THE PENTAX LENS OF CORKER2

FLEETWOOD HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1966

2011-09-19T20:26:00.000-04:00

Sorry that I have not Posted anything here on my Blog for a few day's, but there has not been a whole lot to Post about, until now.

This past Saturday, the 17th of September, the Fleetwood High School Class of 1966 had our 45th Class Reunion at the Lyons Fire Company, Lyons PA. The Class Colors were Red & White - Fleetwood High School was known as the "Fleetwood Tigers."

Lets go back to 1966. This was our school as it looks today. There have not been any changes to the outside. It still looks the same as it did, but now it is used as a Administration Building (I think), and has a Museum down-stairs. The inside has not changed all that much, either. The floors are still linoleum, as they were before. The steel lockers that were on the walls are gone. In their place are wooden panels, that have been painted the same color as the walls. It looks like a big open space, where something used to be. The gymnasium looks the same as it did years ago. The stage and Class Tiger is still there on the floor, but is badly warped from a leak in the roof. I could still remember where my Locker was. The Walls have a fresh coat of paint, but most everything has remained the same. Across the street, and out of the picture, is some tennis courts and beyond that was our Athletic field which you can still see, what is left of the track, we had for Track & Field events. Back then we did not have all the fancy stuff that the new High School has. There was no air-conditioning, no carpeted floors, no computers, and no fancy cafeteria that the new High School has. The school bus's used to stop just to the right and behind the last car you see. There are no school bus's here anymore.

So here is my Class today. Each of us wore a "picture tag" with our name so we all could tell who was who. I'm standing on the top row, extreme left. Since our Class Funds were very low, we could not afford a Pro Photographer, so word must have gotten around that I like Photography and since I had my Pentax and Tripod with me, I was asked to shoot a Image of the Class. I was a bit worried about using the Lens that I had thinking that it might not cover everyone. It did just fine, as you can see. I shot 4 of these, but deleted 2. We all have changed in one way or another. We all have gone our separate ways. Most of us have Grandchildren now and some have retired. I can look at this Image and remember so much from those day's. Fleetwood High School did not really have big graduating Class's. Not like other schools that had 500 or more. I really can't remember just how many were in our graduating Class. It was much less than 100. There were other members of the Class that just did not come, or have moved too far away to attend.

In Memory of those who we lost over time.

The Reunion lasted until around 11:00 p.m. I guess that we were all getting tired. We had good food & drink, plus a DJ that played music from the 50's & 60's, that we enjoyed dancing too. Now, in another 5 yrs. it will be our 50th Reunion. Don't know what this committee will plan. Maybe something different. It's hard to believe that time has gone by so fast. Where did time go? It was a time when everything was much more simple, and we didn't have much of a care in the world.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

HIGH WATER

2011-09-09T18:56:00.000-04:00

If you remember in my last Post I had mentioned that it rained so hard yesterday morning that you could barely see in front of you? Well, this is what happens down on River Road just 3 blocks from our Home.

River Road is just off to the right. Across the Road are Homes, but are up higher than the road.

This sign is more than 6 feet up on the tree.

The River is usually way beyond those 2 trees. Allot of power out there with the water running so fast. Would not be a good place to be.

These Images were taken just yesterday evening after I came home from work. There were lot's of other people walking down River Road, even though the National Guard was patrolling the area just to keep people from doing something dumb. I checked the River this morning on my way to work, and it was much lower. The River is getting back to it's normal flow. However, I'm thinking that there won't be any fishing around here for a while. All the fish have been probably washed down stream. More showers for tomorrow, and thunder storms are in the forecast. Great! Just what we need. More rain.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

LANCASTER COUNTY IN HDR

2011-09-07T21:20:00.001-04:00

Before I show you some of the Images that I had taken while in Lancaster County that I changed over to High Definition, I'd like to tell you about the rain we have been having here. For the past 2 day's it has done nothing but rain, rain, and more rain. Most of the time the rain has been on the light side with a few times of heavy rain that did not last very long. The ground is just totally soaking wet and really can't absorb much more. The bad weather has been preventing me from working on the outside storage shed. I have to replace the whole front of the shed with new weather resistant plywood, re-trim the outer edges, and re-paint what I have to replace. I had vacation from work for 4 day's and was planning on doing this, but the rain has put a stop to all that. Today was much the same. More rain, but this time it rained so hard that it was a real deluge. A real "toad soaker", as they say. It rained so darn hard that you could barley see what was outside. It came down in buckets for about 15 minutes and then just let up to a drizzle. Trying to get home from work was a real pain in the butt. Streets were flooded, and had traffic all snarled up so bad that I had to find an alternate way to get home. Usually, it takes me only 15 min. to get home here, but because of all the flooding and streets that were blocked off, it took me more than a half hour! As I write this, there is a Flash Flood Warning coming over the radio. More heavy rain is expected. This is not good. The River below us is already close to over-flowing. More rain, just might send it over it's banks and flood out River Road. The water will never reach our home, cause we live up on higher ground. I think that I have had enough rain for awhile, but there is not much I can do to stop it. I'm ready for some sunshine!

My High Definition Program, known as HDR, does a pretty good job in bring out more of the color in the Image. This is just one of the Images that I chose to convert over to HDR.

This is one Image that I didn't Post about in my last one. As you can read it's just one of the many little stores in the Kitchen Kettle Village. I went in here to "snoop around" and see if I could find a nice Country Candle for my Wife. There was all kinds of stuff in here. I did find a nice Candle and holder for her, which she did enjoy getting.

Now, for a complete change from Lancaster County to something that has been wrong with me for more than 40 yrs. As most of you may know by now, I served in the US Navy for 11 yrs. and had a Tour of Duty over in Vietnam. The above picture, taken on the USS New Jersey, is a Duel 5"54 rapid fire gun battery that was my Battle Station aboard the Destroyer I served with. Because of a gun battery like this, firing in my Left ear many times, my hearing in my Left ear has been bad for all these years. The Ear Specialist I went to confirmed that I have "diminished hearing" in both ears. Well, now after filling out paper work more than 2 months ago, I finally got the Veterens Administration, in Lebanon, PA to give me a complete physical and maybe address my hearing problem. I am told by other Vietnam Vets that they will pay for a hearing aid, pay for any medicine that I take, pay for glasses that I wear, and much more that I don't know much about yet. I'll have to find out more when I get there. I will also get discounts from different places of business, that I have already used. Lowes Hardware Store is just one of them that offer a 10% discount to all Veterans that served their Country. To get this discount, you have to show proof that your a Veteran, such as your DD-214 paper. They just don't hand it out to anyone. This is the way it should be.

Some of the time, I wear a hat that say's "US Navy Vietnam Veteran." I usually don't say much about what I've seen over there and what I did, because most people really don't care, so I have been led to believe. When I do wear it, I have had people come right up to me, stick out their hand, and Thank me for serving our Country in time of War. I have never met these people before! I'm not used to that! I've had this happen more than 5 times, so far. The first time it happened, I did not know what to say. I was dumb founded, if you can believe that. Things are changing for us Nam Vets since the bad times in the 60's. It has been a long time coming. Would you believe that I could still load and fire this battery just like I did more than 40 yrs. ago? I remember to this day. It will remain in my memory until I'm dead and gone.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

INTERCOURSE, PA

2011-09-01T19:51:00.000-04:00

Again, today I had another day off from my job. I had stated before that my place of employment did not have power for 2 days, from good ole' Hurricane Irene coming to visit. It finally got power back yesterday, and went back to work last night.

I have a small problem with the weather is real nice. I want to get "out there" with my Camera and visit places that I want to see. So, with all the outside house work pretty well done for now, I decided to hit the road and go back down into Lancaster County to a Town named Intercourse, PA and get some Images that I've been wanting to shoot before, but never really did get to do it. This time I think I did much better than my previous Post.

This gives just a small description on just how the Town got it's name. If you might be thinking that it had something to do with the union of 2 to produce an offspring, it had nothing to do with that! LOL.

The Town of Intercourse is not a very big Town. Just a small place that has lots to offer those who want to Tour the Amish country side, and see all the attractions that are around the area. One of the major attractions in Intercourse is a place called the Kitchen Kettle Village. It has many little shops for all to shop and snoop around in. You can find just about anything here that has to do with the County and the Amish people. This is just one of the many little "stores" that can be found here. Has all kinds of little trinkets and crafts. For those of you that like Country stuff, you can find what you want around here. This is just one of the many little craft shops you can visit.

Here you can purchase just one of the many Quilts that are all hand made by the Amish people. I thought the sign was made rather pretty. The Quilts that are hand made can get on the expensive side, depending on what you want. The more fancy they are, the more the price is. Some of the Quilts can cost more than $600. However, they are worth the money. Some of the ones that I saw were so very pretty to see and were not cheap. The Amish people don't make cheap stuff that will fall apart in years to come.

This is just one example of the colorful Quilts that are on display for those who want something like this that will keep you warm during cold Winter months or just to hang in your Home as a Banner, which some do. I have no idea just how much this one is, but you can bet it's well over $200.00. I'd almost be afraid to sit on something as pretty as these are. Let alone, use it for a bed cover. You gotta hand it to these people. They know how to sew! Remember this is all made by hand.

Ok. Moving on here, this is one of the 3 carriages that Tourists can take a 5 mile ride on around the Lancaster country side. It even takes you over a Covered Bridge and back all for $12.00 a person. This was shot in the Kitchen Kettle Village.

Taking a break. I think that these Horse's have such a pretty chestnut color. Trust me. These horse's are well cared for.

Again. Remember the movie "Witness" with Harrison Ford and the Lady who wanted to take his picture while he was in hiding with the Amish? This is the Country Store where that segment of the movie was shot. Notice the metal rails where horse & buggy's can be tied too while shopping. The 2 Gentlemen, on the porch, were watching me as I took this Image.

This was my Main reason for coming down here. The Amish Horse & Buggy.

Standing at the entrance to the Village, I just happen to hear the "clip-clop" of a horse & wagon coming behind me. I had to turn and shoot this Image quick before he went by. Notice the straw hat, which most Amish men wear.

I think that this is my best shot of the visit. Again, standing on the other side of the street, I was rewarded with this Horse & Buggy coming around the corner from where I was standing. I almost did not hear the "clip-clop" of the horse and wagon cause they came from my left side. Since, I have some "diminished hearing" more in my left ear than the right, I was sorta surprised by them coming. I just didn't hear them coming until the last minute. I turned and took this Image, and thanked them as they went by. Notice the name "Stoltzfus" on the sign behind them. It is a very common name around here. So is the last name Lapp. Also, notice the black shield behind the horse. That's for "road apples!" or "exhaust" from the horse.

A parting shot and "THANK YOU" for letting me get an Image of what I came here for. Be well, and travel safe, my Amish person.

Just another Image of the Horse & Buggy's that are around the area in the Kitchen Kettle Village.

Look how fancy this carriage really is. Has turn signals on the right & left sides. The door has a polished look to it, and the inside was very clean & neat with polished wood! Humm . . . . I'm wondering just who owned this carriage. It was sure allot more fancy than the others I saw.

Here is something that you see quite allot of around the area. This is not a bicycle. It's a scooter! Notice that there are no pedals like a bike. It's all done by "push power" just like the scooters we used to have when we were much younger. Notice the wheels. Much bigger than what we ever had. I can remember when I had a scooter. It was a whole lot smaller than this one. I had to take this shot, knowing that the Amish don't care to have their picture taken, quick before she turned around.

Just a parting shot of the surrounding country side. Looked like it was going to start raining, but it never did. Was a bit on the cloudy side while here, and starting to get a bit humid.

Hope you enjoyed your Tour of the Town that is so well known in the Lancaster area. Hope that I didn't get too carried away with this Post and you were not bored. I hope that I didn't get "too long winded" here. I really wanted to get some shot's of the Horse & Buggy's that I had mentioned about before in my previous Posts. I was rewarded well for my persistence. I still may come back here in the Fall when Nature starts changing color for the last time before Winter set's in.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

AFTER IRENE

2011-08-30T18:47:00.002-04:00

Now that Hurricane Irene is long gone, I had a chance just to take a short 3 minute drive down to the Felix Dam Park area just to see what damage has been done, if any at all. While Irene was here we really did not get that much damage at all. Lot's of wind & some heavy rain, but that was about it. We lost power just for a short while, and then it came back on. Not like other places around the area that still have no power as I write this. My place of employment has had no power for 2 day's now, thus leaving me without a job to go to until it get's turned back on. I won't get paid, but that's ok. Just as long as it does not last a long time. I can find things to do around the house here while I'm off.

This is the Schuylkill River just down the road from us. It's where the old Felix Dam used to be that I have posted about before. It's much higher than it usually is and the water is brown in color. It has not gotten much higher than this, thank goodness.

Taken at the old Lock in Felix Dam Park. The plaque there tells all about how the old Felix Dam was torn down, or what was left of it. It was high water like now and Hurricane Floyd years ago that gave the ole' Dam it's demise.

Walking down the bicycle & walking path there are some trees down and leaves all over the place. Not that bad at all. Could have been allot worse.

Looking up-river from Kelly's Lock.

This is looking down River Road that I had mentioned before. No real damage here at all. Just a few tree limbs that blew off and leaves. It's been all cleared away by the Township. The Brown plaque in the foreground say's "Kelly's Lock Overlook." It's where I took the previous Image. Kelly's Lock has been here for many years. The parking lot used to be dirt, and us kids in High School used to use this area to "Watch The Submarine Races!" They still do to this day.

Here I am standing at the ole' Lock Handles that used to open and close the old Lock for the barge's that used to pass thru here back in the 1800's. I just never do take a good Image of myself. However, they say the camera never lies! I know. I should lose some weight. Getting older seems to give you that problem.

That's all for now. There just is not a whole lot to Post about here since Irene has gone. It's all still pretty much the same as it has been.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT

2011-08-26T20:29:00.001-04:00

Well, fellow Bloggers and Followers, by the weather reports it seems that we're going to get some nasty weather heading towards us. Hurricane Irene is coming up the East Coast and is to arrive here late Saturday and into Sunday all day. Heavy rain & some windy conditions are forecast for our area. I really don't know just how bad it might get, but my "Navy sense" tells me that it won't be all that bad for us here. I really don't think that it will get real bad, since we are about 60 miles Northwest of Philadelphia and a good 3 hr. drive away for the Shore area's. It probably will rain heavy at times, and the wind might get gusty, but I'm thinking it won't be too bad. I'm not going to take any chances, though. I will remove anything outside the house that could blow around. The rest I will have to leave to Mother Nature, and see what happens. We have had some Hurricanes around here before and have gotten some heavy rain and wind, but nothing really, really bad. I think that the last one to hit us was Floyd back some years ago, but not sure. But anyway . . . .

I've taken some time to build what is called a "Light Box" to photograph different objects at a close range with my Camera and one of the Lens's that I have. You can buy these "Light Box's" on the Internet, but I decided to make my own just using a cardboard box, cutting out the top and sides, adding some light & different colored back-drops. It took me about a half hour to make one. It seems to work pretty nice so far. Here are some of the Images I took using this method.

Using my Tamron 70-300mm Lens with Macro I can get real close to different objects I thought you might like to see. This is a Piston machined from Acrylic Plastic that I made on a CNC Machining Center years ago. Since it was out of tolerance and a piece of scrap, I took it home with me. Just what this Piston was used for, I really don't know. It's just what the customer ordered.

Here I used a different back-ground photographing the same thing, except I added another piece of Acrylic Plastic that was machined by me. To the right is a Plastic magnifier that is polished after the machining process. It, also, was no good so I took it home.

I'm sure you know what this is. It's a Cat's Eye Marble that was a prized possession in the game of Marbles that us older people used to play when we were kids. I'm not even sure that I know how to play, since it's been that long ago.

Would you believe this is a Candle? It is. Just for pretty and to look at. It's never burned. I'd light a match and burn this, my Loving Wife would burn me! She has a number of other ones that are "just for pretty."

Last, but not least, is this Diamond Ring that I bought my Loving Wife just about 20 yrs. ago. It has 12 "baggetts" on either side for a total of 24. The Center Diamond is just under a half Carot. It is insured, of course. It's a expensive ring. As you all know, Diamonds gain in value. They never loose. She has many other Diamond's that were bought by me, and her late Father. She only wears this when we go out somewhere. Never ever to work!

That's all that I've taken for right now. I more or less have to learn by "trial & error". I read how to photograph something close up and then try it out and see what comes out. When I screw it up and it doesn't look right, I try again until it comes out to my liking. Since I don't have a "true" Macro Lens and don't think I'm going to spend money to get one, I'll use what I have. Seems to do a decent job!

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

LANCASTER COUNTY

2011-08-22T19:35:00.001-04:00

Since today was my day off from work and it was such a beautiful day outside, I got some work done around the house. Had to install a Lock on the Shed outside, cause we've been having some break-in's in the neighborhood. This took me about 15 min. to do. Did some trimming for the bushes around the house, cleaned up, and that was about all.

I started thinking about heading down into Lancaster County, since the weather was so nice. Lancaster County is not far from our Home and we've been down in the area many times in the past. It always has something to see and do. Since Lancaster County is known for the Amish & Mennonite people, the farm land, the horse & buggy's that travel the 2 lane roads all the time, I pretty much know what to avoid and some of the places to go. The area also offers lot's of things to see, and is just full of Tourists all wanting to see what the Amish & Mennonite way of Life is. I stay away from the high traffic area's. From going down into this area before, I tend to stay on the back country roads where you can appreciate the Lancaster area much better. With that in mind, and with my trusty Pentax I took off looking for something that would be interesting for both you and me. The area never let's you down.

One of the back roads that I know of is RT895. It is only a 2 lane road, but has some great area's and country-side to see. Coming up around a bend in the road, I happen to see a Amish farmer mowing grass in his field across the road. He was doing it the old fashion way. Using his team of 4 Mules and this wagon to do the job. I had to turn around and park the car just up from this Image. I asked him if I could shoot some pictures of his Mules, and he had no objection except he did not want to be in the Image. This is normal for the Amish people. They don't like their picture taken, or will turn their back to the camera. Just why this is, I don't really know. This is the Image I took of the 4 Mules, waiting to be watered & fed after pulling that wagon behind them.

Just another view of the simple Mule drawn equipment they use. There is nothing fancy here. Just the basic tool's that they need to do a job. Notice the wheels. There is no rubber on them! Just the metal wheel itself.

Still traveling down RT895, but now I went across the busy RT322 where a whole lot of traffic exists. This is what you can encounter at times while being in Lancaster County. The Horse & Buggy has to yield to traffic. However, there are times that you may get stuck following behind one of these. There are quite a number of them all over the area. Most of the time they travel on the very right or left side of the road, thus letting traffic pass them by. This Image was taken real fast. Sorry for the glare, but I had to watch traffic behind me and in front. Did you ever see the movie "Witness" with Harrison Ford & Kelly Maginous? This is the intersection that you see in the very beginning of the movie. Watch out for the Horse "exhaust!"

This is a typical Amish Buggy that you see constantly around the area. Known as a "Market Wagon" As far as I know the Amish pay no road tax's, but still use them, as we do. This Image was taken at the Amish Farm Complex, that it a big Tourist trap. People want to see what an Amish Farm is, a 1 room school house, a barn, animals, and just how the daily Life for them is. All this for a $9.00 cost. No thanks. I know pretty much who they are, and what they do. Sometimes you see 4 people in one of these, all pulled along by either 1 or 2 horses. There are also wagons in the area. I passed more than 6 of these clip-clopping along the side of the road. It is very hard to get a shot of these carriages traveling the roads. You probably could get a good picture of a horse & buggy, but you'd have to pull off the road somewhere and wait for one to come by. When I go down into Lancaster County again, I'll see what I can do. Maybe later on in the Fall when the Tourist season is pretty well done.

I stopped along the road-side to get this shot of the Country-side that is common for the area. Lot's of farm land and farms. Corn fields, wheat, alfalfa, and tobacco are also common crops that are grown around here. There were a number of tobacco fields that I passed by. The Amish sell the tobacco to Southern buyers to add to their income. What they pay or who buys it, I have no idea.

Another view of the Country-side. A nice looking farm with more than enough land to take care of. Can you just image what work it takes to farm this? They must be doing well for the huge farm they have.

Another view of the Country-side of Lancaster County. To the right is the road that I traveled. It's RT895 North & South. The road is real nice to travel, but a bit windy at places. If you are thinking about coming down into this area, this is one road that you would enjoy. I took this on my way home.

