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A new Isuzu bulk tipping lorry operated by Daltons of Matamata, suppliers of potting mixes and other landscaping products. More often than not such a truck would operate with a 4-axle drawbar trailer.
I am not a fan of the recent updating/restyling of the Isuzu cab front, particularly the upper grille area with its six black areas as well as the gap below it which gives the appearance of there being something missing.
Fortunately the Hike Inn had power after the tornados hit, Nancy Hoch said, if she didn’t have power she wouldn’t have been able to accommodate me there.
Her husband Jeff was out of town. Sadly, I would have loved to talk with him about his extraordinary first people collection of arrowheads and spear tip points and other Native artifacts. They had no internet there and all I could do was upload my photos and videos to my laptop from my camera. The processing of a video to my laptop takes a while; I just splice the segments together in chronological order, that’s it. No editing. I shoot; I talk and try to keep it interesting, and speak correctly about all the facts and science in my head.
I have no script to follow. I just shoot from the hip, sort of speaking.
It was sunny and warm, enabling me to dry out all my gear. After resupplying in Robbinsville I was given a ride back to the Fontana Dam Marina. My next resupply point was over 100 miles away, past the Smokey Mountains to Hot Springs North Carolina, where I mailed my laptop to the Bluff Mountain Outfitter. This will be my longest leg of my journey so far. If I get jammed-up, there are points along the way I can stop, like Gatlinburg Tennessee.
The Fontana Lodge had a restaurant, so at the dam I called for a pickup to have one last good meal, while I still smelled nice, then off to the Smokey Mountains.
I hiked to Birch Spring Gap, the only tent site with no shelter in the Smokey’s.
In the great Smokey mountain National Park you can‘t setup a tent anywhere you want to, and I knew I would have to start sleeping in the crowded shelters soon, so I stopped at Birch Spring to be alone after my resupply. The Appalachian Trail in the Smokey Mountains is very heavily visited, so to reduce the impact on the natural surroundings, it’s pretty mandatory, that you stay in the shelters.
Birch Spring was a beautiful camp site, the best water I ever had came from the Smokey’s, and this spot was no exception. I carried the SteriPEN….Adventure to purify my water, I highly recommend it. But to tell you the truth, when the water from a spring came right out of the side of a mountain, I just drank it. Up from the blue blaze trail they had a hitching post for horses; the Smokey’s is the only place where people with horses share the Appalachian Trail. Many hikers have mixed feelings about sharing the trail with them. I do not. . I love horses so much; they have such a beautiful power. I love to touch them and hold them in my arms and really feel them.
That night I heard my first bear in the middle of the night going down the hill very close to my tent, it was big and noisy, obviously not very worried about being heard.
My plan was to hike to Spence Field Shelter for the night, I was excited to camp up on a grassy bald and take in some grand views. I fell short of my goals many times during my hike, but I wasn’t going to let that get me down, I just want to go with the flow of the cosmos, wherever it lead me was fine too.
It took me longer than I expected to hike through the Smokey’s, the shelter weren’t spaced right for my speed. I found much later, when I could hike much faster, that I didn’t like to go faster than 16 miles a day. The reason was, when I went faster than that I noticed, I would’nt take many photos, shoot many videos, I just wasn’t observing nature like I wanted to.
Up the trail just before Mollies Ridge Shelter I ran into some guys that said Mollies Ridge was dry, and I should take water down a side trail, that was poorly marked and I did just that. Coming up on Mollies Ridge Shelter it started to get real dark again, I could hear the thunder for the last two hours and although it was early for a lunch I thought, I would eat and wait the incoming storm that will be here at any moment. I went around to the front of the shelter to see someone’s gear, an old mid 1980’s Jan-sport external frame backpack and in the lower left corner a sleeping bag opened.
I called out and with no reply I went back to the side where the built-in table was, to have lunch and then came the rain. After a light snack I propped my pack up and laid down against it for some rest. After a short while and the rain was coming down, I could feel something, like someone was watching me, my hair rose up on my neck.
