Paint Bank, VA News and Updates

Amerchina or Chinamerica

2011-11-11T17:14:00.005-05:00

Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, my year of silence has been broken by a discovery just made. It's Veterans Day and to thank our vets, we got some American flag ribbon pins that say thank you. Now that's nice enough and Lord knows we need to do more to show our appreciation. SO I'm looking the pin over and in closer observation of the pin, I noticed writing on the back. Since it was small print and my arms aren't long enough to focus, I grabbed my trusty magnifier to read what was written. Well Lawdy Miss Claudy...there it was stamped on the back ...IN ENGLISH...Made in China. @#%*%@. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for free enterprise and everything that's for the good a mankind and all that stuff, but give me a sign Tom Dooley...ain't there and American Company that can make American Flag lapel pins? Does the President and Congress and the Senate members pins that are worn so proudly on their lapels read Made in China on the back? Am I the only one that gets @%*%^@ off about this?
That's all I'm going to say about that but if you want to walk across the street to The Depot Lodge and tell me what you think, then go for it. You'll know me...I'm the little ole lady with the handmade in Paint Bank flag pinned to her shirt and the CD of Springsteen blarring out across these Purple Mountain's Majesty "Born in the USA"...hey MAO...whatcha gonna do about it!!!

I'm going to the dogs and don't give a bark!

2010-09-10T09:18:00.011-04:00

I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say that everybody loves their dog...buuut...I absolutely adore my Jack Russell Aggie and I don't care who knows it. This dog is extraordinary...even though she is a food slut. No matter how groady, smelly, putrid or gross it is, if it ain't nailed down she'll swallow it. So true to form Aggie consumed; god knows what; and just returned from the Doggy Hospital having survived a severe case of garbage gut. Now this is no laughing matter, not when it's a midnight emergency trip down "hell ride holler" with a dog that is projecting from both ends the most unrecognizable fowl-smelling stuff known to earth. Now that you've got the jest of my Labor Day adventure and I have ruined the thought of food to you for one year, I want to tell you that that was just the beginning. That night, they ex-rayed to make sure she hadn't swallowed a jack-hammer, hooked my little baby up to I. V.'s and locked her in a cage, and sent her mommy and daddy home without her. We left her in the place (a very nice Veterinary Hospital mind you) not alone, but as Aggie later screamed at me...with every damned cat in the state staring, meowing and taunting her. What I explained to her is that , after a considerable expenditure, we did pick her up just 3 days later in much better shape than when she was admitted. Nothing, mind you, I mean NOTHING will console that dog. That precious little love of my life has turned into a sulking, moping, vindictive bitch dog, devoid of any of the love she had shown me for two prior years and with a sense of cunning far better developed than when she just held her ball between her paws while lying on her back. But I stood the higher ground and pledged my love once again to her and proceeded to dispense the 2 small tablets that she must take twice a day. I cooked the boneless chicken breast, chopped finely and mixed with jasmine rice so the "little lovely" could eat small meals that would correct her internal problems. I pulled out the two tiny little bitty easily swallowed pills and held her sweet little face in my hand and started to pop them gently in her mouth when a vibration from the bowls of the earth ran up her body and this precious mouth started snapping at the speed of light with a Tasmanian devil exorcist sound shrewing out between each snap of those vampire teeth. "Sweet Mother of Pearl", my little angel, what had transposed her into this "Hound of the Baskervilles". Nonetheless, I HAD to get those pills down her! Plan A...
stick the little biddy pills right in the middle of the gourmet chicken meal, she hadn't eaten for 4 days and is starving, she'd never detect it. Sure enough, she dove into that food like it was pure
dog ambrosia...licked the bottom out and then with no hesitation, flipped the pills out the side of her mouth. Well, I'm mildly amused but desperately needing to crash and get this pill thing done. Plan B.. I try the disguise thing again, only this time in a tiny piece of bread coated with peanut butter. It would work...it was her favorite...she would suck that down. Think again oh wise human being....outsmarted once more by this precious thing who by now had a curious smile on her little face with a look of knowing she had won this battle. Well maybe so, my lovely,
but if I weren't so tired it would be "on sucka". To bed for a chance to rest this old body and a night of plotting and reassuring myself that I AM the higher species. Plan C emerges around 4:30AM. I was approaching it just a little backwards. It is all about body language and how you
execute the plan. So I would go about my pre-Aggie-illness normal morning routine, the one we were in when she was not jaded and was trusting. So I warmed it, bowled it, cooked mine and got my coffee and sat down at the kitchen table and commenced to eat while she watched. Acting (with my body language) very unassuming as she started begging for MY breakfast.... I casually leaned over with the pill-stuffed morsel and popped it in her little mouth which she immediately swallowed whole. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!!!! I had won! What a plan! Who's your Mama now? I had won...what had I won? What had I accomplished? What a freakin' piece of nano poop I am. Taking advantage of that little precious thing who by now had realized what she had swallowed and was desperately trying to bring it back up but couldn't. And those eyes...the sad eyes of an angel who had come to know her mommy for what she really is. A conniving ole biddy who had lied, once again, to the light of the world. And in the end... SHE had really won. She had managed to make me regret everything I had done and every word I had said and bad thought I had thought about her. She was victorious for my guilt as the higher species will plague me for weeks to come while every day she enjoys half my breakfast...half my coffee(which she loves) and anything else her little heart desires. and I will do whatever penance she chooses.
So come on over the mountain to Paint Bank to The Swinging Bridge Restaurant have a good guilt free meal and then walk across the street to The Depot Lodge to say Hey...I'll say Hey back at 'cha. You'll know me...I'm the tear-stained little woman with the shock collar around my neck, walking back and forth on the front porch with a hand held sign that reads..."DOGS RULE...MOMMY'S A FOOL" on the front and on the back it reads....
"HOW TO MAST WEALTH THRU INHERITANCE AND TAIL WAGGING"...GO TO
http://www.aggiesway .com

Java Jumble hope you crumble

2010-07-03T10:47:00.007-04:00

At my age it doesn't take much to make me happy. I use to be high maintenence but now just the fact that I'm still breathing when I wake up in the morning is a plus. But there's one thing that I require and will always require and that's my morning coffee...Java juice, elixer of life, nectar of the Gods, Go jo, you get the picture. Unlike me, my old coffee pot died and so I bought another simple drip machine...you know, the one with the two names and preceeded to fill it with the good smelling brown miracle dust and water. Cut that sucker on and stood there let the extasy surround me when that aroma fills my head with all things on earth that are good. Put a little sugaa and cream in my same cup that I've been drinking out of for 17 years and proceeded to pour that black liquid gold via that every morning route straight into my cup. Well OMG, no sooner than I had started pouring, it started dribbling all over the counter top and running down on my bare feet. What the What!! Upon opening my eyes and glancing down at the pot, I noticed a strange thing...a squared off spout. Sweet Mother of Pearl. What kind of stupid, life robbing piece of no good nanew dirt would invent a square spout. What was he thinking(a woman would never do that). Didn't somebody say to him "John, brew up some of that good java you make and let's toast your new design, and when they poured the feakin coffee they'd have seen the BIG DESIGN FLAW running all over that burled maple board table and someone would have fired John's butt and his wife would have divorced him and his kids disowned him and he'd be homeless and he' would have gotten what he deserved. But NOOOO, nobody tested it...they just manufactured it, boxed it, shipped it to a store near you and thousands of people bought the sucker(I know I'm not the only one). What's more, I know there's a bunch of you with coffee stained toes, too that are just dying to take a whack at this bozo . So tell you what, come to The Swinging Bridge Restaurant...have a cup of coffee from a regular , correct-pouring coffee pot and discuss the fact that it must be another terrorist plot to slowly torture Americans and get our proverbial goat. And while you're there, walk across the street to The Depot Lodge and say hey...I'll say Hey back at cha. You'll know me... I'm the little ole woman with brown toes, an Uzi strapped to her back and a shirt on that reads "Revenge is the perfect way to start the morning"!

I snow not what I do

2010-01-30T10:12:00.007-05:00

I'm not going to complain about the snow...I'm better than that but I will just make one simple statement...it's sucks...I'm done with it. So to save my sanity, I've decided to move on to the Spring Thing. The visions are much more calming and bring a sense of hope to the cockles of my frozen heart. What the hey are cockles anyway???You know what didn't make sense 200 years ago, still doesn't. But you get where I'm coming from. Anywho...thinking about Spring (it arrives in 49 days)
I'm anticipating what we're gonna do in Paint Bank. First of all...we got a Bar-B-Q
house opening with the neatest smoker you've ever seen. Lots of mouth watering things are gonna be added like bar-b-q beef and buffalo briskets...pulled pork bar-b-q and barbecued ribs and chickens. Wipe the drool of you lips and envision all the produce coming from our own garden...fresh maters and taters..green beans,corn and squash....all sorts of goodies...grown and prepared right 'chere.
Next envision a warm sunny day in the back yard of "The Bridge", with all the yard games to play and picnicking by the creek and the ole timey artisans making their crafts and Bluegrass music wafting through the air. My lord..It don't git no better than that. It's just around the corner so till we get there...come set by our great big fireplace and have a cup of homemade hot chocolate of homemade mulled cider and dream along with us. While you're in PAint Bank...walk across the street to the lodge and say hey...I'll say hey back at ya. You'll know me, I'm the little ole lady in polka-dot bikini and goose bumps the size of golf balls. The doctor says they're gonna have to be surgically removed...wonder if insurance will cover that?

CHEW ON THIS..Oh Snap!

2010-01-22T08:41:00.004-05:00

If I owned a chewing gum company, I would have NEVER fallen into the lousy marketing pit that today's "gummers" have done. Let's talk about it...there's too many brands in the first place, and what the hey is up with those flat packs. Guess they think we're so stupid that we couldn't tell the difference...folks, there's the same amount of gum in the old packs as there is in the flat skinny more expensive packs. It wasn't too many years ago...I mean in this decade...that you could get a 25 cent pack of Beechnut, Blackjack, Big Red, Juicy fruit, Clove and a few others. All you had to do was zip the top off and pull out a piece. Now, you have to have a schematic and a pair of needle nose pliers to get a piece out. I want a non-complicated recognizable pack of gum that has my favorite familiar taste that takes me back to my kinder gentler world...that will give me a taste the lasts and a gum that will snap loud enough to be heard in church. It's not even real gum anymore...another gold star for the chemical companies. It's some Frankenstein crap that probably has hallucinogenics and other addictive stuff in it to make us buy more instead of relying on just real good stuff.
Now, I'm going to segway into a commercial...but it's from the heart, so it's not really a commercial. We, the family at Paint Bank, are committed to take everything we can back to basics. We are already growing and butchering locally our own Buffalo and Beef...no recalls here folks. Last year we began purchasing our produce from this valley and this year we're doing the same plus growing a lot of our own. It's a great situation and Oh mama...the taste is the best. Look for greater and grander things this year cause Paint Bank knows what you like and we love you... smooch smooch kiss hug and stuff.
Walk across the street from the general store and say "Hey"...I'll say Hey back at 'cha..you'll know me, I'm the one with the double bubble bubble popped on her face and hair. Hey if you're gonna do it...do it right.
about REAL

A Sandra Day Day at Paint Bank

2009-09-24T16:22:00.010-04:00

If you ever doubted that Paint Bank is the epicenter of all that's glorious and skirts the light fantastic with such gusto that even the media can't keep up with it...then you're in for a rude awakening. Just Friday last, "The Supreme People"rolled into Paint Bank....I mean really SUPREME...the first woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor,(of course you knew that) and close friends, graced us with her presence. The "Lady Day" was absolutely charming and everything you'd expect her to be and more. She toured with the accompanimentof our "BossMam, who is obviously connected in high places, and didn't miss a square inch of the retail, Mill, Farm and Restaurant...even walked across the swinging bridge. Her lunch pick of our newly introduced "Great White Buffalo" sandwich and hand cut deep-fried onion strings was a befitting choice of "The Supreme" for America's original red meat our great Tatonka (word for Buffalo in Native American). After a nice visit with patrons and employees, she made time to have a picture taken with a young female admirer which I'm sure made it's way around her classroom. What a nice day in Paint Bank (pun intended) Here's to you Ms.O'Connor for proving our belief that great people are put in high places for good reason. Court's adjourned!

Ride "Boss Potts" Contest

2009-08-23T13:23:00.004-04:00

If you're "Cool" or just kool...and you've put on your "screamin' mimmie" hat and taken the plunge across Potts Mountain then you are a candidate for immortilization and lot's of great prizes. I started riding a motocycle in my Golden years...Autumn of my life...freakin' over 60 Aarp time of my life.....WHAT A RUSH!!! My initiation for the first ride I ever made...ever sat a sissy seat, was on Boss Potts, at 60 miles an hour now less. It took me 2 days 3 hours and 42 minutes to come back down to earth. That's right...I'm bad...and I know...you probably do it all the time coming to the Swinging Bridge to eat, but you can't tell me that it doesn't take you up two octives when you finally come down off that last turn to the valley at Paint Bank. Well, I feel like you need a metal, certification of complition, a trophy...or how about being FAMOUS.

All you have to do is put a name on the ride and you will become immortalized on the back of our "I survived Highway #311" tee-shirt. The ride will be immortalized in a patch...the tee-shirt and an annual ride week. .. plus you'll get great prizes. If you drove it...you can name it. Name it whatever you desire...."The Zipper"...or maybe"Rattle snake Run"....come up with your own. Your can send your name in on our e-mail...or fill out an entry form at Paint Bank...GOOD LUCK!...Drawing will be OCTOBER FIRST.

Whats Old is New Again

2009-03-11T09:42:00.003-04:00

Now I know I'm not gonna make any friends with this statement....but don't you think it 's about time we had a slow-down, recession, downturn...2 step-back lookie-loo to evaluate just exactly what we're doing. Do you really need all that you have or do you just WANT it. My Daddy(God rest his soul) never had less than 3/4's of a tank of gas. I mean, when the sucker dropped below 3/4 on the gas gauge...it was on...frantic searching from our house to wherever we were scheduled to go for a gas station(of course one that had clean rest rooms...a thing of the past I might add) I mean he panicked...got
breathless...a flop-sweat, dry-mouth hysteria that wasn't pleasant to be around, as a matter of fact, that may be the crutch of all my emotional problems...Whatever, I deal with it, because it was all due to the great DEPRESSION you know. As a matter of fact, my daddy would just smile and
say that this "whatever" wouldn't compare to the "real one". Now don't get me wrong....there's a lot of people hurting and being affected...but we're smarter now...given information in leaps and bounds that allows us to make our own evaluations. You're one of those folks...right...you don't let Mr or Ms newscaster , newspaper person, talk show host, movie star or any high profile person determine what you think, do you? You gather information from normal folks, who live and love life, family and country. You're more educated, tech-minded,more attuned to green earth....and after all...I mean
AFTER ALL, you're an AMERICAN and this is the greatest country on earth. Man, let me wipe my eyes and shut up and invite you to our little part of the country in Paint Bank, Virginia...the EPICENTER of family, friends, fun and Mom's Apple Pie....which by the way you can get a piece of at The Swinging Bridge Restaurant. After you eat, walk across the street to The Depot Lodge and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at you...you'll know me, I'm the one with the red white and blue argyle socks and penny loafers on...don't laugh, it's a look I'm hoping will catch on again....you know what's old is new again...