Well, that's about it for right now. Hope that you enjoyed this little trip down into Lancaster area. I'm gonna come back down here, maybe in the Fall. This way the Tourists are pretty much gone and you can see what the places of "Bird In Hand & Intercourse" look like. I passed thru Intercourse & Bird In Hand, and it was just nut's with traffic and Tourists. I got outta there! Next time I might stop and get some good ole' Wet-Bottom Shoe Fly Pie! The Amish can make some great Shoe Fly, and it is so moist and thick!

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

THE EPHRATA CLOISTER

2011-08-20T13:05:00.002-04:00

Since I have been running out of places to Post about around here that have Historical value to them, I decided to make a small trip down into Lancaster County, where the Ephrata Cloister is located. In the past number of years, I have passed by this place and always wondered just what was in there. However, visiting this place was second on my list. I had really wanted to see "Wheatland", the home of President James Buchanan, but never got there. My GPS did not list the street that is was on. Would have been running all over the place with no real idea where it was. The Historic Town of Lancaster is a busy place. Would have wasted allot of time trying to find it.

Entrance to the Ephrata Cloister.

IMAGINE -

Just for a moment - that several decades of warfare has left your Life in turmoil. You are in debt and many around you are homeless and starving to death. Your own Faith is under attack from the goverment. This is what started the Ephrata Cloister Complex.

A person named Conrad Beissel started this whole religious complex back in 1732. His desire for a quiet home free from distractions allowed him to continue on his spiritual pilgrimage to join God in Heaven. Many others, like him and wanting the same as he did, soon followed along. By the year of 1750 the Community numbered nearly 80 people. The Brothers & Sisters, as they were known, all lived together worshiping God in seperate homes. Today, only a fraction of the Ephrata Cloister's eighteenth century buildings & heritage survive. However, the German Seventh-day Baptist Church still survives at places to this day. This Complex is where the town of Ephrata and the surrounding area got it's start. It reminded me of the Amish & Mennonite people that live in this area.

Constructed in 1741 this was the Main Building or what was called "The Saal" (Meeting House) This building was the main area that consisted of area's for worship, reading, drawing, and also housed another Chapel for daily meditation. The only way you can enter this huge building is by special Tour that is offered. Just didn't want to take that time. I did look into the windows and found lots of chairs, tables, cross's, and books that were probably used back in that time. All of the people that once lived here dressed in a "simple manner." Just a plain dress or pants & shoes that were white in color. Known for it's "purity." Again, almost like the Amish & Mennonite people of today.

The Bake House where candles were made, soap making, and the regular routine of doing the laundry.

One of the House's where the Brothers lived.

The Carpenter's House. Notice the well in the front where water was drawn for daily use.

The Stable House. I looked inside each one of these old places and found that the people back in those day's were much smaller than we are today. I stand 6'5" tall, and had to duck my head each time I went into a building. To be exact, I banged my head on 2 occasions! I then started to remember to duck when going inside.

This was what was called "The Academy". It is where all the schooling for children was held. Most of the subjects taught here were focused on reading, writing, and arithmetic. The "out house" stands in the foreground. There was no indoor plumbing back in those days.

A look inside one of the Homes. All the cooking was done over an open fire. There was no electric lights, no air conditioning, or any of the modern features we all have. Everything was done by candle light. They all led a very simple life.

The Printing Office. There was also a Clock making area located off to the left of this building.

The back of the Bakery.

Another view of the Main House. The small structure off to the right was a small oven called "The Saron Bake Oven." It was built around 1820.

A composite of just some of the original buildings.

I did sort of enjoy walking around this old religious place that has been here since the 1700's. I did not take the offered walking Tour that is narrated by a Guide. I prefer to "snoop around" reading the brochure as I go along. I can learn on my own, which I normally do. I'm not really fond of walking around with other visitors, since they can hold you up when you want to move on to something else that you see. Also, I'm not really a very religious person, but it was interesting on just how people back from those day's lived in harmony with their belief.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

WALKING THE UNION CANAL (cont.)

2011-08-08T18:46:00.001-04:00

In my last Post about Walking the Union Canal, I had made a mistake that you out there never noticed. While "out there" with the Camera, I decided to give this RAW setting on my Pentax a try and see how it works when I go to edit the Images I take. This was not a good idea, as I found out. When I went to view the Images I took, they came up in a whole different format than what I was used to. I viewed the Images and gave them some correction, but when I went to Post them here they didn't show up! This had me wondering what I did wrong. Found that when I use the RAW setting, it makes the Image into a TIFF format that Blogger does not handle. Oh Shit! Looks like I can't shoot Images in the RAW setting. I changed my Pentax back to what it was before. Now, it works just fine, like it has always done. So, since I could not Post any of the Images in the TIFF format, I made another trip over there this morning and shot what I messed up. What I have to do is do some research on using the RAW format, before I go Posting anything. So anyway . . . .

This is looking back down the Trail to Rebers Bridge Road that is in the far distance. I will explain where Rebers Bridge Road got it's name further below. The white sign on the tree say's that there is no fishing allowed using worms, or live bait. Artificial lures are allowed only. The River is just off to the right of this Image. Sometime, I'm going to try my luck here with my Spinning Reel and see what happens.

The Trail as it looked this morning. The old Union Canal, or what is left of it, is off to the right where all the trees are. I was going to climb down the embankment that was once the Canal Wall, but decided against that. It's very wet and soggy down there and probably just full of "skeeters." Don't want too get bit up! We had gotten some heavy rain a few day's ago, so most everything down there is muddy. The old Canal still holds water, at places.

Sign say's 1.9mi. to Red Bridge, not 19 miles! Stonecliffe is 4.2mi. not 42 miles! Kinda hard to read. I think they forgot the period in between the numbers. There is no way I could walk 42 miles or 19 miles! I'd fall over dead for sure!

Just one of the foot bridges that cross over a small creek that runs into the River on the right.

This is Rebers Bridge Road. I decided to do the "Ghost Outline" in Red, because most of the old Covered Bridges that are left over are that color. Rebers Covered Bridge used to be here instead of the metal grated bridge that was built years ago. The old Covered Bridge somehow caught fire and burned. Just how that happened I don't know. I can find very little information about this old Bridge. I don't even know just how the Bridge got it's name. Traffic here is quite heavy. I had to shoot this Image quick, before any cars came by. The open metal grating on the new Bridge is a bit scary. When you walk over it, your looking down into the River. I was a bit fearful of that. It's a good 20 feet drop!

This is what the old Bridge looked like back in it's day. The picture before this one is looking down from the right side of this Image. That stone structure on the right, is not there anymore. I don't even know what it was. The original stone supports for the Bridge are still there, but buried in dirt, trees, bush, and over-growth.

I think I may have stated this before, but I'm sorry to see this old Covered Bridges fading into History. There used to be quite a few of these around this area, but no longer. There are probably 3 or 4 of them left. The ones that you can walk across bring back memories from an age of long ago.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

Walking The Union Canal Trail

2011-08-04T20:40:00.000-04:00

Again, as most of you have been putting up with, the heat and humidity has just been terrible for a number of day's. Even though the heat has been bad, at times, I still have been "getting out there" with the Camera to a few places that are close by my area. A few day's ago the weather started getting much better and we didn't have so much heat to deal with. Had a few rain showers that cooled things down more, and then last night it really rained quite heavy for about 10 minutes. We needed that rain real bad. Lawns have been turning to straw. Seem'd that the only thing that grew were the weeds.

So, with the weather, not so darn hot I took a trip over to what's called the Rippling Rapids Trail. It's about 0.8 miles in length, is nice and wide, and does not have allot of hills to it. A nice walking, running, bicycle, and hiking Trail that follows the old Union Canal. Built by the Army Corp. of Engineers a few years ago, it offers everyone something to enjoy for some excersize. The trail is a good 4 feet wide. The Union Canal or what is left of it was on the left of the Image. Your walking the Canal Towpath that horse's & mules used to travel with a barge in tow.

Just some of the scenery walking the Trail. It goes way beyond what you see.

Here is something that I didn't really expect to see. A box Turtle just slowly making his way across the Path. He could have cared less that I was there.

Remember this picture from my last Post? Well, look at the one below and you will see what used to be in this exact spot before, but is now gone.

This is what used to be at the above location. The ole' Felix Dam was done for. It's been there for 200 yrs. or more, but just could take no more of Nature.

Walking that Union Canal Trail is nice, but it's a bit tiring for me. I'm not used to walking that much. If and when I do, it's not usually all that far. Guess what I should do is start doing it more. This way my legs don't get so sore, and it's good for your health to do it.

I have even gotten out my old bicycle that I've had hanging in the shed for years. It's a Schwinn Frontier 12 speed that I bought more than 20 yrs. ago. I got it out, filled the tires with air, oiled up the chain a bit, and took it for a short spin around the block. I was surprised that it worked as good as it did. The tires are a bit dry rotted, but they still hold air just like before. I even have a "rack" for the car that I have not used in years. Put that on the back of the car, with the bike and drove over a local Trial like the one above. Found out that my 64 yr. old legs are just not quite as strong as they used to be. However, I did alright. Just have to be a bit careful on taking on too much at one time. People my age have fallen over dead, and not even know it's coming.

Oh yes. This is my 100th Post! How bout' that! I still don't like this new Blogger Dashboard thing!

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

WHAT I'M DOING

2011-07-21T21:53:00.001-04:00

What have I been doing these past few day's? Not really much of anything that is important. I really have not gone anywhere that has some Historical value to it since my last Post on the #9 Coal Mine. Weather here has just been quite Hot for the past number of day's. Temp's in the high 90's have been common. Yesterday, the weather was sunny and we reached 100 degrees. Today, it was 102! Tomorrow, will be more of the same. There seems to be no end in sight for this record heat wave that we are having. I have found that in my later years of age, that I just can't handle the hot weather as well as I did years ago. Before the heat didn't bother me as much as it does now. I tend to go out and do what I want in the early morning hours when it's somewhat cooler. Then come home to our air-conditioned house, where it's nice and cool all the time. Trouble with this is that our Central Air is getting a real workout with it running most all the time. I think we're going to get a rather nasty Electric Bill for this month. I sort of look at it this way. If I have to work for a living, I might as well have comfort.

During the past few days, I have been getting "out there" in the morning hours with my Camera just to go see what has changed, if anything. I've also been checking out some more fishing spots that are close by our Home. In the process of doing this, I have come across a few changes that I never knew were there.

Just down the street from our Home is Felix Dam Park. It's a Historical area that I had made a Post about a few months back. Felix Dam used to be part of the old Schuylkill Canal System that dates back to the middle 1800's. In walking around here I noticed that the old Dam Breast is now gone. They have removed what was left of the old Dam Breast, and now you can't even tell there was something here at one time. The old Dam Breast used to stretch straight out in front of this Image, all the way over to the other side. The old Dam has been falling apart more and more over time and was starting to erode the far side of the river bank. There was a "Save Felix Dam" project going on last year to save it, but nothing ever happened. Money was needed to repair the old thing, but that never did take hold. Not enough money was raised, so it came down never to be seen again. I'm sorry to see this, in a way. A place like what used to be here, has faded away into History. Only those who know what used to be here, will remember.

About 100 yards to the left of my last Image is the Old Lock that was also used for raising and lowering the Canal Boats up and down the River. In the background is the old Lock, but a new feature has been added. Before there was no pathway here. Now, a new fence, a Historical Marker, and a Bicycle & Walking Trail has been added. The Historical Marker tells you what the old Lock used to do and how it worked. The Trail curves around to the left and down into the trees where it continuous along River Road. This Trail will eventually extend all the way North to Port Clinton, and as far South as Philadelphia following the old Schuylkill Canal Tow Path. When it's all done, you'll have one long bike ride or walk!

Late one evening, while over at the Blue Marsh Dam area, I shot this Image of this stately Home that I've always wanted to take a picture of. Would you believe this Home is lived in by the Prison Warden, that is in charge of the Berks County Prison? It even has lights in the lawn to light it up at night, plus a Flag. I wonder just who pay's for all this? I have a sneaky feeling that us Taxpayers are paying for this somewhere.

I've also been over to the Blue Marsh area again, but this time I was just "hanging out" with the Camera and watching all the different types of pleasure craft that wait to be picked up in the Launch & Recover area. Since I'm standing on a higher level where I can see everything that goes on, and swing the Camera 180 degrees on my Tripod, I happen to admire this real nice boat that was waiting it's turn to be recovered. I just love the color. It's a "inboard - outboard" boat. Notice the seats on the Bow & Stern. Must be nice to afford one of these. Wish that I could. I sure would have a great time with one of these.

Now, here is something that I never saw before. It's a Amish or Mennonite Lady using a Kayak. As you may know the Amish & Mennonite people live by their own rules and are very religious. They have their own Laws and don't really pay much attention to our "English" way of Life. I didn't know that they did this kind of thing. Wearing her standard long dress and her White Bonnet, she and 3 other Lady's paddled off to enjoy an evening on the Lake. You never know what you'll see when you just stand around and observe.

So, now you've gotten most of what I've been up too these past few day's. I just wish this darn heat wave would end soon. We need rain so bad. Pretty soon they will start calling for water restrictions. My lawn is turning into hay, but I'm not spending money to water it. Our water bill is high enough.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

JULY 4TH, 2011

2011-07-08T08:00:00.001-04:00

I'm going back wards in time now, but before I do this I have made a observation here. On my last Post about the No. 9 Coal Mine & Museum up there in Coaldale, PA, I have noticed that I've gotten more response and comments in a shorter period of time than my other Posts that really had nothing to do with History in the area. This shows to me that my Followers are just more interested in the Historical places that I go and see. Also, by looking over my "Stats" it shows that my page gets more attention. That leaves me with just one conclusion. Keep Posting about Historical things I go and see. It's that simple. So be it then. Again, I THANK ALL OF YOU for reading about what I do and where I go.

I had some much needed Vacation time and part of it was over the 4th of July. With some time on my hands I took a trip over to the Blue Marsh Dam area just to see what's going on over there. Blue Marsh is a huge area with lots of boating, swimming, bike riding, walking trails, etc. I had made a Post about this area before. The areas that are used quite regular are the boat launches, and swimming area. Because of this the State changes each car that enters the area $3.00 just to get in. The other area's there is no charge. I assume this is to make money for the preservation of the area. In my opinion, I don't mind paying the $3.00 charge once in a while, but just for me to walk around the area with my Camera and not really use anything, is a bit much. However, I would guess that they can't make exceptions for one thing and not the other. I just won't do it that often, and besides there are other way's to get into a "charged area" by using the trails that go from one area to another. There is always a way to beat something. So anyway . . . .

July 4th was not very good for the weather. Overcast skies, but on the humid side. Still there was no rain. In walking around the #2 Boat Launch area, I decided to set up my Camera & Tripod near the Boat Launch where I could swing the camera 180 degrees and watch what goes on. I installed my Phoenix 28-210mm Telephoto Lens so I could reach out there and take Images of what interested me. The Image above shows the Game Wardens on patrol. There was only one boat that I saw. They patrol the waters looking for people in distress, drinking in the boats, and just general Police work. Have to keep the water-ways safe. They must have known that their picture was being taken. Notice the wave at the camera.

Since I could swing the Camera Lens around to the left or right, I happen to notice this fella with his Black Labrador Retriever on the Boat Dock. He was always throwing the ball and the Lab would chase after it jumping into the water for each throw, and return with it. The Lab would drop the ball at his feet, and be ready for more. Here he get's ready to throw the ball and the Lab is already starting to run.

Here he goes! Notice the ball in the upper right hand corner of the Image. Since this was my first try at doing a "Action Shot" it took me 5 times to get the Lab and ball together. The Image could be better, but I'll work on that in time.

Eye on the ball! This Lab must have went after the ball more than 20 times that I watched. He never seemed to tire of it. He was always ready for more. A dog like this must be a whole lotta fun to have around.

Return with the ball and ready to go again!

I must have been in my spot for over and hour just watching what goes on. My Phoenix Lens can see most everything that I do, but even better. People out just enjoying the Holiday with their Family, or friends. Never saw any alcoholic beverages, but I'm sure they were there. Just kept out of sight from the Wardens. Didn't see any drunken behavior, either. Being the Captain of your nice boat and drinking do not mix well. Besides, no beer or alcoholic stuff is allowed in the area. A nice hefty fine will await you if caught! Say, $1000!

I spent close to 3 hours over here just walking around. I found that most people were very friendly. Not like in other case's where they are rude and obnoxious. I have no time for rude people!

BTW - whats up with the "New" Blogger look? It's different than before. Maybe that's why some were having trouble with their Blogs. I never did. It just showed up here on the screen.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

THE #9 COAL MINE

2011-07-07T15:24:00.000-04:00

I know, I know. I have not posted anything here in a number of weeks. I just have not really gone anywhere that has a Historical value to it. Like I had stated before, I'm sorta running out of places to go. Or am I? The only place around here that always has something with history to it, is up in the Coal Region Area. I started thinking about this and remembered that there is a place that I've wanted to see, but just never took any time to do it. I have passed by the #9 Coal Mine and Museum a number of times in the past and always wanted to see what's there. So, with my Camera in the car, off I went. Back up into the Coal Region where Coal was once King.

Located just outside a Town named Coaldale, PA on RT209 is the #9 Coal Mine & Museum. The #9 Mine was in continuous use from the late 1800's until it closed in 1952. As with other Mines that were in the area, this Mine produced a whole lotta Coal from deep inside the mountain. Miners worked here under-ground for all those years, bringing out the Coal from the Mamommth Coal Vein that Nature made millions of years ago.

This is what was called "The Wash Shanty." Now, the Museum of the Mine it was once used by the Miners to change cloths, take a bath, and hang their dirty mine cloths after a hard shift deep in the mountain. Not much has been done to the original building since those day's. It has been somewhat restored to what it used to be, but it still looks pretty much the same as it did long ago. The small red building was not there years ago. It's bathroom facilities for visitors. Tried to keep in out of the Image, but there was just no way I could do it.

On display outside the Museum is this "Steam Lokie" that was used to haul Coal cars loaded with Coal to different parts of the area. Most everything back then was powered by steam. The "Blue Rounded Area" in the cab was the Firebox where coal was burned to heat the water that made the steam. The "Yellow" handle on the side above the number 51 was used to start and stop the Lokie.

This was one of the Cars that transported Miners in and out of the Mine. Looked to me like about 7 Miners could fit into this thing.

A lasting Tribute to Miners located in front of the Museum.

Some Historical information.

This is what 1 Ton of Anthracite Coal looks like. In the early years, these Cars were pulled along the tracks by Mules instead of being towed out by steam power. All these Cars were loaded with Coal by pick and shovel. Can you just image working to do this all of your Life?

This is looking down the tracks towards the Mine entrance. The trees and buildings that you see where not there many years ago. Just a plain barren dirt area to the entrance.

Now, lets take a trip down deep into the Mine where you can see what these Miners did for a living.

Riding in an old battery powered rail car that creaked, groaned, banged, and squeaked this was the first stop inside the Mine. It's cold down here, and quite damp from the water that always drip's thru the ground from the Mountain above. You are now about 1600 feet underground. The Mine temperature is a constant 52 degrees. Everything you see was carved thru solid rock with pick and shovel. The tracks were laid down by hand. The timbers that support the Mine walls were cut and installed using only muscle power. There was no steam power here until later years. Everything you touch is wet and damp. There was no electricity back then, either. Everything here was lit up by candle power!

Looking deeper into the Mine from the other end. Keep in mind that everything here used to be solid rock. The Tunnel was blasted out and the Coal was hauled away using a pick, shovel, coal car, and a Mule. Very back breaking work! Miners back then could clear 20 feet of Coal a day and were paid 5 cents a day for all the hard, back breaking work they had to do. Back then, that was considered a decent wage?

This is where the loaded Coal cars were hoisted to the surface. I've marked by an arrow, the chains that were used to lift the heavy weight of each car. This area was last used in 1952 and is now rusting away.

A Coal chute where Coal was hacked away by pick and shovel and then loaded into 1 ton cars. A Mule would then haul it to the hoisting area where it was taken to the surface.

Would you believe a Hospital down here 1600 ft. under the ground? It was. Injuries to Miners were common back then, but Medical procedure was not too good. They were treated as best they knew how. Fingers, hands, and legs were broken. Anything that was major, you were taken out by a cart pulled by a Mule to the surface and then taken away. Death was not uncommon here, either. Falling rock was a big factor in injury back then. Not to mention coal gas, and rat bite's from the rats that lived here underground. I didn't see any.

