Baltimore Orioles Vs. New York Mets

Dateline Baltimore, Maryland... Bobblehead night leads to an O's win... film at eleven. That's right, my first visit to Charm City to watch my Orioles play turned out pretty good. Although we didn't get there until the 3rd inning we got to watch some fun baseball. In town that evening were the New York Mets in an interleague matchup. Pitching for the O's... Koji Uehara (picture no. 2) his opponent, Tim Redding. Koji did a good job but didn't go deep into the game, most nights he doesn't. But this evening the bullpen held up it's end of the deal. And finally it was time for the closer, George Sherrill (picture no. 4). George made quick work of the top of the ninth, without his usual loading the bases with no outs and then striking out three in a row. Picture no. 1 is just my obligatory field overview shot. Isn't it a beautiful site to spent your evening staring into? Picture no. 3 shows the O's right fielder Nick Markakis taking a lead off first and the Mets first baseman, Daniel Murphy, trying to hold him close. Picture no. 5 is the Bird celebrating the win and the last picture show Catcher Matt Weiters, just up from AAA, cleaning up a shaving cream pie in the face. Matt hit his first big league homer in the 2nd inning while we were still outside the park. I think Amber Theoharris (the interviewer) made it through without getting any shaving cream on herself. Excuse the lack of sharpness on some of these pictures, my seats were way up there. At least we had some roof over our heads when it showered a couple times.

Harrisburg Senators Baseball

More pictures from the Harrisburg Senators game back in May. This was my first visit this year, they were playing the Bowie Baysox (Baltimore's AA team) and managed to pull off a win. This was also the opening night of the new boardwalk that has been added to the outfield. Really nice and a new way to view the Senators. We sat in the Ollie's Cheap Seats, during batting practice two ball were hit very close to us. (Note to self... bring a glove next time) Also, there are new seats under the scoreboard, I mean the new HUGE scoreboard. Next year the infield seating bowl will be redone with new individual seats. No more hot aluminum bleachers. To top the night off it was Rascal's birthday. Rascal was joined by, maybe, a dozen other mascots some I had never seen before. And finally they changed the name of the ballpark from Commerce Bank Park to Metro Bank Park. It use to be Riverside Stadium, I still find myself calling it that.

Cedar Waxwing

I don't know if it's boredom or having the camera but I have been seeing new birds right and left. Had I ever seen a Cedar Waxwing before? I don't know. But within a short couple of weeks I have been literally seeing them all over the place. I've read that if you see one you'll see a whole bunch. Well, I've seen one and I've seen a whole bunch. I've heard they are mainly fruit eaters, a flock will move in a bare a tree of fruit. I've seen them sitting in a cherry tree eating fruit. And I've heard that earlier in spring they will eat flying bugs. I've seen them swooping over the ponds along with the Kingbirds and Swallows. So here I present you the Cedar Waxwing, named, so I've heard, for the red "dipped in wax" tip on their wings.

Bird Walk 6/21

This is shots of most of the birds I saw on my Father's Day walk around Wildwood Lake. I had parked at the main building, figuring that I would stop by the feeders when I got back. I didn't know how long the trail was but I took a short loop on a boardwalk out into the cattails. That is where the first two pictures came from, a Song Sparrow and a male Red-Winged Blackbird. Then I hit the Eastern Shore Trail headed north. Along the way I saw several Wood Thrushes but they were just passing through and I didn't get pictures. I did managed pictures of the Blue Heron and the Great Egret. Then at the northern tip of the trail I found the third bird, a female Red-Winged Blackbird and the last bird, which I believe is a female of juvenile Tree Swallow (correct me if I'm wrong with that one). And finally when I hit the western side of the lake, it seemed that this was the side everyone used, I saw a sign that said "Start Here 3.1 miles", I little longer than I thought. Along this side of the lake is where I found the Black-Crowned Night Heron saw the Green Heron and lots of these Tree Swallows (picture 6). I also saw plenty of other critters that I'll share later, next week is baseball week. Remember posting will be sporadic unless Blogger fixes the scheduled posting problems. I have all week ready to go and will check it from time to time so you may get two posts in one day if this problem persists.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

This is the Black Crowned Night Heron, I found him in the swamps along Wildwood Lake. I walked the perimeter of the lake last Sunday in hopes of finding a Green Heron and at first mistook him as one. Later while talking to another gentleman who was photographing the wild critters, a Green Heron flew by. This Heron flew several times, I followed and was able to get a bunch of very good pictures. I hope you enjoy them. I'll have to go again and see if I can, at last, find the Green Heron I was looking for.

