Those crazy barnstormers

News from my mother, this time: Fighter jet crashes in Franklin County (VA)

No matter what the military want to say, it's pretty clear why this happened. Flying extremely low in mountainous terrain is moronic, but the pilots seem to feel a need to hotdog it through an area one claimed to think uninhabited, every single day. The way the flights have picked up the past couple of years--ostensibly for training, more likely in an attempt to keep the peasantry properly cowed†--it's amazing that something similar didn't happen before this. The worst they'd run into, to my knowledge, is farmers loudly complaining about their frightening the cattle so that they don't give decent milk, zooming up and down the valleys at low altitude as they do, and/or taking potshots at them. My dad speculated that this plane was brought down by a .22. *g*

I'm certainly not pleased some idiots crashed an F-15 and knocked a hole in someone's house, but do take some satisfaction in seeing their irresponsible behavior finally rewarded--without harming anyone, thank goodness.

One thing I definitely don't miss: the unique sensation of fighter planes threatening to clip the chimney off, multiple times a day. *shiver*


† Not that this works particularly well.

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I spent the day feeling horribly domesticated again. After fixing lunch and seeing vatine off to work on the late shift, then hanging out some laundry, I headed out to do some shopping. I got the urge to wander around a bit after the anticipated stops, pleasant enough for a sunny afternoon. Now I have a broom (yay!--though this sounds sad as I type it), some birdseed and a smallish scarlet geranium from QD, a (reduced) pot of basil from Sainsbury's which looks like enough to start a basil farm when separated and planted out, a cheap and cheerful pair of sandals, and a (similarly reduced) bag of yummy Columbian ground cherries.

I was particularly pleased to spot those, as a similar species grows wild all over the area I'm from. They taste a lot like a cross between strawberries and gooseberries, and are tasty just out of hand or with ice cream, besides as jam. (Whatever you do, make sure they're ripe with the husks open before you eat them--otherwise they're poisonous.* Eek.) Come to think of it, maybe they were the mysterious "wild gooseberries" with which Batts and Fallam** "were forced to feed [themselves]" when "their" Indians got tired of hunting for the lazy creatures. The bag I picked up is tasty enough that I'd like to go back and get more, while they still have them in stock and marked down.

The wildflower link reminded me--I was glad to find out that the flowers I'd been seeing are, in fact, bluebells (thanks to clanwilliam on that one). They looked like something I might call bluebells, but I'm used to seeing Virginia Bluebells, with very different leaves. Not yet being able to identify at least half the plants I see has been strangely disconcerting.

I also spotted a place I may try to get a sorely-needed hair appointment when it's open.

Overall, it was a reasonably productive and pleasant day.

Edit: Following links from that Scott Co. wildflower site, I ran across a decent article on the chestnut blight I mentioned to vatine the other day, for whatever reason.


* Also not to be confused with Bitter Nightshade, though the leaves are more similar than that photo would suggest. Another eek.
** The "Totera"/"Tora"/"Tetera" are more commonly known as Tutelo, and one of the towns Batts and Fallam stopped at was at present-day Radford.

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A bit of good news from earlier in the day: Bungee seems to have settled down again. My idea of bringing her over was reconsidered after the vet suggested that it wasn't the greatest plan, given her general emotional state. (Yeah, she's neurotic and pulls her fur out at the drop of a hat, but she's my sweetie.) The man's known her for 11 years now, and has apparently seen cats less disturbed react poorly to moving, after all. I didn't want to be selfish and drag her over here if it wouldn't be good for her.

The plan came up for consideration again after my mom reported her acting absolutely bonkers after I left. She reckoned that the poor girl might be better off moving, after all. But it seems that she's behaving more "normally", which was a huge relief.

Cats remind me, I'm feeling like an old crank again. I just sprinkled more pepper-based cat repellant* on a seedbed outside--with the little black cat from next door staring at me the whole time. Next thing I know, I'm going to be yelling at the chronically laughing kid next door to be quiet.


* The stuff I referred to as "cat poison", in a strange fit, after we bought it. Repel the cats, kill the aphids--must keep that straight. :)