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Hatake Kakashi signed a blood contract with him. The eight dogs have different personalities and can understand the language. They are high-intelligence wood leaf facilitators. They can be summoned whenever Kakashi needs them. Help Kakashi to search, arrest, etc. Seal: 亥—戌—酉—申—未。
布鲁 ブル Buru
西巴 シバ Shiba
比斯克 ビスケ Biske
阿基诺アキノ Akino
古鲁克 グルコ Gurugo
乌黑 ウーヘイ Uuhei
乌鲁西 ウルシ Urushi
"DC-3 docks with large space base. In June 1969, NASA redirected North American to investigate a bold new concept proposed by the Manned Spacecraft Center's Maxime Faget. The company received a $0.25-million contract extension for this purpose, and another $2.9 million in July 1969 to develop large modular space stations and space base concepts like the early concept depicted here. Faget, the designer of the Mercury capsule, disliked Max Hunter's Starclipper lifting-body design since it had poor low-speed aerodynamics and also would be difficult to develop since the structure was tightly coupled with the aerodynamics. Faget preferred a simple winged design but he also admitted that traditional wings would be very heavy and the leading edges would be difficult to protect from the searing heat of reentry. His solution was the “DC-3” which alleviated the problem by reentering at a very high angle of attack (60 deg.), i.e. coming in nose-high much like the suborbital X-15 rocketplane. This would only expose the flat underside of the vehicle, as most of the thermal energy goes into the shock wave forming in front of the vehicle. The high drag also shortens the duration of the heat pulse, yet does not exceed acceptable crew deceleration load factors beyond 2 g's. The DC-3 wing would only be optimized for subsonic flight and landing, greatly reducing the development cost and time. But the low lift-to-drag ratio reentry profile advocated by Faget would also create some problems since the DC-3 would have limited crossrange during reentry, i.e. it would have been unable to fly larger distances than about 430km to the left and right of an initial direction of flight. Crossrange was an important military requirement, so the USAF opposed the DC-3."
The above, and the photo, along with a plethora of other fantastic images and information, at:
www.pmview.com/spaceodysseytwo/spacelvs/sld022.htm
Credit: PMView website
The exquisite artwork is by Henry Lozano Jr., North American Aviation/North American Rockwell artist/illustrator extraordinaire. Accordingly, Mr. Lozano was 1970 President of the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA):
Unfortunately, the record of the above, along with the link itself, has been removed from the following SILA website...:
...and replaced by the following.
Both above credit: SILA website
While still very informative, with reference to other superb ‘aerospace’ artists, it’s nonetheless very disappointing that Mr. Lozano has been omitted from the record.
See also:
1.bp.blogspot.com/-OlAZql_DmEs/Xv0oJa3n2hI/AAAAAAAASts/RY...
Credit: John Sisson/Dreams of Space - Books and Ephemera blogspot
And:
forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/127839-maxi...
Credit: KERBAL SPACE PROGRAM website/LOTS of cool stuff at this website as well.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_DC-3
Credit Wikipedia
Second image for my class I contracted on self-portraiture and anxiety.
When I become anxious, it over takes my body with its tendrils snaking through my every fiber. I become paralyzed and self-contained.
My mind battles with itself.
I seek questions, I seek answers, I seek resolution, but all that I say is administered through a clouded mind full of static, rolling lines of color, and grain images that I can only see vague shapes in. In truth, I am probably best alone when my anxiety is amplified – it never ends well and only a pixelated, fragmented version of my self is available to those around me.
I never really stop to ask – how is this affecting others in the immediate area? Those who are there for me, those who are not, those who are present, those who are absent? This piece is my attempt at understanding that. By placing myself in front of a TV what was originally projecting the color bars ranging from white to yellow to cyan to green to magenta to red to blue to black, I became a static figure in front of a static unmoving object symbolizing a seemingly infinite symbol of colors. By turning them black and white, though, the figures are presented in front of a mostly white screen and are silhouetted and they become faceless.
These two characters showcase my intent to become both the victim of anxiety and the person attempting to console. In doing so, I believe that a sense of hopelessness occurs because it is up to the viewer to discern between the figure who is anxious and the one who is not. When I originally was creating the image, I had a clear idea, having been the model and on body language, of which was which, but upon piecing it all together, I believe it can be interpreted either way.
