The 30th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

A NEW BANNER WILL FLY!

Congratulations are in order for the South Carolina Baseball program!

National Champions and a new banner will surely fly at their stadium!

Last night's game against UCLA was classic baseball.  And both teams should be honored!   Forget who was playing, what for, and the incredible history surrounding the place.

The Game Cocks were destinies darling from the get go!

  Each player contributed as did their families and that experience could be felt even through  television!  

There were no long haired hippy types playing ball just to get a paycheck at the end of the game! 

 There WERE families in the stands, some of who could not watch when their sons came to bat! 

There were Sisters who actually cheered for their brothers, if for only a little while! 

There were fathers who had played on that same field bursting with pride for their sons!

There were some tears shed on the winning team as well as the losing team!

There was raw emotion!

This was apple pie and motherhood!

It was fourth down and inches, with seconds to go, in a tied game at the Super Bowl, on EVERY pitch for eleven innings!

There were players playing beyond their ability because that's what you do!

There was Rosenblatt Stadium!

There were fans who just wanted to be there, regardless of who was playing or who won, just to honor the old field for the last time! 

There was a right fielder who had his butt chewed out because he couldn't put down bunts nor call for a fly ball resulting in a nasty collision with his second baseman!

But HE drove in the winning run, and all is well in Mudville because mighty Casey (Whit Merrifield)  did get the hit in the 11th inning to win it for the Cocks. 

This was the last game capping sixty years of history at that place!

A fitting final game of honor for that place and that time!

And there were the good people of Omaha, who sixty years ago built it.

  And come they did!

Thanks Cocks!
Thanks Omaha!
Thanks Rosenblatt!

The 29th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

The 28th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

ODDS N ENDS

We spent the entire weekend doing chores and watching the University of South Carolina beat Clemson University (also of South Carolina) in the playoffs of the College World Series. 

As they say in the south...............SUHWEET!

Now the Gamecocks have to work their magic Vs. UCLA starting tonight in a three game series to decide the best college team in the country.....err the world!

Can anyone say 1969 Mets?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_World_Series

The back yard fence is finished and now the other third must wait till next spring.  I am not going to do another one in ninety-five degree heat.  Looks nice though and the stain makes it almost disapear.

I have to work on the grass and a small patio at the entrance from the Charleston Alley side entrance.  Take another year to get er done.

Sunday late after noon we went out to the lake and floated around in what felt like 80 degree water, but is was still cooler than the 98 degree air.  What a place!  Lake Murray is man made, but huge and almost reminds me of the Chesapeake.  Almost!

Finally, a storm came up but we didn't get too much rain which is much needed.  I did get some great sky photos, which is another argument for always having a camera handy.

And finally, on the way home I caught a rainbow over the state house in Columbia.  Faint here as I missed it by about three minutes, but not too bad.

The 25th day of the sixth month of the year or the Camellia

LIVING VICARIOUSLY THROUGH THE TELEVISION

OK, so I am old enough to remember Milton Berle on a little 12 inch black and white box they miraculously called Television.  And it wasn't even one my parents owned. 

We've come a long way baby.

I do enjoy baseball on TV......I can fall asleep within an inning and half.  Except for the world series or playoffs, then they actually play baseball.  The other two million games a year is just,,,,well Blah!  I even remember our high school allowed the broad cast in the lunch room of the game that Don Larson pitched his famous perfect game.  Good stuff.  For you babies out there I watched such people as Mantle, Maris, Yogi, Martin, Mays, Musial, and Ford. 

 Can you plug in the first names?

As some of you might recall I played a little ball in High School.  Well, at least till my senior year when some girl gave me that kissing disease called mono-nuke-leousis.  About two weeks before the season started.  This would be the first season I had missed playing with the same chums/team that we ourselves put together as kids on the playgrounds of my youth.  We had no little league back then.  Just a playground league that we kids created.  And the same nine guys were unbeatable through high school. 

A tight nit nine! 

 We even had Jeff Torborg as our catcher.  Jeff played for the Dodgers, caught Sandy Koufax, and went on to manage just about every other major league team.

But as usual I digress.

