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Evansville Western train MCL-1 departs Nashville, IL after picking up 7 cars from the local FS elevator. In the right distance is the nicely restored L&N depot.
This train would run to the current end-of-track at Okawville to retrieve more cars before heading back east to eventually tie down at McLeansboro.
A squirrel's prayer (A message to mankind)
Thank you for the life you give
The air I breathe, the dray in which I live
For the land around in which we roam
My wife and kids who call it home
Thank you for the food received
For love and hope and dreams believed
For every breath each day I take
For the little things that big things make
Thank you for the seasons all
For Spring and Summer, winter, fall
For happiness, contentment also
The birds and bees and flowers that grow
Thank you for the clouds and sky
The trees that offer shelter high
For rain that feeds the land I love
The earth below, the stars above
If I could ask for one small favour
Please watch over man's behaviour
I fear that dreadful changes may
Create a world of dread one day
The need to breed and feed and greed
Light pollution, lead not heed
Blinkered thoughts of exploration
Forests felled, extermination
Species dying by the hands
Of thoughtless folk as man expands
Pesticides and chemicals
Placed within the hands of fools
A planet pale and suffocating
Dwindling hope, excruciating
It's not too late if man could see
Responsibility lies with he
A squirrel, I, a chain and link
Like all who dwell on Earth I think
Thank you for my life, it's great
And Man take note... It's not too late!
Written by
Paul Williams 22nd May 2021
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The Grey (or Gray) squirrel, you either love 'em or you hate 'em. Cute and fluffy little funsters or destructive critters who ruin trees, kill bird chicks and trees and damage our homes... oh and it's their fault we lost o native Red squirrels as well!
OK.
I get it and I see both sides of the story of course. For my part, I am a nature, wildlife and landscape photographer who prefers the company of animals and natural beauty to fellow humans who are systematically plundering Mother Earth's resources and killing off her beautiful creatures at an alarming rate! I believe there is a natural order of things, creatures kill other creatures to survive, they adapt to situations and when mankind encroaches on their territory to make a fast buck, those animals sometimes adapt to survive and the order changes. That is the balance of nature which is ever changing and affected by us.....
the dumbest of the great apes.
WHAT EXACTLY IS A SQUIRREL?
The word 'Squirrel', was first recorded in 1327 and hails from the Anglo-Norman word 'Esquirel', from old French 'Escurel', which was a reflex for the Latin word 'Sciurus'.The Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) is also known as the Eastern Grey squirrel or simply grey squirrel depending on the region of the world it is found. It is a tree squirrel, of the squirrel family Sciuridae including over one hundred arboreal species native to all continents of the world other than Antarctica and Oceania.
Tree squirrels live mostly in trees, apart from the flying squirrel. The best known genus is Sciurus, containing most of the bushy tailed squirrels which are found in Europe, North America, temperate Asia as well as central and south America.
The scientific classification for the Eastern Grey is:
KINGDOM: ANIMALIA PHYLUM: CHORDATA CLASS: MAMMALIA ORDER: RODENTIA FAMILY: SCIURIDAE GENUS: SCIURUS SUBGENUS: SCIURUS SPECIES: SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS
A mammal and rodent, predominantly herbivorous they are none the less an omnivore with a life span of between two and ten years. They can grow to 70cm in length and weigh up to 8kg. There are more than two hundred and sixty species of worldwide squirrel, the smallest being the African pygmy squirrel at just 10cm in length, whereas the Indian giant squirrel is three feet long! The oldest fossil of a squirrel, Hesperopetes, dates back to the late Eocene epoch period Chadronian period of 40-35 million years ago. The tree squirrels rotate their ankles by 180 degrees, so that the hind paws pointy backwards gripping tree bark which enables them to descend a tree headfirst.
Originally native to Eastern and Midwestern United States of America, they were first introduced into the United Kingdom in 1876 in Henbury Park, Macclesfield in Cheshire when Victorian banker Thomas V. Brocklehurst released a pair of Greys that he brought back from a business trip to America after their attraction as pets had waned. Victorians had a penchant for collecting exotic animals and birds of the world, but trends came and went and subsequently animals were simply discarded into the wilderness.
There are early records of greys released near Denbighshire in north Wales from private collections. Later introduced to several regions in the UK, they quickly settled and spread, colonizing an area of three hundred miles in a quarter of a century between Argyll and Stirlingshire in Scotland.
Introductions of the Greys between 1902 and 1929 (the year of the last recorded introduction), included: Regent’s Park in London, Berkshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire, Devon, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk and Hampshire. Grey Squirrels spread into Gloucestershire and eastern Wiltshire with animals coming directly from the United States or from Woburn. One hundred greys were released in Richmond Park in Surrey in 1902, Ninety one into Regent’s Park between 1905 and 1907 and a further ten New Jersey imported greys were introduced into Woburn Park in Bedfordshire.
FACTS, MYTHS AND THAT POXY PARAPOX!