My anxiety is debilitating, but it will hopefully be through this project that maybe I can become better. To know. To understand. And to live again
Facebook page . There is a before there.
For many years independent operators have taken school children to the swimming baths providing a useful source of off peak income. The firm with whom I started my working life in the bus industry was no exception and Stoniers of Goldenhill ... later Tunstall, had several such contracts. Here 'our' penultimate new Leyland Leopard TVT 863R awaits the returning rabble outside Tunstall's elderly Public Baths in Greengate Street circa 1980. Bodywork was by Plaxton to their Supreme III 'Express' design seating 53.
I gather Tunstall's baths are now earmarked for closure along with several other council run facilities as the authority strives to make cuts. I'm not sure how or where the kids will learn to swim if it is indeed still a legal requirement (?)
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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and fortunate enough to be signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.
On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being officially rolled out in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015 and has smoothed out the upload process considerably).
With visits now in excess of 17.661 Million to my FLICKR site, used primarily these days as a fun platform to reach friends and family as I have now sold my professional gear and now take a more leisurely approach to my photographic exploits, I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to FLICKR, GETTY IMAGES and everyone who drops by.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on November 28th 2016
CREATIVE RF gty.im/620515000 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 2,327th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fourteen metres at 12:29pm on Saturday 23rd May 2015 off the A835, then A832 on the shoreline of Loch Maree, between Taagan and Talladale in the Northwest highlands of Scotland.
Loch Maree lies in Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. It is Twenty Kilometres long and has a maximum width of Four Kilometres, it is the fourth largest freshwater loch in Scotland and the largest north of Loch Ness.
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Nikon D800 24mm 1/1000s f/2.8 iso100 Hand held. RAW (14-bit) AF-S single point focus. manual exposure. matrix metering. Auto white balance.
Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Digi-Chip Speed Pro 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Nikon DK-17a magnifying eyepiece. Hoodman HGEC soft eyepiece cup. Optech Tripod Strap. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 57d 37m 52.30s
LONGITUDE: W 5d 20m 57.70s
ALTITUDE: 14.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 37.58MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit
Contract Mission: Ivan Drackoff - Leader of the Shazir Cell in Bandaud
23.
Right after he grab a syringe and inject Drackoff
"Dagger clear"
...on rosa multiflora.
The Contracted Datana caterpillar grows to a length of approximately 1.75 inches (4.8 cm). At late stage It is black with a broad middorsal black stripe and 4 cream and 3 black stripes below it. It has long white soft hairs around its body and the head is black and the thoracic shield is orange.
It is found from Maine to Florida, west to Arkansas and Wisconsin.
This caterpillars food plants are oak and chestnut. But these caterpillars have been recorded feeding on the foliage of blueberries, hickories, sycamore, and witch-hazel.
All Datanas occur in large clusters of caterpillars. A single caterpillar found away from the food plant is most likely on its way to locate a suitable place to pupate. This species overwinters as a pupa.
ISO400, aperture f/8, exposure .006 seconds (1/160) focal length 300mm
ESA signed a contract with Leonardo to design, manufacture, integrate and test the Sample Transfer Arm for the Mars Sample Return programme at the the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2022.
Attending the contract signature event were David Parker (bottom left), ESA's Director of Human and Robotic Exploration, Gabriele Pieralli (bottom right), managing director of Leonardo’s Electronics Division, ASI’s president Giorgio Saccoccia (top left) and Leonardo Pasquali (top right).
Leonardo is leading a European industrial consortium with companies from Spain, France, Romania, Denmark, Greece, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
Credit: ESA-P.Sebirot
The 12th birthday of 432 leads to a contract change to Go-Ahead London from Stockwell (SW) with Volvo B9TLs from route 12, ironically enough. Here WVL438 (LJ61GWX) defied the contracted allocation of E400s and is passing the old and now-abandoned West Norwood Fire Station.
Ousted by the low-floor revolution, a brace of new to Manchester Volvo B10s await their fates at Lillyhall.
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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and fortunate enough to be signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.
On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being officially rolled out in December. ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015 and has smoothed out the upload process considerably.
