Grayson County Fraser firs decorate Busch Gardens Christmas Town, grace Vice President Biden's home

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByRLVnoUpr62zZix_Vncw1feYbzGDWJ_dOiSLwin0T-usG7GN73fOBiLI7jBS0gKycQG20gOICe-8wwD95i4Z08DqJMZR60dBTVOabrYq-zJShlOWNABNqPkEVjLgznIQjtG_o7pt2g4/s1600/Mount+Rogers+Christmas+Tree+Association.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByRLVnoUpr62zZix_Vncw1feYbzGDWJ_dOiSLwin0T-usG7GN73fOBiLI7jBS0gKycQG20gOICe-8wwD95i4Z08DqJMZR60dBTVOabrYq-zJShlOWNABNqPkEVjLgznIQjtG_o7pt2g4/s320/Mount+Rogers+Christmas+Tree+Association.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I'm a little prejudiced about Grayson County since it's where my grandparents grew up and where lots of relatives still live but I think the Fraser firs grown in that part of Virginia are the most gorgeous Christmas trees around. Where once cows grazed in rocky meadows on mountain slopes, now rows and rows of Frasers grow in the cool temperatures of this southwestern area of the Commonwealth.<br /><br />Journalist Bill Lohmann has taken a look at Grayson's Fraser fir Christmas tree industry in today's <a href="http://www.timesdispatch.com/entertainment-life/holiday/christmas-trees-are-gift-to-va-s-grayson-county/article_a2922a46-ac6c-592f-87d6-e4592ecb4d1f.html"><i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i></a>, a business that took root in the 1970s and has grown into an economic boom:<br /><blockquote>The steep and rocky mountains of Grayson County are some of the tallest, most spectacular in Virginia, wonderful for hiking and sightseeing but less than ideal for farming — unless you are growing Christmas trees.</blockquote>One whiff of a Fraser and you'll be hooked.<br /><br />Mr. Lohmann talked with one of the pioneers of <a href="http://www.mtrogersfraserfir.org/">Fraser farming in Grayson</a>, Rodney Richardson, owner of <a href="http://www.mtrogersfraserfir.org/tfchoosecut.html">Mount Rogers Christmas Tree Farm</a>, who has some well-known clients. This year he sent several hundred trees to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg for their <a href="http://seaworldparks.com/en/christmastown-williamsburg?from=portal&__utma=1.343876508.1383166447.1383171243.1385300644.3&__utmb=1.2.10.1385300644&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1385300644.3.2.utmcsr=google|utmccn=%28organic%29|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=%28not%20provided%29&__utmv=-&__utmk=109009154">Christmas Town display</a>, and another tree is going to Vice President Joe Biden's residence.<br /><br />Good article. I could almost smell the heavenly scent of Frasier firs while reading it....

Bill Lohmann Busch Gardens Christmas Town fraser fir growers Grayson County Joe Biden Mount Rogers Area Christmas Tree Growers Association Richmond Times-Dispatch Rodney Richardson western Virginia Grayson County Fraser firs decorate Busch Gardens Christmas Town, grace Vice President Biden's home

I'm a little prejudiced about Grayson County since it's where my grandparents grew up and where lots of relatives still live but I think the Fraser firs grown in that part of Virginia are the most gorgeous Christmas trees around. Where once cows graz…