9 days till Spring(Vern's coming)

Whole Lotta Lovin'

2009-02-01T13:30:00.002-05:00

I find myself, this time of year, near the pits of weather depression, even though I know that Spring(Vern's welcome visit) is not too far off. Everything that seemed charming in December has turned ugly...and the sight of a snow flake wafting in the breeze makes me want to pluck my eyes out. Is it just me?...am I the only winter hater. After all, I choose to live here...knew all along that deep winter was going to happen....nobody threw me any punches, but somehow I feel defiled, used, possibly defamed. And another thing...these people that walk around in short sleeved shirts when 5 layers plus long underwaer won cut it for me. Maybe it's just because I'm an old broad, but I'll tell you one thing....I'm freakin' planning for summer...I want HOT....I want
flop sweating...bear-footing and sunglasses....fresh maters and watermelons....grass mowin' and skinny-dippin'. I regress and day-dream, but so-what, I'm riding this horse, sitting right here in Paint Bank, so I'll write what I darm well please. Help me get thru February...we're gonn love up on you and give great deals on lovers weekends...all kind of great meals at the Bridge and sale stuff in the retail. By the way, we only have 3 roms left for Valentines weekend...so call and get yours. Come on to Paint Bank and visit me at the Depot Lodge....say hey and I'll say hey back at you. You'll know me...the little short whte haird broad whose skin looks like it would glow in the dark, whose voice is horse cause I've been scream' at the freakin' wind TO STOP BLOWING!!!
Sweet Mother of Pearl I wish it was summer..... only 47 days left till Spring....the next Full moon is February 9...me and you will both howl at it.

OxyMoron

2009-01-11T08:26:00.003-05:00

Without being fully aware of it, we speak in oxymoron's everyday, a seemingly accepted way of expressing one's self with out any real thought to the ramifications. I clearly think that oxymoron's have be "clearly misunderstood."..
whoa horse $%&*@..I just spake in oxymoronanize..."clearly misunderstood" ...Sweet Mother of Pearl...2 demerits...alright I'll do better. Anyway, back to my point. If you're standing in a "small crowd" of folks talking....Oh sunny beach...there I go again, oxymoroning all over the place..there's no such thing as a small crowd"...man thing's are getting pretty ugly...BAAAA...oxymoroned again....I need to move with deliberate haste...BAAAA...act naturally..BAAA...put out a silent scream....Oh Hell's Angles....forget about it!!!!.
You need to come on to Paint Bank to the next best place to home-cooking...The Swinging Bridge Restaurant...eat and oxymoron all over the place, we don't care...we'll love you anyway. An while you're there, come on across the street to the Depot Lodge and say hey...I'll say hey back at cha"...you'll know me...I'm the little woman in the black sweater looking stupid, eating Jumbo shrimp...BAAA...in loose tights...reading any original copy....Oh kiss my......GRITS....that's my definition of an oxymoron you stupid phrase.

Bim Bam Thank you mam

2009-01-03T08:57:00.004-05:00

Lamenting of the past is something everyone does around the new year. It's easy to remember the bad and the good seems to get lost in the quagmire...but not with me...I'm a glass half full gal and thanks to this blog have been able to vent most of the crap out. If you're remember all the high gas,bad debt in housing,war, dry weather and down right pestilence that was 08, I have a word of advice.............
GET OVER IT...TURN YOUR FROWN UP-SIDE-DOWN AND GET READY CAUSE IT'S GONNA BE FINE ALL OF O NINE. Paint Bank is planning a great year for you...the food is gonna be even better(if that's possible) but the fun is moving to new heights. Opening early spring (just in time for Vern's arrival) is the beautiful revised Artisan's work shop...offering area artists making, displaying and offering their "lost art" art, beautifully venue d at Tingler's Mill on Potts Creek. We'll offer Mill tours and history of Paint Bank "back in the day". The "backyard" will be full of games for young and old alike. We'll sprinkle that with "ole time" bluegrass from time to time....new cruiser bicycles for fun family and picnic rides up the holler...picnic and binoculars for a trip to the mountain top birding tower...lot's a great new shopping and I can't tell you about the rest. Watch for a new calendar on line that will post the events for the month. Take exit #141 off I-81 for that Currier and Ives Drive down Hwy #311 to "good food heaven". While you're there...walk across the street to The Depot Lodge and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at 'cha...you'll know me I'm the little woman with the big grin holding up a picture of my new great-grandson Caleb Daniel (life size photos autographed and
numbered for posterity.
to Paint Bank

If Life's a Bed of Roses...why is my back aching

2008-12-12T08:08:00.004-05:00

Do you find that some days you'd just like to be mean? You know it's not good for your heart and your soul but it will really helps your frame of mind sometimes. Now I don't mean MEAN...violent or profane(although I've been known to get a little potty mouth from time to time) or to ever physically hurt someone(although I would like to slap a few folks)or be destructive(although I did kick a dent in my car door when it slammed on my finger) and lord knows I would never say out loud some of the things I'm thinking(although I've written them down before). But sometimes, it becomes a survival thing...you know...if you don't do something, your head's gonna blow up. Now, that could be bad, not to mention messy. So I'm just giving fair warning to anyone reading this that this may...just may not be a good day to cross my path. Now I know you're shaking in your boots and skerred but I felt it my civic duty to let you know. ALRIGHT...what just happened....as I wrote the last word the screen went blank and a big RED error label started flashing. I knew it, I've always believed that these *$#!@ machines weren't of this earth. And you know what!!...I just stuck my tongue out at this screen and I'm gonna cut it's butt off when I finish and if it comes back on I'm gonna lay it in the middle of Highway #311 in front of Paint Bank General Store and laugh when a logging truck runs over it and drags it's little bitty unrecognizable parts all the way to Lewisburg, W.V.!!!!!!! Whew...Mama...Boy do I feel better. So I guess it's safe...I've been cleansed. Y'all can come on to Paint Bank now...I won't bite. Then,when you come out of Paint Bank General Store just walk across the street and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at 'cha. You'll know me, I'm the one with the Fairy Princess outfit and magic wand in her hand, singing It's a Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood.

Ba da Bing

2008-11-29T09:44:00.006-05:00

Well while everyone is observing black Friday, we're celebrating Green Sunday. All our beautiful Christmas decorations will be ready in all their splendor and old fashion Christmas gifts,fun, and food will be in abundance. We've decided to wait to do our Dinner and a Movie till probably Spring so be looking for the announcement. They'll be great winter packages this year at the Depot Lodge and then new adventures planned for the upcoming spring...then Ba da Bing ...it will be summer and you can go bare-foot and come wade in the creek. Oh no..I feel it coming on... the Winter-time Blue-bone cold syndrome that freezes my brain to fast-forward. Believe me folks, I'm not wishing my life away...their ain't that much left....BUT I hate winter...So...this winter I'm not participating. This winter, come the first 18 inch snow...I say we put on our flip flops and slip into a margarietville mood. It won't be real bad...once the big toe goes numb, the whole foot will follow and then Bob's Your Uncle, you don't feel anything. You know what I just thought of...somewhere in there is a clue to the age-reversal theory...you know, putting it on ice or something like that...I don't know, maybe it will work.
ANYWHO...get the drop and shop at Paint Bank for unique, once of a kind gifts for Christmas and Homemade candies and pastries, not the mention the out of sight food at the Bridge. While you're there, walk across the street to the Depot and say Hey, I'll say Hey back at cha...you'll know me I'll have my Life's A Beach" tank top on top of my coat,my Wayfarer's, Tommy Hilfiger fliflops and purple toe socks...HEY..it's the new look for Winter!

PUZZLE OF THE DAY...WHICH IS SWIFTER...HEAT OR COLD. ANSWER...HEAT IS SWIFTER, YOU CAN CATCH COLD!

I'm ready for my shot Mr. DeMille!!

2008-11-13T10:08:00.005-05:00

Paint Bank is taking Hollywood by storm...giving it a run for it's money...taking it to the streets...YES FOLKS...The Big Screen is coming to Paint Bank. Beginning the first Wednesday in December at 5:00...Dinner and a Movie. Just what you've been missing...Great Big Screen Classics...great FROM SCRATCH Classic Dinners and Classic atmosphere right in the Swinging Bridge Restaurant. Be sure to check out the calender for the Titles and dishes for that night. And while I'm at it....the best thing to do is the Whole package..."THE HOLLYWOOD PREMIER PACKAGE". a BEAUTIFUL ROOM AT THE LODGE....DINNER WITH YOU BEST FRIEND...AND A CLASSIC NIGHT OF MOVIE ENTERTAINMENT. Dinner and a Movie is just $15.95...Deluxe room for two...Dinner for two and the Movie is from just $120.00...ALL INCLUSIVE. See the beautifully decorated surroundings...have a dinner for two...enjoy a classic movie...stroll across the street and sit by the fire in your beautiful suite and arise the next morning for a homemade continental breakfast....MAMA..it don't git no better that this. Call now for reservations for December 3.....The Big screen favorite is A Christmas story....9 year Ralphie has to convience his parents, teachers and Santa that a Red Rider BB gun is a perfect Christmas present. For Dinner prior to the movie your choice of
Piled high Turkey on Homemade cornbread dressing...or choose Highlander Pot Roast...slow cooked to perfection. Your choice of sweet potato casserole.mmmmm
Green Beans, twice baked potato or creamed style corn...rolls,corn bread & our own cheesy chive biscuit....lord, I've got to wipe the drool off my mouth...what are you waiting for...this is Big City honey, right 'chere in the middle of heaven. Check the calendar for everything else that's coming your way

Go Back Go Back Go Back into the woods.

2008-10-28T09:11:00.006-04:00

This is the time of year that I (and if you knew what I knew, you too) have been waiting for. The no pain real gain, no cost year lost advancement of the Natural and clinically proven age reversal process. I know I have been in the not informational abyss for some time now but I'm back with a vengeance and full proof plan for age reversal. TAKE NOTES CAUSE THERE'S A TEST AT 3:00. If you have read my blog before, you realize that I have uncovered a little tapped youth theory. This is the week that it all comes to fruition. SUNDAY is the fall back time day...right?...Not only is there an hour fall back, but if you had subscribed to the theory...at the bewitching hour of roll back, saved all the components ( daylight savings, leap year, late for an appointment, forgetting someones name...all that stuff that you don't use, will allow you to RECLAIM a month that's been lost. Now...none of those expletives as to Bull@&*+!...I would not steer you wrong. This Sunday, when the event happens....just come to Paint Bank and observe my age reversal...and then scoff at me. I can't exactly explain it..it has something to do with a worm hole. It has nothing to do with the fact that Friday is October 31st and All Hollows Eve( although some strange things have happened up Eve's hallow but that's neither here nor there)Better known as Halloween and a Gobbelishous day for young and old. Treats for the Kiddies young and old and delicious food events at The Bridge.

While you're in Paint Bank, the epicenter of youth reversal, come across the street to The Depot Lodge and say Hey...you'll know me, I'm the one with the sign around her neck that says 'Don't Hate Me Cause I'm Young and Beautiful"....come on...give me just this one dream.

Included in the test is the word of the day:

Chin-Wag...Definition: Light informal conversation for social occasions.
In a sentence. "Have a martini and don't worry it's Daylight savings reversal day and soon you won't have a chin-wag.

Happy Fall Yall and aqualations

2008-09-27T10:11:00.003-04:00

Well I now know what my new calling is...RAINMAKER!!!Now let me preface this comment with this statement...I'm a tree-hugger...I love the rain...I am tickeled to death it's raining!!!! But we do have a Bluegrass Festival planned...and at this juncture...it's still on...WE have Tents...and I'll give a free meal to the person that gets the wettest! Everbody is still here with a sunshiney attitude. So OFFICIALLY...Paint Bank is open for business...I'm putting out my shingle..it will read.....FOR HIRE..."AQUALATOR"...Mistress of the Dark Cloud. ..Perpatrator of
H2O-ness....call after 9:00 for better results.

I'm trying to reserve my opinion about the rest of the world until a kinder and gentler time, but
I NEED TO VENT...can't we all just get along....my mama would have slapped me across the mouth if I'd spoken to another person in a public forum like the folks running for president are speaking to each other. Without any further comment.....I'm voting for the person with the most class...that would be a unique change. Old Time values and back to basics...the things the world grew up on...home cookin' and less cell phones...real baseball and homemade lemonade....buttermilk biscuits and gravy and local gardens....family picnics and croquet....kids that are kids and grown ups that aren't......on and on and on and in other words folks.......lets
GET REAL!!!

IKEAHOLICS ANONYMOUS

2008-09-13T14:42:00.007-04:00

LORD YOU IKAHOLICS...AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. WE'VE GOT THE CURE...YOU DON'T NEED MUCH GAS TO COME TO PAINT BANK. THIS GAS THANG IS A GAS GOUGERS DREAM...OUR GAS IS THE SAME...THE FOOD IS GREAT...THE HOSPITALITY IS OLE TIME AND BETTER THAN EVER. ALL SEPTEMBER IS APPLE FESTIVAL...WE'LL BE A ROCKIN AND A BOBBIN...MILLS OPEN GAMES IN THE YARD...LOCUST MOUNTAIN BOYS THIS WEEKEND...13TH...BRUNSWICK STEW NEXT WEEKEND AND CRAIG COUNTY BOYS THE NEXT. YA'LL COME NOW...YA HEAR!!!

I'M GONNA GETCHA...GOTCHA

2008-09-09T12:11:00.003-04:00

WHAT'S COMIN UP IS GONNA ROCK YOUR WORLD.....lIVE...ON STAGE..ON THE BANK'S OF POTT'S CREEK AT TINGLERS MILL....THE LOCUST MOUNTAIN BOYS...ONE OF THE FINEST BLUEGRASS BANDS IN THE AREA. SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 13TH IS WHEN IT ALL HAPPENS!!
WE'RE KICKIN' IT OFF WITH A BIG BUFFALO CHILI COOK OFF...THERE'S STILL 3 MORE DAYS TO SIGN UP. GIVE US A CALL AT 1-800-970-3376. THE GRAND PRIZE IS A NIGHTS STAY FOR TWO IN THE BEAUTIFUL DEPOT LODGE MASTER SUITE...A $180.00 VALUE. THE CHILI COOK OFF BEGINS AT 12;30 ENDS WITH THE PRIZE AWARDS AT 2;30. THEN IT'S THE LOCUST MOUNTAIN BOYS IN CONCERT AT 3:OO. TICKETS ARE $7.00 OR HALF PRICE WITH YOU RESTAURANT RECEIPT OF THAT'S DAY. ALL DAY LONG RANDALL BLANKENSHIP WILL BE MAKING FRESH APPLE CIDER WITH HIS OLE TIMEY APPLE CIDER PRESS. IN THE ARTISANS SHOP AT THE MILL WILL BE THE FIBER NETWORK OF MONROE COUNTY. SPINNING WOOL FROM THEIR SHEEP...KNITTING, CROCHETING, PAPER QUILLING AND DEMONSTRATING OTHER LOST ARTS. ALSO THIS SATURDAY, JOHN REED OF SALEM. JOHN'S MEDIA IS WOOD TURNING AND BLACKSMITHING. ALL THE ARTIST WILL HAVE DEMONSTRATIONS AND GOODS FOR SALE. ALWAYS GOOD FOOD AND FUN IN PAINT BANK...GAMES IN THE BACK YARD AND ROCKING ON THE PORCH...GOTCHA YET...JUST TAKE A RIDE...WE'RE GONNA GETCHA...PAINT BANK, VIRGINIA...IT'S A FEELING.

It's Apple Dumplins Girls

2008-08-30T11:19:00.003-04:00

Apple Festival is kickin off today...August 30th...even though it's not September. Homemade Apples Dumplins with gingergold apples froms Morgans Orchard are being introduced at the Swinging Bridge today...I had one...and I'm telling you...they're over the top good...and big enough for two people with a big scoop of ice cream...GET OUT OF TOWN GOOD.
Today...even as we speak...the Artisans are setting up at the Mill. Our featured Artisans are with the Fiber Network of West Virginia. They'll feature spinning, weaving,knitting, crocheting, paper quilling...just really interesting stuff....

