ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608190020
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Dispatches from Rye Hollow
SOURCE: STEVE KARK
A recent day in Rye Hollow offers a fairly typical example of what it's like living in a rural part of the New River Valley these days.
The day begins with a walk down our gravel driveway to get the morning paper. On rainy days and on those when I'm just too darn lazy to hike a third of a mile, I take the truck and the dogs ride in the back. The rest of the time we walk.
I often carry binoculars for bird watching. Though a variety of birds visit the feeder at the house, others prefer the shelter of the woods on either side of the driveway. Walking to fetch the paper this summer, I've seen hawks, grouse, several pileated woodpeckers and one gray owl.
In previous years I've spotted a number of scarlet tanagers in the trees around the house. The only one I've seen this year, though, has been on one of these morning trips.
Their apparent disappearance concerns me. These are birds that migrate between here and the tropical forests of Central and South America. With habitat vanishing at both ends of their journey, the tanagers may be having a difficult time finding a
satisfactory nesting place.
I've tempered these thoughts by telling myself that nature is a continuous ebb and flow. Besides, perhaps they've gone somewhere else to breed during the summer months. Maybe more will return next year. Maybe not.
On this particular morning the dogs and I found an area just off the driveway where the grass had been flattened overnight. I checked again several days in a row and always found it the same.
I've seen a doe and her spotted fawn in the same area on several occasions. Perhaps it's where they bed down. I don't know enough to be able to say for sure, but I like to think this is so nonetheless.
In the afternoon I stopped to pick up my neighbor at his farm on Walker Creek. We rode into town to look over the U.S. Forest Service maps at the high school auditorium.
The maps show the mile-wide corridors for a proposed 765,000-volt power line. Though the electric company's preferred route passes through West Virginia, a series of alternate routes that pass through Giles County have also been studied.
There are 14 routes in all. These have been darkened on the map and they weave across the county, touching even the remotest corners. One of these crosses Rye Hollow. It's difficult to imagine such a power line rising over Guinea Mountain and passing through our secluded little valley.
My neighbor and I talked about it on the way home and assured ourselves that nothing had been decided yet, one way or another. After all, the Forest Service didn't endorse any of the routes. Do we really need the wire, anyway? And if they build it, who would benefit most?
They wouldn't put it here, we said. It wouldn't make sense. There are better alternatives.
As we approached my neighbor's house beside the creek, he pointed out the flock of Canada geese that had appeared that morning along its banks. Though blue herons sometimes feed along Walker Creek, these are the first Canada geese I've seen out this way.
Another neighbor - someone I've never met - called the next morning to tell me she'd spotted the geese over near her place. It was, by all accounts, something special.
In the evening I sat on the back deck and listened to the katydids singing in the woods around the house. It was a clear, cool night. Away from the lights of town, I saw the path of the Milky Way arching across the sky above me.
I couldn't help but ponder the events of the day. While I wouldn't go so far as to say we've found paradise here in Rye Hollow, it's likely to be as close as we'll ever get.
For the time being, at any rate.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB