Category Archives: Rural Life in Mendota

Daily adventures in a rural farming community.

Rush Hour on Swinging Bridge Road

Happy Independence Day! I am sneaking and writing this post on July 4 as we designated this a “project completion” day. Mike is in the shop making toe molding for the guest house bedroom. Just a few hours ago, I painted the baseboard in that bedroom, and I’m doing some additional taping in the dining room getting ready for him to paint and trim out all of my painting mistakes. Hopefully, we’ll get the dining room done tonight. Then…it’s on to the kitchen!

We’re as busy as beavers!

As part of my weight loss plan, I’m walking three miles most every day. Doing this and partially following a Weight Watchers program has resulted in my losing 9 pounds. 21 more to go to reach my goal. Yea!

Last week, I headed down river on Swinging Bridge Road. Wow…here’s some traffic..two bikes!!! It was rush hour on Swinging Bridge Road.

Whew! With all the traffic, it’s time to get off the road. We’ll visit Hoss’s Farm to check out the barnyard.

There are a lot of animals. Here’s a photograph of the two rescue horses that arrived eight or nine weeks ago. Their names are Carter (two years old) and Maggie (12 years old). Since arriving, they have gained over 75 pounds. As their ribs are disappearing, their trust is increasing. Anyone who rescues an animal has a star in their crown and a place in my heart.

Here’s Farm Girl Danielle. Farm Girls come in all ages, and while much younger than me, we get along. Love of animals and rural living supersedes age. Her family moved to Mendota just 12 months ago, and they took to rural life immediately. Danielle spends a lot of time in the barnyard. She’d been busy with Maggie earlier. Check out Maggie’s tail…

I love Maggie’s color, and the braid is just so fashionable. All the horses in Mendota are wanting to braid their tails. I had brought a treat for Maggie….some apple slices in a plastic bag. Maggie ~~likes loves~~ ADORES apples. Horses have very keen noses and she picked up on the apples immediately, even though they were in plastic. She gave me a solid head butt to let me know she was interested. Since Danielle knows I’m a little afraid of horses, she took the apples and asked Maggie if she’d like a taste.

Danielle: Does Maggie want an apple?

Maggie: Are you crazy??? Darn right Maggie wants an apple. Maggie ~~likes loves~~ ADORES apples…Gimme those apples!!!

We fed Maggie some apple slices, and I slipped the bag in my back pocket as I went to say hello to a pretty rooster named Pecker. It’s an appropriate name, and he wears it well. Very cocky. See all of the chicken wire in the barn? There are yards and yards of wire lining the chicken coop in this big barn to keep raccoons out. There was a terrible attack last month resulting in the loss of 13 frizzle tails that belonged to Danielle’s mom, Lisa.

I looked around and the plastic bag was missing. Someone had taken it.

Sneaky horse! This was funny but it was serious! We were afraid she’d eat the plastic bag and it could harm her. However, Danielle got it back. Here it is…

Ugh. Want an apple slice?

Carter was standing by during all this. We’ll talk to Carter on another time, but just so he won’t feel left out, here’s a picture of him smooching Danielle.

Hope you enjoyed visiting Hoss’s Farm with me. We’ll go back in a few days and see Mason and Dixon, the two fainting goats.

Maybe I’ll have a post on the completed dining room soon!

Easy Squash Casserole & Apron Winner

I keep droning on about squash in the garden. If you have not gardened or grown squash in the past, you should try it! It is amazing what 24 hours will do in the development of squash. World hunger solved by squash.

However, I have squash beetles and they cause powdery mildew which is the kiss of death of squash. I’ve picked the beetles off and appropriated squashed them, but the damage is done. I hate squash beetles.

While the harvest is bountiful, we are eating squash daily. I made a great squash casserole which is pictured below with a very simple recipe.

Very Easy Squash Casserole (pictured below)

Ingredients:

3-4 small summer squash, sliced thinly

3-4 tablespoons olive oil (amount of olive oil is determined by size of squash)

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

1/3 cup Parmeasean cheese

1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes (or pint jar of diced tomatoes if you are a home canner)

Mix onion, squash, Italian seasoning and olive oil together. Alternate layers of this with Parmesean cheese and breadcrumbs. Top with diced tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Sometimes I grind a bit of pepper into the mix.

Terri McCroskey of Bristol, Virginia is the winner of the apron. Congratulations to Terri! The apron will be mailed on Thursday, July 4. Thanks to all who commented. Winner was selected in random pick.