Labor Day Monday is our big Chicken picnic. Whole fresh cut up chickens with homemade potatoe salad...cole salw and rolls...8 piece family feast is 28.95. dinner with 2 pieces of pan fried chicken, potatoe salad slaw and rolls...all homemade...8.95. Better put your orderin...it won't last.

It ain't Chili yet!!!

2008-08-01T14:52:00.009-04:00

I want to let you know some of what is going to happen in the month of September in Paint Bank, but I'm not going to tell you too much cause
YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO TAKE IT. September is Apple Festival month...sounds tame doesn't it...well Bubba, pack all this into your pipe and smoke it. We're gonna have Bluegrass bands...Big Bad Buffalo Chili Cook off contests...Apple Pie Baking contests...Apple Press demos, making real juice that you can drink and buy...home canning goods contest...historic tours or the ole' Tingler's Mill...Artisans in the workshop at the mill....tall tale contests..a smoking bison roast with a bar-b-q sauce contest. I'll tell you....I/m gonna stop and try to insert a calender...and as everything is solidified...I'll post it....Just wanted you to be the first to know. Give me a minute to figure out how to add the calender.

I can't get the freakin' calender to come up so I'll just do it the ole way...I'll tell you some dates so far. ..

Saturday September 13th...THE LOCUST MOUNTAIN BOYS..IN CONCERT FROM ......3:00 TILL 6:00 AT Tingler's Mill behind The Swinging Bridge Rest.
Tickets will be $7.00...half price with restaurant receipt for that day...kids under 10 get in free...we be cloggin' (Don't shave your mustache and think that's gonna fool me...I may be little but I'm mean)******Also on the 13th****The Big Buffalo Chili Cook-off. The time for that is 12:30 till 2:30...Big prize to the best cook540-897-5000 for details....their will be more for that day...I'll post it

Saturday September 27th ...Our good friends...THE CRAIG COUNTY BOYS... gettin' jiggy with the bluegrass...$7 cover...meal receipt half price...kids under 10 free...grinding out the tunes at Tingler's Mill in Paint Bank from 3 till 6. Beginning at 12:30 wet ou chops for the Apple Pie Bake-Off contest. Good cooks, great cooks or no cook at all can enter the contest...Bake your favorite recipe, it can be square or round, double crust or single crust or topped with something else. We don't care just bring a whole pie for the judging....a $25.00 cash prize will be awarded.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 20th Brunswick Stew will be cookin' all day.
And if you want to get paid for liein'....enter the Tall Tale contest. We're gonna pay you $50.00 for your story if you win. Do in song, do it while you dance...just sit there and do it...however you want...tell a 5 to 10 minute tall tale.(NO dirty stuff) and you could walk off with the prize.. That will begin around 2:00 and last till the last person shuts up. Starting around 12.30 we will be judging our home canning contest. This is a lost art, but there are still good canners in our area....Jams, pickles, fruit, meat...it doesn't matter...bring your best and we'll award a $25 prize to the best.

MORE TO COME!!!

Gator's Got Your Granny

2008-07-11T10:45:00.003-04:00

Lookin for something new and different to do....in a place that's as close to heaven as you'll get....with people that think your really something......and food that's really OUT OF THIS WORLD....put your lookie-loo eyes on Bubba and grap up the babies and come on down to Paint Bank, Virginia City Limits for the family fun time of your life. This Saturday, we're celebrating the 4th on the 12th(cause we figured you were cookin out last week-end)...throw down with The Craig County Boys...LIVE..on stage at Tinglers Mill on the banks of Potts Creek. Dine in the Swinging Bridge...keep your meal receipt and get in free out back at the Mill for the festivities. The "Boys" start gettin' down around 5:30. Starting at 1;00 Saturday, we'll be opening our "Artisans at the Mill". Featured this week-end is Jeremy Hatcher displaying his woodworking talents and giving demonstrations. Jeremy's one of our own and a very talented artisan and heck of a good guy. You're welcome to walk our beautiful grounds and gardens and come across the street to The Depot Lodge for a personal tour. Look for me somewhere inside or outside The Lodge and be sure to say hey. You'll know me, I'm the little toe-tappin lady practicing her clogging on the porch saying hey back at cha. And remember...always something happening in Paint Bank...watch for what's comin up like Super September with Bluegrass Bands...living area history, cook-outs...family music and games. Ya'll watch for more details onthe blog....and come on down...ya here.

Ehaw

2008-06-18T19:57:00.002-04:00

Hey folks have I got an invitation for you.....Thursday night at the Swinging Bridge Restaurant in Paint Bank Virginia....join us for dinner and the soothing sounds from the sofa of Junior Christian of the Craig County Boys. Junior will play you the sweetest eatin'music you've ever heard. Cause we love you sooo much...there's no cover charge..just our great gift for your continued support and great comments 'bout The Bridge, The Depot Lodge and the rest of the Paint Bank Family. Watch for other great Family and Friends get-together in Paint Bank. And by the way...all you aspiring Blue Grass pickers and vocalists...give me a call and showcase your talents on Thursday night at the Swing Bridge Restaurant.....email or call 1-800-970-3376 and become a part of our own You Got Talent Search....Paint Bank's the place where everything happens....maybe it's your lucky day...give us a call.

Aint Paint Bank something

2008-05-31T08:42:00.004-04:00

Just had the nicest folks in the lodge from Greenville Tennessee and I asked them how they found us. They say an ad in Blue Ridge Country, but couldn't believe that we were for real...so they came to our website, were very impressed...made reservations on line but were still a little skeptical. Upon arrival it was beyond everything the internet had offered. The setting...the attention to detail, the spoil you rotten attitude, the fresh starched and ironed linens....then the FOOD...outstanding. Not out of my mouth...out of their mouth. The
BE-BACK-BUTTON, was pinned on their shirts...they'll be regulars...thanks so much to the Collins' from Greenville Tennessee for the interesting conversation and comments that encourage us to keep on striving to make your time in Paint Bank Virginia one of the nicest times you've ever had.

Stay tuned folks...they'll be a lot of activities here this summer...croquet badminton and horseshoes set up in the backyard just for your enjoyment....a little Blue Grass down here in the near future...4th of July foot stomping good time and a fantastic new arrival coming soon to the Swinging Bridge.
Just a short beautiful ride from every direction...don't miss the the Paint Bank Experience....and learn why everyone's saying Ain't Paint Bank Something!!!

Double Shot

2008-05-19T07:49:00.003-04:00

You would think that a village in the middle of no freakin' where would not require a lot of work.....not so my friends....and that's what's going on in Paint Bank....new prep rooms for the Restaurant...new Ladies Washrooms just newly opened and beautifully appointed. BIG NEWS..new Buffalo Twins born to Hollow Hill Farms...two healthly buffalo babies, just about ready to make their debut for the public. This Memorial Day weekend would be a great time to come to the family place...the real good feel good place...Paint Bank Virginia. We will be hosting again the death defying Mountain of Misery Bicycle Race from Virginia Tech....lord knows when they've peddled up Potts Mountain....and you've driven it sitting down and you know what I mean.....then start their decent...well there's some puckered Toto's and you just want to give them a hug when they reach our pit stop...so, come on out and lets cheer them on!!! Memorial Day in Paint Bank is All American Family Day....we'll have all kinds of games set up on the back lawn...Croquet...badminton and horse shoes...hot dogs, hamburgers and Bufffalo BarBQ are the order of the day and some steak specials later on. The Swinging Bridge will be open Memorial Day Monday till 6:00...Watch the Blog for more specials

MamaBaby

2008-05-02T08:50:00.003-04:00

All you folks sitting out there reading my blog, strutting around like you're all that and taking credit for how successful you are.....just remember that YOU would not have been possible without Mama....Oh sure, you've done well on your own, but Mommy wiped your nose and lord knows what else, fed you when you were hungry cleaned up messes you made that a sewer worker wouldn't have come near, went around in torn underwear so you could have the latest fashions, drove you in the rain, sleet and snow so you could take that piano lesson or play in a ballgame....have I laid a guilt trip on you or do I need to go farther.
Here's what you ARE required to do this Mothers Day weekend. Feed her..shower her with flowers...and give her a day she won't forget Bring her to the Bridge for a Mother's Day spoilin'. We'll have special dishes cookin' on the stove just like she would do for you...What do you want...let us make her feel like the special Mother she is with a beautiful flower that you should have bought, plus we'll feed her too. It's a Win-Win situation.....you and your Mom are both winners. Come to the Swinging Bridge this Mothers Day weekend and come
across to the street to the Depot Lodge and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at you,
you'll know me, I look like a Mama...all haggered and worn out,but with a smile on my face.

Haven't found him Yeti

2008-04-27T08:55:00.003-04:00

I can't tell you how disappointed I am that we haven't found the big guy. We did have a few close encounters of the 4th and 5th kind, but no big guy...oh well, there's always next spring cause you can count on one thing...I wouldn't search these mountains in the winter for anything...not for love nor money. So we're on to the more important upcoming events. First, there's the day that should be marked in big letters on your calender...MOTHER"S DAY. That's the day buddy-row, that you'd better get your ducks in a row and take care of MAMA. Bring her to the Bridge for a great Mothers Day Encounter. We'll feed her a home-cooked meal almost as good as she could cook, but we'll treat her like a Queen...even give her a corsage in recognition of her importance to mankind. Better yet,treat her to a whole week-end. Rent the family-house, bring in sissy and bubba and have a real get-together...we'll provide a picnic lunch for the family...call me at 1-800-970-3376 or shoot me an e-mail and ask about our Family House rental package. Coming up toward the end of May or Memorial Day weekend is the Mountain of Misery bike race sponsored by Virginia Tech. We will be one of the pit stops and plan to have lots of fun things going on.

Come by the Swinging Bridge today for one of our Sunday Specials. As always we have country pan-fried chicken...Our own Highlander Pot Roast or garlic butter shrimp skewers. Along with good food, comes good homemade deserts...just the right combination for a great meal. When you've completed your "nector of the gods" meal, walk across the street to the Lodge and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at you. You'll know me,I'm the one with the Saquatch Welcome Mat at the front door...it never pays to be safe rather than sorry.

Chili Today Hot Tomallie

2008-04-17T08:07:00.007-04:00

I can't tell you how ready I am for the warm weather we're expecting today and tomorrow. It's about frogging time. I'm near the point where I lose that school-girl, uptown, too cool for school calm and move into sweat-flopping, spit-flying claw-ripping, eye-gouging mood. Why?...You ask. Chill-bumped arms, blue-lipped smile....no-toe show shoes. I'm, ready for the heat, the bear-footin, the show a little body dressin'....good ole' summer-time...I deserve it!...Paint Bank deserves it!....YOU deserve it!. So this week-end...we're gonna give-it-to-ya. Paint Bank General Store and The Swinging Bridge have all kind of HOT DEALS AND HOT MEALS...SO COME IN YOUR HOT WHEELS. You'll enjoy all the new signage in the retail store upstairs...new summer Woolrich clothes and yada yada yada. And the food...check these "EATS" specials out.

Thursday Lunch...Open Face Buffalo Roast Beef Sandwich....Man-o-live...served with mashed taters and gravy...Hot dang

Thursday night...Spring Chicken...covered with onions, peppers, mushrooms and provolone
Maybe a big ole Fat Fried Flounder Fillet will grab you

Friday Lunch you got your Fried "Po Boy'Oyster Sandwich served with our homemade coleslaw and fries.

Friday Night Date Night offers a tender Bison Strip Steak and on the side is Spicy Onion Marmalade....Get Out!!!

Stuffed Herb Roasted Cornish Hen...both come with great sides.

Saturday Lunch...Stack em high Tuna Club...a triple decker sandwich with Tuna Salad,sliced boiled eggs,provolone, lettuce and tomato

Saturday night...Porky's Buffalo Filet Mignon...6 ounces of healthly tender tasty bacon wrapped filet of Buffalo.

You clucked up with the Stuffed Five Cheese Chicken...stuffed with Ricotta, Parmesan, Swiss & Provolone and then topped with cheddar...

Sunday brings good ole Pan-fried Chicken...Ole Virginny Ham and King Neptune's Fried Oysters.

YOU HUNGRY YET!!!!! Better come and get it.

While you're there, walk across the street to the Depot Lodge and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at you, you'll know me, I'm the one with the bikini on top of my long johns...it still ain't warm enough for a bathing suit, but that don't stop me.

A Whiter Shade of Pale

2008-04-15T08:08:00.004-04:00

This week past, the nicest couple Faye and Jim Rose had driven from Florida and spent the night in our Caboose at The Depot Lodge. Having lived in the Roanoke area for a brief time, Jim had been carrin' on about our place for years to Faye, but she had no idea what kind of ride she was taking from the Depot. They took a drive to check out the area and as they were topping Peters Mountain on the West Virginia Side...this is what they encountered..............
IT'S A REAL ALBINA DEER...
NOT TRICK PHOTOGRAPHY .
Was it Procal Harem or the Moody Blues that sang a whiter shade of pale...Whatev....it's the real thing, as rare as the white Buffalo...maybe not, there's more Deer than Buffalo..anyway,thought you might enjoy this.

olly olly in free

2008-04-12T08:42:00.004-04:00

I really know what a teeny tiny part of the Universe we are just by looking out my window in the kitchen. The Birds....Birds of all kinds and a momentary observation
will make you understand that we're so small. For instance, there's 2 morning doves atop my root cellar on the roof. You can tell they're having a conversation about something and planning their next move. Perched way up in the Locusts and Maple trees is a Murder of Crows and cowbirds...raising immortal cane because I hadn't schlep out to fill their feeder and a note to the fact that the morning doves were back and they bet that THEY had eaten all the food. At the thistle feeder are these tooo energetic for the morning finches and chick-a-dees,,(I know that's how people feel about me in the mornings.....dern...why don't she slow it down. Hey, suck it up...I got one speed. I regress,sorry! In the side yard are the independent Robins....steadily going about their business of worm searching, cocking an eye to the grass, finding and pulling one of those long slimy suckers out..yummy what a breakfast. Oh well,it probably has more protein in it than what you eat. Wait a minute....is spell check really right....who checks them...whatever happened to i before e except after c...and slimy doesn't look right either...whatev....KISS My GRITS SPELL CHECK, IT'S NOT WHATEVER ANYMORE, IT'S WHATEV...UPDATE! Anywho...Birds don't have our problems...who is smarter???
Paint Bank still searches for Sasquath...somewhere in the woods is a big hairy
whatever...Chubaka...like Harry and the Henderson's....watching us looking for him...who's smarter??? Oh well, after you have a great meal and shopping adventure across the street at the Swinging Bridge....walk over to the Depot Lodge and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at you...you'll know me, I'm the one standing next to the birdbath, catching up on the news.

Birding versus birdwatching

Both in Britain and in the U.S., 'birders' often differentiate themselves from 'birdwatchers'. At the most basic level the distinction is one of dedication or intensity. Self-described 'birders' are more focused on finding and studying birds than on general observation, and they tend to be more versed in such minutiae as moult, distribution, migration timing and routes, and habitat usage. Dedicated birders tend to invest more in high-quality optical equipment, such as spotting scopes, and many birders travel widely in pursuit of their hobby. Birdwatchers tend to have a more restricted outlook, often confining their birdwatching activity to local nature reserves, their own gardens, or places visited on holiday, and, in general, they invest less in optical equipment.

