Mail Truck, a Pumper and a Zephyr

This is a story about a U.S. Mail truck. The same kind you see going up and down neighborhood streets, or parked behind the local post office branch in your town or neighborhood. Nothing unusual about that. The other is a full size red fire truck. The same kind you see at your local fire station and a historic Zephyr east bound (6) and west bound (5) from California to Lake Michigan. and the Windy City.

About a month ago, when all the nesting hawks, ospreys, owls and eagles had fledged their nest, most of the web cams were turned off for the balance of the year. The experts say that it only takes 30 days of doing something routinely before it becomes a habit. And, yes, after the birds were gone from the nest, it was more difficult to find a good web cam to watch. The resorts are rather dumb. The airports pan to much and don't focus on the action stuff. The scenic sites are no where near as good as a good IMAX movie so those are out. Then, I'm thinking, my  like for watching trains is still active. Why not look for live web cams of trains coming and going. It didn't take long before I had found  a link to some pretty neat train cams. Freight trains are good because they are made up of all kinds of cars. Then, there are coal trains that are hopper car after hopper car after hopper car for more than a mile. At least watching a container train you get variety. Twenty-footers, forty footers, red ones, blues ones, green ones, white ones, rusty ones and once  in a while a slip deck that is all open on the bottom except where the container sits on rockers.Those are unusual and can be rather interesting.

But, the best part was that an Amtrak came through twice a day. It runs from  Emeryville, California to Chicago. It's known east bound as the California Zephyr No. 6 and its known west bound as the California Zephyr No. 5. The little thing to remember here is that I have actually ridden this train. It was a delight years ago and I have a deep yearning to do it again. However, there is not an arrive time but there is a departure time. The reason for that is that Amtrak shares the Union Pacific  tracks through the mountains to Denver and shares the tracks with Burlington Northern Santa Fe from Denver to Chicago. And where that happens, one must remember that freight revenue over passengers is always Trump (nothing to do with the elections, thank goodness). However, being a good student of transportation, it didn't take long to get the system down to where you could be more accurate than the station boards.
 The west bound is always able to make up 7 minutes, so if the station boards say that the train is running 32 minutes late, he will actually only be twenty-five minutes late. You also learn that it takes on that section of track 1 hour to go from point A to point B. So when you do the calculations--which my train friends call "railroading", you can actually plan, go put away the dishes  or start dinner or load the dishwasher and not miss  seeing the cool blue and gray engines pulling  the 9 cars, sometimes, even twelve or thirteen. The eighth car is always the dining car. One of the coolest cars on the train. Amtrak does carry certified chefs on board that actually prepare the meals. The week before Labor Day, he was pulling 12 cars. Even had a  club car one day and a scenic vista car one day. He also had an old private Pullman car, which is the way to travel for sure. Those cars are fantastic and private. They are of the vintage of presidential campaign cars where you see the bunting on the back deck and the candidate waving to the crowds! A rather romantic version of a time gone by and most unfortunate it only survives sporadically. At one time, you could have the railroad pull your car anywhere for a dollar a mile. Still cheaper today than a private jet, flight crew, but certainly more  laid back and enjoyable than a jet.  That's for sure.

So, in this little town seen via web cam, there are two gas stations on a very wide and well planned out street corner just up from the rail station. The stations face the cross streets with their "C" store operations  and their pumps in this beehive California town.  The town is up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains  and is a typical vacation spot for camping, skiing, boating, hiking, back-packing, hotel and restaurant fans along with daily local activities.

So, a couple of days ago, this mail truck pulled into the one station that is more for the townies than the other one. The other:  a name brand station and people off the interstate. Travelers can use their brand credit cards there. But, generally, the business is pretty equal but weighted to the local station 3:2. It's  judged by the number of fill ups ordered up by the station more than anything else. I was a bit shocked to see a mail truck getting gas at a local gas station but when you think about where this is, it probably make more sense than maintaining a tank and dispensing facility at the post office. Plus, maybe you don't want that around the trucks or what ever.

Two days after seeing the first mail truck come in to get gas, a second mail truck came in to the station across the street. Being struck as funny, I said out loud, "Oh, look at that, an equal opportunity gas pumper!"  Two days later, the mail truck was in at the local station again.