Patriotic Apron Giveaway

Mendota’s Katie Harris made this patriotic apron for some lucky little girl to wear. If you’d like a chance to win this apron, just leave a comment to this post sharing your plans for Independence Day. Simple! Your comment must be submitted by 10 pm on Tuesday, July 3. I’m downloading a little gizmo that will randomly pick one comment which will be the lucky winner. I’ll notify the winner by email and on the post which will be placed online after 10 pm on Tuesday, July 3. I’ll mail the apron to the winner. Easy. And fun!

On Saturday, Katie had her store open from 9:30 am until 5:00 pm. The building has been in her family for over 40 years. I believe she is calling the store…”The Store.” Here’s a picture…

I hope that at some time the store will be open on a regular basis, but at present, Katie opens it when she can…when she has some extra time. When she’s there and the store is open, she occasionally provides refreshments. Lemonade. Muffins. Beans and cornbread. It feels like you are visiting someone in their home but you handle all of their furnishings and accessories!

I have history tied to the store. When Katie’s father operated the store, he called it Benfield’s Store, and my mother worked there. It sold sodas, bread, milk, gas…all of the things that a country story sold in the 1970’s. The Benfield girls, Katie and Lisa, and I got off the school bus at the store. Mom would give me a bag of chips and a Ginger Ale which was in a small glass bottle at that time. She’d ring me up with the old-fashioned cash register that went “Cha-Ching!” After our snack, we girls would head to the back of the store and play Rook with our friends. What memories!

Going back many years further, my father helped make the block for the original store site. He was paid 10 cents per block. I can imagine his hands…young at that time…working. Here’s a picture.

Inside the store, there’s little vignettes of things Katie loves. She’s uncomfortable charging her friends, but I’ve assured her she’ll get used to it. We want the store to be open, so we want to be customers as well as friends.

Getting ready for July 4…

Katie has an eye for making things pretty. This kerosene lamp is a good example. In Mendota, we all have kerosene lamps as our power goes off frequently. As I write this, thousands are without power in Virginia following the June 29 storm. I wonder…do they have kerosene lamps?

Here’s something that Katie and her grandson made. It’s a birdbath made from a plate and a vase. Very clever and a good project for little hands.

Also on Saturday, I continued working on my dining room. It’s going nightmarishly slow…

Here’s another. Looks like the Charles Manson murders took place here.

We are anxious to get this room done and put back together. We had a delay because Mike went out of town this weekend to see the Atlanta Braves with his son and grandson. He had a great time, and it was worth it, but it’s back to work!

Hope you enjoyed visiting The Store. I also hope I have a new/old dining room tomorrow evening when I post.

Thank you for reading my blog. I had over 50 views on one of the posts last week. Many thanks! Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested and keep it growing. You have my appreciation.

Eva

Mendota Daily June 29

Thank you to everyone who has asked about my sweet girl Luckie. She is doing better today. Still quiet but she’s eating and keeping it down. I felt so bad for her, and I wanted to do something, so I drove to town and bought a bunch of expensive dog food and treats. This doesn’t make any sense, since we are having to leash walk her to prevent her from eating deer poop as indiscrimate eating is part of her problem! Obviously, she doesn’t care where her food comes from if she’s eating poop and we know where that comes from. It makes me feel better though.

While I was out getting Luckie’s food, I was on the Gate City Highway, turning left at the signal light toward the Bristol Mall when I saw the Google car! First thing I thought about was rolling down the window so the camera could see me (my debut); and the second thing I thought about what — I want that job!

Back in Mendota, things are moving along. The guest house bedroom now has hardwood. Even with help from our friend Mark at the onset of the project, it was a very large job for Mike with an artificial knee and bad back and neck, but by doing a little each day, it’s almost done. I LOVE IT! Still needs paint and toe molding, but here it is:

The work on the hardwood and Luckie being sick gave us a late start on changing the dining room from red to terracotta.

But we have started!

In this picture, we’re brushing the corners and around the trim. I’m loving the paint color. It’s the same color as our Virginia clay. However, what is happening as this dining room is being painted is that I’m realizing the decorative painting doesn’t look right. It probably will have to go.

Yesterday we were supposed to have “Farm Day” at the Mendota LIbrary as part of the Summer Reading Program. It was cancelled, leaving the Farm Girls who had planned on bringing goats, chickens and horses to the library with nothing to do. So…we decided to paint…ourselves!