Late last night sometime around midnight, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks beat the team from Oklahoma.  In twelve innings.  I had just gotten back from watching Tom Cruise in his new movie"Night and Day".  By the way I am no fan of Hollywood, but go see that movie............it is really funny and good.  Google him for the movies name, I think I got it right.....Can you see a trend here between short and long term memory?

Anyway, the "Cocks" as they are called won in the 12th and earned the right to meet the Clemson "Tigers".  Both South Carolina rivals.  They both could be eliminated with one loss and the first game of two is tonight.  I will probably fall asleep in the middle of the second inning, but hope I am somewhere near alert by the ninth.  I have no horse in this race, but this world series has produced some wonderful baseball.

Seems like a good day for a nap....just to get ready to go the whole nine innings.

The 24th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

SOMETIME WILDLIFE IS SMARTER THAN DOMESTIC LIFE!

Or urban, or suburban, or rural, or whatever you want to call our human existence!

Did almost four miles this morning on the RW, that's RiverWalk for you late comers!  And that reminds me, will you please pass this blog on to your friends and have them become followers.  I need the press.  And if you are not a follower please join and thank you in advance.

Anyway, I voted in the primaries-----so I can complain!

Why is it?

When you have a place such as this available to you to walk, run, cycle, or just plain sit,

And

People treat it like this?

I mean a trash can is pretty unattractive in the first place, but they try to make it as palatable as possible and I give the maintenance people high fives for all they do.  But this clearly ain't raccoons what did this damage.  Come on people!  I'll bet that their double wide is not in much better shape....whoever does this kind of "Stuff".

Raccoons would have delicately lifted the lid off....taken out what was inside.....and simply left the trash on the ground. 

Cause why?

Cause they know they want it left intact.....so they can come back tomorrow night!

Smarter than some!

I saw two homeless men sleeping on picnic tables and picked up my share of trash left by either the afore- mentioned critters or their stupid two legged brethren.

I have fashioned my walking stick.....I am known there as "Stickman".... to accomplish a number of different chores.

First and foremost it is a weapon!

  I have encountered some dogs along the way that needed to be disciplined, but fortunately I did not have to do it.  It's also good for the afore-mentioned two legged creatures who want to be obnoxious.  There is a half pound of lead buried in the top end of the thing.  Swung hard, it just has to create hesitation in the mind of any assailant.

Secondly!

There is a screw mount for my camera on the top of the thing, which makes it a mono-pod when I need a steady platform for my camera.

And finally, C!

I put a point on the bottom of it which serves as a stick with which to pick up paper and other trash left by the smart wildlife and the dumb homo-sapiens.  I don't have to bend over, which we all know is a good thing.

 

It also makes a good spear, which if not sufficient will be replaced with my 38 Police Special!

I am licensed to carry!

The stick that is.

  You will just have to try me to find out if I am licensed for concealed carry of the gun!

The 23rd day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

YOU KNOW YOU'RE GETTING OLDER WHEN............

I did my almost three miles on the Riverwalk this morning and it was a balmy 92 when I got back just before nine.  Not many photo ops this morning as it was kinda hot and most critters had found their way back to their dens.

Of course we humans were not smart enough for that and just slogged on through our appointed rounds.....sweating and hearts pounding.  One old fellow, now remember I am old, had to stop and re-hydrate.

  I knew he was old cause he was drinking out of a WWI or WWII canteen.

I must admit that the walk is pretty when done early in the morning.  It seems the good lord wanted to make sure that we all stop to read the signs along the way.

Oh, and you also know you're getting older when a mile and half out your have this overwhelming need for a bathroom. 

The 22nd day of the sixth month in the year of the Camellia

STILL DELUSIONAL

Think I'll go for a walk!

The 21st day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

JUST A REMINDER.  I WILL BE SHOWING IN NORTH WILDWOOD NJ ON THE 17TH AND 18TH OF JULY AT THEIR MARITIME FESTIVAL. 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Wildwood-NJ/Hereford-Inlet-Lighthouse-Maritime-Festival-/281195478051

I was just fooling around with some digital distortions and came up with some cool interpretations of some of my photos. 

Take a look at the "Docks at Cape May at Night"

Just some fun, off the wall, stuff which I just might include in my travelling dog and pony show.

