Witnessing a wildlife spectacle just over Smokies

Published 6:19pm Sunday, February 16, 2014

The snow was still on the ground in the Smokies as we drove west on our four-hour journey over to the Chattanooga area; definitely a chilly start to our upcoming birding trip.

The four of us met in Asheville that morning bound for the wildlife spectacle along the Hiwassee River in southwestern Tennessee.

Many of the local lakes were still frozen so the largest concentration of Sandhill Cranes in the Southeastern US (outside Florida) was not in the wildlife refuge, but along the shores off the Hiwassee River. The cranes, along with thousands of ducks, were standing around on the sand bars or feeding along the semi-frozen shoreline. Hundreds also were feeding in the nearby fields among the cattle- a quite amazing sight really. Not quite the African savanna, but almost.

Small flocks of American Pipits also fed in the fields and large flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds wheeled and landed amongst the unconcerned livestock.

A new visitor center had been built down on the end of Blyth’s Ferry Road honoring the Cherokee removal along the Trail of Tears, which was a peaceful site to spend a little time before heading to the

Article source: http://www.tryondailybulletin.com/2014/02/16/witnessing-a-wildlife-spectacle-just-over-smokies/ If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

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Photo courtesy of the Asheville City Schools Foundation

The following commentary was submitted by the Asheville City Schools Foundation:

Remember when you could get a parking spot anywhere in Asheville in the dead of winter? You never had to pay for parking. Ever. Those days are long gone and paying to park has become commonplace. Most of us shrug, grumble, and pull out our wallets, watching our dollars and cents fly out the window. Now, imagine a parking lot that led you to a land full

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By Leslee Kulba-Mike Adams came before Asheville City Council to request funding for Moogfest. The presentation was a sharp contrast to what the Buncombe County Commissioners saw last week. Adams told the members of council he was “not comfortable” coming before them asking for money. His business is sound and he is capable of running it at a profit.

Had he wanted to continue the music festival, he never would have asked for public assistance, either. But what he proposed was an economic development event. At the request of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, Moogfest had been moved to April, and it will run from Wednesday through Sunday. To attract daytime visitors, the festival has been transformed from an entertainment weekend to an opportunity for career musicians and techies to network and learn.

As in the past, a host of innovators melding music and electronics will perform, and cosmologists, technicians, and artists will give presentations. Added to the mix will be film screenings, an open-source hackathon, talks by “some of the most important thinkers of today,” and an “opportunity to build, modify, and take home your unreleased Moog synthesizer.”

As planned, the event

Article source: http://www.thetribunepapers.com/2014/02/15/councils-turn-to-support-moogfest/ If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

RUGBY As she was starting a career in environmental law, Jayne Henderson struck upon what seemed a good idea for paying off some of her law-school loans: She would ask her father to build one of his highly coveted guitars that she could, in turn, sell.

Her father, Wayne Henderson, had an even better idea.

“That’s fine,” she remembers him telling her, “but you have to make it.”

So, under his guidance, she did. She wound up with an extremely well-made guitar and a personal discovery about the process.

“It turns out, I loved it more than environmental law,” she said.

Going on three years later, Henderson, 29, has moved from the law into the meticulous (and dusty) world of instrument-making — of sawing, sanding and intricately carved pearl inlays. She is making guitars and ukuleles — and a name for herself. In that regard she has a distinct advantage in that her name carries considerable clout in the music world.

“The main reason I like it is that I get to hang out with my dad, and I’ve never really gotten to do that,”

Article source: http://www.timesdispatch.com/entertainment-life/daughter-joins-famous-guitar-maker-dad/article_1514829c-6768-5390-9c20-26176698280d.html If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

After last week’s megastorm that solidified the legacy of the winter of 2013-14, one meteorologist confidently pronounced: “The back of winter is broken.”

If that, indeed, is the case, those who have been shoveling the thousands of pounds of this stuff or have spent days without heat or lights likely would agree that winter is getting precisely what it deserves.

“It’s been a long, cold winter,” said Bruce Terry, senior forecaster at the government’s National Weather Center, in College Park, Md. “If you like snow, it’s a bonanza.”

A weakish snowfall Saturday accounted for an official six-tenths of an inch, tying this winter with 1898-99 at 55.4 inches, the third snowiest in the region’s history. Through Friday, 54.8 inches of snow had been measured at Philadelphia International Airport, which made it the fifth-snowiest winter in the 130-year period of record-keeping.

Jeff Masters, meteorologist at the popular Weather Underground site, and the one who claimed that winter’s back “is broken,” suspects our weather might be related to cold water immediately off the West Coast, and may have something do with worldwide warming.

Terry was more circumspect: “I don’t think we can attribute this to anything.”

Whatever the causes,

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NIGHTLIFE

620 STATE: Bristol, 620 State St. Feb. 14, 10 p.m., Dirty Bourbon River Show. 423-652-0314.

ACOUSTIC COFFEEHOUSE: Johnson City, 415 W. Walnut St. Feb. 13, 8 p.m., The Stepping Stones; Feb. 14, 8 p.m., Duane Cliatt and Ben Gaines Music; Feb. 15, 8 p.m., A Man Called Bruce. 423-434-9872.

BEARS BAR GRILL: Bristol, 4460 Hwy. 421. Feb. 16 and 19, 8 p.m., Karaoke with Vicky Carter 423-217-0442.

BIGGIES: Kingsport, 417 Stone Dr. Feb. 14, 9 p.m., Catfish Frye Band; Feb. 15, 9 p.m., Elijah Feelgood with Damon Johnson. 423-765-9633.

BONEFIRE SMOKEHOUSE: Abingdon, 260 W. Main St. Feb. 15, 9 p.m., KT Vandyke Driftin’ Westward. 276-623-0037.

CAPONE’S: Johnson City, 227 E. Main St. Feb. 14, 8 p.m., Seasons of Me, Break the Fall and Jet Black Audio; Feb. 15, 10 p.m., Citizen Kane, Calico Theory and F-Bomb. www.caponesjohnsoncity.com or 423-928-2295.

DOWN HOME: Johnson City, 300 W. Main St. Feb. 14, 8 p.m., Underhill Rose, $14; Feb. 15, 8 p.m., Hackensaw Boys, $16; Feb. 19, 8 p.m., Jen Rock and The Crybabies, $5. www.downhome.com or 423-929-9822.

THE HANGAR GRILL: Wise, 6104 Airport Rd. Feb.

Article source: http://www.tricities.com/news/local/article_26219654-9580-11e3-bb92-0017a43b2370.html If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com