Wintergreen Mountain – Nelson County, Virginia
Milder air has been working in over Central Virginia for the first half of the weekend. NCL Mag Weatherwatcher, John Taylor, sent the photo above to us Saturday morning. It shows the abundant clouds down in the valley as seen from Wintergreen Mountain. (Yes, we know there is no such place as Wintergreen Mountain, but it’s used to easily identify that area from the actual Wintergreen Community down in the valley.) Ok. So much for geography lesson.
John perfectly captures what’s happening in the weather for the weekend. Most folks started sunny, especially on the mountains, but clouds will be working in during the afternoon. If you look closely in his photo, off in the distant sky you see some high thin clouds in advance of our next weather maker. They will be thickening over the afternoon.
Another scenario that setup Saturday morning was a temperature inversion. On the mountains they were already headed toward 60° around 8:30 AM.
John's picture above perfectly illustrates a warmer 56° on the mountain while valley temps were running in the mid 30's early Saturday.
Nearing the noon hour mountain temps were already getting close to 60° and I think if the sun holds in there long enough before the clouds move in, they will make it! Incidentally, we also know about our TWNF station offline over at Wintergreen Nature Foundation. There is a com port problem on their computer and we are working to correct it by the New Year. You can check out the other gauge up there courtesy of WDBJ Roanoke by clicking here.
By tonight clouds are pretty much settled in, winds increase and become gusty overnight, especially on the mountains, and will continue into most of Sunday with scattered showers throughout the day. It will continue warm with valley readings in the low and mid 60’s.
Mild temps hang in until midweek next week when we return to more seasonal normals. Chances for a rain / snow mix are possible by next Friday.
Don’t want to read the weather? Listen to our audiocast on right under the radar and our NCL Weathernet station.
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And visit Tommy’s Weather here for the detail weather summary for Nelson County.
As we have been telling you for months, the planned roll out of BPL in additional areas of Nelson County served by the Martins Store Substation have been derailed for one reason or another. IBEC, the Alabama company installing the BPL network on CVEC’s power lines in the county only recently began regularly updating customers on the progress of the delays.
On Christmas Eve, they sent out the latest update customers, many who already prepaid for their BPL modems back in the summer of 2008:
From: “IBEC Customer Service”
Date: December 24, 2008 11:43:20 AM EST
To: “info”
Subject: IBEC BPL Deployment Update – December 24, 2008
BPL Installation Update- – December 24, 2008
As you know, Verizon has agreed to connect the T-1 data lines to the head end of the BPL system at the Martins Store substation. Verizon has also agreed to connect two other injection points further out on the electric circuits, one in the north Rockfish Valley to serve enrolled subscribers in that area of the BPL system and one injection point east of Route 29 to serve enrolled subscribers along and east of the Route 29 corridor.
While the two remote injection points have an active service order (on track for installation) with no additional work required), Verizon required IBEC to perform testing at the Martins Store Substation site and submit those test results to Verizon for their review, prior to releasing the T-1 lines. Note: The lines are in place, are active and awaiting Verizon’s authorization to put them into service.
IBEC retained the services of a contract engineer to test the soil resistivity and other measurements. This data is being used by Verizon determine if their equipment might be at risk from the electric grounding system. This engineer traveled from North Carolina on December 18, conducted testing and submitted the results to IBEC, who in turn, provided the results to Verizon on the same day.
Verizon asked for clarification on Friday, December 19 regarding the data. IBEC provided updated information on Tuesday, December 23 to the Inductive Coordination & Electrical Protection Engineer for Verizon. The Verizon Engineer will use the test data to determine an ideal location around the substation to install an isolation device between the BPL system and the Verizon telecommunications system. We have requested that they act quickly to complete this final step and IBEC will keep you informed of this process through to completion.
Once Verizon has released the lines, IBEC will bring up the backbone system along the main power lines and begin contacting enrolled subscribers. At that time, an IBEC technician will call you, instruct you to connect your BPL modem and he or she will ensure that you are able to surf the Internet and that your connection is optimized.
