Ever Vigilant

Engines 152 and 252 sit ready and waiting. Waiting for the bells to sound, for the volunteers to come running, for the diesel engines to roar and for the sirens to wail. The longer they sit the more anxious they seem. But they know that the longer they sit the better job of prevention the fellas are doing. But sitting and waiting, they're use to that. And knowing that they are ready is satisfaction enough. And until they are called upon they will sit. And they will wait.

Italian Lake Bridge

This is the Italian Lake bridge on Italian Lake in Harrisburg. I took this last spring. Went back last fall but the picture gods weren't smiling and they didn't turn out so well. You know, they found an alligator in here a few years ago. I'm just saying.

Year 4, Day 1 and the 3rd Annual Cyber Rollcall

Greeting from the home office of the Outskirts of Suburbia. Today in history this blog was born. It has been three years of this nonsense and I'm not done yet. I never thought I'd make it this long, never thought I'd have this much to say, never thought I'd take that many pictures, never thought that bringing you this diversion from reality would take me to places I've never been but always wanted to go. Above you see pictures that you've seen before. These are some of your favorites and mine. The number one comment getter for the past year was this scene from Gettysburg I lucked into just at sunrise (one of my favorites) with 15 comments. With 12 comments was the mash-up of Life Lion taking off. And with lower comment numbers but some of my favorites are the reflection of the Dykeman House on Indian Head Springs, the panorama of Manhattan from Brooklyn and the Shippensburg Public Library during Snowmagedon.

This past year has taken me to new places and old places with a new outlook. I hadn't been to Maine since I was 15 or 16 but last summer I got another taste of it and look forward to going back. In baseball news we visited Fenway Park in Boston for the first time. We only toured the landmark ballpark but I hope to soon sit through nine innings in one of it's seats. Year three had me back in Elk County, a place I had been visiting since 1992, before my son was even born. This year I spent time with Bradley getting in close (at times too close) to the fall rut. What an awesome experience. I drove down to Conowingo Dam in Maryland for the first time to see the eagles. Wow, I wish it was time to go back again. And I will. And one of my favorite places that I need to explore more and more is New York City. I've been to Times Square before but there is a whole lot more there for me to discover and I look forwards to doing that with my buddy John. All totaled last year was 368 posts, 11,580 shutter releases from my Canon Rebel, I posted 7 crappy videos for the first time and I only wish I would have kept track of the miles. Then again it's probably for the best that I don't.

And last but not least THANK YOU for wasting part of your day here when you're suppose to be working. Without you I would be doing this for no one but myself just like when I started in 2007. Thank You for your comments, both on this sight and in person. I know I missed a few more days than normal this year (three I think) and I won't promise there won't be more. The band-aid I put on this computer could go at any time. But I promise to try my best to give you a random picture and some random words nearly every single day. Now I ask one thing from you. It is Cyber Roll call time. If you stop by everyday, if you stop by on the weekends, if you stop by every once in a while or if this is the first time visiting click on the comment button below and let me know that you are out there, and again and ahead of time THANK YOU!

Getting Rusty

Rusty? Not me. I have found at time the creative mindset is difficult to keep on track. At times I wish I could do something to jump start my imagination. Some days it's just too easy to be content. A rolling stone, they say, gathers no moss. But sometimes that stone needs a push to get rolling again. This spring has been terrible for me taking time to take pictures. The pollen hit me and held me to a point I was content inside. I think that it has finally passed and maybe I can get off my duff and try to get the creative juices flowing again. It's just not like me to not have a bundle of posey pictures by this time of year. Sunday I got out on a drizzle shortened birdwalk along the Big Spring. Hopefully that's just what I needed to get moving. Let's see where it takes me.

A Fool and His Money...

If you read my comments section you will have seen that my Saturday post had a question about a homemade helicopter. Well, Merisi form Vienna, Austria, this is what a fool looks like in a homemade helicopter. Everyone, please excuse the picture quality, I didn't plan on posting these pictures but sometime they need to be used as evidence. These two buzzed around the township park from an hour or so last Friday. The Shippensburg Airport is actually not that far away, less than a mile, I assume that is where they came from.

