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LOL...I'll bet this old girl IS starting to expect me to show up just about this time every year now
. It must be at least 5 or 6 yrs.since I've started to photograph the activity in the nest.
It's good to see Martha back and sitting on her clutch.
I did see George sitting out on his usual nearby piling, keeping a close eye on things.
Got down to the shore late this afternoon.
A little girl time.....just me and the Rave's. Larry will join me on the weekend.
The weather is cool and rainy, but it's supposed to clear up, and I'm hoping to get out to take a walk through the trails down near Cape May Lighthouse.tomorrow.
I had an invitation to the presentation of the new R8 V10 Spyder and there were also some other "stars" like this one. It was so dark there, but it didn't came out that bad as i first expected.
UK weather: Heatwave to continue with 32C expected
It will be another sweltering weekend for many and conditions are set to remain much the same at the start of the working week.
Although nowhere near the roasting conditions in southern Europe, the Met Office is still urging people to stay "sun sensible" - drink lots of water and stay out of the sun in the hottest part of the day.h the same at the start of the working week.
It could reach 32C (89.6F) in the capital and the heat is unlikely to show any mercy until Wednesday when conditions are expected to become "fresher and more changeable" because of cooler Atlantic air.
Any chance of the UK's heat record of 38.5C (101.3F) being broken looks to have passed for now, but it will stay warm and dry for most until the end of the week.
THIS EVENING ALL FELL SILENT AFTER MONTH LONG HIGH DECIBEL CAMPAIGN BY MULTITUDE OF PARTIES, IT'S HIGH DECIBEL BRICK BAT FIGHT IF NOT FIST FIGHT. PEOPLE GO TO POLLING BOOTHS ON APRIL 23.
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OUR STATE IS IN THE GRIP OF ELECTION FEVER. POLITICAL AWARENESS IS THE ORDER. PARTIES BIG AND SMALL SWUNG INTO ACTION. LEADER COMMUTE NIGHT AND DAY TO MEET PEOPLE CANVAS VOTES. MILLIONS FOLLOW THEM.
HERE IN ABOVE WHAT YOU SEE ARE THE IMAGES OF Ms. J. Jeyalalalithaa is in campaign trail. In our own stylish way. She meet and address the people from a Bullet Proof Glass box mounted on top of a air conditioned automobile. Security personal hang all around to protect her. 100o's of faithful followers in 100s of vehicles follows her.
IN SPITE OF SO MANY FLAWS, TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS, DEMOCRACY WORKS IN INDIA.
The ‘upper composite’, containing the ninth and tenth Galileo satellites attached to their dispenser atop the Fregat upper stage inside the launcher fairing, are moved from the S3B building to the Soyuz launch site of Europe’s Spaceport.
The satellites are scheduled to lift off at 02:08 GMT on 11 September (04:08 CEST; 23:08 local time, 10 September) from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on top of a Soyuz rocket. They are expected to become operational, after initial in-orbit testing, later in the autumn.
Credit: ESA–M. Pedoussaut, 2015
Not the red dot you'd expect, but it's a red dot all the same. The Leica R3, developed as the third in the line of Leica SLRs was co-produced with Minolta. But this is still a Leica, and it feels exquisite in hand. But don't let it fool you, this is not an easy camera to work, in fact, it's downright annoying. Do yourself a favour and buy the Minolta, or get the proper lenses to allow this camera to operate without multiple steps.
Read the full review online
www.alexluyckx.com/blog/index.php/2017/02/08/ccr-review-5...
Sony a6000 + Konica Hexanon 1:2.8 f=35mm
It's dinner time at the Somersleys' home.
Jania eats her nuggets and drinks some milk while singing ABCs.
As I began to scroll down Instagram while attempting to eat, but I start to get nauseous and very bad headache has came on... Thinks to self "hmm it's kind of weird for the past couple of days around the same time I get like this..." Exits out of Instagram and clicks the calendar app and looks at the date. Gasps "I'm Late, c'mon Jania look like we have to make a store run."
