Wordless Wednesday

Angela

Dancing with the Stars ~ Part 1

A lovely lady that works with my husband had 2 tickets to the Dancing with the Stars tour in Charleston for last night that she wasn't able to attend.  She offered them to my husband for me to go.  I was thrilled to hear this and quickly said yes.  My Young Lady didn't want to go.  She thinks she too old or something, but you Little Man wanted to go so I took him instead.  We had a great time! 

The seats were on the main floor row L close to the middle.  I am thrilled my pictures turned out really good because we weren't allowed to use flash.

I think I did a pretty good job at getting some pretty good pictures!  :)

We have been watching Dancing with the Stars pretty much from the beginning.  I was happy to see that the dancers performed at 100% just like they do on the show for television.  They put on a fantastic show last night.

Rumor Willis was supposed to dance with them last night, but she has done something to her foot and was unable to dance.  I was surprised to hear that she was going to sing during last night's show!

I was lucky to get the great shots that I got because this was my view if I sat straight in my seat!  I about died when this big bald old man sat down in front of me and I couldn't see.  He didn't move the entire show.  I had to look from one side to the other side of his head to see the dances.  And I'm pretty tall myself that I couldn't see over him....  All in all though we had a great time!  I have more pictures and hopefully a video or two that I'll be able to upload.  The first video I tried said it was too large, so we'll see.

Angela

Our First Snow of the Year!

 Saturday morning I woke up to find this white stuff on the ground!  It has been since last year that we have had snow so this was a nice sight to see.

 As you can see we didn't get much snow at all.  There wasn't enough to build a snowman or do our mule ride sleigh rides. 

 Jazz heard me when I was taking pictures and came running at corgi speed.  She's faster than a speeding bullet! 

Hopefully we'll get a better snow this year.  Seems like Old Man Winter is skipping us this year.  The kids really want a few snow days, but I don't want them to have to make it up by going longer into the summer like they did last year.

Angela

Mural at Buckhannon, West Virginia

We were driving through the town of Buckhannon, West Virginia when I seen this beautiful mural.  I just love seeing murals in small towns that we visit.  They are so inviting.

Angela

Breakfast at the Bright Morning Inn

 When we stay at Canaan Valley we have to check out of the rental house at 10am so that doesn't leave much time for us to make breakfast before we leave.  There are a lot of things we have to do before we leave the house like start the dishwasher, wash and start drying all of the towels, stripe all of the beds and my husband always runs the vacuum throughout the house just to make sure we get our security deposit back.  We also have to load up all of our stuff and take out the trash on our way out. 

 We are always looking for a nice place to have breakfast before we make our long journey home.  This year we discovered there was a place in Davis that only serves breakfast which is why I don't think we had ever noticed it.  Well, that and the fact that it is an Inn.  The Bright Morning Inn serves breakfast until 11am.  I had their omelet with sausage, onions, mushrooms and cheese with their home style potatoes and wheat toast with blackberry jam.  It was really good!  We will be going back to this place on our next trip there on our way home for sure!

 My Little Man had their biscuit with gravy.  He ate it all!  There wasn't anything let for us to even give it a taste to see if we would like it! 

 My husband had their scrabbled eggs with bacon, home style potatoes, wheat toast and blackberry jam.  My Young Lady had one of their breakfast sandwiches that I didn't get a picture of. 

 They have some pretty flowers in their flowerbeds.

I highly recommend the Bright Morning Inn if you are looking for a good healthy and hearty breakfast to start your day!  We will be back there next year!  

Angela

I was Blessed Today!

