First Storm

Created with flickr slideshow.

Winter is here. This ice didn't last, but portends more to come!

Amazing Find

Since I just saw As You Like It I paid special attention to this article. What a find! NYTimes: Shakespeare Folio Discovered in France http://nyti.ms/1yUhz4w

Covered Bridge

There was a story in today's news about a covered bridged in Perry County that is very nearly destroyed by arsonist(s).

That made me think of the bridge I visited this past summer. The Humpback Bridge is near Covington.

Covered bridges should be cherished, not burned!

Frankie's last picture

Last week I got these shots of Frankie on the couch with Gus.

Walnuts

I want sure if we would get much of a walnut crop this year. But when I came home a lot of the leaves had been blown down in the winds before the rain showers. We will certainly have a respectable showing. I will have to make an effort to get them cleaned and shelled this year.

Flying a Kite

As I came out of the overpass entering Norlo park I noticed this really neat chalk drawing on the pavement. The park has had some real problems with graffiti lately, so it was a little jarring to see the drawing. It was very well done and will disappear at the first rain.

Late summer flowers

This afternoon I weeded out the flower bed in front of the house. But there were still a lot of flowers. So I only did the weedy half.

Make a GIF from cellphone pictures

My Samsung Galaxy S4 phone's camera has a setting to do the best of eight pictures. I saved all eight and then uploaded them to a make a gif website. This one, http://gifmaker.me/, didn't seem to have a limit on the size of the images. GIFs can be distracting, but they are fun!

Recycle Me!

The previous owners of our house had used this old truck tire as a child's sandbox. I want to get rid of it! I hope the township will take it during the recycling weekend in September.

The Valley at Falling Spring Falls in Covington, VA

Koi Update

The fish survived their first night in the new water. The goldfish seem to have a hard time staying upright. One has been continually getting stuck in the filter. I hope they will get themselves oriented soon.

Koi Pond Maintenance

We have been having a huge problem with algae in the koi pond. I have been taking all the rocks out. Today I took out all the fish into temporary containers and drained the tank. I scrubbed the sides to remove the algae. Here is how it looked.




Here is a slide show of previous pictures. In the morning I will add the pond now. The fish seem to be doing well. I hope the trauma wasn't too severe.

Bringing Down Gaddafi

Here's my review of Andrei Netto's book from Librarything. I got the book as part of their early reader program and it was really worth it.

This book reads like a spy thriller, but it is amazingly real. A Brazilian journalist, the author, Andrei Netto, tells the story of his attempt to enter Libya to report on the Revolution and go to Tripoli with the help of revolutionaries he meets along the way. Eventually, he is captured with his companion, an Iraqi journalist. In time he is freed and continues to tell the story of the Revolution. 

Often during the book, I was silently urging Netto to turn back, but like all good journalists he persisted to the end. 

The book drew me in to the action, while at the same time giving a good overview of the overall situation. It would have been helpful to have a map of Libya to follow through the towns he visited. I found myself frequently going to Google Maps.

Given how Libya has become a matter of partisan politics in the USA, it was refreshing to see a different perspective. The book was originally written in Portuguese. The English translation is excellent and highly readable.

Veranda Repairs

The outer part of the veranda roof that runs above the koi pond has developed a bad leak over the last few years and rotted through the plywood underneath. This past weekend I started taking off the rotted sections down to the frame. Here are some pictures as the work progresses.

Some of the pictures are taken from the drone. Can you guess which?

Backyard Safari

I saw some drone videos showing animals in Africa. So, I took advantage to shoot the dogs in the yard. They didn't mind as long as the drone didn't get too close!

Four Trees

Here is a video I made on Saturday, May 17th. I shot videos of four trees near Weistling Hall. Each is different. On the white pine near the end you can see gap in the top of the crown that is really hard to see from the ground.

Drone Shell Replacement

Almost two weeks ago I crashed the drone into a tree downhill from Conklin. One of the arms of the shell was bent. I got a replacement shell.

I found several youtube videos on how to replace the shell. They did say it wasn't a difficult process. That was true, but it did turn out to be pretty tedious. It took me two hours to take it apart and remove all the components. I took pictures along the way.

The replacement worked. Everything lit up. I took the unit for a short flight. I think I really need to get a full set of replacement blades to make the flight smoother, but it's back to flying.

My first flights with the Phantom

The weather has finally been good enough to start using the Phantom Vision drone or UAV. Last Friday I flew it for a while.  Here are some shots I took and a video. It also includes pictures I took today when I went out with the students from the surveying class. It was much brighter today!

When I flew the Phantom today I noticed that the video feed was broken up. I think that I needed to charge up the wifi signal extender. At least, I hope that's all it is.

Dutch realists

Wonderful art at the National Gallery in DC.

Boddhisatva

I love this wood-carved Buddha I saw at the Freer Gallery of Art. It was a wet afternoon in DC. I went in to to get dry and found this in a back gallery.

New Closet Floor

New Closet Floor, a set on Flickr.

This is the closet made from an enclosed porch. It extends to become a library on one end and connects to the spare bedroom on the other. The old fiberboard had caved in and in his last months Tigger confused it with his catbox. Now it has new plywood and tiles. We just have to move the closet racks to their final places.