This is what a Mule and his "Boy" looked like. Back then a Mule was almost considered more of value than a Mine worker. They never complained. Many Mules were kept down in the Mines, and were treated harshly. They had allot of work to keep up with.

Everytime I make a trip like this back into History, I always try and keep in mind just how tough it really was back then. Working in those types of condition day after day must have been awful.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

WALKING AROUND

2011-06-18T19:08:00.000-04:00

Even though I don't seem to get anywhere that has History to it, I'm still "snooping around" in my area and going places that I have known about, but just never took the time to really see what's there. My camera always goes along with me when I do this, cause you never really know what you'll run into or see. I've been using my "newly found" Phoenix 28-210mm Telephoto Wide Angle Lens more and more, since I've found out just how to have my DSLR accept this type of Lens. I'm finding that it's a good all around Lens to use. Of course, if I find that this Lens is too much for what I want to shoot, I just change Lens's. Sometimes that's a pain in the ass, but it's necessary.

Just last week, I was talking with a fishing buddy and he told me about the Spillway in front of the Blue Marsh Dam. To be honest, I had no idea that this was here. I had never been here before. With that in mind I thought I'd go see what's there. This is just part of the Spillway area. A nice little pond of calmer water for fishing or just sitting and do nothing. There are fish in here, too. My buddy just caught a real nice Large Mouth Bass from this area.

This is looking down at the previous spot I showed you. The Spillway is just behind me and out of the frame. Usually you can find a few people fishing here. Looks like a promising place for fish. Off to the right is a walking trail that goes for 2.1 miles. I walked it for just a bit, then came back. Too long for me. If I walk that far, I'll be dead before I hit the ground! There is a sign here that's Posted by the PA Game Commission that say's "No baitfish or fishbait is allowed." "Only Artificial Lures made of Plastic, Wood, Steel, or other is Allowed." But, yet I see everyone using a worm, corn & mush. Can't people read?

Here's another place that I had no idea was here. It's a Trail that leads to the Stilling Basin. You can ride your bike, run, jog, or what-ever on the real nice trail that's about 4 feet wide. No motorized vehicles allowed here. The parking lot is just behind me. The sign in the foreground says what you can do and what you can not. No alcoholic drinks are allowed here. Guess no Farting or Belching, either! I'm more than aware that sign's by the PA Game Commission are put here for a reason. I just wish that people would take the time to read it!

Another view. This time standing on the Trail and looking out to all the grass lands for wildlife. The Trail that I mentioned before is off to the right at the top. I think it goes for just about 3 miles. No thanks!

While out fishing one day last week over at a favorite spot, the Game Warden came by to check me out. Yes, I have a fishing license. Yes, I'm being a good boy. Where's the fish? No, that's not my campfire! Good-by Mr. Game Warden. See you later.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & Commenting, if you can.

Les

MY "NEW FOUND" LENS

2011-06-04T22:25:00.000-04:00

I have noticed something here on my Blog. The last 2 Posts were not really about anything Historic. This one is not, either. What I did notice is that I don't get that many comments from Followers as what I do when I make a Post on History in or around my area. Is it that my Followers would rather see about things Historic or doesn't it really matter? This has me thinking. What should I do? Well, anyway . . .

For the past 2 or 3 years I have had a Camera Lens called a Phoenix 28-210mm Wide Angle Telephoto Lens. Even though the Lens is not made by Pentax, the Phoenix has a Pentax Mount that will fit my K100D. It's a real nice Lens, but it's a Manual Focus Lens. It's not Auto Focus like the rest of my Lens's. It's really supposed to be used on my Pentax K1000 35mm Camera, which I just don't use anymore since the Digital Age has arrived. The K1000 just sits on the shelf all covered up so no dust will get in it.

In the past, I have taken the Phoenix Lens with me and tried to use it. The problem with it is that I never knew when the Lens would work with my DSLR. Sometimes it would . . . sometimes it didn't. I never knew what would happen when I "fired" the shutter button. So, with all that in mind, I came across a Web Site called Pentax User. This site is really for Pentax user's and has all kinds of information. I decided to join it and started asking questions about the Phoenix in the Forum section. In just 2 day's I had 4 different Pentax user's tell me, from England & Australia, what I should do to get the Phoenix Lens to work with my DSLR. All I had to do was change 2 settings in the Menu part of the Camera. Now, it works without fail. I will be using this "all around" Lens much more. It takes some real nice shots, as you will see.

This morning was just beautiful! I got up around 0545 hrs. and decided to get my Spinning Reel and Camera, go over to my favorite area which is the Ontellione Dam Area where I've taken a number of Images in the past. This is over-looking the Dam from a Bridge that is no longer used for traffic. It's unsafe for traffic, but not to walk on. I shot this because of the reflection on the water from the sky.

This is looking down the Bridge no longer used.

One of my Fishing Area's to the left on this Image.

This Image came out real nice. Looking back at the Bridge from my fishing spot. This has a nice reflection off the water, also

Another fishing area. It was so nice and bright out here.

This is looking back thru just one of the many walking area's that lead to the Dam. Early in the morning, it was so nice and peaceful here. No noise. Just the birds and me walking thru the tall grass. There are Deer in here, but I have never seen any, plus other wildlife.

And . . . . here I am! As usual, I look like a nit-wit. I just don't take good Images of myself. I thought that I'd take this self Image to let you see what's on this end of your Computer screen. It was starting to get a bit warm. Had to take off my jacket that I had on before. I had to set the Camera shutter to "fire" in 12 seconds, thus giving me a chance to press the button, and assume the position. Yes, that's my car, and I didn't catch any fish. My luck will change soon.

Everyone of these Images were taken using my "new found lens." It works so well now. I just love it. See what you can learn by asking questions? How bout' that!

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

A NICE PLACE TO RELAX

2011-05-31T20:46:00.000-04:00

For the past number of weeks, I have not been going to any place that has historical value to it, so I thought that I'd make a Post of some of the things that are pretty close by our Home.

This is the Visitor Center for the Blue Marsh Dam. The Dam here is used for recreation, boating, swimming, fishing, hiking, and picnicking. It's about a 10 minute drive from my Home. The weather was rather hot and humid, so that's why you see a Haze in the Images.

Built by the Army Corp of Engineers sometime back in the early 80's or before it has lots of area just to walk around in and enjoy what's there for everyone.

This is part of the Dam Breast. Just what that Tower does, I don't really know. Probably for pumping water for one reason or another.

There are 4 different area's here that can be used for swimming & having a picnic. This is looking out over the swimming area from the upper parking lot.

This is taken from another nice area looking over towards the swimming area. There are plenty of picnic tables and shade trees.

Looking across from the Image above. This area is also real nice just to walk around in. Just to the left, but out of the Image is where the Boat Launch is located.

Just another Image of the Lake area. There are a few picnic shelters located here, but you must rent them well in advance. I don't really know what the price is to rent one, but they are quite popular to use. Most of the time people use them for large family gatherings.

Just another view of the area.

The Blue Marsh Dam area is a real nice place just to sit and relax. If you want to do some fishing there are large and small mouth Bass, plus other species that I'm not sure about. If you want to do some walking or hiking there are 2 or 3 different trails that you can walk. One of them is a Nature Trail that I was going to walk around in, but it's 4 miles in length. I don't think that I can really walk that far! But then, maybe I could.

Yesterday was Memorial Day and I went back over here again. I found that to be a BIG mistake! The Lake was filled with Power Boats, Canoes, and Jet Ski's. There were so many people here that they had to have the Park Rangers out directing traffic in and out of each area. Lots and lots of people out enjoying the Holiday. There was also another problem that I ran into. Found that the Park charges $3.00 to get into each area! I did not know that. Now, weather they charge a fee just during a Holiday I don't really know. The last time I was there, there was no charge.

One of the photography shots that I've been trying to do is take a Image of a Waterfall and have the Water with a "Blurred Effect" to it. I've read about how to do it, so I thought I'd get out and give it a try. I just happen to stumble upon this Water Fall, that I didn't even know was around here! I even printed out what to do so I won't forget. Well, I forgot to take them along! Dumb ass that I am sometimes. I tried to remember what settings to set the Pentax to, but all I could do is remember just some of them. Well, I gave it a shot and this is what came out! WRONG! In trying to remember all the settings, I forgot all about "Sun Flare." See that "red spot" up there? That's a no- no! I'm still going to keep this shot and find out how you can get rid of Sun Flare using my PSPX3 Program. I'm going to keep trying!

Now, this is the same Waterfall as the one before. Just taken from a different position. If I must say so, I think I did a pretty nice job this time. This is why you see a "Water Mark" on my Image, so no one will copy it without my permission. I would not take to kindly to that.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

THE SAFE HARBOR DAM

2011-05-17T18:34:00.000-04:00

For the past number of weeks, a friend of mine has been talking to me all about his fishing trips down to Bethany Beach in Delaware. All about the great fun they had going out and fishing for what-ever they could get. They caught some nice looking Flounder, some Stripers, and a few Crockers that they just threw back into the sea. The Flounder's they kept, and found they were real good eating.

In the process of doing all this, I started thinking about getting back out there and do some fishing on my own around this area that I have not done in more than 20 yrs. I used to enjoy going out and trying my luck at some favorite fishing places that are around here. Just why I stopped doing it, I really don't remember. Could be any number of reasons. Probably just sorta lost interest.

The more I thought about it the more I wanted to take up fishing again. It's not because I don't have any fishing gear at all. Down here in the Den I have 7 different Rods and Reels that just hung there on the wall gathering allot of dust. My Fishing or Tackle Box has plenty of Spinning Lures, Crank Baits, Plastic Worms, hooks, sinkers, and floats so I don't have to really buy anything more. I even have (2) 12 ft. Surf Rods and Reels for fishing in the surf down at the shore points. So with all that I decided to get back out there and do what I used to enjoy. Went over and checked out some of my old fishing spots and found that they have changed a bit over the years. Allot of over-growth where there was none. Water seems too be more muddy than it did. The others have stayed the same, pretty much. Even after all these years have passed.

This is one of the favorite places that I used to fish at. Named the Safe Harbor Dam and Power Company this area has some great potential for catching large fish that have been taken from here. Again, the weather was stupid. Looked like rain at any minute.

This is looking down on the Susquehanna River that flows from the Dam. My favorite spot is just below where this Image was taken. There have been some large Mouth Bass, Muskie, Steel Head Trout, and other fish taken from this area. This is what I like. Going fishing for something that can give you a fight.

Looking off to the left above my favorite spot. Water here was running rather swift today because of the heavy rain we have been getting. I wanted to go do some fishing below here, but my spot was taken by 2 other fisherman that got here before me. So, had to go find another place and try my luck.

Would have loved to go over to that Island in the middle of the River and fish, but it would be highly impossible to get over there, unless you had a strong boat with a big engine. Water is deep, and it runs rather swift in this area. Another big problem is if the warning sounds that the Dam is going to let out some water down the River, there is no place to get out of the way!

So, I went and found a place that looked pretty good and I gave it a try. Using a favorite Spinner Bait I fished for about 3 hrs. Did not get anything at all! Not even a hit on my Lure. Even tried my "Crawdad" Bait, but nothing. Maybe the fish were just not biting at this time. Maybe too much rain and they all washed down river. Don't know. But it was nice to get out there again. I have this week-end off from work, so maybe I'll go and try another place. Maybe I'll have better luck.

THE LEESPORT LOCK HOUSE

2011-04-28T19:44:00.000-04:00

Since most of you out there already know that I just love to snoop around in old abandoned places or places that have a History behind them, I've been trying to think of some other places around here or a short drive away that I could show you. I had already mentioned in a previous Blog that I'm running out of places to see. Sometimes, for the Life of me, I just didn't remember this place. Why I didn't is beyond me. I should have remembered, cause I have passed by it so many times in the past that I may have taken it for granted on being there.

This is the old Leesport Lock House that was originally built back in 1834 by the Schuykill Navigation Company. This old House was built adjacent to the Schuykill Canal to allow barges to move up and down the canal faster. It was a important House when the Canal was in full operation. Restored back to it's original look by the Berks County Parks and Recreation Department and the Leesport Lock House Foundation. It also served as a stop over for the many barges that traveled up and down the canal.

Here, I am standing on what once used to be the old Lock. Here you can see the original House and the area around it.

Now, over grown and full of trees and weeds, there is not much of the old Canal left anymore. In this area is where the barges used to run up and down the canal hauling Coal from the Coal Region Area and points further North. Coal was KING back in those day's. The canal carried more than 2 million tons of anthracite up and down the canal through the years of 1859. However, the canal was starting to become a transportation method that was failing. For more than 100 yrs. the canal transported coal and goods by a barge pulled along the towpath by a Mule or Horse. During this time of change the Pennsylvania Railroad was coming into the picture and could transport much more goods and coal at a cheaper and faster rate. The Railroad, within four years, was hauling three times the amount of coal as the Schuykill Canal. The canal just could not compete and started to decline until it was no longer.

This is all that is left of the original Lock. This is where I stood to shoot the other Image of the Lock House. I tried to read the plaque there on the wall, but just could not make it out. Too many years have passed for it to be readable.

The Lock House looking from the back.

Like I had stated in the beginning here, I have been passed this Historical place so many times in the past, I just didn't ever think of it until now. Across the street is the Medic Station and Engine Co. that I used to run with. Would you believe that they hold Parties and a Strawberry Festival here in these grounds every year? Wish that I could have gotten inside, but everything was locked up tight. Guess for good reason.

Until the next time . . . . Thank you for reading & commenting.

Les

ELLIS ISLAND, LADY LIBERTY, & NYC

2011-04-18T13:00:00.000-04:00

Just this past Saturday, it was time for our annual trip to NYC that we always make reservations for months in advance. The Bieber Bus that we take, along with other friends, is about a 2 1/2 hr. ride to NYC. The Bus is fairly comfortable, but it does give me a small problem. Since I stand over 6 ft. tall, I don't get that much leg room. It starts to get a bit on the cramped side for me, but it's not all that bad. Charter bus's are not really built for tall people like me. I just have to endure it for the short time of travel.

The weather did not favor us at all for the trip. It was cloudy, cool, and a bit windy but we were hoping that the weather would improve by the time we got there. No such luck. It got worse! We were all not very happy with the weather situation, but there was not much we could do about it except make the best of it. Mother Nature does not always give you what you would like. So off we went to see attraction's that I've never seen before, but always wanted to.

Getting around in NYC is not really all that hard, if you know what to do and what to take for transportation. Taking a taxi is expensive, so we took the NYC Subway system that is much cheaper and easy to use once you find out what train to take to where you want to go. It cost $2.50 for a one way trip down to Battery Park where we boarded the boat to Ellis Island. Again, since the weather was not good, the pictures that I shot are not the best of quality. The are about the best one's out of the many that I took, but deleted away cause I just didn't like them.

This is Ellis Island taken from the area where we had to wait to board the shuttle. About the best I could do with the Image.

Thought that while waiting I'd shoot this Image of the Merchant Marine Monument. It depicts a sinking ship, while a fellow shipmate lends a helping hand to a sailor in the sea. You have to look close at the side where you see the other sailor being helped aboard.

Here's Lady Liberty from the shuttle boat. I'm sure that you all know the History behind her. Even though the weather is terrible, there are still hundreds of tourists there. We just added to them!

This is the entrance to Ellis Island Immigration Center. I was sorta lucky to get this Image, cause there were so many, many tourists there. Had to wait until the right moment.

Known as "The Great Hall" this is where the millions of immigrants from all over the world started their journey into the USA. The Park Service has restored the Hall to what it looked like years ago. There are some things not there today, like the steel rails where everyone had to wait their turn to be processed. It was like standing in a line at a attraction waiting for hours hoping to start a new Life in the USA. They all brought everything they had. All their worldly possessions, which was not much. The cloths on their backs, and very little money, if any, to start all over again. You can find out more information about this place at Ellis Island.com

The Great Hall from another perspective. Up on this level are rooms that have all the History and exhibits that you can walk thru or take a self guided Tour of what is in each room. From what people looked like, what they brought along with them, and what they had to endure is all here.

Hope that you can read this.

After spending about 2 hrs. at Ellis Island we boarded the shuttle boat back to NYC. Arriving here this is what the weather turned into. The camera shows what 7th Ave. & 42nd Street looks like. Just around the corner was a great Italian place to eat called Carmines. We always go here to get some outstanding Italian food. Just after this shot was taken, it started to rain harder. I went back inside and had another drink! Having a Jim Beam and Coke is nice, but cost $10.50 a glass. I only had 2.

It had stopped raining for a bit, so I took this other Image looking back up 42nd Street. After having a great meal, we walked around a bit, but it started to rain again, so ducked into one of the many coffee shops there and had a nice strong cup of NY coffee. Had to wait until the Bus was ready to take us home which was about an hour wait.

The trip back home was the same as going up here, but this time it was raining so hard, that you could barley see out the side windows. How the driver could stand driving in that kind of heavy weather I don't know. It poured rain all the way home. Would you believe that upon our arrival home, it stopped raining? Geez! How lucky can we get! By now, my legs hurt, my feet hurt, and we are dog tired. We are glad to get home to a nice easy chair and relax from our long day.

NYC never stops! It does not matter if the weather is bad. GO, GO, GO! Cars, people, taxi's, trucks, police, and everyone going somewhere in a hurry never cease's to amaze me. I know what they mean when it's said "The City that Never Sleeps!" We will go again, as always! Next time see something else.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

Saint Claire, PA

2011-04-11T11:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my Wife and I had to make a trip back up into the Coal Region area to see her Brother that lives in the town of Saint Claire. So, with that in mind, I thought that I'd take my Camera along with me just in case I'd find something of interest. Usually going up into the Coal Region will always have something of interest, because of the rich history of the area. The problem with this is you just have to know where it was and what used to be at different places.

We have been up to this old Coal Mining Town on a number of occasions and I have always wanted to photograph a set of steel gears that stand in front of the entrance to a shopping center, where a Coal Breaker once stood many years ago. As usual, the weather was not really good for taking a Image, so I had to just deal with it. It was very over-cast and dingy looking, and the sky looked like it was going to rain at any minute.

This is the picture that I've wanted to take for quite some time, but just never got there. I apologize for the poor quality, but like I said the weather was not good. Just where these gears came from, I really don't know for sure. I am assuming that they might have come from a Breaker somewhere or even from the one that used to stand here back in the 1800's. I could find no one that knew anything about them or where they really are from.

This is just another Image of the large gears, looking from the front. Who put it here I have no information. It must be important, cause it's lighted at night, as you can see by the spotlights surrounding it. The Shopping Center is located behind the building.

By "snooping around" the Internet about St. Claire I found out that there were a number of Breakers around this area, but just exactly which one I'm not positive about. This old picture is of just one of the Breakers that operated there years ago. By looking at the picture and comparing what is there now, to what used to be this might be right. Notice the large "hills" in the background. They are still there. In the future I'm going to try and be more accurate. If I'm wrong on this Image, I apologize.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

JUST A FEW ODD'S & ENDS

2011-04-05T19:02:00.000-04:00

Thought that I'd make another Post, even though I have not gotten to go out anywhere as of yet.

The weather that we've been having here, I think is just plain stupid. One day is sorta nice, then the next day's are cloudy, windy, and just not very good outside for doing much of anything. Just yesterday was a prime example. It was a bit cloudy, but the temperature was up in the low 70's. The sun even came out for awhile, but that did not last very long. A cold front moved in and changed everything! This morning it rained pretty hard, then got windy, and the temperature started to drop. Now, outside it's down in the high 40's, cloudy, windy, and a big change from before. I'm thinking that Mother Nature and Old Man Winter should get together and figure out what they want to do! Their getting to be a real nuisance.

Again, owning a Home is not really all that fun at all. On Friday I was out in my little wood-shop and I heard the garage door open, thus telling me that my Wife had gotten home. Next thing I heard was the Electric Door opener going up and down like something had blocked it from going completely down. It went up and down twice. Went into the garage to see what's going on. Here I found that the door had broken at the top where the attachment is connected to the Craftsman door opener! Oh shit! Now, how the heck this happened I have no idea. It bent the door at the top and created a "crease" in the door panel. In looking the the problem over I could find no reason for this to happen. Why? Well, we could no longer use the Electric Door opener, so we had to use it manually. When I put the door up and down it worked just fine. I pushed up on the "crease" giving the door some support and it worked, but not with the arm pushing the door closed. Geez! What next? The upper panel of the door was bent, so using it more would just damage it further.