For the past 3 weeks my Little Man has been attending a summer program learning about the weather.  After I drop him off I usually go through a drive thru to get something to eat for breakfast.  This morning I decided I would go to Tudor's Biscuit World again as I really liked their blueberry muffin I had last week.  There was a line of cars already there which is normal for that time of morning.  I ordered a blueberry muffin and a large sweet tea.  I was told it would be $3.16.  I had the exact amount ready to hand to the cashier when she looked at me and said "the lady in front of you said for you to have a good day and she paid for your food"!  I was shocked needless to say.  Just absolutely shocked!  I'm not used to anyone doing anything for me.  I do things for others that goes unnoticed, but this morning a complete stranger, an angel in disquise, blessed me so much that I was crying like a baby driving down the road trying to take it all in.  You see it wasn't about the money as I had it.  It is about how my first thought was how God lets me know how he is taking care of me and for me not to worry about it.  

I cried like a baby when I was eating the blueberry muffin.  It was sort of like having communion with the Lord.  As I was driving I kept going over what had just happened in my mind.  The amount the Angel paid for me was $3.16.  Let's take a look at that.  3:16 came to my mind.  Everyone knows this very popular passage in the Bible!  John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  Right after I had that thought and reviewed this verse in my mind a car passed me, I was on the Interstate, that had the license plate of "Awesome God"!  It was shortened, but I knew what it said as it passed me.  Needless to say I was agreeing and crying all at the same time!  

A little later when I was listening to my music in my truck one of my favorite Sandi Patty songs came on that was so fitting for what happened to me today.  http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=0BC2JCNU

He promised us that He would be a counselor
A Mighty God and the Prince of Peace
He promised us that He would be a Father
And that He would love us with a love that would not cease.

Well, I tried Him and I found His promises are true
He's everything He said that He would be.
The finest words I know could not begin to tell
Just what Jesus really means to me.

For He's more wonderful than my mind can conceive
He's more wonderful than my heart can believe
He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams.
He's everything that my soul ever longed for
Everything He's promised and so much more
More than amazing, more than marvelous
More than miraculous could ever be
He's more than wonderful, that's what Jesus is to me.

I stand amazed when I think that the King of glory
Should come to dwell within the heart of man
I marvel just to know He really loves me
When I think of who He is, and who I am.

For He's more wonderful than my mind can conceive
He's more wonderful than my heart can believe
He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams.
He's everything that my soul ever longed for
Everything He's promised and so much more
More than amazing, more than marvelous,
More than miraculous could ever be
He's more than wonderful, that's what Jesus is to me.

Repeat chorus
I was incredibly blessed today.  Just thinking how God spoke to a stranger to me, but not to him, to have them to do some small act of kindness is just awesome!  We do have an Awesome God! 

Angela 

A Family Heirloom

A few years ago my mom brought over a painting that her Cousin Patsy gave her of one of the homes that her parents owned and lived in many years ago.  My Great Aunt Vi and Great Uncle JD Landers owned this house in the late 50's or early 60's.  I love this painting. I remember driving past this house when I was a kid and mom would tell stories about this house.  Her aunt used to pay her to clean the house.  My Uncle Terry married his wife Phyliss in this house.   Mom said it was just as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside.   I wish they still owned it when I was older.  I would have loved to have seen the inside of the house.  It was rumored that this house had a slave tunnel that ran under it to the nearby river where they would hide the slaves who were escaping from slavery.   

 

 

Sometime in the early 2000's the people who owned the house tore it down.  The lot now is so ugly when you drive by.  I'm so glad that I have this painting to remind me of what it once looked like there.  This is a real family heirloom to me. 

Angela

Log House

Last month we went for a ride on our Ranger out a dirt road that we frequent when we are riding.  Much to our surprise we found this beautiful log house that someone has been building.  They must had built it in the winter because we didn't see it being built when we last rode out that way.  We did notice that they had logged the property.

From the looks of it they used the actual logs from the property.  How cool is that?  

Here's a closer look at it in the picture below.  It took a lot of time to round up the same size logs to put this log house together.  My count is 14 logs across the front. 

I can not wait to see it again the next time we ride out that road!

Angela

Crumbling Roads

This Winter has been harsh on the roads here in West Virginia.  It has been especially hard on a less than a quarter of a mile of road that is on a small bench with a creek down below it.  There are currently 3 different slips within that less than a quarter of a mile road!  This past weekend it rained pretty hard on Friday.  Saturday we went out to survey the damage and this what we found.

