Tag Archives: hoco loco

Giving the Gift of Time

Posted on November 27, 2012 by AnnieRie

It’s Giving Tuesday. Another new one I never heard of before. A number of posts around about philanthropy, nonprofits, giving to local charities and such.

Me, I think the best gift we can give is our time. If we can’t always give money, or if the cause needs volunteers more than money, what is the value of your time? Even something so simple as signing up to tutor, or mentor, or chaperon a field trip, or put your name on the list to bring nurses and aides to work during snow storms. These and other types of volunteering opportunities are all around us.

I volunteer at the Conservancy now that I am retired. We just got our year end newsletter and mailing. Volunteers worked last Monday to put the mailing together. Volunteers lead the hikes with those 3955 school children. Volunteers pour wine at Wine in the Garden. Volunteers help children make critters at the crafts fair, park cars at the Transit of Venus, and the Fall Fest. There are only a half dozen employees there, almost all of them part time.

For me, it would be simpler to write a check. Leading a dozen or more hikes a year and running four or five programs takes way more effort than writing the check.

How about other opportunities in the county? The County Rec and Park department is always looking for volunteers. Whenever we did the county trail hikes on the AT or C&O canal, the leaders were volunteers. Robinson Nature Center? Needs docents and other volunteers.

Sometimes writing a check is a good thing to do. Sometimes it directly benefits you, or indirectly. We like to keep our donations of money to local efforts. Even being good citizens and supporting our volunteer firefighters.

Or, we can always support a fundraiser. Even if it is volunteering to work at an event. But, there are simple ways to give. Like this one. Not the $100 a plate fundraisers. Something as simple as the firefighters’ event on the 8th of December.

Giving is easy. Just pick up the phone and invite yourself to support something you believe in. Now, I need to go get those cookies made to take to the Conservancy for the crafts fair.

hocoblogs@@@

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Christmas Tree Weather

Posted on November 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

That’s what today brought us. The kind of day that makes you want to traipse out and get your Paul Bunyan posing done while chopping down your tree and dragging it across the fields. A little cold, about 40 degrees. Sunny. There were certainly lots of people out at TLV Tree Farm this afternoon.

The farm is right down the road from us. I stopped in this afternoon to see what lengths of pine and fir roping they had. I will be framing our doors with it. I also did pick up some Chesapeake spread to nibble on while watching the Ravens. And, of course, bread and rolls from Stone House.

The basic wreaths, undecorated were out front with the roping. There are lots of decorated wreaths and other craft items throughout the building. Santa was there too, in a sleigh, posing for pictures with all the little ones. The Dayton 4H club also is selling food.

It is easy to get to the farm from Columbia. Take Harper’s Farm until it crosses Rte. 108 in Hobbits Glen. It becomes Homewood. Just keep going straight. The road will change name at the first circle, becoming Folly Quarter. Continue straight through the circle. A few miles later, past Glenelg Country School and Triadelphia Rd merges in. Keep going straight, across the bridge over Rte. 32 and straight again through the circle at the Royal Farms. Lots of people taking advantage of the good gas prices there, with their trees strapped to the tops of their cars. We do have good gas prices out here.

Just a few more miles down the road, past some McMansions and a few farms. Then just at the sharp bend where Triadelphia becomes Triadelphia Mill, the tree farm.

Acres of trees on both sides of the property. Bring strollers if you have little ones. There is a map near the entrance telling you where the trees are located, by type.

We have probably traipsed the entire farm over the years we have bought trees here. This year we will head out on a weekday when it isn’t as crowded and it is easy to get one of the tree haulers. To me it really is Christmas when I get my tree and bring it in to decorate. The farm is open every day until the 23rd of December.

Now, the Ravens game is beginning. I will be heating up some turkey later to serve sandwiches on my favorite rolls from Stone House. Turkey sandwiches, Chesapeake spread from Bowling Green adding a little heat and cheese to the sandwiches, and maybe some popcorn from my CSA stash. Sounds like a cozy Sunday night to me.

Stone House Bakery’s rolls – so good!

hocoblogs@@@

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Over the River and Through the Woods …

Posted on November 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

… one thing I don’t miss these days. The long trips over the holidays. On clogged highways. My husband’s family lived out of state. It always meant traveling in the winter on snow covered roads. We tried avoiding bad weather, following forecasts and working our schedules around the best travel days.