I looked this thing over and over and just could not find what caused this to happen. There was nothing that I could see that caused the door to bend like that. Standing there trying to figure out why, I came up with a idea to repair it, but was just not sure if it would work. Install a steel brace at the top of the vinyl door so it would have some support, then install the electric door arm to it. Nope! better leave well enough alone and call the people that installed the door to begin with and see what they say.

The repairman came out yesterday and I showed him what happened. He told me that he could install a new upper panel at the cost of $250.00 or install a steel brace just like I had the idea to do. Needless to say, we put a long steel brace on the door, reinforcing it so this won't happen again! The repairman from Shank Door was a real nice fella to deal with, but charged us $144.00 for the service. It was $66.00 for him just to come out and take a look. Now, the door works just fine. Since the Wife get's home late at night, it's better that she can just hit the button, door opens, drive the car into the garage, and close the door. It's safer for her that way. I wonder what else will break. I'm sure there will be something sooner or later. Now, we have to have the furnace and air-conditioning unit checked before summer get's here. Don't want any surprises when Summer is here and it's hot as hell. A little preventive maintenance goes along way.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting
Les

I HAVE RETURNED!

2011-03-26T18:31:00.000-04:00

If you all can believe this, I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to say here after I've been gone for so many months. I noticed on my Dashboard that the last Post I made was back in August of last year! Well, be that as it may, there have been some reason's why I have not been around.

Guess that I should start by saying I more or less had lost the interest in Blogging. The many Posts that I had made were mostly about places of History that are around this area. Since I've been to most all of them, I just started to run out of places to Post about. There are still places to go and "snoop around" in, but not all that many anymore. I'm finding that I will have to start traveling farther away to find anything that is worth while. I still have my Pentax camera, but over the Winter months it just sat here on the table or in my camera bag. Guess that I just didn't want to get it and go out in all the cold, snowy weather we had. Like others, our Winter was darn cold and snowy. Me and cold weather don't get along very well. I'm glad that Spring is getting here and no more snow for awhile.

Another reason is that I've been more and more on Facebook. Have found a number of friends from my past, Classmates from HS, and even 1 or 2 from my Navy years. Even with Facebook, I'm not on it all that much. I do make a Post on it, but sometimes I just don't have anything to say. If some of you are on Facebook,also, just type my name in the "Search" box. You'll see what I've been saying.

I have another problem that started a number of months ago and I can't seem to stop it. My right hand shakes while I'm typing here. It only does it for awhile and then stops. It's very frustrating to type on the keyboard and hit letters that you don't want there. It's doing it now. I have to hit the backspace button to correct what my stupid fingers are doing. On the other hand, sometimes it doesn't do it at all! I asked the Doc about it and he tells me "it's a process of getting older." Probably some Arthritis in my hand and wrist from the many, many times I've used it over the years. It get's sore and stiff when the weather is cold and wet. Not much I can do about it, but put up with it. Ben Gay seems to help at night, but it still returns time and again.

I must also take time here to say "THANK YOU" to Debbie and Autumnforrest for getting my interest back again. They had some very kind words for me and wondered just where I've been. Better rest my finger's here a bit.

About 2 weeks ago the Wife and I made a trip back up into the Coal Region Area. While up there to see her Brother, we decided to take a side trip back into Centraila. Remember? The Town that has had a Mine Fire burning in it for over 40 yrs. We found that the place has not really changed all that much from before. It's still smoking, but not as much. The place still has that smell of burning garbage when you get close to the cracks in the ground that follow the old mine shafts. I did shoot some Images, but they seem to show the same thing as before. The place is just a Town that will never recover from the fire. It will remain bleak and barren for years to come. We stayed there for about an hour, then came home. I had told "Autumnforrest" that my Wife was born and raised in the Coal Area. She remembers what the town looked like back in the 60's while in HS. She even knows people that used to be there, but are now long gone. They've moved away to someplace else.

Gotta give my hand and fingers a rest, so again I THANK all of you for your interest.

Until the next time, thanks for reading & commenting
Les

ENGINE COMPANY NO. 10 (cont.)

2010-08-13T17:57:00.001-04:00

In my more than 10 yrs. as a Volunteer with Engine Co. 1, I had learned allot about just how precious Life can be. I have had my share of experience's. You can be on this Earth in one second and gone the next. All of the experience's were not good, but some of them were just down-right heart breaking. Structure fires were never good. Your Home is on fire and your hoping that your local Engine Co. can put it out and save your Home. In most case's this was done, but once or twice, the Home is just to far gone to really save it. All we could do is "surround and drown". Put the fire out, try and help the Family that lost their Home as best we could. After our job was done, the Insurance people would take over and the Fire Marshal would try and find out what started it. Usually other Family members would take the people into their own home, or neighbors would extend a helping hand in any way they could.

The one's that would get to me were the horrible car accidents. You can just imagine what a speeding car doing 80 mph or more does to the occupants when 2 cars hit each other head on at these speeds. Even doing the speed limit can cause some real nasty injuries. Sometimes, it was not their fault. Sometimes, it was the other driver. No matter who caused the accident, it can get real ugly. Just to give you a bit of some of my experience's, here is one that I will always remember. To this day, it still stay's in my memory. . . . . .

I had gone down to the Medic Station one Friday night to volunteer my time. It was in December and close to Christmas. The weather was quite cold and snow flurries were in the air. Most of the evening passed by without any calls, so we all went to bed in the Crews Quarters. The next thing I remember hearing was the "Tones" over the loudspeaker going off. The Dispatcher at County Radio said "Squad 685 Medic 686. A reported motor vehicle accident, with entrapment, on 422 Eastbound Lane. Engine Co. No. 1 responding also. Time out 3:17 a.m. With that, everyone on call jumps into action as fast as we can. The 3 of us got into the Medic unit in less than 3 minutes and went out the station to the accident scene. Upon our arrival we saw 2 cars smashed together head-on. The Fire Company had already lit up the scene with their high intensity lights and were working on freeing the occupants of both cars using the "Jaws of Life." Gas from the smashed cars was everywhere. I was told that there are 2 fatalities. A Male and Female in one of the cars, and their are children in the back seat that need medical attention. We went over too them right away. Upon our examination, we found that both the Father and Mother, in the front seat were dead. The Father was smashed into the dashboard and the Mother was thrown part way thru the front windshield. She was hanging half in and half out of the car. It was just a horrible sight to see. There was nothing we could do for them. They were gone. The children in the back seat, were about 5 to 8 yrs. old, were screaming and yelling. Their injuries were not all that bad, despite what they had gone thru. Some real bad bruises, some cuts and rash from hitting the front seats. But they were alive! We gave our total attention to them and they were transported to the Reading Hospital and Medical Center Emergency Unit.

There was a big problem that I or anyone else knew how to handle. The children in the back seat were yelling and hollering for Mommy and Daddy. The problem is how do you tell these poor children that their Mother and Father are dead? How can you get them to understand that their parents are gone from this world never to return again? Good God! The only thing we could tell them for the moment, was that Mommy and Daddy will be there shortly. We decided that it would be better left to someone that is trained to handle this type of situation at the hospital.

After doing all the paper work and were getting ready to go back to the station, we found out from the Police, who caused this horrible accident. It was the other Driver, who was driving drunk! He crossed the double yellow line and hit them head on. He was banged up pretty good, but was still alive. He was charged with homicide by Vehicle, driving under the influence of alcohol, reckless driving, and other related offenses. Hopefully, this fella is still in Prison to this day.

In my years of doing things like this I have seen enough blood and guts to last a lifetime. Everything from car accidents, people committing suicide with a shotgun, legs,arms, heads, being torn away from the body, cuts and scratches, broken bones and people just passing away in their sleep. Their is not much that I haven't seen. These memories are always with me. They never go away. The one that I just described was just one of the bad ones. This is one reason I got out of it, never to return.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

ENGINE COMPANY NO. 10

2010-08-11T19:12:00.001-04:00

Again, Greetings to all my Followers and Readers.

Thought that I better get busy and Post something here that some of you just might appreciate.

Back in the 1980's, besides being a Volunteer Medic one of the other things that I used to Volunteer doing was running with the local Fire Station that was not too far away from my apartment. The Fire Stations are usually called a Engine Co. around here and are numbered depending on just where they are in one of the Zones that have been set up by the County. The one that I ran with was Engine Co. #1 that was located in Mt. Penn. Every Tuesday evening, when I did not have to work, I'd go down to the Engine House and go out with the trucks for Fire training, or just hang out at the Engine House for awhile. Learning all the different equipment and how to use it in time of need took allot of time. All of this was done by pure Volunteer. I was never paid for anything that I did back then. I enjoyed helping other people and family's in their time of need for our Engine Co. I never would expect to be paid for what I did. Even though, at times, we might have to risk our lives to help others.

Pictured above is just one of the Trucks that are very similar to the ones that I used to run with. This is Ladder 10 from the Goodwill Engine Co. #10. The Ladder extends more than 70 feet into the air to fight 2 and 3 story homes and business. It has a "Deluge Gun" on the very end that can pump more than 1500 gal. of water a minute. There is a whole lot to know about this type of Engine and it's just too much to print here. It's all very well stocked with just about everything needed for Fire or Rescue. Almost all the people that man this type of Engine, as well as others, are all Volunteer. The only people that are paid now is the Driver. No one else.

This is Engine 10-1. The Fire Chief's car sit's behind the Engine and is the same color. These Trucks are quite expensive to buy and cost up into the hundred's of thousands of dollars. That's not counting all the cost of the equipment that is stored on board. One thing that I never really learned how to do was run the Pump that is located above. All the different switches, gauge's, handles, and dials to show how much water pressure is going to one hose or another, was so very confusing to me. I was always told that it's easier that what it looks. Nah. Not for me. Let someone else do it that knows what they are doing.

For more than 10 yrs. I used to answer the Fire Alarm when I could. I used to carry a pager on my belt that would go off when my Engine Co. went out of the station on a Fire or Rescue call. In the dead of night, snow, sleet, rain, or freezing cold I would try and be there to help others. It takes allot of dedication to do this. I did, but finally got "burn't out" from doing it. I was getting older and just didn't want to do it anymore. I decided to get out of it and let the younger generation Volunteer their time, like I did. I turned in my Pager to the Engine Co. and have never gone back to it. I did enough.

Some of you might think "Do I Miss Doing It?" My answer is yes, at times, I do. Once in a while when I see one of the Pumpers from a Engine Co. coming down the highway or road on their way to answer a Call, with all the Red Lights and Sirens, I remember back more than 20 yrs. ago when I was doing what they are doing now. So, if you know a Volunteer Fireman give him a big "Thank You" for what he does. He or she just might have to risk his or her Life to save you, your burning Home, or rescue you from a car accident.

Oh yes. I almost forgot. I've up-dated my music. See if you like what I've chosen. I just love the Oldies from the 50's & 60's.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading and commenting.

Les

SOME CATCH-UP

2010-07-26T21:16:00.001-04:00

GREETINGS TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS AND READERS!

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still here, but have been doing some bad neglect on my Blog. I have not posted anything in a long time and it did start to bother me, so thought that I'd catch up and tell you what's been going on here at my end.

First of all I have to say something about the terrible weather we have been having for the past 2 weeks or so. It's been VERY HOT on this end! Temp's have been 95 degrees or better! The one day it hit 104 degrees! WHEW! It has been so warm that you go outside and it's like hitting a brick wall of heat. We've had hot summers here before, but nothing like it has been for so long. Our Central Air has been running and running, night & day. Thank goodness it shuts down for awhile during the night, but it's back up and running about mid-morning when it starts getting warm again. The house here is nice and cool, but we just can't wait to see our Electric bill for this month. I'll bet it's going to be nasty! However, if I have to work for a living we might as well be comfortable in our home. The new York Air Conditioning System that we had installed a few years ago, works real good. It also is very energy efficient, thus saving money. Maybe it won't be so bad.

All of the doors that I've been talking about in previous Posts have now be painted White and installed. I've finished all 5 of them. They look pretty good. I got better on installing them as I did it more and more. However, there was just one exception. The one door here for the computer room gave me one hell of a problem. To make a long story short, I found out that I could not trim the doors as far as I wanted. Take too much off, and they'll fall apart! That's what I get for going a bit on the cheap side. I repaired the problem with taking the old door, sanding it down so it's nice and smooth, paint it, and put it back in place. It looks pretty good. I also went over to Sears and bought a Hand Power Planer. This Planer works so nice! I can run it along the edge of the doors and it makes the door edge nice and smooth. Before I was sanding, and sanding, plus using a manual Hand Planer. No more of that! The Power Hand Planer is well worth the money I spent. Now, everything is ready to paint the walls and get rid of that darn horrible Brown!

Another thing I went and did is go have my eyes looked at over at Pearl Vision Center. I've been wearing glasses to read and see, but I don't wear them all the time. Now, I decided that I'd better go have my "Peepers" examined so I don't get any surprises in the future. On top of all that, our Health Insurance covers the first $100 for any glasses you get, and also pays for 1 exam per year. Great! Anyway, my prescription did change a bit from the last time, but not real bad. Got a different pair of glasses that looked pretty good. Now, I can see much better than before and I wear them most all the time. That Pearl Vision Center was really nice to deal with. I was quite pleased with them. I will go back next year.

I happen to be driving home from Lowes one day and noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of me. It said . . . . IF YOU DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH . . . GET THE F*** OUT! Thought that was pretty good. I agree!

Other than daily life around here, things are normal. I haven't been out with my Camera for awhile, and I know it. It's just been too darn HOT to do most anything outside. There for awhile, I could just stand outside and not do anything, and the sweat would start running down your face! I'm getting tired of this heat. I'm ready for some nice cool Fall weather.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting
Les

THE EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY PT.2

2010-07-05T21:52:00.000-04:00

Remember. You can click on the Images to view them larger and see more detail.

This is a view looking back towards the Center of the Prison. The plaster on the walls is starting to fall away from some neglect. The Center of the Prison or the Hub, as it was called, was the Main area where Prisoners were brought into the prison. From there they were assigned a cell and in which cell block. There were (5) different Cell Blocks. A. B. C. D. & E. Each one looked pretty much the same as the others did. Lines of cells on either side with a long corridor for the Guards to walk down and check each prison door cell.

Another view of the Cell Block. This one is slowly being restored back to it's original look. Notice the new plaster on the ceiling.

A view looking back to the Hub of the Prison. The sign on the floor told me what number button to press to listen at the narration. The shelves on the right side were used for storage.

This Image shows the upper and lower levels of Cell Block B. Notice the "catwalks" on either side of the cell block. I shot this Image without a flash to give you some idea on how dismal it was in here. The Lady walking is one of the Tour Guides. Now, here is one place that I had a small problem with my camera. I was standing on a walk area and looking down the cell block in my camera's view finder. I adjusted the focus, and pressed the shutter. Nothing happened! I did it again. Nothing. I looked the camera over to see if everything was right. Tried it again. Nothing happened. I stood there trying to figure out just why the camera was not working. Could find nothing wrong. It worked just fine before. Why not here? I tried it again. This time it shot the Image you see above. Was there something here, other than me? I've never had a problem like this before with my Pentax. I wonder. This is the area that was featured in Ghost Adventures where Zack captured a "ghostly image" of something moving along the catwalk, with his Night Vision Static Camera that can't be explained. I saw this documentary and what was on that film. Sure as heck looked strange to me!

After that little "strange thing" with my camera, I turned around and shot this Image. Notice the white cat's. There are (3) of them. These cats are not real. They were placed here in remembrance of all the cats that infested the Prison while it lay abandoned for the many years previous. The old Prison started to fall away into History until the State of PA and the Historical Society thought that this Prison should be saved and put into the National Register of Historical Places. Ever since then the Prison is being up-graded to it's original look.

This is looking back along the North Wall in the excersize area. Notice the original benches along the wall in the foreground. Still here after so many years. There is what's left of a baseball diamond off to the left of this Image. Not really worth shooting. The area was not very big at all. It's all they had. It was darn hot out here!

The Central Guard Tower. From here the Guards could see the whole Prison complex. The clock say's 12:10 p.m. and it's already up in the 90's! Whew!

Another one of the Guard Area's. From here they could see all of the Excersize Yard. You would never be able to climb those massive Prison walls. A broken spot light hangs under the window.

This is looking down Cell Block C. Notice the catwalks above for the second floor. It was the same thing as you see here. Lines of cell's and doors. The picture to the left tells about the football team that the Prison had in the 40's.

This is Cell Block C. Pretty much the same thing . . . except for just one thing. The camera would not work, again! It was the same thing as before. Nothing wrong that I could see. Why didn't the camera work here? Again. It took me (3) times to capture this Image. What's preventing the camera from working right? I have an idea, but I wonder? Is there something here from the past that is not known to me? This was the second time this happened. I stood here for a number of minutes wondering and listening. Nothing here . . . or was there?

This is inside the Cell's for Death Row. There were only about 7 different cell's. Here is where the prisoners that were sentenced to death were held. However, there were no executions carried out. When the Prison closed, I forgot when, the prisoners were transferred to another one where the sentence was carried out.

I don't really like this Image, but it shows what the condemned prisoner had. Not much. A cot, meals, and a hopper to spend his last day's.

Here we go again! Camera did not work! It took me (2) times to capture this Image! I have no knowledge of what was in this places at one time. There was no explanation. What's going on here? This was the (3rd) time that I had trouble with the shutter button! The Pentax worked for other shots that I took. What the hell?

I'm sure that you all know who Al Capone was. The ESP is where he served out his sentence and this is his original Cell, left and preserved as it was when he was here. He stayed here in the late 1930's until his release. He had all the comforts of home. Not like the other prisoners. Geez! It was said that Al Capone was haunted in this Cell, by one of the Gangsters that he murdered on the St. Valentines Day massacre. Just look at all the stuff he had!

The Plaque that tells about Alfonse Capone. He was one heck of a Gangster back in the 30's. It was never proven that he had anything to do with the St. Valentines Day Massacre, even though we all know that he is the one that planned the whole darn thing. He was jailed here for Tax Evasion. 7 yrs. I think. Not sure on that one.

Inside the prison walls is this Garden called "The Garden of Lost Souls." It's 12 cherry trees covered with bones from those who never left this prison. The bones are not real. A rather novel idea for those who died in this place.

A different view and perspective of one Medieval Towers. There is nothing inside these. Just a empty structure to make the Prison look like a fortress. It was.

I should have Posted this Image long before this, but it's the entrance to the old Prison. No longer used, one of the Guides sits here to tell visitors where to go. You had to enter in a side door way that led to the Museum off to the right. Almost banged my head, cause the entrance way was so small. They must have been small people back in those day's. Geez!

I enjoyed my trip down to the ESP. Since I like to "snoop around" History, this was a favorite place to go. I walked around the ESP for more than 4 hours in the heat of the day. Seeing how these prisoners were held back in those day's was interesting. No wonder some of them went mad or committed suicide. It was not like anything that they have today. The Pentax worked just fine for the rest of the Images. Why it messed up and did not work at places, is anyone's guess. The trip back home was not as bad as I expected it to be. Went straight down Fairview Ave. turned on to Kelly Drive, hit Interstate 76 West, and drove home. Was back in a bit more than an hour. I'm glad the car had air conditioning. Was nice and cool in the car. Hope you all enjoyed your visit to the ESP. If you ever get the chance to visit this place, by all means do it. It's well worth it, even though the temperature was up in the 90's.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

THE EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY PT.1

2010-07-05T18:53:00.000-04:00

Greetings to all my Followers and Readers. Yesterday was the 4th of July, so I decided to take a trip down to Philadelphia to see the Eastern State Penitentiary which I have heard so much about. This Penitentiary has been the subject of a Ghost documentary featured on Ghost Adventures a while back. I just had to go see this place. The pictures that I've seen about it were interesting, plus all the different ghost stories, and all the other tales of this famous place, had me excited to get there. From here, it's not really a long trip . . . a little over an hour away, but what I was concerned about was the holiday traffic down in Philly. The City of Philadelphia is a big city with many historical places to see that have to do with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July 1776. Independence Park is just one of them, which I featured in a previous Post.

So off I went not really knowing just exactly where the place really was. All I had was the address of the Prison and what general area it was located. That was it. However, having been down to Philadelphia many times in the past, I was somewhat knowing just where to go. After a rather surprising drive down there, I punched in the address of the Prison onto my GPS and it took me right to it. Thank goodness for that GPS. I would have never found the Prison without it.