I looked over my left shoulder at a guy, wearing a ski-mask, was coming up behind me with one hand behind his back. Swiftly I jumped up and cut him off with the angle of the table. Instinctively my left hand went into my pocket, holding my knife with my thumb on the bolt that would quickly open my blade. If he would have came up with a weapon behind his back I would have cut his throat and he would have bleed-out dead before his corpse hit the ground.
Kitea, off to the side in the brush, was watching the whole thing go down from the very start. She saw him sneaking up on his blind side, with her body stretched out and on the tips of her paws, her tail straight and the tip whipping with fast short strokes back and forth ready to pounce. „What is this crazy bastard doing with a ski-mask in this heat?“
She felt much better, when Puma saw him and jumped for cover, with the posture of his hand in his pocket she assumed he had a weapon, and said „I got your back, big boy…“
His senses are very in-tuned she said, he has developed his 6th sense very well, very intuitive, it must have been all that Marine Corps training, he is so hot…. A Natural Borne Killer….
I remember several nights ago, when I was sleeping next to his tent, he talked to me in his sleep. He said, “I make the sound of the deer well, I grunt softly and they come to me...I’m a killer and I feel my prey like a ghost walking among them…”
The guy held out his other hand and in it was a very old leather glove, cheaply made, worn out and only one. He was saying something….. „wouwoouwo“… with his ski- mask it was hard to understand him and I said to him with a loud voice….. “I cant hear a damn word you are saying…. WITH YOUR SKI-MASK ON”…
Then he said it again….. it was something like…… he found this glove and was it mine. His speech was distorted and I could tell he had mental health issues….
Still crazy or not he had his other hand hidden behind his back and I’m on guard…
I told him one more time I cant hear him with his ski-mask on. It is not my glove and I don’t care, and for him to go away from me, I lunged at him just to give him a bit of a scare and yelled …..GO…OOOOOO ……
My heart was pounding, and I said to myself as soon as the rain lets up I’m so freaking out of here. Two days later I ran into a work party at Derrick Knob Shelter and a young man in charge had a radio and called it in, two days after that, I ran into a Ridge runner, and he said, they went up and got him out and that he was removed a few weeks before that too. They had to counsel with lawyers, to find out what to do with a homeless person, living in the shelters.
The rain let up and I was gone, but that was just the first band of the storm. The events, that occurred after that, were incredible, this will be the third biggest storm I was in during my hike, it sure was a season for storms and tornados. The winds, heavy rain, hail and thunder once again, unbelievable. Trees were being uprooted, snapping into and falling everywhere. I had to step off trail, the water ran down the trail like a river and I shot a video of it for my youtube channel.
When I got to the Russell Field Shelter, it was still early, two men from Atlanta Georgia where settling down there for the day. They were out for the weekend and this will be their last night out. We talked for a while, they were very nice, I like them very much so. They loved to hear my stories of my hike, the storms, the crazy’s…. hikers where coming by from the north, talking about the guy with the ski-mask, they had heard from other hikers north bound, I thought it was funny, the hikers, that told me about the water, never mentioned him.
The traffic south bound talked about a backpacking guide from REI, that would tell all the hikers, that stayed in “Her Shelter” for the night up the trail what to do, where to cook, where to sleep and where to hang there packs, she was even giving my dear sweet friend Susan a hard time about where she can cook. Susan argued with her, that she came from Springer Mountain, and that she has been backpacking for many years, and she will not tell her what to do. It hurt me to hear such things, its always about power and control, humans trying to force their will on others.
She was some kind of “Hiker Nazi”, cutting all the dangly bits of rope that people hung their packs on, really, they were in every shelter, I have seen during my entire hike. I wanted to hike on, it was still early and I could have made it to Spence Field Shelter like I had planned. The news was, that the REI guide was there with her party and my new friends begged me to stay with them. Why put yourself through the stress of having her around me like that. Relax here with us, we love to hear your stories…. Oh yes, I was a story teller my whole life, since childhood I could spin a good yarn….. it’s a gift.
