Please Help Support Backcountry Notes

Paypal Button:

OR:

E-MAIL CONTACT FORM

About Me

028_25Ae.jpg

I am an ex-urbanite who escaped the city life and has lived for the past 28 years in a rural, mountainous area of Virginia that in colonial and early-American times was part of the "Backcountry." This is the true melting pot of the U.S.A., its culture and traditions dominated by "born fighting" Scotch-Irish immigrants and enhanced by German, Highland Scot, Dutch, Welsh, and yeoman English settlers. Having absorbed and inculcated the history, values and views of the Backcountry, I would like to share insights, information, and viewpoints from the place where America began. - - Jay Henderson

"My weariness amazes me . . . ." - - Bob Dylan ("Mr. Tambourine Man").

“The law often allows what honor forbids.” - - Bernard-Joseph Saurin, French lawyer, poet, and playwright.

FRONT PAGE

                             Sometimes old news is the best news 

Sunday
07Feb2010

Super Guacamole

DateSunday, February 7, 2010 at 03:28PM

The Super Bowl provides a convenient excuse to make a batch of guacamole.  As do many events in my household, I must confess. Here's my recipe:

-- 4 ripe Haas avocados (see image)

-- one lime

-- garlic salt

-- freshly-ground pepper

-- salsa verde

-- sour cream

Cut the avocados in half, remove the seeds (saving one), and scoop out the edible part into a suitable bowl.  Use a potato masher to roughly mash the avocado flesh.  Sprinkle with the juice of one lime and with garlic salt and pepper, to taste.  Add 2 Tablespoons of salsa verde and 2 Tablespoons of sour cream.  Mash well with the potato masher until ingredients are blended, then use a spoon to make sure the guacamole is thoroughly mixed.  Plop the avocado seed in the center of the mix (this is supposed to retard oxidation) and serve with corn chips.

Salsa verde is a Mexican picante sauce made from tomatillos.  I like the Herdez brand.  It gives a mild picante flavor to the guacamole.

AuthorJay Henderson | Comment1 Comment |
tagged , in ,
Saturday
06Feb2010

Backcountry History: The State of Franklin

DateSaturday, February 6, 2010 at 07:36PM

Replica of log cabin which served as the capitol of the State of Franklin. Click on image for larger view. Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/auvet/491853081/In many ways the Backcountry settlers in what is now eastern Tennessee had always been a breed apart from the North Carolinians who, technically, controlled that land in colonial and early American times.  Northeast Tennessee was settled primarily by Scotch-Irish and other like-minded migrants coming through the Valley of Virginia by way of the Great Wagon Road. North Carolina awarded bounty lands to its Revolutionary War veterans in the area of Middle Tennessee, encouraging migration by way of the Wilderness Road through Kentucky.  For many years, the settlements of East and Middle Tennessee were separate ventures.

{To continue click HERE}

AuthorJay Henderson | CommentPost a Comment |
tagged , in ,
Friday
05Feb2010

More Victorian Valentine Cards

DateFriday, February 5, 2010 at 08:46AM

Valentine's Day derives from the Feast of St. Valentine, established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I.  Why this feast day was decreed remains obscure and the identity of the specific St. Valentine thus honored is uncertain -- there are several St. Valentines recorded in the early centuries of the Catholic Church.  Neither is it certain how the Feast of St. Valentine came to be associated with cupid, romance, roses, doves, and such.  Some cite English writer Geoffrey Chaucer, who included the following lines in Parlement of Foules (1382):

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.

("For this was on St. Valentine's Day, When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.")

Click to read more ...

AuthorJay Henderson | CommentPost a Comment |
tagged in ,
Tuesday
02Feb2010

Concord Charlie

DateTuesday, February 2, 2010 at 09:33AM

Ah, Groundhog Day -- the annual event when intelligent, civilized human beings turn their fates over to eyesight of the groundhog, an overgrown rodent who brings bad weather if he sees his shadow.

Our local viviparous quadruped weather predictor is Concord Charlie, in Athens, WV.  Although Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil is the most well-known of the groundhogs, there are a number of other groundhogs, including "Buckeye Chuck" and "Spanish Joe," who make the February 2 ceremonies. 

No report yet from Concord Charlie, but it is snowing here, so maybe he won't see his shadow. 

Personally, I'm sticking with the Old Farmer's Almanac forecast.  Hard winter is yet to come.