Carpe Diem

2008-04-11T08:15:00.003-04:00

If there was ever a better time to "cease the day" I don't know it. 80 degrees...everything starting to bloom birds singing,smells in the air flip-flops(no socks of course)....man what a world. The only thing missing in Paint Bank is you.
It's a trip you'll never forget...whether it's the search for Sasqautch or a plate of Buffalo short ribs at the restaurant, you can't go wrong. Let me tickle your taste buds with our weekend specials...see if you can resist.
FRIDAY
Lunch....Fillet of Trout Sandwich with our homemade tarter sauce...fries or our hand cut fresh everyday Buffalo chips....try them dipped in some saucy Kickin' Sauce
$8.95

Dinner....A healthly tender and our own grown Buffalo T-Bone Steak $24.95
Perfectly grilled or fried fresh-water Perch $18.95

All entrees served with sides and Fresh baked rolls
cornbread and our yummy cheesy-dill biscuits.

SATURDAY
Lunch...Big Bite Buffalo Steak and Cheese Sub with fries and Buffalo Chips
$8.95
Dinner...Rib-a-licious Braised Buffalo Short Ribs on a mound of mashed taters
with reduced brown gravy & salad and or course homemade breads.
$24.95
ee-ahh Cindy's Saucy Shrimp Gumbo over great Jasmine Rice w/ two
sides.
$18.95

SUNDAY
Lunch....Always good...fixed like mama does...Country Pan Fried Chicken
$13.95
Sunday "Go To Meetin' Buffalo Pot Roast $18.95
Slow cooked with Potatoes, Carrots and Onions w/ a crisp green salad
And as always homemade breads.

Seafood Lovers Fried Scallops...$18.95

Always Always...gooood made from scratch desserts

While your in Paint bank...walk across to the Depot Lodge and say HEY..I'll say Hey back at you...You'll know me, I'm the one with the flip-flops and socks on....
mama wouldn't let me take off my socks till June 1.

Double Oh Seven Eleven

2008-04-06T08:35:00.005-04:00

Is it ever Sunday and you don't know how you got there? A little weird, but happens all the time...you woke up Monday with a list to do and it's Sunday with half a list left. I always feel that an alarm will go off if I don't finish what is on that list....sooo all day today will be a finish-up-the-list day, just so I don't get 3 demerits. Hold on to your launch seat Bubbie, we're starting on a Mach II ride .
All aboard for Do-ville.......First...Sunday Specials at the Swinging Bridge

Country Pan Fried Chicken...$13.95
St. Louis BBQ Ribs..............$15.95
Sliced Roast Beef w/mushroom gravy..$14.95
Of course , plenty of great side and yummy to the tummy deserts...homemade breads, fresh-brewed tea and coffee and better than great surroundings.

This weekend we had some cancellations at the Depot Lodge because some
fisherman didn't think the trout would be bitting....well think again......
Ben and Dana Dishman from Newport News, Va....tied a "woolly bugger" and a sinker on their line and caught about 7 beautiful rainbow!!!
Ain't fishin' life great, proof we're smarter than the fish.

This coming weekend we will have a "Squash the Sasquatch" give out at the store
that will consist of a sighting map with directions on how to get there....the person who brings in the most believeable Yeti clue will receive a gift certificate to Paint Bank General Store and Swinging Bridge Restaurant...at the end of the month....the person with the most believable Sasquatch clues from a 60 mile radius will receive a night's stay at the Depot Lodge....get huntin.'

Paint Bank City Limits

2008-04-05T14:12:00.003-04:00

Paint Bank City Limits has just grown with the glorious birth of a little guy named Carter Calfee. At a little over 8 pounds and Carter came into a very special place with a very special Mom and Dad..Tonya(our accountant) and Aaron ( our farm manager). What a glorious day...Paint Bank is going Big City.

This is a great weekend for food at The Swinging Bridge....we've added some
delicious Buffalo dishes...one of my favorite is the Buffalo Kabobs for tonight come try them out. If you run into Sasquatch on the ride, grab a hand full of hair and bring it to me...I'll give you a gift certificate to the restaurant to eat. Next week,
I'll have available our Sasquatch siting map...take a copy and hunt for Yeti...make your place in history...stay tuned, you ain't seen nothin yeti.

Hair today...Gong tomorrow

2008-04-03T08:35:00.003-04:00

I just want to calm the frenzy down and let folks know that the entire month of April is the "Sasquatch Slept Here" month....so even if you find a big patch of Yeti Hair hooked to a limb up Turkey Trax holler, you still might not be the winner...someone else could actually find a foot print and snatch your reward right from under your nose, Just be diligent, your spot in history could be just around the corner. Now to the business of the day...Weekly specials for the Swinging Bridge Restaurant..... Thursday's Specials
Lunch
Chicken Fillet Sandwich
with Lettuce, Tomato and Mayonnaise
Served with French Fries or Buffalo Chips
$7.95
Dinner
"Swinging Bridge" Buffalo Lasagna
with Crisp Green Salad & Homemade bread
$13.95
Fillet of Fried Flounder $16.95
choice of Mashed Potatoes, Baked Potato
or French fries, and choice of Dinner Salad or
additional side of.......
Side Dishes
Baked Beans, Mixed Vegetables, Pinto Beans
Cole Slaw or Applesauce.

The Great new Spring revisions will be added to the menu later today.

Zippadee-Do-Da

2008-04-01T07:42:00.005-04:00

I know it's April Fool's Day,but having to listen to Christmas music (I love Christmas music AT Christmas) as an April Fools Day's prank is more on the line of sadistic torture...just tell me that my shoe is untied, that's a plenty foolin' for me. "Whatev". More important...this is the official "kick off" of "The Big Hunt"...time to squash or not squash the Sasquatch legend. Already...early in the wee hours of the AM there was heard a howl that could only be made by a large hairy mammal(of course that could cover about 1/3rd of the guys up the holler')...anywho...we will be technically marking grids up 600 into Waiteville, WV...linking into satellite tracking and possibly even engaging low flying drones for observation and reports. As the frenzy heightens, you may want to make your reservations early for the lodge and the restaurant, as the vacancies are already at a minimum....Oh my gosh, still Christmas music on the radio...I just realized that could be another link in my age reversal theory...and that could possibly be the discovery in the missing geno-link to the appearance of Sasquatch in this area. This could be BIG it could be earth-shattering. I need companion searchers, please donate you time and become a "Sasquatch looker able person"...or SLAP for short. Let me hear from you...I'll be waiting.

80 days till the Lazy Hazy Days of Summer.

As for our educational section...here's your.. Word Of The Day....

jollification..jol-ih-fuh-Kay-shuhn,\noun...Merrymaking, festivity, revelry.

Are we there Yeti?

2008-03-29T10:15:00.007-04:00

Alright everybody...hold on to you knickers 'cause the big boy is coming to town. It is my pleasure" Ladies and Germs"....to kick off "Big Foot"month in beautiful downtown Paint Bank,Va. on April 1st. This is NOT an April Fool's gag...this is
"fer real" folks. Beginning Tuesday, we will begin listing "Sasquatch Slept Here"
rules and regulations. I mean, there are tens of thousands of acres of George
Washington National Forests all around us...with miles and miles of wilderness
including lots or deep valleys and caves. If he's anywhere...betcha he's been here.
It's worth a little "lookie loo" and we'll reward you with any kind of evidence...so stay tuned folks...it'll be a hoot and maybe one for the history books.
Oh by the way, one of our Sasquatch Guides, Josh Duncan wanted to to let you folks know that Paint Bank General Store is now world known...it is 1 of only 2 stores in the WORLD carries the real Tree Bark Design, thanks to our friend and the inventor of the Tree Bark Design, Jim Crumley. Come on down to our beautiful Swinging Bridge Restaurant and Retail to purchase your real Tree Bark hunting gear. And while you're there, walk across the street to the Depot Lodge and say HEY...I'll say HEY back at you...you'll know me,I'm the one with the "Big Feet" on the little body.

Countdown till Summer...just 83 day till Sweet Summer.

Today in History...After protesting - in song- that they were never featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, Dr.Hook and the Medicine Show got their wish, 1 week later, the bands single Cover of The Rolling Stone went gold, 1973.

What the hell-a-copter

2008-03-26T07:56:00.005-04:00

Tuesday was one of my rare days off even though I don't actually take it off in my mind...I pretend like I do. I began with a list so long that the average human couldn't possibly accomplish one third of what had been written, I tunnel-visioned
my way in head on. I re-strung some broken mini-blinds (not an easy task with a pup around that thinks everything is for her edification), stripped and washed linens,put a hen into bake...stuff like that. At this stage,I felt that I should skip item 7,8,9 and 10 and move on outside. It was so spring-like outside( a ploy that mother nature plays on us weekly), I decided to start weeding and help my better-half with yard work. I had just gotten into my rhythm(you know, that brain-dead feeling that your body sometimes allows you to experience) when all of a sudden I hear a low-flyin' helicopter. I'm thinking, oh it's Med-A-vac or the government boys looking for illegal smoke...but much to my surprise, it was a personal whirly-bird setting down in the upper parking lot with someone coming to eat at the Swinging Bridge....HOW COOL IS THAT !!!I think he lived about
2 hours away, it probably didn't take but 30 minutes to get here. Can you imagine...honey, I'm gone...gonna run-over to the Swinging Bridge for an "Almost
Famous Paint Bank Sub".....you want me to bring you something back? Man...must be nice!!! Just another day at Paint Bank.

86 days till summer...we've got to have Spring first!!!

Word of the day...misnomer...mis-no-muhr/noun...Any misnaming of a person or a thing, also, a wrong or inapplicable name or designation.

Get Buffaloed!!

2008-03-24T08:00:00.002-04:00

Before I get off on a tangent about how great Paint Bank is I feel pressured to confess again about a big fat lie that I've put in writing....all you "squared away"
people that do what you're supposed to...watch your diet and exercise....I need a public flogging, a fingernail torture...a huge scarlet letter slapped on my back that says L for looser. I have not dieted nor I have I exercised, to the contrary, I have shamelessly stuffed myself with homemade pastries,fudge, Easter candy, peanut butter Easter Eggs really anything that will fit in my big fat mouth. Lord love me, I have said that I was turning over a new leaf....but obviously I have raked that leaf into a pile with the rest of the "lie leafs". Now hear this...I will start exercising today...I will not eat any of the life elixir chocolate...absolutely no pastries!!! That's it!!! No more..no how...no way. I plan on eating a 6 ounce serving of Buffalo 3 times a week...it's real high in protein and keeps that full and satisfied feeling real long. That's all I have to say about it...so when you're in Paint Bank enjoying the homemade pastries, candy and desserts that I would be eating...walk across the street to the Depot Lodge and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at you...you'll know me, I'm the skinny little woman with the carrot in her
hand, hopping down the bunny trail for exercise.

So no Spring yet, maybe we're just going into summer...only 88 days till summer.

Today in weather history...It was 83 degrees F in Plymouth, Indiana in 1910.
Stuff happens!

We're EGG-act;ly what you need.

2008-03-22T09:02:00.004-04:00

The day before Easter is bustling at Paint Bank. We're expecting a truck load of
youngens for for the often imitated but never duplicated Downtown Paint Bank
Easter Egg Hunt Extravaganza". What can I say...there's of course the "egg search and find"...The nearly famous "Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum Blowing Contest" the coloring contest, which I might say has spawned a many an artist... the egg rolling contest which is a test of skill as well as manual dexterity. It should be fun for young and old alike. Be a kid again or find one and bring em to the "DPBEEHE".It all begins today at 10:00 at the General Store. Should a be good time cause heaven knows, we're all about a good time at Paint Bank.

Word for the Day Occultation...The eclipse of a stat or planet by the moon or other planet.

Do a dollop..do..do a dollop

2008-03-20T07:45:00.006-04:00

As I walked the short 300 feet fro m my house to my office this morning, through the snow flurries, fighting off dive bombing robins,stepping over the flash frozen
tree peepers and by Sherrie's blooming jonquils waving at me through the 60 mile and hour arctic blasts, I lamented as to how long I have been awaiting this day...
Vern's day...the Vernal Equinox...the first day of Spring. It's when life itself emerges to show that there is hope after the deadness of winter. Well if that's so.....then why is it that I feel I have been preserved by cryogenics's for the coming decade.It's colder than a witches eyeball and I don't like it. I want WARMTH !!!
I want to wear my sandals, complain about the humidity, put on my sunglasses...go swimming. I'm not asking for much,I've been good and I know it will come in due time...BUT I WANT IT NOW!!! Simma' down, it's been nice in Paint Bank through this weekend and I thought I'd temp your pallet with the weekend specials in the Swinging Bridge. First of all I'll be the hostess with the mostess offering you a little taste of our just arrived Buffalo Bologna..Salami..Summer Sausage...Pastrami and Bratwurst. Sooo good and sooo goood for you.And at the Bridge...featured dishes are Dinner Specials:
Thursday:Cranberry Grilled Chicken
Fried Flounder

Friday: Grilled Port Loin with Onion Gravy
Fried Beer Battered Haddock

Saturday Buffalo Stuffed Peppers
Grilled Italian Chicken
BBQ Pork Loin
Fried Oysters

Sunday Country Pan Fried Chicken
Baked Smoked Ham w/Pineappples Chutney
Grill Trout, Salmon, Tuna Seafood Trio
Of course all the same great accompaniments and mouth-watering homemade deserts are available....Come to Dinner...at Paint Bank.

Word of the Day: Acerbic (uh-SUH-bik adjective) Sharp,biting,acid expression or tone.

Everything I have to say about the weather has an acerbic tone.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

2008-03-16T13:22:00.003-04:00

I eat a cheeseburger in Paradise every time I eat one at the Swinging Bridge Restaurant in Paint Bank . The paradise title given to Paint Bank,Va. was not my original(I think to think that I originate every special dubbing of Paint Bank, but actually it's our guests.) 2 especially intriguing German gentlemen popped in to visit me at the Depot Lodge and were absolutely fascinated by everything here...how well-appointed and perfectly appointed everything is. And the views, they said, won debar (wonderful).These were guys from Europe folks, they've seen the Alps and think we are won debar!! I keep telling you, your European vacation is right here in Craig County in beautiful downtown Paint Bank.
I've been asked to publish the daily specials that are featured Thursday through Sunday and I will begin next week to do that. We feature so many excellent pallet-tingling items such as Cajun Pork Loin,fried oysters and scallops, Buffalo short -ribs and on and on...I'll let you know.
Bring your youngens to visit us Saturday for our famous Easter Egg Hunt....there will be all sort of fun things like a bubble gum blowing contest...egg rolling and
fun and prizes for everyone.

On my...did you just feel the earth move....must be Vern a comin' down the holler...all the crocus and jonquil are up looking for him...just 4 more days till the Vernal Equinox and Spring....how glorious!!!

Get your pen and paper for the word of the Day...there will be a test at 3 PM
Chagrin (shuh-Grin)Noun...Acute vexation, annoyance or embarrassment,arising
from disappointment or failure.

Is that just a lot of Blarney

2008-03-13T08:08:00.007-04:00

I seem to get very anal around every holiday or special day, probably due to an exposure to some sort of scientific occurrence at my birth. I've never really discovered exactly what is was, but I suspect since I was born right at St. Patrick's Day to an Irish heritage, it is most probably "The Leprechaun Phenomenon". This is re-enforced by the fact that green is my favorite color, 4 is my lucky number(as in shamrock), a derby hat frightens me,and if I were to kiss a stone, it would be a blarney stone. Now mind you, I've never actually SEEN a leprechaun, although I suspect there are a lot of them up the hollers around Paint Bank and up the road into West Virginia. Due to this suspicion (and I wouldn't do this if it weren't a strong suspicion)we are declaring Saturday, March 15th as the official search and reward day for the capture of an area leprechaun or one that can prove his residency in the area(one picture ID will be sufficient).As a reward for this find, you will receive a meal at the Swinging Bridge Restaurant (a $25.00 value ). To claim your prize, just bring the leprechaun ( or a representative of his family) to Paint Bank General Store and claim your prize...
dress up cause we're gonna take a picture or you and your find to post on the
"wall of fame" in the store. While you're in Paint Bank, walk across the street to the Depot Lodge and say Hey, I'll say Hey back at you. You'll know me, I'm the one with the green sweater on.

