Birthday Island Tripping

Grenville – being the sweetie that he is – told me he would take me to not one, but two islands for my birthday. Both islands were within driving distance of our home. WOW a road trip – the first of this new year.

Where ARE these islands ?

Both are in Virginia, so this wasn’t a long road trip, 45 minutes to be exact to reach Chincoteague Island and Assateague Island, a barrier island off the coast of Virginia and Maryland. Here’s something to confuse you – the town of Chincoteague is on Chincoteague Island and the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge is on Assateague Island. The pink area on the map shows Chincoteague Island; the green is Assateague Island.

Located on the southern end of Assateague Island in Virginia, the refuge was established in 1943 for the protection of migratory waterfowl habitat with emphasis on conserving the greater snow goose. The photo below shows a large group of snow geese flocking.

Chincoteague NWR has over 14,000 acres of beach, maritime forest, saltmarsh, and freshwater marsh habitats are home to various migratory birds, plants, and other animals. It’s also one of the most visited refuges in the country annually hosting about 1.4 million visits.

Chincoteague is best known for the Chincoteague ponies, which are not on Chincoteague Island, but on Assateague Island. These ponies, are housed in two areas on the refuge through a special agreement with the ponies' owners, the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company which cares for the herd. The ponies were featured in Marguerite Henry's 1947 classic children's book Misty of Chincoteague, later made into the 1961 family film Misty (filmed on location). The photo below shows some ponies.

Chincoteague NWR also provides habitat for waterfowl, wading birds, shorebirds, and song birds, and other species of wildlife and plants. Unfortunately, the weather on Saturday when we visited the refuge was rainy and foggy. The ducks were having the best time.

If the weather had cooperated, we would  have seen some of these wading birds – Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Yellow Legs. These photos were taken on previous outings.

The wildlife we saw this weekend included the Delmarva fox squirrel, an endangered species. The one in these photos was quite oblivious to our presence as we took a walk on Sunday morning, after the rain cleared out.

We also spotted a young Sika deer, also known as the Spotted Deer or the Japanese Deer. This species of deer is native to much of East Asia and introduced to various other parts of the world. Annual deer hunts are held on the refuge to thin out the herd.

At the end of our Island road trip, we went to the Island Creamery as Grenville needed treatment from over blogging-itis curable (he said) by a “Hot Fudge Oral Flush.” Of course, I had to have my own as a preventative measure . . .

It must have worked, because I could blog this post today

Outstanding in His Field

That describes the Big Viking in Chincoteague, VA.

This fiberglass statue on Chincoteague Island was originally in Delmar, MD where it stood atop a carpet store in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1960s and 1970s, Addison Nelson bought the statue and relocated it to his country store in Crisfield, MD. The statue stood as the store's mascot until the business closed in the 1980s.

In 1997, it was moved to Marion, MD lying beside the J. Stanley Adams Hardware store due to sign ordinances. Around 2001, the Viking was moved to Chincoteague and stands in a field on Ridge Rd at the corner of Pony Swim Lane.

NOTE: Looking for information on this statue, I came across the term “Muffler Man.”  One site explained that this term describes mass-produced fiberglass statues.

Update on Grenville’s Condition

Hi Folks. Reclusive Hermit here for poor Grenville. As you know he over blogged the other day and was whisked away for emergency treatment. After determining that he was suffering from a serious cranial  blockage he was transported to a very private facility on the exotic Island of Chincoteague for treatment. Once at the world famous Island Creamery he underwent another cranioscopy and they found that the blockage had  grown. He was immediately placed on a Hot Fudge Oral Flush.
Late this afternoon Beatrice called and said that the treatment seemed to be working. The Chief Creamer felt that he could leave the Creamery but should remain on the Island since they feel that he would probably have to undergo another round of Hot Fudge Flushing.
Beatrice reports that they are comfortably situated at the Best Western overlooking Assateague Channel and Mc Barfy’s

Beatrice also reported that she has qualified for her Golden Eagle Pass which will allow her to get into any Federal Wildlife Refuge or Park for life. Here is Park Ranger Aubrey Hall presenting Beatrice her new Golden Eagle Pass.
Beatrice also says that Grenville wants to thank everyone for their well wishes. He is thinking of spending time with each of you while he recuperates.

