Hi my name is Kim Kirkpatrick and I’m soooo excited about this website! This is a Girl Rider website! That’s right No Boy’s allowed! I’m so excited to blog my experience’s and hear from Chick’s on Bikes from all over! As you can see in this picture I don’t get much air.. well to me it seems that I’m in the clouds.. but that’s ok IM A GIRL and I’m ok with just baby air, I’m having a blast! This picture was from “the teaching the wives to jump day”. I think I made this attempt at least 50 times, with all the husbands on the hill, all kinds of advice; give it more gas…stand up….lean back…. good grief! They wanted nothing more than their wives to get all 4 wheels off the ground. Well I did it and “earned my wings” as they stated. I do love to learn new things and try new places. I grew up on motorcycles riding with my dad in the trails by our house.. I still have the 1975 Honda 50 that I started on. About 8 years ago I discovered riding in the sand and WOW Love IT! Not to mention its much softer to land on  We have ventured to Winchester Bay (personal Fav.) Florence and Coos Bay they are all a little different type of riding. I still do a small amount of dirt riding, on a quad it’s a little harder to fit in the trails so I’m on the hunt for a 120 motorcycle and get back in the dirt. I hope to learn with this website of more places to go, advice, and of course show off the latest riding fashion.. I don’t mind getting dirty as long as I have a cute outfit on

Join Old Town Winchester on the First Friday of every month. Enjoy an evening of drawings, paintings, prints, sculpture, ceramics, photography and other visual art. Locals and visitors are invited to stroll the historic streets at their leisure, visit galleries, meet local artists, view new works and exhibits, and listen to live music. There are also wine tasings and great places to eat.See more events at Winchester Virginia Va Restaurants

Join Sona on December 16th for an amazing 5 course wine dinner. Seats are by reservation only. Dinner is from 6pm-8pm. Cost is $50 per person.For more information call Shiv at 540-662-9299. See more events at Winchester Virginia Va Restaurants

“You’d have thought we moved to Mars,” says Gibbs. “He still wants to go home despite having made tons of friends.”

Moving is one of the most stressful events in life—even more so for kids. But you can help ease the transition. Here are some tips:

Involve children in planning. Help them find local Web sites so they can learn about schools, sports and events in their new city. The goal is to increase familiarity and build excitement for the new area.

Communicate. Take time to speak with children about the move–and particularly about their fears or concerns.

If possible, allow children to pick their own bedrooms. This makes it fun and exciting. Let them help decorate as well.

Keep a few prized possessions out of the boxes. Familiar items, such as a blanket or stuffed animal, bring comfort to skittish kids.

Encourage children to make new friends. Introduce them to children in the neighborhood. Invite a classmate over for a play date. Or throw a kiddie housewarming party!

Seek help from professionals. A knowledgeable real estate agent can help you learn the area, give you leads on local children’s activities and make the whole move go more smoothly.

Keene – The National Association of REALTORS, REALTOR University has awarded Dick Thackston, Managing Broker of R. H. Thackston & Company REALTORS, the designation of Accredited Buyer Representative Manager, ABRM.

The designation of ABRM is only awarded to those REALTORS who have significant experience and specialized training in managing buyer’s representatives. The ABRM^SM is the only buyer-representation designation for managers, brokers and owners affiliated with NAR. To earn and use this designation, you must complete all four (4) requirements: completion of the ABRM Designation Course; Successful completion of the ABRM challenge exam; documentation of a minimum of two years experience managing buyer’s representatives and membership in the Real Estate Buyer’s Agency Council and the National Association of REALTORS.

Thackston’s Professional Memberships and Recognitions include licensed real estate broker in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont; Council of Real Estate Broker Manager’s; Monadnock Region Board of REALTORS and Contoocook Valley Board of REALTORS. Thackston is a licensed real estate instructor in New Hampshire for the Academy of Professional Real Estate Training in Keene.

On Nov. 6, President Obama signed legislation that extends and expands the homebuyer tax credit. Now, for the first time, the credit is available to current homeowners as well as people purchasing for the first time.The first-time homebuyer tax credit has been instrumental in helping the real estate market recover. The credit has brought new families into the housing market, and they in turn helped reduce the inventory of unsold homes.

The expanded credit is expected to encourage more investment in residential housing. Here are the details*:

•The $8,000 first-time homebuyer credit is extended through April 30, 2010, giving buyers who have signed a purchase contract by that date until June 30 to close on their home. The actual credit is equal to 10% of a home’s purchase price, up to a maximum of $8,000.

•A new credit of up to $6,500 is available for repeat homebuyers who purchase a principal residence if they have been living in their current home for five consecutive years out of the past eight years preceding the purchase.