AuthorJay Henderson | Comment3 Comments |
tagged in
Sunday
31Jan2010

Victorian Valentine's Day Cards

DateSunday, January 31, 2010 at 08:45PM

Tomorrow is the First of February, which means that Valentine's Day will soon be upon us.  Beginning in the mid-19th century, Valentine's Day cards became very popular, and many examples of Victorian-era cards still exist.  Popular themes included cherubs, angels, roses, hearts, and pretty girls.  For the most part, Victorian style Valentine's Day cards were made like postcards, with the picture on one side and space for a message on the other -- and often they were sent as postcards. Here's a few to get you started -- more to come.

Click to read more ...

AuthorJay Henderson | CommentPost a Comment |
tagged in
Saturday
30Jan2010

Report from Sleigh Ride Hill

DateSaturday, January 30, 2010 at 09:41AM

Jack Frost on horseback, 19th-century lithograph -- click on image for larger versionThe snow got started late in our part of the mountains, but once it began, it stayed and made itself t'home.  Maybe 3 to 4 inches so far and still snowing at a modest but steady rate.  The reports have deeper snow on the ground to the south and southeast of us and it looks like we'll get only about half of what we were promised, id est, around 6 or so inches total.  Darn!

The street where we live is known locally as Sleigh Ride Hill.  Nice and steep.  The snowplow has to creep up the avenue behind us and come down -- can't make the grade up the hill in icy conditions.

AuthorJay Henderson | Comment5 Comments |
tagged in , ,
Friday
29Jan2010

Whupped Out and Guzzling Coffee

DateFriday, January 29, 2010 at 09:39AM

Once again I feel like the guy in this picture looks.  Full-day of infusion on Wednesday -- five hours in The Rack -- and the usual Camptostar side effects kicked in Thursday evening.  Not wishing to be indelicate, I'll just say I was up and down all evening and all night dealing with the D-word. But things won't remain boring -- the weatherman promises upwards of a foot of snow beginning this afternoon and continuing through tomorrow, to be follow by a single-digit deepfreeze. Maybe I'll get some nice winter photos out of this.  And raking the lawn will just have to wait -- out white oak drops its leaves late and they all came down in the last blizzard and are now matted to the turf.

For now -- more coffee!!!

AuthorJay Henderson | CommentPost a Comment |
in , ,
Wednesday
27Jan2010

Great Backyard Bird Count 2010

DateWednesday, January 27, 2010 at 09:31PM

The 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is just a few weeks away. Mark your calendar for one or more days during the long bird-counting weekend starting Friday, February 12, and going through Monday, February 15. Whether you participate on one or on several days, by submitting your list of the birds you see to the GBBC, you will help scientists learn more about how birds are faring in your neighborhood.

Click the image below to visit the GBBC Web site:


The Great Backyard Bird Count is a joint venture sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society, and Bird Studies Canada. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a nonprofit membership institution interpreting and conserving the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. The National Audubon Society is dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. The newest sponsor, Bird Studies Canada,  a non-governmental charitable organization, is Canada’s national body for bird conservation and science.

AuthorJay Henderson | Comment1 Comment |
tagged , , in ,
Tuesday
26Jan2010

Windy!

DateTuesday, January 26, 2010 at 07:53AM

On the promontory where we live, it sometimes seems that the the wind blows straight in from Canada, hampered only by a few barbed-wire fences (and some of those with a strand down, to boot). The wind started up in earnest yesterday, accompanied by a spate of hail signaling the return of winter (there is more snow and cold in the forecast). Business signs were blown down on Main Street, letters were ripped from churchyard signs, and a few shingles were ripped from rooftops -- all in all, a day of mild wind. But as the locals frequently say to out-of-towners who complain about such things: "If you don't like the weather, just wait a bit, and it will get worse."

Here's how to classify the wind hereabouts:

"Breezy" -- Small trees are bent at a 15-degree angle; beer cans and fast-food wrappers are parading along the street; flags make snapping noises.

"Windy" -- Small trees are bent at a 30-degree angle; trash cans and planters are parading along the street; flags begin to tatter.

"Very windy" -- Large trees are bent at a 15-degree angle; small trees and economy cars are parading along the street; flagpoles make snapping noises.

Yesterday was merely "windy." No biggie.

Our Old Farmer's Almanac predictions: Region 3 -- Jan 23-28: Snow, then sunny, cold; Jan 29-31: Heavy rain, mild. Region 7 -- Jan 25-28: Snow then flurries, cold; Jan 29-31: Sunny, then rain, mild. Looks like that "mild" part was far too optimistic.

AuthorJay Henderson | CommentPost a Comment |
in ,
Page 1 2 3 4 5 ... 29 Next 9 Entries ยป