On the road again

A Saturday afternoon spent at Tabby's Place, enjoying the company of many good cats.  On the way there, I passed a field -- or I should say, began to pass a field containing white and yellow flowers, and it stopped me in my tracks.  I stopped the car on the side of the road and got out to take a few pictures.

At Tabby's Place, a good many of the dozens of snaps I took never even made it home, and once home, many more were deleted.  But a few of them turned out all right, like this one of Mary Jane.  She was scared when I entered, with her body in a small crouched position, but by the time I left, I'd earned some of her trust and she looked more at ease.  

Foxglove or Beardtongue

Lance-leaved Coreopsis

Mary Jane

 

Forever Loved: Mishush

 

Mishush

Rabbit News

Around 5:30 this afternoon, I took the trash cans to the curb for tomorrow's pickup.  Walking back to the garage,  I stopped and looked out back.  Next to the shed were two young rabbits, the ears of one barely visible over the top of the grass.  At the other corner of our property, there were two adult rabbits.  Four rabbits is a new record, I believe.  

For awhile we had predators, including the little black pooshka and her mate, the big ol' creampuff, and we didn't have rabbits.  Now it's the other way around.  

Daisy Fleabane

 

Growing at the Upper Macungie Township yard waste site.

Prescience

A blog about early television contains the limited television schedules and Billboard magazine reviews of the original programming.

One report from April 13, 1945, describes a program put together after Franklin Roosevelt's death the day before.

"Television had its first chance at a special event here when Klaus Landsberg, director of W6XYZ, canceled his skedded show in order to present a memorial program dedicated to the late President Roosevelt.

Handicapped by the time element, Landsberg built a complete hour program from scratch that was dignified thruout and a stirring tribute to the great leader...

The entire program went off without a hitch, which was a tribute to Landberg's direction. This hour-show made history here tonight as it impressed upon Hollywood skeptics that television is flexible enough to provide the viewer with special events that will in time equal or surpass anything being done today by radio." Dean Owen. (Billboard, Apr. 21)

Landsberg has an amazing story. A Jew brilliant enough that the Nazis kept their hands off him until he could escape, taking knowledge that led to the development of radar for the United States military.  At 23, putting together TV from the New York World's Fair.  At 29, pulling together an hour-long tribute after the sudden death of the president.  More contributions and achievements followed before his death in 1956 at age 40.

Saturday at home with a rose

 

Good Times, Good Times

Yesterday morning, drove to TP.  Wanted to get gasoline at Costco, but the road leading to it was blocked with orange cones.  Maybe they plan to install speed bumps to keep people from using it as a short cut to get around traffic on the bypass.  

The gauge kept dropping as I drove, so I got a fill-up at the Marathon station just inside the PA line.  Instead of paying $4.69 a gallon at Costco, I paid $4.999 for 15 gallons.  $75 for a full tank of gas.  Yikes!  I put the gas on the Costco Visa, anyway.

On the spur of the moment, I didn't get back on I-78, but instead drove south on 611 along the Delaware River.  First time I tried that to get to TP, and the scenery was nice.  Plenty of wildflowers to go along with views of the big river.  It's phlox season, plus I saw some daisies in season.

Crossed the river into NJ at the Riegelsville bridge.  Another first. Took the road along the west bank of the river, including some narrow one-lane sections.  There was hill on the left, a strip of asphalt wide enough for one car, and a guard rail on the right.  Beyond that was the old canal, and further on, the river.

I knew I could get to Milford on this road, but when I saw a sign that indicated a left turn would put me on CR519, I took it instead.  That road took me through some hilly, pretty, and rural parts of western NJ.  At one point, I succumbed to the admonition I'd recently read online:  "Go photograph what you can't *not* photograph."  I pulled over on the shoulder and snapped stills and took video of a phlox-y area along the road.

At last, just after warning PG that I was taking the scenic route and was going to arrive at TP later than usual, I stopped at a 4-way stop and recognized it from another route I've often taken.  Go straight ahead, and you pass a high school, and in a mile or two you're back on a main road.  Turn right, and you stay on a CR for a few more miles before reaching Route 12.  

At TP, I pushed the shutter button a couple of hundred times.  Some shots I deleted immediately, some others I downloaded at home and then deleted.  A dozen or so were thoroughly FreeStoned, Bridged, and ACDSee'd (one was even GIMPed) before upload to Flickr.  

My cell rang and a voice claiming to be from Citibank asked for me to verify a transaction.  I hung up and dialed the number on the back of the Citi card instead.  Turns out it was legit.  The $75 charge at the gas station set off an alarm, and Citi phoned my cell, phoned the home landline, and emailed me to ask whether I authorized that transaction.  

A few weeks ago, I stopped carrying the camera case into TP, and in its place I added Velcro tape to both pockets of an old hoodie.  Now, the cell phone and its camera ride in the right pocket along with the LumeCube continuous light.  In the left pocket I keep the point-and-shoot with the 40x zoom, and around my neck is the DSLR with the prime 50mm lens.  Starting to get used to this setup, and it's working as planned.  If the shot is right there, that's for the DSLR.  If I need to zoom a bit for something, that camera is easy to get at, too.  And if a cat is inside a cage, I can slide the phone between the bars and get a shot that way.  All the tools I need are at hand, without any unnecessary gear to carry around, and all for the cost of a bit of Velcro tape.  

Slept well, awakened early, enjoyed part of the morning in bed, in no hurry to get up.  

Mid-afternoon, through the kitchen window I saw a rabbit at the back of the property.  It hopped to its left, and I slid to my right to watch it through the window of the laundry room door.  Good thing I did.  Now I could see a grown rabbit and a younger one a few feet apart alongside the shed.  The adult approached the young one from the rear and stopped just behind its tail.  

This looked like behavior PG and I had seen many years ago at a walking trail.  The young rabbit on that day was a very small one who hopped out of the underbrush, past its mother who was nibbling clover just off the trail.  PG and I watched as the adult got behind the little one, and we realized she was "encouraging", let's say, her baby to move somewhere else, back to a safe place.  On that day, the baby bunny started to obey and hop toward the underbrush, but then it made a U-turn.  The mother rabbit patiently got behind the baby once more and this time, the little one went where it was told.

Today, the older little one wasn't having any of its mother's counsel.  The rebellious rabbit hopped this way and that, forcing its mother to expend energy to keep up.  At one point, the little rabbit actually obeyed and went under the shed, only to re-emerge seconds later and hop back into the yard.  Both rabbits eventually disappeared under a bush in a neighbor's yard.  

Supper at Outback Steakhouse (or as the dad humor in me puts it, Steakback Outhouse).  With the tip, it came to $79.  Yowie.  $75 here, $79 there, and pretty soon I'm wondering where all my money went.  No wonder all I can afford otherwise is a bit of Velcro tape.