 You know the kind where they use to sell snake oil and the barkers yelled .......

Come see her folks...

She walks!

She Talks!

She crawls on her belly like a reptile!

Only one thin dime!

Guess I've gone delusional!

The 18th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

ST. AUGUSTINE LIGHTHOUSE

I have visited St. Augustine, FL a number of times and until this last trip have been unable to photograph the lighthouse to my own liking.  The above image is probably stronger than any images of the tower itself.  This morning I got there a little earlier and the light was a bit better than on previous visits.  I love the way the Keeper's house is nestled in the Oaks and the whole place just reeks of the old south.

The light  is just a hoot n holler from the Alligator Farm, and  two shoots can be done on one trip.

I must admit that I have spent so many hours lapping at the Fountain of Youth, that I almost miss having time to do anything else. 

The light tower has proven to be difficult for a number of reasons.  First the trees all around it mask it's presence.   Then there is the fact that it is open to the general public.  Getting any lighthouse without people is always a waiting game.  First find "The Spot" and then "The Light", and then wait for the people to clear from the frame and hope that the aforementioned "Light" has not changed too much.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine_Light

I have included the Wikipedia link for this light because it's history is long and a bit complicated to include here.  If you have an interest please use the above link.  The light is basically constructed to be the sister to the famed Cape Hatteras light.  The structure, while shorter here, is quite similar.

The 17th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

TWO TOES AWAY

Watching this young great egret exercise his/her wings was a real treat.  The bird remained in this spot flapping it's wings just to get some lift.

All the while holding on for dear life with what I imagined were two of his toes.

He must have been practicing for ten minutes, never leaving the same spot.

  A much younger wood stork on the left casts an inquiring eye.  I image saying "Hey bird are you crazy? There's alligators down there!"

Perhaps it was the same feeling that Orville and Wilbur had before they lifted off that hill at Kitty hawk so many years ago.  The flight of the birds most definitely influenced their attempts.  After all when you can achieve the grace, power, beauty and actual flight like the egret's predecessor....why not?

Perhaps Orville and Wilbur just said OK........ "Alligators be dammed"  and they just simply let go.

The 16th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camelllia

IT'S LONELY WHEN YOU'RE RIGHT!

Well, that's pretty presumptuous of me.

I have no idea why I am so drawn to that part of the heron family called the Louisiana.

I guess it's because they are colorful.

Any you know I am right!

At the Alligator Farm in all his mating plumage.

The 15th of June awww-ready in the year of the Camellia

SOMEWHERE POST, UGLY, DUCKLING

The great egret can be one of the most graceful of all the long legged wading birds.

 (That's part of the heron family for those of you educated in our government run public schools)

When they begin to grow up and get out of the "Chick" stage, they become much more graceful.  Now don't go crazy, I am using the term "Chick" as it refers to the young of the bird families.  Not the popular vernacular used in most singles bars and meat markets.  (Do they even exist anymore?)

Don't get me wrong, the blue herons, little blue herons, Louisiana herons, green back herons and snowy egrets can be very graceful in their own right.  But the great egrets have a certain aplomb that some of the others do not display. 

 I like this image because of the age of the young bird and the fact that he is beginning to display the dignity of his parents.  The light and composition is good.  I am sure this bird will continue to avoid the alligators waiting below. 

The 14th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

FROM HUNTER GATHERS TO THIS?

OK, I never "Huntered" all that well, but have been  able to gather a bit along the way.

And the title probably has nothing to do with the rest of what I am writing today.

  This past weekend was just a warm up, so to speak, for today where we topped out at a 103 degrees.  Just love it, particularly when the air conditioning is working.

  I am also very happy to report that the AC is working on the grand old, green lady, of a Ford Explorer that I drive.  She has seen over 300,000 miles with me and I finally got her repaired after five or six sweltering years.  Only a few more modestly smaller repairs and she'll be like new.  Or like a new used car.  Sweet old lady has been with me from Maine to Florida .  But I digress!