Only 7 days...one week till Spring...put on a welcome Vern hat.

Word of the day...Rodomontade...rod-uh-muhn-tade..noun
Def: Vain, boasting, empty bluster, pretentious, bragging, speech, rant.

Big Wheel keep on turning

2008-03-10T07:58:00.004-04:00

I'm so excited and I know you will be too when you take a ride to Paint Bank and see the" Big Wheel Keep on Turning"at Tingler's Mill on Potts Creek out back of the general store. I can't wait to get the tours going in the mill and join you in stepping back in time to get a real "Birdseye" view of how life was lived in a simpler time. It's really amazing when you think about it...they didn't use electricity...they harnessed nature(exactly what we're going to have to start doing again)to make everything work...as a matter of fact, they also used the water power to create electricity long before the power poles dotted the landscape. It will be quite an education for me and hopefully for you. Pack up the baby and grab the ole lady for a nostalgic trip back in time to Paint Bank....Hey we're worth it...where else can you get all this education, entertainment, good food and fun in one place...and the scenery is free...but worth a million bucks. Be sure to bring your little Easter Bunnies for the big HUNT on Saturday March 22 at Paint Bank General Store and check out all the new Spring stuff and while you're there, walk across the street to the Depot Lodge and say HEY I'll say HEY back at you...you'll know me, I'm the one with the chocolate around my mouth from eating Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Easter Eggs(don't say anything to Mother Goose and GQ about it, they'd never let me hear the end of it.

Only the big 10 left till Easter.

Word of the Day...Inchoate:adjective( in-KOH-it)
In an initial stage, just begun.

Call me angel of the morning

2008-03-09T08:56:00.006-04:00

The reason they(who are they?) do Daylight Savings time on Saturday night is they're counting on people being more forgiving on Sunday morning...not going off the deep end for lack of sleep. Why don't THEY do it at 1:24 PM Saturday afternoon when no one would care....you could get use to it by 5:45PM and it would not make a hairs worth of difference to you. But NO,they get you when your mind and body least expects it...when you defenses are down cause you lay there all night looking at the clock and saying "it's just 3:45AM, but yesterday this time it was 2:45 or was it 4:45...did I set this clock back or just the one in the kitchen"...MAN it's Chinese torture...by the time you get up you haven't slept for trying to figure out whether you still have time to get some more sleep. I say we find out where T H E Y live and go roll their yard..."WHATEV"!!! Paint Bank was up bright and early with the big mouth Robins at whatever time it was...7:00 PM...6:00 yesterday time.. You can guarantee that" Burger slayer and Cindy Lou-who" were making buttermilk biscuits, sausage and gravy and I was cutting up oranges and 'nanners for ambrosia. If it's Paint Bank.. it's "pan-fried chicken day"cause every Sunday is pan-fried chicken day at Paint Bank....come on a get some and walk across the street to say HEY...I'll say HEY back at you...you'll know me, I'm the one with the set of Samsonite Luggage hanging under each eye...but I'll be grinning, cause I'm one hour younger.

12 days till Spring glory day.

Say Happy 21st Birthday to "Breanna Bananna" upstairs in the retail today.

Let's give a big HOLLER for the best true fish tale today...Brandon Gailmard caught a 4 pound 23 inch long Rainbow Trout out of Potts Creek in Craig County.
The best part is Brandon's just 7 years old...don't it just do your heart good!!!

Keep this factoid to heart...A ducks' quack doesn't echo and no one knows why!!

Mia Copa

2008-03-08T08:18:00.007-05:00

Having just gotten adjusted to my move back from sub-tropical to arctic weather(not griping...I love having real seasons) now I have to adjust again to the Day Light savings phenomenon. As I stated, the only thing I'm going to get out of it is the 2 hour younger theory(not worth explaining again and don't tell me I'm wrong, it's just part of the big lie I tell myself). But that's not exactly so(my bad for this month, can't make another) it will give us more daylight time to enjoy the emerging spring. Crocus are popping their brilliant colors to dot the gray,sleeping winter foliage with an aliveness...little whispers of yellow bell, red-bud and a pinking-up of the trees with new life is causing a sort of glow to the mountains. Man, this place is something, never ceases to amaze me every time I look up at the glorious mountains. Take a little time to treat yourself, and take a post-card drive to Paint Bank...a Paradise Valley in anyone's eyes. I have guests that have rented our Pondrosa Cabin for the third time within a year and when asking them(as I do all guests,we really want to know)what about the accommodations they like the most, the response was..."everything is so perfect,every need is taken care of. I travel 35 weeks out of the year and this place is the only place I can get a good night's rest and peace and quiet". Your enjoyment and pleasure is our utmost concern at Paint Bank...always has been...always will be...spoiling you is our business. You owe it to yourself to make the short, beautiful drive to Paint Bank Virgina, to shop the general store, eat in The Swinging Bridge restaurant and walk across the street to The Depot Lodge and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at you...you'll know me, I'm the one with the big grin on my face 'cause I live here.
I'd like to say Happy Birthday to "Welfare Woman" who turns the big 50 this month...so here's my birthday poem for her.....

"Welfare Woman" don't be sad
Being 50 just ain't so bad
You still look good and that's no lie
Cross my heart....stick a pin in my eye
Just keep on smiling as time ticks away
You"ll keep your youth and have a good day
When a wrinkle shows, you know it will
Remember you're not over the hill
You've earned the right but don't bitch and whine
Just asked to be carded in the grocery store line
If they laugh at you as they laugh at me
Just slap the guy behind you, you'll feel good...you'll see!

Time grows nigh...13 days till Spring.

Factoid...You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television...take a nap!

True Confessions

2008-03-07T08:02:00.005-05:00

I feel the need to update you on my latest lies....there has been no progress in the exercise department....I now refer to us as the 3 lazy chunky chicks. Now the gals, GQ and Mother Goose both say they are exercising early in the AM and I know they did take a quick walk at lunch....just once doesn't count...sorry gals, we get no medals for that. The Spring Woolrich line of clothing is coming in and is displayed for sale....beautiful stuff...I want it all, please come purchase some and save me from buying everything. Oh my gosh...all the new "birdie things" are coming in...so cute...must be what all those Robins are singing about every morning around 5:30.
Lets see...we've got Daylight Savings Time Saturday night....don't participate and lose one hour of age.
Easter is just around the corner...pack up the babies and come on down for the "Big Hunt"..look for eggs and such... Homemade Easter baskets ... Ole time candies and prizes in the general store...and by the way...all you folks looking for Cracker Jacks in the box...Mary Jane Candies...Moon Pies and all that good ole' stuff...Paint Bank General Store has it.
I would like to welcome "Tony Pope Bistro"on Crystal Spring Ave SW in Roanoke to the "Buffalo Herd". You can expect to find our "From our Farm to Your Table" Bison meat in Tony's fine restaurant. Tony's phenomenal cuisine prowess is known all over the area..Relax..Eat...Enjoy!!
All I have left to say is "Walk a lot...drive a little...carpool, save fuel....when you drive, get your money's worth and join us at Paint Bank for food and fun...while you're here, walk across the street to The Depot Lodge and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at you...you'll know me, I'm the one with the red face from sucking in my gut instead of exercising!

Oh my gosh...we're down to 13 days till Spring.

Word of the Day...Cabal...Kuh-Bahl....To form a Cabal means to conspire,intrigue, to plot...

what Robins do in the early morning to keep me from sleeping.

Paradise Found-The Train Ride

2008-03-06T07:54:00.004-05:00

It wasn't that easy to get to Paint Bank, Virginia. In Philadelphia you can get anywhere you want to quickly, after all it's 1870, everything in Philadelphia is modern, not so in the little back woods town that my Mother and Father insist is going to be our future and fortune. We had ridden and changed trains for 3 days, slept as we could, eaten on the run and I was tired...tired of all this traveling to someplace I didn't really want to go. I didn't even care that the sunrise that morning was really something Gothic....a brilliant sliver of gold cutting the mountain life a knife...I didn't even care that my Father, who had left 10 months earlier, had secured our new home and was there to pick us up for the long wagon ride 38 miles to Paint Bank. I didn't even care that he was deeply embedded and successful in his business and the home was a grand two story house with a position on Potts creek right in the middle of town. I don't even remember the 38 mile ride from Ripplemead, Va. over the breath-taking New River, through this paradise valley, past all the settlements in-between, down the drive to our beautiful new home. I wish I had been awake and alert that day, instead of sleeping the whole way. I wish I could have cataloged every inch of this Paradise we were traveling through...I wished I had put it to memory, but alas, I was 14 years old...I didn't care about anything important then. Now, I'm going to take the first train ride on the first day of The Potts Valley Train..a journey back through that valley that I came down almost 40 years ago...a sentimental journey recalling memories and people of the past...with an anticipation of a more memorable and exciting future...for the little back woods town of Paint Bank,Virginia is now,on this memorable day,on the precipice of becoming a destination.
(Join me for another installment of "Paradise Found" chronicling Paint Bank from it's inception in 1851 through booms and lean times till the present day.)

We're just 2 weeks away from Spring...14 days.

Word of the Day: Rara Avis (Rair-uh-Ay-vis) noun
Meaning: A rare or unique person or thing.

The Big Secret

2008-03-05T07:26:00.006-05:00

I think I've figured out more secrets to this age reversal thang. Aside from the obvious one day yield every 4 years from the "Leap Year Phenomenon", there's Day Light Savings....a 24 hour "reclamation"(made up word usage for age-reversal process)that can be taken advantage of 2 days a year. Here's how it works...if you don't participate...just refuse to live by the "spring-ahead" theory...in the fall, when we "fall-back"....you can get back one extra day...the one you didn't do in the spring, and the one you participated in at the fall change gives you two days a year. I know there's something about taking half of 365 divided by 2 (note:no division sign to use on computer) but there still is a minus (-) sign which lets you take away and the leap year takes a day away also...somewhere the formula is in there. I think I've probably aged a year while trying to figure this out...soooo...I'm just going to walk over to Paint Bank General Store and buy a bottle of the "Mother's Vinegar" to detox...gather "GQ" and "Mother Goose" and try, for the third time , to exercise for health. We'll eat healthy, grab a plate of brown beans, taters and onions,cole slaw and cornbread(ALL HOMEMADE by the way)from The Swinging Bridge restaurant and proceed with the exercises. And when you come to see us and if while you're walking from the parking lot to the store, you hear a gaggle of Canadian Geese making a"honking sound" above, it might just be us doing our deep knee bends. While you're here enjoying Paint Bank, walk across the street to the Depot Lodge and say "Hey"...I'll say hey back at you.

Only 15 days and Mother Nature SPRINGS into town

Wordage: Copacetic.(adjective Koh-puh-set-ik)

Meaning: Very satisfactory, fine.

My Daddy(God rest his soul) used this word all the time...I always thought it wasn't a real word....but it is...and that's copacetic!

Rockin' Robin

2008-03-04T07:56:00.005-05:00

Oh man, you can hear Vern coming down the holler' and announcing his coming is a gathering of Robins so vast this year that they must have been on birdie Viagra.
They've got so much to sing about, that they start before the sun rises...in unison, in tune, in time for my rising for the last three mornings. Are they anticipating an early arrival? Lordy I hope so...I won't tell anyone...just bring it on, birdies, I'll have the light on for you!
Out in our Feed and Seed at Paint Bank General Store, is the like of Birdie
accouterments so vast that you'll have trouble deciding what to adorn your yard with. You'll also find flags, pots 'n plants, feed 'n seed, lawn 'n garden...WHATEV'
to get you into Vern's big arrival...whether sooner or later.
Be sure to check out the General Store and The Swinging Bridge Retail for all the St. Patrick's and Easter adornments. We're open till 9:00 now and the restaurants open every day for breakfast and lunch... dinner Thursday through Sunday till 9:00.
While you're here, come across the street to the Depot Lodge to say Hey...I'll say hey back at you. You'll know me, I'm the one sitting on the porch with a welcome spring banner in my hand.

Only 16 days till the Spring event!

Word of the Day
Probity (pro-buh-tee)..Complete and confirmed integrity, uprightness.

Paradise Found...The valley

2008-03-02T13:03:00.004-05:00

March 15, 1870

"Let me tell you about this valley to which we're moving", my Mother said to me on that sunny March day,..."Mr. Putnam has written an account to your Father that he did for another gentleman...let me read an except for you". "I have traversed on horseback, and on foot the whole extent of the valley of Big Stoney Creek, and along Potts creek to the settlements. There are large bodies of land which are not excelled by any that I have seen. Dense forest of white pine, some of the trees more than a hundred feet high, a rich deep black soil and gentle slopes for drainage and cultivation, combine as many elements of value as can readily be found in one locality. The lands as far as my observation extends, are all heavily timbered but not in all places with white pine. There are walnut and black birch trees of unusual dimensions, oaks of every variety, chestnuts, beeches and maple. But little of the land is too stony for cultivation;grass grows spontaneously when openings are made, even on the tops of the mountain. Thousands of cattle and sheep could be pastured on these ranges, without expense, for the greater portions of the year, and those who have engaged in the business declare that they have doubled their money annually. Tobacco is largely cultivated in the vicinity and is very profitable, it grows luxuriantly of the hillsides". My Mother paused and looked to the sky saying in a breathy voice"sounds like paradise",then dropped her eyes and continued to read. "One other source of profit I have not yet alluded to, your lands would yield quantities of bark, which for generations, may be considered inexhaustible. It is much less expensive to carry the bark to the hides. You have pure water and cheap labor. There is no reason, therefore, why extensive tanneries should not be started and yield large returns". "And that", my young darling,"is what your father is going to build, only down the line a little farther close to a town named Paint Bank". What a dumb name,I thought. Oh well, what choice do I have and finished packing my valise for the long journey by train only to end up in some dead-end town with some dumb name....nothing like Philadelphia...now that has class.

Next excerpt...The Train Ride.

Paint Banks Potts Creek Valley still yields the best that Mother Nature has to offer. Take that ride down Big Stoney and Potts Creek and come see for yourself.

Only 19 days till the Vernal Equinox....Spring, can't wait.

Factoid!! The citrus soda 7 Up was created in 1929. #7 was selected because the original containers were 7 ounces; UP indicated the direction of the bubbles.

Paradise Found- Introduction

2008-03-01T09:21:00.006-05:00

(Weekly and sometimes daily publications)

Maybe age puts a new perception on life, or maybe it's the desire for a simpler time, whatever it is, I find myself lamenting and day-dreaming so much these days that the sounds and feeling of the past become reality. I want to take you on a trip that begins at Ripplemead Virginia, crosses the New River and ends up in Paint Bank, Virginia where I now live and work. It will be, at times, a wild and wonderful journey...at other times you'll wonder why I'm here, but you'll always...always know where You came from....great Americans...the folks that made YOU what you are and this Great country what it is. Your trip will take you through Norcross..Kimballton...Crafts...
Interior...Kire...Foley...Pettit...Ray...Waiteville...Laural Branch and end in
Paint Bank. Some of the stops are still there, some have been laid to rest by Mother Earth...and the span will be some 300 years. So get on board with me ride the Potts Valley Branch for a re-introduction to paradise and a quest to find out what life is really about....take the ride yourself from Hwy #460 down #635 to Paint Bank...you'll be glad you did!!