Margie made me into a butterfly.

Lisa’s beautiful daughter, Danielle with her favorite flower on her arm…

Sunflower Girl

Lisa and Danielle…scheming…

And the magnificant Margie…she can paint anything!

We’ll be visiting Margie and Lisa’s place soon…lots of critters!

I’m keeping cool this weekend…staying inside working on projects! How are you staying cool?

Daily Mendota June 28

I took Miss Luckie Beaule to the vet this morning after a long night of her throwing up and feeling miserable. Dr. Steve examined her and took an x-ray. She did not have an obstruction but there appears to be an enlargement in the area of her liver or her spleen. We will be going for an ultrasound on Tuesday of next week. Since she was dehydrated, he injected fluids through her skin. She didn’t like this and snapped at him. I was speechless.

She’s home now and he gave her something for nausea and asked us not to give her food or water until tomorrow evening. I’ve broke down and given her 2-3 dog treats and a sip of water just to moisten her mouth. She has also stolen the cat’s food and drank out of the commode. It is hard to obey the rules.

Since Luckie was worked in for her visit with Dr. Steve, we dropped her off so she could be seen “in between” other appointments. This left Mike and I some time to kill in Bristol. We could have shopped together, had a nice lunch, but this didn’t work out because we had Gracie the Golden Retriever with us. I could not leave her home alone.

I also could not leave her alone in the truck even with the air conditioning running, because if the air conditioning failed, it would be terrible with the high temperatures we’re having. So…this resulted in Mike running in and out of stores and me sitting in the truck with Gracie. I learned something. All of these places have wi-fi! I had my I-pad with me so I played Words With Friends at Lowe’s, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, and “The Lost Sock” laundramat where we washed doggy bed covers (talk about a stinkin’ problem). I just hopped on and off the wi-fi’s as needed. Sometimes I had two to choose from! Really changes the whole experience of being stuck in the truck! Technology rocks.

I love this little face. Dr. Steve–are you sure she snapped at you? She’s so sweet.

We need rain in Southwest Virginia. Several weeks ago when we had the first cutting of hay, I noticed that the farmer’s got their hay in with a sense of urgency. The hay was cut, raked, rolled and gone. I recall thinking….they know something. Farmers are more watchful of weather patterns than others. They know the signs of pending drought. Maybe they have developed a sixth sense. At any rate, they valued the first cutting and worked day and night getting it in. This were smart to do so, as we need rain.

In churches all throughout the valley on Sunday morning, pastors will discuss the prayer requests. Every church will have someone raise their hand and say “please pray for rain.” I could not live anywhere else.

Here’s a picture of the North Fork right in front of my house. This is what we call Mendota Beach and it’s where I learned to swim. It’s very low for June.

I’m watering my green beans as I write this. We have a deep well but it’s risky.

Not one cloud, and it’s blazing hot. It’s not just that we need clouds to appear for rain. The lack of clouds makes me uneasy. It’s like I can’t hide. The picture below is the “knob” behind our house. In Poor Valley, we have the mountain and then the smaller ridge that runs through the valley which is called the knob. No clouds above the knob.

The picture below faces the mountain. No clouds anywhere.

Let’s go to another subject, although a familiar one. Guess what we had for dinner tonight?

This is not a complete picture of the ingredients for my squash casserole. I forgot to include parmesean cheese…you know…the one in the giant green can from Sam’s Club.

This would be a great time for me to include a picture of the finished product, but I forgot about the blog and we ate it. I’ll make again in a day or two and post the recipe and the yummy finished casserole.

We stalled today doing our projects. Luckie kept us in town all day.

Daily Mendota June 27

Today I cleaned the house. I just want to make that statement before going further.

There were some good things that occurred today in the midst of the cleaning. I pawned off ten crookneck squash on Margie, my neighbor. She only wanted a few, but I assured her that others would want to try some.

Onions which I’d pulled from the raised beds on Friday needed to be taken care of. They are supposed to be hung in a cool, dark place with air circulating. I hang them on my back porch which is not cool or dark but the air does circulate.

I put the onions, unwashed, into small bunches and tie them with strips from old nylon stockings. I then attach the bunches on hooks or whatever I can find on the back porch. I hung over 50 today. They’ll stay there until, one by one, I’ve snipped them off and used them.