I-70 at noon Wednesday

One Easter we got trapped by a late ice storm and didn’t get home to get back to work. Having relatives in the highlands of northeastern PA meant treacherous trips on I-81 and I-83. I feel for those who have those same dilemmas and who face the clogged roads to make it home to visit. But, I would be happy to have his family still with us, and take those trips to see them. We miss our families most during the holidays. My mom is still active and we cherish the years we have by sharing holidays with her.

Today we get to leisurely drive about 30 miles to share Thanksgiving with my brother and his extended family. Since the 1990’s he has always sponsored midshipmen at his home, first in Catonsville and now south of Annapolis. It means quite a bit to the families of these young men that they have a safe place to come and share a day or two, or a meal or two, with someone who looks out for them. Many of them still keep in touch.

We go to his home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and Fourth of July, usually. Plus, birthdays, weddings, graduations, Mother’s Day, and just sometimes to see old friends, having a base for get togethers is comforting and familiar. It does mean we have made our own personal traditions, that dovetail with the family visits.

I don’t know how many years we never had a Christmas tree. Lately, we do get one since we are home on Christmas day. The first few times we got one when we married more than 30 years ago, they would dry out and drop needles all over the place, since we went to PA for four or five days. I have yet to succumb and buy an artificial tree. We now buy ours locally at either TLV or Pine Valley

Around our current home, all the trees grouped by the driveway were former Christmas trees from the previous owner. Bought with the root ball, they were planted and some of them are 25 years old. If we were younger, we would do that, but at least we recycle our tree into mulch with the county. I do love the grouping of trees at our home, though. They make me think of the memories of the family whose children grew up here 20 years ago.

Today I will eat my brother’s turkey and fixings. He cooks most of the dinner, just as my dad loved to cook. We will come home tonight and brine our turkey and have our dinner tomorrow or Saturday. This is also a big radio contest weekend, and luckily, my husband now contests from home. It means we can have that dinner, and make our own memories in our home. Now, off to find the brining supplies for the turkey and put together the cooler to take to my brother’s.

Then, I need to figure out where I am putting the tree, and go up in the attic and get the Christmas lights out. And, do Christmas cookies and cards. Ah, the beginning of the busy season. Don’t forget about Small Business Saturday! Go out and buy something, presents, food, trees, whatever, from the small local businesses in Howard County.

Happy Thanksgiving!

hocoblogs@@@

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A Trip Down Memory Lane

Posted on November 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

I have been working on a series of posts about life in Howard County. We are cleaning things up and whenever I find something from years past, I think: I should do a post about this.

So, I am. The trigger for this post was the cleaning in the files in the study and finding a box in the corner with old ADC maps in it. There must be five different Howard County maps in there, but my favorite is this one.

ADC map of Howard County 1976

In 1975 I moved here, right out of college. My husband moved to his place in 1977, before I knew him. This is his map, bought to find his way around here, since he used to live in Montgomery County, where he worked.

Interesting little things from the index, like the total number of schools in the county then. Germane to see how many fewer schools there were back then, when the entire county probably had less population than Columbia has now. Columbia back then was just a small percentage of the land.

The shopping center list was pretty sparse as well. It shows four village centers for Columbia.

One of my favorite pages is the one of Clarksville, before River Hill. Notice that the old Rte. 32 jogged right then left around Rte. 108. No highway then.

“downtown” Clarksville

My first roommate when I lived in Wilde Lake worked here. Who remembers this? What is there now?

I moved to Columbia hoping to find a job at APL, but the recession of the early 1970s made it hard. I taught school for a while at a Catholic school, and lived with multiple roommates in Partridge Courts, then in an apartment in Long Reach. My husband’s townhouse was one of the Howard Homes camp out town houses in Owen Brown. Remember those?

Thirty years I lived in Columbia. Half my life, as I turn 60 next month. It was definitely an interesting place to be, but now I have to admit I far prefer leaving a city to live in a mostly rural area. I realized that after 22 years in Baltimore and 30 years in Columbia, that these last eight years were the only time I didn’t live in an apartment or row house, fashionably named town houses somewhere along the way.

