I Can See The Pines Are Dancing

On Saturday, Rob took me back to the mill in Yancyville as I'd been wanting to return with a tripod and get better photos than our previous visit. We took some shots outside and then climbed into the building.

The building is pretty unstable but with care and attention I managed to negotiate my way around and set up my camera. I was just getting into the mood when I heard Rob calling me so I looked out of the window to see him below and a hippie in a van stopped by the side of the road. The hairy dude was obviously causing issues about us trespassing but I'd hardly got any photos so I ignored them and headed up to another floor. 

The stairs are extremely dodgy and by the time I'd got to the top of the building, my conscience was getting the better of me and I felt guilty about leaving Rob to face the music. At another call from him, I stuck my head out of the window to immediately receive a loud comment, "You're taking an extreme imposition!" or something to that effect. I ducked back in and snapped a few more photos, sighed loudly, and very begrudgingly descended to speak to this obnoxious character.

He claimed to be the owner which was complete codswallop as he'd obviously come from the commune down the road, and started berating me loudly, all the time glaring ferociously at me. I took in his tatty clothes, braided hair, scruffy beard and beat up van and calmly asked for his name, explaining that I knew who owned the building and that there were no plans for salvaging the mill, and also no signs up warning off trespassers. He then asked me if I wanted a shovel to dig myself deeper. I nearly spluttered but kept my calm and asked again for his name which he declined to give. I'd had enough by now so I said we were leaving but would return unless we saw signs posted. I was pretty annoyed as I had barely started taking photos so will need to return in a few weeks but we'll leave the car around the corner.

 Feeling miffed we drove off to console ourselves with a cone from the local ice cream parlor but that was shut so we headed back to Gordonsville.

We saw these wonderful old Chryslers outside a custom car shop and stopped to have a look. And then back into Gordonsville where we saw we'd get our ice cream after all at the Tastee Freez.

Here's Quackster enjoying some of mine.

Back at the house Kota was waiting for us in front of the fire. Rob decided to get out his old train set so it would run round the Christmas Tree.

Kota assisted and very soon it was chugging along merrily and puffing out smoke. It hadn't been run for nearly 10 years so Rob was ecstatic. We all enjoyed sitting and watching it.

All aboard with Quackster and friends!

The next morning I tired of sitting in a hot house so went for a walk through the fields and along the railway track. Since the sunlight was so strong I thought I'd create some bokeh images with my camera. 

I only walked a couple of miles and then returned to the house. I'd also been out earlier and taken photos of Jim's pine trees. A guy had been knocking on doors wanting to chop down peoples' trees and worried that Jim would sell his, i took some photos to remember them by.

It started getting dark and wanting to make a few phone calls which I couldn't do from the house, I drove down in to the village and managed to snap some shots of the lights while spending the whole time on the phone. Certainly stopped me worrying about the cold since it was freezing outside.

And so another long weekend passed by far too quickly and before I knew it I was driving off into a cold Monday morning in a warm car which Rob had started up for me, and leaving my boys behind for another week. Bye Rob, Bye Kota, Bye Quackster!

Strumming and Chopping through Thanksgiving

I headed down to Rob's on Wednesday evening with Kota and Quackster, both of whom are staying the following week with Rob for a vacation. On Thanksgiving Day, Rob and I went over to Lance & Nicole's for dinner and I managed to snap this awesome photo of Ripley as she awoke from her snooze. The men were outside playing with a gun and a fire while Nicole and I chatted.

This gun was used by Rob's father while he was in service. I shot it once and handed it back. It nearly blew my eardrums out. But the guys carried on for a while. 

Zak, Nicole's brother, got the fire going with some gas and a road flare while I watched from the safety of the kitchen window. He's an army dude who has the tough image to go with it and the fire lit without a hitch.

 Rob and Declan monitored the fire by standing by the side of it and poking it on a regular basis. What is it with men and fires?

Both of them here again poking around in the back of the truck this time.

 We had an awesome turkey dinner and Zak also polished off an PBJ sandwich which I dared him to eat with M&Ms inside. Once I told him that I'd eaten a baked potato with coleslaw and vanilla ice cream on top, he ate the whole sandwich. I love a guy who's up for a dare!
With bellies full, we slouched on seats and chatted for a while,  then Rob and I headed off for home, but trouble was down the road, literally. A vehicle in front of us hit a deer and she was floundering in the middle of the road. I leaped out of the truck and managed to calm her down. She was favoring a rear leg but i couldn't see any blood or wounds so hopefully it was just a glancing blow that would leave her lame for just a few days. I couldn't lift her but Rob managed to get her onto the side of the road where she limped off into the dark field. Major kudos to the cars that stopped since we were blocking the whole road, they watched this episode without any shouting or honking of horns. Rob and I felt good as we drove away.
Friday started late and slowly for us. We had no plans to be anywhere which was great. I stood at the kitchen sink and glanced through the window to see Rob in the sunroom with his electric guitar. He saw me grabbing my camera so rushed to the bedroom to dress for the part. I never have and probably never will meet anyone as vain as this man. It's lucky that I'm not the same way as there certainly wouldn't be enough mirror room in the house for both of us. It does make me laugh though.

Rob aka Johnny Cash without the dyed black hair.

Check out the dust on that guitar head. 

