Mountaineer Chronicles

Fall will quickly be upon us here in Mountain State. For most, this means the return of WVU football, changing leaves, cooler temps, and the quickly approaching fall hunting seasons. To me, all of these are a welcome change. The sweltering heat of summer and I do not get along well.  Who doesn't love college football?  For many outdoorsmen and women, the thought of a brisk October evening perched high in a tree waiting on a whitetail buck while orange and yellow leaves softly drop to the forest floor below is a special experience for which they long all summer.  I'm no stranger to the allure of fall. Crunchy leaves, back yard bonfires on cool evening, and that distinct smell of early evenings... Who, besides me, is ready for fall?

Today, WVU baseball has their home opener. They moved gametime to 1:30 to try to beat the impending snowstorm. In honor of the their home opener, I thought I'd share this amazing catch. All I can say about this is "whoa!" Won't be long until I'm patrolling the outfield for my softball team. Hopefully I can make a couple catches about half as spectacular as this one.

Well it's mid-January. When I leave for work in the morning, its dark. When I get home from work its dark. This is the time of year when cabin fever can set in. Big time. Here in WV, the winters certainly aren't cold enough to preclude all outdoor recreation, but the conditions certainly aren't optimal. Given my limited time to "do" outdoorsy stuff because of other commitments, limited finances, and limited vacation time, I've been opting to save a lot of my excursions for when weather conditions are more optimal. Sometimes regardless of the weather, a hike through the snow can be fun! That gives me lots of indoor time this time of year. Traditional flyfishing wisdom says I should be tying flies to stock up for the upcoming spring hatches. I do tie some of my own flies, but I'm not good enough or efficient enough to tie all of what I need. Maybe I need to just get back at the tying bench and rekindle my desire to pump out some flies. A few asso

I've been slacking on writing any blog entries for a few months.  My last entry was about WV day, and its now early September, but I've gotten re-inspired to post.  Its mostly due to my cousin who has started a blog herself, and her entries have inspired me to write again.  She writes about running, family, faith, and "frilly dresses." If that interests you check out her blog here . Onto the topic I want to write about....Fall.  It is certainly my favorite season of the year. Fall in Mountaineer territory is a gorgeous site with mountains ablaze with the red, orange, and yellow of the changing leaves. A view of the fall colors on upper Shaver's Fork in WV I know many people love the warm weather of summer, but the crisp temps, lower humidity, and clear blue skies are in my opinion the perfect weather combination - not too cold to be a nuisance, but not so hot to make it unbearable. Along with the change of weather comes many other welcome changes for me.