September in Virginia

September 4-30, 2026                                             Most Recent Posts:
Greenfield Mountain Farm                                     From Vermont to Virginia
Afton, Virginia                                                          My Last Week in Vermont

I spend either the Spring months or the Fall months or both in Virginia to take care of things there and have the endless number of annual medical check ups that seem to be the not so fun part of being wonderfully retired.

I took this photo from the hill on which our beloved barn used to stand.  You can see the house through the trees and some of the distant mountains that surround us in our hollow, but that are no longer easily visible as they were when we first bought the farm.  Trees grow a lot in over 40 years.

Here’s the farm when we bought it from nearly the same angle.  Not only the trees and mountains have changed.

I try not to pile my medical visits up.  My preference is one a week.  But they piled up on me my first week home.  It seems the older you get the more doctors want to see you.  I had an Audiology and an ENT appointment both on one day and a Cardiac CT the next day.  So it seemed fun if not wise to go out for breakfast and have First Watch’s giant chocolate chip pancake the second morning.

At this point I was reading Geraldine Brooks People of the Book which I highly recommend.  I do love her work.  If you’ve read this one let me know what you thought.

The next day I drove to Maryland to visit Carrie and her family.  I had been on the road on September 1st, my grandson Colin’s 8th birthday.  But who doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday twice?

If you’ve ever had an 8 year old boy then you’ll recognize this challenge look he’s giving his mom as he wraps the ribbon around his neck after opening the Lego sets I gave him.   When no one said anything, he gave it up.  So funny!

Industriously working on one of his Lego sets.  I can’t remember which ones I gave him but I think one was a vehicle with a snow plow on the front and the other some type of big wheel ATV.   If he reads this, maybe he’ll correct me.

While Legos were going on, Celia, Carrie and I played probably our favorite game Sorry.  The weather was great for sitting out on their deck to play.

Basking in the sun in a winter jacket.  Too funny.

For the afternoon Carrie and I took him to one of his favorite places, Oregon Ridge Park which is relatively near their house.   Celia declined.

We first went to the Nature Center.  Not sure what he could see in the telescope indoors but he returned several times to look through it.

I just couldn’t resist asking her mother if I could take her picture.  Mom said she always picks out her own clothes. 

She’s clearly got a sense of style already.  I love it!

for years the farm had a resident black rat snake that kept all mice and maybe even groundhogs away.  We loved him and named him Sidney.   I feel sorry for this relative in his cage.

 

Colin hasn’t hit his growth spurt yet and is stretching to move himself into Turkey Vulture territory.  I suspect he wouldn’t even be a Canada Goose if he wasn’t on his toes.

The park has a lovely pollinator garden.

There were several female Black Swallowtail Butterflies on the wild asters.  I didn’t see the males who have yellow markings.

Not sure who this little butterfly or moth was.  Can anyone identify it?

The park has wonderful play areas with all sorts of things to investigate and play with.   These see-saws got him thinking and he spent quite a while working on plans.

First, if there is no one your size then you pick up other logs to balance you out.  I came back from the pollinator garden at this  point so I no idea at all how he got that giant on on the end of the board.   I know his mother, in the background, did not help.

You can see he’s moved both the see-saws around and gotten other logs to help in his plan.

I have to say I was pretty amazed when I saw him lift that larger see-saw up off the ground with his arrangement.

Everybody had to go back to work and school on Monday so I headed out after the commuter traffic around 10:30.    To get to Carrie’s house I have to take I 495 (THE INFAMOUS DC BELTWAY) and I-95.   But eventually I get to State Route 29 in Virginia where things relax.

On Rt 29 coming and going,  we both used to stop at my favorite ice cream store Bruster’s where I would always get Jamaican Me Crazy and the 3 of them would get various things.   But sadly Bruster’s closed and there was no ice cream to brighten up the trip.   I guess neither of us had noticed The Ole Country Store right along the edge of the highway.  But this time I did and stopped to check it out.

Ice cream is an immediate left just inside the door.

In the rear of the store are custom made sandwiches and a daily special which today was “Old Fashioned meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans”. Not sure what other sorts of foods there might be.   I didn’t check the store out as much as I later wished I had because I just wanted to get home.

Here’s the ice cream menu.  Decent prices and a variety of flavors though no Jamaican Me Crazy sadly.   Not sure what I’ll have next time.  Probably something with peanut butter.    Today I didn’t have room for ice cream.   Their opening at noon might be tricky for Carrie and the kids going back.  I’ll remember to stop on my way home next time and eat a smaller breakfast.