Today, while getting gas at my Kroger gas station, I was pulling in to my regular side that had no one at either pumps, but the middle and far right pumps were full. So, not being a total jerk, I pulled up allowing someone to come in behind me normally instead of having to jockey around to get to the empty pump. As I was getting out of the car, this big red fire truck pulled in and was going around the station. Not to worry. He must be doing an inspection or something I though, until he pulled up right behind me. In my many decades of filling up my car, I have never had a fire truck pull up behind me, get out of the truck and do the same routine that I'm doing. The fireman walked up to the door of his truck after beginning his fill up. I said to the fireman, that," I had seen on a web cam that I watch trains on, a mail truck get gas at one station and then go across the street the next time to the other station and get gas and I had called him an equal opportunity gas pumper. When I saw you pull in it reminded me of that! I had to chuckle." He acknowledged the humor.

Upon leaving the station the thought occurred to me that no one is going to believe me that I had just gassed up at Kroger's next to a full size fire pumper. So I went back to get a shot. As I was driving on to the lake to see if the pelicans had arrived ( and they had)  another thought occurred to me that they shop at Kroger's and like anyone else, get fuel points too.  I wondered if they do, indeed, get full points for diesel. So, long story shot, I have seen another equal opportunity pumper for real and this one really was a pumper.

Equal Opportunity Fuel Points!

The Pelicans have returned and greeted by the turtles

100 cars of this is rather boring. Seeing 8 engines pull a mile long train over the mountains wasn't.

24/09/2016:edited for clarity

A Double Take At The Lake

One reason that I assign two days for the lake is that there is always something different happening there. When shooting editorial images, especially the variety of things happening,  also builds a portfolio of news images that can be used from a draw file. You need an image of a UPS truck, you have one. You need an image of a fire truck, you have one. It's that simple. But, most of all, the different things that I have seen at the lake is most amazing. And I'm not talking about eagles, hawks, owls and pelicans and ospreys ( although I have learned a lot about Ospreys from several web cams from Montana to Maryland to Delaware.

 I'm talking about things like a steam boat on the lake. Yes, a fully functional genuine steam boat--home made, no less. A full size fire pumper in the lake. A stolen car being recovered from the lake. Sadly, I've seen a couple of drownings. Of course, there are the sail boats, and rowing club sleek long 9-man racers, too. Within the past six years, a new kayak and standup paddle board and canoe rental has returned. Now, the weekends are filled with colorful boats all over the lake.  I've seen several coyotes, one deer, lots of fish and turtles, a large outdoor weddings, a large red heart made up of humans wearing red slickers,

Today, I have added two more new things. One is a three panel solar power back pack a gentleman was wearing. He said that it charges his phone and supplies power to his music and can support his computer if so desired. Actually, it was rather smart-looking and I can see one under my camera bag one December or one birthday soon.

But the last thing that I saw today that made me turn around and come back to take a second look to make sure that what I was seeing was what I thought I was seeing. In short. It sure was!. Walking on two feed, having a feast as it wandered from insect to insects, bugs worms, grubs  and such things.

When I was a kid, my mom and dad let me raise a dozen or so. I entered them in the county fair and won blue, red and white ribbons for a number of year. The checks that came in the mail from the Fair Board afterwords was worth all the effort. So what was it? Why it was a big Rhode Island Red that was obviously now free-ranging since in the city they are permitted. Chickens are. But the rule on roosters is: If it crows, it goes! Someone either got tired of their one egg-a-day chicken or it got out of the cage.

 Obviously, someone found out the hard way and like so many people have done with dogs and cats, they take them to the park and let them loose. Only this summer I found a rabbit in a cage sitting under a tree that someone left on their lunch hour.  The good thing about chickens is that they can fly up into the trees at night for safety. This one was happy and fat and just doing the chicken thing as it would hunt and peck for food as it wondered in an area that was very well protected with plenty of places to hide and a food pantry for a life time. Not to mention being only a short stroll from a creek that feeds the lake for its water.

So, to the red hen on E. Lawther Drive, welcome to free-range White Rock Lake!

A gentleman with a neat solar cell back pack. He said that it supports his phone, music and computer on a full charge.

A free-range hen at White Rock!!!!!!!

I had to turn around and come back to make sure what I saw was what I thought I saw!.

Loss of the Willow

The storm damage on/about October 03,2014

Over the years, there have been several trees at White Rock Lake that I have been drawn to photograph. Last fall, I did a post about several of those old trees that had hundreds of years of character and mystique. Some of you may remember the ones named, The Three Sisters, or The Weeping Willow.