I don’t have a lot of hooks on the back porch so I had to get creative. See the small onion bunch on top of the hanging basket?

And then I attached some to the windchime….

Here’s how your windchime looks — with onions tied to each of the frogs that used to chime! This took some work as there is a wasp nest right at the top of the windchime. I think we can co-exist though — I’ll be extra careful when getting these onions.

In the middle of the cleaning and onion hanging, Luckie got sick. Here’s a picture of her from last week. She is not as fat as she looks. The camera really does put 5 pounds on you — even if you’re a dog!

I don’t know what is wrong with her. She hasn’t been herself for a few days. She threw up all over her Orvis doggy bed. Later, she threw up all over Gracie’s Orvis doggy bed. She’s drinking water which is good. She’s 12, so I worry anytime she feels badly. We may have to make a trip to see Dr. Steve (Dr. Steve Dotson, Bristol Animal Clinic). I love her. Do not want her being sick.

Here’s a happier moment…

My zinnias are up. Aren’t they pretty?

The Crooknecks

Remember a few days ago (here) when I mentioned that we were being visited by Mrs. Squash and her gang. They are still arriving.

We drove up and down the road this evening looking for people who might not have squash in their garden and might possibly, hopefully be in the mood for some squash. We finally spotted Johnny Wolfe directing traffic at the Carter Family Fold. The Fold had a big crowd, and Johnny felt he could find someone who would want some squash. Whew! I thought they were coming back home with us!

There was a book written a number of years ago that referenced a small farming community with a bumper crop of tomatoes. Neighbors were sneaking and leaving bags of tomatoes on other neighbors doorsteps because they didn’t know what to do with them. This could be Mendota and our squash. Folks, we are having a Squash Situation. The Mendota Police Blotter, if we had one, might read like this:

When interviewed, Mrs. Eva Beaule said she witnessed the onset of the Squash Situation while attending Mt. Vernon Church on Sunday, June 18. Immediately following services, there was increased activity as women ran to their cars and pulled out bags of squash and passed them throughout the congregation Vickie Fulkerson, Pastor of Mt. Vernon, could not be reached for comment and was thought to be one of those actively participating in the Squash Situation. Will Washington County’s Sheriff Fred Newman develop plans to squash any additional crookneck and zuchinni activity in the area? Stay tuned….

I am now thinking about the book where the tomatoes were passed about among the neighbors. Do you know the name of the book? Was it by Fannie Flag? I believe it was Fannie Flagg. Click on the leave a reply at the bottom of this post and let me know if you can think of it.

Up Swinging Bridge Road

Hi there! I went for a walk this morning with a couple of friends, Nancy and Lisa. They remain unseen in the pictures at this time. Shy.

We walked in the direction against the river flow. Around here, we either walk “up river” or “down river” or “up the road” or “down the road.” We walked “up river” this morning.

It’s a nice flat walk, and we encountered a number of pals along the way.

Our first friend is a bit dead. It used to be a possum. We have lots of vultures living along the river that take care of roadkill matters, but with the number of groundhogs, skunks, and possums meeting an early demise this summer, one squished possum is not worth picking up. RIP possum!

Up a little farther in the picture is Annalee. Annalee is our neighbor’s Great Pyrenees dog. These dogs are common in our area because small farmers cannot afford to lose livestock to coyotes. There are three on Swinging Bridge Road–there’s Molly, Annalee and Snowball. Annalee is very protective of her place, so she’s not happy when we walk by with Mack on the leash. Mack is a Golden Retriever. He could care less about Annalee and her glaring, barks, growls and other issues she has with him. While he does wonder about what’s underneath that dirty white fur, he really only loves his Mommy, Miss Nancy. If asked, Mack says, “Annalee, well…she is a bitch.”

Going a little further…some pretty horses. These horses are ridden to church every Sunday in nice weather.

Nice horsey!

Here’s a turtle!! Not my best friend, but I’m respectful of her place in the river and hope she doesn’t get run over. Must be laying eggs, as I normally don’t see these turtles unless they are sunning on a log in the river. A loud noise, and they all go SPLASH! Maybe we’ll try and capture this on video for a future post.

Here’s Betty Butterbutt. Don’t bother the turtle Betty Butterbutt! You will be very sorry!

Everyone in Mendota has two or three dogs. She belongs to the Hammond family who also owns Annalee. She used to be Betty Butternut because some of her fur is the color of butternut squash. Somehow her name changed to Betty Butterbutt.