Later... (in the bathroom) yells out "Jania sit on mommy's bed and play with your toys until I come out." Pulls out pregnancy test out of the box and reads the instructions, breathes "Here goes nothing" Waits 5 mins... Glances at the test "positive" 😳 grabs another test and repeats the process "positive" blinks "Okay one more time" "positive" whispers to self "I'm preg... I'm pregnant..." sheds a few tears "It's been a rough year and now I am blessed to bring another life onto the grid."
Jania runs into the bathroom with a sign that says 'Mommy is Pregnant' "How did you get that?" "Yaya gibes me its mommy" says Jania "Oh really? Well since yall just knew that I was pregnant let's take a picture."
Jania: Cheese!
To Be Continued.....
Wasn't expecting to see this in Dover today, and this 22 year old vehicle had brought Student Groups to Dover Castle, and is a vehicle I wasn't aware that YMS Travel of Aylesham were still using as I hadn't personally observed it on the road since early 2023.
I expected to see lot of wounded people, but i saw not so many in Angola. I saw lots of people having polio. it seems that the civil war destroyed the health public programms, and so many young people were not vaccinated against Polio...
© Eric Lafforgue
Headed to EPCOT yesterday to load up on some shots. The UK pavilion was all dressed up in Union Jacks and handing out plastic crowns to celebrate the Royal Wedding.
In two weeks I'll be staying on property for a full week ending with the D23 Destination D event that weekend so expect lots of photos from early mornings and late nights and of course the event itself! Anyone else going to be there?
UK Pavilion
EPCOT
Walt Disney World Resort
Lake Buena Vista, FL
23/365
i saw this woman preparing to cross the street in JP as i was leaving work. i had my 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens mounted because i am lusting after a 135mm f/2L at the moment. the 100 is my closest lens to that until i take the plunge. this was taken at f/5.6, but i plan to take more at 2.8. this woman seriously looks like she is ready to go into labor, no?
The first half decent "visual" aurora of the season above the Garioch mists. Must admit was caught out a little by the size and brightness of this display, was expecting another tiddler, thus the 50mm lens.
It is sad that the bins were abandoned. Trying very hard to look upside down to see the humor from a distance. I guess the winter season will be colder than expected.
A moving one??
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
In 1948, a swept wing version of the F-84 was created with the hope of bringing performance to the level of the F-86. The last production F-84E was fitted with a swept tail, a new wing with 38.5 degrees of leading-edge sweep and 3.5 degrees of anhedral, and a J35-A-25 engine producing 5,300 pound-force (23.58 kN) of thrust. The aircraft was designated XF-96A and flew on 3 June 1950. Although the airplane was capable of 602 knots (693 mph, 1,115 km/h), the performance gain over the F-84E was considered minor. Nonetheless, it was ordered into production in July 1950 as the F-84F Thunderstreak. The F-84 designation was eventually retained because the fighter was expected to be a low-cost improvement of the straight-wing Thunderjet with over 55 percent commonality in tooling.
In the meantime, the USAF, hoping for improved high-altitude performance from a more powerful engine, arranged for the British Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet engine to be built in the United States as the Wright J65. To accommodate the larger engine, YF-84Fs with a British-built Sapphire as well as production F-84Fs with the J65 had a vertically stretched fuselage, with the air intake attaining an oval cross-section. Production quickly ran into problems, though. Although tooling commonality with the Thunderjet was supposed to be 55 %, but just 15 % of the tools could actually be re-used. To make matters worse, the F-84F utilized press-forged wing spars and ribs. At the time, only three presses in the United States could manufacture these, and priority was given to the Boeing B-47 Stratojet bomber over the F-84. The YJ65-W-1 engine was considered obsolete, too, and the improved J65-W-3 did not become available until 1954. When the first production F-84F flew on 22 November 1952, it was considered not ready for operational deployment due to control and stability problems. The first 275 aircraft, equipped with conventional stabilizer-elevator tailplanes, suffered from accelerated stall pitch-up and poor turning ability at combat speeds. Beginning with Block 25, the problem was improved upon by the introduction of a hydraulically powered one-piece stabilator. A number of aircraft were also retrofitted with spoilers for improved high-speed control. As a result, the F-84F was not declared operational until 12 May 1954.