Once Rob was content that I'd taken enough photos of him, we put the guitar down and decided to chop some wood.

My axe skills have not improved and I had to accept that I am not and never will be any good at this.

Of course Rob split each of his logs on the first attempt every time so it didn't take too long before I was done and wanted to stop. There are not many things that I am completely useless at, but wood chopping is definitely top of the list.
We used the log splitter to chop up two trailers full of wood so Rob was fully stocked for a few weeks.

Quackster took part took as Head Axeman and managed to look quite sinister as he struck a pose by the blade.

Looking quite at home on the log splitter.

After the second trailer of wood it was time to finish and head back indoors as it was getting colder and colder. I had also picked up some fallen branches for Christmas decorations, spraying them silver along with some pine cones I'd picked up. The wind was stronger now too so I grabbed what I'd done and gratefully closed the door on the blustery weather and the darkening sky. Rob stoked up the fire and then it was time to put up the Christmas tree. We did this in about 10 minutes as there was so little to trim the tree with. I looked at Rob in disbelief at how stark his tree looked so he gave in and we jumped in the car and headed to the shops. A little later we were back home again with more decorations and a wreath for the front door. Listening to Christmas music and knocking back truly awful white wine which left us gasping, we set to our task. The tree was trimmed and a silver branch was erected in the dining room along with a table decoration. 

The house was ready for Christmas and we were ready for bed. 3 bottles of wine later, we headed to bed leaving Kota to party alone. He doesn't look too impressed...

Fading Enchantment and Cracked Enamel

On Saturday I met Emily and two of her friends, Jon & Matt, to go exploring. We started off with The Enchanted Forest in Ellicott City which I'd been to once before under the cover of darkness and had therefore come away with only a few images and an impression that it was bigger than it actually was. The park was on the edge of a shopping mall so we had to be rather brazen and simply push through a hole in a fence to dash for the cover of the trees. 
The castle above was badly eroded and we didn't trust the flooring to climb aloft.

There were only a few buildings still standing and the area was much smaller in the cold stark daylight. 

The lake area was fenced off but the boys clambered over to investigate while us girls busied ourselves with taking photos. They came back with reports of a metal slide running down a man made island which was also dangerously disintegrating and obviously out of bounds.

We found some old neon signs in a wooden hut but most of the park had tumbled to the ground and been swallowed up by the creeping floor vines, or simply crumbled to dust. We became increasingly aware of how easily we could be spotted and so decided to leave before we were asked to. 

We then headed to Baltimore and an enamel plant which we'd recently heard about. It was a large plant and after driving around the perimeter we decided to enter a building next door which we presumed to be a kids' school but then discovered was the trade school for the plant with workshop rooms inside. Matt entered and then swiftly left once he saw the amount of asbestos on the floor but us hardened urbexers allowed our curiosity to overcome our skepticism. 

The plant which used to make porcelain enamel shut down in December 2007 and employed as many as 227 people at one time. It has been ravaged by scrappers and nearly all the windows have creepers climbing through that cling to the walls and floors reminiscent of a John Wyndham story.

We split up once inside and I quickly found the kiln room with pots and colored powders scattered around. As I stood in the hallway, I heard the front door slam shut and poked my head around the corner to see a stranger looking down the hallway in the opposite direction. I quickly pulled back and froze, not being able to move as the debris on the floor would give away my location. I heard him check a couple of rooms and then leave.
A little later I saw Matt who had been standing outside and had observed the man while he himself stood on the sidewalk and had 'blended in' as he put it. From his account it was apparent the man was security so we all climbed back into the car and drove off, reluctantly leaving some wonderful photos untaken.

 It was extremely fortunate that my tummy hadn't rumbled while standing like a statue in that hallway as I was famished and we all agreed it was time for a late lunch.

We each devoured a plate of mussels in a local bar and washed it down with beer. Happy again and fortified, we headed for our next location which was a scrapyard on the edge of the city. 

This great old 70's Corvette had been dropped off by police and reported on a window sticker as being 'abandoned' so the title alone warranted a photo.

There was some huge machinery around and we walked about happy to relax and not be concerned about security guards. My friend Penelope had given me a couple of Cigarellos and so Jon and I puffed contentedly as we strolled about. But the beer was marring the experience and I spotted a porta john by some huts. Emily was incredulous that I even considered using it but it proved to be the cleanest I'd ever used. I emerged stating that 'The Experience of the Day' was sitting in a porta potty in a scrapyard smoking a cigar. Now not many girls have done that!

We carried on walking about loving the giant equipment and coming across things that the workers had salvaged. 

The last time we had visited this area there had been an abandoned church close by. This had now been razed to the ground but the driver of this vehicle had rescued a crucifix from the church to hopefully help protect him for danger.
A little while later two workers approached us and we told them we were leaving. They had been good enough to watch us the whole time but allow us to take our photos, but with some much large machinery and equipment around, we assumed they were concerned about safety issues. We left happy with our photos and content that we'd enjoyed a full day of urbexing.

I drove home to be greeted by a wonderful aroma of a casserole cooked in the slow cooker. Rob came up in the evening and we totally relaxed for the rest of the weekend, just sleeping, eating and watching movies. Our only strenuous activity was moving my boats from outside Barb's house to a dry corner in the warehouse at work.

And then it was back home to collapse again on the sofa with Kota in front of the TV. We had it made!