11 hundred

Yes, today is post number one thousand one hundred but these thing are just a minor blip on the radar screen this week. Finally got out for a short bird walk this morning. A light misty drizzle kept it short. I did see some of the usual characters. The red winged blackbirds are back, the Canada geese are nesting, the muskrats are fattening up, the cardinals are building nests and the Muscovy ducks are claiming territory. I don't know if there is a flock of them nearby or if this is the same rogue drake I saw further downstream last spring.

Sun Dogs in the Spring

Waiting around for soccer practice to end I found myself looking for something to take pictures of. Anything. There's a para-glider heading like he's gonna pass by the moon. Yeah, my luck he never gets close. How about the idiot in the homemade helicopter. Still too far away. Hey, wait a minute, there's a sun dog! I don't think I've every noticed one except in the winter. Maybe it's still cold enough in the upper stratosphere to have some ice crystals hanging out to reflect the sun. Who cares. Get the camera.

Brooks in York

Brooks Robinson, the Hall of Fame third baseman from the Baltimore Orioles started his professional baseball career in York, Pa. Brooks started playing for the Orioles minor league team, the York White Roses, in 1955. Won the American League MVP in 1966, the All Star Game MVP in 1966, the World Series in 1966 and 1970, was the World Series MVP in 1970, was a 15 time All Star, won 16 consecutive season Gold Gloves, retired in 1977 and was a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee in 1983. What more could you ask for? Brooks, the Human Vacuum Cleaner, was honored when baseball returned to York and they named the entry way at Sovereign Bank Stadium the Brooks Robinson Plaza.

The Horse, the Tree and SkyWatch

Welcome to my SkyWatch. I saw this scene while driving along the foot of the mountain. Of course, I stopped, turned around and drove back for a picture or two. Spring, as you can see, is busting at the seams. This was actually taken about a week and a half ago. Since then some of these trees have reached near full bloom. And, thank God, the pollen count is starting to drop. I honestly don't think I could have taken much more. Now I can go out and take some new pictures besides my required Track and Soccer.

Emil Talamini Real Estate (PG 142)

The latest Painted Gentleman here at the Outskirts of Suburbia comes to us straight out of the Big Apple. Emil Talamini Real Estate at 450 Sixth Avenue, phone number Algonquin 4-1817. This building is near the intersection of the Avenues of the Americas 6 Avenue and West 10th Street. I took this one last February from the driver's seat. (I have since found this one on the Fading Ads website)

Oh, the Bridges, Bridges, Bridges

Sorry but tonight's is a quick post. These are the bridges of New York City. Front to back they are the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge and the Williamsburg bridge in the far back. This was taken from the South Street Seaport looking north up the west side of the East River.

4 X 400

Spring is here and, like fall, sports are changing. With spring there is track and field and there is spring soccer. As I was fixing up these picture to post I found that to properly tell the story with pictures I did get pre-race pictures of the meeting with the PIAA official but I should have shown the firing of the starter's gun at the beginning of the race and the final crossing of the victor. Shippensburg won, by the way. I think I was more focused on the passing of the baton. I'm not sure a captured that image as I saw it in my mind but what I did capture was reality. I've got a few more weeks to work on this.

Memories of Snowmagedon 2010

Today's quick post is from Snowmagedon just a mere 9 weeks ago. This is a well traveled rail crossing between home and town. Look closely it is still snowing really hard.

Checkered Past and Neato Burrito

These are a couple of pictures I took a year ago and are two of the shops in the old Citizen's fire station in New Cumberland. Checkered Past, I believe, is a vintage clothing shop and Neato Burrito is the home of the best burrito the size of your shoe there is around these parts. I'm always looking for good neon to take pictures of, but either I can't find it or it's mid-day and won't show up. Til then I'll just keep plunking along until I get it right.