A Note on Pre-paid Modems: IBEC understands that you pre-paid for your modem and that the delay in installation has caused concern for some. Please know that we regret the delay and had no indication of a potential delay when we ordered T-1 service in June of this year. In addition, IBEC has not experienced delays in T-1 installations to the substations at other BPL projects.
As to the reason for the modem pre-payment: IBEC is making a multi-million dollar investment in the BPL infrastructure to deliver broadband to rural areas, and it is doing so without requiring subscribers to make a two year commitment, authorize a credit check or pay an installation fee during the initial period. IBEC chose to offer a month-to-month broadband service and requested a modem pre-payment as a minimum level of commitment for new BPL subscribers. While the modem prepayment is refundable, we hope that you will bear with us as we work through the obstacles that we have encountered. IBEC will continue to work diligently toward the completion of this BPL project and thanks you for your patience and support. Please look for an update next week and call us at 888-423-2275 if we can be of service in the interim.
Thank you for your patience,
IBEC Customer Service
The one bit of interesting information parsed from this latest notice was this statement: “Note: The lines are in place, are active and awaiting Verizon’s authorization to put them into service.”
If that’s the case, that means the lines are in place, have the internet backbone hooked to them, and if Verizon and IBEC can get their engineering snafus resolved we should have BPL.
IBEC was slow to respond to customer requests for information about the status of BPL in Nelson, but have lately done well about keeping customers in the loop. It appears things are headed in the right direction.
And when it is activated, we will be as generous to IBEC in covering the victories of BPL has we have been in covering the delays.
Meanwhile, Verizon Inc’s PR person, Mr. Harry Mitchell, for Virginia is no where to be found and has not updated NCL on their side of what’s happening since October 23rd, 2008.
Schuyler – Nelson County, Virginia Earl Hamner first wrote this story for our printed edition of Nelson County Life in December 2006. Earl is a treasure for this county, and though many younger generations don’t even know of The Waltons television series based on his life growing up in Schuyler, his stories are timeless for any age. The Christmas favorite, The Homecoming, eventually evolved into a series that lasted more than a decade on CBS television and now in reruns on The Hallmark Channel.
Actors reenact The Homecoming at The Earl Hamner Theater in Afton, Virginia named after the Nelson County native.Earl Hamner and sister Audrey, chat with fans at a book signing in The Walton's Mountain B & B during his last trip to Schuyler in 2007.
At this special time of year, we felt it appropriate to share this story once again for our web readers.
Earl is a special and dear friend to us, and to thousands of other people around the world. He has enriched their lives for decades with his stories.
Merry Christmas Earl, and Merry Christmas to everyone from Nelson County Life!
A CHRISTMAS MEMORY
By
Earl Hamner
When I was growing up in Nelson County during The Great Depression all the seasons seems filled with a sense of wonder. I remember the dogwood spring, the watermelon summer, the russet and golden leaves of autumn and frosty mornings that marked the waning year.
With the coming of fall the pace of our lives quickened. The cry of the blue jay and the crow became more strident, a warning that winter was about to descent upon us. The world became alive with intense color as the leaves turned watermelon red, lemon yellow and pumpkin gold.
After the frost killed the vines in the vegetable garden we gathed the last of the green tomatoes and the following day my mother’s kitchen would be filled with the pungent aroma of green tomato relish.
Finally the long silent winter would flow down from the mountains, across the sleeping fields, the frozen lakes and ponds and into the woods and hollows where only the deer and the beaver, the squirrel and the rabbit were at large.
The first hint of Christmas came with the arrival of the mail order catalogue from Sears and Roebuck. We called it the “the wish book” and while the great winter storms raged across the Blue Ridge, we would gaze wistfully at each page and dream our Christmas dreams.
Charlottesville was twenty-four miles away, and a walk down Main Street during the Christmas season was as awesome as a journey through the ancient Baghdad. Unlike the muddy country roads we knew the city had paved streets with stop lights and streetcars and fancy window displays. We were foreign to all that sophistication and we showed it in our country clothes and country ways. We had little money to spend, but we did a lot of window-shopping while music provided by the Salvation Army at street corners playing a tinny version of “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear.”
