Allison Hill Conversations (PG 129)

This mural was painted on the side of this building, follow the privacy fence around to the right and that's where the funky frog was painted on the side of a garage. This is the last of the Painted gentleman we found on our tour of Harrisburg last March. It is near the corner of Kittatinny and Derry Streets in the Allison Hill section of Harrisburg. Remember, if you click on the picture it gets bigger and you can actually read what it says.

Helicopter Summer

Just cleaning up some pictures I haven't posted yet. When I start scrolling through my files patterns start to show themselves. This past summer was unofficially the summer of the helicopter. First is PSP, Pennsylvania State Police, looking for someone who jumped house arrest. Second is Life Lion out of Penn State Medical Center, Hershey. It was flying over Dykeman's Pond one morning. Third is the Baltimore Police Department passing over Camden Yards, if you zoom in the pilot is watching the game. And third is Stat MedEvac landing at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Passavant in Cranberry Township.

Police helicopter shot the sky

Police helicopter landin' on my eye

Police helicopter takes a nose-dive

Police helicopter, he ain't shy

Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1984

Shadows of the Past

A view of the fields that saw General Pickett's charge on that July so many years ago. While driving past the old Cyclorama building the sun cast this soldier's shadow against an old barn.

The Hotel Lawson

Just messing around. It was a lazy Sunday for me, the freezing rain cancelled any shopping plans that may have been it the works. I ended up not doing too much off anything. Not everyone was happy about that. I did spend some time playing around with some pictures I took last winter. Found this old run down boarded up hotel somewhere between downtown Harrisburg and the Farm Show complex.

At the End of the Day

At the end of the day, this day, the end of the rifle deer season here in PA and I have nothing but memories to show for the past two weeks. Two weeks, 12 hunting days. I saw the sunrise on five days and the sunset on six. Forty-four hours afield. Eleven trips to the field. I saw three deer on two separate occasions. I spent all but a day and a half of this with my son. Not a bad trade off. We'll get'm next time Buzz.

Dressed in Holiday Style

This week it is the West End Fire and Rescue, here in Shippensburg, that's all decked out for the holidays. Not the greatest of pictures, though, they sit on Lurgan Avenue so things aren't as lit up as they are out on King Street. Lurgan Avenue is a side street but I was having a deal of a time getting a 20 or 30 second exposure without getting tail lights streaking through. I may have to try this again, maybe next time I'll get the fellas to turn on the engine bay lights.

Close Encounters

Do you remember that I went up to Elk County, PA to see and hear the elk during the rut? Do you remember that I met up with Bradley over at Brad Myers Photo Blog? Do you remember that we mentioned getting close to the elk? Really close? Well, here it is. It was almost the end of the morning (9:20 AM) and it was down to one bull. The herd bull. We had ourselves hidden along an old haul road inside the treeline and we had been there for a while watching everything. Including the big fight. This bull made his way left to right and out about 100, maybe 125, yards. He'd stop and bugle. Move some and bugle again. He then turned towards us and bugled a couple more times. Slowly moving our way. 75 yards. Bugle. 50 yards. Bugle again. All this time I'm clicking away with the camera. Down onto the road. Click. Click. Across the road, still towards us. Click. Click. (my 70-300 zoom is set to 75 mm by now. I can't zoom back anymore) As he approached the edge of the woods he veered to my left. Bradley cowered, Oh, I mean slid in behind me and out of his way. I did have the cover of the tree you see here, it was about 3 inches in diameter. The bull continued to walk on by within 5 yards. He never looked over to us. I think he knew that we knew who the king of the forest really was. It wasn't the guys with the cameras, that's who.