At the time of my trip down there, Philadelphia was alive with so many festive celebrations, that it was hard to drive around the area. Logan's Circle and the Art Museum area were all blocked off for the Fireworks display later on at night. Philadelphia has one very huge Fireworks display over the Delaware River that rivels the one in Boston. I was sort of thinking of staying down there for the display, but canceled that idea cause of the thousands of people and cars making driving a real nightmare. Didn't matter anyway. I saw the whole Display on TV this morning. So now, lets take another trip back in time to see the Eastern State Penitentiary. I will have to do this Post in (2) different parts, cause there was so much to see and photograph. Remember that these Images can be viewed larger by clicking on them.

Welcome to the Eastern State Penitentiary. Also will be known as the ESP. This is a view of the front from the other side of Fairmont St. The entrance to the Prison is just off to the left, but out of the Image.

Looking just above the entrance to the Prison. These Towers were never used as a Guard Tower.

Walking down into the Prison you will pass by a historical exhibit that has some of the original parts from the old Prison, as it was back in the middle 1800's. This shows the original cell block doors that were used to keep the Prisoners in their cells. They still fit the orginial door-way as they once did.

Once you get thru paying the fee ($8.00 for a Senior) to tour the Prison and picking up a Recorder to listen to as you walk from one station to another with earphones, I took this Image of the "battlements" that you see all around the Prison. These battlements were never used as a Guard Tower at any time. They are just a hollow structure to give the Prison a Medieval appearance. I must admit, they are rather impressive. The narrator on the recorder tells you when the place was built and why, but I forgot some of it. I think the place was built in or around 1857 and has been here ever since.

This is looking down the East Wall of the Prison. The Walls are huge! They stand more than 20 feet high and are more than a foot thick. The Gate on the right was once used for Prisoners, but does slide anymore. It's just there rusting away.

Turning around from the previous Image, I shot this old rusted steel door that was in the Wall behind me. Using my Pentax DSLR K100D for all these Images, I am rather puzzled about this shot. What is strange here is that I don't recall seeing any "yellow" around the door. What's up with that? I have no explanation for this. What was this door used for? Where did it go? There was no access to find out. It was still locked, but the door had a large hole in it, as you can see. I just don't know. It didn't show up until I down-loaded all these Images I have.

One of the entrances to a Cell Block. This one was used for Private Tours only! Wonder just why. I poked my head inside and saw nothing unusual. Just another cell block with Cells on each side. I kept on going.

This is looking down the hallway of Cell Block A. Part of the Block has been restored back to it's original look. The Brown doors on either side of the wall were used to pass food back and forth to the Prisoners. Other cells are in the foreground.

Looking down Cell Block A with the Prison Cells on either side of the walkway. The doors slide back and forth on a track, but were not the original cell doors. The original doors were the ones that I pictured previously. The original floor still exists. Look at how high the Cell Block ceiling is. Prisoners were locked in these 8 X 12 foot cells 23.5 hours a day. Being let out for a half hour of excersize per day. Can you just imagine being locked up like this for all that time? There is no air-conditioning here at all. Never was. It was quite warm in here. This is what the prisoners back then had to deal with.

This Image of the Cell Block was taken without a flash looking out into the excersize yard. Notice how dismal it looks. No color really at all. The plaque on the right shows pictures of one of the prisoners from back in the late 1800's. Their was (1) prisoner per cell. No two or four like there is today. It's hot and very humid in here. Sweat was forming on my head just standing here taking this Image. Good God. How did they survive in this kind of place, I never know.

This is all that they had in the cell. A table, a cot to sleep on, and a wash area in the lower right hand corner of the Image. Nothing else. Imagine being kept in this 8X12 foot cell 23.5 hours a day with nothing to read, watch, and no one to talk to. The original idea for this prison was for the prisoners to repent and think about the crime that they had committed. There were no radios, no TV. Nothing from the outside world.

This Image shows where you "did your thing". I.E. took a pee or a poop. Notice the faucet above where you sat. The water was turned on once a day to flush the Pot. The pipe's on the lower right were for heating during the Winter. They didn't work too well. Where the toilet paper was kept I have no idea. Probably setting alongside somewhere.

I took this Image and it's asking if the Prison is haunted. The (2) people featured below the Image say that it really is. I listened to what they had to say with the recorder. There have been many, many "strange" things happen here at this Prison that no one can really explain. One of them is Charles Adams III. He is a very well known man in this area. Known for his many books on Ghosts and broadcasts on WEEU Radio everyday here. In fact, he was in the store one day last week and I got a chance to talk to him for about 2 minutes. I will include our short conversation in Part 2 of this Post. Also, along with some rather "strange" things that I had happen while here.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

OOPS!

2010-06-27T13:14:00.000-04:00

While working on my Project downstairs here, I all of a sudden heard Eileen yell "Oh My God!" Instantly, I knew that something had gone wrong. I ran up-stairs and found her in her Elvis Room. I was greeted with a total mess on the floor. The (2) shelves that hold her Elvis stuff that she has on display came crashing down on to the floor! All of her Elvis plates, Elvis cups, statue's, ceramic figure's of Elvis, and other collectibles were laying on the carpet! Her Elvis plates, which she paid as much as $50.00 for, were broken in pieces. Oh Shit! What a mess. She was totally dumbfounded. This must have happened when we were at work or out somewhere. We never heard a thing! This probably made allot of noise when it came off the wall. How could this have happened? I have no idea. The shelves I put up years ago, so she could display all of her Elvis collection. For some reason, the wall anchors left go out of the wall and everything came down. I have no explanation why. The Wall Anchors were plenty big enough for this. I've never seen this happen before. She has quite a bit of money tied up in all of her Elvis stuff.

Here is a shot of all the stuff that was laying all over the floor. Her Elvis Plate lay's in pcs. to the left, the Elvis Mug is broken, her Music boxes with Elvis on top of them are busted, and some other small figures of Elvis have parts missing. The Collectible Plates and Mug I can glue back together, but they won't be worth anything. Pretty much of everything can be put back together, but it won't be the same thing. I've already put the Elvis Mug back together and it does not look bad at all. It's just upon a close look you can see that it was broken at one time.

Here is her other shelf that I built for her a number of years ago. It didn't get damaged at all. The 1959 Pink Cadillac was spared, cause I made a Plexiglass Cover for it. Her books, video's, and other stuff escaped damage.

This is a Ceramic Model of Elvis's Home in Memphis. It lights up. It escaped damage cause it was out of the way. Thank goodness for that! The chest of drawers I did not build. It was bought.

And here's a cardboard statue of Elvis. He stands about 6 ft. tall. Just for the fun of it, I was going to take this Statue of him and use it for target practice with my .45 cal. If I would have done that, I would have been buried in a "Coal Hole" that they would never find! All he needs is a bottle of pills!

And here is the culprit of all the mess. These are the (2) shelves that came down off the wall. A sweeper stands next to them. This time I will put them back up on the wall and use bigger "lollygaggers", as she calls them. I call them Wall Anchors.

Now, it's back to working on my Project down-stairs here. I've got 2 doors in place and all painted. Door No. 3 is just about ready to install in the stairwell closet. I'm getting much better in doing all this. Practice makes perfect . . . so they say.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading and leaving a comment.

Les

NEW HOME PROJECT

2010-06-19T20:50:00.000-04:00

I know that I've been slacking on Posting anything in my Blog for the past number of weeks, but there has not been anything really to Post about. One of my Followers, Sunny, asked me where I was. I thank her for asking. Usually, I've been going "out there" and seeing different places that are in and around the area. To be real honest, I'm starting to run out of places to go that are fairly nearby. I've already made a Post about most of them, so now it looks like I might have to travel a bit to get something of interest to make a Post with. I have been considering going down to the Eastern State Penitentiary that it located down near Philadelphia somewhere. This would be a good 1.5 hr. drive to get there. Haven't made up my mind about this one quite yet. Another place I'd like to go back to is Independence Park over the 4th of July. This is the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th, 1776. There should be lots of things going on there over this time period. The park is about 1.0 hr. drive from here. Don't know just yet. I have to consider the heavy traffic and hundreds of people that will be there for the 4th of July celebration. Parking is a real problem down there. There is not a whole lot of it. We shall see.

There is also another reason for my lacking of a Post, and that's there is a new Home Project here that we/I have started. We decided to give the down-stairs here a whole new look, instead of having the awful brown paneling on the wall's that has given the Den area and drab look for the past 30 yrs. We finally got tired of it looking so darn dull. I'm going to hang new white doors (4) of them, paint the walls a two-tone color, and later on install a new pegged hardwood floor. This new project will take a whole lot of time to complete. I've been working on it most everyday now and just have the door trim done and (1) white door put on the Powder Room. I will do the work myself, but the floor I have no idea on how to do. You've got to know what your doing when you put those hardwood floors in, and I don't know that much about it.

This is what I have done so far. This is the door to the Powder Room. I had to sand all the door trim and give it 3 coats of gloss white paint to cover up the brown trim. There are (3) other doors like this that I have to work on. I've already done all the trim around all doors. It's already giving the Den here a new look with the white door and trim. Hanging a new door in place of the old one is not as easy as I thought it would be. When you buy a standard door at Home Depot ($19) each, you don't get any holes for the door-knob or latch. There are no cut-outs for the hinges, either. You have to do all this yourself using a hand wood chisel. Since, I don't have too much experience using a wood chisel, I have to learn as I go along. I don't have anyone to show me just how to do everything, so I learn as I go along. Do by trying. If you screw it up, fix it and try again. Notice the brown paneling on the walls. This will change. Eileen is picking out the colors. I do the work!

This is the 2nd door that is in process. I have to chisel out the door hinges, drill a 2.5 inch hole for the door knob, sand and paint the door before installing it. I have to make sure everything fits and works right before I hang the new door in it's place. It's sorta interesting to do, but you try and do everything right the first time.

This is what the old door looked like. Too much darn brown! Now you see why we want to give the Den a new look. The orange box to the right on the garage floor has my circular power saw in it. The hole saw lays on the floor to the left.

Now, you can see what has been taking up allot of my time and will take more in the future until everything is done the way we want it. It's going to be time consuming, but worth the effort in the long run. It will give our Home more value when we go to sell it in the future. I only get to work on this stuff when I'm working nights. While on day shift, I come home tired and don't really want to tackle a job that makes me think. Just want to sit down, have a beer or two, rest my feet, and chill out. When I have week-ends off, like now, I can do more. Remember that I still do watch what my other Followers post. I always have.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

PENNHURST STATE SCHOOL & HOSPITAL

2010-06-01T19:29:00.001-04:00

Sorry that I haven't been posting anything in the past 2 weeks or so, but I just have not really gone anywhere of real interest, until yesterday, which was Memorial Day.

I found out about this place from a good friend of mine who told me about Pennhurst and where it was located. When I was told about this abandoned place, it rang a bell in my head that I have heard about this place before. I also remember seeing a documentary on the TV Series, Ghost Adventures. This place really started my interest, and I wanted to see this place for myself and just maybe find out if all that was told about it is really true. So, late on Monday morning, not knowing really just where the place was, I set out to find it. I was told that it's located down in Montgomery County and sit's on top of a hill overlooking the Schuylkill River just outside of Royersford. This was about an hour drive from here.

Got down into the general area that it was located, but just could not find it. Stopped by a WaWa and asked if anyone there knew where it was. The people behind the counter told me that I had missed the turn off by just about 100 yrs. I'll be darned. Took the directions that he gave me and found the place after making 1 wrong turn. So, here is the famous Pennhurst State School & Hospital that you might have heard allot about.

This is Pennhurst State School & Hospital. Or should I say, what is left of the old place. Upon arriving here I noticed right away that there were Private Property signs all over the place. One of the signs said "Private Property. No trespassing. Trespassers will be fined." Guess that ended that. I wanted so bad to go "snooping around" inside those buildings and see just what is in there. Knowing my luck I would get caught and get a nice healthy fine. Don't need that stuff, so I elected to stay about where I was and use my Telephoto Lens to capture some Images.

Pennhurst was opened in 1908 with the high hope of helping disabled youth throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania. However, this place started to come under allot a question starting back in the 1970's when rumors of physical and sexual abuse of the children and adults arose. At one time this place could house over 10,000 patients. It was one of the largest institutions of it's kind in Penna.

The grounds of Pennhurst covered more than 120 acres and employed a nursing staff, dental, trustees, and specialists in psychology. It had a 300 bed hospital. The building above is just one of the few that I could shoot with a clear view. What it's purpose was, I really don't know. Pennhurst was really self-sufficient with baseball fields, a general store, barber shops, and even a greenhouse, which I never really saw anywhere.

Many of the buildings here in Pennhurst were used for storage, however, the majority were dormitory and hospital-style living quarters for the residents. Most of these buildings were all connected by an under-ground network of tunnels, which I could not see.

Using my Phoenix Telephoto Lens I shot this abandoned building that once was filled with patients and served for one purpose or another. Pennhurst State School & Hospital was closed back in 1986 following several allegations of abuse. This led to many lawsuits. Conditions here turned ugly. Complaints were alleged that it was dirty, unsanitary, inhumane treatment of patients that were mentally retarded, and lot's of other allegations. It has been closed ever since and left to rot away to History.

This Image of the one building shows the roof just about ready to cave in. Again, using my Telephoto Lens I scanned across some of the open windows hoping that I just might catch an Image of something there from the past, but I never saw anything that would even resemble a ghost or spirit from a past life.

This Image shows the entrance to what I think, is the Main Building. I also noticed that there has been some on-going work here to clear away allot of the over-growth. There is talk of putting this place in the National Registry of Historic Places, but I'm not sure on that. It is also said that it should be treated as "Hallowed Ground", like Gettsyburg, for all the abuse and mistreatment that happened here.

After walking around on top of a cement wall and shooting these pictures, it was starting to get rather hot and humid. I have other ones, but these are the best I took. I got back into my car, turned on the air-conditioning, and left for home.

I remember seeing this place on Ghost Adventures. Zack and his gang were locked up in here over-night and saw, and heard all kinds of strange sounds. I wanted so bad to go stoppin' around in here, but I'd better not. Like I said before, I'd get caught. Is what Zack found here really real, or was it something put on? Somehow, I think what he saw and felt was truly real. This place is an interesting thing to see. You just have to be here to experience and feel what was here so long ago.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

BETHLEHEM STEEL PLANT

2010-05-17T20:12:00.001-04:00

This past Sunday, my Wife and her girlfriend, went up to Bethlehem, PA where there is a fairly new Sands Casino that has been built in an old Warehouse that once used to belong to the Bethlehem Steel Corp. She told me that the old Bethlehem Steel Plant is still there, or what is left of it. With this in mind, I decided to take a trip up to the place to see what was still there after so many years.

Bethlehem Steel was once a major producer of Steel that made our Nation what it is today. Producing steel girders, gun barrels for the Military during WWII, and hundreds of other things that required the use of steel to make them. The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was built from Bethlehem Steel Plant. Once employing thousands of steel workers that made their living working here, it was the Golden Age of Steel. In the 1930's thru the 1960's this plant produced high quality steel. However, with the age of newer and cheaper steel being bought from over-seas, the Bethlehem Steel Plant started to fail. It could not compete with the high quality steel being produced at Steel Mills around with world. Their Steel was just as good, but less expensive to buy. The picture above shows just part of what once used to be a huge Steel making area. The blast furnace's still stand today. Please click on the Images to get a better view.

This shows just one of the many entrance gate's to the ole' Plant. The gates are closed and locked that no one get's in here anymore. The side's housed security guards to check employee's ID's. In the background stands just one of the few building's that are left in the area.

This area probably used to humm with noise and activity, but now is quiet and abandoned.

Since I could not find a place to enter the Plant area I had to take these following shot's thru a wire mesh fence. I wanted to go snoopin' around in there, but found out that it's "off limits" to anyone who wants to snoop around. Security personnel regularly patrol the area. Guess that ended that, but I still wanted to do it!

Here's another Image, looking down at some of the Mills that are now empty. Sorry for the low quality pictures. It was tough to get a good shot.

More of the empty building's that still stand after all these years. Can you just imagine what these places could tell. Imagine the noise from this area when the Steel Mill was in full production. It probably was quite noisy. I would have loved to see what the place was really like so long ago. One can only imagine.

This building used to be the Corp. Office's of Bethlehem Steel. It, also, is empty and abandoned. The Bethlehem Steel Logo hangs above the entrance.

I spent about 3 hrs. here trying to find an entrance that I could get into, but everything was all fenced in. I stopped and talked with one of the Security Guards and was told that the reason they don't want anyone "snoopin' around is because of Insurance reasons'. If someone get's hurt on the property, they could turn around and sue what is left of Bethlehem Steel. I kinda figured that much. In my walking around I thought that I might be able to get a better shot of the Steel area if I got back into my car and went one street higher. Here I might be able to see better. Nope! That was not a good idea. Let's just say that the area I wanted to go into was "not good." A place that you don't want to be in. Not a good idea to walk around there with an expensive Camera and tripod. Just might get robbed, so we don't need that!

The area where the Sands Casino is now, used to be the Warehouse for Bethlehem Steel. You really can't tell that's what used to be there. It has all changed so much. I would have stopped to take a shot of it, but there really was nowhere to stop at all. So with that, I kept on going. What I may do in the future is go up to the Sands Casino and go in there. I'm sure that they have preserved such a historical area in some way.

There is a very good video on the Bethlehem Steel Plant and you can find it right here
It's almost an hour long, but gives you a great glimpse into the past of what the Bethlehem Steel Plant used to be like, so long ago.

Until the next time . . . . Thank you for viewing & commenting

Les

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY, MOM

2010-05-08T19:11:00.000-04:00

Since tomorrow is Mothers Day, I thought that I'd take this time to give some Tribute to the woman that gave me Life.

Dorothy Jane Johnson was born in Roda County, Virginia on May 24, 1919. She had 4 Brothers, whom are my Uncles. Living in Roda County for some time, they then moved to Greeville, TN where she lived for a short time. How long, I really don't know. Then moved to Hamburg, PA where she attended Hamburg High School, graduating in June of 1937. After WWII started she joined the Army and after training was sent over to London during the German bombing of the city. Mom used to tell me stories of the "Buzz Bombs" that the German's used to send over the city to try and destroy London. The Bombs never did hit the Allied HQ where she was stationed as a Secretary. Another one of her duties was to track the Allied movements on a huge map. She tracked the Allied movements during the Battle of The Bulge. London is where she met my Father, Willam Francis Lawson, who was a member of the 82nd Airborne. The above picture shows my Mother in her Army Uniform while she was stationed in London, 1944.

After I was born in March of 1947 and having my Father just get up and take off, never seeing me at all, Mom had a tough life with working and trying to raise a young boy on her own. My Grandparents were not around all that long. My Grand father passed away in 1952 and my Grandmother passed away in 1953. Mom was then stuck bringing me up alone. Trying to teach a young boy right from wrong probably gave her head-ache's more than what I know.

Mom then remarried in 1959 and this man adopted me. Thus giving me the last name of Barr. This marriage didn't last too long, either. Her new Husband died of a heart attack in 1960. She was left alone again. Since she could not afford the house anymore, she sold it and we moved into a trailer in Fleetwood, PA. Here I went to High School until joining the Navy.

The above picture shows my Mother later on in Life. She is wearing the Diamond Necklace's that I had bought her. She also wears the Traveling Diamond from the Order of The Eastern Star, which she was very active with for more than 50 yrs. As Mom got older her health started to fail more and more. Living alone in a apartment, I helped her out as much as I could. She never wanted anything given to her, nor would she ever accept charity. In her failing health, I often wanted her to come down here and stay with us, but she always refused, saying that she does not want to be a burden on me. My Mother was a tough girl and raised me quite sternly. She taught me right from wrong and taught me most of what I needed to go along in Life. She did the best she could, under the circumstances she was provided. I lost my Mother to Cancer at the age of 85, on December 20, 2004 @ 1:09 p.m.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY, MOM. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED FOR RAISING ME SO WELL. YOU ARE MISSED.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

COMPUTER UP-DATE

2010-05-06T19:15:00.000-04:00

As most of you already know from my previous Post about this Computer that I have, I've been having some small problems with it, and have found out that up-dating my RAM memory would probably fix the problem. Well, I don't know about that. I found out some rather interesting information.