 

This is a new slip although my husband says that it isn't....  A few of the other neighbors also agree with me that it is a new slip.  The road may have been cracking there, but there was not a slip! 

This picture shows just how close the road is to the creek that has a 15 foot drop off down into that creek!

This is the chunk of road that slipped down sometime this past weekend.

This slip above is one that the county has fixed I think 3 different times over the past 6 months.  It just won't hold.  I've blogged about this section of the road before.

It really is hard to tell from this picture just how deep this slip actually is.  Take my word on it you don't want to drive over the end right here!  I personally wouldn't even stand down there on that slip!

Here is another slip that hasn't gotten that bad yet, but it is a bigger slip waiting to happen if you ask me.

This is what this slip looks like below it.  You can see that some of the road has actually fell down onto the side of the hill.

I'm not sure what the county is going to do about this section of the road.  Like I said at the beginning this has been a very harsh Winter on all of the roads in West Virginia.  All we hear is how they don't have the money to fix the roads.  That leads me to believe that it will be a long time before the county will fix this road if at all.  Unfortunately, the second slip is on our property.  We own both sides of the road for a little distance in that area.  One neighbor mentioned to me in passing that she is going to request that they dig out the hillside.  I'm not for that at all, but I didn't tell her that.  It is straight up and down right there.  I should have taken a picture of it!  There is also some huge rocks right there on the side.  Another neighbor told me today that he thinks they probably should close the road before someone gets hurt.  I somewhat agree with him on that.  The only thing is then I can foresee people with 4 wheelers cutting themselves a path through our woods to get up and around this slip.  I don't want that to happen at all. 

I haven't called the county about the slips yet.  I'm not sure if I want to.  If and when this road completely falls into the creek my house will be on a dead end road.  It might be nice to not have any traffic going by my house.  I have a different mindset, I know.  There are a few others reasons I would like to see this road closed, but it is a road that my husband uses to go to work.  It's also my preferred way of going anywhere when I go somewhere because it is only 1 mile of driving on a one lane road.  After that it is 2 lane driving to where ever it is that I'm going.  

Angela

Help! Please Sign Petition!

An online petition related to the West Virginia water crisis that has affected the water supply for more than 300,000 customers has gained nearly 15,000 signatures since Friday.

A petition on the "We the People, Your Voice In Our Government" section of the White House.gov website had 13,972 signatures Monday and calls for an investigation of the "mismanagement of the West Virginia water crisis by state and county officials as well as West Virginia American Water."

You can view or sign the petition here.

The site said it has a goal of 100,000 signatures that must be obtained by Feb. 20. As of Monday, just more than 86,000 signatures were needed on the petition.

Angela

Water Crisis Continues

West Virginia still continues to be in a water crisis due to a chemical leak that got into the river that made it's way into the water supply of 300,000 people which in turn contaminated the homes of those people.  It is so scary reading what all is happening to people who have been exposed to it even after they have done what they were told to do by flushing their homes of the water.  It isn't working.  After one area is clear to flush their homes it seems like within a few hours they are telling them to boil their water after that.  I'm reading that most homes are still smelling the odor of the chemical when they run their hot water.  Some are suggesting that the fumes from the hot water from taking a shower can cause you to have a type of pneumonia.  More and more people are going to the hospital after they have flushed their homes.

I hated sending my kids to school today. I knew my daughter’s school was safe because her school is on city water but my son’s school has the contaminated water. I sent him wipes and hand sanitizer. He took his own water bottle. I made him take his lunch also even though they said they would be cooking with bottled water.  He said they gave everyone at school a water bottle and that water bottles were stacked up in the hallway. They have hand sanitizer outside the bathrooms. Only a note on the water fountain for them to not drink the water. I’d feel safer if they put a trash bag over it.  He came home all excited because they let the kids drink as much milk as they wanted and he drank 3 bottles at lunch.  They were going to expire on Monday so they decided to let the kids get their fill I suppose. 