I was home in time for these lovely skies.

That’s the first half of my September in Virginia.  I’ll put the rest of the month in a separate blog post soon.   I forgot to mention that my first ever blog post was September 6, 2010.   So the blog is now 16 years old and Winnona is 22.  AMAZING!

From Vermont to Virginia

September 1 – 7, 2026                                             Most Recent Posts:
Greenfield Mountain Farm                                     My Last Week In Vermont
                                                                                      Rough Week

I left Moose River on Tuesday morning to begin my 766 mile trip back to the farm.  I prefer to drive during the week, Tuesday to Friday if I can.   I got gas in Southern Vermont for $4.259.  Thanks Trump!

It rained most of the way to  Traveler’s Woods Of New England in Massachusetts. Stressful drive especially the last 4 miles on a rough 2 lane road.

Of the 3 parks I stayed in, each for one night, this was the nicest and most reasonably priced.  I would come here again but it is difficult to get to if you are over 12’ tall you cannot come the shortest route.  There always seem to be trade offs.

$45 for a wet grass pull through with full hook ups.

Next day I was up and out.  Stopped in Hartford, Connecticut for gas again. Though I wasn’t near empty, I couldn’t get to my next over night and beyond to another gas station on what I had.  Today gas was $4.299.  It rained hard again and I was again exhausted when I got to Tri State RV Park in Matamoras, Pennsylvania.

$55 cash for full hook ups in the site above with the view below out my windows.
Tough sleeping here with I-84 road noise.  But there are virtually no RV Parks near I-84 the entire way.  So I take what I can get.  It’s an OK place for an overnight but bring ear plugs.

My third day was the most stressful.   I was slowed down in a work zone on I-84, one lane, concrete barriers when my Engine Light came on.   Luckily there was a emergency pull out not too far ahead.  I pulled over and looked up the light in my manual which said if it’s flashing it’s serious if it’s steady solid it could be lots of things.

David had a code reader and I have used it before but it took me nearly 45 min sitting along the interstate to find it and another 15 to locate the connection under the dash.  The result was O2 sensor bank 1 sensor 1.  

Of course this means nothing to me and I now know that I should have called Tony for advice before I spent 3 hours calling everywhere to try to find the sensor and someone to install it.   After 3 hours with no mobile service that could or would come, I decided to take a chance and pulled out onto the interstate  and limp along to the next exit.  But happy SURPISE,  Winnona ran just fine.

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I made it to Western Village RV park where I called Tony who reassured me I was doing no damage by driving on.  Sure wish I’d called him first. I paid $73 for a mud gravel site with OLD OLD hook ups at Western Village RV Park in Carlisle PA.  I didn’t see the park that was in their website pictures but I  suppose it was there somewhere although I did walk around through many of the streets.  But I couldn’t find another choice at the right distance nd  needed to empty my tanks before staying at the farm for 2 months.

I can’t really highly recommend any of these parks.  They were OK but I will use them again because they are easy on and off on my route though I think $73 for an overnight at Western is excessive and will try not to use it going north again.   I may try to see if I can route myself to the West Virginia Walmart next time and save some money.  Going to Vermont that would be fine since the end of my trip is at Moose River with  septic but coming back I have to have a way to dump the tanks.   All part of trip planning

I left Western Village and stopped at Tom’s Brook Virginia Love’s for the final gas fill up which should take care of any travel beyond the farm and to my first stop on the way to Florida in November.

When I got to the farm gate a tree was over the drive.  SIGH……so close to the end.  Luckily one of  my neighbors on the front of the road came out with a chain saw and cleared it for me.  I wish I’d thought to get his picture working but I was so tired and anxious to be done with driving, I didn’t think of it.

We were all very happy to be back in the barnyard.

Everything in the house was working which was a relief since I will need the AC soon.  Sorry the picture is so dark that you can’t see the porch swing and rocker.

A beautiful sunset over the Blue Ridge greeted me for my first night back.

Saturday September 6th was reorganize day.  Bring the food from the RV fridge into the house along with any other food that might spoil over 2 months.  Brought the other things I use constantly, phones and chargers,  current book I’m reading, BP machine etc.

