Some Events Are Just Better That Way

   A quick background of this story.

   The score is 20-14 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg. The homestanding Hokies have just given up a long pass that brought the Pitt Panthers all the way to the VT one yard line with little time left on the clock.

   First down, Pitt runs left, and is stopped short of the goal line.

   Second down, Pitt runs again, and again is stopped.

   Third down, a fade pattern into the end zone, broken up by the cornerback.

   Fourth down, and in the words of the Hokies radio announcer:

   "Pitt's quarterback will operate from the gun, Hokies crowd the line of scrimmage, a quick handoff to Hall, he slips a tackle in the backfield,

   BUT...THE...HOKIES...WILL...STONEWALL...HIM...

   Hokies make an unbelievable goal line stand to take the victory 20-14...unbelievable"

   Those words as written above don't hold a candle to the noise of the crowd, the yelling of the announcer and the color man in the booth. So what if I could not see it on TV, the mental picture described on the radio was something I will remember for a long while.

   The game will be remembered for its unbelievable outcome, but for me the voices over the airwaves made the day.

   I can remember growing up, listening to all sorts of games on the radio.

   Chattanooga Lookouts in the Southern League

   Chattanooga Mocs football and basketball

   Major League baseball, College football (especially the Tennessee Vols)

   And it was all by mental picture, described by the guy in the booth, no TV yet.

   You could listen while doing something else, raking leaves, working in the barn, even playing tennis.

   I guess it just fits in to my old fashioned idea that college football should be played in the daytime, in any kind of weather, outdoors and on real grass.

   And added to that list hearing your favorite team on the radio, and now on a streaming feed out of the computer.

   Some things are just better that way...

A Perplexing Pelican and Posing Relative...

   One afternoon on last weekend, we decided to go over to the St. Simons' marina; just wanted to look around and see if there were any interesting birds. While setting up for a pelican-on-a-post shot, a man walked up and began a conversation.

   "You gettin' any good shots of pelicans. My daughter at home loves those birds, and she would be real happy for me to send her a shot taken by a "real" photographer", he asked.

   OK, that got my attention, and so, I told him that I was getting ready to take one now after I got set up. Unfortunately, by the time I turned back to the scene, the brown pelican had flown away. Some pelicans like to pose and others don't.

   I told Nate, a man working on hurricane Irma"s dock damage to the marina, that I had taken a pretty good shot the day before, and, on receipt of his email address, I would sent it on to him for his little girl.

 

(I sent him this shot)

   Fast forward to this morning. On our way over the causeway to a doctor's appointment around 8:30am, all of a sudden the traffic in both westbound lanes came to a stop.

   A wreck perhaps?

   I could see a car in my lane turned in a diagonal posture, and another stopped car in the median coming east. A funny wreck for sure since there is a concrete barrier in the center of that road. No other cars were stopped there.

   As I got closer, and moved into a new lane that was going to turn right at the next light, we noticed a lady out of her eastbound stopped automobile, and another in front of the her's going west.

   They were animated in their gestures, but I saw no sign of a wreck. What was going on?

   Then there (he/she/it) was, in the middle of the lane-----a pelican sitting contentedly in the road. The bird was not injured that I could tell, but there had to be something wrong for it to be sitting there in rush hour traffic.

   I'm sure, although I could not stay to witness what happened, the ladies managed to get the big bird off the pavement. What they did after that, I don't know.

   We saw no sign of anything out of the ordinary when we returned past that same spot going back home to the Island.

   But I thought it was cool (or neat) that those folks would stop and help a bird.

   I heard no horns as the others driving to work and school this morning seemingly agreed with the rescue, not giving way to frustration for the delay.

   A small token of civility on a Monday morning.

   And I hoped that the pelican was able to be appreciative, and survive another day.

   What relationship between the Pelican on the Pavement and the Pelican on the Post?

   Perhaps they were related, and now both are happy.

   Let's keep Georgia's Wildlife Safe

I Gave My Wife A Car Ride and Look What I Found...

   When you are a care giver, and you live on an island that is like 12 miles long and less than 2 miles wide, you look for places to go to give your charge a change of pace from the condo and its views.

   It does not take long to exhaust the possibilities, and then you begin to revisit and look for reasons to go there again.