All Blogged out

Hi folks. Grenville asked me to come out of my shell and let everyone know he has over blogged himself. As the latest councilor we hired ran screaming from the F&P, poor Grenville was sitting in the library mumbling "Please no more posts,,,,,,,,All i want is some rest, and a hot fudge sundae."
So for the next few days i will be taking his place. But be assured that poor Grenville is getting the best of care. He is scheduled for a cranialoscopy to try to relieve his mental constipation.
As i get news i will pass it along.

Reclusive Hermit

Hanging Out

Yesterday, in between the birthday activities that Grenville planned for me, I took time for some bird watching from our kitchen window. When they are not waiting for a refill on the feeders, these colorful (and welcome visitors) can be seen perched in the crepe myrtle trees.

How many different birds can you ID in this collage?
(see below*)

Some visitors just hang around the back patio.

* In the top collage: sparrow, male and female cardinal, junco, goldfinch and nuthatch.

Birthday Celebration Live Blogging

9:00 am Due to security issues there were no pictures from breakfast, Sorry!!!! But the early morning feast was held at the World Famous 'SAGE DINER' in beautiful Onley Va. The Princess opted for the 2-2-2 Special of 2 eggs, 2 pancakes and 2 strips of bacon. All with their wonderful coffee.
From there the Princess went and volunteered at the Accomack County Library for the morning as i went to teach ESL.
We are now both at the Library and about to leave. More later.....


12;30 pm- Our local radio station WESR paid a special tribute to the Princess and announced many Birthday greetings. We believe that they may be carried on many of the major networks later in the day.

1:30 pm- A grand luncheon was held for the Princess in the Frog & PenguINN Grand Ballroom. Lunch consisted of the Princess's favorite, Peanutbutter and Banana on fresh bread. Side dish was Pineapple and Mango fruit salad. Hot Coffee was her choice of beverage. The Post office has brought in temporary help to handle all of the postal birthday wishes that are flooding in, and our internet carrier has had to temporarily increase our incoming bandwidth to handle the massive volume.

5:16pm The afternoon has been a whirlwind of little errands that needed taking care of. Next stop is to the Y. Remember, Y is the answer. Unfortunately I forgot the question!!!! Hopefully we will leave a few pounds there so we can find new ones over the weekend. Sort of a balancing game.

7:10pm Back from our 'hour of pain' at the Y. As we were leaving we had to have the local SWAT Team escort us through the throngs of TV and radio personalities vieing for an interview with the Princess. But we are now safely back at the Frog & PenguINN getting ready for a sumptuous dinner of one of the Princess's favorites, Left Overs. Tonight it will be Shepherds Pie (made with real shepherds) and a wonderful salad. Unfortunately the lettuce will not be from our greenhouse (yet).

9:30pm The Birthday Banquet is finally over. The Grand Ballroom was aglow with candle light just as the Princess loves. The meal was truly sumptuous with the addition of the fresh green salad and a glass of our favorite sparkling cider. To finish we split the last of a special chocolate bar that was sent as a present.

And finally we have the official Royal Birthday Portrait of Princess Beatrice.

Thanks to all for following this momentous occasion.

Grenville

Royal Birthday Celebration to Begin

Yeppers, this years Royal Birthday Celebration for Princess Beatrice is about to begin. The news vans are jostling for position out in the back field. Local and County authorities have begun to set up check points  to control the expected crowds.  Accomack International Airport has doubled it usual security force of Otis (pictured below) and hired his brother-in-law Rufus to handle checking ID’s.

Since we don’t have any scanners (budget cuts you know) they have also hired one of Otis’s cousins, Lucy Mae Ormaenot to perform body searches.  The only concern was she that she like to rush performing the searches but that shouldn’t cause too big a delay. Of course during the celebration, passengers will be limited to only one search per day.

Due to the high volume of visitors scheduled  to visit, our local rail service has put on additional trains for the entire weekend. Here the famous Locomotive 1223 is seen pulling into the Onley Regional Rail Terminal.

Throughout the four day celebration we hope to blog as often as possible to keep our followers who can’t be with us up to date on all of the festivities. Please check back often, and thanks for following us. Grenville

Late Breaking News!!!!!!

Our local branch of the Wienie Leaks Organization has just uncovered a nefarious plot to circumvent Spring. They have learned through interrogation methods that we won’t speak of that a certain cross dressing mammal living near Dingley’s Mill has been intercepting emails for the Muskrats. Being the secret and sober souls that the the ladies are, they were the only ones entrusted with the true whereabouts of Marshall and Mandy Muskrat.