These days I take a far more leisurely approach to my photographic exploits, a Nikon D850 FX Pro body as my trusted companion, I travel light with less constraints and more emphasis on the pure capture of the beauty that I see, more akin to my original persuits and goals some five decades previously when starting out. I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 31.657+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on June 10th 2019
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1154912627 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,558th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Ten metres, at 10:32am on Tuesday June 4th 2019, on a an overcast and drizzle filled morning off Birdcage Walk and Horse Guards Road in the grounds of St James's Park. Situated in the City Of Westminster, the Park spans twenty three Hectares and is the oldest of the Royal Parks of London, with a variety of visiting and nesting birds that include Ducks, Canada Geese and Pelicans.
Here we see a beautiful juvenile Siberian White-fronted goose (Anser Albifrons) relaxing beside the lake in St James's Park. The Siberian race has a pink bill and legs and the juvenile seen here does not yet have the full white forehead blaze nor black bars on it's belly that adults do.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 230mm Shutter speed 1/100s Aperture f/5.6 iso72 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L 6880 x 4584 FX). Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration (Normal) selected . Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. AF Area mode single. Exposure mode - Manual exposure. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. Auto 1 white balance. Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control Normal. Active D-lighting on Automatic. High ISO Noise Reduction: On. Picture control: Auto with Sharpening A+1.00.
Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Hoya UHC 67mm UV(C) filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 30m 9.10s
LONGITUDE: W 0d 8m 7.60s
ALTITUDE: 10.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 90.40MB NEF: 62.9MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 29.60MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.11 15/03/2018). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
First Berkshire have run service 555 from 31st December 2016, on an emergency basis following Abellio Surrey's surrendering of their contract.
New longer-term contracts have been awarded from 2nd September 2017, and Hallmark Connections will take over the 555. The December 2016 emergency-cost-saving change to divert the route to Terminal 5 is being reversed, with the service reverting to serving Terminal 4, Hatton Cross and Heathrow Central Bus Station. Later evening journeys have also been added back in. However, the service will remain at its reduced, hourly frequency (previously half hourly).
At the Hersham end, the route is extended for most of the day beyond Hersham Green to Whiteley Village in place of the 564, which is what residents there have been requesting, as it gives them further links than the 564's round the houses route to Walton only. Whether they'll change their mind when the bus keep getting stuck in traffic in Ashford, Sunbury Cross etc etc (unlike the local 564) and runs late remains to be seen.
In turn, the 564 is withdrawn between Whiteley Village and Hersham Green (except for the first morning journey), which gives it enough time to be extended back to Vicarage Fields and Xcel Leisure Centre, replacing the 459, which had in turn replaced the 564 there in the December 2016 emergency changes. It's a wonder there's any passengers left after all these changes.
Seen on First's penultimate day, Enviro 44567 (YX63 LLG) spins round at the Hersham Green terminus to start its journey to Heathrow.
Hersham Green, Burwood Road, Hersham, Surrey.
What happens when two models are contracted to do the same photoshoot by mistake? Harry Emmalong, the unfortunate fashion photographer found out when sisters Flambo and Gissles Lank turned up at the same time.
The plan had been a simple shot, featuring an armchair by the newly formed furniture company, Shabby Sheik. However, both women were determined they should be the model employed, not accepting it to be a back-office mistake.
Harry said "Frankly, I just let them argue it out amongst themselves. There was much squealing from the back room, and afterwards I found tufts of hair all over the floor. But I wasn't going to get involved".
Eventually, Harry took this shot of the pair trying to force themselves into the same chair. It was as good he was going to get that day, especially as they broke the chair.
Shabby Sheik were delighted with the picture, and paid both girls half the amount.
On receiving the news of this, there was much squealing from the back room.
The era of the pastoralists in the Crystal Brook area was dominated by the Bowman family. This area appealed to pastoralists as the Rocky River (which rises beyond Laura) joins the Broughton River near where Crystal Brook now stands. The first run in the district, called the Crystal Brook run (560 square miles) was taken up by William Younghusband and Peter Ferguson in 1842. It included the site of present day Port Pirie. Younghusband and Ferguson decided to survey part of their run and establish a town in 1848. They sold some of the land (85 acres) to Emmanuel Solomon and Matthew Smith, who established Solomontown. Around 1850 the leasehold was “sold” to the Bowman brothers with 25,000 sheep, 3,400 cattle and 200 horses for £50,000! The partnership between the three Bowman brothers was dissolved in 1864 following the Surveyor General’s new evaluation of their leasehold. George Goyder raised the annual lease from £514 to £3,420. One Bowman brother left for Tasmania, one for Poltalloch on Lake Alexandrina and another for Campbell Park on Lake Albert. The last remaining brother had his Crystal Brook run resumed by the government for closer settlement in 1873. The original homestead with a fine slate roof is part of Bowman Park, a state Native Fauna Park, controlled by the government. Many station buildings from the pastoral era still exist in this park. .