I’m reading everything I can to learn more about this to try to protect my family but it is hard when they won’t listen. Thankfully we have well water so our house is safe but my mom and sister have the contaminated water. Mom said it burned her hand when she used it. She’s back to using her bottled water. I won't go shopping in the areas that have the water problem because I don't want to need to use the water should nature call while I'm out!  lol  I have been reading that people are getting headaches, diarrhea, nose bleeds, sore throats, coughing, rashes and burns on their skin.  I'm reading that it will take at least another 2 1/2 weeks to get all of this contaminated water out of the peoples homes.  They just recommended that pregnant women not drink the water yesterday.  After they gave that warning local pediatricians started saying that they don't recommend children to drink the water either.  It’s a mess. I won't lie, it is depressing seeing and knowing this is happening right here where I live.  I've told my husband he is lucky that our house has a well because I'd want to replace everything in our house.  All of the pipes and even the refrigerator because of the icemaker.  He gave me a look and said something about not wanting to crawl under the house and rip walls open to get to the pipes.  When we built our house he did all of the plumbing work.  He apparently don't want to do that again!  lol  I can't blame him though but I know that is what he would probably do if we had to. 

The chemical company that caused this mess has already filed bankruptcy!  I knew they would!  I'm sure they have hidden as much money as they could! 

I’m so worried about people getting cancer from this. You don’t ever want to hear the words you have cancer! Been there and done that! Don’t want to ever hear that again!  

Angela

State of Emergency Continues

The State of Emergency continues here for 9 counties in West Virginia due to the chemical leak that contaminated our water supply.  (I'm not affected by this as we have a well.)  I've been reading a lot of different things about this disaster.  I read earlier today that there are a few people who lit a match to their water and it actually caught fire!  A family from our church has said that they can still smell the odor from the plant that the chemical leaked from.  They live about a mile from it. 

On a different note, I knew going to church this morning would pose some problems for me since I'm severely allergic to perfume.  I knew that since a lot of people are without water that they would be wearing the entire bottle of perfume to cover up the fact that they haven't had a shower since Thursday or even Wednesday if they hadn't already taken one before the do not use order came into effect.  I was running late as usual.  My husband goes an hour before me because he runs the sound.  I don't want to get up at the crack of dawn so I drive myself.  As soon as I walked through the door of the sanctuary I could smell the strongest odor of perfume that I have ever smelled EVER!!!   I went and sat where I usually sit which I moved to that area because someone was wearing strong perfume where I used to sit and I kept getting sick from going to church and smelling her perfume.  After a few songs Pastor told us to greet one another.  I shook hands with 2 women and 1 man and sat down thinking I was safe.  Nope!  I had a sneak attack from the back!  A woman whom I love dearly hugged my shoulders and touched her cheek to my cheek from the back.  She was wearing some seriously strong perfume today.  I kept eating some cinnamon hard candy I had to mask the smells in there.  Once church was over and I was in the comfort of my truck I could smell a strong odor of perfume.  Where was it coming from?  Well, at first I thought it was on my hair so I took a wipe and wiped my hair off on that one side.  I still smelled it so I then took a wipe and almost wiped off half of my make up on that one side.  Yeah, I looked like a freak show after that!  Then I ended up putting my hair up in a pony tail because I couldn't take it another longer which made me look even prettier.  I could still smell it so I then realized it was on my jacket!  I guess she had it on her hands, probably a lotion of some sort.  Thankfully it was warmer than it has been so I took my jacket off and had it in the floor.  I could still smell it!  I then realized that the heat was on and coming from the floor and thus illuminating the smell upward into my face!  I then turned off the heat and it finally went away.  Once we got back to church and my husband got in his car to drive home I tossed my jacket in the backseat of my truck.  Thank God again that we have well water because I'm going to have to wash that jacket and I wouldn't have been able to do so if we didn't have our well water!  The local Laundromats were packed.  The news said people were waiting in upward of 2 hours just to use the washing machines!  They still don't know when they will be able to flush the main water company's lines yet.  They are saying that they are going to let the areas of Charleston to be the first to get their water back because of the hospitals.  They are going to do it in zones.  Once they give people the all clear then they are supposed to turn on their hot water and let it run for so long to flush out the water from their hot water tanks.  If I had an old water tank I would be draining the old one and replacing it.  People with ice makers and filters on their water and refrigerators will need to replace those also.  The water company is going to put up a map on their web page to show which areas they are working on.  Funny how they can make an interactive map with details in a short period of time and the Obamacare web page, well....  I won't go there! 

