Harrisburg Senators Baseball...

A couple of photos from an afternoon game at Metro Bank Park, home of the Harrisburg Senators. Over the next two weeks my comments will be short if any at all. You will understand why in a couple of weeks, hopefully by then I will have replenished my photograph supply.

Bird Seed Thief...

This is one of the little chipmunks that live close to my front porch. They are seen often but especially after I put out bird seed. If you see this guy he is wanted for stealing bird seed, he may be seen like this or with his cheeks puffed out on both sides. He may even be digging small holes to bury the food. He answers to the name Chip, he does have a partner that looks just like him that answers to the name Dale.

This site is now experiencing the same problems as my fire site, the uploaded and scheduled post are not showing up. I need to do into my dashboard, edit post, preview and publish again to get them to appear. Unfortunately I am unable to check them until this time of day or a little later. Be patient a post will be made every day as always, there is just technical difficulties. Keep checking back if one does not show up. Some days I may not have access to the web.

More From Armed Forces Day...

A couple more from the Armed Forces Day event at the Army Heritage Center in Carlisle this past May. These guys are a couple of the World War 1 soldiers, U.S. and French.

Sky Watch Friday From Florida...

Today's sky watch Friday comes from Florida this past February. This particular day out shooting with one of the sky watch staff featured beautiful birds, lots of sunshine and a cloudless blue sky. This will be my last sky watch for about a month, when I return I hope to have awesome sunsets and sunrise to share. Click the link to enjoy other great skies from across the world.

Looking For Something To Post...

Having a blog is not supposed to be so difficult. It is the time of year when using the camera slows down because of other commitments and my photo cache begins to drop. It gets no easier when daily hits drop. I don't know if that is because my quality declined, people lost interest or because they are to busy also. Whatever the reason, I plan to try and keep this going, but as I mentioned yesterday I will miss a few days this month.

This blue heron was captured at Viera wetlands in Florida this past February.

Hershey Bears...

Hey final Hershey Bears post of the season, I would have like to post more on them during the season but you have already heard me complain about not being allowed to take cameras into the arena. These were taken at one of there last practices at the Giant Center, top to bottom are Jay Beagle, Steve Pinizzotto and Tyler Sloan.

Over the next month my post should get shorter and some days I may skip. I am having a problem finding time and even photos to post. I really thought this weekend I would get plenty of shots to carry me over for a couple of weeks. Shane was to play rugby on Saturday, rained out, open house at Harley-Davidson, poured all day. Then the air show in Dover, Delaware, pushed back to Sunday because of other commitments, then skipped because of to much work to do and bad weather plus over time. I was also going to attend a Civil War event that featured canons firing at night, NOT I worked over time instead. On the bright side I have some money, just no photographs.

Bears Celebrate...

Last week I mentioned that the Hershey Bears won their record 10TH Calder Cup title. On Saturday June 13TH the Giant Center was opened to fans to celebrate and see the team one last time before the players parted ways for the off season. After attending 50 or so games over the season we decided to go and enjoy the the cup with the team.

In the top photograph team captain Bryan Helmer comes on stage with the cup raised high. After all the players were introduced a few went to the podium for comments before the players took to the rink to sign autographs. In the second photograph Alex Giroux showers the team with champagne. Shane got the opportunity to hold the cup high like the players, I was not in the crowd at the time but a friend managed to get a photo with their phone.

12TH Annual Child's Dream Weekend...

On June 6 and 7 my volunteer fire company the West End Fire and Rescue Company of Shippensburg hosted their 12TH annual Child's Dream weekend. The event normally has 20 to 24 kids ages 11-13 participating in the weekend. The children show up Saturday morning and spend the day learning what it is like to be a firefighter. The learn EMS, CPR, ropes and knots, how to cut cars and many other things. They then get to swim in the fire chiefs pool before having a pizza dinner, then showers and off to the miniature golf course before coming back to the fire house for a movie and bed. Sunday morning starts off early with breakfast then Life Lion out of Hershey medical center followed by a confined space drill and then graduation.

