American Copper

This American Copper is on black berry leaves. Notice that there is a change of color? Yes folks…autumn is on its way.

The Schooner Bald Eagle

This is pretty much how the Tarr and Wanson paint factory looked when we arrived in Gloucester.

The Schooner Bald Eagle is one of my favorite little schooners to photograph. Here is the Bald Eagle in August 2008 in front of the Tarr and Wanson paint factory. This is right after the building was donated to Ocean Alliance.

Here we are, one year later in September, 2009.

In 2011, the Bald Eagle still looks smart. The Tarr and Wanson paint factory is getting renovations. Yet the section of the factory on the left is finally giving in. I think we should see some action shortly as a berm has been placed there in the last week.

Gone Fishin’

My buddy Joe trolls along Dogbar Breakwater.

A fisherman tries his luck off of State Fish Pier.

A little local color off of Eastern Point.

Bad birds! These Great Black-backed Gulls are going after the bait that a fisherman cast out.

Bad birds! Bad!

Irene Tropical Storm Warning

Irene’s here. Fortunately, we are just getting a blow. We are not really getting that much rain. It is not surprising that I’ve only seen two boats out on the harbor today. Both of the Gloucester USCG 47 foot Motor Lifeboats were out this morning.

These boats have two helms, one above and one inside. I cannot say I’ve ever seen them inside, not even in winter. I guess the weather must have to be a lot crappier than it is today.

Prelude to a storm.

The first clouds of Irene came in Saturday morning, yet it was an pleasant morning. We’re settling in for a bit of a blow.

The offshore support tug Independence comes home.

Is that a wheel house or a penthouse?

Saturday Evening Creature Feature, Frog

I’ve has some good luck with frogs this year. This frog was shot on a granite boulder in Dogtown.

It’s been a nice summer…so far.

We’ve had a great summer…so far. This weekend is going to be a little wet later, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. I have a few working boats and dories for you this morning.

Forgotten Photo Friday, Shagging in North Myrtle Beach

Yah, baby! They take their Shagging seriously in North Myrtle Beach. Here are some photos I took on our vacation last March.

I even caught a Laughing Gull doing the Shag on the beach!

Ardelle arriving last night

Just a couple more shots of the Adelle arriving.

Eine Kleine Nachtpost, She’s Beautiful!

I do the Eine Kleine Nachtpost entries when something happens and I just can’t wait to share it, and such is the case tonight!

Let me be among the first to welcome the Ardelle to her new home!

The wind was blowing out of the south and the Ardelle played off of the breakwater for a while. She then turned south and came about and ran into Gloucester Harbor as if it was dug just for her.

Here the Pinky Ardelle rounds Ten Pound Island.

Still under full sail, the Ardelle heads into the inner harbor to her new home!

Ardelle was built in Essex, but Gloucester will be her home.

Remember last September when there was the Frame Up?

You can check out Boat Building with Burnham and see the whole process of building a Essex built schooner.

Finally got some of the “good stuff”.

For the past couple of months, we’ve been out of maple syrup. This is just not acceptable and although we can buy it from stores in the area, we prefer to buy directly from a producer that we know. But when the sugar season ends in March and it is August, many small producers are out of stock, then you are S.O.L.

The Franklin Farm Store is our must stop source for Vermont Maple Syrup. Just so happens that they are in my brother’s neck of the woods and they also have other organic stuff that we procure throughout the year…when we get over to visit my brother’s family, that is.

There are lots of little producers in Vermont, New York, New Hampshire and Maine. Find one you like and patronize them. Look, when I was a kid, there were thousands of family farms. I watched many small farmers get out of farming. So if you can buy directly from them, then you should. It’s good to know your suppliers.

Lock C3 in Mechanicville, NY

When we were young, my father used to take us over to Whitehall, New York to see the barges go through the locks on the Champlain Canal. On the way back from visiting my mom, we passed by Lock C3 in Mechanicville, New York. I just couldn’t resist stopping in to see the locks.

The Champlain Canal was a waterway to take good from New York City up the Hudson, into the Champlain Canal, up through Lake Champlain and eventually through to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The golden age of barging is over now that trucking has taken over. The 1970’s saw a steady decline in barge traffic and the last regularly scheduled commercial ship working the canal was the Day Peckinpaugh which ended its operations in 1994.

Today the waterway services mostly tourist and pleasure boats, still making an easy path to go from New York City up to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. This picture is looking south from Lock C3 to Mechanicville. What you see is the Williams Street Bridge that brings 67 into town.

If you turn around from my vantage point you will see the lock doors.

The locks are opened and closed using these motors. This is the downstream door, holding back the water show in the picture above.

The upstream elevation is 73.5 feet. The downstream is 48 giving the lift of 25.5 feet.

This lock helps water traffic navigate past a power plant dam.  The blue and yellow colors are part of the New York State color scheme that I remember vividly from our trips to Whitehall.

The Rescue

Becky was reading a book on a deck when she heard a fluttery sound. We found this darner stuck to the deck floor. It didn’t make much sense why it was stuck, but I manage to finally see that it was struggling with some sticky spider’s web abandoned by its owner. His legs were tangled and his abdomen was pinned to the deck. After assessing how to best free the creature, I grabbed it by pinching the wings behind it’s back (as my guidebook advises) and carefully untangled him from his sticky mess.

He was quite tired and not very pleased to be man-handled in such a fashion. However after cleaning him up a bit, I placed him on my finger and let go of his wings. If you never had a darner latch onto your finger, is is quite amazing. Those legs are build for gripping, and his little barbs are sharp. But no blood was drawn! He stayed for about 60 seconds, flapping his wings a bit, then mustered enough strength to take off.

Common Terns

Each year, around the beginning of August the Common Terns come into Gloucester Harbor. I like to challenge myself to get photos of these birds in action. This year, we didn’t see the numbers that we did last year and they seemed to be fishing more in the center of the harbor.

If you have a chance check out my other Tern shots. Scroll down and check out the Common Tern shots from previous years.

Saturday Evening Creature Feature, Yellow-breasted Chat

I shot this Yellow-breasted Chat in California last June in Newport Beach. The size of an American Robin, it is our largest warbler. In this first shot, the Chat is “singing”. I say singing, but the call is a jumbled collection of chips, chirps, whistles and warbles.