We had pickled out our Christmas tree in July. We found it while picking blackberries up on Witt’s Hill. It was a six-foot tall cedar laden with pine cones and a pungent evergreen scent. A week before Christmas we brought it inside and set it up in a corner of the living room. We strung lights on it and its fragrant presence permeated the house. It was as if we had captured some wild thing in the woods, brought it home and tamed it with tinsel and home made icicles.
Ideally there was a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. If the flakes were small my Grandfather would predict the storm would continue for days. Sometimes it would diminish gradually at dusk, the moon would rise, and we from our window we would witness a frozen cathedral of trees with crystal icicles clinging to the branches.
On Christmas Eve, bundled against the cold, we crunched our way down the snow-covered path to the Baptist Church. The steepled, white clapboard building beckoned with the warmth of a pot-bellied stove and the sounds of country voices celebrating the birth of Jesus.
The highlight of the evening was The Christmas Pageant. Mothers has worked for weeks to improvise costumes for shepherds, wise men and the Holy Family, Others had rehearsed the actors who would portray Mary and Joseph. A manger had been set up and a doll, the symbol of the Baby Jesus rested in the crèche. Our Minister read the story with such power and drama that it was as if it were taking place right before our eyes:
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night”
As as he read, three shepherds approached and with the wise men gathered together to admire the Baby Jesus. All the while the choir hummed “Silent Night, Holy Night.” We were transported to Bethlehem. No more stirring drama was ever witnessed on the Great White Way itself.
When the service was over Santa Claus arrived.
We knew he was really Mr. Willie Simpson who sang so loud in the choir. We recognized his voice from his ho-ho-ho’s. From a burlap sack he distributed a single orange to each of the children.
We walked home through a frozen landscape, the sounds of our footsteps muted in the snow, the melodies of the old time carols still resounding in our ears. The crystals of snow sifted down through the crusted overhead branches. In our hearts the spirit of Christmas had awakened. We did not feel the cold. We held oranges in our hands.
Afton – Nelson County, Virginia
Santa has been making the rounds lately here in Nelson just days before Christmas! This past weekend he stopped at MountainSide Petting Farm in Afton, Virginia to visit with children and get his picture taken with the kids dropping in. Professional photographer, Ben Hernandez, was on hand (Yes, the same one that recently began shooting for NCL on occasion – check out his work in the upcoming Jan 2009 issue of NCL!) taking shots so mom and dad have proof, there is a Santa!!
Photo By Benjamin Hernandez : Two youngsters pose with Santa this past weekend at MountainSide Petting Farm.In addition to meeting Santa, youngsters got the chance to pet the animals and roast smores over and open fire!Barbara Funke, owner of MountainSide, says you're never too old to sit on Santa's lap!Okay, we were told there were two turkeys at the farm named Tommy & Yvette. We have arrived! Looks just like us!The antlers are a nice touch!
Beech Grove – Wintergreen – Nelson County, Virginia
With temperatures in the teens Sunday night in the valley and near 0° on the mountain at Wintergreen Resort, it’s no surprise the fountain above at Devils Backbone Brewery was doing all it could to stay thawed Monday afternoon. Looks like it was barely hanging on!
Afternoon temps slightly cracked the freezing mark in the Rockfish Valley for about 30 minutes, and made it to only 19° briefly on the mountains before diving back to the mid teens.
Monday night will be another very cold night with single digit readings in the valley and on the mountains. Temps moderate a bit on Tuesday before a chance for freezing rain moves into the forecast after midnight Tuesday. MIlder temps are on the way later in the week.
Photos By Nelson County Pantry : Santa chats with one of the kids that came by this past weekend.
Lovingston – Nelson County, Virginia
In the true spirit of Christmas, children got the chance to visit with Santa this past Saturday morning at The Nelson Food Pantry while folks who needed food this Christmas season were given a complete meal for this season. This year’s economy has been very tough on many families across Nelson and the need is greater now than ever.
Thanks to Olivia Ellis for sending a few pics our way!
Nelson Food Pantry Director, Dick Nees, even got the chance to visit with Santa!A youngster gets one of the many holiday meal sack provided by the Nelson Food Pantry.
The Nelson Food Pantry is located on the parking lot of St. Mary Catholic Church in Lovingston, Virginia.