I have been thinking about doing what I was told to do and that is go get another 512 or 1GB RAM DIMM, insert it into the slot that is provided on the inside of the tower. I had said that I'm just not too sure about doing this, so I'd better give it some more thought and make sure that what I'm doing will fix the problem with my speed connection. I talked with my "computer girl" via e-mail and she tells me that I should have no problem inserting another RAM module.

Well, it's good that I did. Went over to our local Best Buy Store and asked some more questions. Since Best Buy is an authorized Dell computer repair area, I wanted to see what they would say. I was told that you can do this, just as long as you have the right RAM chip that will be compatible for this Tower. However, there is another problem that I found out. Computer Towers that are 5 yrs. old or more should not really be updated or messed with. There is a possibility that something more can go wrong after placing another newer RAM chip along with the older one. I asked them how this can be done, and was told that I'd have to bring my Tower in for them to fix or up-date. They would not tell me how to do it myself because of insurance reasons. BAH! I'm not bringing this Tower over to them and have them charge me an arm and a leg for their service. They are quite expensive! No thanks.

So, with all this in mind, I think that I'm going to leave "well enough alone." I'm told one thing from one person, and then told something else by another. I don't need anymore trouble with this thing than what I've already had. Right now, it's running just fine. It's running better because I've gotten rid of a number of things that were in the memory that we not needed anymore. I've stripped my Disk Drive of everything that is not really used anymore, so it has put up my memory capacity. I've taken my Paint Shop Pro X2 and put it into a flash drive. That program took up a hell of allot of memory. If I want to use the Paint Shop Pro, I just insert the flash drive into the USB Port and run it. What I might do is get a Portable Disk Drive that is much bigger and then put other Programs on it, instead of using the Drive that is in the Tower now. This way, I can switch from one Drive to another.

You might notice that I've up-dated my Music. I'll do that from time to time. Hearing the same ole' thing all the time get's boring.

Something that my Mother always told me "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.
Les

TOASTED!

2010-05-05T19:53:00.001-04:00

Just got done mowing the front lawn and decided to let the back of the house go until tomorrow. The grass will still be there. After working all day, I'm tired and don't really want to finish the job until later. Came in here and started going thru some of the left over pictures that I had in my scrap-book from my Navy years. I came across this picture that I've had for more than 40 yrs. It's a memory and picture from my past that you just might enjoy and laugh at.

In November of 1965, I reported aboard my Destroyer. Our ship stayed in port until the day after Christmas. On December 26, 1965 we left for a 6 month Cruise that we called "WestPac." Leaving for the Western Pacific and Ports of call that I've never been too and had no idea where I was going. For the first time in my Life, I went to sea and found out what it was like to sail the open sea. After being at sea for the first day, I got so darn sea sick that I could not even keep a cracker in my stomach! I was always leaning "over the side" and "chumming the fish." I felt like crap! Had to go to Sick Call and get some medicine that the Corpsman gave me for sea sickness. Gradually, as time went by, I got used to the "pitching and yawing" of the ship as it plowed thru the sea. In other words, I was getting my "Sea Legs." After being sea sick for about 3 day's, I finally started to feel better and went about doing the job that I was assigned to do everyday while at sea.

Our Destroyer stopped at Midway Island to take on fuel for about 4 hrs. I didn't get to see that much of Midway Island, cause we were not there all that long. Just beautiful blue sea and white sand, is what I remember. Wished I could have stayed longer to see what was there, but I had to go where the ship went or be AWOL. That's not a good idea!

So, after refueling we departed for the Philippine Island's. The Naval Base in the Philippine Island chain was our first Port of Call. Again, for the first time in my entire life I'm in a new Country and a new land. I had no idea what was here or what to see when I had Liberty, but I found out as time went by. Located just outside the Naval Base Gate was a Town named Olongapo City. It was a small town that was there and got most of the business from the US Sailors that were always there. In this dirty town it had bars, nightclubs, and most everything a Sailor could want. Going out on the "beach" for this time, I found just how much fun we could have.

I had Liberty, so 4 of us went and "hit the beach" to see what the City of Olongapo was to offer. I'm now in a strange city that was full of all kinds of new sights and smells that I've never known. I saw things here that I've never seen in my whole Life, but that's another story in itself. Walking up and down the streets, peeking in the bars and nightclubs that were there, we found one that looked pretty good and had lot's a pretty girls. By this time, I'm half drunk from drinking a beer called San Miguel. We sat down at a table, and almost right away, a girl came over and sat down beside me. I have no idea who she was or what her name was. Not knowing anything about what she was or what I was supposed to do, I learned real fast from my Buddies. This was my "Date" for the rest of the evening. I was to buy her drinks and myself, of course. Little did I know, that she was drinking tea and water, while I drank beer and got more and more drunk as time went on. She also could be my Sex Partner for awhile, and that I of course, would have to pay for her "Service." At that time, I thought she was pretty nice looking. While you are in Port, she is to be the only "Date" you should be with. Sailors that went from one girl to another were called "Butterfly's" It was not a good idea to change from one girl to another. You were considered her sole support while in Port. This is where she got her money to live on. From you! You could get your Life taken by being a "Butterfly."

The picture above shows me and my "Date" on that night. I'm 19 yrs. old here. I had just made E-3 and we were out to celebrate my promotion. I'm drunk and stoned into the next zip code! You can't see it very well, but if you look real close you would see some "roaches" in the ashtray. The Pot was pretty good. Pot was another thing that I found out about while over-seas. It was something new to me! The picture was taken by one of those "roving photographers" that were walking around the bar taking pictures of you and your Date. I remember being with this "Date" each time I had Liberty. I never saw here again, after our ship departed. I have no idea, to this day, what happened to her. Did she live or die? Where is she now? I will never know. It's old and faded, but it's a picture that I have always kept. My Wife wanted me to get rid of it. I refused. This is something from my past and will always remember. It's just one of the many good times, I had while in the Navy and overseas. There were some bad ones, too.

After leaving the Philippine Island and the Naval Base there, our next stop was Vietnam. Another "eye opener" for me.

Until the next time . . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

CABELAS

2010-05-03T17:50:00.000-04:00

Today, I had the day off, after having to work both Sat. and Sun. so I decided to take a trip up to the Cabalas Store that is located just outside of a town named Hamburg, PA. It's about a 20 min. trip from here and does not take me very long to get there.

Located right along-side a major highway North and South with a Interstate just down the road is this major seller of all kinds of sporting goods. It's a huge place to see. You can find just about everything you could want when it comes to outdoor sports. There is all kinds of Hunting Jackets, boots, guns, archery, and fishing gear of every type and make that there is on the market. They even sell fishing boats, camping gear, tents of all size's and shapes. It you are a hunter or just love the outdoors, this is the place to find what you want. If they don't have it, I would be very surprised. People come here from all over the Country to shop this huge store. I've seen license plates from as far South as North Carolina and Florida. North I've seen from New York and New Hampshire, just to name a few.

When you go into this huge store you are greeted by one of the many different types of display's of stuffed wildlife that are posed in the surrounding that they look best in. Every type of animal is here, that I know of. All kinds of birds, sheep, deer, bear, and even fish are on display for everyone to see. The one above has a number of different animals all posed in a fake surrounding that almost looks real.

Here's one of the different display's. The Bull Moose and his Cow

A pair of Polor Bears. The Polor Bear that is standing on his hind legs stood taller than me! He must have been close to 7 feet tall. Remember all these animals were alive at one time. The plaques below them tell who shot them and where.

It's a stand off! Musk Oxen and the Wolf eye-ball one another. Remember you can click on each photo to view them larger.

The Lion's give chase to their favorite prey.

Running for their Lives with the Lion's behind nipping at their heels.

The King of Beasts.

While walking around this huge store, taking these shots that I thought were interesting, I noticed something that I've seen here before. Even though I don't hunt, fish, or camp anymore, I found that most everything in this store is quite high in price. Everything that I looked at, I think is a bit over-priced. Mind, that they do seem to have quality apparel to wear and it looks well made, I wondered if that is the best price for it. I have heard talk around here that Cabales does have a high over-head. I know that I can get most of the things I saw at a cheaper price. Even the guns are quite expensive. This is why I don't buy anything here. It's just too much money. Guess that they have to pay for all those exhibits somehow. Cabales is a great outfitter store to snoop around in and see all the different wildlife exhibits. You could spend hours in this store. They even have room for RV campers in the parking lots.

When I walked out the front doors, this is what I was greeted with! Some rain coming over the mountains looking North towards the Coal Region Area. Looks nasty, doesen't it? It looks real nasty and it's ready to dump rain in a second. However, it really didn't do that much. Just a big "Blow Hard." It splattered rain, but the wind kicked up pretty hard. I got in my car, which is on the lower right of the picture, real fast!

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

SOME ODDS & ENDS

2010-05-01T12:02:00.002-04:00

AGAIN, I'M SORRY that I haven't Posted anything in awhile, but it seems for one reason or another I just don't get here to do it. Sometimes, it takes me awhile to sit here and write something. Most of the time, I go snooping around at places that I and you all would like to see, but for the past number of day's I've been busy around the house, working at that job I have, or having other responsibilities to take care of. So, anyhoo, here are some things that have been going on and a picture that I've had that you might like to see.

I'm still having a bit of trouble with this Computer, but it's much better than before. Seems that my ISP was not working like it should, so after calling Verizon on the phone 4 times, I found that it's not the ISP that is making my Internet connection run slow. They are telling me that I'm getting 1.49mg per second. It usually is 1.5 for a residential area. This is what it should be. I also found out that the problem is with my RAM memory which is only 512mg. I'm told that what I should do, since Web pages are getting filled with more information, is up-grade the RAM from 512mg to at least 1.0GB, which would be double what I have now.

Ok, that's fine. But, now, I have to know just how to do this. So with that in mind, I asked my "computer girl" what it's all about and what to do. She tells me that it's very easy to up-grade your RAM. Just go over to Best Buy and purchase a RAM chip of 1.0GB which runs about $70.00 in price and install it in your Tower. Then it should run faster. Right! However, since I'm not real good at doing something like this I had to read up on how this can be done. She's right. It is easy to do, but it's what you are doing that you have to be careful of. There are certain steps to take when up-grading your RAM or it will destroy your whole memory. It all boils down to shut down your system, take the side cover off, snap out the old RAM memory chips, snap the new ones back in their place, put the cover back on, and start up your system again. The Computer will automatically read the new RAM memory. It all sounds so easy. So, with all this I'm not really sure if I want to do this, in risk of screwing this whole thing up. I'm going to think about it for awhile and find out all that I can before doing anything like this. My Computer here does run good, but it could be much better. Should I leave well enough alone or venture into something that I've never done before? We'll see.

After reading one of my Followers Blog, he had a picture that he took while out fishing in the Chesapeake Bay. It reminded me of one that I still had in my Scrapbook left over from my Navy years, so I thought that he might like to see it, along with the rest of you. This shot was taken looking out over the Port Side of my Destroyer while we were "On Patrol" off the coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea. It was taken with one of those old Kodak Instamatic camera's that my Mother sent to me over the mail. The Destroyer in the background is the USS Sproston DD-577, our Sister ship. I've enhanced it the best I could, so this is what came out. The setting sun, with the USS Sproston in the background, I thought was pretty good. Would have been much better if Digital camera's were around back then, but they were not even thought of.

So, there is some of what's been going on over here on my end. I'll write more later on.

Thanks for reading & commenting.
Les

BYRNESVILLE, PA

2010-04-15T20:57:00.000-04:00

Remember in my one last Post about Centralia that there was another old abandonded Town that was close by? Well, today was just a super day to get "out there" and go see this Town that I've been told about, but just really didn't know where it was. After asking some other people that I know up in the Coal Region Area, I found out that Byrnesville was just down the road from Centralia and I had passed by it without ever knowing what was there. So now, lets take a trip down Memory Lane and back into History some 40 yrs. ago.

This is where the Town of Byrnesville used to be. Located just off RT61 North just a bit South of Centralia. Just driving by this you would have never known that, at one time, there used to be a Town here. Byrnesville was settled in this area in the 1800's and was started by the Byrnes Family that were Irish settlers that came to this area for work in the Coal Mines. At one time there were 75 people living here in 29 homes. The last family moved out in 1996 and their home was destroyed.

This old building used to be a garage, and was part of the Town of Byrnesville, but over time was probably used for other things that I don't know much about. It's been here for years and I've passed by it a number of times never knowing what it used to be or why it is there. I just thought that it was just another old building that you see around this area. Not much is here. Just an old building that is slowly falling apart.

Here's another picture of a abandoned building that was part of Byrnesville. I have no information on it. Maybe it was part of someone's home, at one time.

With the Main Street of Byrnesville to the right of the picture, this Fire Hydrant stands in silence on what used to be a sidewalk. Again, as in Centralia, this area used to be lined with Family Homes. However, because of the Centralia Mine Fire that was burning down towards this area, it was decided to have everyone moved out and all the Homes torn down.

Another old and rusted Fire Hydrant that will never be used for anything. No water is connected here. The once used sidewalks are now all over-grown with weeds and scrub. You have to scrape away the dirt and over-growth to know that something used to be here.

Just across the road from the Main Street of Byrnesville, stands this "Grotto." It was built by the people that once lived here and is still maintained, as you can see. Behind the glass stands the Virgin Mary with candles and flowers. To my knowledge this place and the Grotto has never been vandilized. It is left alone, as it should be. My Wife tells me that a Grotto is a small place that is used for rememberance and worship. It stands here alone alongside a well traveled 2 lane road.

I decided to take a picture of something that I seem to run into quite often while doing my "snooping around." Maybe they are trying to tell me something? Signs such as this were noted at different places around the area. I stayed clear. Don't want to get into anymore trouble than I did before.

And last but not least . . . . it's me! After snooping around in what was left of Byrnesville, I decided to stop alongside the road and shoot this picture of me standing on what used to be RT61 North, but is now longer used. More than 10 yrs. ago, you could never do this, without risking the chance of getting hit by traffic. Like I mentioned before, I have traveled this 4 lane highway many times over the years. It leads right into Centralia, but since the road has been closed for a long time, there is nothing here but a empty road with "slogans" written all over the place.

Now you know all about another Town "That Used to Be, but is no more." In closing, I don't know of any other places that are like this around this area. I think that Centralia and Byrnesville are the only ones. Since I've been up in this area so many times in the past, I think I'm going to stay away from the Coal Area until I find out about something that is more interesting. I'll still be going up around here, but it will be just to visit Family that my Wife still has in the area.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks so much for reading and commenting

Les

NOT MUCH HERE

2010-04-09T21:11:00.001-04:00

I've been reading on the comments that I've received so far about my latest Post about the Old Lock No. 60, that the Images that I took are no comming up for all to see. To be honest, I've noticed the same thing myself. Even when I go to my own Blog, some of those pictures just don't show the way I posted them. My Header Image comes in, but the other Images do not. The rest of what I've done so far does. I really don't know what has happened, unless it has something to do with this System being down for that period of time. Then again, I don't see how that would affect that. I do apologize to you all for the problem. I'm hoping that my next Post, when I go snooping around will come in better and their will be no problems.

Since my last Post, I just have not had any real time to get "out there" and go see something that I think will interest you all. Most of the time when I do that is during a week-end that I have off from my job. However, there will probably be more times that I just can't take some time to go off somewhere, cause I've got a Home to take care of. Now, that the weather is turning much better, I've got to get outside and start getting the lawn back in shape. This includes trimming the hedge's that are around the back Patio, cleaning out all the dead leaves that have acculmated from the heavy wind, repairing the down-spouting, and planting some new grass in some area's that don't look right. What I have to do is not really all that hard, but just takes awhile. We have a nice looking Home, and I like to keep it that way. Someday we just might sell this place and move into an apartment, but their has been no major decision on that yet. Their are pro's and cons on moving into a nice apartment, too.

As most of you know, owning a Home is not all what they say it is. At least for us it has changed over the years. The taxes around here are making us nut's and we're getting tired of paying so much all the time. Each year the taxes keep going up and our Income stay's pretty much the same. The school taxes are the ones that have been getting bad. Paying that money for those kids to go to school, and they in turn vandalize the new school that they do have, is getting very annoying for us. We're getting tired of it, and so are a whole lot of others around our area. The shit is going to hit the fan one of these day's!

Another thing around here, is the weather has been a bit stupid here lately. For the past 2 or 3 day's we've had some really warm weather. Temp's have been up in the high 80's . . . . . even close to 90! In the middle of April! We even had to cycle the Central Air to get the house cool again. Then a wind and rain storm came in and dropped the tempeture down more than 30 degrees! It wasen't a bad storm, just a whole lot of wind and some splattering of rain. Geez! One day it's getting just too hot and the next it's much colder! Some wild weather.

So, anyway. I'm hoping that my Images will come in for the next Post. I have no real idea what else to do. If you notice, I have changed my music. I do that from time to time. Then it does not get boring listning to the same stuff.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.
Les

THE LEHIGH CANAL LOCK #60

2010-04-04T08:54:00.001-04:00

Even though my Computer System here was down for awhile, I did have the time go take a short drive down to the Historic Town of Phoenixville, PA where the only working Canal Lock of it's time is still there. So, now let's step back in time and see something that was used so long ago.

This is what the old Lehigh Canal used to look like. Got this Image of the Internet and is not mine.

This is what the present day Locktenders Home looks like. The Canal and Lock are below and to the left of the Image. When the old Lock was in operation the Locktender and his family lived here for sometime, but don't know how long. He and his family had quite a job while here. Not only was it his job to open and close the Lock to let Barges up and down the Canal, his Wife also made meals for the Barge tenders to eat. Sort of like a stop over restraunt. It also had rooms for over-night stay, just like a modern Motel of our day, but not as fancy. In my snooping around here, I walked around the back of the Home not knowing that someone still lives here! Nothing was said, but I felt dumb being in someone's back yard. OOPS!

Looking down the old Canal towards Phoenixville. The Locktenders Home is up and to the left. The Towpath is on the right and is the road that I used to come here.

Old Lock No. 60 as it exists today. The Lock doors still work at both ends.

A wider view of the area.

Looking down from the Bridge that cross's over the Lock.

Another view of the Lock Area with the Canal in the foreground.

An old "Tie Down Ring" that was used to tie up the Barge's while waiting their turn into the Lock.

This is looking down at what once was part of the wall where the Barge's would wait their turn to go up or down the Lock. The holding area was to the right, but now is overgrown with weeds and brush.

This is what used to be the Holding Area where the Barges would wait their turn into the Lock. The Lock is in the distance.

One of the 2 Lock Doors that still operate to this day. The large wood beams had to be pushed by hand to open the doors. They look darn heavy!

And last, but not least . . . . guess who? I took this by setting my Pentax on the Tripod, set the timer for 12 seconds, ran over, smiled and posed before the shutter opened. The plaque below me tells how the Lock worked.

So, this was my visit to the working Lock of long ago. As most of you already know, I just love to snoop around in History. When I go places like this I walk around and try to visulize what the place looked like back in it's day compaired to what it is today. Wish I could transport myself back in time, visit the place, and then come back to the present. Sort of like a Time Traveler. That would be something!

Until the next time . . . . Thanks so much for reading & commenting.

Les

FINIALLY, I'M BACK!

2010-04-01T18:16:00.000-04:00

Good grief! I'm finially back here. It's been a long time. Guess more than 2.5 weeks have passed since my last Post. These past 2 weeks have been a rather rough time with this System.

As most of you know, I've been having some problems with this Computer for awhile before. It was getting very slow, and at times, would not navigate to different site's that I frequent. Blogger here was one of them. It's a rather long, long story but I also was having with my Server which is Verizon. Had to have them come out here and check out our Internet Service. Found that I had a bad Modem. They sent me another one after waiting 3 day's. Then this Dell Deminsion 3000 System went down all together! Could not even re-start the Computer. It was dead! This pissed me off rather bad. Didn't know if the problem was from Verizon or the Tower Drive that went bad. I was lost without my System, cause I use it most everyday.

Had to give a good friend of mine a call and I told her what the problem was. She told me to bring my Tower over to her place so she can work on it and find out what is causing the trouble. I had to wait about a week for her to fix the trouble. She is good at what she does and runs her own business. I had to wait, cause her customers are more important. They pay good money to have their Computers repaired and in operating condition. Since she is a good friend, I don't like to impose on her cause she is so very busy. So, she did fix the problem and charged me a very, very reasonable fee for her time. A whole lot less than what other people will charge you to repair your Computer if it goes bad. I am more than thankfull that she takes the time to fix any problem that I have with this System.

