Category: Cornhole

Stories and Pictures About Playing Cornhole

Three Days in Tidewater

Posted on by chappyshi

I went down to see my sister and my brother-in-law in Suffolk, VA, on my three day break this week.  What with my work schedule recently, I haven’t done much on my days off but try to catch up on my sleep so the trip was a nice change.  I drove down on Sunday after a few hours of sleep in the morning.  That afternoon and evening was just hanging out, lazing in the pool, and chatting.  I was good to see Kim and Don who I hadn’t seen since late February or early March.  Kim’s friends the Kent’s came over for dinner which was based on some awesome ribs that Kim did in the oven.  We even got to break in Don’s new Cornhole boards.

On Monday, my intent was to go down to Virginia Beach (VB) in the morning, have some lunch, and head back to Suffolk to kayak.  I hoped to stop in at the Beach Brewing Company to check out their establishment and taste their beer but since they were only open on the weekends that did not pan out.  I did get out on the beach for a couple of hours where I read the paper and enjoyed the scenery.  Since I haven’t had good experiences lounging and swimming at the beach with much of a drive in front of me I didn’t make it into the water.  They don’t have much in the way of changing facilities at VB and I didn’t relish the thought of making the drive back to Suffolk with a bathing suit full of sand.

I did have a tasty Starr Hill Brewery Northern Lights IPA and chicken Caesar salad for lunch at the 11th Street Taphouse Bar and Grill.  They had quite the beer selection that made me want to grab a nearby hotel room and just hang out for the rest of the day and night.  As it was, I head back west only to encounter traffic slow downs and blockages due to bridge openings and car fires.  I was able to get off the highway onto a road I recognized and planned to get on eventually so that worked out okay.

By the time I got back to back to Suffolk, I decided not to kayak and headed toward a local place called Cogan’s Pizza where they have a pretty good beer selection.  I missed my turn and ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings which wasn’t a bad thing.  There I tasted the Beach Brewery Pale Ale but was not impressed.  I did enjoy immensely the O’Connor Brewing Company Great Dismal Black IPA.  Black IPA’s are quite the rage in the craft brew community this year.  I have had at least four different ones this year and enjoyed them all.

Monday night was relaxing.  We did leftover ribs and such and watched a movie that I didn’t make it all the way through.  I was still running on a sleep deficit and despite that fact that I should  be awake nights because that is the shift I work, I still had to crash.  As it was, I woke up early and tossed and turned before finally giving up and getting up.

I did my two crossword puzzles for the day and read a bit of the paper before heading out to kayak on Bennett’s Creek which is just a short drive from Kim’s, and if you read anything I write, you will recall is one of my favorite places to paddle.  I put in at the local park and either paddle upstream until  I run out of creek or paddle down to the James River and back.  The journey was a good as ever with numerous sitings of wildlife including Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Green Herons, Belted Kingfishers, Red-winged Blackbirds, Ospreys, and one Muskrat.

Since it was Don’s day off, we got together with Kim for lunch where I finally did make it to Cogan’s Pizza and we enjoyed a tasty Supreme pizza and I had a Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, always a favorite.  We had a bad experience there earlier in the year when the service was iffy and the pizza cook seemed to be having a bad day but they were back in good form on  Tuesday.  Later in the day we caught up with friend’s of Kim and Don, one of whom is a preacher, at the movies to catch “Horrible Bosses.”  That  was an incredibly raunchy, but very funny, movie, albeit interesting to watch sitting next to a preacher.

We had a quick dinner when we got home which was about 1830.  I was tired and called it a night early.  I wanted to get up early in the morning to get on the road home w/ a stop en route to paddle.

I stopped at one of my new favorite spots on the James River, Deep Bottom Park, in Henrico County off Route 5.  Unfortunately the tide was out and I couldn’t get all the way into this large pond off of the river that I wanted to go into.  I have seen hundreds of herons and egrets in there and wanted to see if I could get some pictures.

The birds there are very skittish so I hoped to just float around and minimize the disturbance.  That was pretty much a no go since there were huge mud flats exposed due to the low tide.  I ended up paddling back past the launch and up a creek I had seen previously but not yet explored.  It wasn’t a bad paddle overall but it was hot and my boat was leaking so I wrapped it up sooner than I intended.