The children all have a great time, some go on to become members and at times their parents become members. We get to educate the community and at the same time give two dozen kids a great summer weekend. My son participated the past three years and loved it. I would like to thank Chief O'Donnell and the members of the West End Fire Company for helping the community and sponsoring a great event. I would also like to thank the Kieth Hess fund and Drew Taylor fund for donating money to help with the weekend.

Since it is my site I get to post photos of my son during the weekend. In the first photo Shane is extinguishing a class "B" fire with a dry chemical extinguisher, in the second photo he uses the jaws to spread and pop open a door on a car. If you look back to Saturday June 13TH post you will see a photo of him using the cutters to cut an "A" post on a car.

More Air Show Photos For Sky Watch Friday...

Hello and welcome to Sky Watch Friday again this week. Today's photographs come from the same place as the last couple of weeks, the Air show at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland last month. One of these days I am going to find time to get out with the camera and get some new shots. Don't forget to click the link and enjoy other great sky watch photos from around the world.

Reading WW2 And Air Show...

On Friday June 5Th Shane and I finally got the chance to attend the Reading WW 2 and Air Show. It was raining when we left home and they called for heavy rain all day but we have never been to the show for various reasons and we decided we were going no matter what. Well as you can see in the first photograph it rained hard all day. We walked around in rain gear trouncing through mud and wondered how good the show would be if the weather was nice. The flying portion of the show was cancelled for the day along with the demonstration of large military vehicles and skirmish they were to have. Believe it or not we still had fun and made the best of it. Maybe next year will be different and we can do all three days of the event.

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant...

Time for a few more photographs from Armed Forces Day at the Army Heritage Center in Carlisle. I have plenty more to post but as you can see I have been trying to mix things up on here. This is General Ulysses S. Grant, I will not go into detail about him but if you want to learn more follow this link to a great site. Short post today, I have way to much to get done and to little time to do it.

Harrisburg Senators Baseball...

No Bird Photography Weekly anymore they changed it from Monday to Sunday and since no one looks at the site on Sunday's I won't be participating. Don't think for a second that it means no more bird photographs because there will be plenty more. I get great enjoyment out of watching and photographing our feathered friends.

On June 4TH the Senators played an afternoon game at Metro Bank Park in Harrisburg. I had other things to do but decided to take the opportunity to watch a game and get a few shots. The Sens won the game 1-0 when a batter was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9TH inning. The top photo is center fielder Edgardo J. Baez making a great running catch in the later innings to save a run and the bottom photo is third baseman Joel Guzman.

I used to be a huge baseball fan, growing up liking the Baltimore Orioles and I still do. I would listen to every game during the summer on my little am transistor radio I got with S & H green stamps (showing my age now). In the last few years I have faded away from the sport, with all the cheating (steroids) and big money spending for free agents it just lost something for me. I still enjoy my minor league AA ball.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANE!

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY SHANE! Today my best buddy Shane turns 13 years old, where has the time gone. Just yesterday he was a baby and now he is a teenager. Shane is a well behaved young man, he is an honor roll student, plays the drums, hockey and rugby. He is also active in Boy Scouts and working towards his Eagle. Together we do allot of things, one of them bowling in a parent child league. Shane I am very proud of you and love you very much. I hope you get everything you asked for and have a great birthday.

The photographs are of a few of the things we have done in the past month. Starting at the top Shane is standing outside the Bears locker room last Tuesday after practice, he was able to get ever team member to sign the back of his shirt. In the third photograph Shane uses the cutter to remove the "A" post from a car last Saturday when he took part in the Child's Dream weekend at my volunteer fire department in Shippensburg. This was Shane's third and final year he could take part in this great program. The last two photos of him were taken last month at the Carlisle Army Heritage Center during Armed Forces Day.

How about those Bears, they won their record 10Th Calder Cup last night beating the Moose 4-1. Tonight they celebrate at the Giant Center for the fans. Shane already said he wanted to go and since it is his big day, we will. By the way our young goalie Nuevy won the MVP, congrats.