•Income limits have been increased. Now, single buyers with incomes up to $125,000 or married couples earning up to $225,000 may be eligible. Partial credits may be available to homebuyers who earn more.

•The credit is extended until April 30, 2011 for certain qualified military buyers.

•The credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.

If you’re planning to buy, act quickly. Experts say there will be no further extensions of the tax credit, so this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save money while buying a new home.

For more information about the tax credits, or to learn about available properties in your area, call our CENTURY 21 Office today.

*This is not meant to be tax or legal advice. Consult a tax professional for details.

I have an unconditional offer from NTU! I also attended a course interview at University of Winchester. I’m not sure how long they’ll take to get back to me, but I’ll be sure to update here when they do.

Plymouth and MMU offered me interviews but I don’t think I’ll attend them. Plymouth is too far away, really, so I don’t really want to go there. MMU didn’t impress me as much as NTU did on their open day, and I have an unconditional from NTU so I don’t want to waste yet more money travelling up to Manchester for an interview for a place in a university that I’m not that fussed on. On top of that, they gave me very little notice and wanted an essay, a presentation prepared (on a topic they chose, so I couldn’t even re-use my NTU one) and letters from the schools I’d shadowed in! I am very busy and very stressed as it is at the moment, and I see no reason to jump through those hoops when I’ve secured a place in my first-choice university. That’s all for now, back to my mixing. Sigh~ hobbies can be such hard work at times!

The Answer is Most Likely Nothing.   I am thankful this Thanksgiving that I live in a country often referred to as the land of opportunity and the envy of the rest of the world.  It is a country where my parents who were poor, could emigrate from another country, dream that with hard work, could obtain an education, eventually find a professional job, and dream that their children could live the American Dream.  I am hopeful that Obama learns the lessons of the Pilgrims so that this American Dream is not taken away from my children.  The following is excerpted from Stephen Coakley on my Facebook page  I think its an important lesson about Thanksgiving and the state of our country.

It’s almost Thanksgiving, its timely to remember that the pilgrims figured it out in Year 2.  On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work. But this was no pleasure cruise. The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford’s detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims — including Bradford’s own wife — died of either starvation, sickness, or exposure.

When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well. They were collectivists! Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives.

He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace. … Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn’t work! What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation! But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years — trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it — the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild’s history lesson. Here’s what he wrote: “‘The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years…that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing — as if they were wiser than God. For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense…that was thought injustice.’”

The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive. So what did Bradford’s community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property. Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and permitted to market its own crops and products. And what was the result? “This had very good success,”’ wrote Bradford, “for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.” In no time, the Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves. … So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians.

The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London. And the success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the ‘Great Puritan Migration.’” So the Pilgrims decided to thank God for all of their good fortune. And that’s Thanksgiving. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

I am thankful this Thanksgiving that I live in a country often referred to as the land of opportunity and the envy of the rest of the world.  It is a country where my parents who were poor, could dream that with hard work, could obtain an education, eventually a job, and dream that their children could live the American Dream.   I am hopeful that Obama learns the lessons of the Pilgrims so that the American Dream is not taken away from my children.

Blog by Dr. Phillip Chang, MD:  Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon with offices in Loudoun, Fairfax, and Winchester Virginia.  Join me on Facebook.

We’re feeling nostalgic at Itinerant Foodies these days—it must be the impending holidays—and it seems to’ve hit a nerve with you lovely readers: Jill’s posts about Steubenville, the surrounding Ohio Valley, and DiCarlo’s Pizza, in particular, have evoked fond reminisces in our comments sections on the blog and on its corresponding Facebook links. Reading about the Ohio folks’ childhood memories had me longing for my own youthful favorites, and, with a few days of downtime in my hometown before the trek up to Pennsylvannia for the family’s Thanksgiving festivities, I knew just the place to hit.

Winchester, Virginia’s, answer to White Castle, the Snow White Grill has been a fixture on the downtown mall since 1949, when it opened as one in a mini-chain of six Shenandoah Valley-area locations. Now the last Grill standing, it’s played host to everyone from Patsy Cline to hordes of hungry high-schoolers. Though the restaurant has changed hands a few times in the intervening years, one thing remains unchanged: the tasty little burgers.

Well before the slider craze struck many a modern-day upscale restaurant, the Snow White Grill was churning out these four-bite wonders—nothing fancy, just a small round of ground beef, a pile of onions, and two slices of dill pickle and one of American cheese, all on a steamed dinner roll.

The new owners have expanded the menu, but it’s unnecessary to read any further than the first three lines; an order of fries is a given, and a milkshake, too, if you’re feeling flush. (Full disclosure: I’m speaking here as someone who’s never tried anything other than the burgers, fries, and shakes.)