The massive decline in native red squirrels blamed upon the spread of the invasive greys has always been perhaps a little harsh as reds were already in a steep decline due to loss of habitat and disease and thus the greys simply took over the areas where the reds were dwindling.
It's also a fact that reds were also seen as a plague, branded as pests who killed birds and damaged trees and the culling of reds almost brought them to the brink of extinction. Licenses to kill reds could still be obtained up until the seventies!
Reds suffered at the hands of mankind thanks to a combination of agricultural deforestation also linked with war and fuel needs which caused extinction in Southern Scotland and Ireland by the early eighteenth century, way before greys had been introduced. Harsh winters killed off the less hardy red population in the early nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Greys are more adept at finding food and adapting to locations and environments, but also carry the squirrel poxvirus (SQPV) which although not particularly harmful to them, is a serious infection for the reds.
Parapox in red squirrels causes swollen lesions around the mouth, eyes, ears and nose also the front paws and sometimes genitals and skin ulcers and kills a red within fifteen days. There is no definitive correlation between the spread of the virus and the spread of the Greys, it actually arrived in several areas before the greys began to colonize there.
An epidemic virus was observed in Red squirrels from at least 1900 with isolation attempts failing, and the first case of Parapox in the UK was in 1980 in the county of Norfolk. Greys cannot transmit the virus to reds via saliva or faeces, but reds can between each other from bodily secretions and at animal feeders in gardens. The transmission from greys to reds is though to come from parasites. Eight to ten per cent of reds survive the virus, and there is some evidence that reds are slowly building an evolved resistance.
Greys are seen as pests to forest land, stripping bark from trees during May and June, and are also capable of destroying household bins, water pipes, causing roof damage not to mention taking eggs and killing young chicks of ground nesting and songbird populations. They also take from bird feeders and there is a whole industry for creating squirrel proof feeders these days.
THE CULLING OF GREY SQUIRRELS
Grey squirrels have limited legal protection and can be legally controlled all year round by a variety of methods including shooting and trapping. Methods of trapping and killing include Drey poking and shooting, Tunnel trapping using spring traps set in accordance with BASC’s trapping pest mammals code of practice. They can also be shot using a shotgun or powerful air rifle or up until September 30th 2014 poisoned by Warfarin (Now outlawed).
Whilst professional trapping and extermination is hopefully done as humanely as possible, there have been cases, many of them where cost savings have been gained by battering the squirrels to death! Grey squirrels are trapped in ghastly metal contraptions for hours and hours, wearing themselves out frantically trying to escape by gnawing at the metals bars.
They bite the floor and scratch at them with their claws and do not get a moments peace or rest through absolute fear. Once the traps are retrieved, each squirrel, terrified will be thrown into a sack and smacked on the head countless times with a blunt instrument. When a mother is slaughtered, her babies who are totally dependent on her, will die a slow death of thirst and starvation.
There is an argument for the control of Greys on many grounds but also a counter argument that Culling does not work, and has not on countless times where, once a population of greys have been culled, the nearest group will move back in and claim the land. The university of Bristol concluded that there was little evidence that culling greys to save red squirrels was effective, and that perhaps finding a way of boosting red squirrel immunity to the poxvirus or planting areas of yew trees where reds are known to thrive and spending money on research into positive moves might be a better option.
In Ireland, the re-introduction of the Pine marten, a species made extinct originally by the very same land owners who also wish to do the same to the grey squirrel, has seen the rapid demise of the grey and the re-introduction of the native reds. Red squirrels are smaller and more nimble than their grey counterparts, and as such can get to the very ends of tree branches where neither the pine martins, nor more importantly the heavier greys can, thus surviving and thriving.
As a result in Ireland, the grey squirrel population has crashed in approximately 9,000 km2 of its former range and the reds has become common once more after a thirty year absence... oh and Pine Martens are protected again!
In Scotland, Pine Martens exist in areas where Red squirrels thrive, and greys do not. So perhaps there is a lesson here, as in England where there are no pine martens, the greys are prolific breeders. So there is an argument against the barbarity of shooting and poisoning greys, and if, as so many believe, the greys MUST be controlled, how about a more humane and natural method that nature intended.. with reintroduction of predators. Just a thought!
So a few facts and figures on the greys and to wrap up, from a purely personal perspective I love these little guys, as I do almost every creature in nature other than those eight legged beasties that shall not be named and for which I have a deep and powerful phobia that borders on paranoia!
I could no more harm an animal deliberately than eat a McDonald's MCRib (Once saw how they are made and let me just say... eeeuuuuuwwwww!!).
They are small, cute, cuddly, furry, they photograph beautifully, have great personality and make me smile. They trust me enough to take food from my hand in parks, and I can't bare the though of ugly, hairy land owners sticking a shotgun in their face and blowing them away! I appreciate they can be a pest, a problem, a menace, that their PR managers might have a bit of a problem winning you over when they flay small chicks alive on your lawn or decimate the songbird population by stealing their eggs.... and perhaps there is a need to keep the population under control and try and re-establish the red population.....
