Sunset in the Deer Woods

A lot of great things happen in the woods. After raining all night and most of the morning the woods were filled with fog. As evening approached the setting sun provided the encore.

Conowingo Trip 11/25/2016

I made my annual Conwingo Dam trip on Black Friday. My pictures turned out so-so. Overcast low-light skies and the pumps on the dam weren't running all morning. (When the pump run the eagles and gulls are a lot more active). I still saw 11 bald eagles feeding at once, so the day was great, it's just that the pictures aren't. I'll post more later. Be ready though, the best pictures are not eagles.

Indian River County Emergency Services, Station 7 (closed)

Indian River County Emergency Services, Station 7 (closed), 1215 82nd Avenue, West Vero, Florida. Indian River County Emergency Services was formed by a referendum vote in 1991 when they became the Indian River County Department of Emergency Services. Station 7 opened in 1984 and closed in 2016 and moved to 90th Avenue near Interstate 95.

Golden

I actually saw a Golden Eagle when I hunted this area six years ago. He was circling around T Meadows. I took some pictures, but they were way off. This year I saw another one. This one was further down the drainage, nearer to were I was hunting. This was around noon on the day before hunting started. Still cool to see a Golden Eagle. I saw my first one probably 32 years ago near the Great Salt Lake Desert in northwestern Utah.
White River National Forest, Flat Tops Wilderness Area, Colorado. October 2016

Mule Bookends

Pack mule bookends in the corral at the pack station.

Flat Tops Wilderness Guides, Colorado. October 2016

Tropicana Field

 Inside panorama. (16 seperate pictures)

Can't go anywhere in central Florida without running onto Mr. Mouse.

This dude was huge. If you look close there's still a Devil Ray on his shoulder.

Tropicana Field, aka the Trop, opened in 1990 and has been home of the Tampa Bay Rays since their inaugural season in 1998. Located in St. Petersburg, Florida it was also known as Florida Suncoast Dome and Thunderdome. The seating is just over 31,000 seats for baseball. There was nowhere near that many when we visited on Labor Day 2016. It worked out well for us, they were playing the Orioles that day (more on the game tomorrow). The Trop marks the 14th Major League stadium I have visited. The 4th (including Camden Yards) that we've seen the O's play. I don't know where 2017 will take me.

JD Was Here

Some tree mail along the T Lake Trail. JD spent more time tagging the aspens then he probably spent tagging elk back in 1961. And apparently KW did back to back trips in 1986 and 1987.

Somerset Volunteer Fire Department

Somerset Volunteer Fire Department, 340 West Union Street, Somerset, Pa. Somerset County Station 601. Around since 1893, Somerset VFD were originally housed at 121 West Union Street, along with the Police and Borough offices. In 1942 the building was expanded for the fire department. I'm unsure when they moved to the 300 block of West Union, but the building at 121 West Union is now gone.

Winter is Just Around the Corner

Trust me, it's two thirds of the way through November. You must enjoy the warm weather while you can. Believe me, short sleeves one day and the next - BAM - where's the shovel.

Manatees!!!

 Mother and Calf.

The white triangle in the center of the picture is on the mothers back.

Manatees! We had gone to this area last June but saw none. When I stopped by late morning it was like whale watching, Here the blow and look. I think I saw two that day. The next day we showed up earlier and followed three of them around the shoreline before they headed for deeper water. 

Manatees are sometimes called sea cows. They can grow to more than 12 feet long and weigh half a ton. This being in Florida these were West Indian Manatees.

Southwest Colorado

The view from Chimney Rock in Southwest Colorado looking south. The looming figure in the center of the picture is Ship Rock. Ship Rock is 28 miles away in northern New Mexico.

Larch Colors

Spent Sunday morning wandering a new-to-me state game lands. I entered from two different points and saw two totally different areas. This one was wide open, the other was thick. These are Larch trees (the yellow ones). Larch are deciduous conifers. In the fall the needles change colors and fall off. Weird, huh?

Super Duper Moon

That's right, a super moon just isn't big enough. Last night was a SUPER-DUPER MOON. Yep, as it cleared the mountain horizon I thought it appeared 7% larger and 16% brighter. The last super-duper moon was in 1948. This year it is actually 30 miles further away than '48. Mark your calendars now for the next one (it'll be 40 miles closer than last night) it's scheduled for November 24, 2034.

Tipton-Antis Volunteer Fire Company

Tipton-Antis Volunteer Fire Company, 269 Tipton Road, Tipton, Pa. Blair County Station 21. Formed in 1959 and incorporated January 11, 1960 they covered the northern third of Antis Township. The company was decertified by the township in June of 2016. They are currently out of service.

Veterans Day 2016

 Two days out of Basic Training

 Ricardo Santiago in front of White Hall

White Hall. They were working on it last fall. It's gone now.

Me, Billy Curry and Roger Nicely (a couple of Mountaineers).

It was Billy's last day on base before heading to his first assignment. 

This was out in front of the Gold Shield by the movie theater.

 What's left of the movie theater.

 Our dorm block, then and now.

Happy Veterans Day, fellow veterans. Seemed like a good enough time to post the pictures I took last fall at what is left of Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois. I spent 13 weeks there in late summer and fall of 1983 while attending U. S. Air Force Weather Specialist Training. I didn't take as many picture in those 13 weeks as I did in the couple of hours I spent there the last time.