So there you have it. Pretty much in a nut-shell. Believe me, it's a real nerve wracking experience when you don't have something that you have come to reley on for so long. So, now my System is back up and running . . . . so far. This Dell 3000 is more than 5 yrs. old, so I'm hoping that I don't have anymore trouble. If it fails again, I will probably get rid of it and go to a Lap Top. I'm told that the LapTops are getting so much better than before and also the price has come down on them quite allot.

However, on top of all this I did get the chance to get "Out There" and visit a Historical Site that I really didn't know existed. The weather has been just great here lately, so I want to make good use of it when I can. I also can not forget to mention one of my faithfull Followers, who is "Happy Days". She commented on my Blog Post and wanted to know if I'm all right. THANK YOU, DEBBIE for asking. I never had anyone do that before. Wonder's never cease, do they?

In my next Post we will take a trip back in History and visit the Old Schyulkill Canal Lock No. 60. The only working Lock still in existence today. I might have to do it in 2 parts.

Until next time . . . . Thank you all for reading & commenting.
Les

CENTRAILA REVISIT PT.2

2010-03-13T11:15:00.000-05:00

I'm still having the same problem with this Computer system, but it's working fairly well. It's still not right. I have to wait until I can get a service Tech from Verizon to take a look at it and find out what the real problem is. Until then, I'll work with what I have. Thank goodness, I can still make this follow up Post that I had mentioned in my Post before on Centraila. Remember that you can click on the Image to view it larger.

This is an Image of what some area's of Centraila look like. Allot of dead trees and vegatation. Not too much lives here. The Mine Fire and the gas has killed just about everything around the area.

Here the ground is burned away leaving nothing but black darkened ground where the Fire has burned close to the surface. Smoke still vents thru cracks in the ground from the burning ole' mine shaft.

This was someone's back yard a long time ago. Nothing here anymore, but smoke and burned out ground.

Looking down what used to be Park St. Again, here there were homes that lined the street. All that remains are the telephone poles and the sidewalk on the left that is covered with snow.

Looking back up Park Street. A lone fire hydrant sits on the left. My car sits on the upper right of the ole' street. The Mine Fire burn's just to the left of this Image.

At the extreme end of Park St. sit's this other Home. The only one of 2 that are left anymore. I noticed that the Fire is not really close to this Home. It's more across the street than anywhere else. Maybe that's why this Family has stayed here for so long. I also stood here and wondered just why these people have never left the area. Why? There is nothing left here. No neighbors, no people walking the Town. What keeps them here, I'm not really sure of. Could be that they have been here so long that this is their Home, and they just refuse to leave. You almost have to admire them for being here so long.

A church used to be here on this spot. Only the cemetery remains in the background. The church was torn down, but I don't know if there was another one built somewhere else. Part of the walkway for the church is in the foreground. The rest of the area still is burning.

Here you can see how the ground has caved in that follows the Mine Shaft. I didn't trust going into this area. Stayed where I was. Not a very safe idea to go stomping around if you're not sure what can happen. I'm careful on just where I went. You just might fall into an ole' Mine Shaft. Don't need that.

This shows Rt. 61 looking South. No longer used it ran down into the Town of Ashland. The Southbound lane was to the right and north was on the left. I have traveled this road in the past a number of times. It used to be a busy Highway, but after the road started to open up with cracks in the asphalt from the Fire, it was closed. No traffic is here anymore. Just a reminder of what used to be here. The State had to build another road around this one to get into Centraila. It's off the picture, but it's to the left.

This is the area that most people walk around in. You can see the dirt road to the left. Off to the right, I remember the Fire burning here, but now it seems to have burned out. Only the depression where it was burning is left. My car sit's way up in the center of this Image.

While walking up and down the ole' streets of Centraila, I happen to see this American Flag that was placed here by someone. I took this Image cause it is more or less a Tribute to a Coal Mining Town that used to be here, but is no more. A Town that once had hard working Miners that produced the Coal that this Country thrived on and what fueled an Industrial Nation.

I spent more than 3 hours here in Centraila. While stomping around the area here, I wondered just why the 2 homes are still here. The only thing I can figure out is that this is their Home and they just don't want to leave a place that they know so well. Regardless of the Fire, they still remain. You have to almost admire these people. Again, and again, I have said that there is nothing here anymore. Just barren, smoking, land. Not much else. I didn't even see any wildlife at all. Nothing for them to eat. I probably won't be returning here again for a long time. Leave Centraila alone now, but remember what used to be here a long time ago.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

CENTRAILA REVISITED PT.1

2010-03-11T18:57:00.000-05:00

Hello, to all my Followers. I'm sorry for the long absence, but I'm having a bit of a problem with my Server and the Modem that makes my Internet connection work properly. I've been having this problem for more than a week now, even after a Verizon repairman came to our home and checked things over. What he did find was a bad Modem, so they sent me a new one via UPS. That took about 3 day's for it to get here. Hooked everything up the way it should be, but there is still a bit of a problem with the speed of the Internet. Everything works, but not the way it should be. I have to call them again, and see what's up. In the meantime, I'll try to keep Posting when I can. These Computers are just great, but when something goes wrong it can be a real nightmare to get repaired and have it working like it was.

So, since this past Monday was a real beauty as far as the weather was I decided to take a trip back up to an ole' Coal Mining Town that is about an hour drive from here. I've been here before in the past, so I just wanted to see how much has changed there since my last visit, which was about 2 yrs. ago. Arriving in the town of Centraila I found that much has changed.

This is what the town of Centraila used to look like back in the early 60's before the Mine Fire started burning the town away.

Keeping in mind the above Image that I got off the Internet, this Image was taken at about the same place as the one above. You can see how much it has changed over the passing years. You are looking North on RT 61 as the other picture shows. There is really nothing left here anymore. All the Homes and business that used to be here are gone. Nothing remains here on the Main Street of Centraila. The Hardware Store that used to be located on the street corner at the Intersection is gone. It was here for quite some time, even though the rest of the business's were gone. Guess they tried to make a go of it, but it didn't last. I don't remember the name of it.

This Image I took looking down the hill which is RT 61 South. Again, the street here, used to be lined with Homes. The Hardware Store that I mentioned before was down the hill on the left side. Only the traffic light remains.

If you look real close at the original photo of Centraila, this is the same tree that you see and what it looks like today. This was at the corner of Wood Street.

This used to be Park Street. To the right is a curb and sidewalk. Only one home is visible at the bottom of the hill. It's the only one of two that exist today. Again, these streets used to be lined with homes of people that lived here, at one time. Now there is nothing, but empty space and trees.

And this is what has made the Town what it is today! The Mine Fire that was started more than 40 yrs. ago is still burning away. Although, I noticed in my stomping around that the Fire is not burning as much as it was before. It's still here, but the smoke and smell was not too bad. Places that were burning and smoking, are now empty of smoke. Just the Pit remains of where the Fire used to be. This area that I was in is barren ground, with no living vegetation that I could see. I walked over close to where the smoke is comming out, and found that it was quite hot. Hotter than what I thought it would be! I didn't get too close.

In my next Post, I'll show you more Images of the area and what used to be there, but is no longer.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading and Commenting.

Les

OUT THERE #3

2010-02-22T17:54:00.000-05:00

Again, the weather here, was not too bad. A bit cloudy, rather cold, but no wind this time. Temp's were up close to 50, so there was pretty much melting of the snow going on. Thank goodness for that, but it starts to get the ground all sloppy and wet. Took a short drive over to one of my favorite wildlife area's, hoping to catch something different.

When I got to the parking area, there was no one there. Completely empty. I was the sole person there. Good. Nice and quiet so I can snoop around without much noise. The only sound there was the muffled noise from the Cement Plant that is across the Lake. Good enough for me.

While walking down the dirt lane that goes thru the wooded area alongside the Lake, I came around a small bend in the road and this is what I saw. Looked like Snow Geese just swimming around, but I'm not so sure that that's what they are. There were no black feathers on their wings, and their marking's just don't match a Snow Goose.

I shot these Images using my Pentax with a Tamron 70-300mm Lens. Is this a Snow Goose or a Trumpeter Swan? Could it be a Tundra Goose? I just don't know. I don't know about all the different wild geese that are out there, so I'll have to rely on someone out there that knows more than I do. He sure is pretty with the different colors on his neck, head, and bill. Should have gotten closer on him with the Camera.

This is a nesting box for Merganser Ducks. There was no one home. Too darn cold.

Thought that this was a nice contrast with the snow and rushes in the background. It's a nesting box for some kind of wildlife, but not sure just what.

Here's another nesting box that's for the Canada Goose or just about anything else that wants to make this their home. Again, no one home. Just the snow and cold.

Another Image of what I came up on. You never know what's around the next bend.

I learned a lesson on this photo shoot. Since I was carrying my Tamron 70-300mm Lens and shooting some wildlife, I should use my Tripod more. I think that using the camera in this manner, my Images would come out allot clearer. Especially when the Camera Lens is focused way out there. I didn't want to get too close, for fear of scaring them all away. After shooting these Images, I walked up the dirt road some more to see what was up around the next turn, but there was nothing. Decided to head back to the car. Had to pee, anyway!

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

SUNSHINE AWARD

2010-02-21T13:24:00.000-05:00

Sorry, that it takes me so long at times, to make a Post about either one thing or another. I have this small problem and it's that I can't just sit in front of a Computer screen for long periods of time. Even when I have my reading glasses on, my eye's get tired. And then, my finger's start to get a bit on the sore side from typing on the Keyboard. Then it's time to stop and do something else. I'll come back at a later date and time.

But, anyhoo. I'd like to take this time to give my whole hearted "THANK YOU" to Debbie for giving me this Award. It was very much appreciated. I've never gotten any type of award for the Blog that I do. This was a surprise for me. I had no idea that I would ever get anything like this from anyone.

THANKS VERY MUCH!

There is another thing here that I thought would be in order here. I'm just a plain ole' older fella out here Posting about what ever I think might be interesting for other reader's out there in Cyber Space. Since I've started this Blog it has grown to 37 Followers. More than what I ever thought would follow. I enjoy doing it. On so many occasions, when I go somewhere, do something, see something, or something that happens or has happened in my Life, I'll make a Post about it. Guess that I must be doing something right or I would not have the Followers that I do. There have been many times that I don't know what to call the Post I make or even know if I'm writing it correctly. Sometimes, I have no idea what to put into the Title Box. I have to sit here and think about it for a few minutes. I'm not a writer, by any means. I just type what comes into my ole' head. I do think that I'm getting better as time goes by. I'm working on that all the time.

Some people that I know ask me just why do I Blog? What for? What's the purpose of it? My answer to them is that it's something that I like to do. Figure that when you Post a Blog entry there are thousands of people out there from all over the world that can read your Blog and comment about it. Even though you don't know these people at all. The only way you know them is by what they say. They can read about your World and you, in turn, can see what they are about. An interesting thing to do.

I have been told by a Follower of mine that I should change my Blog Title to something about Photojournalist Corker2. I have thought about that, and maybe she's right. This is why you see a change on my Header. It was a good idea from her. However, I am in no way a real Photo Journalist. Probably never will be. I'll just keep on "keeping on" and do the best I can for all those out there that enjoy. Pretty soon, the weather will probably start to change for the better and I can get "Out There" with my Camera and Post more of the History in our surrounding area, even if I have to travel a bit.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

OUT THERE #2

2010-02-19T12:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the weather was not too bad. Was nice and sunny, but there was a cold wind blowing. Despite all that, I took my Pentax Camera out for a walk and shot some more Images in HDR over at the Ontelloune Wildlife Refuge Area. I was starting to get some "cabin fever". Getting tired of not being able to get "Out There" cause the weather is either to darn cold or it snowed. I shot a number of Images, but some of them I just didn't care for. These are what I came out with. All these Images were done with my Dynamic Photo HDR program. Hope you like them.

Taken with my Pentax K100D using a Tamron 28-80mm Aspherical Lens.

The same photo, but from a different prospective. Was cold with a wind blowing from the right. The whole Lake is frozen.

Walking back to my car. The tree stakes on the right are for new Pine Trees that will be replanted in the Spring. I took this for the contrast of color.

Image taken from the old Blue Falls Grove Bridge. Lot's of ducks and geese on the left. Not many other places they have to take a swim and not much to eat since the ground is full of snow.

I was starting to get rather cold, even though I had a nice heavy coat on, so I called it a day and headed home. Me and cold weather don't get along too well. Would rather have it much warmer, but that won't come till Spring.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

CLEANING OUT THE CLOSET

2010-02-18T19:05:00.000-05:00

Since we have had so much snow, and the ground is still covered in white, I'm finding things to do inside my Home, besides doing what has to be done everyday. One of the places that needed attention was our large closet down here in the Den. It is filled with all kinds of stuff that are used, but not on a daily basis. It has storage for Christmas things, the sweeper, the carpet cleaner, old VCR Tapes, and lot's of other stuff that has accumulated over the past years. Decided to get in there and start throwing things out that are not needed anymore, or is not used at all. In the process of doing this not well liked job, I happen to notice a baggie of photo's that were laying in the far corner on the shelf. What's this, I thought. Reaching on the top shelf and pulling it down, I noticed that there were a bunch of old photo's in it. I'll be darned. I opened the baggie and started looking thru the old photo's. I was very surprised on what was there. This is some of what I found.

Good Grief! Guess who this is? Your right. It's me. You'll have to turn your head to the side to view this one. This photo of me was taken back when I was in 3rd or 4th Grade at the Hamburg Elementary School. Of course, I had to remember back in time for a few minutes. Although the photo is in black & white I am wearing a white shirt with green design, suspenders, shorts, and black shoes. I can remember not liking to wear shorts to school, during the warmer months, but my Mother always had me dressed in the finest fashion of the time. I think that the book in front of me was for reading & spelling. Goodness. This was over 50 yrs. ago. This was back in a time that I had no worries, no cares. Just living Life as a young boy having a great time when things were much more simplified.

Here I am again leaning out the car window. This car, I really don't recall at all. Looks like an ole' Ford. How old am I here? I'm just not sure. I do know that this was taken in front of my ole' Home in Hamburg.

Oh My. It's me again. This time I'm with my Mother in the back yard of my ole' Home. I don't recall this photo being taken, either. Must have been, maybe 2 or 3 yrs. old.

Taken in front of my Home. That's my Grand Mother next to me. What I was doing out there in the dirt road, I don't know. Probably doing something that I shouldn't be! Getting dirty or getting scolded for something! Back then N. 5th St. was all dirt passed a certain point. Below our House it was a macadam road. It just didn't get up this far, yet. The House in the rear of the photo belonged to the Becker Family. There is also a Barn beyond that, up the road a piece. The Becker Family Farm is no longer there, and the Barn is gone. The big field is gone, too, but some of it remains to this day. Where you see the House and Barn, is where the Interstate went thru around 1955. N 5th St. is still there, but my old childhood home was moved to make way for the Interstate. To this day, a small part of the sidewalk still exists, that you see on the left.

I can look at these photo's from long ago and remember quite allot from back then of what I used to do and what happened to me. I have so many memories, that it would be hard to tell them all, and besides you'd get bored to death. I had a bad habit of biting my fingernails. Mom told me to stop it, but I didn't. Guess what she did? Took me over to Beckers Farm and rubbed by fingers in chicken shit! I stopped. Old Man Becker used to kill chicken's in their back yard, by chopping their heads off, and letting them run around without a head until they died! Geez! I also ran away from Home. Why? I don't know at all. Ran away to the neighbor up the road. I got my butt tailed for that, but good! Don't think I sat down for awhile after that!

I also can look at these photo's and think what ever happened to this young boy? Since my Father was never in the picture, Mom had to raise me alone. This young boy, back then, grew up and went on with Life. I still am.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting.

Les

OUT THERE!

2010-02-15T12:43:00.000-05:00

Now, that the roads in our area are getting much better to travel around on, I thought that I'd take my Camera along with me when I had to run around and do some errands. First stop I had to make was at Congressman Tim Holdens Office to ask some questions about benefits from the Veterans Administration. I'm in the process of getting Medical Benefits from the Veterens. Maybe the US Government will pay for some Medical care from my time in Vietnam. So far, he and his staff, have been very helpful. However, upon getting there I found that the Office was closed. Forgot that it was Presidents Day. Crap! Had to go over to the Post Office for stamps to pay some bills, but that was closed also! Doing all that for nothing. Oh Well. Tomorrow is another day. I'm sure that they will be open then.

On my way back home, I thought that I'd stop at the local Park that is not far from our Home just to see what's there and shoot some pictures of the Park area in High Definition. Holding my Pentax as steady as possible the camera will take a series of 3 different exposures. Then I edit them on the Software I have called Dynamic Photo HDR.

This is of the Farm that is located right next to or is part of the Park. I just loved the red barn. In using this HDR Software, I can add to or change most any color and make it stand out more than using a standard Image. Some people out there say that HDR is not photography. I tend to disagree on this. I think that the Image you take looks allot better with it being more enhanced. In using this cheaper Software, I find it works pretty well for me. I just don't see paying all that extra money to have Photoshop or one of the more expensive ones. This one is known as "The Poor Man's HDR."

On my way out I stopped alongside the road and shot this looking back at the Park. Even though you can't really see what the Park looks like with all the snow cover, where that Blue pavilion is there is a large circular walk path that runs down past the River. It's a real nice place to visit with plenty of open area. I found out that the Park is not complete yet. There will be 2 or 3 basketball courts, an area for Tennis, 1 more baseball field, and a paved area for roller skating using those inline skates. Might just go try that out this comming Summer and see how it is. Would you believe that I do have a pair of those Inline Skates? Haven't used them in years. I just might break my darn neck doing it, but they are fun. Who say's that they are for the younger generation?

In processing these Images, I noticed that there was some dirt or something on the camera Lens. I must learn to make sure that my Lens is clean. I apologize for that. There is also something else. Weather forecast for this evening is more snow into tomorrow! We are supposed to get another 4 - 6 inches on top of what we already have! The snow blower is ready. Here we go again!

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

A HIGH SCHOOL MEMORY

2010-02-11T19:29:00.000-05:00

Again, THANK YOU, to all the people that have commented on my Blog of the Snowstorm that hit this area yesterday. My legs, back, and muscles are still a bit sore, but that will go away in time. Thank goodness for good ole' Ben Gay. He helps out allot! Now, on to the topic that is above.

It was back to work, as normal today. There was so much snow to clear from the parking area that we opened for business at 11:00 a.m. Allot of plowing had to be done so customers would have a place to park their cars while in for a bite to eat. Normally, customers come in and out the 2 side doors, and I really don't pay much attention just who comes in. I just do my job. Customers that frequent the store are normal and we see them all the time. We pretty much get to know who our regular customers are after seeing them all the time. People that I know over the years come in and out. I try and say HI, maybe shoot the breeze for a minute or two, if I'm not real busy. This time, it was different.

In thru the one side door walked a Lady that I haven't seen since my High School years in 7th and 8th Grade. I'm sure that it was her. After standing there for a brief minute, I was positive that it was a girl that I remember from so long ago. The Man, who was her Husband, came in behind her. I remembered him, too. She married him not long after finishing High School. Even though the many years have passed, I still remember what she looked like. She really has not changed a whole lot. Just got older, like me, and a bit heavier. Since, we were not really that busy, my memory went back in time. A time when she and I had a "puppy love". It was a time that I can remember so well.

This was about the time when I started to notice "Girls." She was one of the very first girls that I took a interest in. I don't quite remember just how the whole thing started, but she took a interest in me, as well as I did her. She was in my Homeroom Class. As the school year went on, I remember that I asked her to wear one of my "dog tags". She accepted, and I wore one of hers. I think that back then, this was called "Going Steady." I always wanted to see her, or just where she was. I would always hope that she'd come to the High School Dance's that were held on a Saturday night. If I was allowed to go to the Dance, and could get my Mother to take me there, I would always hope that she would show up. Sometimes she did. Other times, she didn't. I, of course, would be disappointed. I wanted to see her at the Dance. Being a very shy boy, back then, I was always afraid to get up and go ask her to dance. Girls were on one side of the dance floor, and boy's on the other. When a slow song would be played, I had to get up enough "nerve" to walk across the floor, and ask her for a dance. This was hard for me to do, for fear of being "shot down."