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Will Joe Biden run for president in 2016?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="asset-metabar-wrap" style="clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: 20px 0px 23px 70px;"><div class="asset-metabar" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); display: table-cell; margin: 20px 0px 0px; width: 888px;"><span class="asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item" itemprop="name" style="float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">Nicole Gaudiano, Gannett Washington Bureau</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">8:32p.m. EST January 21, 2013</span></div></div><div class="double-wide" itemprop="articleBody" role="main" style="color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative; width: 600px;"><h2 class="lead-in" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: 27px; margin-left: 60px; margin-top: -2px;">People attending President Barack Obama's second inauguration expressed varying opinions on whether Vice President Joe Biden would make a capable president himself, should be decide to run in 2016.</h2><div class="article-metadata-wrap" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 30px 0px 60px; position: relative;"><br /><aside class="single-photo expandable-collapsed" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 20px; position: relative; width: 180px; z-index: 100;"><div class="image-wrap" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-shadow: rgb(200, 200, 200) 1px 1px 5px; cursor: pointer; padding: 3px; position: relative;"><img alt="biden" class="expand-img-horiz" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/01/21/biden-4_3_r536_c534.jpg?1b79b3da202957124496e3768cfb7b67cdb10c81" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 131px; vertical-align: middle;" /><span class="toggle" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/sprites/asset-sprite.png); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; height: 21px; position: absolute; right: 0px; width: 21px; z-index: 200;"></span></div><div class="image-credit-wrap" style="color: #646464; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;"><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400;">(Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY)</span></div></aside><br /><div class="article-metadata" style="position: relative;"><br /><aside class="comp story-highlights " style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; min-height: 60px; width: 180px;"><h3 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #999999; font-family: 'Futura Today Bold', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px auto; text-transform: uppercase;">STORY HIGHLIGHTS</h3><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; left: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><li style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">Biden has run for president twice</li><li style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">VP is prone to verbal gaffes</li><li style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">Biden credited with negotiating tough deals</li></ul></aside></div></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">WASHINGTON — Vice President Biden unintentionally promoted himself Saturday night, telling a group of Iowans visiting Washington that he was "proud to be president of the United States."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The crowd, attending a party for President Obama's second inauguration, laughed and applauded as Biden tried to correct himself and then began chuckling.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>FULL COVERAGE: </b>The presidential inauguration</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"Well, there goes that," he said.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Just another blooper for the gaffe-prone veep? Or a more revealing Freudian slip?</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Biden has tried for the top job twice but failed to win his party's nomination in 1988 and 2008. If he runs and wins in 2016, he will be 74 on Inauguration Day, making him the oldest man to be inaugurated president.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Even so, he hasn't ruled it out.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"There's a whole lot of reasons why I wouldn't run," he told CNN. "I haven't made that decision. And I don't have to make that decision for a while."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">People attending inaugural festivities Monday differed on whether Biden is presidential material.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"I just think that would kind of revert us back to the norm, which was old white guys" running the country, said Robert Thead, 30, a freelance author in Washington, D.C., writing about the millennial generation. "How old is he?"</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Pete Epanchin, 40, a fellow at the Environmental Protection Agency, said Biden is "absolutely" presidential. He was pleased to see Biden take a leading role in the administration's efforts to halt gun violence and said it might be easier for Biden to sell that policy than Obama.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"He's a less divisive figure," Epanchin said.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Kisha Webster, 41, a teacher in Baltimore County, Md., said she'd vote for Biden for president. She liked that he reached a compromise with Republicans in December on the "fiscal cliff."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"That's what people want," Webster said. "They want to see a leader be able to work with both sides to help the greater good."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Biden has developed a reputation as a deal maker after 36 years representing Delaware in the Senate, but voters tired of establishment politicians may not view that as an asset.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><img src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/v2/brightcove/videos.usatoday.net/Brightcove2/29906170001/2013/01/29906170001_2109482996001_thumb-96c8c04b8c864002270f6a7067000d60_r542_c540x304.jpg?436a289f03cde4e0ed45f12ec0d66270cf41bc9a" /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Gaffes are another issue for Biden, who makes frequent verbal missteps to the delight of late-night talk show comedians.</div><div class="clearfix"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"He probably wouldn't be diplomatic enough to perform that duty," Jermaine Barnes, 42, a corrections officer from Baltimore, Md., said of Biden's potential to be president.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Some Democrats who watched Monday's inaugural parade said they're waiting to see whether Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton runs for the White House, even though she has said she won't.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Biden "doesn't really energize the base as much as Hillary," said Bridget O'Loughlin, 23, a Georgetown University graduate student from Boston. "Hillary has become a celebrity. Biden is kind of off on his own, being the elder statesman."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Forty-two percent of people have a favorable impression of Biden, and 42% have an unfavorable impression of him, according to a recent survey by Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">That's lower than the favorability ratings for other recent vice presidents around the time they started their second terms. Dick Cheney's favorability rating was 48 percent in March 2005. Al Gore's rating was 65 percent in January 1997.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Biden's rating is affected by increasing partisanship, said Michael Dimock, director of the Pew center.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">And all the jokes about his verbal gaffes may contribute to a perception that he's not a serious person, Dimock said, even though Biden chaired the Foreign Relations Committee and the Judiciary Committee in the Senate.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">It's not an "unrecoverable" situation, but turning around public opinion could be difficult for Biden, especially as he continues to play a highly visible role in selling the administration's gun-control policy, Dimock said. The issue is so contentious it may hamper Biden's efforts to expand his appeal to a broader audience, he said.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"It's not like being in this position today is a situation you can't turn around as a public figure," Dimock said. "But certainly, you'd rather have people like you than have people feel split about you, and that's where Biden's been for some time now."</div></div></div>

Joe Biden president Will Joe Biden run for president in 2016?

Nicole Gaudiano, Gannett Washington Bureau8:32p.m. EST January 21, 2013People attending President Barack Obama's second inauguration expressed varying opinions on whether Vice President Joe Biden would make a capable president himself, should be deci…

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