Yep I get that....
I just hope we can solve the problem more humanely to create a peaceful coexistence of the reds and greys in different areas. A man can dream can't he.
Paul Williams June 18th 2021
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty seven metres at 09:33am on a cold morning Saturday 22nd May 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
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Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/500s Aperture f/6.3 iso400 Tripod mounted with Tamron VC Vibration Control set to position 3. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Size L (8256 x 5504) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (5090k) Colour space: Adobe RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)
Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto MT057C3-G Carbon fiber Geared tripod 3 sections. Neewer Carbon Fiber Gimble tripod head 10088736 with Arca Swiss standard quick release plate. Neewer 9996 Arca Swiss release plate P860 x2.Jessops Tripod bag. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 27.85s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.47s
ALTITUDE: 44.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 91.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 39.20MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) 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 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
CT-5765 "Flick" was named flick because he tends to like to flick the cadets
hello, this is a kamino moc, its not the best i could have done, but i like it. i took a lot of inspiration from JastaBrick for this one
365: The 2014 Edition (297/365)
DDC: Orange.
I asked Shyla to retrieve my hunter orange hat, and she somehow got it caught so it covered her whole face. She still cleared the log!
The previous photo is the more conventional retrieve of the hat!
Today, I had the privilege of watching a veterinary team perform a procedure on a crested wood partridge (rollulus rouloul). The bird had a foreign object lodged in her respiratory system.
After retrieving a single Asphalt tank from the Norfolk Southern interchange, KXHR 9 rolls deep into the heart of South Knoxville with Rick at the throttle and Austin riding shotgun. The rare Knoxville and Holston River Railroad move which ran today for the first time in a year, utilizes just over 4 miles of seldom used former Southern Railway branchline trackage. The stub end ‘K-line’ was laid originally for logging and quarry operations, with one of the quarry pits—Meads Quarry, now part of a local nature preserve (just out of frame to the right). KXHR SW600 no. 9, “Engine Engine Number 9”, was built in 1954 as McClouth Steel 9 and would pass through multiple short line and industrial owners before arriving at the Knoxville and Holston. Despite being exhiled to the south waterfront for use on rare K-line asphalt runs, number 9 has had a slightly more colorful life on the north waterfront, previously working for KXHR’s passengers operation, the Three Rivers Rambler, before being shipped across the river and placed in its current roll. As a note—KXHR 9 is now one of only two surviving SW600 type switchers left, being one of only 15 ever produced by EMD.
We challenged the dogs with some heavy cover conditions on the weekend, working in the tallest cover we could find at our place. We shortened the marks a bit and used birds to help them in the difficult conditions. It really tested their marking ability and their noses!
After retrieving the ball from the pool numerous times, he laid along the edge, watching the ball slowly drift toward him. He was quite tired by this point.
Retrieving muses in autumn !!
Thank you for visiting and comments !
Gracias por visitar...y comentar !!
To procreate! land says
with a voice as invisible
all to see and touch
and all they hear it, and wait.
A procrear! dice la tierra
con una voz tan invisible
que todos la ven y la tocan
y todos la oyen, y esperan.
Neruda.
Flown and retrieved shuttle Solid Rocket Booster Separation Motor (BSM) from the aft-side skirt from the mid 1980s. This booster separation motor (BSM) measures 12″ high, with the nozzle having a 9″ diameter and weighing 28.3 pounds. The BSM on the shuttle is a relatively small rocket motor that separates the reusable solid rocket boosters from the shuttle before the shuttle orbiter leaves the atmosphere.
About 2+ minutes into a space shuttle flight, 16 of these small, but powerful, motors are fired simultaneously for 1.2 seconds. This provides the precise thrust required to safely separate the spent boosters from the space shuttle’s ET and manned-Orbiter. Altogether, there are 8 such BSMs attached to each of the twin reusable SRBs, four on the forward skirt and 4 on the aft skirt. The BSMs in each cluster are ignited while traveling through the atmosphere at more than 3,000 mph with an altitude of about 24 nautical miles.
The BSMs are produced by ATK Launch Systems Group, part of Alliant Techsystems (ATK) Inc., at their production plant in Brigham City, Utah.
30/365
I feel like i already said this before but im not good with planning shoots, i always have ideas but i think my biggest problem is location, since i just turned 15 like a couple of months ago i cant really drive yet so i have to ride my bike everywhere, hopefully tomorrows picture will turn out, i'm going to try my best to plan it completely.
Ground was a little muddy and the first rocket ended up in a nearby tree (that will need to be retrieved later). It was a short but fun outing.
Here's a shot of Mounty (a Chesapeake Bay Retriever) and his girlfriend Sissy. They belong to some of our friends from the "Retriever and friends"-association. We met them and a lot of other dogs last weekend for a hike around Stuttgart. It was really fun to watch all the dogs and of course especially this situation was very funny. So who's retrieving?