Surveying of the land for agriculture began in 1873 with town blocks being sold at auction shortly after this and the Hundred of Crystal Brook being declared. The town grew phenomenally in the first few years. The railway from Port Pirie arrived in 1877 sealing a prosperous future of the town. It continued on to Gladstone and to Peterborough by 1880. Many public buildings were erected in the years between 1877 and 1880. The first two storey construction in the town was completed in 1875 for E.H. Hewett, a butcher. At one stage this became the town’s bakery and it still has a basement oven. Today it is the National Trust Museum. By the time of the 1881 census Crystal Brook had 496 residents, making it the 12th largest town in the areas north of Adelaide.
At the end of the Main Street (Bowman Street) is Adelaide Square. Like Adelaide, Crystal Brook is also surrounded by parklands, although these have been used for development in places. The railway line divided the town into two parts. Some of the notable or historic buildings in the main street are:
1.The Crystal Brook Hotel on the corner of Railway Terrace was erected in 1878. The upper floor was added in 1910. For some years it was known as Knapman’s Hotel.
2.One of the large department stores was Claridge’s. It eventually became a Eudunda Farmer’s Store.
3.The National Bank site from used from 1876 but is now a private residence. The last a bank to operate here was the Savings Bank of SA. The classical looking bank structure was opened in 1936 for the SA centenary celebrations. It became a Savings Bank of SA in 1943.
4.The Royal Hotel built in 1882 with the upper floor added between 1910 and 1920.
5.Crystal Brook Institute built in 1881. Note the rounded upper windows and door quoin with the rectangular lower windows. Made of local stone. The library service started in 1878 before the Institute built.
6.The Georgian style Elders stock and station agent building was built in the 1930s. It is now a private residence. Note the perfect symmetry and the tiny portico above the front door.
7.In Adelaide Square note the Methodist Church- opened in 1877 and still in use. The unsympathetic front porch was added in 1967. Adjacent to it is a fine Sunday School building which opened in 1912 with FOUR foundation stones laid by four different local ministers and identities.
The District Council of Crystal Brook was established in 1882 and by then the town had a number of town facilities. These included the Crystal Brook School which opened in 1877; the Methodist Church which opened in 1877; and the first Catholic Church which opened in 1879. (The present Catholic Church opened in 1924 when the old church became a Catholic School.)
Growth of the town was based on its industrial development and the employment opportunities this provided. The first blacksmith was started by John & Robert Forgan who had learnt their trades with James Martin of Gawler. Their Crystal Brook foundry and implement works began operations in 1878. In 1884 the business expanded following the death of Robert. John also opened a branch in Port Pirie in 1902. The firm was still operating in 1973 when the town centenary history was written. The first flour mill was built on the corner of Railway Terrace and Cunningham Street in 1880. The flour mill burnt down in 1905 but the chaff mill part of the operations continued until the 1920s when it too burnt down. It was replaced by a motor vehicle dealership and garage.
But the biggest employer in the town was the SA government. In 1885 construction of the Beetaloo Dam, upstream on the Rocky River commenced. The government based its headquarters for the construction team in Crystal Brook. Once this project was completed work began on the Bundaleer reservoir in 1898. This was connected to the Beetaloo system. All the engineers and other workers for water in the mid north were based in Crystal Brook. Next the Baroota Reservoir was started in 1921. The Engineering and Water Supply (E & WS) office has thus been in Crystal Brook since 1892. Since the 1950s Crystal Brook has been the regional head office for E & WS with over 100 employed in the department’s workshops and offices. They are still located on the edge of Adelaide Square. The Highways Department has also had regional headquarters in Crystal Brook since 1943. In the 1970s this department employed 110 people in Crystal Brook. The railways were the other major government employer in the town before the rail standardisation of 1970 which saw the old station complex demolished. Other employment options in the town have been the northern areas radio station which was established in 1932, and the town electricity supply which began providing a service in 1922. The government has also employed health workers at the town hospital since 1925. Today Crystal Brook has a population of 1,600.
