Thursday, July 16, 2009

7/16/09 Lions, Tigers, Bears, Barracudas, and Cicadas.


Alright, who ordered up this New England weather? Hmm? Someone step up and take responsibility for these cool nights and low-humidity days! I bet it was some displaced Northerner- and you know who I’m talking to! Well, I want my Central Virginia summer back. I want my own, personal sauna. I want to be able to fully appreciate things, like central air conditioning, gin & tonics, and October. None of these things matter much when you have to put on jeans in the evening just to sit on your back porch. This is Ashland, VA not Ashland, MA. Good grief.

While we might be considered a suburb of Richmond, we lean more towards the wilderness around here. Deer seem to like our vacant lots, copperheads like of yards, and at least one bear visits regularly each summer. Now I’ve heard of bobcat sightings in Beaverdam and LA (Lower Ashland- you should know that by now). So if you count the Tiger Trot coming up in September, you can say, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” (Thank you to Mr. Brown for pointing that out.)

Registration is now open for the 2009 Tiger Trot benefiting Henry Clay and John M. Gandy Elementary schools. This year the race will be held on Saturday, September 19th. The kid's races begin at 8:00am and the 5K begins at 9:00am. You can register online at https://www.raceit.com/Register/?event=506. This is a lovely race and does so much to help out our local elementary schools.

Mark your calendar for the second Street Party of the summer! Saturday, July 18th will bring local wineries for a wine tasting with music by Premiere. Tickets are $10 in advance, and $15 at the gate, and are on sale at Cross Brothers Grocery, Ace Hardware, and Hometown Realty. Gates open at 7 pm in the parking lot behind the library.

What is summer without a lemonade stand? The school-age students at Kiddie Kingdom are participating in the 8th Annual Anthem LemonAid on Friday, July 17th. The Children’s Miracle Network Richmond established this fundraiser as a way for children to get involved and to give back to the community. They will be raising money to help children with cancer. Their stand will be located on the front porch and we encourage everyone to drive through and purchase lemonade from Kiddie Kingdom! The stand will be open all day (7:00 am – 6:00 pm), and lemonade will be sold for $1.00 per cup.

Here’s my other, really important Ashland news: The cicadas have returned and can be heard chirping most afternoons and evenings until well past midnight. Sleep with your windows open for a wonderful Virginia lullaby. I would also point out that now is the perfect time to change your diet so that you can eat BLTs all day. They are perfect for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and will never taste as good as they do right now.

The Ashland Barracudas won their meet against Mechanicsville last week, but did you really expect anything other than that? The final score was 1370 to 1080, and Mechanicsville had 24 MORE swimmers registered than Ashland. The last meet is this week against Pebble Creek. I am just so impressed.

Let me know what’s going on down your street. Have you read a good book lately? How are your tomatoes doing? If you catch a June bug, tie a string around it’s leg and you can have a flying pet on a string. Then send me a picture of it. I can be reached at 310-5320, or ashlandnews@gmail.com. You can find a record of these columns at http://www.ashlandnews@blogspot.com/. Have a great week!

It's a shame we didn't get any snow this winter...

Especially since we're building this new town ski lodge.  I mean, I guess it could potentially bring in tourism dollars, if we ...