| Snakes | | [14-Nov-2008]
This is back from before I went to D.C. went home one night and there was a small snake laying against the house above the false shutters. Took a few fuzzy pictures and ignored it. A few days later went home, and this time the light was off. Opened the door and the snake dropped on my shoulder. It was sitting on top the screen door this time. Had to chase it out of the house. Havent seen it since and its been about a month now.
 |
| House is Livable | | | [12-Oct-2008]
Finshed work on the library. It looks like crap. Baseboards dont quite match, they need repainted already, corners are horrible and the carpet doesnt quite fit but large bookcases hid a lot. Ive got all the books out of the living room and garage. I may leave the shelves in the Pooh Room and my bedroom however, it will give me a little more room for a gaming table in the library it was a bit cramped before.
They finished sodding the yard. After pictures are up, see previous entry. |
| Drainage work | | [07-Oct-2008]
The drainage work started yesterday morning. Its impressive up close but not so noticeable, I thought they would do an obvious ditch but it was more reshaping the land. They lowered the land at the fence line about 6 inches and built a wide channel out to the street making a new path for the water away from the house. Dirt went behind the wall I built which will be for flowers now, but also adds to the height making it about a foot and a half from the low point to its top. It also went to either side to it slops down in to the channel and some at the driveway for fill (unrelated but a place for the extra dirt). They removed a lot of the junk stumps, but for some reason not the pine tree stump. They arnt done, the drain i put in is in pieces and they are working on the drainage at the corner of the house still. They also need to sod and seed it.
|
| Repairing from Fay | | [30-Sep-2008]
The repair work is moving along. Both rooms are drywalled and painted. Dont have to paint the ceiling since it matches already. Still have to do the base boards and floors. This is taking longer than it should because the dishwasher decided to flood last week setting me back a few days. Had to replace the intake line and electrical cord on it so i could get it in and out without problems. Here are photos of the repair work so far at various stages, including two construction workers just standing around. Drainage work will start this week. Removed the pine tree that leaned towards the house so it wont fall on it after its roots are gone.
 |
| West Virginia | | [26-Apr-2008]
Went to Clarksburg for Nannys funeral. Left here Wed night, drive to jax. Flight at 6am. Funeral, flight back at 6am the next morning and then drove back to Tallahassee. Took a few photos
of Nannys house, Suan Terrace, and the dogwoods in bloom around town. Had just enough time to do an easy cache at Simpsons Creek covered bridge under a mile from the hotel. |
| Yearly Photos | | [17-Mar-2008]
Did this years Yearly photo. Except for the disappearing french drain and white flowers on the neighbors dogwood its not much different than last years. The new white mailbox post is obvious, and look the jeeps bikini top matches now! Most the changes I did this year were in the back.
Some changed are the nice border around the blueberris (see above), the flower bed I rebuilt this weekend, making it a little higher. The pineapple guavas really took off this year, they are now taller than I am. I got the cold frame finished just as the cold stopped. It has only one problem, it tends to fill with water in a heavy rain but that last weekend it was 14 degrees warmer than sitting out in the open. The two front apples are covered with flowers this year. They barely produced last year so it seems like they just need another years growth.
|
| STS-123 | | | [11-Mar-2008]
This is in photos except there is no photo and wont be for a while. I stayed up till 2:30 last night to see the night launch of the shuttle. Yes even when not going to Mir it can be seen from Tallahassee. I took 1 photo so I'm not going to develop the whole role just to get it now. I dont think it will be worth it anyway. Yes Im sure I got the shuttle but my angle was a little off so instead of 130 degrees it was at 120 degrees and I had to move the camera at the last second. Instead of the shuttle next to a pretty oak tree in an open field its bracket by some telephone pole support cabling. I went Buck Lake road, with all the construction there and the high berms it has a great horizen looking that way, and not too many lights in the direction. Hopefully now that im sure of the angle ill catch the next one from a better location. |
| Eclipse Photos | | [26-Feb-2008]
Watched the eclipse from the parking lot of All Saints. Took some photos with the new 135mm lens. I need to get attachments for the telescope for the new digital camera. The only one of real interest is the time lapse:
|
| Brooklyn Bridge | | | [22-Feb-2008]
Finally developed the disposable camera I bought in NY from last August. Photos are all of the Brooklyn Bridge and the ferry landing on the Brooklyn side where Washington escaped from the British in the Revolution. |
| Stuck in NY | | [02-Feb-2008]
Ive been stuck in NY for two weeks now. Stuck because its just to cold to even think about going outside most the time. It rarely gets above freezing, and then it rains. Thankfully shutting down Giuliani has occupied most my time. That was until today. Not a single request until 5:02pm (2 minutes after the movie I went to started). So this afternoon once it got to 40 I went to the
Public Libary
and then tried to go on a tour of the UN but it is close don weekend Jan and Feb. Went to the movies. Glad it wasnt my money but a gift card someone gave me because Cloverfield sucked. Its all shot with a video camera, even when it becomes unrealistc and they kill the idiot with the camera. The people have to be the stupidest people on earth. When the military tells you they are losing to the Godzilla monster in NYC you dont go into NYC on the off chance some girl is alive trying to find her. Even not being from NY the locations didnt make sense. The group clearly made it to the Brooklyn side of the bridge before it collapsed. Then suddenly they are at Spring St which is nowhere near the bridge. |
| Eclipse Photos from August | | | [13-Dec-2007]
I was cleaning up my server and found some photos that I never posted. Looking at them I see why. This was the first time i really used the new camera for an eclipse and im not impressed. I dont have the adapter to hook it to the telescope yet so all the photos are just tripod mounted and the moon is pretty small and crappy. |
| New York Week 2: Repeat Visits | | | [16-Oct-2007]
Saturday was the last day to do anything since my flight was early Sunday morning. Got up and took the Staten Island ferry back to Ft. Wadsworth hoping to get the 10:30 tour of Ft. Thompkins. Got there at 9:30. The visitor center was closed. Hung around till 10:20 when Gary, the you cant do that and doesnt know his history Ranger showed up. Asked him if there was a tour. He said he didnt know, and he guessed no since the VC was closed.
