Outside Dining

Today's Photo - Canale's Restaurant

















Just a short post, but I had to show this photo of a local restaurant.  Be sure to click on the image to see the large view.

Oswego has had 170" of snow so far this winter & they have to put it somewhere.  This pile is a combination of snow from the street & the parking lot.

Canale's usually has outside seating during the warmer months. As a joke they set up one of their summer tables, complete with chairs & an umbrella on top of the snow pile.  The owner doesn't really plan to seat anyone out there, although in an interview with the local paper he said that if he gets any more reservations for Valentine's Day, it is about all the seating left!  One note -  to give a better idea of the size of the pile, that green thing on the upper right is the corner street sign!

Pandora

Today's Photo - Great Horned Owl















I've been using Pandora as an internet radio for awhile, but finally decided to pay the $36.00 per year to avoid having it shut down every 45 minutes, get rid of the ads, etc.  I like the product.  On my laptop I can use a high bit rate version, but most of the time I use it with my iPhone, either plugged into the auxiliary  input of my RAV4 radio or connected to my Sony RDP-XF100IP Portable radio/dock. 


In either case it works out well since my favorite style of background music is "Ambient Radio" which is difficult to find on traditional AM or FM stations.  Since I'm not all that familiar with the individual artists by name, Pandora is the perfect way to listen to a genre without knowing titles or performers. And, if I do discover an individual performer I like, entering that performer will result in discovering similar artists. 


About the only other radio I listen to is NPR, which is often available over the air.  If not, or while traveling, if I want to listen to WRVO, my local NPR station, I can use the Public Radio App on the iPhone or log on to the station over the internet. 


Actually, although those are my favorites, my taste in music is pretty eclectic. As a former sound designer for well over 100 theatre productions, I've been exposed to just about any kind of music that has ever existed, and the ipod portion of my phone sounds like it.  At least I haven't transferred the sound effects form my itunes to the phone!  No rain, thunder or big trucks!


Till next time.

More Snow IV

Today's Photo - More Snow!















Like the Eskimo, people living in Oswego have 50 words for snow. Unlike the Eskimo, at least 95% of ours are not allowed in mixed company!

Last night's snow was unusual for Oswego - it was heavy, sticky snow that produced a typical winter wonderland.  Most of our snow is lightweight lake effect that blows off the trees in the slightest wind.  This morning everything was still covered.  Of course it is beautiful, but you don't want to shovel it!  Time for the snow blowers.

My neighbor was out clearing the driveway - I had just finished mine:

The snow at the end of the driveway where it hits the road is piled high enough that shoveling is out anyway - throwing shovelfuls of heavy snow over your head is not much fun hence the snow blower.

I took my camera for my walk & took these photos.  Here is one more.

After that it is back to a warm house, throw another log on the fire, and a big Sunday morning breakfast.

I'm still playing with the WiFi Ranger router.  So far, no problems other than wondering why it was running very slow one morning.  Turns out my regular router was disconnected & it chose another open WiFi connection in my neighborhood.  No idea as to whose, but restarting mine cleared things up. I'll give a full report once I add my cell card to the router.

Till next time!  

Eagles at the Mall

Today's Photo - Eagles at the Carousel Mall, Syracuse, NY.














Although I'm not at all proud of the quality of the images in today's post, it is interesting in that there are not too many places that you can take photographs of eagles from a shopping mall's parking lot!

Onondaga Lake on the north side of Syracuse was once one of the most polluted lakes in the country.  Although it is still far from pure, it has been improved to the point where fish & eagles have moved in. This winter most of the lake is frozen over, however the Metropolitan Syracuse Wastewater Treatment Plant discharges into the lake, forming a small section of open water where the eagles can catch fish.  Between 15 & 22 of the normally solitary birds can be seen perched in & flying over the trees that line the shore of the lake.

A lucky photographer from the local newspaper, the Post Standard, was given the opportunity to enter a restricted area near the plant to capture some close up images.  Here is a link to the article in the paper.

I managed to take a couple of images with a D700, a 2x tele extender, and a 300mm lens.  All are cropped - the eagles are quite a ways from the mall...

Here are a couple more:

Till next time!

Today's Photo - Another chipmunk photo.

















I think I'll skip swimming today.  Got enough exercise shoveling the roof!  We are expecting 12" - 18" of snow tonight & tomorrow, and there is already 30" or so on most of the roof.  Building a ranch style house in the snow belt doesn't make much sense, but it was something we didn't think about when be bought it in the 70's.

I'm fairly sure the weight isn't a problem until we get 4' or so, but even with good insulation & venting, icicles built up on the gutters, and I'm afraid the weight will tear them off the house.  Actually, the ventilation is only good when enough snow melts off the ridge vent - that usually takes a couple of days after a heavy snow unless I get up there & dig it out.  I have to get up on the roof at least once a month anyway, just to clean the chimney - I do 90% of my winter heating with firewood.

When it gets real bad (or I'm just tired of shoveling), I use a small electric snowblower to clear the roof.  It isn't everywhere you see people snow blowing their roofs!