OK, fellow Bloggers is anyone else have problems with scheduled posting? Mine has not been working for a week or so now. Is this a universal problem or just me? I already deal with loading my pictures in reverse order to get them to post in the correct order. This is starting to get annoying.

Creepy Crawlers

When I go on a bird walk , it's not always birds that I see and get pictures of. Here is a snake I ran across. Well, I didn't really Run Across him, I merely found him while walking. Well, he wasn't walking, I was walking. He was just doing his creepy crawly thing. I found another snapping turtle, too. This one might have been 9 or 10 inches across. And then I found this other turtle off on the lawn backed up to a hole in the ground. I assume she was laying eggs. I didn't see any eggs but I will stop back when I can and look for little turtles heading for the swamp.

Rothert & Company, Harrisburg (PG 111)

This weeks Painted Gentleman is on Market Street in the city of Harrisburg near North 3rd Street. All I can make out is Rothert Co. Rothert and Company was a furniture dealer that opened in 1903 and moved into this new building in 1906. Nearby was an historical sign about the area that showed a postcard from 1915, notice there is no Painted Gentleman there in 1915.

the alley, 9:56 pm

If you guessed North Walters Avenue at East Martin Avenue looking south, you would be correct if not, better luck next month.

the alley 9:56 pm

Sometimes they are just too easy. Hope you all enjoy this habit and I hope you all liked my alley logo I posted yesterday. And I hope the other 20% of my readers (both of you) don't get too bored with it. The logo below here, I will eventually put on the sidebar so you can link to all my alley shots. So, without further ado, here is the June addition of the alley. Any guesses? Check back at 6 pm for the answer.

Honeysuckle Memories

Ever notice how certain smells can bring back long forgotten memories of places and times? Or people? You know what I mean? Grandma's house at Christmas, the baking sugar cookies, the brown sugar pie, the fir tree, Pap's unfiltered Camels. Or the first day of school. I can't describe that one, but an old lunch box smelled the same. As a fireman different fires had different smells. The grass and leaves of a wildfire. The insulation and tar paper of a house fire. The burnt plastic smell of an electrical fire. Or the burning hay of a barn fire. Honeysuckles bring back memories to me that I haven't thought of in years. They remind me of walking to Pap's house from church with my cousins. The hill right near the church was always loaded with honeysuckle. And we would always pick off a flower, pinch the bottom off, but not the whole way and pull the stem through. This would bring a small drop of nectar. Sweet honeysuckle nectar that we would drop on our tongue. Of course we debated which was better, the white or yellow. Man, that has been almost 30 years but every cool spring day when I smell them blooming I'm right back there.

This means what you think it means. Check back tomorrow for the latest alley shot from the Outskirts of Suburbia.

Bird Walk 6/14

These are some of the more common birds I found on my walk along Big Spring last weekend. I think I have posted all of them individually at one time or other. First picture is a Belted Kingfisher pair. After a few pictures one few to another branch and as you can see in the second picture it was a female. Third picture is my favorite subject; the Red-Winged Blackbird. As usual he's hanging out on the cattails. The fourth picture is a male Northern Cardinal. And, yes, he is bald. Little is known about this condition except that other than having no feathers on his head he is healthy. Soon the feather will grow back. It isn't known for sure if it is just an abnormal molting pattern (all at once opposed to a few at a time) or if it is feather mites and the bird just can't clean them from his head. The last picture is, without a doubt, the American Robin.

House Wren

When I got this picture I wasn't sure what it was. I just knew it was tiny. I suspected it was a wren and I was right. It is a House Wren, very common in most places. I believe this is the bird my grandmother always called Jennie Wren.

Shades of Blue

Just some of the colors I've found this week.