Thankfully, I had an easy trip home and got a few things done before I had to go to work.  I had a productive and relaxing three days and it was great to see Kim and Don.

Pictures from Vacation in Salvo, NC, on the Outer Banks

Posted on by chappyshi

It took me longer than I had wished to get all these pictures together.  The downside of digital photography is that we can take too many pictures and look at them before printing or publishing them with minimal  monetary impact.  Nonetheless, I spent the time and put together a set of pictures from our recent trip to the Outer Banks.  Many thanks to my sister who made the arrangements and paid for the place!

Check out the pictures here on my photo album or browse to my photo album from the main page of my blog and look for the Salvo vacation pictures.  The only real downer of the vacation,  other than a couple of trips  to Urgent Care centers, was the traffic.  For one four hour stretch, we averaged 19 MPH!

Greetings from the Outer Banks!

Posted on by chappyshi

Trips to “Urgent Care” not withstanding (everyone is okay), we are having a great time at the Outer Banks (Salvo, NC).  Thanks especially to Julie for getting the house.  We have nice a house with pool and hot tub and are about a five minute walk from the, very uncrowded, beach.  Of course we are BBQ’ing like crazy!

Traffic was hell getting down here.  It took Kim, Don, and I 5 hours to drive the 125 miles down here.  Julie, Ed, and Ryan had about a 9 and 1/2  hour journey from Centreville.  Dave came down Sunday.  He had the longest drive but made it in less than seven hours.  Locals say the traffic was nearly as bad as they could recall it being.

Julie and Ed took a short trek down to the beach Saturday night but the rest of us didn’t make it out until Sunday.  Unfortunately it was in the mid-90’s with a wicked wind blowing from the south.  The wind was blowing major sand so we didn’t last too long on the beach.

Sunday night we had heavy thunderstorms, the wind switched to the north and abated considerably, and the temps dropped down to the mid-80’s.  That made for much more enjoyable trips to the beach!  This morning has been much of the same.  I headed down to the beach with my coffee, watched the sun rise, and took some pictures.

Here are a few pictures from the trip so far:

Life Is Tough

Posted on by chappyshi

What a rough day!  Beautiful weather.  Reading the Washington Post on the balcony loving life.  Headed off at about 3:30 PM for a friend’s house a few blocks over for a pool/birthday/football party.  Tons of food there all designed to set my cholesterol level even higher than it needs to be before I get blood work done tomorrow morning.  My back is bothering me from an incident 10 days ago so I couldn’t get involved in the Cornhole competition which was looking quite intense.

My intention was to cut out of there after two beers which I did…with some difficulty.  I went to the Giant to get some beers to have at the house should I desire them.  On the way home, I stopped by Julie and Ed’s to check the house and found a crab and clam feast going on at the neighbor’s house.  Chris and Courtney invited me over.  Kathy Slover, who I always enjoy seeing, was there.

Chris had three bushels of live female crabs and just keep cooking away.  I had to get home at about 7:30 PM but before I left three or four more people showed up and the feast just kept going on.  I really did not want to leave but my cat needed to be fed and I needed to find some sanity.

Trip to Vermont, Early August

Posted on by chappyshi

In early August I went up to Vermont to attend the Vergennes Union High School 30-year class reunion.  I actually left there after my 10th grade year but have had the privilege of attending the 20 and 30-year reunions as a guest.  Other than the reunion, the trip was for kayaking, birding, picture taking, hiking, camping and visiting with friends.  It was well worth it!

You can read more about the trip by clicking here or browsing under my “Currant News” section.  You can view photos by clicking here or following the “My Photo Album” link on my home page.

The links in the PDF format “trip read” don’t open in new windows as I had hoped they would.  If you follow a link in the PDF document, it will take you forever to reload the PDF file.  Ergo…

All the imbedded  links are replicated below.  Please use them rather than the links in the PDF document if you wish to find out more.  I will have to come up with another presentation format but bear with me in the meantime.

