The 27th day of the second month

Meet Jack! I met Jack and his parents on the RiverWalk today. He is a Boykin Spaniel and yellow lab mix (Ouch), and a real sweety. I walked about four miles and saw about four flocks of Cedar Waxwings but the light was poor and my patience with them even poorer. I guess that's what happens when you have hundreds of images of the same critter. You get particular and bored with them. Oh well! The temperature pushed seventy today, sorry EC, and the crowds were out walking. Nice day.

SKIP'S ALMANAC OF FICTION AND FACT AND OTHER GARBAGE KNOWLEDGE

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."......Thomas Jefferson.

The 26th day of the Second Month

YOU! Yeah You! Ever wonder why companies such as Target, Lowes, Home Depot, and so on are having trouble selling stuff?

Even as the current administration spends $36 Billion a day to lead us out of the wilderness. Yeah that's $36 billion with a "B"! A DAY! Although I think Congress would be more comfortable with a "T".

Yet, why are McDonalds and Walmart are doing so well? It's price and service genius..........Duh! Look for it and buy only where you find it, and conduct your own business in the same manner. If we all do this, this recession will end sooner rather than later.

Got an email from a friend that explains it all and I quote. "I have spent the entire day fighting with insurance companies and banks. Since when have complete idiots taken over. It's incredible and frustrating - even the ones you pay to get something done for you are just sooooo damn dumb."

Well, that kinda "Splains it Lucy"!

I am including a new section which hopefully will be of some use to somebody out there in the ether. It will simply be stuff I have either found on the web or conjured up before I had my lobotomy.

FICTION AND FACT FROM SKIP'S ALMANAC OF GARBAGE KNOWLEDGE

"Photocopy both sides of the important contents of your wallet or purse(credit cards, driver's license, etc.) and store the copy in a safe place at home. Should your purse or wallet get stolen or lost, you'll have a record of your account numbers and whom to notify about them."

The temperature is approaching sixty today but cloudy with a milky sky. Not the type of day to go outside and photograph, so I'll probably just walk the RiverWalk. I will be doing a little show on the 18Th of April here in Columbia, then a show in October at Hereford Inlet Lighthouse in New Jersey. If they will still have me, I intend to go the Easton Waterfowl Festival in Maryland in November. I'll let you know about any other shows so you can all come out and spend lotsa money to get the economy going again. Or you could buy from my website. Remember it's you patriotic duty!

The 25th day of the second month of the year of the owl pellet

Today was the first day in about ten days that the temperature got above fifty degrees and hence I had a chance to walk about four miles on the RiverWalk. Good to get active again and even took the fishing rod with me. Just wanted to see if I could educate a bass or two. I think they have all graduated as I didn't see a fish.

Lord, I hope I don't have to depend upon my skills with a fishing rod to put food on the table. The way the politicians are running the economy ..... hunting, fishing, and a victory garden may become a necessity. I understand that there is a nationwide shortage of ammunition, and I am off to Lowes to buy seeds for the garden before they run out. The key words here are that the government is trying to run the economy.........so much for free market enterprise! Am I the only one in the country who thinks that we need to vote to get rid of the entire congress and replace them with all with ninth graders?

The cedar wax wings are still in great flocks on the walk, and are eating berries in amazing numbers. If one is a bit stealthy and stands still enough, long enough, dozens of them will swarm around.

I also noted that the Bloodroot is now blooming. There is only one small spot of these flowers along the entire 5 miles of the walk. The root of this plant has long been used by the native Americans for it's medicinal use. This is the Wikepedia website for Bloodroot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodroot

The 24th day of the second month of the year of the owl pellet

Harvesting oysters on the Chesapeake Bay is done by a number of different methods such as hand tonging and dredging. The third method of taking oysters on the bay is called patent tonging and includes a large superstructure built on the boat. Large mechanical tongs are lowered to the oyster bar and then used to clasp part of the bay bottom, presumably including oysters. The tongs are then raised to the deck of the work boat where the oysters are separated from the debris collected in each load. The work boats are equipped with either one or two patent tongs. This is probably more productive than hand tonging, but less than dredging from a skipjack. In either event, it is one of the more investment intensive types of commercial fishing on the bay. Most of the new Chesapeake Bay images are now on the website. Please check it out.
http://skipwillitsfineartphotography.ifp3.com/

The 22nd day of the second month of the year of the owl pellet

Yesterday, we had a chance to go to the zoo. The Riverbanks Zoo and Garden here in Columbia to be precise. We have a new addition to the zoo and his name is Lewis. He is a ten-day-old reticulated giraffe calf and measures approximately 5 feet, 5 inches and weighs 126 pounds. His parents are Sharon and Charlie and he was born on Feb. 9, 2009. This photograph shows Lewis about to get a kiss/lick from dad Charlie, while mom Sharon looks on in the background. We watched this trio for about 40 minutes and I was amazed to see the amount of bonding going on between father and son. Not a real prevalent occurrence in nature. In fact, mom appeared not to be real happy about having the little critter around. He tried to nurse a number of times and she would have none of it. The old man seemed to be telling his son not to worry, that she wouldn't pay any attention to him either.

