This and That

This is Fred, the beautiful fluffy Great Pyrenees who lives next door to Green Cove Station. He faithfully guards his friends, the flock of six sheep, when he isn't napping up in the corner of his private domain, a large green field covered in grass and yellow wildflowers. It sounds ideal but I'm very upset that neither he or the sheep have any shelter from the hot sun or various other elements presented by Mother Nature. It broke my heart last week when we had a terrible thunderstorm and he sat on top of the hill all hunched down as the fierce wind drove the rain onto him while the thunder crackled overhead with tremendous booms. Then wouldn't you know it, it started to hail. He looked so miserable. When the storm was over. He went to his favorite place to nap which was covered with mud, he was a mess when he got up. I'll keep trying to get a good pic of Fred and his charges.



The two bikers below are Vernelle and Keith, husband and wife, both retired Army Sergeants. They were a very nice and ambitious couple who spent the night in our campground one night last week as they were biking from Culpepper, VA to Napa Valley, CA on the Transcontinental Bikeway. You can find out more about them from their website http://www.2sergeantsbiking.com/w.2sergeantsbiking.com/ .







They were kind enough to set up my campfire so all I have to do is strike a match now. They felt sorry for me after seeing how my miserable little fire never took off. Good luck and safe travels to the both of them.
















This is Dave and Sam who were hiking with a group of Boy Scouts. They hailed us down one morning as Betty and I were on the way to work. They were needing a way to get back to their car at Grayson Highlands State Park as Dave had had some irregular heartbeats the day before and wanted to get checked out by a doctor. Carrying a large backpack up these hills sure wasn't helping so they climbed into the back of my Honda CRV which already had my bike and a 40 lb bag of dog food in it, but they managed. When we got to Green Cove Station we found them transportation. Dave was a computer programmer and Sam was a large animal veterinarian, both from North Carolina. Two really nice guys.


I probably mentioned that my new friend Nell and I bought electronic mouse chasers. Well it seems mice have moved into her car as she found out one day while driving and a mouse walked across the outside of her windshield. This just cracked me up when I heard about it. Can't you just picture it?


There never seems to be a dull moment up here. This is the last day of my 4 days off this week and I haven't done too much. Jay, the campground host taught me how to play Skip-BO. We're practicing so we can beat his friend Wallace. Nell, Betty, Jay and I all played yesterday afternoon. Thursday I had my eyes checked out and don't need new glasses, afterwards Betty and I met for dinner at the Tuscan Restaurant in Marion. Tonight, Nell, Betty and I are going to Jerry's for dinner, that's where all the hikers eat so we'll see how it smells. Ho ho!



I'm looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. By the way, we've had seven beautiful days without rain so I guess I'm not in Oregon after all.

Eerie Lights in the Night

Almost a month up here and I still haven't seen much. Rain rain and more rain. I have 3 leaks to take care of now and will take the coach to Johnson City today.

I took a ride with Nell, a campground host to see how long it took to drive to Hickory and she took these photos with her Blackberry. On the way down we saw lots of Christmas Tree farms and went through Boone and Blowing Rock, 2 cute little tourist traps. We stopped at Lowes and bought electronic bug zappers and mouse chasers. No more signs of mice here but Jay had killed 8 before he left for NM. It was a beautiful and curvy drive, on our way back we jumped on the Blueridge Parkway for a while and took the groundhog photo and the view of the mountains.

On Thursday I was going to headquarters to pick up my mail. When I stepped out of the car I heard "Hi Trish" it sounded like Bob, my brother-in-law, I turned and IT WAS! What a terrific surprise as well as terrific timing. My sister-in-law, Janet and their son, Jerry were there too. I showed them where I was staying and then we went to the Log Cabin Restaurant in Volney for dinner. It was so great to see them. They were on the way to NC for the family reunion where I joined them on Saturday. Pictures to be posted eventually.

I woke up the other night and saw an eerie light moving around the room. Finally it dawned on me that it was a lightening bug. I caught him and put him out the window.

Looking out the door at Green Cove, we saw two deer then a third in the field below the Christmas Trees. Another day I was watching the flock of sheep on the hill next door when one saw Fred, the Pyrenees dog, and baaa-ed at him. Then the sheep walked up to Fred and they touched noses. Really! They must really like their protector. Pictures soon.