The Onley National Weather Station has just received a certified, bonified and refried message from Marshal who, with Mandy, has been wintering in the Bahamas. It reads:

Dear Grenville,
Thanks to the ever alert Ladies of Wienie Leaks we were alerted to the dastardly deed that a certain ‘drag queen porcupine’ (also know as the Despicable Pungoteague Possum) has perpetrated on the fine, yet gullible, folks on our beloved Eastern Shore.
To set the record straight Your winter is over and Spring is beginning. In fact to prove we are correct just consult your present weather as of 3:28 PM which is at a loverly 68F and sunny.
One last minor detail. Could you pick Mandy and I up at the airport next week. They towed our car and we don’t want to waste any of the little RUM money we have getting it back. Besides, it smells like a moldy porcupine.
Thanks, Your Faithful Fellow Weather Prognosticators
Marshall & Mandy

Here we are disguised as dolphins Here we are disguised as Humans
And there you have it folks. Winter is over and Spring is popping out all over here on the Beautiful Eastern Shore. We hope the same is true where ever you live. Well, if you are in the Northern Hemisphere that is(Diane D. we hope you are not near the Cyclone area and are having a nice summer).
Grenville

Muskrat Day

Here it is Muskrat Day again on the Eastern Shore. For those of you who may not know it, there are no groundhogs on the Shore, so we look to our favorite local rodent, the Muskrat.

Last year we debunked a popular fairy tale with this post:

For those of you who still believe in the Tooth Fairy, the Jersey Devil, or Wabba Bushby, please protect your bubbles because our latest discoveries may burst them. It has finally and indisputable been proven that the infamous Pungoteague Possum (actually a porcupine in drag) and Paxutauny Phil, who was arrested early this morning on Substance Abuse charges as he staggered out of his hole (alcohol level of .025), are meteorological charlatans. Both have also been charged with pulling the fur over the public’s eyes for years. This leaves the only accurate small mammalian weather prognosticators being the Marshall and Mandy Muskrat of Rat Trap Creek….
To verify these claims, this year there is photographic proof that the Rat Trap Muskrats have correctly predicted this springs outlook (without the aid of mind altering substances or tacky tasteless costumes) for many years. Admittedly they did go back into their holes this year….. BUT unlike other Weather Watchers, our committee was patient and waited before jumping to erroneous conclusion as to the arrival of spring. Just minutes after scurrying into their dens, Marshall and Mandy Muskrat, unlike the other ‘snake oil’ rodents, reemerged ready for spring complete with beach chairs and umbrellas, and sun screen. We were able to photograph them as they frolicked on Rat Trap Beach….A sure sign that Spring is just around the corner.

Unfortunately this year the forecast for February 2 is for heavy rain which may cause some tidal flooding along Rat Trap Creek. With this in mind we contacted Marshall and Mandy about their plans and received this e-mail just moments ago.

To: Grenville T. Boyd, Onley Weather Service
From: Marshall Muskrat, Weather Prognosticator
Subject: Spring
Grenville, If you really think we are going to come out in the pouring rain, possibly catching pneumonia or worse just so you can make a silly point you are surely out of your mind. Possibly you have been drinking the creek water that now comes from the Wal-Mart parking lot.
Lets just say spring will be here on time this year and that way we can all stay warm and dry.
Marshall

So there you have it folks. Our muskrat mascots have gone political on us and gave a non-answer of “… spring will be here on time…”

We hope that those of you who are experiencing the latest blizzard get through it safely (we need all the followers we can get!!!!) cause spring is truly ‘just around the corner’.
Grenville

What’s for Dinner?

That was the question yesterday morning at breakfast. At the F&P we don’t usually plan meals in advance with the exception of when friends are coming over and we’re the hosts. Usually, the most advance planning we do is looking in the fridge or freezer after breakfast and figuring out what we can come up with using what’s already there.

Going through the pantry, then fridge/freezer produced a package of opened lasagna noodles, fresh broccoli, frozen tomatoes from last year’s harvest, and a package of shredded cheeses that included mozzarella and provolone.  We bought a package of sausage and a container of ricotta cheese. After cooking, the pasta, sausage, and broccoli, and tomatoes were assembled in lawyers with the cheeses. Here’s the result.

Then, after cooking and serving.

Grenville baked a loaf of fresh rosemary-Italian bread – no store bought here, he made this loaf. It was delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

The best part – there’s leftovers of everything. That’s another thing we enjoy – NO cooking a second night.