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#nokings: My community gathers in peace and determination with some fun

October 20, 2025

gem dogs, politics, who knows , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Seven million Americans are fed up enough with Republican political bullshit and its pedophile president that they showed up in force for the second peaceful protest. My little town of Berryville (population 4911) had an even bigger rally than the previous August iteration, with probably 2000 people peacefully gathered.

Not that we aren’t pissed. We are. Fuck ICE and fuck authoritarianism. We won’t stand for it in our own country. We are here to defend our rights. Like the right to decent public schooling FOR ALL.

But we are all disgusted with the gestapo tactics of DHS ICE. Those chicken shits hiding behind masks better keep their identities secret, because we will not forget what they are doing.

No Kings is mostly about NO to fascism. It’s not a joke. Its serious and so are we.

United we stand.

Well some of us sit I guess.

Here’s what the Rose Hill Park looked like during the protest.

A panorama from in front of the pavilion.


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JC watches moonie.

By far the most engaging and charismatic leader to speak was Justin Fairfax. Outstanding. I will support Justin an any future races he takes on.

Justin had the crowd’s full attention.

And after he spoke, I went to let him know how much we appreciate his coming out to Berryville and got a picture with Moonshine. Moonie was wearing his “No Kings, Only Good Boys” sign again.

There were lots of great signs and a very diverse crowd.

Little dudes.

Super heroes.

Winchesterites.

But by far, once again, the most popular protester was Moonshine.

Did you know that Tru.p is still surpressing release of the Epstein files? He is likely even to start a war to escape responsibility for his disgusting pedophilia. We’re taking bets: Iran or Venezuela?

One of my favorite pictures of the protest is this policeman who agreed to hold Moonshine (and pat him) while I took his picture. His presence was in no way menacing. In fact, it was reassuring. Just for the record, our county Sheriff even had some things to say during the rally. This is a community and we all feel the same way about freedom of speech and freedom of association.

There was plenty of color.

A puppy.

The TACOs were back.

As well as chickens.

Portland inspired some inflatables. The United States stands together against the ICE Gestapo.


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Faeries.

Normals.

Moms.

Babies.

More dogs.

Even mean old guitar players from the Bitter Liberals.

Maybeline made an appearance as well.

Ken Mitchell batted cleanup. We will vote for Ken again.

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No Kings. Period.

Iulie’s Flowers

November 20, 2024

gem animals, dogs, farm, flowers, hiking, river, who knows , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Iulie has grown, and so have her zinias. Last time we checked, they were about two inches tall.

The tree has grown too.

Of course we walked. Twice, in fact.

The dogs were hosed off and toweled “dry.”

Bubbie had some fun things to do.

There were fresh eggs (and lots of them). 18!

And, as always, there was the rope for swinging.

Up high.

Here they come.

Mama!

Maybe always wants in on the action.

A Sad Day for Family Forestry

March 24, 2024

gem trees , , , 1 Comment

In 2003, when we arrived at this house, there were five huge old maple trees (by old, we mean over 200 years). Two of them have been gone for a decade or more, felled by age and weather. The big mother tree is finally entering the precarious stage when massive branches rot off and fall from the sky.

In order to make sure that the new Josie Oak (well, new in a sense that it is only 25 years old) doesn’t become collateral damage, we decided to take down half of the mother tree.

JC did all of the work. Here he is roping up for a safe perch.

This is kind of a “before” shot. JC topped the parts of the tree he could get to safely, though rot prevented a complete treatment.

And down came the massive part (half the tree which is 42 inches wide at the base).

The fence was unexpectedly smashed from space (better this than the oak).

It was a relatively easy fix (including a new post driven down into the ground).

And that left us with a huge, several day cleanup job. Firewood, solstice fire wood, sticks and branches, and a massive butt log.

Its sad to have to cut out such a huge part of the yard, but trees require maintenance too.

Shenandoah River Float

September 1, 2013

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Another supremely peaceful float on the Shenandoah River. We started at home and floated for 4 hours up into WV. There were fewer birds this time for some reason (only one eagle). The weather (and the river) was still and calm.

JC in the distance.

JC in the distance.