Although it was probably a good call, I did stay, but I had no idea that it was a Saturday and the shelter was filling up fast. I took a spot on the upper left side with my back to the wall.
That night I woke up, packed close with so many people. I couldn’t breathe, I was having a panic attack. I sat up for a bit and then went for a walk. It always took me some time to put weight on my feet when I first get up, my feet where chronically sore the whole time I was on trail, and I had to move my feet a bit every morning so I could walk, hiker hobble they call it.
I’m sure the people, that were awake, when I had my episode during the night, were shocked; I knew I would have trouble sleeping in the packed shelters here in the Smokey’s.
The next day I was up and out early, said my goodbyes to my new friends, who were going down to their car and back home. They gave me some of their extra food, some fancy backpacking meals. I hiked to Derrick Knob Shelter, where a group of volunteers were camped, doing trail maintenance.
I tell you, if they didn’t maintain the trail like they do, nature would claim it back in a year or two, that’s it….
It was fun sitting with all the young people, talking about Religion and Politics, two of my favorite subjects. There was a photo-journalist there writing a story about trail maintenance.
It was love at first sight…… he was in the Navy and loved to call me Jar-head, affectionately of course…… and I referred to him as Squidly…….
They all stayed in their tents and with the weekend over it wasn’t too crowded.
I loved their youthful energy, they had a fire going all the time, cutting and splitting wood, gave me a chance to dry my boots or make them not as wet. Most of the kids were taking a break from their studies in the universities. The young women were quite attractive and it was fun watching them all jockeying for position, guided by their hormones running wild.
In the evening we sat around the fire and talked, I’m sure it was me, that started the conversation about religion and politics and how closely they are related. It’s all about power and control, I said.
Separatism is the major flaw in human development, we are so busy discounting everyone’s believes, that we are missing the big picture. Religion has killed more people than all the plagues; I think religion caused some of the plagues. Then the social class system of the rich and poor, money is the cause of all evil the in world. We should do away with it, its all a big lie anyway. Our monetary system is flawed by corruption; they have juggled the numbers for so long, it was just a matter of time when it would all come crashing down like a house of cards. We went back and forth through the night in interesting debate.
Before the emergence of the big three monotheistic religions Judaism, Islam and Christianity, there was no “Gender Assignment” for a god, in fact men and women were equally represented with gods and goddesses and a balance of power was achieved, men and women were equal.
What if, way after the death of Jesus and Christianity became legal and rose to power in Europe, with The Church” in their struggle for power made an allegiance with the monarchy to control and rule over the people. What a head trip to say “ you better be good for goodness sake” or you will spend eternity burning in hell. Anyone, who has ever had a bad burn, knows, its an endless pain to be burned, many hours and days even after the burn it still feels like your burning. What a brilliant physiological torture to impose on the masses to keep them in line.
What if, they could cut half of the population right out, by making women second class citizens with no say so what so ever. If Eve, beguiled by the serpent, went against god and ate from the tree of wisdom, ruining mans great life in paradise, then she was maid to serve man as a punishment. It sounds like a lie to enslave half of the population.
Who ever said, god was a he anyway, I bet it was a man. I bet a man wrote the book of genesis too, just that in itself needs to be addressed, the serpent was a pagan goddess deity, how coincidental is that. I think, if Jesus was alive in the here and now, he would be very upset how his good work has been tarnished for the sake of power and control.
Women have been victimized and still are all over the world in places like China, Japan, Africa.
In China they have a astrological calander and the Chinese Zodiac here women born under the sign “Fire horse Women“ In Japan it’s called Hinoeuma
Fire Horse women are called dangerous, headstrong, and are seen as deadly to men. This may sound quaint to western ears, but the 1906 Japanese women were subjected to poverty and starvation because they could not marry. According to the Chinese Zodiac, girls who were born in the year of the horse were said to be stubborn and short tempered.
