Last week the Mathews cross country team had a meet over in Lancaster, which is across the Rappahannock River just past Kilmarnock.
("Just past" is a relative term which around here means "just keep on driving, you're not even close.")
This beautiful home stands in a soybean field just before you get to Lancaster High School. I had pulled over on the side of the road, as I always sometimes do, to take these shots from the car.
Lancaster evidently isn't accustomed to Chesapeake Bay Woman sorts of photographers, the sorts who are extremely paranoid prone to spontaneous roadside stops to take pictures of the lovely scenery.
They are a very, very suspicious bunch, these Lancasteronians. An older gentleman gave me a very solid stare from his pickup truck as he drove by. In the meantime two ladies in their nearby yard paced nervously, one hand over the mouth, the other on the hip, staring. I felt certain that they were all plotting a siege it was about time for me to put away the camera and head on up the road.
Anyway, the cross country meet was very successful, and the team has had an outstanding season thus far. The next two meets (on Wednesdays) will be held at Beaverdam in Gloucester.
In other high school related events, last night I attended a PTA meeting to discuss various fundraising efforts. As the meeting was coming to an end, the ladies seated at my table started chatting about this and that. All of a sudden, faster than a Sunday shopper trying to get in and out of Food Lion before church lets out, the topic went from the prom to fruit fly infestations and the various concoctions and methods that have led to their successful annihilation. I confessed to waving a white flag a long time ago since the fruit flies have actually set up shop in my icebox (aka refrigerator). Seriously. Just ask the PTA ladies.
While most were discussing the effectiveness of vinegar or bleach on the insidious insects, one very clever parent-- a newcomer to Mathews--described her own surely-soon-to-be-patented fruit fly trap. She places a piece of banana in the bottom of a glass and covers the top with a coffee filter. Then, when enough are collected, she takes the whole thing outside and shoots it with a machine gun.
OK, I made up that part about the machine gun, but that's what I would do if I had a machine gun. And knew how to use it. Even so, the flies would still be back in my house, pointing and laughing.
No, she takes them outside andshoos them towards her neighbor's house turns them loose. I, for one, was very impressed.
Even though it's no longer Ant Season, I was all set to launch into my ant infestation woes and the miracles of Terro, but it was time to go home. Maybe next time.
Only in Mathews.
17 comments:
Beautiful farm house! Great news about the track team, too!
I have an infestation of fruit flies too, and will try that solution, but will not release them back into the wild unless they can swim:) Amazing how topics can change so quickly at a meeting, isn't it?
oh dear lord.. so THAT is who C is running around with...
no kidding.. he came out with the same idea the other night.
I feel sorry for her.
Love the farmhouse. I would have tromped through the soybean field to get a closer look. There's always the excuse that you're working on a book about alo buildings in the are... no one has to know the area isn't Lancaster.
I don't understand the paranoia you speak of, and have spoken of many times before. What must they be hiding? Do they think you're a government spook?
Growing up on on the farm, these aerial photographers would snap photos of each property, then come around and sell them. We bought one. So glad I have it.
Those old biddies are growing marijane for sure, and don't want to lose a good crop.
mom
wow
I would have smiled winningly and waved at the pickup driver (he'll drive off quick - I could be on the lam from the asylum); and then I would have trotted over to the old biddies and gushed over what a beautiful house that was, did they know anything about it.... overwhelm them with charm, that's my way. Or scare them back into hiding.
LOL...Emma has an interesting story about trespassing in Charlottesville....
the first is my favorite, its like an oil painting .. exquisitely rendered ... shoo fly dont bother me
What lovely pictures! Well worth the stir taking them caused! In fact, sometimes it is just fun to mess with people like that - isn't it?
Love that soybean field color.
Go track team! Run from those fruit flies!
I use the shoo fly dont bother me method to rid my place of those pesky critters!
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I have a kid in that school....I didn't join PTA however. Probably should have, but don't have the time. I give you props for joining though.
Oh and I forgot to ask, do you get roly pollies?? They have invaded my bedroom, but only by my chimney. I am going to have to do some damage control.
I think mom/wow hit the nail on the head!
I'm impressed with that fruit fly remedy as well.
And I do believe those old biddies are growing weed in their yard. Buncha stoner freaks.
Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time on here this evening, but just a few quick remarks/responses...
My paranoia comes from wondering what they think I am up to pulled off on the side of the road pointing a camera at someone else's house/property. Will they come over and start yelling at me to leave? Will they call The Law even though I'm not on anyone's property but look "suspicious"? That's why I stay in the road most of the time, which comes with its own set of stresses and concerns: Is there a car coming? Am I on the shoulder far enough that they won't plow into me? People assume you're doing something wrong; truth be told, if someone were pointing a camera at my house I probably would be unnerved too.
Little did I know until I read it here in the comments that it's the old biddies who are paranoid because they're growing illegal crops. The next time one gives me the hairy eyeball, I'll have to remember that. It's them, not me.
MOM/WOW is my own dear mother. I've said this before but the WOW stands for Wild on Waverly Lane, a blog she will hopefully start once CB Son shows her how to get her photos uplaoded. When she told me the WOW part, I remarked that WOW was Mom upside down, and so a blog name was born.
Have a great evening, and remember to stay away from those old biddies. They're up to no good.
Ashely - No roly polys thus far. Now that I've said it they'll be everywhere, just like the stink bugs and fruit flies!
Cross country is not track...no sprinters, throwers, jumpers, or hurdlers.......just running hundreds of miles to train for gut-wrenching distance races through woods and across fields (in all kinds of weather).
Wimps need not apply.
Go Mathews High School Cross Country.
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