The second YF-84F prototype was completed with wing-root air intakes. These were not adopted for the fighter due to loss of thrust, but this arrangement kept the nose section free and permitted placement of cameras, and the different design was adopted for the RF-84F Thunderflash reconnaissance version. Being largely identical to the F-84F, the Thunderflash suffered from the same production delays and engine problems, though, delaying operational service until March 1954.
During the F-84F’s development the Air Defense Command was looking for a replacement for the outdated F-94 ‘Starfire’ interceptor, a hasty development from the T-33 trainer airframe with an afterburner engine and an on-board radar. However, the F-94 was only armed with machine guns in its early versions or unguided missiles in its later incarnations, which were inadequate. An aircraft with better performance, ideally with supersonic speed, a better radar, and the ability to carry guided missiles (in the form if the AIR-1 and 2 ‘Falcon’ AAMs) as well as the AIR-2 ‘Genie’ missile was now requested.
The Douglas AIR-2 Genie followed a unique but effective concept that represented the technological state-of-the-art: it was an unguided air-to-air rocket with a 1.5 kt W25 nuclear warhead. The interception of Soviet strategic bombers was a major military preoccupation of the late 1940s and 1950s. The World War II-age fighter armament of machine guns and cannon were inadequate to stop attacks by massed bomber formations, which were expected to come in at high altitude and at high subsonic speed. Firing large volleys of unguided rockets into bomber formations was not much better, and true air-to-air missiles were in their infancy. In 1954 Douglas Aircraft began a program to investigate the possibility of a nuclear-armed air-to-air weapon. To ensure simplicity and reliability, the weapon would be unguided, since the large blast radius made precise accuracy unnecessary. Full-scale development began in 1955, with test firing of inert warhead rockets commencing in early 1956. The final design carried a 1.5-kiloton W25 nuclear warhead and was powered by a Thiokol SR49-TC-1 solid-fuel rocket engine of 162 kN (36,000 lbf) thrust, sufficient to accelerate the rocket to Mach 3.3 during its two-second burn. Total flight time was about 12 seconds, during which time the rocket covered 10 km (6.2 mi). Targeting, arming, and firing of the weapon were coordinated by the launch aircraft's fire-control system. Detonation was by time-delay fuze, although the fuzing mechanism would not arm the warhead until engine burn-out, to give the launch aircraft sufficient time to turn and escape. However, there was no mechanism for disarming the warhead after launch. Lethal radius of the blast was estimated to be about 300 meters (980 ft). Once fired, the Genie's short flight-time and large blast radius made it virtually impossible for a bomber to avoid destruction. The rocket entered service with the designation MB-1 Genie in 1957.
During the development phase the first carrier aircraft earmarked to carry the AIR-2 was the Northrop F-89 Scorpion, which had already been introduced in the early Fifties. While being an all-weather interceptor with on-board radar, it was a slow and large aircraft, and outdated like the F-94. Trying to keep the F-84 production lines busy, however, Republic saw the chance to design an all-weather interceptor aircraft that would surpass the F-89’s mediocre performance and meet the AIR-2 carrier requirements on the basis of the swept-wing (R)F-84F. To emphasize its dedicated interceptor role and set it apart from its fighter-bomber ancestors, the heavily modified aircraft was designated F-96B (even though it had little to do with the XF-96A that became the F-84F) and called ‘Thunderguard’.
The F-96B was largely based on the RF-84F’s airframe with its wing-root air intakes, what offered ample space in the aircraft’s nose for a radar system and other equipment. The radar was coupled with a state-of-the-art Hughes MC-10 fire control system. To relieve the pilot from operating the radar system one of the fuel cells behind the cockpit was deleted and a second crew member was placed behind him under an extended, strutless hood that opened to starboard. To compensate for the loss of fuel and maintain the F-84F’s range, a new tank was mounted under the cockpit floor in the aircraft’s center of gravity.