Countdown till Spring, when Vern comes to town...19 days...set the table.

Interesting facts....The first Model A Ford sold for $375.00 in 1927...I'm thinking that won't hardly put a month's worth of gas in.
How far have we really come?

Insane in the Membrane

2008-02-29T07:48:00.007-05:00

I'm amazed at how many people our Leap Year fountain of youth formula must be working on....no one has called to tell me that is doesn't work....I'm a positive person...no calls mean that it IS
working....another notch in our belt at Paint Bank for contribution to the well-being of mankind.
Also an update on Mom, GQ and my quest for the perfect body....not there yet...but I'm sure it's because we haven't started yet. You know that it doesn't count that we've not been successful in our diet endeavor, because we haven't started yet...we just talk about it so it doesn't count...RIGHT?...Good.
Definition of a new puppy: A precious, loving and adorable Tasmanian Devil that tears holes in every area of your body in an attempt to get to lord knows what and then runs uncontrollably through your house and literally bounces off door facings then "eliminates"inordinate amounts of waste everywhere except on the paper. But man, don't you just love them.

Make a trip this weekend to visit our Swinging Bridge retail and see what the "Diva of Design" and her staff have created for you. Beautiful St Patrick's day and Easter magic areas so you can
find what you need to commemorate that day. And GQ is always finding and putting in the General Store, items that you've asked for...just added.... the real ole' timey "Cracker Jacks" in the box....just one of the items that take you back to "real times". Come on in and shop for all kinds of goodies and try a piece of our "back by popular demand" Buffalo Jerky. While you're at Paint Bank...walk across the street and say Hey....I'll say hey back at you...you know it's me by the light shining through the "puppy punctures" in my body.

20 day till you know what!!!!

Answer to yesterday's question...Change these words into one word "One Hug"..A: ENOUGH.

Minus is plus

2008-02-28T08:07:00.004-05:00

Anticipation is invading my entire being...I feel like I'm reborn....LEAP YEAR is my "fountain of youth". Why hasn't anyone thought of this before..."Reversal of age via leap year participation formula"...the new "youth-anizing" thought process that activates a brain chemical which infuses endorphins causing age-reversal! Man!...it's what I'm about Dude, it has to work...maybe by activating that 90% or so of our brain that we don't use(or in my case 98%)...What...it could happen!!.We spend billions of dollars a year, slopping everything from animal extract to yew juice on our face and swearing that it makes us look younger why don't we give this a chance. Tomorrow, "Hallowed Leap Year Day"...I want you to take a post-it-note, write down the age you would like to be, drop it in a black waste-basket on the street corner near you... then call this toll-free number 1-800-970-3376....ask mamajama for the secret word....once you have it....say it 3 times as you do 3 deep knee bends while closing one eye...wait till 7:42 pm and look in the mirror...if you don't see immediate results, I'll have a deal for you. Come to Paint Bank General Store and try out the detox system in our new "Natural Health" section...it's just one FIND in our constant search for your benefit and happiness. Just this one time...try the" Leap Year" thing...if it doesn't work, we have 4 years to perfect it....I'll be waiting for your call.

Just 3 weeks...21 days till Spring...Vern never looks old...how does he do it?

Here's a fun mind worker....Anagram Puzzle...

Q: Change these words into one word..."One hug"
Get the answer in tomorrows blog.

The Bluebird of Happiness

2008-02-27T06:44:00.004-05:00

I always said that I was never going to get old! Well, that comment along with a dime won't buy a cup of coffee, so I guess I might as well accept the fact that I am lucky to get old. Not just the obvious...you know, what's the alternative...but the fact that I was lucky enough to grow up in the "Happy Days" era with Ozzie and Harriett as parents and "Opie, The Fonz,and Gidget as friends....truly...that was my life and it really don't get no better than that!!! Sadly, that day of innocence is gone...don't even turn on that "Boob Tube" there's an "R" rated news story at every 5 minute interval. So here's what we're gonna do folks....we're gonna invite you to "Pleasantville",or as it is better known..."Paint Bank, Virginia...just a short drive out #Hwy 311 north of Roanoke. As you start on this "Currier and Ives" drive, you'll get "The Feelin"...the closer you get...the more you get "The Feelin". Then it happens...you drop down off Potts Mountain into the world that only Ayn Ryan could describe...Paint Bank City Limits. The perfect place...the place that makes you think Aunt B's gonna come out of the kitchen and serve you cause the foods is THAT good and just like it was in "the day"...made from scratch. Or just around the corner, Floyd and Andy will be discussing baseball, and believe me "Ernest T" could come out of the mountains at any minute. It's just a real -good, feel -good place...kinda of like when I grew up...you know what I mean. Give yourself a treat...pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and come on to Paint Bank...while you're there, walk across the street to The Depot Lodge and say "hey"..I'll say"hey" back at you. You'll recognize me, I'm the one who'll remind you of......shoot....might as well go all the way....Marilyn Monroe...yea...that's me....still smokin'...in my dreams.

The big 22...that's all that's left till spring.

What's the word mockin' bird...
The word is LEEWAY
Definition: The lateral movement of a ship to the leeward of her course, drift.
Give me some leeway...I could be Marilyn Monroe.

A Giant Leap for Mankind?

2008-02-26T07:34:00.007-05:00

What's the deal with leap year....I mean I'm panicking...If life weren't confusing enough...hundreds of numbers and passwords to remember...every 4 years you've got to add another day to the calendar. Think about it....instead of just being the age you are....does this make you older? Every 4 years you're one day older...how long will it take to make you a year older...lets see 365 days in a year...every 4 years one day older...average 30 days in a month 12 months in a year....what's the math formula...365...WHAT...no divide symbol on the computer...well well well...oh come on, there's got to be one. There's a plus and minus, you can use an x for multiply...% is on there, no divide? Well that caps the stack. Then I choose NOT to participate in Leap Year...you can't divide...you can't leap. But wait..there IS a minus ...does that mean I can take a day off...I choose to do that..There is a ...Santa Clause...horse of a different color...pot of gold at the end of the rainbow...A Way To Get Young...Guess I'll participate after all. Tell you what!!! We like the minus sign sooo much...well take off 50% of something at Paint Bank General Store....GQ(grocery queen) at Paint Bank will take care of that for you. Come on, get younger with a minus in leap year at Paint Bank General Store...the epicenter of Youth.

We're minusing days till Spring...just 23 left.

WHAT'S THE WORD? Try HOGSHEAD

Defination...1 Hogshead equals 36 gallons....(that's a lot of pork chops.)

Wow Wow Woweee

2008-02-25T07:51:00.005-05:00

Let me first thank everyone who stopped by our Paint Bank booth at the Roanoke Civic Center this weekend. How wonderful it was to hear all the great comments about the restaurant, retail, general store, lodge and general atmosphere at Paint Bank....I cound had just given you "suger" It's nice to hear cause we work so hard to really and truly spoil you and do what it takes to make you feel good. You know what it is????it's believing in what we do and going that extra step to give you what you pay for....that's called "your money's worth" in case it's been so long since you had it, that you've forgotten what it's called. Potts Creek Outfitters and our Josh Duncan has more than doubled bookings for hunts this spring. It's easy to see why....the best game management and hunting around with almost 1000 acres of private hunt land and thousands of acres and habitat for game surrounding us. You know what...you big buck hunters...it's right here..food...fun and the best hunting and fishing around. Stay tuned folks for all the fun activities that are being planned for you in in Paint Bank City Limits....call me for any special events that you would like to celebrate...1-800-970-3376...or email me at mikell@depotlodge.com

Vern's coming to Paint Bank in 23 days...come celebrate with us!!

Weather...If you're gripping about the weather...you might want to shut your pie hole cause in
1914 in Society Hill, South Carolina they had 14 inches of snow...they didn't have central heat,TV, computers, cell phones....nothin' just 14 inches of snow...they probably thought the world was coming to an end

Yin - Yout

2008-02-23T11:59:00.004-05:00

My head is still spinning from all the goodies there are to see at the outdoor show at the Roanoke Civic Center. Out Potts Creek Outfitters booth is just to the right of the main entrance to the venue so we got to see all the" comins and goins'' and tempt everyone getting even close to our booth with Buffalo Stew....which by the way, they all love. We continue to give out samples of the new Buffalo Jerky....coming soon to a store near you...and getting rave reviews...5 distinctive flavors to suit every pallet. You need to stop by if you're in Roanoke...we'll be there through Sunday. An folks, The Swinging Bridge is open again ,as of today, for business with a face-life...actually it's a foot-lift because we re-did our beautiful wormy red oak floors. You need to treat yourself to one of our almost-famous meals, and then cross the street to the lodge and say "hey"...I'll say hey back at ya' and give you the grand tour. Your owe it to yourself to let us show you why "Spoiling you is our business."
While I've got your attention....how 'bout doing me a favor and mention to you grocery store, favorite restaurant, or even you school that we are now marketing and delivering our Heart-Healthy, low fat, low cholesterol Buffalo Meat. Feed yourself and your family for life-long health benefits...feed them Buffalo from Mountain Meats, "From Our Farm to you Table". Grown right here on Hollow Hill Farms, our meat is raised with no hormones or antibiotic additives. Look for Mountain Meats, coming soon to your store.

We're on the down-side of 30(wish I was)...26 days till Spring.

Food Facts... Buffalo(Bison ) Beef Chicken
total fat 2.42grams 9.28 grams 7.41 grams
cholesterol 82 mg 86mg 89mg
calories 143 211 190

(based on 100 g of cooked lean meat equivalent to 3.5 oz.

Outdoor/Indoor

2008-02-21T18:47:00.003-05:00

It's a good thing they plan Outdoor Sportsman shows for indoor or else they would have 7 people there...but they(who are They) did plan an outdoor show for the indoors today through Sunday at the Roanoke Civic Center. We have a booth this year and I'm real excited to see what all the hoopla is all about. Our hunt and fish division "Potts Creek Outfitters" headed up by a fly-fishin' machine...Josh Duncan...will be there to answer all your questions. Me, I'm just along for the fun of it...doleing out cups of homemade Buffalo Stew and samples of our soon to be famous Buffalo Jerky. Come by and let's talk, I'd love to meet you and tell you all about our "little piece of heaven".

A post script will follow later to let you know what's going on and if you tell me anything personal, it will probably be published on my Blog....just warning you ahead of time.

Just 27 days left till Vern comes to town.

Question of the Day...Does an increase in the number of wasps in the summer predict how the coming winter will be?
A. We are not aware that an increase in the wasp population serves as a weather predictor, however, the piece of folklore claims that when wasps are sealing twice as many live spiders in the mud incubator tubes to feed their young, you can expect a hard winter. Wow, who figures this stuff out...you can tell that these things were figured out befor TV, automobiles, cell phones, Blackberries, Computers or just about before LIFE itself.

The Fifth Dimension

2008-02-20T17:19:00.005-05:00

What a bummer....I have to wait another couple of years to see another Lunar Eclipse...why don't they plan those things when it's clear so everyone can see it? What I wanted to see was the complete alignment of the moon, sun and earth, but how can you see the sun if the moon is in front of the sun or you're in the middle?...I thought that this is the dawning of the age of Aquarius when Jupiter aligns with Mars, and peace will fill the planet and love will light the stars...or whatever the Fifth Dimension sang, I don't guess it was a Lunar eclipse after all. No seriously, where we live...no lights to dim the skies...we could have really had a real awesome view. Well if the Lord's willin' and the creeks don't rise, I'll be around for another one. Maybe then, The Depot Lodge will have a special Lunar Eclipse package, well give out mini telescopes, cups of Hot Mulled cider and tie-dyed tote sacks to carry everything in....it's a thought, I'll work on it. While you wait for that announcement, why don't you go ahead and book a special week-end with us in this century. Enjoy our special "spoil you" atmosphere, great food and beautifully appointed accommodations, and heck, you can even go outside and dance by the light of the moon...we don't care, you'd fit right in here at Paint Bank.

(note to the reader...I don't know if I could have seen it or not...it was snowing and cloudy in Paint Bank....I never looked out....but I bet it was AWESOME man.)

28 days till spring...can't wait!

Word of the Day...Equinox...
Definition: When the Sun crosses the celestial equator. This occurs two times each year...Vernal(Vern comes to town) around March 21, and Autumnal around September 28.

Day of reckoning

2008-02-20T07:57:00.006-05:00

I feel obliged to do follow ups on some of my bold statements that I actually felt secure enough with to put in writing...the one thing that the" statute of fraud" was invented for. ... to catch "liar liar pants on fire" people like me. I would like to preference this confession by saying..."it wasn't my fault"...the dog ate my homework"..."I was a victim of alien abduction"....here goes. GQ, Mother Goose and myself were to go on a fitness jaunt...we did it for one day...man is that lame. All we did was to succeed in making our muscles so sore that we walked like we had been riding bronking Buffalo all day. We talked a lot about it amongst ourselves, actually set times we were going to exercise, but with all the interruptions, alien abduction and stuff, we just couldn't get there.
WHATEVER....We're starting back today...wish us luck.
Updating the progress of the restaurant repairs, "Cindy Lou"," Reba" and "Steveareno" have been cooking and baking their little fingers to the bone, just to make you happy, just to make your life easier...just to make the world a better place (maybe that's an overstatement}. Come on down and have a little "lunch counter" special in the general store while "R and R" is going on...I believe today is "brown Beans (pintos) homemade potato soup...all kind of sandwiches including steak and cheese. The Swinging Bridge will re-open Saturday, even better than ever.
If you have the opportunity to be in Roanoke and around the Civic Center stop in and visit Josh Duncan of our Potts Creek Outfitters and myself (I'm the one with the food) at our booth for the outdoor show.

We're on the down side...29 days till Spring.

This is my personal question of the day.
When your better half is driving and asks your help with directions....you tell him where to turn and he misses that turn...why does he turn to you and say "If I needed your help, I would have asked you"....all I can answer with is You're the one that I love(you are the one I love)..ohh ohh ohhh...you're the one that I love(you are the one I love)...oohh oohh oohhhhh(thank you Olivia Newton John and John Trivolta)

New puppy smell

2008-02-19T07:50:00.007-05:00

There is nothing more innocent and loving than a new puppy. A toe-chewing, face-licking, drop anywhere body-eliminating ball of unconditional and uncontrollable energy. And that puppy-breath smell, it just makes you smile all the time till your face hurts. We picked up our new pup yesterday, a Parsons "Jack Russell" pup that has been dubbed "Agnes of Huntley"or "Aggie"
for short....what austere names we give such little creatures. They're not destined to become president...or doctors...or lawyers, not even managers of The Depot Lodge, but oh my, they hold the top spot in the "pecking order" in our family. So I've decided to go ahead and have the will , the deed to the house and the titles to everything changed now...it's just the way we feel about those head-cocking little things. While I'm in The Swinging Bridge Retail, I plan on picking up one of those signs that says all the stuff about your pet that's true, like I'm the Dog, head of the house, I take my family for a walk every day or something to the order. Enough said about my dog....YOU know exactly what I mean!
Let me inform all you folks that were coming to eat Friday...the restaurant won't open back up till Saturday, the floors can't be walked on till then....I hate it, we thought we'd be open for Friday.....what's the saying..."best laid plans of mice and men"....I'll just blame it on the mice....
just call...I'll cook for you and serve you in the Lodge or better, just plan on coming Saturday.

The big 30...just 30 days till Vern's day...Spring.

Here's a good word...Scuttlebutt...
Definition:...A report(often malicious)about the behavior of other people. I think people ought to butt out instead of talking scuttlebutt!