I generally do some pretty dumb things when the weather gets to be over-bearingly hot. This weekend past was no exception.  I put in about fifty feet of board on board fence in the backyard.  Four by four posts, ten feet high, with concrete feet. A ten foot, treated, 4x4 is a heavy sucker!  Of course an eight foot long, six foot high, section of fence is not a light weight either.  Got up to 98-99 on Saturday and the century mark on Sunday.  When we get a storm, it's going to be huge!

  So you know the drill....go outside.....drive a nail or two.....back inside in front of the AC, ice tea, nap......out and drive a nail or two.  Repeat when necessary.

Two years ago, I replaced the roof on the pergola at the side of the house in 95 plus weather.  That little trick lead to a stint in my chest.  But I got er done!

  

This pergola is the entrance to our "Charleston" type side and back yard.  I just measured it and it is about 8 feet wide and 40 feet long.  The roof is transparent plastic, all nailed, glued, and sweated over.

Sooooooooo!

This year we added to the fence in the back which is now 2/3 finished.  The fencing that is.  I figured it was either fifty cents worth of shotgun shells or $800 of fencing to get rid of the two barking, junk yard, dogs next door. 

I would really have enjoyed employing the fifty cent method much more, but the resultant jail term was a little "Give it a rest ish" 

Besides I would definitely would not make a good jailhouse bride.

So we put up a fence.

It needs to be stained like the other one in back, but tomorrow it's supposed to be even hotter.

Tomorrow, I think that I will go out and help them tar a roof somewhere!

The 10th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

THE WOOD STORKS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

Just imagine a diaper and baby in the bill of this stork, and we'd probably never have kids. 

Is this the one legends or myths are made of?

They sure don't look very pretty or graceful as some of the other long legged wading birds.

Unlike most of the other wading birds, storks prefer to soar in flight.

The storks seem to  prefer the top of the largest tree in which to nest.

Even the young of the year seem to be ungainly.

I guess it is the grizzled neck and large bill that makes these very large birds so different.  They are the wood storks.

The seem to want to lord it over the rest of the birds seeking the highest branches to preen and nest.

When they arrive, there certainly is a new sheriff in town!

The 9th day of the 6th month of the year of the Camellia

Have you ever wondered why?

Or maybe it's just me!

Or Maybe Murphy was right!

Or maybe I am right in saying that Murphy was an optimist!

How is it that garden hoses have a mind of their own.  Hey, it's just rubber or some kind of plastic. 

So how come they can deliberately piss me off.

(If the President can say ass on TV, then I can say the above here!)

But------------have you ever?

Now that thing was not that way when I dragged the end of it 60 yards across the lawn!

Or!

Who knew the plug on the extension would catch under that brick?

I think that these demonic tools know just how hard it is to bend over at my age.  Not once, but three or four times to get it right!

Expletive deleted!

The 8th day of the sixth month of the year or the Camellia

I have no idea who put this together, but it's wonderful!!
This came from my cuz in Portsmouth, NH!

I remember Auto Mechanics class and working on my ford back in '57!

Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot,
Before the days of Dylan or the dawn of Camelot.

For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,
Where navels were for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.

We learned to gut a muffler, we washed our hair at dawn,
We spread our crinolines to dry in circles on the lawn.

We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
And Eddie Fisher married Liz and no one's seen him since.

We danced to 'Little Darlin,' and sang to 'Stagger Lee '
And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney.

And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see,
A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie, they never made it twice.
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.

 Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,
 And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.

We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We had our share of heroes, we never thought they'd go,
At least not Bobby Darin or Marilyn Monroe.

For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
And Elvis was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me.

And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson and Zeppelins were not Led.
And Beatles lived in gardens then and Monkees lived in trees,
Madonna was Mary in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We'd never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars.
And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and 'gay' meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never co-ed in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We hadn't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.
And hardware was a box of nails and bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Buicks came with portholes and side shows came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.

 And Coke came just in bottles and skirts below the knee,
 And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me.

 We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,
 We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea
 Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the Land That Made Me, Me.

 There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,
 And fish were not called Wanda and cats were not called Bill.
 And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,
 And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me.

But all things have a season, or so we've heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.
They send us invitations to join AARP,
We've come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.

 So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
 And wonder why they're using smaller print in magazines.
 And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be,
 Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.