Going back to 2014, around October 03, or earlier by a couple of days or three, a storm hit White Rock and toppled several trees and took down large branches on others. Sadly, it was that storm that destroyed the beautiful shape of the willow  as it hung over the bank near the Fisher Road parking area off W. Lawther Drive.  Tree doctors attended the tree with their chain saws and when everything was cleaned up, the old tree stood forever wounded.  When the spring of 2015 came, the tree was making a weak comeback. This spring, it was holding it's own, but if you really paid attention to this living creation, one could tell that it had suffered dearly the past two seasons and not likely to make it to another spring.

Today, I made a point to visit the tree and photograph it one last time. It was a sad parting to something that had been so beautiful on the shores and I know of none other around the 9-mile lake that held the status of this tree. It's an old friend that will be coming down to the hum of chain saws and wood chippers. A warrior of the lake has fallen and this tree, especially, will be missed forever.

Today, September 12,2016. The tree appears to be dead, not going dormant for the winter.

The surgery after the storm in 2014

Still Amazed Today

This is not an Air France but it is under the Emirates Paint Scheme an A-380 (same type)

This is also an A-380 operated by Qantas and still not an Air France but again, under the paint scheme of Qantas the air frame is still an A-380 my friend! Big! And. it was certainly not around in mid 1950s when I spent those lazy summer days looking up at air plane's contrails, which I still do today! Thank you very much!

My grandmother's were born at a time when the telegraph  (the electromagnetic one of 1832) invented by Samuel Morse; the telephone of Alexander Graham Bell's doings (1839) were all but 50 years old. At the time of my maternal grandmother's death, she had witnessed men walking on the moon. She saw the first cars made by Henry Ford in 1908 as a young girl and I remember when my paternal grandmother and grandfather got their first Westinghouse refrigerator and both my grandparents had telephones in their houses. Although, my maternal grandparents lived next to their grocery store seperated by a wall and a doorway and had a wall handcrank phone I wished that I had today.  I also remember my mom and dad getting our first television in 1952 and we didn't get a color set until 1962. I can remember using the old Translux teletype and getting a newer one with a CPU monitor. It took a half day to have my first cell phone installed in my car's trunk and the hand held portables were the size of the first walkie talkies. Big! I recall my optomologist encouring me to get contact lens when they first came out. I wore them for a staggering 44 years afterwards! I can still see a hawk or an airplane miles away from the cornea molding.

But, most of all, as a young boy, I remember the long hot summers spent sprawled out on the grassy hilltop up the hill one lot from our recently built brick house watching the contrails of jet aircraft (then, not much older than I was at the time) wondering where they were going. I still look up today at jet contrails and wonder where those jets are going, although I do know a bit more about cross-country vectoring today than I did then.

This morning, while checking the images that I had running on the live news feeds from the weekend, I ran across an image from a photographer in Essex ,England, UK. It was an image of a big Airbus A-380's contrail flying over Essex in Southeast England in one of those infamous vectors that airplanes fly. As was reported, the man knew that the A-380 was from Charles deGaulle/Roissy Airport in Paris going to LA here in the states. The contrails were beautiful against a deep blue sky and it reminded me of those summer days as a kid stretched out on that hilltop looking at contrails and wondering were they were going.

Then, it hit me, that today, with the technology at hand, I could look up that flight and see were it was before it even landed. Which I did. That is absolutely amazing for us mortal humans. Yeah, I know. I am reminded all the time that the government has stuff that would rock your socks off, blah blah blah,blah-blah.

Here is the scoop if anyone wants to go look at the live news feed image then get on flightawares or flight radar and  follow what's left of the flight before it lands. I just think it is stunning to see that image and sit down at the computer and find where in the world it is withing a 7-minute delay and where it is going. After all, it is an A-380 and that within and of itself is astonishing.

The images (there are 2) GNF9JX-RM and GNF9kl-RM by Timothy Smith on Alamy.com, click on the live news feed in the search box (images) and scroll down to the live news feed.Sorry, they will roll off the cycle in 48-hours. You can purchase the image while there if you so desire. Mr. Smith would be happy, I'm sure. I would be if my image was purchased from a blog post like this. ☺♪☺♪♫

The flight is that of Air France #66 that left Charles de Gaulle/Roissy at 10:30a.m. CEST en route to Los Angeles International/LAX with arrival due at 12:06pmPDT 30th August 2016. It is a daily flight. That is why they call it scheduled airlines ♪☺☺♪.