A brief sabbatical

2008-02-18T06:32:00.009-05:00

We're doing our spring cleaning early in Paint Bank because when Vern hits, it's a wild time in the ole' town. Right now, The Swinging Bridge is closed for improvements....some like the floor being re-finished are obvious, but the rest are out of sight.. You'll still be able to eat cause we're still cooking. Available for you in the General Store will be a myriad of our famous "from scratch" mouth-watering buttermilk breakfast biscuits...made fresh that day and topped with country sausage...bacon egg..cheese and etc. On the "chop block" ,will be homemade Buffalo Trail stew...and... Hey... we grow that meat here...butcher it locally...we know what's going on and there isn't any recall meat here...just fresh from the farm to you.

We'll also have a soup of the day and fresh deli sandwiches in the cooler...after all ,"Cookin'" is our middle name.

We had a great week-end and want to give out a big "thank you" and Holler to the hundreds of folks who stopped by to see us...we appreciate your business.

The Swinging Bridge will open back up this Friday with all that "slap your mama cookin" so yall make plans to come on down....and while you're her...come across the street to the Lodge and say Hey...I'll say Hey back at you.

Only 31 days left to "Vern" comes to town.

Question of the Day...Why is the name John Hancock synonymous with "your signature" ?
John Hancock's big bold signature on the Declaration of Independence dwarfed all the others. Legend has it that Hancock want the King of England to see his rebellious signature without having to wear his spectacles.

Fez for Prez

2008-02-17T08:32:00.011-05:00

Monday is President's Day and should be a heart-filled observance by everyone for the dedication our forefathers had in making our country what it is today. Of course, George Washington was our first...Abe Lincoln was noted for many great deeds...Teddy and Frank D made their mark...."give 'em hell Harry"is remembered for certain benchmarks...but no one can remember the want-to-be's...the one's who had a claim to fame but didn't make it up that San Juan Hill on election Day. So for this Presidents Day, we in Paint Bank would like to remember one of our own.....Fezwald Penderhook. Fez, for short, was a tall statue of a man and had been planning to run for president since the day he was 16 years old. Fez had a long lineage in Potts Creek Valley and it seemed it was his intent-in-purpose to continue that lineage in a big way....I mean Big! You've heard of a gaggle of geese, a flock of birds, a herd of Buffalo...a Murder of Crows...well Fez had a large distinction...he was the proud Paterfamilias of his own personal campaign party of 17...each child with it's own purpose in the party strategy. And to just what their special great secret was....well that had been breasted closely till the day he threw his hat in the ring. On the morning of that great historic occurrence, Fez's
wife, Fiona dressed all of the 17 kids in red-white and blue...lined the up according to age...marched to town with he and his wife pulling up the rear. As the town proper drew closer, it seemed the birds sang louder, the dogs baked more, the cows mooed more harmoniously and Fez's smile grew broader...his life-long plan was to come to fruition. Stopping his beloved group right on the dirt square, he motioned to Ted "toots" Theilman who promptly heralded on his harmonica...de de de dede de. In unison each child put his hand on his waist,lifted his red, white and blue shirt to expose their midriff. On each...in perfectly matching font was a single letter that spelled out....
F E Z W A L D P E N D E R H O O K... on Fez was ..FOR..on Fiona was..PREZ
Well at this sudden exposure, the crowd burst into applause and it seemed, even though Fez never really ran for President, he knew he would always be remembered for what he had accomplished. And this, my friend, is more than some who actually won the job could boast. Maybe, just having enough kids to carry your name is enough...I don't know...I could be wrong.

Only 32 days till Spring.

Question of the Day...How did the pretzel originate?

The pretzel is a traditional Lenten food that originated over a thousand years ago. Some say that it was made to resemble arms crossed in prayer. In fact, "pretzel" may have come from the Latin word, braceilae, meaning little arms.

Just Winging it

2008-02-16T10:14:00.003-05:00

I know it's getting close...Vern's appearance that is(the vernal equinox) ...when the birds are singing, no matter what! I mean there's ice on the ground and in the creek...it's colder than blue-blazes and they're just standing around on limbs singing a little ditty. My daddy used to say "ignorance is bliss" and at first glance you might think these birdies are dumb for not " sleepin' in" on such a cold morning...but really, they've got more sense in their birdie bill than we do in our whole body. Early rising in the winter(especially in the mountains around me) is a glorious happening, so I decided to give it a try. At 5:30 AM I slid quietly out of bed (boy is it "darkcity" out here...no city lights)threw a log in the wood stove, loaded the coffee pot with that dark...leaded fuel..opened my blind in front of my desk and booted ole' Betsy up....my normal routine only much earlier. After checking 3 emails,bank account balance and the front page, I glanced up and out the window at something I'd never seen before at this time of year....a tiny little explosion of brilliant orange stripping across the crest of the mountain illuminating what seemed like millions of winged creatures flitting and scurrying from shrub to shrub. What could they be in such a hurry about.?The excitement was catching, so much to do...so little time...Vern's coming and I won't be ready...must pick out a spot...gather twigs and grass...build my home...find a wife...find a food supply.....How uncomplicated,gratifying and focused that life must be. As the sun unfolded its arms over the mountain and lit up the rest of the darkness, it became evident that there was even more activity , baby calves jumping in Ray's pasture, squirrels running the limbs, morning doves lined up on the power wire, deer rising up from the mist to hit the woods before all the interruptions came....it was really quite special. Something that everyone ought to experience....and can...just book a room a t the lodge or houses. As the sun made it up higher, I grabbed my depot tote bag and headed 300 yards down the road to work....Work...huh...there ain't no way I could keep up with those birds, why I don't really know what real work is....in my warm house, going to the fridge for my food, pulling on my warm coat....those critters know hard work, yet they sing every morning, no matter what....no matter what the weather. I'm the one that should be singing, I've got it made...take a lesson from the birds, THEY'RE the smart ones!
A birdie with a yellow bill.
Sat upon my window sill
Cocked his shining eye and said
Get out of be you sleepy head!

Just 33 days left till Spring!!

Word of the Day...Clodhopper...a rude, rustic fellow....Do you know any, I do!

Leaps and Bounds

2008-02-15T14:14:00.003-05:00

It's amazing to me how much the wide spot in the road called "Paint Bank" has gown since I came here 14 years ago. What had then seemed like a "time gone by' has like "Phoenix rising for the ashes", become a bustling, alive destination again. Just last evening, we were celebrating Chuck Cupid's day with some of the finest Prime Rib I've ever put in my mouth, thanks to "Burger-slayer" and his peeps at the Swinging Bridge. At the lodge, we had newly-weds in the caboose,(what a train ride that was). In the cottage was a great family of 5(3 kids) from Bedford, who remarked that the kids didn't need entertaining here...there was the creek ...woods...farmland and surrounding area for them to explore. Then there were the folks at the cabin on the creek, who could relax in complete solitude. But if you want excitement, coming soon, are adventure .packages....and oh, Tinglers Mill will be crankin' up in the near future. So stay tuned folks...after a brief message from one of our sponsors, we'll be right back...

Are your lips dry and cracked from the winter weather...are they too parched to pucker...well what you need,folks, is a tube of Bert's Bee's medicated lip balm with clove oil...guaranteed to give you pucker-power and sweet smelling breath at the same time....you'll find it upstairs in The Swinging Bridge Retail...great other sale bargains, like 60% off on all Woolrich Clothing,too.

Now back to our main attraction...the Word of the day... Psychrometer......
An instrument used for measuring the water vapor in the air. Boy, that word ought to come in handy at this week's sales meeting!

Where the Deer and Buffaloaf

2008-02-14T08:00:00.002-05:00

Take my word for it...if you haven't already, you will end up visiting Paint Bank,Va., if for no other reason than just to "plug in" and heal yourself, because you deserve it and no matter what route you choose to get here, it's a "Currier and Ives" drive. For at least one trip,I suggest the road less traveled, Rt.#635 at the White Rocks exit off #460. Now drive slow...you won't want to miss one iota of the 25 mile ride that stops flat on the square of Paint Bank. Note to the driver; you might just want to pull off onto the shoulder when you get to Hollow Hill Buffalo Farm...rubbernecking could be hazardess to you health while looking from one side to the other at the Buffalo and Deer aloing in the fields. While we don't offer deer at The Swinging Bridge Restaurant, we do offer prime Buffalo dishes, and this weekend "Buffaloaf"(Buffalo meatloaf) is our specialty. You'll want to taste this healthly, 'ole timey dish, pick up a recipe card next to the Buffalo freezer and get a 5% discount on the Buffalo meat you buy for that dish.
It's going to be a beautiful kickin' great time in Paint Bank with a special dinner for lovers tonight in the restaurant....great accomadations at the lodge with Valentine's lovers gifts....'ole time' specials through Sunday in the store and restaurant...so come on down to "the town" Paint Bank City limits..."The epicenter of Love" If you see Chuck Cupid, tell him I said "hey".

Celebrate..only 35 days till Spring!

Word for the Day...Chin-wag..
Definition...light formal conversation for social occasion.

How to use in a sentence...Hi Betty, isn't this a nice party and wasn't the chin-wag delicious.

Got a better use of the word?..email me at mikell@depotlodge.com..let me know.

LOVE....HATE

2008-02-13T08:53:00.006-05:00

I love what the computer can do for you..I mean anything you want to know is right at your fingertips....But I'm going to say this and hope that the computer guru...that evil gnome that sits and waits for me to turn this sucker on and start typing...to screw up everything I type. It's got to be a mystical thing cause so much couldn't go wrong at one time under a real human's watch. For instance, somewhere in the "black hole of computerism"(yea, Mr gnome, I know that's not a word but I'll type it if I WANT to) are about a million well thought out, spell-checked and articulately written emails that just disappear while I'm writing them...WHAT HAPPENED...no automatic save draft, well excuussee (oh put your little red line under it till you choke) me all to pieces. Whatever, some of you folks that got my 10th email that wasn't very nice, understand that the computer guru ate my first 9 nice brilliant compositions. All I really hope is that I don't push one of these magical buttons and launch an ICBM and start a world war...Now if you'll excuse me, this stupid thing wants to "restart" because of some updates that I didn't ask for.

Just 36 days till spring.

Word of the Day....BOONDOGGLE.

Definition: Work of little or no value done merely to look busy.
Is the computer a Boondoggle for mankind?

*#@$$#^^Quit talking to me!!!!!

Who's Mr Clark

2008-02-12T08:27:00.000-05:00

I love Clark Bars, it's still one candy bar that doesn't taste like it's been sitting in the carburetor of your engine for 3 weeks. There's not much that taste like "real food" anymore, so I appreciate that homemade taste,even if it's not homemade. So you know what we're gonna do for you at Paint Bank General Store. This year for Chuck Cupid's annual memorial day...Valentines Day...we're gonna make....real homemade, death by chocolate, killer fudge...fudge soooo good that you'll throw all that factory made stuff away...fudge so good that it will make you cry. This is our Valentine's gift to you and I promise, one taste is gonna bring back that ole' time feeling that you used to get when Saturday morning came and you didn't have school, or when your mama pulled that fresh baked cake out of the oven, or how you felt at 7:28 on Friday night just before your date picked you up .
Come to Paint Bank and peruse through all the unique Valentine's gifts or let one of our people design a Valentine gift basket for you. Buy you an extra piece of fudge and eat on the way home so you won't have to share it. Valentine's is Thursday, but we're extending it through Sunday here at Paint Bank, "the epicenter of love".

Only 37 days till Spring!

Birthday Lore of the Day for Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Although a good and clear reasoner, you are, at a critical time, apt to be impractical. Speculation would be dangerous for you. You are fond of music and art and have some ability for both. You prefer the company of the opposite sex and are quite popular.

From The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Word of the day

Argy Bargy....A verbal dispute...a wrangling argument

Sweet Mother of Pearl

2008-02-11T10:59:00.001-05:00

Alright...I GIVE...no more cold weather, fire and petulance...I'll be good and put a quarter in the jar if you'll just bring warm weather! Where does Mother Nature live anyway? She's up a holler dug in deep this year and giving us our well-deserved slap in the face for forgetting she's in charge. Since she's being an uncontrollable witch this year, I think we need to figure out how to get in touch with her much more congenial and cooperative step-sister, "Mother of Pearl". The last I heard, she had a TV gig in a small cameo for an insurance company. It was filmed somewhere up north(we know what happens to you when you go up there)and she hasn't been seen since. All the gang at Paint Bank have decided to uniformly raise our windows at 1:42 and shout out "I'm mad as h*## and I can't take it anymore so Mother of Pearl come knocking at my door"!. How bout doing it with us...if that doesn't work I'm headed up the holler for Paint Bank Paul who saw his shadow and we're going to have some real groundhog gravy!!!

Think Warm weather. Only 38 days till Spring!!

Here's a cleaning tip for stained plastic storage containers....
Rub stained container with a damp rag dipped in baking soda...if that doesn't work,fill it with water and drop in 2 foaming denture cleaning tablets and let sit for 20 minutes.

Sunday Edition

2008-02-10T08:12:00.000-05:00

Calender of Events for February

Paint Bank City Limits is buzzing with excitement for the upcoming week of February 11 thru 17.

Monday - We'll be introducing all our new weekly Buffalo Specials in the Swinging Bridge Restaurant. We want you to try our own farm raised Buffalo in all types of recipes,so we'll be offering a new "Buffalo Blue Plate Special" every week.
All Week in Paint Bank General Store there will be special offerings on our own Highlander and Buffalo products with recipe cards available for that weekly special. Learn how to eat healthly with products raised right on our farm.
Check out all the retail sections for sale items and new spring items arriving daily.
Thursday is Valentine's Day...you OWE it to that sweetheart of yours to take them out for a special "show how much you care night" The Swinging Bridge and the Depot Lodge want to help. Make reservations for a special Sweetheart's meal of Prime Rib or Crab-stuffed flounder Valentines evening.
If you haven't made reservations for that weekend, you're in luck..We have a few rooms left...call about special package offers.

One February 22,23 and 24th come visit our booth at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Visit with Potts Creek Outfitter's Josh Duncan and learn all about our
fly-fishing and hunting packages. Of course I'll be there with FOOD...stop by
for a taste test of some of Paint Bank's almost famous foods.

ONLY 39 DAYS LEFT TILL SPRING!!!!

Tip For The Day.

If you have wood furniture that's water-marked...make a thin paste of salad oil and sale, massage on water-mark with finger tips...let it sit for an our...then wipe off with clean cloth...sometimes baking soda tooth paste works also.

