I once had a lady friend named Linda Araujo.

When we met, she lived in Newport News, VA. I had flown to Virginia because the company I worked for, K&J Woodworks out of Kyle, TX, was "in way over their heads" with a millwork installation at a new Barnes and Noble book store in the tide water area.

It would seem, that some nameless associate of an unnamed architectural firm made a terrible and unforgiveable mistake. She had approved the wrong stain colour for the millwork of the entire project. So everything we were installing was the wrong colour.

Well... it just so happened that I had this friend named Dennis Seaver who lived in Virginia Beach. Not only is Dennis a Quaker minister, but he is also a very skilled furniture refinisher and repairman. He actually makes pretty durned good money fixing and refinishing furniture.

At the request of my boss I called my friend to see if he might be intersted in bailing our butts out of a jamb by refinishing all the column wraps and the glass vestibule of our miscoloured Barnes and Noble onsite. (Thereby saving us a gob load of money having to refabricate and reinstall new ones and saving the general contractor from being late for the store opening.)

I was so nice to be in Virginia again... to see my old friend, his family and his lovely wife Debra.

While I was there... hanging out with Dennis and fixin' problems at the newest Barnes and Noble... I met this really nice lady named Linda. As it turned out, Linda had this place in Oak Hill, West Virginia. So I found myself bouncing back and forth between Austin, Charleston, WV and Norfolk, Virginia for awhile. She flew out to Texas twice and once we even made it as far west as Big Bend. I actually help Linda move into her new place there in Oak Hill. One day, we went into the nearest town to open a P.O. Box for her mail. While Linda was inside filling out the application for the postal box. I was outside... taking this picture!

I have noticed that covers from places that get serious snow... always seem to wear differently from the ones from places like El Paso. Personally, I think it's the sand they throw out in the winter. Also... this little cross-hatch pattern seems to be very specific to West Virginia. I have also seen it echoed on water meter and electrical covers from the same region.