Prepared the same way as they have been for as many years as I can remember, and probably for as many years as the sliver of a lunch counter has been in business, the beef patties go straight on the grilltop, where they’re then covered with slices of raw onion and occasionally pressed down upon by a spatula-wielding cook until he determines that they’re ready to flip.

The timing has to be just right—they’ll only be turned once, yielding, when done properly, a perfectly browned exterior crust and a moist, juicy, loosely held-together interior, crowned with tender, softened onions. These guys have it down to a science, and the results are almost always ideal.

Scooped off the grill and onto the pillowy potato roll so quickly that the cheese barely has a chance to melt, it’s a struggle against temptation to add the requisite ketchup and mustard without taking that first bite. Resist, if you can.

Wash it all down with a chocolate milkshake (this is only half a portion, by the way—the rest comes on the side, in the metal mixing cup, for self-administered refills), and take a minute to catch your breath before rolling back out to the brick-paved mall. Think about how nice it is that there are some constants in life, that no matter how many chefs explore fusion cuisine, deconstruction, foams and the like, there are still places to find good, honest, old-school food.

However. I do have one small complaint, one thing that’s been phased out that I wish would make a comeback. The Snow White Grill used to run a great advertising campaign: tiny 2″x3″ spots in the local newspaper featuring head shots of real live diners. It was always a treat to flip through the paper to see if you knew anyone in that day’s ad, and, as evidenced in the clippings below of friends of mine in starring roles, you often did.

Given the current uncertainty surrounding both the newspaper industry and our economic times, a small reminder of happier memories goes a long way. Some things are better left unchanged.

We know that factory ammo for popular handgun calibers is still hard to find. This has lead to ammunition hording by handgun owners and painful price hikes from some ammo vendors. We saw one dealer charging nearly $40.00 for a 50-rd box of .380 ACP, more than double what the same ammo sold for 18 months ago. However, if you search around you’ll find that prices are starting to drop and we’re seeing supplies that haven’t been available in months.

Decent Pricing on 9mm and 40sw Can Be Found
Thankfully, some major dealers are holding the line on ammo prices and not taking advantage of the current supply shortages. Ammoman.com has Winchester 9mm ammo with 147gr BEB (Brass Enclosed Base) bullets at a good price: $159 for 500 rounds. This is new, US-made ammo ideal for use at indoor ranges as the enclosed base bullet design reduces lead pollution. With BEB bullets, guns run cleaner too as there is no vaporized lead left in the barrel.

For 40sw shooters, both Grafs.com and MidwayUSA.com have the PRVI Partisan 40sw 180gr TMJ ammo in stock right now. Graf’s sells the 40sw Prvi ammo for $20.99 per 50rd box, while MidwayUSA has the same product (40sw, 180gr TMJ) for $21.49 per 50rd box. Those are decent prices for factory ammo these days.

Ephesien spent the a great fall afternoon having his senior portrait session. He requested to have a portrait with his soccer uniform as well as a more formal

portrait. His portraits are a great reminder to think about how a prop or uniform can reallt make a senior portrait special.

MikeHanback.com: Sneak Peek: Remington R-25 Deer Rifle
BIG DEER NEWS: At the NRA convention last weekend Remington formally introduced its Model R-25, a modular repeating rifle designed for us deer hunters. This ain’t your grandaddy’s buck gun, lol, but I believe it’s destined to be a smash …

Sako A7 vs Remington 700 XCR – www.ifish.net
Both are accurate (1″ group guarantee) and durable, but for the price you can get a semi-auto AR-10/SR-25 type rifle in .308. The Remington R-25 also comes in 7mm-08 or 243. They’re just as accurate as a bolt action too – it’s common to …

Galt’s Guns: Motorcycle Helmet and Remington R25
So, here is what ACU looks like on a bike helmet… And here is what a well used Remington R25 in .243 looks like, when the unsealed factory camo finish meet wear & tear – You get to see the underlying white paint (Very DuraCoat like, …

Remington R-25 Multi-Caliber Semi-Auto AR-10 Crossover Rifle for …
The Remington Model R-25 multi-caliber rifle would appear to fit the bill quite nicely. The R-25 is an AR-10-config rifle that allows user to switch between 7.62mm NATO/.308 Win., .243 Win., and 7mm-08 Rem., depending on what type of …

Remington R-25
I have a buddy whos selling his R-25 (.308 win) for $650. Its had MAYBE 100 or so rounds put down range with it and thats about it. I know its a steal.

