, leaves.

The recurring mossy tree theme

Asta peers off the trail.

Backyard, post ice storm

The Boxing Day ice storm left a pile of debris in our backyard, as the huge pine tree lost lots of branches, large and small, as well as multiple sprigs. Green needles and twigs were everywhere on the white snow/ice.

The melt begins

Buddha amidst post-storm debris

Pig flying above downed pine branches

A layer of old compost, a layer of ice, and an emptied stock pot. Frozen compost fixin's.

The old (snow) shovel.

Dried hydrangea, ice, and pine needles

Another dried hydrangea, albeit not as brightly hued as the one above.

Frozen bird bath and pine needles.

Autumnal Photo Project: Random Photos and Abstracts

A handful of recent photos, including some abstract images.

Abstract: Lampshade

Abstract: Living Room Lights, Panned.

Leaf tucked into large metal flower

Gazing into the bottle

Bou surveys the yard from top of the deck stairs

Backlit trees in the neighborhood

Dusk with moon over Blacksburg

Cardinal in the rhodo hedge outside my study window

Coaster and water bottle.

Yew (?) berries

Dusk at Radford

Dusk at Radford, taken in front of McConnell Library looking toward Tyler Hall

Autumnal Photo Project: Backpacking at Lost Cove Creek

Last weekend was delightfully warm and pleasant for late October in Appalachia. Most of the leaves are gone off the trees and a winter front was heading our way, packing a potentially potent wallop thanks to Hurricane Sandy. It was a seasonal cusp of sorts, and a perfect time to head out into the Pisgah National Forest with a backpack on. My friend Edwin and I headed out to Lost Cove Creek and camped near an old favorite site, Hunt Fish Falls, that's been documented on this blog before (the photo in the header is Hunt Fish Falls proper). Here's some photos from our trip: 

Hiking in through a characteristic rhododendron tunnel, so common in this neck of the woods.

Looking upstream from the big rock overlooking the falls.  That's Tina Louise on the leash.

Tina keeps an eye on the creek near our campsite.

Waning fall leaves clinging on the big rock overhanging the creek.

We hiked in on Friday afternoon and made camp. Saturday we hiked upstream, crossing the creek six times in the process.  We then took the trail up to Timber Ridge, then hiked along the ridge and back to our campsite near Hunt Fish Falls, a total hike of about 8 miles or so. 

A pool upstream from the campsite.

A narrow section of Lost Cove Creek.

This tree was rooted on a small rock outcrop over the pool.

Another view of the tree on the outcrop.

On the trail upstream.

Heading up the switchbacks to Timber Ridge.

Red and brown and green and gray.

On Timber Ridge heading back to the campsite.

This scary label was affixed to this tree near  our campsite. It's the only one we saw like this. Did I mention this was the weekend just before Halloween?

Cocktail hour back at camp after our hike.

cameras: Olympus E-PM1 and 14-45mm lens, Panasonic ZS15