Fire Horses are seen as outgoing, people-loving, ambitious, rebellious, and independent. They are supposedly freedom-loving and impossible to contain.
While ambition and independence are prized as ingredients for success nowadays, they were never seen as ideal female qualities. The proper woman was seen as submissive, quiet, and dependent, not rebellious and strong. This prejudice against fire horse women kept the 1906 women wracked by poverty in Japan, since no one would risk marrying a woman with these qualities. Now over 90 years old, many of the surviving hinoeuma women are poor and homeless.
Out spoken women in Europe were taken care of by saying they were witches in league with the devil and simply murdered in the name of Christ. Thousands of women were hiked this way, in the New World too.
It wasn’t long ago, when women couldn’t vote in this great country. Women in Europe and in America around the middle to late 1800’s started to protest, woman like writer and poet Renee Vivien from Paris France will always be rememberd as one of the “First Wave Feminist” and many others too,
Separatism….. we have to stop the insanity of this odious behavior, inherent in all of us, if we wish to evolve into better human beings, after all we are from the same “Human Family”
We have lived in tyranny long enough and people will rise up around the world and say we will not take this anymore.
Everyone stood and cheered, I love young people, they are willing to see things in a different light not afraid of change, unlike us old folks, well that’s a different story. The passion of my thoughts exhausted me and I said good night.
Kitea, thinking of all that was said, lay in the woods, unable to sleep all night. She said, his great burden never was about his pack weight, it’s what’s in his head. He sees the world as one, united in a common good for the entire world to share equally. The end of separatism and equality for all…..how great life could be for all…
Feeling quite well and rested, my boots and socks were the driest they have been in a few days I hit the trail. Silers Bald was covered in fog, hiking the trail reminded of being in a rain forest all morning the fog and mist would rise to the heavens, in the afternoon it would come down again as rain everyday after day….
As I got close to the highest peak on the Appalachian Trail Clingmans Dome, I got lost again. The trail got tight along a ridge, then widened but started to go down, it didn’t feel right but I followed for a little bit then turned around. I went back to where a sign was and saw a white blaze up on a rock cliff, it was a bit of a scramble then the trail leveled out on a beautiful ridge. I loved to hike the ridges, you could see very well where you were going… you could see for miles and miles, it truly my favorite hiking. The bad part was, if you were up on a ridge when a storm came in the lightning was very dangerous
You were so exposed; I was caught up on a ridge twice and hiked very fast to drop down for shelter. The trail got tricky close to the Dome and I slowed not to miss the trail.
Getting low on water but not wanting to go off trail to the Dome I pressed on not sure where I would find water. It was getting quite late when I arrived at the Mt. Collins Shelter and water. Two guys both named Dave and heading in opposite directions had a fire going when I approached the shelter. The north bound Dave and I talked a bit in the morning; I had hiked 13 miles the day before, climbed the highest peak on the AT and was so tired when I made it to camp the night before. Every night my feet were so sore and I was so tired, having to setup camp and make supper, gathering wet wood for my Zip-stove I took my time in the mornings enjoying my coffee rested and could really relax and take it all in.
South bound Dave was up a gone early, while north bound Dave was on his final day.
He was getting off trail at Newfound Gap heading down to Gatlinburg and home to Florida his journey ended. We hiked together for a bit, the smells in the conifer forest were incredible, very sweet and spicy like cinnamon, gorgeous and the shades of green with all the moss covered rocks and fallen trees were on of my fondest memories.
Dave talked about the town below and I decided to go down to Gatlinburg for pizza and cheeseburgers.
Kitea following closely as she always had since she found Puma thought what a great opportunity she had to go home and see her Grandmother Capote. Puma didn’t plan to stop in Gatlinburg and it wasn’t a thought for her but now she was excited to talk to grandmother about him and read the smoke and her dreams.
