Out Like a Lamb

OK, I've been waiting all week to post this picture. Heck, I even thought about it as I turned around to go back and take the picture. Here is the evidence that I did indeed see a sheep grazing right there on the outskirts of town. Credibility, that's what I strive for here at the main offices of the Outskirts of Suburbia, Inc.

ps, The Nats won last night with a walk-off homer by one time Harrisburg Senator Ryan "Zim" Zimmerman. Good way to initiate the new Ballpark.

Goodbye RFK Stadium

Well, at least for taking me out to the ballgame, it's goodbye RFK. The Nationals new stadium opens to regular season play this evening, and RFK Stadium returns as the sole home of DC United soccer team. RFK, known as DC Stadium until 1969, was home to the expansion team Washington Senators from 1962 (the Senators played the 1961 season at Griffith Stadium) until they left for Texas in 1971 and leaving the Capital baseball-less until the Montreal Expos moved down in 2005. RFK has been home to the Major League Soccer's DC United since 1996 and was once home to the Washington Redskins from 1961 through 1996 when they moved to Landover, MD and Fed-Ex Field. The kids and I went to see the Nats beat the Dodgers on May 28, 2006, if I recall Alfonso hit a homer that day. I am now looking forwards to seeing the new Nationals Ballpark along the Anacostia Riverfront this summer, I'll let you know. As for the beginning of the regular season...PLAY BALL!

Blue Up

I don't know if this is artistic or overindulgent. I'm not even sure if I like it. There was just something about standing there looking up at the rust, the cross braces and the ties that I did like. The problem with mediocre pictures that you like is what to do with them to make then more...

Another Generation

Another generation of firefighters began this week. My son is now a Junior Firefighter. As a father who has been there, it's scary. I've said it before, "I Remember". How long the ride will last is entirely up to him. Will the time commitment be too much? Will the 'work' push him away. Time will tell. For now it is learning, watching and doing stuff that doesn't seem important. What he won't realize for a few years, and he'll have to look back on it to see, is that this time is the most important. Seeing the bonds that are essential to being a firefighter, the trust that is needed and the trust that is expected. This time of learning also allows the older guys to see who has their back. They need to learn also from the juniors, that these kids who are humping their drag line and switching out their empty air cylinders are the men who will be on the nozzle in a few years and at the pump panel after that and on down the road they'll be the men directing traffic around the young guys and keeping you, the public from harm. But for now it's learning and testing his limits. I'm starting to know how my Mom and Dad felt way back, 28 years ago. Good luck, Buddy.

Abandoned Again

Another picture from the abandoned farmstead series last January. This was probably my only staged shot I took. I turned the paint can so I could read it.

Orby Water Tank (LIII)

Obry, ha, sounds like one of the characters in Thomas the Tank Engine. What more appropriate place than Orbisonia and Rockhill Furnace. "Home of the East Broad Top Railroad". The tank sits on the south side of town along Route 522.

The Red Red Robin Goes Bob Bob Sledding

Saturday morning gave me an opportunity to get some 'Robins in the snow' pictures. These were hanging out behind the Post Office in Walnut Bottom, PA. The field seemed full of them.