Anyone else have older Howard County artifacts or photos around?

hocoblogs@@@

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Shirt Sleeve Weather

Posted on November 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

aka Indian Summer

This weekend and today certainly have been those types of days. The high today is supposed to hit 70 degrees. It was a beautiful morning. The maple finally peaked, and I had to record it before the rains come tomorrow and bring down most of the leaves. It is amazing how it turns from green to yellow to red within the span of a week.

the maple today

This morning it was just spectacular, as seen from the driveway coming into the property. And below, this is the closer look from last Tuesday, as it was just really beginning to change.

the maple beginning to turn

We finally got the garage doors cleaned. We were out there in jeans and T shirts. Can not believe how nice it has been.

no more dirt and grime left from Sandy

With how nice it was, we considered lunch outdoors. After all, the patio was sunny and we were repositioning the furniture back where it belongs and returning the place to its pre-storm condition. We could not believe how much trash and junk was blown under and around all the plant beds, but now it is cleaned up. Finally. The bird feeders are all hung. The branches and most of the leaves cleaned up. The only thing left is cutting back the spirea and the spice bush, once we have a few more freeze warnings and they all lose their leaves.

I made us salads using CSA veggies, and we wandered outside to enjoy the warmth of the sun. The salads include one of my favorite ways to serve chicken and swiss. Getting one thick slice of each at Boarman’s. This time I got some honey BBQ chicken breast. Cut it in cubes and serve on top of greens with an apple diced on top.

chef’s salad, my way

Loving the Hakurei turnips and the French breakfast radishes on this salad. Can’t wait to see what goodies the CSA brings this week.

hocofood@@@

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A Snow Sky

Posted on November 7, 2012 by AnnieRie

After a lovely day yesterday, today we wake to a prediction of snow. Don’t know how much, but whatever we get, it won’t hang around long if the temperatures rise to the 50s and 60s like they are supposed to reach over the weekend.

I gave the ornamental grasses their fall pruning. I have one left to do. Otherwise, they blow all over the property. We also did a massive leaf cleanup during the lovely weather yesterday. The piles sit waiting for our rake and take compost partner to pick up in her truck sometime soon. She hauled away almost this much yesterday. At least our leaves are turning into compost for gardens. Some of it here. Some of it just down the road from us, at our partner’s home.

If you live out here in west county, and don’t get yard waste removal, like us, consider partnering with the county rake and take program to turn your leaves into compost. Our partner has lots of conifers, but not the deciduous trees needed for that brown component for compost. The yard is getting bare of leaves, with the exception of our maple, which is just turning now.

Besides the leaves and the sky, today I found new residents feasting on the suet. It has been a while since we have seen the red breasted nuthatches. Two of them have been here lately, and one was on the far side of the suet while I was taking leaf pictures. The other, in the tree above, was a little harder to photograph.

red breasted nuthatch

Did you know that the nuthatches are the only birds that can travel head first down the side of a tree? This picture is a little blurry, but you get the action.

Now that I have had a coffee break, and downloaded the morning pictures, it’s time to get back out there and cut back the last of the ornamental grasses. I left the largest one for last. But still, all in all, spending the day outdoors enjoying the fall foliage left on the property, is one of the simple pleasures of living out here.

Here’s to the weekend looking as lovely as yesterday. If you get the chance, head outside this weekend to an outdoor event, or to one of the markets. Here’s the Ellicott City calendar.

hocoblogs@@@

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What Goes Around Comes Around

Posted on November 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

I have to admit, learning the new shorthand used in tweeting and in texting, as well as some of the acronyms around here has been interesting at best, and downright confusing at times.

It used to be that we, the govvies in the area, i.e., government employees, were the best at making entire conversations using acronyms designed to confound our non-govvy friends and family.

“I work at NHTSA on IVBSS and I will be at UMTRI next week”. “I work at NSWC on the MK 116 ASW FCS”. Our pasts. The DH and me.

What’s a DH, you say? Same as an OM. Dear Husband. Old man. One picked up on web forums years ago, the other an amateur radio standard. It is why my gmail account has xyl in the address. I am the wife, aka x-young lady, of a ham.