CHARLES CUPID

2008-02-09T08:18:00.001-05:00

The upcoming week in Paint Bank will be a much anticipated and busy one. After all, the entire world; just about, celebrates the one day in history that was memorialized for one of our native sons...Charles Cupid...or as his best friends call him...Chuck. Back around the turn of the century when Paint Bank was in it's "Hey Day",Chuck was a very prominent, and well thought-of citizen. In the early 1900's, Paint Bank lauded a population of around 2000. It had it's own school house, marching band, dentist,lawyer,you name it, and it even had it's own marriage counselor...you guessed it...the well know imminent counselor of love...Chuck Cupid. Now Chuck could not claim being degreed in this field, heck, Chuck only had a third grade education, but he did have the reputation of being quite the ladies man and boasted more girlfriends that anyone else in the valley. Now at the onset, one might think this was a pretty good position to be in, but for Chuck it would prove fatal. One day, as the train made it's daily run from Ripplemead to the Paint Bank Depot, a beautiful and somewhat alluring young woman dis-embarked the train. Well, Chuck being the self-appointed welcoming committee was johnny-on-the-spot to offer her assistance from the train and at first glance of her was hopelessly and uncontrollably smitten,so much so that no words, at least discernible words, would come out of his mouth. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't make sense when he spoke. She said, "Hey, my name is Val, can you tell me where the hotel is"? Chuck blubbered..uuupd...uuupde..rrr. Val just smiled and walked in the direction he was pointing. Without asking, he bent over and picked up her small brown Samsonite suitcase and walked behind her, muttering all the way. Now what a terrible thing to happened...especially to someone with Chuck's reputation and prowess for the "gift of gab" and by the look in his eyes, you could tell it was getting the best of him. At this point,Val stopped cold in her tracks and with a movement as light as air movement, turned to Chuck and asked "Is there someplace to get a cup of coffee? His reply was something you wouldn't want your worst enemy to experience. The slobbering and contortions his face took on was humiliating...and you could see right then that this wasn't just temporary...this would be a life long affliction. As she took her suitcase and ascended the steps to the hotel lobby she turned to Chuck and said with the slightest " Mona Lisa smile" on her lips,"you've been so kind"...that's it..that's all she said, nothing really. No innuendos, no come hither look...nothing...just"you've been so kind", but to Chuck, this was earth shattering, monumental, a declaration of undying love....to which his reaction was an instantaneous SWOON, not just an ordinary swoon, mind you, but the swoon of all swoons to which he dropped to the ground with such an earth-shattering force that it registered a 6.9 on the Richter Scale 30 miles down the road at Virginia Tech. From that point on, Paint Bank was known as the epicenter of love and Chuck Cupid was dubbed the official Cupid of Love, all because of the day that Val was in town....or as the blubbering Chuck would say...valentine....you got it Valentine Day. Man that was painful..bet you thought I'd never finish(refer to the word of the day)
'
Come on down to Paint Bank and help us celebrate Chuck Cupid's Day...Valentine Day...stay at The Depot Lodge with your sweetie and get a gift certificate to the Swinging Bridge Restaurant...we still have a few rooms left. If I run into Chuck, I'll tell him your coming.

40 days till spring!

Word for the Day...Blatherskite - A blustering, talkative person.

FORBIDDEN SUBJECT

2008-02-08T08:24:00.000-05:00

Alright, I've had it, this is the last morning that I do the "Hokey Pokey"(that's not a Tech slur) to get into my jeans...no more over-reacting, door-slamming, sailor-cussing, self-judgmental, 10 minute running-in-place to zip up my pants A.M.'s. I have made a pact, laid down the law, put down my foot and counted to 3...I Will Get My "Kate Hudson" look alike body by this Vernal Equinox!!!! You can do it with me, If you like, cause I think I've got a pretty good plan.

You must get someone to do it with you...I'm recruiting two gals at my office, let's call them Mother Goose (Mom) and "The Grocery Queen, or GQ for short. They're controllable and close at hand for transferral abuse if need be.
Come to Paint Bank General Store and buy our De-tox your body book (GQ will know which one) and follow the directions on the De-tox cocktail.
Do Yoga....it's the quickest, laziest way to tone your body.
Eat Buffalo Meat....It's lower in fat and cholesterol than skinless chicken or fish...So high in protein and such a highly nutrient-dense food that even the smallest amount keeps you full-feeling so much longer that you don't eat as much. And to top off all that...it's about the best tasting, tenderest thing you ever put in your mouth...That's not just me selling...it's REALLY true!

We're gonna see the results in just 30 days, if we follow the rules, and of course, don't reward
ourselves with chocolate cake, Snickers and Ding-Dongs.
E-mail me at mikell@depotlodge.com and let me know how you're doing...and while you're in Paint Bank, be sure to try our new Buffalo Jerky...it's really low-fat all natural, no preservatives and a great snack...all you Jerky-lovers let us know what you think.
Okay, I'm off with a new outlook , on a quest for Life, Liberty, The American Way and a killer body.

Only 41 days left till Spring!

Here's your "work into a conversation word of the day"

Phenology-The study of natural, periodic events in the life-cycle of plants and animals.

HILLBILLIES RULE

2008-02-07T08:11:00.000-05:00

I once was a flatlander( the folks who don't have the mountains to look at)...but now I am a Hillbilly(the folks who live in, look at, love and lament for the mountains. It's a special breed of people because you HAVE to learn how to take care of yourself and survive a lot of conditions. I'm convinced that if the world went to "hell in a hand-basket" it would be the Hillbillies that survived. First of all, we(Hillbillies) all know how to make a FIRE... the number one means of survival.... warmth, cooking and light. Now I don't mean one of those pretty fireplaces in the den that you build when you want aesthetics or at holidays or when the power goes out.....I mean a gooood Buck Stove fire that's a utility fire...that must be stroked and stoked...that must be fed...that you must never let go out or you'll loose your entire sense of well-being and security. You see, in the colder weather climates (those areas where your dish rag doesn't sour every two hours and stuff actually goes dormant in the winter) you are "in love" with that fire at least 9 months out of the year. You always get brown paper bags in the grocery store...cause they're the best things to start a fire with or.....newspapers...read them then feed them to the fire...cereal boxes...tear them up and feed them to the dragon...twigs..bark pieces...splinters of wood....pallets...anything that's burnable and clogging up the land fills in the cities, is used as fire starters in the mountains. And best of all....it's great for slow cooking. I promise, if you try cooking on a live fire, you'll never need electricity again. Get 2 trivets(those little
things that you didn't know what to do with) put them on the top of the wood stove and sit a kettle of water on one, it'll boil directly for tea. On the other, set a 6 quart pot and put in one chopped onion,a chopped celery stalk, 4 big carrots cut in chunks..wash and cut up three potatoes(leave the skins on) a cup of corn and a cup of green or lima beans, a can of whole tomatoes, 4 cups of water, a teaspoon of red pepper flakes ,salt and pepper, put the lid on and let it slow cook all day. If you want to, drop a few pork chops or chicken pieces in. It's soooo good! Even better, you've done something that doesn't need modern technology...that sense of Crow Magnum raw power and survival...ooahh! Hey, if anyone has anymore live fire stove top recipes, e-mail them to me at Mikell@depotlodge.com.

If you haven't put in that wood stove yet, come on down to Paint Bank for some slow-cooked Buffalo Trail Stew....it's mouth-watering good and the healthiest meat you can eat...even healthier than chicken or fish.

Just 42 days left till Spring!!!!

Make your own wood floor polish
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
mix ingredients well, rub on wood floor, buff with clean dry cloth

Once In A Blue Moon

2008-02-06T09:23:00.000-05:00

I often catch myself saying things that are rediciously not true just because they've been said for a long time....like "I'd like to jerk a knot in them" or I'm having a "Bad Hair Day" that's just a "Drop in the Bucket" or "A little Bird Told Me" (Yea right, have you taken you medication today") Chances are, these sayings are all just "a pack of lies", but "Once in a Blue Moon" they might be true. Let's take the latter...what is a Blue Moon? What I found on the internet says that a "Blue Moon" happens every 2 1/2 to 3 years when a single month has 2 full moons and the second is cristened the"Blue" one. Or take this one "a man of few words" I know a few of those, but then again, maybe I was talking so much when I was around them that they "couldn't get a word in edgewise"..."a face that only a Mother could love"...why, that's just ugly. You know, we really "don't know diddly squat" about what any of them really mean so I quess that makes me "a day late and a dollar short"so why don't I just "shut my pie hole".

Here's one that's true..".you are what you eat"!...Eat healthly...come by Paint Bank General Store for some healthly low fat Buffalo Meat, the original red meat... raised right on our farm. Now that's "As fresh as it gets....and coming back....better than ever...Buffalo Jerky..5 fantastic flavors to choose from!!!

Garden of Weedin'

2008-02-05T08:30:00.000-05:00

It's springlike days like these that bring out the seed catalogs, short-sleeve shirts and flip-flops...the only problem is the ultraviolet glow of you winter faded body armor that makes you look more like a cadaver than a live breathing person....well GET OVER IT!! Snub your nose to all those judgmental want- to- be lean, mean and tan super-models that will soon be chunky old and wrinkled...and walk outside to your garden and put on your dream-weaver bonnet and plan your garden. Lay it out on paper...a nice combination of leafy vegetables,root crops, beans and peas and culinary herbs. You don't have to have a big area, you can just plant them among your perennials and annual flowers. The highly scented herbs, such as dill,basil and sage and annuals like marigolds and zinnias are great deer deterrents. You might want to get a small roll of chicken wire to hoop over the top of your greens...this is another way not to share the bounty with hopping and nibbling creatures. Here's a better idea. Come and visit us at Paint Bank General Store and walk out to our Seed and Feed and gather up all your gardening needs. Seeds, Bulbs, garden fru-frus, flags, birdhouses and bird feed, pots,heirloom plants, as well as other yard pretties. We'll be opening before the vernal equinox so you'll be prepared. Stop in and have a bowl of good hot homemade soup or a sandwich while you're there.

Remember....Life is a coin and you can spend it anyway you like, but know this, you can only spend it once.

Go green every chance you get...compost.

Only 44 days left till Spring!!

Monday's aren't creative

2008-02-04T10:57:00.001-05:00

Paint Bank City Limits...Weekend Edition Post Script

2008-02-03T11:16:00.000-05:00

( Post Script to our Ground Hog Story...names have been changed to protect the innocent)

As I crossed the road to Paint Bank General Store this Saturday past, I encountered a delightful group of gals from Bedford Virginia embarking their vehicle to partake in some mouth-watering vittles from the Swinging Bridge Restaurant. As I engaged them in a conversation,they presented me with a printed copy of our Friday's blog about groundhogs. The ringleader of this group...let's call them " Clara Bubba and The Bedford Beauties"... said to me, "we drove all the way for some ground hog gravy and biscuits and to tell you about My recipe for the stuff". Well, all you had to do is look in Clara Bubba's eyes and you knew you were gonna have a good time just talking to her and her gang.....and lord knows were all about havin a good time in Paint Bank. We commenced to make our way thru the store, into the restaurant placed orders for the "Almost Famous Paint Bank Sub and the "Paint Bank Steak and Cheese(you can't these in Philadelphia) Sub"...then proceeded with our hen party. I ask Clara Bubba her groundhog weapon of choice..a 22 long rifle or a Goodyear 375 15 radial and she said she preferred her trusty 22 long cause her road-kill hunting" wasn't as accurate. She recalled the day that she notched her gun stock 9 times. The first groundhog, she got with her gun out her shop window...the next three she spotted only gleaned her two of the three...for the next 6 she decided to go into the house and finally get a bullet for the gun cause her throwing arm was getting tired. Well after a good belly laugh...some conversation about lickin' the bowl of our ole timey homemade "Nanner Puddin'...she said with that gleam in her eye..."I think I'll wait till next time to give you my recipe"...and that was good news because it meant I'd have another chance to "chew the fat" so to speak with "Clara Bubba and The Bedford Beauties". Thanks gals for making my day!!!

Question of the Day..Does tomato juice actually work for a dog that's been sprayed by a skunk. Yes it does. It's probably the acid in the tomato juice that neutralizes the skunk smell, but you'd better wear rubber gloves to do it or you'll end up like Woody J...maybe we ought to try that on him.

Paint Bank City Limits..Weekend Edition

2008-02-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

(All tales are true, some we just wish they were and names are changed to protect the innocent)

Saturday mornings are jumpin' in Paint Bank...it's gettin' about as excitin' as when Woody J. got pinned in the middle barn up at Hollow Hill Farm by a female skunk that wanted to have her way with him. Woody, being a quick thinker (seeing as how he used to be a cop up north) immediately pulled out his walkie-talkie to call for back-up. HELP HELP...Woody here Woody here..I'm being attacked...Come quick. Well, at that urgent call for help, the entire local EMT.. the Waiteville Volunteer Fire Dept.... the entire Paint Bank Fire Dept.(driving "The Boss" a gift from Bruce Springsteen, and loads of guys in pick up trucks came to the rescue. Unfortunately before they got there(you guessed it)..she had lavished him with her latest version of " Midnight In Paris". Now that skunk must have seen something in Woody that none of us could see cause she laid such a potent scent of love on him that the female Buffalo in that middle barn commenced to demolishing everything in their way to reach their Sultan of Scent. Now I'm not goin' to elaborate about the scene that the rescuers found that day, but I will tell you that it took 2 hours to prize his hands from around the Chestnut Oak ridge pole 30 foot up top of the barn.
So believe me, when you come to visit with us, you'll know when Woody's comin' to town...even before he gets here.
By the way...join us tomorrow, Super Bowl Sunday for a "super bowl" of healthy, low fat Buffalo Chile Beans at The Swinging Bridge Restaurant... then come see me across the street to the Lodge and take the time to say "HEY"....and I'll say Hey right back at you.

FYI..According to researchers over a 60 year period, the groundhog has accurately predicted the coming of spring 28% of the time.

GROUND HOG FOR BREAKFAST....YUMMY

2008-02-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

Well we've made it another year and we're all anxiously awaiting the appearance of Paint Bank Paul, a somewhat obscure and little known groundhog that lives up Bear Wallow Holler, near Paint Bank Va. Now Paul was once very famous, but due to the advent of the accelerated fame of his brother Phil, who self-banished himself to the beautiful mountains around us. Paul is actually a very late riser, as a matter of fact, we have to set up flood lights around 10:45pm in order for him to come out...see his shadow and run back into his den. This officially kicks off a very special dish that we feature in our Swinging Bridge Restaurant..
the often imitated but never duplicated Ground Hog Gravy...ladled over fresh ...hot...home made buttermilk biscuits. Drop by for Groundhog Day and have a taste of the real thing Ground Hog Gravy and biscuits.

Take a Train Ride to Almost Heaven

2008-01-30T08:05:00.000-05:00

Sometime during the night, a train roared through the mostly peaceful village of Paint Bank, Va...only this time it wasn't carrying passengers it was bringing more cold weather....so we put another big log of white oak on the fire, close down the dampers...and go about our daily business of readying the Depot Lodge for your stay. It may be cold outside but it's warm and cozy inside with every attention to detail to make your stay comfortable from fresh-baked Nancy's sticky buns to starched and ironed pillow cases and sheets. To show you how much we want to spoil you at the lodge, we're offering a special Valentines Sweetheart Stay.We'll give you a $25.00 gift certificate to the almost famous Swinging Bridge Restaurant
if you make a reservation before February 12th. Hey cupid...pull back your bow and be your sweeties hero...take a train ride for a heavenly stay at The Depot Lodge, beautiful downtown Paint Bank,Va.

Paint Bank City Limits

2008-01-27T17:46:00.000-05:00

If you ever wanted to step back in time...where life is sweeter and the view makes you feel small and thankful to be alive...then wrap up the baby and grab the ole' lady and make a bee-line to beautiful downtown Paint Bank Va......population 4 old perple, 4 kinda young folks...3 youngins' soon to be 4. Located 50 miles north of Roanoke, Va., Paint Bank is nestled in Potts Creek Valley surrounded by the beautiful Alleghany mountains. If that's not enough to bring you a runnin' then maybe the food and accomadations will. Our Swinging Bridge Restaurant boasts some of the finest "homecookin'" around...so fine that we're almost famous. In fact, we're so proud of our food that we want to invite you to a special Valentine Sweetheart Dinner featuring Prime Rib and Crab-stuffed flounder. It's a special Valentine's eve dinner by reservations only. Be your sweethearts hero and make a reservation by calling 1-800-970-3376 or 540-897-5099.

Welcome to the Paint Bank News Page

2007-11-16T16:01:00.000-05:00

Thanks for stopping by our newly launched blog. Check back often for news and updates on the latest events going on in Paint Bank, Virginia.