To improve performance and cope with the raised take-off weight, the F-96B was powered by an uprated Wright J65-W-18 turbojet, which generated 0.4 kN more dry thrust than the F-84F’s original J65-W-3 (7,700 lbf/34 kN). This was not too much, though, so that the J65 was additionally outfitted with an afterburner. With this upgrade the powerplant provided a maximum thrust of 10,500 lbf (47 kN), what resulted in a markedly improved rate of climb and the ability to break the sound barrier in level flight. The additional reheat section necessitated a wider and longer rear fuselage, which had to be redesigned. As an unintended side benefit, this new tail section reduced overall drag due to a slightly area-ruled coke-bottle shape behind the wings’ trailing edge, which was even emphasized through the ventral brake parachute fairing.
Armament consisted only of missiles, which were all carried externally on wing stations, all guns of the former F-84 versions were deleted to save weight. The F-96B’s weapons range included GAR-1/2/3/4 (Later re-designated as AIM-4) radar- and IR-guided Falcon air-to-air missiles and a pair of MB-1 Genie missiles. Up to four pods with nineteen unguided 2.75 in (70 mm) "Mighty Mouse" Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets each were an alternative, too, and a pair of drop tanks were typically carried under the inner wings to provide the aircraft with sufficient range, since the new afterburner significantly increased fuel consumption.
Even though it was only a derivative design, the F-96B introduced a lot of innovations. One of these was the use of a diverertless supersonic inlet (DSI), a novel type of jet engine air intake to control air flow into their engines. Initial research into the DSI was done by Antonio Ferri in the 1950s. It consisted of a "bump" and a forward-swept inlet cowl, which worked together to divert boundary layer airflow away from the aircraft's engine. In the case of the F-96B this was realized as an inward-turning inlet with a variable contraction ratio. However, even though they had not been deemed necessary to guarantee a clean airflow, the F-96B’s air intakes were further modified with splitter plates to adapt them to the expected higher flight speeds and direct the air flow. The initial flight tests had also revealed a directional instability at high speed, due to the longer nose, so that the tail surfaces (both fin and stabilizers) were enlarged for the serial aircraft to compensate.
Another novel feature was an IRST sensor in front of the windscreen which augmented the on-board radar. This sensor, developed by Hughes International and designated ‘X-1’, was still very experimental, though, highly unreliable, and difficult to handle, because it relied on pressurized coolant to keep the sensor cold enough to operate properly, and dosing it at a consistent level proved to be difficult (if not impossible). On the other side the IRST allowed to track targets even in a massively radar-jammed environment. The 7” diameter silicone sensor was, together with the on-board radar, slaved to the fire control system so that its input could be used to lock guided missiles onto targets, primarily the GAR-1 and GAR-2 AAMs. The X-1 had a field of view of 70×140°, with an angular resolution of 1°, and operated in 2.5 micron wavelength range. When it worked properly the sensor was able to detect a B-47-sized aircraft’s tails aspect from 25 nm (29 ml/46 km) and a target of similar size from directly ahead from 10 nm (12 ml/19 km). Later, better developed versions of Hughes IRST, like the X-3 that was retrofitted to the F-101B in the early Sixties, had a better range and were more reliable.
During the Thunderguard’s development another competitor entered the stage, the F-101B Voodoo. In the late 1940s, the Air Force had already started a research project into the future interceptor aircraft that eventually settled on an advanced specification known as the 1954 interceptor. Contracts for this specification eventually resulted in the selection of the F-102 Delta Dagger, but by 1952 it was becoming clear that none of the parts of the specification other than the airframe would be ready by 1954; the engines, weapons, and fire control systems were all going to take too long to get into service. An effort was then started to quickly produce an interim supersonic design to replace the various subsonic interceptors then in service, and the F-101 airframe was selected as a starting point. Although McDonnell proposed the designation F-109 for the new aircraft (which was to be a substantial departure from the basic Voodoo fighter bomber), the USAF assigned the designation F-101B. Its development was protracted, so that the F-96B – even though it offered less performance – was ordered into production to fill the USAF’s urgent interceptor gap.
