hark 2021

[hark]

We've never been in quite this drastic of a situation. Many people are without water while others such as myself have a trickle. But we are under a boil water advisory which might last for days. It's been decades since I've used an outhouse - and by the looks of it, I might wish I had one in the backyard.

With this being a holiday weekend, all bets are off on just how long it will take to return to normal. Many of the stores are already sold out of water.

 

[Dawg Pics]

@hark I hope you get water soon.

 

[hark]

@hark I hope you get water soon.

I have to boil water to wash the dishes. Fortunately I have a few jugs of bottled water to use for drinking and cooking because I usually keep some on hand for drinking anyway. Supposedly there is sediment in the tap water now - considering the amount of flooding, river water probably got into the system. The water authority says they keep testing the water but it won't be until at least Sunday night or Monday morning before we know more. Some people traveled into New Jersey or a number of miles away here in Pennsylvania just to find bottled water. At least we have electricity! :encouragement:

 

[hark]

This afternoon I returned to the area where I took the previous river images. At least the height of the water is going down slowly.

Although I've never seen a train on these tracks, I think a slow-moving train might make deliveries. For this image, I pulled out the flip screen on my D750, bent over holding the camera close to the ground, and used Live View to take the photo.

Below is the Delaware River looking in the opposite direction. The water wasn't nearly as choppy today as it was the other day. When I took photos the other day, I stood on the opposite side of the bridge below. This was the side of the bridge that had the white water rapids with the fast moving pace. At least it wasn't flowing nearly that fast today.

And this caught me by surprise. When I asked in a Facebook group, I was told the mural painting is part of a L.O.V.E is the Answer project. Someone shared a flyer with info that groups of people from around the world will unite in painting murals on September 17th in support of peace and reconciliation.

 

[hark]

Our water restrictions were removed today so no more having to boil water for washing dishes (used bottled water for drinking, cooking, and brushing teeth during the restrictions).

So once again I returned to the area where I took previous photos after the flood. Today that railing along the retaining wall (levee) was no longer submerged beneath the water (see lower edge of the image). And the water looks to be at a respectable height now.

All of these bridge photos are of the Calhoun Street Bridge. Maybe the bridge was made by The Phoenix Bridge Company. That is Trenton, New Jersey on the other end of the bridge.

Standing near the bridge (Calhoun Street Bridge to my back and Trenton Makes Bridge in the distance), I took another photo of the walking path on top of the levee. Today as I walked along the top, there were a few bicyclists who rode the path. The thing is the path isn't very wide and doesn't have any railings so ya gotta watch where you put your feet!

Today was also 'The Attack of the Lantern Flies.' When I walked to my car, one landed on my shoulder near my face. I jumped and almost dropped my camera. But my jumping made the lantern fly jump off and land on my back. So I put my camera in the car and grabbed something to brush it off my back while I stood near a window to see my reflection. Thank goodness it was gone. <Insert sigh of relief here>

Then when I arrived at the bridge, I no sooner got out and started walking up the levee when one landed on my cheek. Then another one landed on my pants. And one landed on my shoes followed by a few more on my pants. There was a whole bunch of them coming at me and flying in a swarm. <The stuff nightmares are made of!> :beguiled:

Another look at the sign on the bridge.

This is the pedestrian walkway across the bridge. I never noticed the bells before - maybe I will ask someone about the bells' history. :encouragement:

There is a Delaware River Port Authority Guard Station next to the bridge - usually during the day, a guard is stationed there. Looks like they might have hired a couple of new guards - one to keep watch that only cars cross while the other to watch that bicyclists walk their bikes.

 

[hark]

I seldom ever see a Great Egret.

 

[hark]

The Delaware River is high this afternoon. Part of the walkways were underwater.

 

[hark]

Great Blue Heron

Considering this is a zoom, the bokeh created by the lens is so creamy.

 

[hark]

I considered using this for the leading lines weekly challenge but decided it really isn't quite what I want. The challenge wasn't my intention for taking the photo anyway. Hopefully I'll have time to create something specific.

 

[nikonpup]

our water restrictions were removed today so no more having to boil water for washing dishes (used bottled water for drinking, cooking, and brushing teeth during the restrictions).

So once again i returned to the area where i took previous photos after the flood. Today that railing along the retaining wall (levee) was no longer submerged beneath the water (see lower edge of the image). And the water looks to be at a respectable height now.

View attachment 363168

all of these bridge photos are of the calhoun street bridge. Maybe the bridge was made by the phoenix bridge company. That is trenton, new jersey on the other end of the bridge.

View attachment 363169

standing near the bridge (calhoun street bridge to my back and trenton makes bridge in the distance), i took another photo of the walking path on top of the levee. Today as i walked along the top, there were a few bicyclists who rode the path. The thing is the path isn't very wide and doesn't have any railings so ya gotta watch where you put your feet!