The flight was at 40,000 feet at 490kts air speed or just call it .85mock. Anything over 600 MPH is pegged as mock speed anyway. Or so, I am told by those who know such things and remind me that MPH is a thing of the past. AARGH!!!!

So, not only is it amazing that one can figure out these things....it is most amazing that now, I have proven that a dream of a child's wondering of where that contrail is going can know be known thanks to a guy totally unknown to me on a different continent than myself, taking a picture of an airplanes contrail and having the know how to post it on a live news feed that I use myself. And where now I can this 30th August 2016 finally answer that question and dream of my childhood many years ago.

I must say, however, that not knowing where that plane I watched as a child was going 60 years ago was awesome then, as it still is today, but knowing today is still a childhood dream as it was then.That will never change and I am glad of that fact.

 

The Who, The Why, Oh! That's Easy

A couple of weeks ago, down at the bridge, a retired engineer was looking at the bridge work. After a few minutes, he ask, "what's the name of this bridge? "  That question set me back a bit. I'm thinking to myself, he said that he was a retired engineer and he didn't know the name of the bridge? Then, I said," this is the Margaret McDermott bridge, but I called it the Maggie 2." He then ask, " why do you call it that?" My reply this time came with an added explanation.

When the first bridge was built, I had photographed the construction from the first piling being drilled until the tables were set with china, stemware, silverware, flowers and menus for the contestants that had entered a contest of some sort, but for me, it was the end of the construction photographs. Then, when the discovery was made that the second bridge was, indeed, going to be built and it would be named for Margaret McDermott, for my ease in indexing my images, I knew that I would need some way to shorten up the names for identification. Maggie is a moniker or nickname for Margaret, Since both bridges are named Margaret the first one build is number 1 and the second one is number 2. But, looking at the architecture, one has one arch and two has two arches so,  Maggie 1 and Maggie 2 fits well because it names the first bridge build as number one and it has one arch. The second bridge built has two arches. Since both names are Margaret--Maggie is common to both bridges. Therefore, Maggie one and Maggie two is an easy way to accurately identify the two bridges.

After confirmation that the second bridge design was final it became fairly clear quickly that the answer would be simple. Keeping in mind that this was my way to shorten up the indexing. It is based on fact. Probably, this turned out to be  the easiest method that I have ever used  to index images. I was a bit surprised to find that it actually works well to separate the two bridges quickly, easily and have that id based in actual fact. So, I started called the two bridges Maggie 1 and Maggie 2. You can easily follow along with the captions on the image that follows.

Here are the two bridges. The one on the left is Maggie1, the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge.

The one on the right is Maggie 2, the Margaret McDermott bridge.

So, looking at this bridge, quickly, it  is the Maggie 2. It was built second in time and it has two arches. It's also named Margaret or Maggie.  Easy as beans!

Life Is Not Perfect

 Some will agree and some will disagree on the title of today's post. But, this past week, I have given a lot of thought and consideration to that very topic. In fact, I have researched about fifty websites that use the hot new trend of vectors to promote their products. In fact, their products are not only produced in vector software, they are vector soft ware.  For many years, I have fought the battle of not using the Abobe product called photoshop. There are those who swear by it to the end. There are those that preach that it is the new norm, while others contend that graphic arts would not be possible without it. When the diehards of newer generations start hammering it hard that 'you should at least try it', those are the first ones that get scratched off the list of followers. Cold? No, not really.

You see, I'm one of those old guys what actually have been by a linotype operator's side in a hot press room when the heat came from the melting lead as a line-o-type was actually making a line slug of type. Before it was set in place, blocked with wood and key locked in a galley, it was tampered down so it was even when the type face struck the paper.  You want a vector---now, that's a vector. I'm not opposed to change. Never have been. The world changes every minute of every hour of every day. Some of us know that. For those that don't--all I can say is get cracken!! Playing catchup is a momma dog.