F-96B production started after a brief test phase in late 1957, and the first aircraft were delivered to the 60th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in 1958. However, when it became clear that the F-101B would finally enter service in 1959, F-96B production was quickly cut down and the initial order of 300 aircraft reduced to only 150, which were produced until early 1960 in three batches. Only sixty were directly delivered to ADC units, because these were preferably equipped with the supersonic F-102A and the new F-101B, which could also carry the nuclear Genie missile. The rest was directly handed over to Air National Guard units – and even there they were quickly joined and replaced by the early ADC aircraft.
Operationally, almost all F-96Bs functioned under the US–Canadian North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), which protected North American airspace from Soviet intruders, particularly the threat posed by nuclear-armed bombers. In service, the F-96Bs were soon upgraded with a data link to the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, allowing ground controllers to steer the aircraft towards its targets by making adjustments through the plane's autopilot. Furthermore, the F-96B was upgraded to allow the carrying of two GAR-11/AIM-26 Nuclear Falcon missiles instead of the Genies when they became available in 1961.
A handful F-96Bs were camouflaged during the late Sixties with the USAF’s new SEA scheme, but most aircraft retained their original bare metal finish with more or less colorful unit markings. Due to its limited capabilities and the introduction of the Mach 2 McDonnell F-4 Phantom, the last F-96B was retired from ANG service in 1971.
General characteristics:
Crew: 2
Length: 54t 11 1/2 in (16,77 m) incl. pitot
Wingspan: 33 ft 7.25 in (10,25 m)
Height: 16 ft 9 in (5,11 m)
Wing area: 350 sq ft (37,55 m²)
Empty weight: 13,810 lb (6.264 kg)
Gross weight: 21,035 lb (9.541 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 28,000 lb (12.701 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Wright J65-W-18 turbojet with 8,600 lbf (34 kN) dry thrust and 10,500 lbf (47 kN) with afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: 695 mph (1,119 km/h, 604 kn, Mach 1.1) at 35,000 ft (10,668 m)
Cruise speed: 577 mph (928 km/h, 501 kn)
Range: 810 mi (1,304 km, 704 nmi) combat radius with two droptanks
Service ceiling: 49,000 ft (15,000 m)
Rate of climb: 16,300 ft/min (83 m/s)
Wing loading: 86 lb/sq ft (423 kg/m²)
Armament:
No internal guns;
6× underwing hardpoints for a total ordnance load of up to 6,000lb (2,727 kg), including
a pair of 191.5 US gal (727 l) or 375 US gal (1.429 l) drop tanks on the inner stations
and a mix of AIM-4 Falcon (up to six), MB-1 Genie (up to two) and/or pods with
nineteen 2.75”/70 mm FFAR unguided missiles each (up to four) on the outer stations
The kit and its assembly:
This fictional missing link between the RF-84F and the F-105 was conceived for the Fifties Group Build at whatifmodellers.com, an era when the USAF used a wide variety of interceptor aircraft types and technical advancements were quick and significant – in just a decade the interceptor evolved from a subsonic machine gun-toting aircraft to a guided weapons carrier platform, capable of Mach 2.
The F-96B (I re-used Republic’s dropped designation for the swept-wing F-84F) was to display one of the many “in between” designs, and the (R)F-84F was just a suitable basis for a conversion similar to the T-33-derived F-94, just more capable and big enough to carry the nuclear Genie missile.
The basis became Italeri’s vintage RF-84F kit, a rather simple affair with raised panel lines and a mediocre fit, plus some sinkholes. This was, however, heavily modified!
Work started with the implantation of a new tandem cockpit, taken wholesale from a Heller T-33. Fitting the cockpit tub into the wider Thunderflash hull was a bit tricky, putty blobs held the implant in place. The canopy was taken from the T-33, too, just the RF-84F’s original rear side windows were cut away to offer sufficient length for the longer clear part and the cockpit side walls had to be raised to an even level with the smaller windscreen with the help of styrene strips. With these adapters the T-33 canopy fitted surprisingly well over the opening and blended well into the spine.
