A rout
Two nights after Auburn threatened their unbeaten streak with a close five-point game, the Floyd County High School girls’ varsity team rebounded to stomp Giles County 109-52. That’s right: 109 points in a high school basketball game. The team is now 17-0.
Pondering
After a long, busy weekend (and beyond) moving my political web site, Capitol Hill Blue, to a new server and a new publishing platform, based on WordPress, I’m considering moving Blue Ridge Muse to a new publishing system.
Busy, busy, busy
Busy all weekend moving my political news web site, Capitol Hill Blue, to new servers with a new content management system (WordPress).
The sounds of not-so-silence
I’m accustomed, more or less, to the sound of military jets on practice runs through the mountains around our home. Sometimes they come over low enough to read the markings.
But the crescendo of jet engines this morning is both louder and more frequent than normal.
Did the Taliban invade the Blue Ridge while we slept? I’d better check the news.
Out of withdrawal
Oddfellas Cantina in Floyd reopens today, after their annual January vacation, ending three weeks of withdrawal for those of us hooked on “Appalachian Latino.”
I’m headed for lunch.
Death defying
I’ve faced my share of danger in a lifetime dedicated to putting myself in harm’s way but nothing, repeat nothing, equals the sheer terror of facing our driveway after an ice storm.
Our 450-foot driveway slopes 35 degrees at its steepest point. The previous owner of our home totaled his SUV when he slid off the driveway and overturned into the woods below. Delivery trucks shun our driveway in the winter.
A friend who skis all over the world says he wouldn’t try to ski down our driveway on a bet.
“That road makes the Olympic ski jump in Innsbruck seem tame,” he sneered.
Winter…sort of
Snow and ice and freezing rain dominate the weather forecasts today. Our weather station shows a falling barometer and warnings keep popping up on the computer screen. The National Weather Service in Blacksburg has issued a “wintry mix” warning.
What, you may wonder, exactly is a “wintry mix?” A little bit of everything: Snow, sleet, freezing rain. They say we could face a quarter inch of ice on the ground by 6 a.m. Monday. Or it could be less, depending on where you live.
Nothing runs like a Deere, Part Deux
Picked up our John Deere lawn tractor from S.G. Wimmer and Sons in Christiansburg this morning, complete with new transmission, replaced under warranty, and a whole not more energy when it comes to climbing hills.
The service tech at Wimmer confirmed the old tranny was shot, slipping so much that it even slowed on level ground. The new transmission, a hydrostatic automatic like the old one, makes the two-year old tractor feel like a new machine.
Who says an old dog can’t change?
Over the years, I’ve looked down at Linux as a second-rate operating system. Much of this stems from an early use of the software on a RAQ server some years ago. So I’ve stuck with Windows and Sun Solaris operating systems for my servers.
Sean Pecor over in Franklin County has long suggested I take a second look at Linux, noting that Google runs its giant operation on the system.
Nothing stalls like a John Deere warranty
Nothing, the ads say, runs like a Deere — John Deere that is. That ad campaign, and the reputation of Deere’s farm and construction equipment, led me to buy an L130 lawn tractor when we moved to the county.
The L130 seemed, at the time, ideal for tackling our spacious front yard — otherwise known as the Lower 40. Our yard is two-and-a-half acres on a hillside where the steepest grade is about 35 degrees. With a 24 horsepower v-twin and a 48-inch cutting deck the L130 came highly recommended.