More Snow III

Today's Photo - The Backyard 1/21/11























I don't want to keep complaining since I did choose to live in Oswego which is situated in the lee of Lake Ontario, but we have been a bit complacent - well below average show for the last two years.  


We have been getting at least a foot every day for the last couple of days - it has reached the point where even if I wanted to shovel, I can't throw it high enough to clear the piles on either side of the driveway!  Time to dig out the snow blower, even for just a couple of inches.  


This morning I shoveled the driveway, went for a walk, and half an hour later when I got back there were another 2" covering what I had shoveled.


As you can guess by this post, I'm getting tired of winter. 

Enough complaining.  It's time to head to the Oswego Library - I'm teaching a beginning class - Introduction to Digital Photography.  Mostly aimed at those that want to learn more about the settings & controls on their Point & Shoot cameras.  

Scanning Old Photos

The Vermilye Family, 1977














A word of warning.  Be very careful of starting a project to scan a couple of old family photos!  A couple has so far turned into over 500 prints, negatives & slides, and there is no end in sight. 


I have an old Epson 3170 Photo flatbed scanner which has a built in light source for slides & negatives, so the mechanics are OK, however it takes forever to clean up each photo. So far I've only run a hundred or so through Photoshop  - I'm trying to do a bunch each evening. For those that have never used it, the Content-Aware Healing Brush is a lifesaver.  Good for getting rid of scratches, dust, various blobs of strange colors, etc.  I'm not sure it is accurate enough to use on presentation images, but it works well for family photos.


For anyone interested in viewing the project, it starts here:  Old Family Photos.


Till next time!

2000 Trip to Glacier National Park

Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, MT
















Just a short post tonight - I finished the 21 pages that cover our 5930 mile trip to Missoula & Glacier National Park for our Daughter's wedding.  It all starts at Our 2000 Trip to Montana For Karin's Wedding.

Working on Web Pages

Today's Photo - Camping at the Green Valley Campground in Sturgis, Michigan













As I have indicated in the header of this site, I also maintain a photo, travel & RV website at Lakeshoreimages. Among the many pages on the site are journals of our previous travels.  


Once I had a laptop I started keeping the journals as we went.  Prior to that they were loosely documented in photographs (on that stuff called film!) and in a desk calendar I used to keep track of locations & mileage. I am slowly putting together web pages of these previous trips. As I mentioned on the first page of the journal, doing it as it happens is a much better idea!


This trip was put together because our daughter got married in Glacier National Park on the shores of Lake McDonald. Some photos of the wedding. Although I was pretty good about getting the wedding photos posted, the rest of the trip has never seen the light of day. So, I started putting together the pages of the rest of the trip today, 11 years later. So far I'm up to day 5. 


Anyway, for those interested in red road travel between Oswego, NY & Missoula, MT (and a bit beyond) I'll post a link in a couple of days when I get done. 

Sterling Nature Center

Today's Photo - Dawn at the Heron Rookery - Sterling Nature Center, Sterling, NY













Another non - trailer or travel day.  Well, maybe a little travel - the Sterling Nature Center is about 5 miles form home. If you are traveling the Seaway Trail, it is well worth a stop.


The Nature Center has an interesting history.  The farm land was originally purchased to build a nuclear power plant.  There were a number of proposals to use the land for things such as a toxic waste dump, etc, but eventually the center was formed.


Sterling Nature Center offers a variety of  trails that include the lakeshore of Lake Ontario, bluffs, woodlands, and, my favorite, the Heron Rookery.  The rookery was formed when beavers created a pond that flooded an ash forest.  While most of the trees died, they left a perfect nest building site.  At one time there were over 60 nesting pairs of herons on the pond.  Although winters have torn down many of the trees, the site is still a wonderful place to view herons, osprey & eagles in their natural habitat.  Some photos from the last couple of years:

Great Blue Heron

Osprey

Mom & Pop

Kingfisher

Mom & the Kids

The Pond

If you are interested in visiting to see the herons, late spring or early summer is best.  The birds fledge (leave the nest) by mid summer.  

On the other hand, the fall can be beautiful:

Fall at Sterling Nature Center

Sterling Nature Center is located in Sterling, NY

View Sterling Nature Center in a larger map


I have more photos and information on a few of my web pages: Sterling Nature Center and Sterling Nature Center 2006, & Sterling Nature Center 2010.