If you didn't grow up in the fifty's,
you missed the greatest time in history.

The 7th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

ALLIGATOR FARM

I always preach to photographers to plan ahead for a photo shoot, and then I go and do something stupid like this.  I'm known for that....doing something stupid that is.  On Wednesday last, I entered the arena of the rookery with a bare head full of anticipation of finding just the right shot.  Apparently, I have done way to many of these shoots in super heated sunlight and what few brain cells that hadn't been fried were quickly catching the flame.

The key to the above comment is "Bare head".  It was around two in the afternoon when I arrived and the sun of course was at it's zenith.  Apex!  Brightest and about 6,798 Florida degrees.................you get the picture.  Within five minutes the last three cups of Starbucks were boiling off my forehead and running into my eyes.  I didn't know there was that much salt in coffee.  Now, I have about three or four ball caps from the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, but where were they?  At home.  So some sixteen dollars later I get the above over priced advertising logo to at least shade my head somewhat.

I worked these birds for a good half hour, trying to get them in sync. 

The odd man out on the left never did turn around so I could get all three in a row, but that was what I was looking for.  These are immature,  (that's young for you public school students) Great Egret's.  The look beautiful preening their feathers and cleaning themselves.  But let the mother or father show up with a beak full of food and it's every man, woman, and child for themselves.  Each of them try to grab the parents bills in order to be fed.  The twisting of necks and stabbing with bills is mayhem in the understatement.

The feeding of the Louisiana Heron chick below looks like attempted murder.  It is so rough that you have to see it to believe it.  Two other chicks are in the wings on the right, ready to step right in and try to break their parents neck until the food is forth coming.  Interestingly enough all this tangle is happening on top of the "Gator Food" box.  Of which all the players in this drama could easily become.

 

That's the mother's head the chick has in it's bill.  This ain't your ordinary mother's breast feeding technique!

You can double click on any of these images to see screen size photos.

The 6th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

THE ROAD TRIP~ALLIGATOR FARM

The trip to St. Augustine was fun, but I was alone and as such not as much fun as if I were with someone. 

But!

The birds were there
as were the gators. 

http://www.alligatorfarm.com/

One of the nicest rookeries in the country is here and photographers are drawn world wide to catch a glimpse of these long legged wading birds in their most intimate moments.

Now for you folks who attended public schools in the last forty years----the white things in the trees are the birds and the loggy looking things in the water are Gators.  Can you imagine....Alligator Farm---Gators!  These gators are waiting for some hapless chickling to fall out of the nest or be pushed out by a sibling.  And believe me the sibling rivalry here is the closest thing to murder you will see.  Survival of the fittest!  So, this photo is called gator bait.  The board walk is where humans view the afore mentioned birds and gators. 

As you can see, here stands photographer magnimus.  Only two in this image, but I counted as many as eight photographers on the boardwalk at one point.  Let's see her camera body cost around $2,000, the flash about the same, and the lens over $12, 000.  Throw in another couple thousand in other incidentals and the equipment alone approaches $20,000.  So when a photographer wants $40 for an eight by ten, please consider that he/she is really not ripping you off  and furthermore it is impolite to haggle over price.  It's art for god's sake! 

At any rate, if you see photographs of long legged wading birds in magazines and books and they are very much frame filling shots that are crystal clear...............chances are good they came from this place.

This Louisiana heron is checking out her nest and making sure at least one of the eggs (in the left hand side of the nest) has been placed and turned appropriately before she sits down again.  This bird was about 12 feet from the end of my lens.

The birds at the farm were quite numerous, but the breeding season was well along and most of the young I saw were really immature of the various species and not chicks.

  Yes, a few were born on Wednesday night and I saw them Thursday.  But as luck would have it, the first Roseate Spoonbill ever born at the rookery didn't come along till Friday, and I missed it.

More to come!

The fifth day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

I WENT TO THE ALLIGATOR FARM!

More later, shot over 500 images like this immature Louisiana heron.

The first day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

ROAD TRIP!

Headed for St. Augustine, FL to photograph the rookery at the Aligator Farm. 

You will probably see a number of these guys in blogs to come. 

 Have a great week all!