Used for an article about a pension fund for freelancers: www.24oranges.nl/2014/05/17/a-pension-for-freelancers/
Photo by Branko Collin.
From 2000 the preferred chassis manufacturer for new and replacement vehicles for the First Aberdeen Ltd fleet was Volvo. This came about as a result of a decision to contract out maintenance to a Volvo franchise with First Aberdeen engineering staff transferring to that new contractor. Consequently, plans were made to replace Leyland Atlanteans, Mercedes Benz 0405, Scania and Dennis Dart types with brand new and young second hand buses Volvo buses from other First fleets.
Six new Volvo B7LA / Wright Eclipse Fusion artics and six new Volvo B7TL / Alexander ALX400 double deckers were overshadowed by what eventually amounted to a total of one hundred and seven Volvo B10BLE single deckers, of which thirty-nine were new and sixty-eight were between one and four years old. The second hand vehicles came from First Manchester (twenty-eight) and First Glasgow (forty). Wright Renown bodywork featured on all of the new single deckers and thirty-eight of the second hand acquisitions with just thirty of the forty buses from First Glasgow having Alexander ALX300 bodies. The influx of these new and second hand buses with the consequential disposal of Leyland Atlanteans, Mercedes Benz 0405, Scania and Dennis Darts to other FirstGroup companies spanned a period just short of eighteen months.
Fleet numbers –
2 – 7 Volvo B7LA artics, 132 – 137 Volvo B7TL double deckers, 601 – 639 new Volvo B10BLE, 640 – 677 / 801 – 830 second hand Volvo B10BLE, (Registration numbers and other details are given below the images of individual vehicles).
In 2002 six Volvo B6-41 / Alexander Dash bodied buses came from Essex Buses Ltd These were allocated fleet numbers 201 – 206.
28 2001 651 X695 ADK 20010727 ae cpy
This plane has a private contractor out of Reno, NV., as the "Reno Flying Service".
No further info about this Piper PA-31T is available.
©FranksRails Photography, LLC.
RELEASE DATE: 1983
MANUFACTURER: Original Appalachian Artwork
BODY TYPE: Stuffed; tag 1978, made in Cleveland, Georgia; 1983 green signature
HEAD MOLD: Soft sculpture
PERSONAL FUN FACT written by my sister: Baldwin Lance arrived as the most familiar of strangers. In July 2021, Shelly and I both contracted a bad case of CABBIE FEVER. We had become obsessed in all things Cabbage Patch. One of our earliest discussions surrounded soft sculptures--how I thought they looked odd, how most were "one of a kind", and, best of all, how they could be purchased at an exotic location called Babyland. Call me shallow--if I were ever able to travel, I wouldn't go to the pyramids, or the Eiffel tower, or even to Disney. No, I would want to go to Babyland--where Cabbies live and play. Where you can adopt them straight out of the patch. Anyway, I digress--the point is, we were ogling soft sculpture Cabbages online. In one of my earliest Mercari searches, I saw this little man. He was my Baby Otis--I took one look at the listing and I said, "That's MY baby!" I loved everything about him and thought he was the cutest thing I'd ever seen--back when I wasn't sure whether I loved softies or just thought they were interesting and weird. He was expensive--his original listing was for $300. Then, he got slashed to around $250, still untouchable. I thought, "Maybe if he sits around long enough, he'll get marked down to a price I can afford." I knew him then as "Baby Baldwin." When I went back to check up on him--see if he was still available, see if he was any cheaper, I typed in "Cabbage Patch Baldwin." I obsessed in him for months and "Cabbage Patch Baldwin" was one of my typical Mercari searches. However, he was still expensive and, after being cheated out of one Baby Otis and losing a bid on another, we became consumed with getting Otis. Even if Baldwin Lance (whose whole name I knew by then), had gotten marked down, we were afraid to spend money on another softie--it's an investment--for fear of finally finding a touchable Otis and not having the funds. It took us until the holiday season--November--to track Otis down. By then, between buying my Courtney doll's things for Christmas and, shortly after, getting Corinne and Gwynn Tan, we didn't have any spare dolly cash for an investment such as Baldwin. I hadn't looked at his price in eons--probably since the fall. I figured, if he HAD somehow gotten marked down to what I wanted to pay, someone else would've bought him. I don't think I typed him in after a point because I was so sure someone else would've scooped him up and I didn't want to deal with the heartbreak. He's not like Otis--he's the only "Baldwin Lance". However, I came down with a bad cold a little before Easter 2022. Shelly