The Rivanna Rambler

July 24, 2008

 This show originally aired in July 19, 2007 and then again on July 24, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net

 

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It is 8 am and the temperature is 78 degrees. With the mercury set to climb towards 100 and the relative humidity chasing after it, I have decided that I, too, will climb, escaping to the hills and a change of climate.  My friend Alyson and I set a course towards the western mountains, the Alleghany highlands in that corner hump of Virginia where it shares its boundary with West Virginia.  We’re headed to that block of the Virginia Gazetteer, where Maps 64 and 65 spread open across the page reveal the topographic marvel of the ridge and valley contours of this region.

We take Route 250 out of Staunton towards Whites Store follwing Jennings Branch, tributary of the Middle River which bisects the Valley as it heads towards its confluence with the South Fork of the Shenandoah and on to the Potomac River.   Though it is imperceptible to my eye, something does shift here.  Somewhere between Chestnut Oak Knob to the north and Crawford Mountain to the south of 250, we descend ever so slightly into the valley of the Calfpasture River crossing it in the hamlet of West Augusta.  Starting here,

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July 17, 2008

 

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This show originally aired in July 17, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net

As I sat at our kitchen table yesterday evening, casually peering into the loose thicket of privet that divides our lot from our neighbors, I was startled to see the tawny brown of what could only be a deer moving slowly across the lawn towards his house.

Head down, browsing on the choice green grass, the deer was unconcerned, casually munching as if it had been there before. Now, for many in our watershed, this would not be an unusual sight, but not only do we live in the city, we live uphill, across the street, and several houses away from the green corridor that flanks the unnamed stream that flows downhill from the ridge of Rugby Road.

So why did the deer choose to cross the road, after all?

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July 3, 2008

This show originally aired in April 25, 2007 and then again on July 3, 2008 on “The Rivanna Rambler,” a weekly public affairs show airing every Thursday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM or wtju.net

 

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On a sunny Sunday in April, we finally cast the lines off the boat and leave for a trial run to the Potomac after a long marina-bound winter. With a sweet 12 knot breeze out of the east, we are soon under sail skipping across the Potomac from Virginia to Maryland. The river is mostly empty of boats, a few April adventurers and other folks who know that this can be one of the best times on the Chesapeake and her rivers. And we have other company, too.
In the distance, the dive and plunge of birds, repeated again and again, catches my attention. Instinct suggests, and my binoculars confirm, that I am seeing Northern Gannets flocking and fishing. I know these birds from my time working on the ocean,

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