the river is frozen

the potomac river is frozen...very frozen, from one side to the other. this shot was taken from the george washington parkway in mclean, virginia looking toward dc, a little above fletcher's boat house...looking forward to the melting happening this new year's weekend.

how to pay for a reverse vesectomy

buy this Giant Walnut Tree Trunk Drum so eddie can get a reverse vesectomy ?

jeez, people: tmi, seriously.

a stormy weekend

torrential downpours were followed by wind, leaving this result at the end of the day.

had to work this weekend...

this was my office today. not bragging...just saying.

stonehenge replica

ok: this stonehenge replica is sort of near me and i had no idea! its called foamhenge and is a project erected on april fool's day 2004 by enchanted castle studios in natural bridge, virginia: bravo!

web-ecoist

webEcoist is a really cool website that covers "sustainable living, green design and environmental oddities" in a good, not freakish, way. earlier this week they had a gorgeous posting entitled "45 colorful uninhabited places to see before you die": maybe some are near you, or you have already been there so you can cross them off of your bucket list. check it out! on the theme of our lovely colorful world: i shot the photo above on my lame iphone camera last friday night looking up the potomac river on the virginia side of the chesapeake bay.

south mountain creamery

for those of you trying to live sustainably and buy locally, here is a highly recommended maryland and virginia home delivery dairy farm, south mountain creamery. the artisan cheeses looks delicious and the milk lasts two weeks longer than store bought!

emerald ash borer alert

i have seen a number of billboards along the chesapeake bay watershed in both maryland and virginia asking people not to move firewood away from were it was felled so to not spread the ash borer beetle any further. the beetle itself does little damage but the larvae feast on the inside of ash trees and disrupt the flow of water and nutrients to the tree. 40 million ash trees have been killed so far, with a total of 7.5 billion threatened nationwide in the entire fraxinus genus! educate yourself and others: learn to identify the nasty ash nemesis and distinguish it from other similar-looking native (and good) bugs.

how to grow 100lbs. of potatoes in 4 square feet

i love potatoes and as i found out two years ago: nothing beats home grown, organic ones! i start my plants on valentine's day in the sandy loam of my virginia field garden: they got rained on, then it froze and they rotted. not to worry: i replanted and all is well! but, there is only so much dirt to be mounded up on the tubers, and potatoes exposed to sunlight turn green and green potatoes are toxic. what to do? i have seen the potato boxes in various garden supply catalogs, but here is a diy box anyone can handle. one additional note: i would recommend putting the finest, strongest metal screen possible on the bottom to prevent moles from stealing your yukon golds! happy french fries!