Trip to Vermont for VUHS Class of 79 Reunion (Not That I Graduated There)

Posted on by chappyshi

I will be, depending on the results of a job interview I had yesterday, heading out of the DC area north toward Vermont on Thursday, 30 July.  I would like to stop in the Scranton area to kayak on the Susquehanna River and visit an old Navy buddy in Avoca or camp in the area.  Should those plans come to fruition, I hope to be up at Linda Devino’s the next day around noon.

Saturday I will go to the reunion at D.A.R. State Park, which is about a 5 minute walk from the Devino’s.  My good friend, Danny Mack, will be in the area visiting his mother…we hope to hook up sometime other than during the reunion.  My good friend, Mike Livingston, who lives in Middlebury is another person with whom I would like to hook up at a time other than the reunion, hopefully at his camp in Ripton.  I love that place.  I would be happy to hook with anyone else that might be around while I am in the area.

Otherwise,  I will be traveling about Vermont kayaking and camping for a week or so.  I hope to get back up to Brighton State Park where I spend a very enjoyable three nights last October.  I would also like to get up to Lake Carmi State Park, Grand Isle State Park, and paddle in Lake Willoughby, the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge,  and Otter Creek.

I did all of this last October (see the pictures) less hitting Lake Carmi but I did it off-season.  I might have some difficulties during the peak of the summer vacation season getting the awesome campsites I got last year in October.  I would also greatly enjoy spending a night at Ed Devino’s deer camp in Pittsfield if I can swing it.  Who is to say whether or not I will be able to fit all this in especially since I would like to get a day or two of camping and paddling in New York state either in the Adirondacks or the Finger Lakes on the way back home.

To top it all off, my brother-in-law, Ed Davidson, who is from Rutland will be there visiting his folks.  He of course wants to show me some of his world and introduce me to his folks and I want to show him Vermont from my perspective.  So much to do and so little time.

Oh, and we will be drinking some beers and playing some Cornhole!

200905 Vacation in Salvo, NC.

Posted on by chappyshi

Thanks to my sister Kim and her husband Don, I got to spend last week in Salvo, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We ate well: beef tenderloin, Caribbean Jerk chicken, bratwurst and hotdogs, Talapia with mango, habenero, and tequila sauce, Chicken Divan (an old family favorite), shrimp, and pizza.  We drank Margaritas, Pina Coladas, Mojitos, and beers, including a very good Bell’s Brewery IPA called Two Hearted Ale.

It was a pleasure to share the house with, at various times, Kim’s  ex-husband’s sons, Brian and A.J, and Brian’s wife Sarah as well  as AJ’s girlfriend Tina.  Kim’s ex-husband’s first wife,  Judy, who is a beach fanatic and the mother of Brian and AJ, joined us on Sunday and stayed the night.  That was good since she could be with her two sons for Mother’s Day.

I must say I enjoy the company of all  these people.  The relationships are very comfortable even though not blood  kin by any stretch.  I’ve known everyone for so long that the are like cousins, nieces, and nephews I never had.  I look forward to the time when my blood nephew Henry and niece Ava can hang out with us all.

The house was cool and within easy walking distance of the beach.  I must admit, that since it was early in the season, we didn’t spent too much time on the beach.  The house had a pool and a hot tub which we made good use of.  The water in the pool was a bit chilly but quite refreshing.  The ocean in contrast was much colder and rougher.  The waves and the undertow were intense.  Any time spent in the water would have involved a struggle and a swimsuit packed with sand.

We did bring the Cornhole  boards down and get some good action going.  Tina was very competitive.  She and Julie did their best to dominate the men but AJ and I were able to fairly consistently come out ahead.

I paddled twice in the Pea Island NWR.  That was okay, basically on the Pamlico Sound  side, but there were times when the water was just too shallow and I had to get out of my boot and wade to deeper water.  I had hoped to paddle twice at the Alligator NWR but worries about the weather kept me from going there for a second day.  And of course the weather was fine but by the time I saw that,  it  was too  late.

Overall, the weather was nice, and cool, enough that I slept out on the balconies for four nights!  That was good training for camping  out this holiday weekend at a friend’s  house on the Shenandoah River!

