A year ends
The year that was 2006 ends at midnight ending our second full year in Floyd County.
Officially, we became fulltime residents on December 1, 2004, when we closed on the purchase of our home here, ending five days of homelessness caused by closing on the sale of our condo in Arlington.
Tech’s thugs lose another one
I’m sorry but I can’t share the doom and gloom that die-hard fans of the too often overrated Virginia Tech football team feel this morning after the Hokies fell to the Georgia Bulldogs 31-24 in the Chick Fil-a Bowl Saturday night in Atlanta.
What are the odds?
Friday night’s Floyd County High School varsity girls’ basketball game with Christiansburg was postponed because coach Alan Cantrell’s four-year-old grandson went into emergency surgery that afternoon for a brain tumor.
Varsity boys’ coach Brian Harmon’s son, also four, faced surgery this week — also for a brain tumor.
Two four year olds from families of two basketball coaches at the same school in a county of 15,000 people. Anyone want to figure the odds on that?
If anyone has information on the condition of either child, please let us know.
A ‘wow’ moment
We stopped off at Home Depot in Christiansburg for some items Thursday and then headed over to the nearby Target store. I saw the sky as soon as I stepped out of the car. In photography, we call this a "wow moment," the brief instance when the setting sun provides the right touch of light and color to the sky. I had just enough time to grab my camera and crank off two shots before the sun dipped further below the horizon and the moment was gone.
The day after
A delivery man interrupted our post-Christmas sleep-in this morning, trying to deliver an Epson printer that, I suppose, should have arrived before the holidays.
Only problem was..it wasn’t ours. He wanted 199 Greenbriar — the Howerys — at the other end of our private road. I sent him on his way and headed for the coffee pot.
I loaded trash from the Christmas wrappings into the Liberty Monday night so, coffee in hand, I headed for the dumpsters on Franklin Pike. All overflowed with others’ Christmas trash so I stuffed our bags into the mix and headed back home.
Merry Christmas from Chateau Thompson
No, we don’t have a White Christmas. This is from a snowfall last year but it seemed appropriate for the occasion.
Shopping
Christmas shopping has, at best, been abbreviated this year. My stamina is still not back following my bout with exhaustion, bronchitis and other ailments and I tire easily after just a few minutes on my feet.
So Amy shouldered most of the load while I put the seat back in the Liberty and slept. We returned from trips to Christiansburg and Roanoke with the SUV loaded and picked up some last-minute items from the local shops in Floyd.
Virgil Goode: A national disgrace
As a Virginian, I’m ashamed that a racist and bigot like Virgil Goode represents the Commonwealth in Congress. His recent tirade against Muslims, aimed at an American-born Muslim recently elected to Congress from Minnesota, is the kind of bigotry that harkens back to the days when racists in white sheets killed blacks for sport.
But I suppose we shouldn’t expect any more from a moron like Goode, who stood on the steps of the Franklin County Courthouse Thursday to say he will not stand down for his racist remarks.
Old
Satchel Paige once said dealing with getting old was simply a case of mind over matter.
“If I don’t mind,” he said. “It don’t matter.”
After nearly two weeks of battling exhaustion, dehydration, anemia and bronchitis, I feel the ravages of age and I’m sorry Satchel, but it does matter.
Then I logged on to my email this morning to find a message from an old friend.
“Happy Birthday…you old fart,” it read.
Damn near forgot. Birthday today. The 59th one.
Stealth photographer
Chrisitansburg Printing’s annual appointments calendar is out and features, this year, Floyd artisans, including Gibby Waitzkin, Pat Woodruff, Tara Hale, Cheryl Sweeney Bill Bell and this reporter.
They selected three of my photographs for this year’s use, although those who pick up the free calendar at various locations around the New River Valley will not know that two of the photographs are mine.