   Often I resort to the camera to give me an excuse to get out to various places where I have been before, an area which is subject to changes in wildlife and opportunities for new angles and different lighting.

   The other day, I asked my wife if she wanted to get out of the condo and take a car ride, to which she replied, as she most always does, in the affirmative.

   Harrington Park is a small Glynn County plot a couple of miles from our place with a couple of lakes, well, ponds really, where I have been before, several times. As usual, Mayre made a choice to stay in the car while I take a look around and see if there is anything new.

   Taking my backpack with camera and a couple of lens, and my tripod, I take off pond #1 where I look for birds or whatever. From my vantage point at the south end of that pond, I could see some white waders at the north end, so I move to that point.

   Setting up I shoot a Little Blue Heron, which is white, not blue or grey when immature, and take a couple of shots.

   Here is a shot taken with my 24x105mm lens from a fair distance away:



   After putting it into the computer with the processing program, I got these:



 

   Moving to my east a few paces, I was standing on the overlook of Pond #2, so I took a look for any more shots before heading back to the car.

   Sensing movement at the far north end of the pond, I saw what looked like a log moving across the water.

   Now the picture is not very good, and I cropped it to see what it was, and sure enough, it was a gator. I had heard rumors of one around here, and there he was.



   I go back to that park and those ponds on occasion, but have never seen the gator again. Surely I can get a better shot with a longer lens.

   An outing to get my wife out of the condo turns into a photo op that gives me more excuses to revisit that area. Perhaps I can get her out of the car to go down to those ponds, but probably not if I choose to tell her about our reptile friend.

   But she will let me go anyway, and that will be good.

A TV Update

   A few days back I wrote about doing away with the big all-encompassing internet and tv provider after my bill had dramatically increased.

   So I did.

   I cancelled my subscription to AT&T Uverse and shipped the equipment back to them.

   I contacted Comcast for Internet and residential phone service. They installed it last Friday.

   I took the 1 week free trial on Hulu with their live TV service and subsequently went with them on a monthly basis.

   After one week's use of the new set up, here are my thoughts and takeaways:

   1. I got the channels I wanted at a big savings.

   2. The streaming seems OK, with some glitches inside the programs, like it cannot buffer fast enough. I have not checked it all out for the reason, but it is only occasional and not a material problem (I don't think).

   3. There are 50 hours of available DVR and it has recorded the programs I wanted. This has come with a downside also. Whereas I used to skip through the commercials and only watch program content, you can't do it here. You record an hour newscast, you get the whole hour with no ability to skip some.

   4. The sport content has been good, ESPN channels, Fox Sports channels, CBS Sports, and NBC Sports along with the Golf Channel. There are some games that appear on ABC Sports that I cannot get, but that is not very many.

   5. The picture quality is good, can't tell any difference from the AT&T setup on the HD TV.

   So, those are my thoughts on the first week. I have seen other live streaming sites advertising, and, if mine shows signs of not living up to my expectations, I will check them out, but for now, I am here.

   If anyone else goes this route, let me know, and we can compare. If anyone goes another route with another site, I'd like to know that also.

   For me, a lot of this is uncharted territory, but I think it will work out.

   OR, It will work out, but I'm not sure how, yet.

  

   Back to this maybe?

There is This Word...

   I was struck the other day with a word that I thought should be a part of one's life, or at least, one's attitude..

   Wholeheartedness or Wholeheartedly

   I noted this in reading 2 Chronicles 31 the other day in verse 21 referring to King Hezekiah of Judah..

"In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered."

   And I saw this in the same book, chapter 25, where it talks about King Amaziah in verse 2..

"He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly."

   What a contrast in a life of halfheartedness, and one fully absorbed.

   I would call halfheartedness a type of reluctant obedience, knowing the right thing to do, and doing it, but holding back on a real commitment.

   Unfortunately, I find that I often fall into the "reluctant" category. It is not a problem to see what is obviously the right thing to do, but then "me" gets in the way. I do the "right" thing with the "wrong" attitude.

   It is not hard to remember to do things in an "all in" manner, it is the following through, doing them joyfully as to The Lord.

   Moses, in Deuteronomy 6 writes these words:

   ALL your heart, soul and strength.

   That is the right attitude, all the time, even when no one is looking.