Monday, April 4, 2011

First Weekend ORMS 2011



Saturday and Sunday
April 2&3, 2011
First 2011 ORMS Weekend 

Apologies for letting my blog writing get behind.   I still need to backfill on the last couple of weeks but for those who tune in only when a new post goes up you might want to check out my sister blog written by my alter ego Trebor Kool.   Sometimes you are torn between bragging about unknown ice climbing, morel mushroom, and good fishing locations or keeping them secret.   Well Trebor had the honor of seeing an early unfinished cut of a low budget film Almost Alpine and could not keep the secret.  He wrote a reveiw on it over on Quoxotic Cosmos.   Check out the review.    The film is a climbing mockumentary being submitted to the Telluride and Banff film festivals this year.    Eventually it may be available for on-line purchase.  

I recently provided steaks for an ORMS pot luck dinner and will soon be providing bacon for a Rockfest 2 breakfast.    I am fortunate to have a wonderful country butcher available to me that is on my way to Old Rag.   Wilson Farms Meat Co in Catlett Virginia.     Not much to look at from the outside but they have some of the best slab cut double smoked bacon around.     The prices are posted on their chalk boards and transactions are cash only.   The staff are very helpful and knowledgeable folks.   I found it a very pleasant and unique experience buying meat at this butcher shop.   I am told that there are folks who drive from hours away just so as to buy their bacon.

SATURDAY
Ben, Sean, Bob


A couple of the new NPS staff at the Old Rag contact station.

Howard Mo. and Hazel Me.


If you look closely you can see a little bit of green on the trees at the foot of the mountain.

There was a profusion of Spicebush blooming along Weakley Hollow Fire Road.


There is a local tradition of celebrating birthdays up on Old Rag.    The next two pictures show the celebration of a young man's (at heart) 79th birthday on the mountain.


This was his 30th consecutive birthday on Old Rag and was celebrated by three generations of the extended family some of whom had come from 500 miles away.     As a collector of  stories of rare animal sightings on Old Rag I got to hear about the year the family saw two Zebras at Post Office Junction.   Imagine that Zebras on Old Rag.

Looking up to Old Rag's two summits from Weakley Hollow Fire Road.



Sunday's ORMS crew Jeremy, Anne R, Craig T, Chris G, Bob L involved in the day's training a scenario, a hiker with a badly broken ankle.


Looking back up the Ridge Trail while doing a late afternoon sweep.


The daily routine of filling out our End Of Day Reports before heading either to pizza at Rudy's or home.

3 comments:

  1. Looking forward to following the season with you, Bob!

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  2. Wow Bob, I had no idea any of the Stewards even knew where Catlett was. Some of my earliest childhood memories were going to Wilson's with my grandfather on Saturday mornings.I grew up in Nokesville. My maternal grandparents and several of my maternal line are in the cemetery just across the road from Wilsons.

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  3. Wild Type that one of those small world connections that is great to know about. The coworker who turned me on to Wilsons goes to Wilsons often with his young grandson. His grandson is always asking if they can ride to the butcher shop soon. This same coworker came by my cubicle this morning to say that he was at the butcher shop last weekend and mentioned he had turned on a coworker who does volunteering for SNP to their shop. He got a kick out of the fact that they said oh yes Mr. Look he was just in this morning to pick up 400 pieces of bacon.

    Hint for manly sports/athletic person's humor check out EpicMealTime "Meat Salad" video.


    http://www.youtube.com/user/EpicMealTime

    ReplyDelete