Now, my blogging friends here in the area are working to get uniform hashtags that we use when we tweet. Whenever I put up a post I sent it off to twitterland using #hoco. These days #hoco is overrun by colleges and homecoming, and we are getting lost in the noise about whose dress is best, and who can get more drunk. It seems to be time for us to find a new place to “hang out”, and we have graduated to using #hocomd more.

Jessie over at Jessie X, who also cofounded and administers hocoblogs where about 300 of us are more or less active about blogging in the County, or about the County, is working to get us to use more specific hashtags.

I feel like I am back at work, learning new acronyms after changing jobs. What used to be the geekiness of our govvy lives is now the new normal of social media. Like, learning a whole new language.

Add to that, in our world, where we have been active in amateur radio, a “shack on a belt”, or HT (handy talkie), once a sign of real nerdiness, with the hands free headphone really stood out. Now, you can lose yourself in the midst of the bluetooth crowd. What was once cause for comments, and a little ridicule, is now mainstream.

As I said, what goes around comes around. The entire world has become geeky. What the heck. If you can’t beat them, join them.

So, Jessie asked me to become the queen of #hocolocavore and #hoconature on the spreadsheet being assembled for county tweets. I promise to try and remember to use them. At least I do remember to use my hocoblog hashtags appropriately, like the one at the end of this post.

So, when I post about local foods and farmers, I will be using #hocolocavore.

And, about the Conservancy, or the birds, or the garden. #hoconature

And, since I am attempting to complete NaBloPoMo (look that one up!), there will be lots to read about Howard County.

hocoblogs@@@

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A Chicken in Every (Crock) Pot And Ready for Sandy

Posted on October 28, 2012 by AnnieRie

While we run around filling bath tubs and clearing leaves out of the rain gutters, and positioning a trash can near the sump pump, and all those lovely other things, my crock pot is happily making dinner. I put half a chicken in it with CSA veggies and it is close to being done. I will microwave a few potatoes and we have a quick easy dinner before getting back into the waiting game. I will have a local dinner tonight. Open a VA wine and relax now that all the preparations are done.

frozen half chicken from tlv tree farm

I need to thank howchow for letting us know Harris Teeter wasn’t crazy crowded. We decided to err on the side of caution and get six more gallon jugs of water. Some fruit, since I didn’t get to the farmer’s markets, and a gallon of honey crisp apple cider from Zeigler’s. Not local, but still family made. The bath tubs will be filled tonight with water to flush toilets, and the coolers are ready to go if needed. Ten bags of ice are in the freezer now. Two will come out tomorrow into the cooler with the refrigerator foods we want to consume if the power goes out. That way we won’t be opening the refrigerator at all, or the freezer if we lose power.

All day today the birds went nuts trying to buzz feeders that aren’t there. Finches were sitting on the patio chairs (left out there since we can’t carry them far and there is no free place to put them) looking for the bird bath and the feeders. Ever watch a bird make a beeline for the feeder pole, then find nothing there but the pole. Very confused. The furniture was all moved over to the far edge of the patio near the area where the feeders and bird bath were located, and which now are all safely in the shed. I did remember to spread as much food as I could on the ground so the birds get something. They really are accustomed to coming here for food in the fall and winter.

The antennas are all down. The side of the house looks weird with no wires. This is the view from a few months back. Spring when the cherry trees were blooming. All the wires had to come down and tension taken off the ropes so they won’t snap. Here’s hoping the trees all hang in there the next two or three nights.

amateur radio antennas off the attic

On the local 2 meter repeater, we are reminded that CARA will appropriate the frequency tonight to support RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service). Amateur radio operators will be supporting the county in emergency communications traffic during the storm. We will have our hand held transmitters here at our house available with charged batteries so we can monitor communications (and communicate if we need any assistance in our area).

All in all, we are now even more resigned to a long, frustrating, series of days watching this storm cross over the east coast and impact our lives.

hocoblogs@@@

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The View from 20,000 …

Posted on October 26, 2012 by AnnieRie

… views, that is, not feet. 20,000 views. Yesterday morning the geek in me saw my dashboard on wordpress read 19,999 total views. I was going to write a post next Friday when my blog is one year old, but who knows, with Sandy heading in our direction, and the talking heads on TV telling us power outages possible past November 5th, I may or may not have power next Friday.