My experiences at Ft. Wadsworth makes it the worst National Park I have ever visited. The Rangers tell visitors conflicting information about tours, one guy says show up, Gary says no you must have reservations, despite calling earlier and being told nothing about reservations. Tour lack any historical information. The rangers being more concerned with repeatedly telling you how unsafe the stairs and ledges are. The rangers also dont even know the basics of the structure under their care. I specificly asked Gary the name of a battery as we walked by it. He told me it doesnt have a name, its just for 3inch guns. The big sign out side the visitor center, and all the CDSG pages say it was Battery Bacon. Fort Thompkins wins the award for the most obscured fort Ive every tried to see. It is surrounded by an impenatrable mass of brush from all angles except the sea face along the road. The grass is mowed very nicely up to the brush so its clearly on purpose. The rangers are unhelpful. Never offering me a map and only pointing me in the direction of the fort when I asked directly what was the best way to get to them.
So I left Wadsworth, took the Ferry back to Manhatten and tried again for the geocache in central park I couldnt find because of darkness. Daylight didnt help. There is no plaque. Returned to the AMNH for the planetarium show and mythic creatures exhibit. The planetarium how was dissapointingly short. The prices are crazy and the ticket agent jipped me. The $15 to get in is fine, you see a lot of stuff. Then there are the special exhibits (about 6), Imax, and planetarium. Each costs extra. There is a supersaver which online says it allows you into unlimited of the special stuff, but the ticket person said only 2. The signs inside the museum are unclear so I didnt argue at the time.
Most the pictures will be added to previous sections since there arnt enough to matter. |
| Brooklyn and Chinatown | | [18-Aug-2007]
Bought a new camera Thursday before trying to sleep. After working all Friday night (10:30pm to about noon), we ate at Grimaldis Coal oven pizzaria in Brooklyn. I decided to look a third time for the Bridge cache with no luck. Then walked across Brooklyn the long way for another cache in Ft. Greene Park, down the heights promenade, through the center past the borugh hall. Found it, and watched a stomp show in the park.
Took a train back to this side of the river, go off on the Lower East side and walked back to the apt via Chinatown. Put up photos of the trip, and some of the apt and city in general
|
| Camera Broken | | [03-Jun-2007]
I finally got the photos of of D.C. from the weekend of the flash card from my camera. The camera itself is dead. It just wont power on.
I spent Saturday afternoon in the Natural History and Air and Space Museums. Sunday I did the Zoo, then walked to the National Cathedral and back to a metro. There are no photos of Sunday the camera was dead. I would have had more time to look but I was working 10pm to 6am over the weekend and had to sleep sometime.
|
| Plants, Spring 2007 | | [25-Apr-2007]
And finally photos 
of all the large plants around the house. |
| Advanced Redoubt | | | [25-Apr-2007]
Finally put up the pictures from the Advanced Redoubt of Ft. Barancas I took on the way back from the MS trip last month. Ive tried several times to get on the tour and usually miss it by an hour. I stopped by there knowing the only do them on Sat at 11 and got lucky. The volunteer ranger was giving a special tour for a guy leaving the country and I got there just as they started.
Also added flowers from the trip back  |
| Pirates Sealed Deck Game | | [25-Apr-2007]
I bought 6 tins of Pirates and with those and the 16 packs Ron and Chris owed me we played a sealed deck tournament over the last two days on a board I built over the weekend with some islands out of modeling plaster.
 .
The rules we used are here.
1st day we ran into a lot of questions with new units one of which is the rules admin on the Pirates forums is taking to the developers for an answer. We made a Flying Cthulhu out of a Behemoth copying the Sea Dragon ability and other craziness.
We called it short after 2 days since it was going to take hours more to end properly. We counted total points in ships, gold crew. Ron won.
|
|
|
