On trainers and teaching, Part III (7/30/2015)

The latest issues of ErosionControl Magazine featured an interview that Carol Brzozowski did with me a year and a half or so ago.  I really had forgotten about it and about a half year ago, I figured that the interview had flopped, and it was all just hype and would never get published.  I added a copy of the article below (you will need to click on the article to get a larger version which might be easier to read).  I’m pretty thrilled by it; the only thing I would have liked to see is that it listed my current employee (the Department of Environmental Quality or DEQ).  I am having a lot of fun here, and moreover, I have a set of great colleagues and co-instructors here that really do not get mentioned in the article.  In a way it is a bit of a shame I did not get to see the article before it got published otherwise I would have asked to add those things.  Oh well.  You always hear that from people who get interviewed.

Anyway it is a nice closure to a fairly stressful few months with a lot of work, travel, some health issues, and even some mechanical issues at home like the kitchen sink and a lawn mower breaking.  Hopefully, that light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train barreling towards me.

Regular readers of my blog, my students and my friends know I have a passion for the environment, teaching, fairness, and social justice.  I am really hoping that this article did some justice (pardon the pun) to some of these beliefs and that I will be able to continue to do this work for a long time.  I have a wealth of life experience to share with people, and I really feel it would be a waste if I don't.  In the end I hope to leave one very small corner of this world a little better than I found it, or maybe better, when it found me.  Wouldn't that be nice!

Shawsville (7/24/2014)

Taught two courses at different sides of the state this week.  Kind of like a traveling salesman.   I drove to Fairfax on Tuesday evening after having an MRI of my head (boy that was a different experience).  The MRI itself was absolutely not as bad as everybody had warned me about.  But then, I am convinced that all my yoga practice helped with it.  Shavasana really helped.

Then it was down to Wytheville after a full day of teaching in Fairfax.  I left around 4 pm on Wednesday and got in around 9 that evening.  After teaching again on Thursday I stayed overnight to recuperate and took it easier going back on Friday.   By taking it easier I mean not going 8 or 10 miles an hour over the speed limit, trying to make some time, kind of in the frame of mind of "hurry up to relax."  This probably is a contradiction, and I am not sure if it works anyway; you area kind of wired after a five hour rat race on the interstate at 80 mph.  So on the way back I made sure that I consistently only exceeded the speed limit by 4 miles per hour (if that) and I actually got off the highway for a while.

So I got of the interstate in Christiansburg and actually rode highway 11 down the mountain.  Highway 11 is a nice twisty (down the) mountain road that is actually really quiet with some nice vistas.  I am sure it does not put many extra miles on the vehicle but it is away from the rat race of the interstate.  I took the picture below in Shawsville. No idea what I took a picture of, but is was a pretty farm building.  Wikipedia does not tell me much about Shawsville either; although I am sure it has a rich history, in addition to being wiped out by the Shawnee Indians in 1756.

Eventually I got back on the highway and joined the rat race back to Richmond.

One of the things I taught my students Thursday was "to think outside the box," while understanding that most of the time they will need to enforce the law and regulations.  Yes, there may still be times that they can, may and even should improvise, even though they are restrained by those darn laws and regulations.

Think outside the darn box!

Well that's what Friday felt like.  I think it felt like that for everyone; for me, kind of obeying the speed limit and getting of the main road and driving the back roads, at least for a little bit.  For other it seemed that they were all living in the left lane on Friday.  It was amazing here I was driving 70 (which was the speed limit) and I was passing people in the right lane.  I even had people moving over to the right to let me pass and then more back to the left lane.  It was so bad that I adapted the Beatles tune Yellow Submarine into "We all live in the left lane."  Guess even they were thinking outside the box, but I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do.  We learn in traffic school that most fatalities happen in the left lane (but that would be thinking inside the box).  Oh well.

Getting back to Richmond, even a transformer thought outside the box.  It seemed that it exploded underground, just outside our offices.  All traffic lights were out and our building only had emergency lights and was evacuated.  Dropped the car off and continued my road trip home.  A busy week indeed.