We had a terrible day yesterday, it stormed all day and only 18 people came into the station. A very long day.

Lucky for me it's not raining this morning. Stay tuned.

Green Cove Station,

This is Sunday, May 31, 9:05 a.m. as Pat and I were on our way to work, needless to say, we were delayed.

The ground was saturated with all the rain we've had and lots of trees were falling over when the wind picked up. May is supposed to be one of the wettest months here and I believe it.

Cars had already started to back up when we arrived and people were getting out of their cars to watch the progress being made by the forest dept's one man crew, Evan who just happened upon it. The weight of the tree had hung up the only chainsaw and everyone that stopped was asked if they happened to have one.


Someone had an ax and the crowd started taking turns whacking away at it. To my surprise, even the man wearing a suit took his turn. An ax on a tree this size would take all day so someone turned around to go get more chainsaws. Meanwhile, Evan freed the chainsaw and quickly did a number on the tree.

Some of the onlookers, like Pat and myself stayed in our trucks and cars, others stood around and watched, while the he-men did the work. Even the one wearing shorts with cowboy boots. It didn't take long after Evan got it sawed up, thanks to his helpers. We made it to work just 15 minutes late.

This is Green Cove Station where I work 3 or 4 days a week. We open at 10 am and close at 4
pm. seven days a week. Saturday is the busiest day with Sunday next. Green Cove station was built in 1914 by the Norfolk and Western RR. This branch of the RR line ran from Abingdon, VA to W. Jefferson, NC. It was called the Virginia Creeper because it took so long to go up and over the mountains. The little building was bought by Wm, Buchanan, the station manager, telegraph operator, general store operator and Postmaster in 1934. The last train came through on March 31, 1977 and the station and store closed shortly thereafter. Finally it was donated to the Forest service, lock stock and barrel so it would be maintained and used for visitors. The original items for sale at that time are still on the shelves and are facinating to look at. It's definitely a step back in time and I'm amazed at how many young people enjoy looking and appreciate the old items on display.

This is the view looking out the front door and it's just beautiful. It's one of many Christmas tree farms in the area covering the many rolling hillsides. The little trail on the right leading up to the stop signs is part of the Virginia Creeper Trail, where the RR tracks once were. It's leading up to Whitetop Mountain, about 3.1 miles away and goes to Abingdon in the other direction, a total of 34 miles. We have a lot of regular bikers going up and down the mountain weekly and one man, Lawrence Dye, 77 years old, who does it 5 times a week taking 7 hours to do it. The bike shops in Abingdon and Damascus take shuttles of bikers with their bikes up to Whitetop where they then ride down the trail to the destination of their choice. I brought my bike and plan to do it myself while here. I'll take photos on the way down.
We have two bikers, Tim and Ryan who patrol the trail ready to repair bikes, offer first aid or give any help or information needed.

These are some of the shelves with the old merchandise still remaining on them.

These are some of the very old display cases used back many decades ago that we use to display our goods for sale. Our big sellers in this season are candy, sodas, water, gatorade and trail mix. We also sell t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, postcards, cameras, chapstick, etc.

We are very close to the Appalachian Trail and sell those shirts as well.

This is just one of the old stoves here, the other is in the what was a waiting room for the train station. By the way, it usually snows here in April.

This is another view from the station, it really is beautiful here. We drive a 48 mile round trip to work here and the drive hasn't gotten old yet. I've seen one deer one the way here but a couple of days ago there were three just below the Christmas trees across from the station.

On the other side of the building is a fenced in hill where a Great Pyrenees named Fred watches over six sheep. He sleeps most of the day in the shaded corner, photos coming soon.

This was the night of Pat's going away party. In this picture are Jay, the campground host at Raccoon Branch, Pat, and Les, the campground host at Fox Creek Horse Camp. He's going to take me riding after his wife brings another horse from NC.

Back row from left are Tim, the guitarman and singer of mountain bluegrass and also a bike patrol member, Mary Ann, wife of Jay, Jay, Pat, and Les. Front row from left is me, boss Sue, main boss Sara, friend Nell another campground host at Hurricane, Carol and J.D., the other couple of workers at Green Cove and David, another host at Hurricane.

Boyd loved to take photos of bugs, etc. So for him I am including this wormmy creature that was at our campsite

and this catepillar with the pretty markings which was walking? across our picnic table.