Newfound Gap was right in-between Gatlinburg and Cherokee town and Reservation.
She figured it’s only 30 miles away, Puma will probably stay for two days, she could catch-up with him on the trail by picking up his scent.
When I got close to the Gap I could hear the traffic first, then I got to the road and could see it was an overlook across the road. Tired, wet, hungry for a proper meal, I smelt like a wild animal I thought as I crossed the highway to the parking lot full of people. They had all pulled over to rest and take photos of the mountain views. When some people saw me coming I was swarmed by them, like I was some kind of celebrity or something. A man came up to me by the restrooms asking about my hike, then asked if we could pray.
I said sure, I love all good people and respect everyone’s right to worship in there own way. He asked Jesus to watch over me, protect me while on my journey as we held hands
and tears fell from my eyes it was so beautiful. A man asked if I would like some granola bars I said sure. People came up to me so curious and full of love, wanting to have their photo taken with me.
Four beautifully stout southern black women came up to me in their Sunday dresses and hats with very colorful flower prints. They just dazzled me, they were so beautiful and smelt so nice, touching me, hugging me and kissing me on my cheeks. I went to apologized, for I smelt so badly, one of the women whispered in my ear you don’t smell so bad. I did change my shirt to my camp shirt to get ready to hitch hike a ride to town.
Their husbands where taking photos of the spectacle or I think one was making a video,
when one of the women asked if she could go and hike with me. I said to her,
baby I will cook for you every night……. If you will carry my backpack.
Her husband looked away from the viewfinder of his camera and at me winking and smiling at me, it was truly a beautiful experience. Newfound Gap was like a melting pot of tourist, it was like the whole world was being represented.
Even the bikers, both the men and the women looked my way in appreciation.
Bikers and I are very similar in a way, we are a bit standoffish, loners and rebels, if you ever met me in person I have a look
about me that is somewhat threatening and somewhat loving, people can feel me and I can feel them without ever saying a word….it’s a gift
Perhaps because I’m so sensitive….
Or maybe when I was electrocuted by 5,000 volts at work one day…
Or when I was shot….
Or when I was stabbed…..
Or when I was bitten by a rattlesnake as a child…..
Or maybe when I was struck by lightning….
I feel much differently since I was hit by lightning, it scrambled my brain
Sometimes things get so mixed-up in my head and random thoughts
bounce around like electrons, neutrons and protons in a pattern like a spider web
all connecting, yet random like the cosmos.
Whatever it is……
People can feel me when I write too…..
I write with my soul…..
This is black tip, a male red squirrel born in spring. He is fully independent now (Squirrels-2019-1641.jpg)
Orange Tip - Bowers Marsh RSPB reserve, Pitsea, Essex. so well camouflaged when they close their wings!
Had a walk round the Midhurst yesterday bu the river. Found this orange tip - who stuck around for a few photos.
A very, very good mate of mine the coach industry gave me a tip off that this firm were looking for drivers......I shall say now i have never walked into a place and felt more welcome than i was here, It's a really happy place and so i start on Monday.The current job just wasn't for me just shuttling backwards and forwards morning and afternoon and just only staying local. I have never been so excited about starting a new job like i am over this one and monday can't come soon enough...Hunters of Daventry is the place and this is just a small selection of the fleet and yard. Photo taken 04/10/19
Just the tip of the macro iceberg! I'm going to enjoy using the D300 and the Nikon 105mm macro lens combination!
It's going to take forever to learn the new camera layout though! The buttons are in all the wrong places! What is second nature with the Canon, is completely alien with the Nikon! Mad! All part of the fun of learning something new I suppose! :)
Right, I'm off to visit some photostreams while my battery re-charges!!