View attachment 363170

today was also 'the attack of the lantern flies.' when i walked to my car, one landed on my shoulder near my face. I jumped and almost dropped my camera. But my jumping made the lantern fly jump off and land on my back. So i put my camera in the car and grabbed something to brush it off my back while i stood near a window to see my reflection. Thank goodness it was gone. <insert sigh of relief here>

then when i arrived at the bridge, i no sooner got out and started walking up the levee when one landed on my cheek. Then another one landed on my pants. And one landed on my shoes followed by a few more on my pants. There was a whole bunch of them coming at me and flying in a swarm. <the stuff nightmares are made of!> :beguiled:

View attachment 363171

another look at the sign on the bridge.

View attachment 363172

this is the pedestrian walkway across the bridge. I never noticed the bells before - maybe i will ask someone about the bells' history. :encouragement:

View attachment 363173

there is a delaware river port authority guard station next to the bridge - usually during the day, a guard is stationed there. Looks like they might have hired a couple of new guards - one to keep watch that only cars cross while the other to watch that bicyclists walk their bikes.

View attachment 363174

View attachment 363175

​​​​â€â€‹---bells or lights????---

 

[hark]

​​​​â€â€‹---bells or lights????---

I think the consensus locally is those are lights and were added much later. I thought perhaps the bells were original and might have been converted to electric later, but no.

 

[hark]

This weekend I'll be photographing some promo images for the man who does falconry. Then sometime during November (I think), he will hold a couple events teaching people about what he does. And I'll be back a second time for at least one of those events. So I got out and practiced with the Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens.

It's definitely the heaviest lens I own - although the Nikon 200-500mm I rented was just too heavy to hand hold. This one is the limit on weight that I can hold though.

The downside is having to shoot at a high ISO when it isn't particularly bright. Due to the lens' weight, I kept my shutter speed at 1/1250". When I take pics of the falcon in flight, the shutter speed will need to be increased. :sorrow: And unfortunately they are calling for rain both days. So we switched from Saturday (89% chance of rain) to Sunday (62% chance of rain). Of course we are still a few days away from Sunday so anything can change with the weather.

I really like the Think Tank Emergency Rain Cover that I have in size small. Sadly it's too small for this lens, and everyone is out of stock on the medium which is what I need. So I ordered a LensCoat RainCoat which should be delivered before this weekend.

 

[hark]

This afternoon we had a break in the rain so I took some photos of memorial benches and general scenery. Met a really nice young man and had a conversation with him about Nikon lenses.

Since I will be photographing a falconry event, I decided to pull out my 300mm f/4 PF with the 1.4x TC and test it on my first D7200 (the body which previously had AF issues that @Peter7100 gave directions on how to reset). This combo will be a backup or possibly used to take supplemental photos for the falconry event. As long as the camera body is set to AF-C with focus priority instead of release priority, the AF lock has worked much better giving me many more in-focus images. :encouragement: I even focused on seagulls that were pretty far away. Sometimes I had to initially dial the focus manually toward the infinity end of the focus range then the focus would lock onto a seagull. Otherwise, without changing the focus to infinity, the lens just hunted. Both of the following images have been cropped somewhat.

 

[hark]

It's been a while since I've posted here. This afternoon I came across this holiday decoration hanging on a tree. It almost looks like there is snow on the ground, but there isn't. That's just a parking lot in the background.

 

[hark]

Just a cell phone photo - but I can't explain this. :beguiled:

I fill these small paper Dixie Cups near to the top with water and freeze for Dixie Cup Ice Massage. It's used in physical therapy to help reduce inflammation. I've been freezing these since the late 1980's after my third knee surgery. But ... but how??? :highly_amused: It didn't tip over at any time in the freezer either.

 

[Peter7100]

Just a cell phone photo - but I can't explain this. :beguiled:

I fill these small paper Dixie Cups near to the top with water and freeze for Dixie Cup Ice Massage. It's used in physical therapy to help reduce inflammation. I've been freezing these since the late 1980's after my third knee surgery. But ... but how??? :highly_amused: It didn't tip over at any time in the freezer either.

View attachment 368329

Very weird as I would assume you have ruled out the obvious thing of a drip from above the cup?

 

[nikonpup]

​​​​​​---coming soon to a freezer near u---

 

[hark]

Very weird as I would assume you have ruled out the obvious thing of a drip from above the cup?

No drip. It happens on a much smaller scale once in a blue moon. But I'm talking about just a little nub. Nothing to this extent has ever happened before.

 

[Peter7100]

No drip. It happens on a much smaller scale once in a blue moon. But I'm talking about just a little nub. Nothing to this extent has ever happened before.

Very weird. As long as it not Wuhan lab related layful:

 

[hark]

I went back through photos taken on the most colorfully saturated day I've ever seen here. It rained earlier which tends to punch up the saturation of leaves.