Cornershot

To submit a CornerShot

The Roanoke Times welcomes CornerShot submissions from its readers. Here are the guidelines:

Length: about 200 words
Topic: CornerShots can run the gamut, but we generally prefer unique and clever observations on the human experience.
No poetry, please.
Email your submission to extra@roanoke.com with your full name and hometown and “CornerShot” in the subject line. You can also mail submissions to Kathy Lu, CornerShot, The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, VA 24010.
Submissions are subject to editing.

1. 41-vehicle wreck ties up traffic Sunday on I-81 in Rockbridge County

2. Virginia Tech football roster has holes on picture day

3. Medicare penalties hit hospitals in Roanoke, New River Valleys

4. Microfestivus beer event gets downtown Roanoke hopping

5. McFarling: 2 little numbers are a big hurdle for Virginia Tech football

6. DAN CASEY: Copter cost still stirring up dust

7. Arrest made in case of missing Nelson County teen

8. Roanoke farmers markets making local foods more accessible

9. Virginia attorney general's office grows under Ken Cuccinelli

10. Man's drowning is 5th in Lynchburg area

Doris Blevins | A reader in Chilhowie

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Here in these Southwest Virginia mountains, I am thrilled to hear a whipporwill calling at 9 p.m. and again about 5:30 a.m.

After several years of hearing none, I feared their extinction.

For the past few years, I have heard only one. I suspect there was a mate far enough back in the forest so I did not hear it.

However, for several nights recently, I have heard a response to the one who is louder (closer) in my woods. The fainter answer sounds like a “bur-green” instead of “whipporwill.” Perhaps it
is younger and less experienced. But the cadence is the same.

It is a sound from my childhood that I welcome with open ears.

Monday, August 12, 2013