Remington Model R-25 now available in Mossy Oak Treestand – Tails …
The R-15 VTR was an immediate success and has quickly established a new category of precision hunting rifles. Now, Remington is excited to announce the Model R-25, a modular repeating rifle designed for big game hunters. The Model R-25 …

Remington R-200 Microflex 200 Corded Shaving System
Remington R-200 is a very decent shaver. Unlike Norelco “lift and cut” systems, it does not claim to give you the “closest shave possible”. It simply provides you with a clean and comfortable shave without stripping the skin off your …

Malaria Journal | Full text | Epileptogenic potential of …
Jimenez-Huete A, Gil-Nagel A, Franch O: Multifocal myoclonus associated with mefloquine chemoprophylaxis. Clin Neuropharmacol 2002, 25:243. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text OpenURL. Schiemann R, Coulaud JP, Bouchaud O: Seizures …

25 – Avoid to suggest your baby during the nighttime …
NA-22 NA-23 NA-24 (components) NA-25 NA-26 NA-27 NA-28 NA-29 NA … Remington Model R-25. The Model R-25 Modular Repeating Rifle – Built to Hunt. … Remington is excited to announce the Model R-25, a modular repeating rifle . …

any info on a remington 25-10 r.f. rifle. gun has octagon barrel and rolling block chamber.Single shot.?

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Come out to SU to enjoy Fall Fest- games, face painting, photo station, food, cake walk, music, and a silent auction. Tickets can be purchased at the door to participate in all activities. Tickets are 5 for $1. Event is on Saturday November 21st from 1:00pm – 5:00pm. See more events at Winchester Virginia Va Restaurants

The band Medicine Wind will be playing live at The Union Jack on Saturday November 21st. The show runs from 9:00pm – 1:00am and is a great time for all. See more events at Winchester Virginia Va Restaurants

Lady Invidia w/special guests The Bruce Luttrell Band will be playing live at The Continental on Saturday November 21st. The show starts at 9:30pm and this is Lady Invidia’s first time in the Winchester area so come out and have some fun. See more events at Winchester Virginia Va Restaurants

The band Unspiral will be playing live at Sweet Carolines Saturday November 21st. Opening band is The Chilling Effect. Show starts at 9:30pm and Sweets is ages 21+ after 9:00pm. See more events at Winchester Virginia Va Restaurants

The Merge will be playing at Brewbakers on Saturday November 21st. Show starts at 10:00 and goes until 1:30. Come out and have a good time. See more events at Winchester Virginia Va Restaurants

The Christmas lights for Winchester will be lit up tonight, and here’s a heartfelt observation (with which I largely agree) by a student at the University of Winchester: WINOL: Are we destroying Christmas?

Ben Stein, Jewish Actor, is purported to have said the following:

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:

I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don’t know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise’s wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It’s not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was  Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

——————————————————————————-

I, and others, have been wondering at the gradual downgrading of Christmas to “the Holidays” in order to “not offend” certain people/groups, yet this year Halloween was probably the most celebrated event I have seen so far this year, highly promoted by restaurants, etc. Why is that acceptable and Christmas isn’t?

Here’s some good news if you’re planning a home improvement or remodeling project. Contractors are finding it slow going these days due to the housing slump and shaky economy. Many are taking on smaller jobs that they wouldn’t have considered before-and they’re willing to deal on pricing just to get new work.

Unfortunately, however, a softer economy also brings out unscrupulous types, warns the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, such as unlicensed individuals posing as remodelers.

Here’s how to protect yourself if you’re planning a project:

• Be sure to hire an experienced local contractor and not a fly-by-nighter. Contact state or local licensing agencies to ensure a contractor meets all requirements.
• Check with the local Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been filed against the contractor. Check references from past customers as well.
• Get three written estimates from licensed contractors.
• Ask for proof of insurance.
• Draw up a contract before work starts. It should detail the type of work and materials and contain starting and finishing dates. The contract should also contain a warranty covering materials and workmanship for a minimum of one year.
• Be wary of contractors soliciting business door to door.
• Never give a big deposit upfront. Consider putting down no more than 10 percent of the total job cost
• Make sure you understand the financial terms of the contract and that the total price, payment schedule and any cancellation penalty are clear.

For more tips on hiring a reputable contractor, or for referrals in your area, call our CENTURY 21 Office today.

Things to do & Places to see in and around Winchester:

Winchester Cathedral, originating from the 17th century – absolutely magnificent.

St Cross Hospital founded in 1136 & still offers the Wayfarer’s Dole

Wolvesey Castle is one of the greatest medieval buildings in England.

Winchester Farmers Market is held on the second and last Sunday of every month in the Winchester City Centre.

The Westgate Museum for beautiful views of Winchester.

The 13th century Great Hall and ‘The Round Table of King Arthur

Jane Austen’s final resting place

Intech Science Centre & Planetarium – Great for the whole family