There were supposed to be 10 of us in Washington, NC, but unfortunately one roommate was not up to travelling when the time came. We missed Larry and Ruth, but had a great time regardless.
Front row: Tom, Scott, me, Nan
Back row: Kari, Tony, Bill, Peter
Or: Tom and me
Bill and Scott
Tony and Nan
Peter and Kari
It has been coming to me that I have apparently been totally oblivious about all the birds, plants, and animals around me that could not exactly have been that hard to spot - particularly birds. I can identify obvious things like robins and blue jays, but not much else.
At one point when Michael's school took him to a nature preserve and he therefore requested binoculars, I was very startled to realize that catbirds are one of the most common birds around the lake. I had spent at least 25 summers on that lake and didn't even know what the bird looked like. But now that I know to look for them, I see them everywhere.
Anyway, now that I have more time on my hands, I've been noticing birds everywhere and getting annoyed that I have no clue what they are. Unfortunately, even using binoculars it's not that easy to identify birds. There are so many little details you have to know to tell one little brown bird from another, and unless you just happen to have a bird book with you, and the bird stays put for long enough...
So I have a new toy - camera binoculars. Unfortunately, camera binoculars are a bit more temperamental than I would like. After a great many tries, this seagull picture is the best I have managed. Even so, the seagulls were supposed to be in the middle of the photo, not at the bottom of the frame. Apparently with the magnification of the binoculars, just pressing down the camera shutter is enough to depress the back end of the binoculars downward. - I have taken a lot of pictures of the sky.
This photo has been a lot more typical of my better efforts. I was unsuccessful in holding the binoculars steady in Hurricane Danny's winds, and somewhere below the bottom of this picture should be a dark greenish dot that would be Tom waving up at me from the beach.
Anyway, there is a remote shutter cord and a tripod socket. This doesn't seem like a very mobile setup though. What do people photographing birds do? sit for hours waiting for some bird to land exactly where they've focused their camera? Ah well, just because I wouldn't do it...
It turns out that there are no all white sea gulls in NE. Their wings are all grey or black on top. More stunning revelations about birds will hopefully follow.
Just before I left for the camp, a house painter came by and asked if I wanted the house painted. The house was in pretty bad shape, so I WAS interested.
I have no idea why this guy is not swamped with work unless he just works too fast. He and one other guy washed the house down with bleach to kill the mildew growing in shady spots, scraped everything down, re-glazed the windows on the front porch, primed everything, painted the trim, painted the doors, painted the shutters, and sealed the back deck - all in a little over two weeks! and that was with a couple days delay because of rain.
This is not the greatest photo, but until the leaves fall off the trees it's the best I can do.
I'll probably have this guy do some of the inside, but first I've got to dig some paths through the rubble.
According to the weather forecast on my computer's homepage, the weather is currently cloudy. I guess it is, but...
As Tom says, "ignore what you're seeing out the window."
I was downloading some pictures of our latest snowstorm's burial of my car when I discovered that I had a number of photos which were not part of a large group, and I had therefore not downloaded them.
Most of the pictures were taken at the condo, but the one of the woods was from the camp.
More evidence of why I used to buy the smallest rolls of film possible and still had rolls of film with pictures spanning a couple years.
Who needs motorized film advance?
This morning we headed down the hill to the Mt. Hope Bay Model Yacht Club Regatta. It was a bit chilly and the wind seemed a bit strong for sailing boats only 1 meter long, but the event was exceedingly cheery.
Apparently, people have been building boats for the past few months, and there are weekly practice sails. So most people did just fine despite the wind. One guy kept sailing his boat into the rocks, but otherwise...
This video cheers me up, and the good version disappeared off YouTube. I wanted to embed this video, but my computer seems too slow for the widget.
The group has more on My Space SNC music. There are lots more videos are on YouTube, but the ones on this My Space site are higher quality.
Over the weekend we got a notice that we should move all our deck furniture inside because the management company would be having the trim on our decks painted Monday morning. Being that we leave little on our deck due to wind problems, this was not a strain. I can carry in a 9" x 12" table and a couple folding chairs.
In any event, Monday morning we could hear the cherry-picker roaring into place. The first picture is of the workmen on the ground loading all their supplies into the basket. And the last picture was an attempt to give an idea of how high they were off the ground. The perspective makes it look lower than it is. Trust me, from the bottom of the hill to the fourth floor of our building is a long way up.
Ed was the Equipment manager for the Colorado College Hockey team, and would come into the shop to borrow gear, find out about new pieces, and mostly to kill time. At least once a week he would come in and shoot the shit with us, and occasionally take people to lunch returning them to work in a state that probably wouldn't be considered under the legal limit if a breathalizer was administered. Needless to say that in my brief time over at the hockey shop, one of my favorite things about my job were the frequent visits and even more frequent phone calls he made to us simply for the company. Getting to know him was one of the most enjoyable parts of my job and life.
Energetic, kind, brash and abrasive. Ed was everything balled into one, and he was hilarious. I cant think of a single time I spoke with him that I didn't bust up laughing. Out of sheer boredom, he once spent 45 minutes on the phone attempting to convince me that my favorite brand of gear was total garbage (complete blasphemy for a goalkeeper), and somehow came to the conclusion at the end that it was my fault I didn't agree with him and that I owed him a beer as a result.
This was pure Ed. He was like that and didn't know how to be any other way. My new favorite story about Ed came from the memorial service that CC held for him. It fits him to a T. Apparently after he suffered his stroke, he called a friend to help him, not knowing what was happening. His friend got an ambulance for him. As the paramedics were carting him into the ambulance Ed gave a huge thumbs up symbol to all those watching him. His friend rushed over to him in what I can only imagine was a rare display of emotion and told him that everything was going to be ok. Ed flipped him off.
Now that I have heard the story I can't imagine him reacting any other way. He didn't want anyone making a fuss over him even in the gravest of circumstances. He would scold us all now for making a big deal about his death. He was his brash defiant self in the face of passing away, and I love the image of him (literally and figuratively) leaving this world with his middle finger proudly extended.
That is how I will remember him. That was Ed and we miss him already.......