Creatures sighted include:

  • Great Blue Herons
  • Snowy Egrets
  • Great (American) Egrets
  • White Ibis
  • Red-winged Blackbirds
  • Scarlet Tanagers
  • Goldfinches
  • Ducks
  • Brown Pelicans
  • Laughing Gulls
  • Common Terns
  • Tri-colored Herons
  • Plover, Willets, etc?
  • Alligators

I am terrible at identifying shore birds so I can’t be too specific on many of the birds I saw.
Here is an alligator I spotted on Sawyer Lake in the Alligator River NWR.
Alligator from Sawyer Lake

There were hundreds of these butterfly’s feeding on these plants as I drove on the wildlife routes in the Alligator River NWR.

Monarch Butterflies?

Here I am at the end of Sawyer Lake starting my return trip…before I saw the alligator.

Sawyer Lake Water Trail

These are the remnants of a shipwreck on the beach right near our rental home.

One of the Many Shipwreck on the Outer Banks

These are White Ibis’s…many of which I saw in two paddles in the Pea Island NWR.

What I Think Is a Whte Ibis

Pictures from Memorial Day, 2008, Camping at Val and Lawrences on the Shenandoah River

Posted on by chappyshi

I messed up the aspect ratio on a batch resize of these photos.  Everything seems to be a bit wider than it should be.  I am too lazy right now to fix them…

Pictures from Memorial Day, 2008, Camping at Val and Lawrences on the Shenandoah River

Lucian’s Landing, Memorial Day, 2008

Posted on by chappyshi

I am going to say that this past holiday camping weekend at Val and Lawrence’s, Lucian’s Landing, was in the top five car camping experiences I have ever had. It is great that we are camping on the Shenandoah River. We swim and paddle in it. We kayaked. I sunburnt the crap out of a leg or so…see the last picture. The weather was perfect. No rain, no humidity, not too much sun, and not too much heat.

I heard that there were between 70 and 80 tents up there! I am glad I had a relatively secluded spot. I spent three beautiful nights in my tent up there and would not take it back for anything. No planes, no trains, and no automobiles…
Cornhole practice.

Looking across the Cornhole field. I at least recognize Dan Elbon and Julie Davidson.

I haven’t see clearer weather than this in Virginia for years.
Crystal Clear Skies. No Humidity. No Rain. 80 for high at the most. Low 50's for sleeping.

Dan Elbon. He is wearing a t-shirt from one of last year’s tournament. I am not sure if it was from the Memorial or the Labor Day tournament.

Dano Wearing the Lucian's Landing T-shirt.

Scott’s kayak, car, and drying rack.

Scott's Kayak, Car, and Drying Rack.

Scott’s campsite. Device to the left of my tent is the high water marker… Actually it is a Cornhole scoreboard with a two beer holder built into it. Perfect!

Scott's Campsite. Device to the Left of My Tent Is the High Water Marker

Seven of us got two drivers to take us up river about six or eight miles. We put in there and floated/paddled back down to Val and Lawrence’s. It took about 2.5 hours. The water was much higher than it was last Memorial Day when Buzz and I ran it.

Here are Doogie and his sister Catherine on the way down the river with us.

Here are Doogie and his sister Catherine.

What happens when I don’t put sunscreen on my legs before going kayaking. I am lucky that leg did not wind up in the box with the pig that Lloyd was roasting for the group dinner.

Snow, Ice and the Canadian Immigration Rectal Device

Posted on by chappyshi

I worked with a Marine in Korea whose name was Bruce Bechtel. We called him “Rectal Bechtel.”

Anyhow… I used to work for a company that whose parent company was Canadian. I occasionally traveled to Canada for work or for a “site visit.” I now work for a U.S. company which has a facility in Canada. I occasionally travel there for work or for a “site visit.”

In 1997, long before 9/11, I used my passport to go back and for to Canada…the license and birth certificate were too cumbersome. Who really wants to carry their birth certificate around with them? Mine is old and perishable. Hopefully yours will get that way too.