The camera nose section lost its tip, which was replaced with the tail cone from a Matchbox H.S. Buccaneer (actually its air brake), and the camera windows as well as the slant surfaces that held them were PSRed away for a conical shape that extended the new pointed radome. Lots of weight in the nose and under the cockpit floor ensured a safe stance on the OOB landing gear.
The rear section behind the air brakes became all-new; for an afterburner I extended and widened the tail section and implanted the rear part from a B-66 (Italeri kit, too) engine nacelle, which received a wider nozzle (left over from a Nakotne MiG-29, a featureless thing) and an interior.
To balance the longer nose I also decided to enlarge the tail surfaces and replaced the OOB fin and stabilizers with leftover parts from a Trumpeter Il-28 bomber – the fin was shortened and the stabilizers reduced in span to match the rest of the aircraft. Despite the exotic source the parts blend well into the F-84’s overall design!
To add supersonic credibility and to connect the design further with the later F-105 I modified the air intakes and cut them into a raked shape – quite easy to realize. Once the wings were in place, I also added small splitter plates, left over from an Airfix BAC Strikemaster.
As an interceptor the armament had to be adapted accordingly, and I procured the quartet of IR-guided Falcons as well as the Genie duo from an Academy F-89. The large drop tanks were taken OOB from the Italeri kit. The Genies were mounted onto their massive Scorpion pylons under the outer wings of the F-96B, while the Falcons, due to relatively little space left under the wings, required a scratched solution. I eventually settled for dual launchers on small pylons, mounted in front of the landing gear wells. The pylons originally belong to an ESCI Ka-34 “Hokum” helicopter kit (they were just short enough!), the launch rails are a halved pair of F-4 Sidewinder rails from a Hasegawa air-to-air weapons set. With everything on place the F-96B looks quite crowded.
Painting and markings:
The machine would represent a late Fifties USAF type, so that the paint options were rather limited if I wanted to be authentic. ADC Grey was introduced in the early Sixties, SEA camouflage even later, so that bare metal became a natural choice – but this can be quite attractive! The model received an overall coat with acrylic “White Aluminum” from the rattle can, plus some darked panels all over the hull (Humbrol 56 for good contrast) and an afterburner section in Revell 91 (Iron Metallic) and Humbrol’s Steel Metallizer. The radome became deep black, the anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen olive drab (Revell 46). Light grey (Revell 75) was used for some small di-electric fairings.
Interior surfaces (cockpit and landing gear wells) were painted with Zinc Chromate primer (I used Humbrol 80), while the landing gear struts became silver-grey (Humbrol 56) and the inside of the covers as well as the air brakes were painted in bright red (Humbrol 19).
Once basic painting was done the model received a black ink washing and was rubbed with grinded graphite to emphasize the raised panel lines, and the material adds a nice dark metallic shine to the silver base coat.
Another challenge was to find suitable unit markings for the Fifties era in the decal vault, which would also fit onto the model. After a long search I eventually settled for rather simple markings from a 325th FIS F-102 from an Xtradecal sheet, which only features a rather timid fin decoration.
Finding other suitable standard markings remained demanding, though. Stars-And-Bars as well as the USAF taglines were taken from the Academy F-89 that also provided the ordnance, most stencils were taken from the OOB Italeri sheet and complemented by small markings from the scrap box. The biggest problem was the creation of a matching serial number. The “FF” code was originally used for P/F-51D Mustangs during the Korea War, but after the type had been phased out it might have been re-used? The letters as well as the serial number digits were created from various markings for USAF F-100s, also from an Xtradecal sheet.
Once the decals had been applied the model was sealed with semi-gloss acrylic varnish, except for the radome, the anti-glare panel as well as the walking areas on the wings as well as parts of the afterburner section, which were coated with matt varnish.
A rather straightforward conversion, even though finishing the project took longer than expected. But the result looks surprisingly natural and plausible. Lots of PSR was needed to modify the fuselage, though, especially the tail section was not easy to integrate into the Thunderflash’s hull. Sticking to the simple NMF livery paid IMHO out, too: the livery looks very natural and believable on the fictional aircraft, and it suits the F-84’s bulbous shape well.