was bored and, of course, using the down time to shop. We'd been talking for months about, maybe, someday getting A Kid For All Seasons Morton. We loved that he was bald and came in a raincoat and, more importantly, we wanted a bigger softie for certain clothes. (Otis is a strange shape, probably because he's from the Nursery Edition.) Shelly, somehow, remembered this guy and typed in my old key words "Cabbage Patch Baldwin." And wouldn't you know? He was finally touchable AND had a make offer. Shelly had decided that he was cuter than Morton and that we should make an offer. It was one of those agonizing scenarios where the seller wanted to haggle over a small window (considering the cost of the item, five or ten bucks is fairly insubstantial). I wanted to cave and just buy him for full price--I was so close to finally having my dream Cabbie and I fantasized about them immediately accepting our offer. (It wasn't that much of a stretch--a few days later, we tried making an offer on Oscar and they took it within the hour, no haggling!) In the end, we got him for a very good deal and I was very happy. I was so happy about him that, while feeling like I was dying from that horrible cold, I would keep thinking, "Baldwin is coming! THE Baldwin." It was my mantra. We ordered him the Wednesday before Easter. Ordering something before a holiday weekend can be hit or miss--it took the seller several days to ship him. Plus, he came to us all the way from California. Therefore, Oscar, who we ordered on Easter day came two days before him! By the time Baldwin came, Oscar and I had become best friends--but it didn't change how thrilled I was to finally have "Baby Baldwin" in our home. It didn't matter that he wasn't the first Cabbie of his stature, or that he was the second softie to arrive in a week. No, he was still just as exciting--Baldwin, the Baldwin I've loved since around the time we got our first Cabbage Patch Kid, Baby Martin. In fact, I'm pretty sure I loved this guy even before we got Baby Martin--for some reason, I thought his name was "Baby Baldwin" and it made me push to christen our first doll "Baby" something. I think--it feels like a long time ago. I just know that this little man has been in my heart since July 2021 and it took him about nine months to join the family! I felt really bad for him actually--he'd been listed since June 2021, before I'd even discovered him. He was probably waiting for a home, sitting in someone's closet. (I was scared that the seller wouldn't be able to FIND him after so many months of him not selling.) I also strongly suspected, because normally people make a point of photographing the butt markings on soft sculptures to prove authenticity, that this little guy had NEVER been undressed. When he arrived, wrapped in saran wrap like a mummy, I knew I was right--his name tag was still tabbed into his pants with a factory tab. NEVER undressed, what a travesty. A doll who was intended to be adopted, loved, and pampered like a real baby (okay, let's be real--their intent is to make money off the dolls, but the "adopt me, love me" gimmick really works for me) was never played with or truly appreciated. Poor Baldwin! We didn't know a whole lot about him, especially since the seller didn't post any nude photos. Going off the color of his name tag, Shelly thought maybe he was made in 1987, just like me. However, it turns out he's from 1983! Before we even stripped him, we thought that was the case because Shelly looked at the tag for a date and that's the date (and, since he'd never been stripped, we knew the tag was his). His butt stamp still looks like new! Honestly, I didn't care what year he was (though I suspected he was from the 80s--he's got that look). I'd been in love with him so long that I didn't care if he was from 1983, 1978, 2000, 2005, or 2018. Any time in between--it didn't matter. I love him no matter what. I love his bulbous head--it's like Otis', much bigger than Oscar's. His nose is humped like Otis' too. I love how he's got green eyes like Raphie's--and that dimple! He is simply to die for! He is truly one of a kind--and he's finally found his forever home with me and Shelly!
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The Orangeville-Brampton Railway's GP9 switches on a pleasant morning at Orangeville. Cando Contracting (hence the CCGX reporting marks) operates the OBRY, which runs twice a week over track owned by the city of Orangeville from here to the CP interchange at Streetsville. The company also operates excursions, which I suspect is what these guys were preparing for since I shot this on a Saturday.
This is one of the only remnants of CP's once-sprawling network of branch lines on Ontario's Bruce Peninsula.
August 10, 2013