Luckily Shannon put in a 30 amp box for Winnona so she has AC in case it gets hot.  I’ve been very lucky with the temperatures.  It was in the upper 90’s here the past 3 days but today when I needed to be outside, the high was only 84.  Still a huge change from the constant 70’s in Vermont.

Outside just after sunset I saw what I think was a group of Common Green Darner dragonflies which were zooming all around.  They were huge and zooming so fast in the dusk I couldn’t get their picture but here’s one from the internet that shows their size.  I would have loved for one to land on my hand but they weren’t landing on anything they were seriously zooming.  I read that the the common  Darner is 3” long and one of the most abundant dragonflies in North America.  I’ve never seen them here before but they were wonderful to watch, a real joy.   Have you ever seen them?

Not much reading going on this week.  Far too busy but I did listen to Agatha Christie’s Crooked House on the drive home which was great of course and I started The Rennovation by Kenan Orhan on my Kindle.  It is on the Booker Long List for this year.

Hope you’ll let me know in the comments what you thought of my first first week of September and what you’ve been doing and reading.

Remember to sign your comment if Blogger has made you anonymous and if you are reading this on a phone to go to the bottom and click View Web Version so you can see the pictures.

My Last Week in Vermont

Monday August 24-August 31, 2026                           Most Recent Posts:
Moose River Campground                                              Rough Week
St Johnsbury, Vermont                                        Beautiful Waters & Bingo Bust

This was my last week in Vermont and full of Finals.

FINAL PADDLE AT HARVEY LAKE

The lake is a 4 mile paddle around the shoreline.   I did that as well as back and forth depending on what I was seeing and hearing.

You can see it was a bit breezy

Harvey is a populated lake and I was very lucky not to run into the numerous boats I could see along the shore and that I’m sure are on the water on the week-ends.  This is the far end of the lake and the most populous.  The shoreline also has individual houses.  This end looks like a village.

I heard the chatter of this kingfisher and followed him zipping around until I was able to grab this not great shot of him when he was still for 10 seconds.  Gotta love the “hair” and the bill.

Turtle gatherings

Further down the far end of the lake there is an eagle’s nest.  I was on my way there when I saw an adult flying.  I don’t know if it had just come from the nest or not.

The nest is in the larger tree to the left in the middle of the swimming beach.  I guess eagles don’t care at all who is beneath them since the nest is very close to the top of the tree.

But what is the loon family doing right by the beach beneath the tree?

Here is a more distant shot of the eagle tree.  You can see the nest but barely.  It is high up just below the top of the tallest tree to the left.  that brown spot on the left side of the trunk.

I hung around for a long time trying to see if the adult would come back to the nest or if an eaglet would show its head.  No luck though I could hear the whining cry of the eaglet.  Perhaps it’s old enough now to be on its own and just wants the parents to bring him some food.

From there, I followed the loons.

Here is a short video of the adult and juvenile loon.  The juvenile is fishing I guess during the entire thing but if you listen carefully or turn up the volume you can hear the eaglet crying in the background.

This woman was snacking and reading in her sit upon kayak.  She has some sort of back support and looks pretty comfortable.

It’s the end of the summer and this loon looks exhausted.

One of the nice houses along the shore with land on either side.  I can’t imagine how much this house costs.

WINNONA’S TATOO

The most exciting thing that happened this week was Winnona’s Tattoo.
Those of you who follow me know that Winnona got a boo boo and had a scar which you can see below.

Sign Depot in St Johnsbury made this tattoo (decal) for her to make her look sharp again.  Thanks to Jodee for the idea.   I really like it.

FINAL HIKE AT DOG MOUNTAIN

This is the sign you see on Route 2 about 1 mile from Moose River Campground.  It shows you where to turn to go to Dog Mountain.

I’ve hiked at Dog Mountain several times this summer and I have developed a route to combine trails so I can get 4+ miles.  I start here at the far end of the parking lot and hike up up to the Yellow Trail.

The fall flowers are in bloom.  Queen Anne’s Lace and Gloriosa Daisies

Yellow and red leaves are falling.

This has been the summer of new bridges at Dog Mountain.

Goldenrod is amazingly bright.

I wish this were a Monarch but I’m pretty sure it’s a Viceroy.  Still I’m just happy to see any butterflies.  They seem much more rare.

Does anyone know if this is a fleabane?

Below is the major new bridge that sadly (for me) replaced the swinging rope to get over the stream.

Love the trail markers.  This obviously is the yellow trail but there are similar markers for the blue and pink trails as well.