On Wednesday 1/3/2023, 1451s (empty Aurizon grain to Bowmans) is seen approaching Elizabeth street, Two Wells (SA) with CLP8-cm3309 in charge.
1451s was slowing down for a 20km/h tsr after 1421s had derailed 2 weeks earlier.
It is unsure why Aurizon have a need to continue hiring power from Rail First, especially during a downturn in ore traffic.
I didn't expect to see this Raptor in my garden in midtown Tucson...Fortunately I had my iPhone 4S. After I got this one shot, I foolishly took a step forward to better get better exposure on the bird. It flew away...
Enhanced to bring out more detail in the shadows...
Cropped beyond reasonable.
IMG_8611 - Version 3
The old stagers live on - expected to be seen off by the Manchester arrivals, here is former Devon 18078 pictured arriving in Basingstoke from Andover.
Basingstoke railway station
25th January 2025
For all of my photos from Basingstoke, please visit:
southernenglandbus.smugmug.com/LATEST/2025-Trips-and-Visi...
Images from my first test batch using the Fujinon 150-600mm f5.6-8WR on a Fuji X-H1. Conditions were not great so most of the images are better than I expected.
Another exercise in building the corporate soul. General Motors pledge of allegiance to small-town America and the daily pageantry of life on Main Street. A community cross-section (there’s even an African-American near the margin) keeping the wheels of commerce turning on a street mysteriously devoid of Chryslers and Fords. Widely attributed to illustrator Stevan Dohanos - in the absence of a signature, I have my doubts. There are inconsistencies in spatial relationships between the figures and vehicles that I would not have expected from Dohanos. Maybe he just had a bad day.
Found this old house while out hiking in the Ozark Mountains near Devils Den State Park with the kids today. They waited outside because they said it was too creepy for them. Inside there was a vulture nest, and one of the baby vultures started hissing at me while I was taking the photo, I was fully expecting him to jump out of the nest and attack me at any time... What a creepy experience! (still fun though :-)
Pippy lolling in the sun and looking rather mysterious. She seems to be saying, "I know something you don't know." What can she be hiding? Hopefully, a belly full of babies.
And before anyone asks, I wanted her to have one heat and hopefully one litter so I can keep one of her kittens. Then I'll have them both neutered and sell the rest. I've already got takers for all of her theoretical kittens.
Pippy had her first heat a couple of weeks ago and we had quite a few tomcats coming to call. One even invited himself into my kitchen! However, I don't know for sure that she's pregnant. It's early days. If she is, she'd have her kittens mid-April.
Watch this space.
1966 expired Kodak Ektachrome Professional (E3 process Daylight)
Yashica 635.
I massively overexposed this 2 stops in error as I expected it to have lost speed (it hadn't other than a slightly fogged base)
Processed in HC110, reversal exposure and then processed in C41 (at 24C)
I had to scan this whilst still wet, in order to get any detail out of it, as the film dried and the base cleared, virtually nothing was left
This was taken earlier this morning. We are expecting record breaking heat today, soI went for an early morning walk with my neighbour and I'm staying indoors for the rest of the day. Stay happy, thankful and blessed.
Best seen large in the light box by clicking on the photo.
I never expected this exercise to be so much fun. I particularly enjoy the element of surprise along the way: not knowing where it all is leading, but still having faith in that it will come together in the end. I laughed out loud when I discovered the route to the bird's left wing. It was so unexpected and wacky. I mean, birds don't flap their wings like this when they fly. I find the bird's flying style pretty hilarious, if I may say so myself. :D
We can regularly expect to see two of our four US Sapsuckers up here. The other one that is regular (if not common) is the Williamson's. The Red-breasted is primarily a West Coast bird, and the Yellow-bellied is mainly an Eastern bird... although Sapsucker vagrants may show up anywhere in North America. Our constructed bird oasis draws in nearly all of the avian population to be found in this area. This bird has stopped at our pond for a drink and has conveniently parked on one of my photo props. The small patch of white under her chin suggests her sex. She is clearly a first-year bird.
IMG_9173; Red-naped Sapsucker