When the school year ended, and it was the last day of school we both had to go our separate way's. We would say "good-bye" and then I would not see her all summer long. I had to wait until September till I saw her again. I would miss her. I wondered what she was doing all summer. Where she was. Where she lived. I never knew until later on. It was around the latter part of 8th Grade, when she didn't want to wear my Dog Tags anymore. I remember her taking my Dog Tag and laying it on my desk before school started. Why? Guess that she didn't want to Go Steady anymore. That was the end of it. She never wore my Dog Tags again. I was heart broken, but I got over it.

Around the time while in 9th Grade, my Mother, decided to sell the house that we lived in. She just could not afford to keep it up with all the expense's. The house was sold and we moved into a Trailer into another School District. I stopped going to this school, and had to start at another. I never saw her again. I had no idea where she was, or what happened to her. Our Lives went separate ways.

All of these memories of her went thru my mind in a matter of minutes. I just had to go out and see how this girl from a long time ago was doing. I told her who I was. She remembered me. I remembered her. It was so nice to see and speak to a well remembered girl from my past that I had such a great interest in. Funny thing is, that now after all this time, she means nothing, other than just a memory. I wished her well, and after getting her food, she left. Who knows if I will ever see her again. It would be nice, just for the memory of it all.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

ANOTHER SNOW!

2010-02-10T20:16:00.000-05:00

The Weather Forecasters had been telling us that we were supposed to get another heavy Winter Storm that was headed our way. They were right on the money! It started snowing last night around 6 and has not stopped until about an hour ago. It snowed all night, and all day! The snow was coming down rather heavy, at times this afternoon, and the wind kicked up making visibility almost to nothing! At times it was a complete white out. I could not even see the neighbors house across the street.

Now, the snow has finally stopped, and I'm all done clearing the sidewalks and drive-way. Had to clean a whole lot of snow from off the cars, so when tomorrow morning comes, I just might have to go to work. I would venture to say that there is a good 3 feet of snow out there! I'm glad that the snow stopped coming down, cause I was running out of places to pile the snow up. Thank goodness for my trusty snow blower. It worked just fine, and saved me a whole lot of back pain. Since I'm no "Spring Chicken" anymore, taking a shovel to snow get's hard on me. I just can't shovel the snow like I used to.

This was taken early this afternoon while the snow was still falling. My US Navy Flag is getting torn from the wind. Will get another one later on.

This is looking out our Patio window. The fence is 6 ft. high. Now the snow is half way up.

Looking out our side garage door. It's snowing so heavy that you almost can't see the Pine Tree.

Taken at the garage door this afternoon.

So, there you have it. I'm pretty sure that I've had enough snow for awhile. With using the snow blower 4 times today and doing a bit of shoveling, my back and muscles are going to be sore. The "ole bones" are going to creak a bit. Thank goodness that there is no more snow in the forecast . . . . yet!

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for viewing and Commenting.

Snowbound here in PA!

Les

THE FIRST BIG SNOW

2010-02-08T15:49:00.007-05:00

Sometimes, I'm a bit on the slow side when it comes to Posting something that has happened around here or to me, but I usually get there sooner or later.

This past Friday we here on the Eastern part of Pennsylvania got hammered by a snowstorm that was being predicted for about 5 day's before. When the Weather Forecasters tell us that a large Winter Storm is coming our way, I usually don't get very excited about it. The reason for this is that it's been told that it's going to snow before, and nothing really ever happened the way it was forecast. I usually wait and see what it's going to do. However, this time they were pretty accurate on the forecast for this area.

I had to work this past Friday evening, so I was watching just when it would start. Sure enough, just around the time it was predicted to start snowing, it did. With the weather getting worse by the hour, upper Management called me and told me to close the business. Good idea. The roads were starting to get nasty, so the sooner we got home the better. It snowed all night and into the next day. The pictures that I took are of what I was greeted with the following morning.This is looking out our side door from the garage. More than a foot of snow and still comming down.

Looking down the street. My Brother's home is all the way down at the end in the center of the picture. Now, you see just how close he is to me. I just got done running the snow blower down the sidewalk.

Sorry about the placement of my Images. For some reason Bloggers picture up-loader is not working the way it usually does. I have no idea why. It does that sometimes. When it snows like this, which does not happen all that often around this area, I tend to like it. Everything looks so pretty all covered in a blanket of White. It does get to be a bit of work to clear everything so we can get the cars in and out of the driveway. After doing all this, I'm rather tired. I then go sit down for awhile and maybe have a nice little "nip" to chase away all the cold! Some "Rock&Rye" or some "Southern Comfort" always does the trick.

Now, the weather forecast is saying that we are going to get another Winter Storm! Supposed to start snowing sometime Tuesday evening and snow all night into Wednesday. Snow amounts are predicted to be 6-12 inches on top of what we already have. Oh Well. Here we go again! The Snow Blower is all ready to get out there, but I wonder if I am.

After punching in the code to arm the Security System at the store and locking the door, I shot this picture of the Golf Course. Normally, during the late Spring and all thru the Summer months, this 27 hole Miniature Course, is loaded with golfers playing the game. On a good day as many as 700 golfers can play here in one day.

Now, covered in a blanket of white snow, there is no one here. It stands empty. No one to play now, but come early Spring when the weather turns warmer, golfers will return for some fun and great food.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting
Les

A FEW ODD'S & END'S

2010-02-04T17:36:00.001-05:00

I have to tell all my Followers that I appreciate all the nice comments that I've received about the HDR photo's, and my trip to Florida a few years ago. I've gone back into my CD and pulled a few others out that I thought you'd like.

Does this one look familiar? Remember back in the 60's when Allen Shepard or John Glenn was sent up into space in a Mercury Rocket? I don't quite remember just when it was, but this is what the Rocket looked like. Was rather small looking, compared to the big Atlas ones that came along later. Just how he stayed in this thing for that short amount of time, must have been hard for him to do. He really didn't know what was going to happen. History was made with this.

This is what that AirBoat looked like that we took a ride on thru the Swamp of Florida. I sat right up front where the action is. Just about flying over the water and water weeds, it was quite fast. The only problem with these is that the Aircraft engine in the back, makes a hell of a racket. My buddy and I had to talk to each other on the loud side because of the noise. There wasn't any muffler that I could see.

I must stand corrected, cause I made a mistake on my last Post about not seeing any Gator's. I was wrong. We did see one, and here he is. Swimming away from the Boat off the Port Side. No sooner did I take this Image, than he was gone under water. I was lucky to get him with the camera. One thing I'm sure of is that we didn't see any snakes! Good. Me and snakes don't get along at all.

While at the Kennedy Space Center, our Tour Bus stopped at an observation platform where we could see the Launch Pad. We were not allowed to get any closer. At the time I was there, they were getting ready to launch the Space Shuttle the following week. Of course, I would not be there. Wished I would have been. If you look real close you can see the Shuttle sitting there on the Pad. My Buddy does not live real far from the Kennedy Space Center, so he tells me that the house windows rattle when the Shuttle goes up! It must be a total awesome sight to see the launch for real and experience the roar.

I forgot to show yha. This is what one of the Logger Head Turtle nests look like. Mother Turtle is gone back to the sea. Her eggs are buried there in that hole. The black spot in the center is my shadow.

*********************************************************************************

Now, I think that I'll jump ahead and get to what's going on around here.

It snowed day before yesterday. We didn't get all that much snow, but I thought I'd take my Sony DSC-H2 camera and shoot some pic's of the snow in front of the house. Now, most of the snow from before is gone, but it sure looks pretty when nothing is disturbed. Now, we have to "Stay Off All Weather Decks", cause a nasty Winter Storm is headed our way for Friday night. We are told that snow accumulations could get up to a foot of snow with blowing and drifting. Well, I'll just wait and see what it does. I don't get all that excited about having a big snowstorm come in. I'm not one that has to run to the local store and get milk and bread just because it's going to snow. People that do that, I think are nut's. If you don't really need it, why go out and get more. It's not going to be all that bad. The good thing about it is I might not have to go to work, and when it stops snowing I can get out with my Camera and see Nature all dressed up in White.

Now, here's something to have a good laugh about. I got these from a good friend of mine. It's a good way to "Drink & Drive" don't yha think? I'm assuming that this thing really works. Let's park it and have a few!

A Texas Limo!

Now, I've gotta admit. This is pretty ingenious thinking. Whoever built this has one hell of an imagination. I like it. Wonder if it's road legal? Don't know why not.

This one is pretty good. Ever have this problem, Ladies? Once in a while I forget to put the seat down in our bathroom's and I get told about it. One night the Wife said she nearly fell into the hopper cause I forgot to do this. What can I say? I was half asleep! I really do try and remember.

Hope my Post's are not getting to long to read. I get "long" at times.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks for reading & commenting

Les

PICTURES IN HDR

2010-01-31T17:53:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, I made a trip down to Florida to see an ole' Navy buddy that I haven't seen in a long, long time. When I flew down there I had the very first Digital Camera that I've ever owned. I bought it from another friend of mine that wanted to get rid of it, and get something better for himself. It was a Olympus D-460 Zoom with only 3.1 Megapixel. This camera took some really nice pictures of my trip down there. When I came home from my visit, I put them on a Disk for safe keeping. I still have the camera to this day and it works very well.

Now, not too long ago, I purchased a program that will edit Digital Photo's and put them into High Definition (HDR), so with that I decided to see what the program will do without taking a series of 3 different exposure's at 3 different levels. The Program is called Dynamic Photo HDR. I found that it will change the photo's that I took and make them look so much better. Remember, that you can click on the Photo to see it better.

Before I arrived at their Home in Satellite Beach, FL we had talked on the phone about some of the things I'd like to do and see while there. One of the things was take a ride on a Airboat. You know, one of those boats that can just skim over the water just using a airplane engine and prop that skims over the water and weeds. I've never done something like this in my whole Life, so I thought that here's my chance. Not far from where he lives was a place that offered Airboat rides that take you on a ride thru the swamp. Great! Lets do it!

The picture above is one of the first shots that I took. We are skimming over the water headed to an area known to have Gators. This photo is one that I edited using my HDR Program. Notice how much more you can bring out the color of the area I was in. Deeper blue's, browns, greens, and enhancing the sky make the photo much more appreciative to view.

Here's another one. Just skimming over the grass at a slow speed looking for all kinds of different wildlife. The Blue and Green's come out looking like your almost right there.

This was taken on our way back. With this one, I might have did a bit too much with the color, but I still think that it came out really good. I shot this because of the stillness of the water and the reflection of the sky. The White sleeve on the right of the picture is of my ole' Navy buddy. His Wife came along, too. We only saw one Gator, and he was a bit far away. By the time we got there, he was gone.

Another place that I wanted to go to was the Kennedy Space Center. This one was taken from the Tour Bus that took us around to all the different places there. This is a shot, out the Bus window, of the huge building that houses the Space Shuttle. I have other pictures of the place, but just didn't get to edit them quite yet using my HDR Program.

On one of the mornings I wanted to take some shot's of the Beach that he lives about a block and a half away from. Walking the beach early in the morning, I happen to come across these tracks that were left from the Female Logger Head Turtle that came up on the beach to lay her eggs and then back to the sea again. Notice the difference in the tracks. The one on the right is where she came up on the beach. The ones to the left are where she went back to the sea. The tracks on the right look like she struggled a bit to get up on the beach. They are much heavier than the ones to the left. The Female was probably loaded with eggs, thus causing her to pull harder to get where she was going.

This is where she went. Up on top of the Dune and back into the bush where she dug a big hole in the sand to deposit her eggs. Again, to the right is where she came in, and to the left is where she went back to the sea. Common sense told me not to mess with the Turtle nest. Leave Mother Nature alone and leave her to bring new Life to the sea. If you look close, you can see the tracks from a 4-wheeler. There is a reason for this, which I found out about later on.

This is why. Here comes the Game Warden from the Florida Fish & Game Commission riding a 4-wheel buggy up and down the Beach. What she is doing is checking all the new Turtle nests. From what I was told is that the Game Commission keeps an eye on the Logger Head Turtle, and the nests that the Female's dig with all the eggs buried in the sand. I'm told that no one is allowed on the beach after a certain hour in the evening, because of the Turtles coming up out of the sea. Since these Turtles are protected by Florida Law, you can get into big trouble if found messin' around the nest's. No dogs are allowed at all! Notice the other tracks that come up the sand. The Turtles come out of the sea at high tide, as shown by the high water marks in the sand. I would have loved to see the Female Turtle come on the beach and lay her eggs, but that was not possible. I'm told they come during the night. Anyone caught messin' around the Turtles are given a nasty fine, and will spend time in Jail! No thanks. In seeing these nests, I'm in amazement that Mother Turtle comes up out of the sea, lays her eggs, goes back into the sea, and never see's the offspring that she has brought into the world.

Here's another look using my HDR Program.

Just further down the beach. I think that the sky came out pretty good.

I took this one because of the long, long way you can see up the Beach. Also, I wanted the walkway in the picture. Up the beach is the Game Warden, checking a nest.

I had a very great time while there too visit my ole' Navy buddy. Seeing my ole' friend and his Wife was allot of fun. We talked allot about the past, and all the crap we had to go thru while over in Vietnam, and what has happened to both of us since leaving the Service. Had a few beer's and ate some great seafood. I hope that I didn't get too "long winded" with this Post.

Until the next time . . . . Thanks very much for reading & commenting.

Les

AMERICADE

2010-01-27T21:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, gang. Here we go again. For the lack of something to Post about, I had to dig into some archives to find something. I came up with something that I had all but forgotten about. It brought some really great memories with all the fun we had doing this.

As most of you might know, years ago I used to do allot of Touring on a Motorcycle. To be exact, a 1986 Honda Goldwing Aspencade was the last bike that I had. Eileen and I used to get on this "Wing" and go for a ride so many times that I just can't remember them all. We usually rode with some real good friends of ours that owned a 1988 Harley Davidson TourGlide Classic. Doing just about everything from going on a week's trip somewhere during the Summer, to going out on a typical Saturday night Supper Ride, or Ice Cream Ride, just for the great fun and friendship of it all. Taking a ride on two wheels is so much different than going for a ride in your car. Feeling the warm wind in your face and seeing the country side go by, is an altogether different feeling that riding in a convertible car. It's something that is very hard to describle in words. It's a feeling that you have to experience for yourself first hand.

One of the great places we used to enjoy going to very much was Americade. A Touring Rally held in Glen Falls, NY every year in June. Glen Falls, NY hosts one of the biggest Tour Rally's on the Eastern Seaboard. Bikes from all over the country come here. 10,000 or more bikes descend on the small town from just about every point on the compass. People ride from as far away as AZ, New Mexico, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, just to mention a few States. All of us "bikers" get together just to have a great time, Tour the country side, kick tires, enjoy each others company, and meet different people from all over the USA. I don't think that there is anything bigger than the Americade, other than the Sturgus Rally in North Dakota.

I've been here 4 times in the past years that this Rally was held. I never really grew tired of all the great fun we had going up there. On the road early in the morning, rain or shine, it would take us about 6 hrs. to ride there. Traveling the 2 lane roads, and the Interstate 84 to Glen Falls was always an enjoyable trip. Of course, we had to make "potty" and rest stops along the way, but that was pretty close to the time it took to get there.

Here's one of the pictures of us all up in Americade. Carol stands beside the 88' Tour Glide Classic, while Ernie and Linda (in the Red) stand beside their 89' Tour Glide Classic. I'm the one standing next to my 1989 1500cc Goldwing. This picture was taken at one of the many over-looks that you can stop off by to view Lake George that is located in Glen Falls. Lake George, in the background, is a huge Lake and offeres a whole lot to do and see. RT#9 runs around the whole Lake. It takes a few hours to ride around it. Here we had stopped just for a photo because our "butts" were getting tired of sitting.

Here is Ernie while we were crossing a River to enter into Vermont. We had to ride to just outside Ticonderoga, NY where we could catch a flat-bottomed Ferry that would take us across and into Vermont. I think that to Ferry across the River cost $5.00 per bike. Not a bad price. The Owner of the Ferry Boat must have made a good profit with taking all the different bikes across into Vermont. My Wing sits in front.

One of the many attractions of Lake George was to take a ride on a steam-boat named the Minne-Ha Ha. There were 3 of these steamers that you could take a ride around the Lake on. This one was the most popular. It had a Calliope on it. Look close near the Stern on the 02 Level and you can see the steam funnels for it. We rode this and had a great time. The ride was about an hour long and offered drinks and snacks for all. Each Steamboat was sponsored by one Motorcycle Manufacture. Honda had this one. Harley-Davidson had another, and Yamaha had the last one. Everything from water skiing, boat rental, swimming, and para-sailing over the Lake was offered. Lots to do and see.

This shot was taken on top of one of the Mountains in the area. It's just a small amount of all the many Bikes that come to this Rally. I can't remember the name of the Mountain, but this is the parking lot where you can see an over-look of the valley below. There are really hundreds of bikes here of all shapes, sizes, and models. It get's a bit congested, as you can see.

Every morning before heading out on the road, one of the things that was done was to clean and shine the Bike. Here, Eileen works on the front end shining all the Chrome to keep it looking good. Grant & Carol's Harley sits in the front. I also gave the bike a once over to make sure that everything was in working order. This included checking the tires for pressure and wear. Making sure that we didn't run into any surprises while Touring the countryside. The little Dog that you see at Eileen's feet is Odie Dog. Remember Odie? I used to have so much fun with that stuffed Dog. I would tie him to the bike, like he was guarding it. I used to get many different comments on Odie and what a good idea it was to do that. I even had people set food, and water down in front of him! People used to ask if my Dog will bite? I said "Yes, but only if you touch the Bike."

Here's a picture of me and Eileen saying "Hi" to Grant & Carol while on a supper ride somewhere in Lake George. Notice that Eileen had all the comforts of Home. Arm rests, a nice plush seat, floor boards, a helmet with intercom, and AM/FM Cassette Stereo, with a CB Radio that could be heard thru our Helmets. We could talk back and forth without yelling at each other. With the push of a button, I kept in contact with Grant using the CB. I had to do the driving and keep my eye's on the road at all times. Eileen was the Navigator. However, sometimes my navigator would go to sleep while riding! It was that comfortable for her. If I went to sleep, we died!

Looking back on our Touring years, we always have remembered the many places we have gone and all the great people we've met along the way. Even though the Wing and Trailer is gone and we don't ride anymore, the yearn of getting out and ride the open road still bothers me to this day. Once in a while when I see a big Touring Bike or a group of bikes going somewhere on a ride, I sort of wish that we could do it again.

Oh yes. Sorry about the quality of the pictures. Back then, Digital Camera's did not exist. For these, I had to re-take the picture using my Sony DSC-H2

Until next time . . . . thanks so much for reading & commenting

Les

HERE'S TO YHA!

2010-01-24T13:19:00.000-05:00

Well, gang, this is about as good as it get's. I called my Brother Jamie this morning to see if he wanted to have Breakfast at our local favorite Restraunt called CrossRoads. Just taken this morning, this is what I look like. The person on the other end of the Blog you all so kindly read and comment. I'm on the left, and Jamie is on the right. We're not all that dressed up. Not going out to impress anyone. Just him and me having a nice Brother to Brother chat about most everything. We talked about allot of things, our jobs, our riding day's, cars, most anything that guy's talk about when the women are not around. Some of the crazy things he did when he was younger was also talked about. We both had to laugh and remember long ago.

Since you know most of my History, here is some of Jamie's. Born on Feb. 8th, 1960 he will be turning the BIG 50 this Feburary. We are almost 13 yrs. apart. That's because Mom re-married again in 1959 and Jamie came around in Feb of 1960. As most of our Family, he also spent 9 yrs. in the US Navy stationed aboard the USS America CV-63, and the USS Claude V. Ricketts DDG-9. He was a BT1 (Boiler Tech) in the Navy and knows pretty much about Navy propulsion systems. He saw most of the Atlantic Theater, while I was in the Pacific. He's pretty good at Mechanics, and can figure most anything out for himself. He now works in Maintenance at his full time job. He and his Wife, Judy, live just down the street from us. I can walk there in less than a minute. Even though he lives so close to me, I don't get to see him all that much. Most of the time we just can't get together, but once in a while like here, we get to. There is not much left of our Family. Most have passed away. He and just a few others are all that are left. Mom, Uncle's, and Aunts are all gone.

Well, now that you see what I look like, I hope I didn't scare the crap out of you all!

Until the next time . . . . thanks for reading & commenting.
Les