It was a glorious day for seeing the fall wildflowers.  It has actually been a glorious summer with literally PERFECT weather.   I’m not anxious to leave.

The chapel advertised on the road is a lovely memorial to so many people’s dogs.  Pictures are all over the walls inside as I have shown in previous posts.

The Gallery displays the works of the creator of Dog Mountain Stephen Huneck.  There is a gift shop as well.   It’s just a wonderful place.  If you haven’t looked at the website, do.

FINAL SATURDAY IN ST JOHNSBURY

I’ve shown this blue house before it’s a favorite of mine for its color and especially its matching Little Library which is the best of all the ones in town for my taste in books.

I’ve shown the many colored houses in St J on previous Saturdays but I don’t think this Green one that I like.

How about a piece of art work for your mail boxes.  I assume this is a duplex.

One final visit to the Athenaeum where I returned the last of the library books they are gracious enough to allow me to borrow.

 

The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium  is one thing I did not do this summer somehow.  I did go to several programs in 2024 but not this year.

I was able to do my first and last Labyrinth Walk of this year.  It’s a shadow of its former self and I really hope they will restore it to its previous state.   But I was glad to be able to walk it at all.    I saw the center Peace Pole standing in the side doorway of the church.  Its absence is clear in the Labyrinth’s center.

FINAL CAMPGROUND DINNER

This was not a potluck dinner.  It was what is called the “Seasonals Dinner”.  There are a number of people who have a site here for the entire season which runs from Mid May to Mid October.  Some have been coming for years.  Some are work campers.  Mary and Gary put on the dinner for them and generously include those of us who are here for 3 months are more.

I didn’t get a distance shot of all the tables.  There were 4.   But I did get a close up shot of my dessert plate.  Clearly I was unable to chose.

FINAL LUNCH WITH A FRIEND

My retired librarian friend Adele and I met at the Mooselook Restaurant for lunch on Sunday.  She and her husband have gotten a trailer and have been on two trips this summer.  Although they are not going to take it to Florida this winter.  I think she said she actually likes winter and snow.

FINAL DAY

On my final day in St Johnsbury I took Winnona in for an oil change, lube and general check over before I get on the road to drive 750 miles back to Virginia.

Lyndon Truck Center is absolutely amazing and I would love to just take the owner Tony with me.  He can do anything and really takes care of us.   He let me know that I needed a new Transmission filter and after he did that work Winnona was running better than she has in some time.  Not sure why no one before him ever noticed how rusty it was.  He also noticed that my last lube job left out 3 major spots.   I may have to come back to St Johnsbury just to have Tony take care of Winnona.

And the last thing I did on Monday late afternoon was to visit Milk House Ice Cream.  Boy am I going to miss them.

FINAL BOOKS READ IN VERMONT

I actually finished 3 books this final week in Vermont between waiting for Winnona and waiting for Sign Depot.   I enjoyed them all.  None were “high brow” literature but all 3 were wonderful stories and easy reads.

I always bring a box of books in the back seat of the car from my personal library and this one came from there. The Singing Stones was published in 1991 and is both a romance, a suspense and a psychological novel.  Phyllis Whitney lived not too far from me in  Nelson County which she refers to in many of her books or sets them there which is always fun for me

The Harvey Girl is an historical mystery and reportedly first in a series.  I have always been fascinated with early train travel and the Harvey House Hotels some of which were designed both inside and out by Mary Colter who was an amazing architect.  If you’ve been to the Grand Canyon you may have seen the Desert View Watch Tower she designed.   I want to time travel back and take the Santa Fe Railroad to Fred Harvey Houses.  So far this is as close as I can get.  In this novel Clare Wright, a Pinkerton Detective, goes undercover as a waitress at the Montaña Roja Harvey House in the New Mexico Territory.   Good read.  Sadly I doubt the series will be about more Harvey Houses but rather about Clare Wright.

How to Read A Book jumped off the shelf at the Athenaeum because obviously I love books and it partly takes place in a bookstore.  Lorraine is a 61 year old retired school teacher who volunteers to run a book club in a women’s prison.  This part is a hoot especially the women’s comments about what they read.  In time her best “student” is released and encounters the husband of the victim of her drunk driving incident.   It’s actually an uplifting inspiring read.

So that’s it for this last week in Vermont.  Let me know in the comments what you’ve been doing and reading.

Next post I’ll be back in Virginia at the Farm.