State College, Pennsylvania

I'm here for three days.

This is the home of Penn State University and the Nittany Lions. I kind of wish I had my Pitt cap with me. That would be sort of fun.

I came by the hat honestly since Lindsay goes to Pitt. She got me the hat as a present when she was a freshman.

And now she's graduating...

Ebensburg, Pennsylvania

Cambria County. Lots of coal trucks whizzing around.

I'm here for two days.

Barbeque Patio

It's still too cold to really have fun outside, but being from hardy Irish stock, I managed to hang out down by the shop for a couple of hours on Saturday.

Braving temperatures in the low 40's, I prepared the BBQ Patio for the spring season.

That's the Camp Chef range on the left.
In the middle, the dutch oven table.

The Weber Performer (blue blob) is on the right.

I made country style ribs yesterday. Not bad, a little tough. I'm working on the menu for next weekend.

It should warm up and be considerably greener by the weekend. It was actually in the twenties the past two nights, which isn't fair.

Grilling Weather

Looks like sunny skies and 60+ degrees by the end of the week.

I'll have to break out the Weber.

Gotta go grocery shopping first. Wings, a roasting chicken & maybe a porterhouse.

Wilderness Room Fire

Nice & toasty in the WR tonight. T is in Florida and I'm in charge of the ranch.

I'm working very hard.

Back on the Tidewater Trail

Tappahannock, Virginia. I'm headed back on Friday; if I get out early enough I'll hit the parts of Booth's trail that I missed when I was here last year.

The Garrett farm. Dr. Mudd's farm. Surratt's Tavern.

A Blogging Year

Hey, guess what? I started blogging on March 7, 2009. One year ago tomorrow.

Amazing that I've kept up with it all this time!

Here's a link back, for anyone interested in time travel: SJC's first blog post.

Charles City, Iowa

The Charles City Web site (here) says the population is 7,812. Make that 7,813 since I'll be here for the week.

I drove down from Minneapolis this afternoon. Lots of snow and bright sunlight. It's been a while since I've visited the Great Plains; it was a nice drive and I didn't hurry. Miles and miles of drifted snow sculptures.

I passed a huge Cabella's store in the middle of nowhere, kind of like the one in Hamburg, PA. I was not tempted to stop. I have enough stuff.

I haven't been downtown yet -- I'll check that out tomorrow. Maybe I can find a barber and get a haircut.