Yorktown (7/18/2015)

I had a great Saturday morning sailing with a friend (R) on a wooden boat he built from scratch ever since I have known him (7 years or so).  It is a 18.5 ft. Eel, a yawl designed by the marine architect William Garden.  I helped R twice (just a little bit), a group of friends helped once to turn the hull, and another time to put her on the trailer, and it was an absolute pleasure to see her floating and in such a beautiful shape.

 Let me tell you she was a pleasure to sail, and it felt like she was going faster than what the hull speed would indicate.  It felt faster than my 25 ft. boat when we are going 6 knots, but then we were much closer to the water in this boat.  But yes it was absolutely delightful to sail.

We were sailing in the Poquoson River, which is a great river for smaller boats, kayaks and canoes.  R was still trying to get a feel for his boat, This was the 4th time he had taken her out for a sail and it was an honor to be invited.  We had a steady 10 knot wind (estimated by us) and we occasionally had the rub rail touching the water.  R told me he collected all kinds of pieces of lead, like lead shot and pieces of gutter and alike, totaling 300 lbs, and embedded them in epoxy to make the keel (he did not want to melt lead in his garage; what makes sense).  Other boat techniques he described included the manufacturing of a hollow wooden mast, all to save on weight, to make it light and easy to handle on land and on the water.  So yes it is a light boat and again it sailed super nice and very light on the tiller.  I had a blast being out on the water.

Hightown (7/12/2015)

Yes, Hightown.  Located in Highland County, smack in the middle of the Blue Grass Valley along route 250.  It consists of a farm building a few supporting buildings and what looks like a general store.  This is the place where we turn right when we visit our friends who live in the valley.  It was also the place that was a rest stop when we biked the "Mountain Mama."

Hightown has another distinction, it is the divide between the James River watershed and the Potomac River watershed.   Actually the roof of the barn in the middle of the photograph is the divide.   Rain that falls on the left side becomes the James (or the Jackson River one of the two main tributaries that make the James) and the rain that that falls on the right side of the roof becomes the South Branch of the Potomac.  It is fun to see such a significant place: the source of two (historically and environmentally) major rivers.  And it all starts with a roof!  Naturally, the Jackson and Potomac will gather more and more water when the flow down hill, but they have to start somewhere.  That the story of our life, plant a seed to grow a plant, start with the first drop have a major river, etc.  Fun!

Bluegrass valley is gorgeous, but from what I hear, a darn cold place in the winter, but it is nice and cool in the summer; no air-conditioner needed.  We have biked it in the summer and hiked on our friend's property.  Unlike some other places I've been in the world (like Scotland), we value private property in the US and I would not dare walk through someone else's fields, and I know of no public hiking trails in Bluegrass Valley with the exception of the public roads.  (During previous visits we have hiked along the Jackson River as I described here.  That was in a county park.)  Still it is a great place to relax.

Highland and Bath Counties (7/11/2015)

Somewhere at home I have a map of the US on which I colored in all the counties that I have set foot in.  There are just a few states that are completely white: I have never been in North Dakota, Nevada, Alabama, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island.  Boy, how is that for an eclectic mix?  There are very few states where I have filled in all counties: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, and Virginia.  I miss one county in New Mexico.

The variety is amazing, and that is what makes this country so great.  I really can not tell you what's the best or the worst; really they are all unique in their own way.  I enjoyed Eunice , Louisiana in Acadia Parish  (that's what they call counties there), but is it the best place I've ever been?  Not really, I just remember it since it was a lot of fun.  But so was Summit County Colorado where I climbed Grays Peak a 14,278 foot peak in the Colorado Rockies and stayed overnight in Keystone and watched people getting mountain sickness.  I also really love where we currently live: York County, or McKinley County in New Mexico where we used to live, or even Hamilton County, Ohio.

This weekend we revisited a county we dearly love: Highland County; we stayed at a B&B there, but if you want fine dining, you have to go south, into Bath County, to either Warm Springs or Hot Springs.