20,000 views in less than a year. I don’t know if that is good or bad, but it does tell me that there are definitely people reading what I write. I am also happy to say I still have new things I want to write, and have been pretty good at posting almost every day.

I was a mathematician (my degree major) for many of my early career years, and numbers fascinate me. Statistics of course can always be interpreted the way we want. Still, it is nice to see my numbers increase as my blog “ages”.

Thanks mostly to hocoblogs and to howchow, in the beginning, who linked up my blog when it was just one month old. HOCOBLOGS is where I went to find local readers.

And, there was the Dark Days Challenge, where I found fellow locavores.

local ingredients for dinner

Setting up a local resources page was a good move, too. I found many people came there to search for grains, products, and farms in the area.

local foods

I have to admit though, being interested enough to check out my most read posts, that I did not expect which ones continued to gather views. If you are new to blogging in Howard County, and want people to find you on google or other search engines, I can tell you two phrases that guarantee traffic around here.

brighton dam azalea gardens

and

tractor supply baby chicks

The most read posts on my blog. I still get hits every week on the tractor supply post. And, I had hundreds of searches registered for azalea blossoms being at peak, or still blooming. Weeks went by and they still were being viewed. I know that I will be monitoring those blossoms again next spring. They are only five miles down the road and we go there often.

Besides those, the series on amateur radio in Howard County got a huge number of views thanks to being placed on a feed for amateurs around the country and the world to see. W3AO gets lots of hits still, when clubs and operators look to see the Field Day records for one of the biggest radio operations in the country. Right here in Howard County.

Here’s hoping this hurricane fizzles out, far from land, or just glances us. Now, off to fill up a spare propane tank and get a few more gallons of spring water. I know if we are totally prepared for “Frankenstorm” as they are calling it, then it will definitely become a non event. It is only when we don’t get ready, that we get slammed.

Stay safe and dry, all our friends near and far.

hocoblogs@@@

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The First Fall Clean Up Day

Posted on October 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

At least the first major clean up. We have been puttering around doing little odd jobs, but today it begins in earnest. I have been researching the long term effects of using pine needles to mulch areas of the plant beds in the back of the house. Today I wanted to gather pine needles to create a winter bed over the rhododendrons and the azaleas. This analysis that I found a while back is what prompted me to look into pine needle mulching in certain areas. We certainly have enough pine needles.

carpet of pine needles

The leaves are just starting to come down. Add to that, the grass under the shrubs and around the raspberry bushes needs its final cutting of the year. We use a clear bag method to collect green material, brown material, and pine needles. Then, using the county rake and take program to be matched to a neighbor we divide the bags to use in our compost piles. Getting that right mix of browns and greens. This is our second year doing rake and take. We get enough from our trees to keep many compost piles going. If you want a way to see your leaves put to good use, consider contacting rake and take.

As for the rest of my clean up I went into my neglected garden to start pulling out the tomato cages, and to bag the tomato plants to take deep into the woods to leave them. They do not get into the compost bins, as they can spread disease from year to year. For example, from late blight. I hadn’t been out there for two weeks, and surprise, there were dozens of green tomatoes all over the garden.

I think I will put these away in a paper bag and let them get close to ripening, then make one last batch of green tomato pasta with pesto.

Tonight dinner will be fairly simple. Although we had to resort to plan B. I had intended to pop a chicken in the crockpot to cook while we were working outside. They don’t make them like they used to. The crockpot gave up the ghost. Would not let me program the temperature and turn on.

As soon as you let up on the button, the lights went out. And, you could not advance it to the longer low cooking times. Thankfully, I never gave up my original crockpot from my first apartment thirty some years ago. You know, one of these antiques.

So, I loaded it up with half a chicken in tomato garlic sauce, over collard greens and onions. Let it go, and soon dinner will be ready. This chicken is falling off the bone, and I started it at 10 am, directly from the freezer. The best way to cook chicken.

Now I need to find a good programmable replacement crockpot as ours gets lots of work making soups, stews and chili. This old one is too small to do brisket, or turkey, which we like to make also. I also like the programmable options not found on my original. I am glad I kept it around though, to save the day today. Off to dinner and to watch Monday night football.

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