I've known some old AP (Associate Press) reporters over the years when they were still popping M2 flash cubes in their hot shoe. I even learned to never carry a battery and an M2 in your pocket either. Now that will tell you where the phrase hot shoe came from. To this day I still have a scar on my leg were  a loose M2 in my pocket made connection with the battery and the flash went off in my jeans pocket. Never-the-less that is also where I learned to never touch your image post production or otherwise. Those were the days when an image meant something. It captured history. Imperfections and all. Well, there it is--that word--imperfection. There is nothing to be ashamed about with imperfections. Some historic images are more known for the imperfections than the subject matter itself. While the subject matter is key, it was only years later that someone actually got to looking more close at an image for imperfections and discovered one. Gee whiz, even engravers at the United State Postal Service and the United States Mint have made blunders. Try buying one of those blunders today. If you can, I hope you have a big bank account, 'cause it is gonna set you back a buck or two when you have to add additional zeros at the end of that number they give you.

Most of my images have imperfections. Some are accidental, some are planned, some are accidental while planning. It makes no difference. Imperfections are just that--imperfects. However, over the years, those imperfections have become a source of successful images that sell world wide. I look for them when I am shooting and my followers who purchase my work do the same. I even have one gentleman in the UK (United Kingdom--England) that e-mails me from time-to-time asking what unusual finds have I found recently? Of course, the best place to find them is in distressed wood or metal, or murial paint runs or drips. But, there are certainly many more.

The niche that I have settled into is the niche of imperfections and that translates into textures over vectors all day long. I am using up all the textures that I can find at an alarming rate. That tells me that photogs have not done a very good job at providing textures in fear that they would not make a sale or that someone would not recognize their work if they only shot textures. My advise to them is this: Keep thinking that way, because I have all the work that I can do keeping up with finding new textures to meet the demand.

Glendine's Fashion & Design  

 check out the shop. It's updated and ready for the Christmas season  already.

The awards tree. It is a rather interesting tree. Most seem to be ribbons won at marathons and half marathons, but as you see, there is a garder from someones wedding and a few more things that are interesting reads. Many items have hung there for years--and held up rather astonishingly.

Fall Will Come Early--I Can Feel It In My Bones!

An old man years ago gave me a bit of advise about how to tell when fall was approaching regardless of the calendar or the Meteorological markers of December1st, to March 1st. as a marker for winter rather than the 20-22 as in a lunar cycle. Leaves flip. That's right. They somehow manage to turn in such a way that they display the bottom  of the leaf more toward the sun. Of course, there was some reservation about the statement, but over the years since, I have observed this display happen year after year after year. Well, it's happening right now, here where such things usually are the starting of the growing season in brilliant green rather than the harvest of colorization. As most probably already know, spring buds start in the south and move about 20 miles per day  until they reach the area of the shortest growing season of the year. Then, the fall colors start in the north and move south  about 20-miles per day reaching the southern most area of deciduous  shed near the winter solstice.

The second method that also works well is the shift in the northern jet stream which allows for the northern cold fronts to move south as the sun makes its way to the Tropic of Cancer for the shortest day of the year. My grandfather always followed the Farmer's Almanac and the old sayings that were accurate when I learned some of them as a kid and are still accurate today (e.g. "When clouds are high and thin, a weather system is moving in").

But, as for today, it was absolutely delightful! The first time all summer it has been like it once was before acres and miles and acres and miles of cement and asphalt began collecting heat and then radiating it like an oven to triple digits and then some. It was so great to be out of the house, but what was even better was that the AC  wasn't needed in the car and the windows were down with a mostly cool breeze blowing. The sunroof would have been open had I made it out earlier in the morning. However, before going out this morning, I checked the National Weather Service site and put the map loop into motion. The low pressure was setting where it has been all weekend and not moving a nano nano of any thing. That is why we got no rain and Louisiana is once again flooded.  The cold front didn't move, the low didn't move and the pump just kept pumping Gulf  water into land masses north of the coastal shoreline. And, according to the NWS, the next ten days will be below normal. For here, that is about 92 degrees F. In fact, I'm thinking that the triple digits might be done for season, now. But, should that not be the case, then by the law of averages, one or two more should foot the bill---hopefully!!

A beautiful hawk protecting his airspace. Be sure to click on the image so it opens up to the size where you can see the beautiful wing feathers.

I'm just overly anxious for fall to arrive--the meteorological rather than the  astronomical one which, then would be September 1 rather than the 20th or 21st or 22nd what ever it might be by the lunar cycle.    

That's real live color change in a softwood tree. This spot where the chalk cliffs are located generally are the precursor to fall in many ways, including berry productions.