LZ

Here are a few more pictures from the helicopter landing zone the Vigilant Hose Company of Shippensburg set up for Life Lion to land for a transport. All these pictures would have been followed up by yesterday's picture of them taking off.

SkyWatch... Lift Off

Today's entry into the SkyWatch zone is Penn State Milton Hershey's Life Lion taking off on a transport. My fire department set up this landing zone for the transport of a motocross racer who was involved in a crash during a race. I put together five separate pictures to show the progression of the lift off.

Off the Hooke (PG 141)

OK, I found this week's Gentleman while on a drive around last Sunday. This barn sits on the outskirts of Mt. Holly Springs, Pa. Sitting along Baltimore Street at Watts Street but it faces Mt Holly, so I didn't see it at first. I actually did a lot of work of the Hooke's under a different incarnation. But that was a hundred years and a full lifetime ago.

A Foggy Day on Frenchman's Bay

Frenchman's Bay in Bar Harbor, Maine. A foggy morning. The family visited here last summer as you will recall. The week of July 4th. This is what welcomed us on most mornings. Upper 50's and half a mile visibility. Hard to go see the sites. Most days were spent driving and waiting for the fog to lift then run around quickly to see the mountain tops, the shoreline, the ocean. Not until the final day did the sun shine early in the morning and the temperatures were more hospitable for July.

Vultures for Lunch

These are three of the five Turkey Vultures sitting and discussing who gets the remains of an unfortunate groundhog who made the mistake of digging where the farmer didn't want him to dig. It was down to these three. Rock, Paper, Scissors and we're done to one. He finally realized there was a dead groundhog laying there in front of him and left. The end.

Passing Me By

Some railroad crossings have flashing lights, bells and cross bars.

Some railroad crossings have flashing lights and bells

Some railroad crossings have flashing lights

Some don't.

Header Review No. 6

Once again it is time for my semi-annual header review. You see, I post a new header every month and the old one just disappears out in bloggerspace, so to preserve them I post them here in April and October.

• November 2009 - Home Sweet Away from Home... Colorado. One of the many aspen groves somewhere around the 10,000 foot mark. Picture was from November 2008 and posted on December 11, 2008. This is my screen saver at work.
• December 2009 - This also comes from my November 2008 trip to Colorado. Taken a few days after the last header, after some snow had fallen. And above 11,000 feet in elevation.
• January 2010 - Taken December 27, 2009 somewhere between Newville and Newburg on the Ridge Road. It was morning and I was looking into the sunrise for the silhouette.
• February 2010 - If it looks like I dumped out the candy jar and snapped a few pictures. Good. Cause that's what I did. I should have had all blank sides and customized them all.
• March 2010 - The Wing Fat Company, Inc., along the Bowery in Chinatown, NYC. Taken February 21, 2010 shortly after the Lunar New Year Parade. I thought, "I can use that somewhere."
• April 2010 - Forsythia. Taken last April 4th and posted April 7, 2009.

PS... Using a magnifying glass and a bamboo skewer the Rebel is back in working order. (fingers crossed)

The Accident on West King Street

Today's Fireday Friday is a salute to the brave men and women of the Shippensburg Fire Department and the many other specialized rescuers from Cumberland and Franklin County. Last Friday the Borough of Shippensburg was brought to a stand still for nearly eight hours. A vehicle crashed into an old stone building bringing the front of the building down onto the vehicle and the street. Luckily there were only two people inside the newspaper offices and they were able to escape through a rear door. Unfortunately both people in the Jeep were killed. 911 calls brought apparatus from all three Shippensburg departments. When they saw that the building would need to be stabilized before the vehicle could be removed they called for the TROT Team (Technical Rescue Operations Team). The TROT team stabilized and slowly raised the building to allow the vehicle to be removed. In all personnel from 15 different emergency departments along with Shippensburg Fire Police and the Shippensburg Police spent most of Friday afternoon trying to regain order. A job well done. The building was partially torn down that evening for safety reason. The last picture shows the truck company sawing the adjoining roof.