Large on black! :)
08-053
The Lesser Purple Emperor Apatura ilia has an 'eye' on the upper side of the upper wing, a less defined pattern on the underside, and bright yellow antennae tips; its look-alike the Purple Emperor Apatura iris does not
To all who visit and view, and – especially – express support and satisfaction: you are much appreciated!
Die Fühlerspitzen sind leuchtend gelb
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Babenhausen 28AUG2019 – Lesser Purple Emperor Butterfly:
This male Apatura ilia form clytie butterfly flew onto my shoe! And as if that were not amazing enough, as it turned, its color changed from 42 shades of ordinary brown to become iridescent blue!
Billions of tiny scales – in 2 types – on the dorsal wing overlap like roof tiles and cover the membrane surface, to the naked eye appearing as dust, producing a brilliant color due to multilayer photonic crystal micro- and nanostructure, transforming a plain brownish hue to a stunning violet-blue, a phenomenon used to attract mates, camouflage, and startle predators: wingtop color changes in the wake of the variation of the incident light angle.
Even though this is the first time I've identified it, the Lesser Purple Emperor butterfly's range, the Palearctic [Palaearctic] (first identified in the 19th century and still used as the basis for zoogeographic classification), is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms on the Earth's surface, stretching across Europe, Asia north of the Himalayan foothills, North Africa, and northern and central parts of the Arabian Peninsula.
Hope you enjoy the 26% of 61 butterfly photos I took this day!
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– Album – Germany – 26AUG-11SEP2019:
Three days before leaving, I got my schedule rearranged to free up time for Joe & me to spend two weeks in and around Babenhausen!
La pianta del pero riesce a dare raccolti generosi e di buonissima qualità per decine di anni. Se le condizioni sono adatte questa pianta è in grado di vivere anche un secolo.
Il pero è caratterizzato da una chioma di tipo conico; la corteccia è di colore grigiastro ed e soggetta a frequenti fessurazioni. La grana del legno è fine e dal colore bianco rosato; per queste caratteristiche è particolarmente apprezzato in ebanisteria.
Le foglie hanno una colorazione verde brillante, sono di forma ovale e glabre. La fioritura, caratterizzata da numerosi fiori bianchi avvolti in un mazzetto di foglie, avviene in prevalenza alle estremità dei rami. I fiori sbocciano a fine marzo e la fioritura riesce a durare fino a venti giorni. Purtroppo questo è un limite per la coltivazione, infatti un periodo così prolungato può esporre la pianta a gelate e brinate, se coltivata in zone fredde.
Fonti: piantevivai.com
These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.
Tip:
Question "when using gels, what white balance do I select"
The answer is quite simple.
You shoot the colorchecker passport with normal strobes (so without the gels) now you use this as the setting and add the gels. This way the gels do exactly what they supposed to do.
Of course..... When shooting gels you are in the creative mood and you can change whatever you like.
Added note.
When using CTO gels for color correction you of course shoot with gels on. But this tip is about the creative use.
#xrite #sonyimaging #elinchrom #elinchrom_ltd #photography #tip #gels #color #whitebalance #strobes
A chill with no frills atmosphere. It is open 24 hours, so it attracts an assortment of customers, from lunch and dinner customers to late-night crowds like partiers on weekends, late-night shift workers, truck drivers, and early risers. We are expecting a snowstorm to start tonight. Waffle House has a reputation for staying open during severe weather. I wonder if this one will uphold that reputation and remain open for 24 hours tonight. If so, I hope the workers receive some big tips.
Tip Top House is the last of the original structures built at the summit of New Hampshire's Mt. Washington that still exists today. The stone hotel was built in the summer of 1853, a decade before the civil war, by Samuel F. Spaulding & Co., at a cost of $7000.
Pair of
Anthocharis cardamines, the orange tip, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae.
Scientific name: Anthocharis cardamines
Phylum: Arthropoda
Orange-Tip Butterfly, (Anthocharis cardamines), on Cuckooflower, (or Ladies smock), (Cardamine pratensis).
Hollins Vale nature reserve.