Finally, we’re passed the dogs, and here’s some pretty flowers along the road. One of the good things that has occurred due to the economic downturn is that VDOT uses less herbicide resulting in more flowers! Every cloud has a silver lining (something my mother used to say.)

This walk ends, and I’m home. Since I’m sweaty, I decide to water the raised beds. We need rain badly in southwest Virginia.

Oh no….I have a visitor that I really do like but she doesn’t really know when to leave.

Mrs. Summer Squash! And there are babies hiding under the umbrella of leaves! We will be up to our elbows in this stuff over the next month! I see a squash recipe in a future post.

Tomorrow we are continuing with our project work around the house. Mike and a friend will begin installing hardwood in the guest house bedroom, and I’ll be working in the main house guest bedroom making new window treatments.

Walking Down Swinging Bridge Road

I live on Swinging Bridge Road. It is a great place to walk. It’s flat and there is very little traffic.

Walking from my driveway, I turn right following the direction of the North Fork’s water flow. As I look to my left, here’s what I see:

As I near the edge of our property line and look right, I see my husband’s shop called The Luckie Dog Woodshop. It’s a nice little shop. We have a sign in front of the shop that reads “custom tables.” In 10+ years we have never had anyone call about having a custom table made. Did I mention there was very little traffic? I’m not sure what we were thinking when we put this sign up. LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!

This is a photo of one of the window boxes in the front of the woodshop.

I stop in the woodshop since my brother-in-law Gerald is inside. Hi Gerald! He is standing in front of the hope chest he has made for a neighbor’s little girl who is turning 13. It is made from a sassafras tree from right up the road that a neighbor gave my husband.

I leave and walk a bit further down Swinging Bridge Road. Looks like this:

Told you it was a nice flat walk.

In this photograph, I’m approaching my neighbor’s barn he is building. As best I can tell, it’s being recycled from another building. Works for me.

I like this little crossroads where the dirt road (Anderson Drive) meets Swinging Bridge Road. There are usually goats here, but they are elsewhere today. The goats get out a lot! It’s one of the charming things about Swinging Bridge Road. We have to weave in and out of the goats when passing this area. No one really minds.

Walking a bit further, I see a….boat! It’s parked in the pasture. Looks like someone just drove it up on the hill and got out. Who knows? We might have a flood and need this boat. This river does flood. I’ve seen goats standing on the boat.

The boat is no concern to me. Whatever floats your boat.

Walking a little bit further, it gets shady. Reminds me of walking through a salad bowl.

While these pictures make the walk look peaceful, it’s not. There is a hum of insects and lots of wild bird sounds. There are cows mooing in the distance and goats bleating. Sometimes, but not today, I hear snorting sounds– probably a buck as we have lots of deer. Once in a while, I imagine it to be a mama bear and her cubs. I break out and run if no one is looking.

One day I hope to take a picture of one of the area’s eagles. They are there. Others have photographed them but not me. The river is supporting a large bird population which speaks to the health of the river.

I’m nearing Lisa’s house. .Here’s her backyard:

Nice, isn’t it? She has a great back porch to enjoy this view. I’ll take you there sometime.

This is Lisa’s barnyard. She has two rescue horses, two fainting goats, and she DID have 29 chickens including heritage breeds UNTIL a raccoon killed 13 this week. Once she gets this straightened out and her hens are busy laying their pretty green and blue eggs, we’ll visit her.

Walking a bit further, I see Margie’s chicken enclosure. It’s built of recycled materials.

Just like some people live in nicer houses than other people, so it goes with chickens. Her very cool chicken coop reflects her creativity and how she values her chickens. Margie’s chickens are living in what used to be her organic garden. It’s her revenge for the bugs that plagued this garden and ate all of the stuff she meant to sell at the Farmer’s Market. Chickens love bugs. They are so yummy clucked the hen as she wiped bug juice off her chin.

Oh…look who is here! It’s my sister and sister-in-law. Hi Nancy and Jackie!

Next time I’ll walk up river and take you along.

Remember the Corn Family?

Last month when I was in North Carolina, my husband told me about our “visitors” which turned out to be the Corn Family. If I could insert a link, now would be the time to do it, but I haven’t learned to do that yet. Pesky links! Anyway…

Here’s what they looked like when they arrived:

Mr. and Mrs. Corn

It’s been about a month–a very dry month too! However, take a look today! The Corn Family seems to be thriving.