I can’t remember exactly what the immigration officials asked me when I crossed the border but it was more likely to have been the basic “Where are you going/staying, where are you from, and what is the purpose of your travel. Welcome to my country.”

Now it is more likely to be..”Where you from, where are you staying, who are you visiting, what is the purpose of your travel…are you taking a job from an able-bodied Canadian? Do you know I could arrest you for trying to enter my country and provide IT support for a manufacturing facility that is owned by the company you work for? What? You got an immigration lawyer involved? Do you know that immigration lawyers are a dime a dozen? I really don’t care. I am the bottom line here. If you come back without the proper documentation that I mandated you provide, I will shoot you and then, if you are still alive, I’ll arrest you and ban you from Canada for a year. Two days in a row this week I tried to cross the border to fill in for our guy in TO and I got rejected. Not only was it cold but it was cold!

Today, four days and 1050 miles later, I finally am in Toronto. I don’t feel quite so bad since I ran in to our facilities manager up in the hotel here. He showed up at Dulles airport yesterday morning shortly after 0600 and finally made it up here at 1630 today.

I have never had issues flying into Canada that I have had when driving in. Once, in 2003 or so when crossing on vacation at Jackman, Maine, I got stripped searched and had my bags and car totally violated. That would be the bags I packed my clothing in…not my…bags. They told me they had detected marijuana and cocaine on my steering wheel and door handle and suggested it would be best if I confessed.

I had bloody nothing to confess. They threatened to bring down drug sniffing dogs from Quebec City which would have taken at least three hours. That meant nothing to me. I told them to go ahead and do it. Finally after more than two hours of searching, interrogating, and humiliating, they said I could go.

Last year when I drove in for work, I was told I needed a “letter of introduction.” Excuse me while I introduce myself… We worked it out so that I could drive in and get the “letter of introduction” faxed to Canadian Immigration the next day. That was the last I ever heard of it.

So I figured I was good to go for this year. I got an updated letter of introduction, went up to see my dying grandmother in Jersey and then to Vermont to ski for a couple of days before I drove up to Toronto. As noted earlier, I was rejected and had to drive 475 miles back home to Virginia.

As fate would have it, my cell phone died, probably due to use in sub-zero temperatures, not long after I headed south to VA. Upon my arrival home, I found that the paper work I needed to enter Canada had come in about 1.5 hours after I had headed south. I was not aware of this until I got my phone on the charger at 2200 when I got back to my apartment Thursday night.

I headed off to work on Friday and called my boss to see what he suggested. Since the paperwork came through for my work permit, he asked me to plan to be up at the office in Toronto Monday, the 7th. I mentioned that my “check engine” light came on about 750 miles ago and that I would like to get that checked out prior to driving back up. He suggested I cut out at about Noon to get that taken care of but since we had a tester that never came back up after the extended holiday, I stuck around to spend as much time on that with Craig as I could.

The whole process of getting across the border from America to Canada to work for a facility that is owned by the company that pays my salary is totally bizarre. I hit the border today with all the documentation that I thought I needed. I met the preliminary filter, the guy in the booth, to whom I told the whole story of trying to cross elsewhere and getting rejected because I did not have the required documentation. He was cool about it and bounced me to the indoor office as he should have. But before you can get to the “indoor office,” you have to be cleared by someone who looks in your car in the parking area.

She asked me what the deal was with all the stuff in my car. I had skis, bags of clothing, a cooler,etc. I explained to her that I expected to be in Canada for a few weeks and had skied in Vermont on the way up and hoped to ski while in Canada and again on the way home. If I have to be on the road, I will take advantage of it. Homegirl asked me what I had in the cooler so I told her I had a bit of food and some Bud’s. She asked “Buds as in beers?” to which I replied no, “they’re a few parts of pals of mine that I like to keep close to.” Necro what I mean?

I did finally make it across. Ironically, I entered at Buffalo on the “Peace Bridge.” They should call that the “Piece Bridge” because someone is going to get a “piece of your ass” when you cross it. They say a “Mountie always gets his man.” I think what they mean is Canadian law enforcement is always going to “mount me like I am their freaking whore….se”