You think of giraffes as just some tall ungainly animal, eating leaves from the tree-tops in Africa or at zoos around the country. But upon closer inspection, they are extremely powerful as one can see when you look at the musculature on the shoulders and neck. Not to mention that they have a tongue that is about a foot long. Amazing animals! The little guy wasn't moving around much. He seemed to find a spot in the enclosure where the sun was warm and he just hung out until his father started to pester him to move around. There will be many more photos of these guys posted on my site.

http://www.riverbanks.org/mediacenter/releases2009/0203.shtml

21st day of the second month of the year of the owl pellet

Saturday morning, and the temperature was in the twenties. Got over fifty by the time I finished my three miles on the Riverwalk. Now a really nice day and I hope to get out and enjoy it later.

As you can see from today's photo, I am concentrating on old images of the Chesapeake Bay and specifically on the Watermen who work there. Yesterday, I talked about tonging for oysters. Possibly the oldest way to fish for oysters. Late in 1800's, oystermen in New England were running out of product to catch and had to expand or perish. Their alternative was to migrate to the Chesapeake Bay and introduce their oystering boats called skipjacks.

Skipjacks can only fish for oysters. They are dredge boats or as the watermen call them "Drudge" boats. Controversy surrounds everything and the skipjack is no exception. Maryland and Virginia watermen were angry with the introduction of this boat on their turf. They claimed, and rightly so, the dredges tore apart the oyster beds and diminished the long term value of said beds. Claiming that hand tonging was more Eco-friendly, even though back then they had no idea what that term was all about. Well progress won out and the boats became a part of the maritime landscape on the bay. Controversy continued as the skipjack type of fishing took more and more oysters, fights among watermen broke out over territorial fishing grounds. The border between Maryland and Virginia became a critical war zone, and the skipjacks seen there in the early 1900's were more times than not armed to the teeth. Hence, the much remembered "Oyster Wars".

These are not suited for other types of commercial fishing on the bay. With the decline in the availability of oysters, a number of the boats are currently used to take tourists around the bay on Eco tours. The boat was built specifically to be 1/3 as wide as they are long and hence make a wonderfully steady platform from which to work. They generally range from 30 to 60 feet long, fitted with one mast, and something called a push boat. The pushboat is a much smaller boat which holds one large engine. As the name states it is simply used to push this sailing vessel when not under sail. See the one on the stern of the Hilda Willing pictured here. Law prohibits a skipjack from having any power other than a sail unless it is external and hence the pushboat concept. Additional photographs of these boats, the bay, and watermen can be found at my website where I am currently adding some sixty new images.

http://skipwillitsfineartphotography.ifp3.com/

The Chesapeake Bay skipjack fleet is the last commercial sailing fleet in the country, and I believe that I have a photograph of just about all of the remaining boats. So take a look.

The 20th day of the second month of the year or the owl pellet

A few years ago, I had the privilege of photographing the "Watermen" of the Chesapeake Bay. It took about a year to do the whole study and resulted in a couple thousand slides. The term "Watermen or Waterman" is used in the mid-Atlantic region to describe a commercial fisherman. Implied, however, is much more than just a title. It describes a way of life. Fiercely independent people who are among the last true small businessmen in this country. They are self employed for the most part and employ others depending upon their success. They have a big investment in their boats and equipment. Just as important, they are endowed with a vast knowledge of the bay and the critters that live there-in. The photo at the top of this blog is entitled "Tonger's Sunrise". It shows a crew of oyster tongers working on a classic Chesapeake Bay work boat.

Watermen are constantly changing tactics depending upon the time of the year and what type of fish, crab, or shellfish is plentiful, in demand, and in season. The tongs used in the above photo are anywhere from 10 to 20 feet long and are used just like a pair of salad tongs. The watermen develop a "Feel" for the bottom of the bay and they clasp the oysters with the head of the tong, raise it to the boat, and empty it on a culling board where the oysters are separated from the rock and debris. This is strenuous work often done in poor weather and/or rough seas. The better ones, that's more profitable for those of you with a public education, generally work six full days a week.

In the 19Th century, hundreds of thousands of bushels of oysters were harvested annually in the Chesapeake. Today, they are lucky to get fifty thousand bushels a year. Oysters were originally, commercially, harvested by hand with tongs as pictured here. The native Americans were probably the first to harvest this delicacy and likely did so by simply picking them up by hand. In the late 1800's the Skipjack fleet emigrated from New England, introducing a much more productive method of oystering. The virtual end of the Skipjack fleet in the last few years, gave way to mechanical patent tonging rigs. And yes, as the method of harvesting became more efficient.....the supplies of the product declined. Today, oystering on the Chesapeake is not one of the better ways for a Waterman to make a living. Instead of being a primary catch, oysters are now only one of the many different products in the Chesapeake seafood menu.