The first full day in Highland County was somewhat rainy with temperatures in the low 70s.  What a difference from the mid 90s at home.  I took this photograph around 10 in the morning, and where else can you find highland cattle in the fog (clouds) but in Highland County.

Driving through Bath County, in particular, I am always amazed by the juxtaposition of poor (native) mountain living and (imported) opulence and the contrast it creates.  It is not pervasive, but it is obvious in some places.  In those instances you don't see the signs of what they call trickle down economics.  I'm sure that in some cases it is self imposed, but I figure that in other cases it could also be class warfare.

Both Warm Springs and Hot Springs fit that bill.   I assume that everyone has heard of the Hot Springs Homestead Resort.   It is an amazing place to see.  I am told the green fees for the golf course are just below $400 per person.   The homes around the resort are also amazing (worth at least a half million and up).  Going a few miles out of town, or even to the other side of town you see dilapidated buildings,  double-wide trailers, you name it.  Actually, we were amazed that in the middle of town the town parking area that doubles as farmer's market is full of pot holes filled with water and the sidewalks are bordered by foot high weeds.  There was a shift change at the resort when we were in town and there were a lot of young East-European workers walking down the street to their apartments in what I thought were abandoned or rundown storefronts.

The real estate offices were nicely spruced up, but even here, the public parking lots had weed growing in them and the green isles between the parking spaces were overgrown with weeds.  Really poor for a resort town. 

One wonders, places like the resort and the associated mansions and businesses are major tax payers and you would think that the country or town would have sufficient funds to spruce up the down town and make it attractive to visitors.  I would think that this would feed on each other, a nicer downtown would attract more visitors and sale taxes, and therefore more businesses, employ more people, who pay more taxes.  I know I am over simplifying it, but such a beautiful place could be even so much more beautiful and better.

Just an interesting view taken with my fish-eye lens.

Believe it or not, I really like Hot Springs and Bath County; I just think it could even be better!  We had a great time at the Sam Snead's Tavern.  They have some great food and a nice atmosphere.  A great place to hang out.  We had a wonderful visit.

York River (7/3/2015)

I'm currently reading a book called: "Blue Mind" by Wallace J. Nichols.  It's is a book on man's relationship with water in particular being near, in, on or under water and it's effect on the brain.  I just started it, so no review yet, but I like the premise.  It sure is calming and relaxing to me being on my boat, kayak or even just on the beach.

Well, since July 4th falls on a Saturday this year, we got a holiday on the Friday before.  Kind of on the spur of the moment we decided that it would be fun to take the kayaks out and go play on the water that way, instead of sailing.  It promised to be a gorgeous, somewhat cooler than average day, and checking the tides showed it was ideal to launch in Yorktown and explore the area west of the Coleman bridge along the Colonial Parkway.

The tide was coming in when we launched and it was a great help pulling us up river under the bridge.   The current can be treacherous around the docks which was one reason why we chose to stay relatively clear of the dock and wear life jackets.  Still it was a little bit like being in a washing machine;we got jostled around a bit, and the waves made no sense at all.  Thing calmed down once we passed the dock and the bridge.

Going along the shore we observed a bald eagle majestically sitting on a branch overlooking the river.  There was a water-man crabbing; and we said hello as he pulled up one of his "pots."  A little further we beached the kayaks and just enjoyed the empty beach and just sat in the shade of a large tree watching the river and the boats passing by.

Me on the beach (photo taken by Donna Briedé)

After the tide turned we returned to Yorktown.  During our trip back we saw more people fishing and we got to see the Alliance under full sail.   A fun day, that we celebrated with a pizza and a beer at the Beach Deli on our return to Yorktown.

It just occurred to me that I often write about "Nature Deficit Disorder" and here I'm writing about "Water Deficit Disorder."  When push comes to shove, it is really amazing to realize what we modern humans are potentially missing if we don't make an effort to reconnect with nature, be it green or blue!  I'm sure it will not create world peace, but reconnection with these basic items and living in the moment does the soul good.