Traveling Augusta County for GOP candidates

Alleghany Mountains can be seen in the distance ... hay bales remind that winter is on its way.

Cows graze in western Augusta County.

Alleghany Mountains

Monday was extremely blustery as a cold front moved through Virginia. Look at the trees ... their leaves were quaking as limbs bent in the wind. A line of extremely heavy rain quickly passed through the area, soaking everything and bringing even more wind.

Dark sky warned of approaching rain as I left GOP yard signs in a neighborhood in western Augusta County.

The view from this house was gorgeous as I left after dropping off yard signs.

Rt. 254 west of Staunton heading toward Buffalo Gap.

Rain and wind knocked black walnuts off trees throughout the Valley. These could be seen on a back road near my home.

The best part of campaigning in the fall is being out and about on these gorgeous autumn days. Monday was no exception as I drove throughout the SWAC area delivering yard signs for our Republican candidates. It was extremely windy as a cold front moved through the area with heavy downpours but partial sun came back out afterwards and didn't dampen my enthusiasm for driving and taking photos of this beautiful valley. Falling leaves flew through the air and danced across roadways as I drove the back roads.

Today it is in the 50s at midday as autumn ushers in cooler temperatures under overcast skies. Tonight's low is expected to be in the lower 40s which means we could have upper 30s in our area.

Meanwhile, the first leaves to turn yellow and red fell to the ground over the weekend with two days of steady rain on Friday and Saturday, and then yesterday's high winds and heavy rains. Those trees stand bare as other trees begin to turn color.

All our black walnuts were knocked to the ground, and I saw others were the same as I traveled the area. Our apples have been confiscated by the critters as well as other nuts and berries. The wonder that is Fall is taking place in western Virginia.

It's autumn in the Valley....

Photos by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
September 28, 2009

Uh-oh

So it's just after midnight and I'm on the road in front of my house almost to the driveway when a coyote runs across in front of me. Zip! It dashed so fast it was a gray-brown streak ... down into my yard toward the woods in back.

Uh-oh.

Our area had gotten rid of those nasty creatures a few years back. Guess it's time to take care of them again because it is not safe to have a coyote around with pets and kids. They will gut a family pet ... they will gut a full-grown deer ... they will raid a bird feeder or outdoor pet food.

My neighbor has just the solution. Worked before ... will work again.

Bye-bye, coyotes!

Goodlatte instrumental in obtaining funds to fight coyotes in Valley

Coyotes are overpopulating in the Shenandoah Valley and Congressman Bob Goodlatte has heard the concerns of farmers and citizens and has taken action. Federal funds in the amount of $150,000 have been allocated to help rid the Valley and other Western Virginia localities of a pest that kills sheep, cattle, goats ... and even deer and domestic animals.

We had plenty of coyotes in my western Augusta area until a nearby neighbor took it upon himself to rid us of the nuisance animals two years ago. The critters had been breeding on the ridge behind the house so we checked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on ways to remove/kill coyotes.

There had been a cat killed and gutted in my backyard, and a full-grown deer was killed and gutted nearby. Coyotes will often kill their prey and then eat the internal organs, leaving the rest of the carcass. After receiving extremely helpful tips from the USDA representative, we printed up flyers and distributed them to all the neighbors with suggestions on how to protect their pets from a roaming coyote.

At my house we fenced in the immediate backyard area around the back door several years ago, partially as a desire to not open the back door and find a coyote facing us, and partly to help keep them from our garbage cans. It worked.

However, coyotes continue to be a major problem for many areas of the county. Our thanks to Congressman Goodlatte for his help in advocating funding to deal with the coyote problem.