The WVa Landscape

The view to the east of Tractor Supply in Lavalette. Layers of rock, etc.....

The view to the west. Trees and hills!

















And check out this retaining wall! Use the cars for scale....

Unfurled Old Glory

Found an old flag pole/rod in the basement of this parsonage (oh, the things to be found in basements, attics, and garages of parsonages...that's a whole nother blog post!) and the front porch already had a sturdy flag pole bracket mounted, so we replaced the little pirate flag with this beauty.

So far we've remembered to bring the flag in at dark and put the flag out in the morning. We hope for continued success with day number two. [grin]

Following the U.S. Flag Code has me breaking out in hives. I'm afraid to break a rule! The American flag requires more care and attention than my pet hamster! It's pretty, and worth the care and attention, though..... (yes, both the flag and the hamster).

Halloween vs. Christmas in West VA

Okay, not to beat a dead horse (too late for that?), but the people absolutely love, love, love Halloween around here and go to great lengths to celebrate. It's quite fun!

At the risk of being picked up by the police and charged with stalking, I took a photo today of a house I had taken photos of at Halloween.

Compare and contrast, shall we?

Here's the house, which we fondly refer to as the "witch-circle house," pulling out all the stops for Halloween.

Here's a close-up of the witches in a circle.

Ahhh, the Halloween splendor.



Now let's contrast this with Christmas. Ready?










BAM!

Yup. That's it. A wreath on the door.











From this-------

------to this. And one thing remains the same; it's still private property!

Is This Typical, Normal, Allowed, Legal?

Is this one of those, "only in WVA" things? Is this typical, normal, allowed, legal?

Funny thing, since the time that I snapped this photo on November 8, I've spotted another cardboard tag.....about a week ago. I kinda don't think it was the same car since it was in a different town.

Must be a West VA thing, because (for you West VA locals) this is something that isn't really usual.

Holidays...the West Virginia Way!

So, I found some PURPLE lights at Goodwill today. I will tuck these babies away for my extra fancy Halloween decorating next year here in West Virginia.

Driving around today, I noticed that the porches are decorated with little Christmas trees. We just happen to have a little Christmas tree, and I just happened to find some white lights and ribbon and a Santa hat at Goodwill today, too. What are the odds?!?!

Here's our front porch with a little Christmas tree.

With some daylight.....

....and without.

Finished, With Time to Spare!

 WHEW!! Finished....in the nick of time!

After extensive research on decorating American Foursquare homes, I discovered that shelves (built-in or free-standing) flanking the fireplace are the common filler for those spaces. It is also common to have lamps on the shelves. So, we are compromising with our end tables and lamps under the windows. The main point seems to be that each side be identical/symmetrical, under the windows.

Find the Kitty!

Followup pictures on the way....to show the room transformation!

Can you find the kitty in these pictures?

Gettin' ready for Christmas!

I-64 Fall Foliage

The hills are alive with fall foliage! Okay....were alive.....this post is overdue.

Did you say texting and driving is dangerous?

 View of West Huntington, from the treetops!

A Phone Booth, Feathered & Feline Friends, and a Humongous Cigar Equal a Weird Friday

My Friday started out normal enough. What with the typical walk to school and the typical picture taking of the phone booth we walk by every morning. Nothing out of the ordinary. Ahem.

Until.......I discovered two sparrows in the basement! What a surprise!

These two unexpected visitors eventually ended up on the first floor where they met two very bored and very (suddenly) interested felines.

This is bird #1 making friends with Remi. (Rest assured that no birds nor felines were harmed during the ensuing melee.) 

















With intervention, Bird #1 was placed on the front porch where it rested before flying off into the woods.

Bird #2 had gone rouge, but Remi kept watch.

Here, Remi cornered Bird #2 near Glenda's fishnet-stocking-ed foot!

Bird #2 was carefully apprehended as Remi continued canvassing the area. He is still convinced there is a bird hanging around here.

Bird #2 resting outdoors before flying off.

My morning was complete after seeing an old man pushing a cart (buggy?) around Walmart with a humongous, albeit unlit cigar in his mouth.

Since I couldn't snap a picture of Humongous-Cigar-Walmart Man, this photo will have to do. Imagine this cigar in Walmart....in West Virginia! Okay.........maybe not too hard to imagine.

Piggly Wiggly

We now live near a Piggly Wiggly, which is new to the area, too! Haven't even been in the store yet, but had to get a dollar bag.

Spider Web in the Clouds

The mornings are frequently foggy here in the mountains of West Virginia, due to being up in the clouds.

These are two different spider webs which were photographed on two separate days. The moisture hangs in the air and makes everything wet with dew, without any rain actually falling. 

I love how the spider webs pop out from the moisture clinging to them!

Pumpkin House 2013

Here is the Pumpkin House in West Virginia during the C-K Autumn Fest. All sources consistently report 3,000 carved pumpkins at this free event.

Scroll for some behind-the-scenes photos here, too!

We arrived just before dusk and before the big crowd.

Here we are watching pumpkins light up to music, ala Christmas lights set to music.

This says "Welcome to the 2013 Pumpkin House and C-K Autumn Fest."

The lone, traditional Jack-O-Lantern is safe behind the picture window in the house, looking out.

Let's zoom in on one of those pumpkins......hmmmmmmmmmmm? Many with current social commentary.

Several religious pumpkins. Three with Jesus that I could see. Even depicting Jesus with a crown of thorns and one depicts Jesus carrying his cross.

Pumpkin House, behind the scenes.

The wires (look to the right) behind lighted-pumpkins show.

Pumpkin House at the stroke of seven.

More Halloween Fun in West Virginia

Had to snap a picture of this house decked out for Halloween in West Virginia. The upper windows are decorated from the inside, too...with a mannequin even!

I really dig the ghost bride/flower girl mannequin in the yard. And there's a Headless Horseman on the porch. There are even real people sitting on the porch! Such frights!

The decorators here remember all the details. Heavy usage of black lights on the porches. I'm thinking of putting in a black light for the next coupla days. Spooky!

Oh, and one house had homemade tombstones in the yard, with clever names such as Colin Sick. Heh. Clever, they are here in West VA!