Angela

West Virginia under State of Emergency!

Eight counties in West Virginia are under a State of Emergency due to a chemical leak that happened early this morning.  It affects the customers of West Virginia American Water in the following counties: Putnam, Kanawha, Lincoln, Boone, Jackson, Roane, Clay and Cabell.  We are being advised to not use the water for anything except to flush the toilet.  Do not drink, bathe, or even wash clothes in this water!  Boiling the water will not be good enough to fix the contaminated water.  A chemist from Marshall University was interviewed by a local news reporter who said that the chemical would be like drinking gasoline!  People are flocking to the stores and shelves have been emptied.  One store is reporting that people were grabbing full buggies and bolting.  The police have been called to a Kroger due to people fighting over water in the store. 

Early this morning it was reported that there was an odor in the Charleston area that smelled like liquorice.  It was being reported that people were smelling the odd smell as early as 8:30am.  Around 1pm it was reported that the odor was coming from Freedom Industries in Charleston, West Virginia.  The Governor declared a State of Emergency around 5pm.  Around 7pm restaurants we told to shut down.  At 8:00pm schools in the affected counties are now going to be closed tomorrow. 

I'll update further as I know more information.  As of right now my house is not affected by this because we have well water.  Thank God!  My sister and her family and my mom are affected by this along with over 100,000 people in the surrounding area.  

Angela 

Welcome to Lincoln County, West Virginia!

 Veterans Day I decided to take a little road trip with my Little Man to see a few sights and do a little shopping.  We stopped off on the side of the road to take a few picture of the Chuck Yeager Monument that is located along Corridor G in the Yawkey, West Virginia area. 

 I see this monument all the time and I have taken a few pictures, but this was the first time I pulled over to let my Little Man out to let him get a closer look at it.

General Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager; born February 13, 1923 is a retired brigadier general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot to (officially) travel faster than sound.

Yeager's career began in World War II as a private in the United States Army Air Forces. After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942 he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of flight officer (the World War II USAAF equivalent to warrant officer) and became a North American P-51 Mustang fighter pilot.

After the war, Yeager became a test pilot of many types of aircraft including experimental rocket-powered aircraft. As the first human to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, he flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m). Although Scott Crossfield was the first to fly faster than Mach 2 in 1953, Yeager shortly thereafter set a new record of Mach 2.44.

Yeager later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany and in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he then was promoted to brigadier general. Yeager's flying career spans more than 60 years and has taken him to every corner of the globe, including the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.

 He was born to farming parents Susie Mae and Albert Hal Yeager in Myra, West Virginia, and graduated from high school in Hamlin, West Virginia which is in Lincoln County, West Virginia. 

 

It was a beautiful day and I had a great time hanging out with my Little Man that day.

Angela

Harpers Ferry

On our way to our vacation we drove through and stopped in at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  We used to go here for what we called our "West Virginia fix" when we lived in Maryland for 4 years.  We really missed our mountains and felt right at home here.  Much easier to drive 2 hours than 7 hours to be at our real homes.  The first picture is sideways of course...  You know the drill.  Turn your head or turn your computer to the side!  lol

Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia.

While we were there we got to see an Amtrak train come in and stop and then take off again.

It was a nice little stop for us to get to get out and stretch our legs for a little while.  We didn't go into any of the shops.  We mostly just looked around and took a few pictures.  It was nice to go back after all the years it had been since we had been there.  My guess would be a good 17 years since we had been there. 

Angela