On a side not this is post number 500 for me on the site.

GO BEARS!! Again...

If you follow along on my blog you read the Tuesday's post and watched the video on the Hershey Bears attempt to win the Calder Cup in front of the home crowd. If you do not follow the Bears then I am sad to say we lost 3-2. The Bears are now at MTS Centre in Winnipeg, to play the Manitoba Moose in game 6 tonight. We still have a 3 games to 2 lead and hopefully will wrap things up tonight.

I mentioned that cameras were banned from the Giant Center (they do not think as much of the fans as they claim, just our money) but they do allow them into practice. On Tuesday morning Shane and I headed to the Giant Center to watch practice. We had a great time getting everyone on the team to sign Shane's playoff shirt and my card set after practice. The players were fantastic as always and we would like to thank them for taking the time to sign for us. Oh, back to the camera thing, I made the most of the time taking over 425 photos, and being able to use my 70-200 VR 2.8 lens for sports for the first time. And yes I loved it, what a great lens. The photos posted today are two of the Bears stars in the playoffs, the first is Alexander Giroux, Alex has set many scoring records this season both club and AHL records. The other tow our of our starting goalie Michal Neuvirth, Neuvy just 21 years old has started more playoff games than he did regular season games. He is the future of the Caps and in my opinion the playoffs MVP.

I usually do not post on Saturday's but tomorrow I will be making a special post, please stop by to check it out and don't forget to comment on it.

GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!

Sky Watch Friday...

It is that time of the week again, Sky Watch Friday. I have not had the chance to get any other photographs lately so I am sticking with the ones I took at Andrews Air Force Base last month. Don't get bored with them because there is plenty more where they came from. Click the link to the left to enjoy great skies from all over the world. Thanks again to the sky watch staff for sponsoring a great thing.

War Time Love...

I captured this young couple at the Armed Forces Day event at the Army Heritage Center in Carlisle last month. I do not know if they were playing are part or really in love, if they were acting they did a fine job. They caught my eye and I seized the opportunity to capture something a little different for a change. I hope you enjoy them, I myself was pleased with the way the second photograph ended after post processing.

GO BEARS!!

I would love to be able to post photographs from the last couple of games at the Giant Center but like I mentioned in a recent post the Giant Center will no longer allow cameras into the building. If it has a detachable lens or the lens on a point and shoot sticks out further than a credit card the cameras are banned. This is after allowing fans to bring cameras into the arena for years with the stipulation that we do not sell photos. I know myself and most fans stuck to that, but apparently a few decided to sell on eBay. Instead of going after those individuals they punished everyone. Funny thing is the person that was doing it got press credentials after the rule change and is still doing it. They even allow Greg Mace's young son to bring in his camera. We fans and season ticket holders pay allot of money each year to enjoy our team, it is a shame that management has to give us the shaft. Enough of the negatives for now, onto the game.

This video was taken with my phone at Sunday nights game four of the Calder Cup finals. The Bears won the game 2-1 to take a commanding three games to one advantage. For the first time in almost 30 years we get a chance to see our team have a chance to win the cup in front of the home crowd. The last two games have been sell outs and the fans have been crazy. This was taken in the last few seconds of the game, it gives you a chance to see how excited and loud the fans are and how much the team is enjoying their success. Tonight it is back to the Giant Center for game five and hopefully a chance to watch our team lift the cup and set a record for 10 titles in their history.

Hey Giant Center you constantly say you have the best fans in the AHL and we keep setting records for attendance, now how about treating us like you appreciate us. Remember without the fans you are nothing, WE PAY THE BILLS FOR YOU.

B-E-A-R-S, WOOOOOOOOO, GO BEARS!!

Front Yard Cardinals...

No exotic birds to share with you from my little portion of the world, just a couple of cardinals setting in my red bud tree taking turns eating the bird food. I think these guys like to tease the cats the way they set there looking towards the house singing. I know the cats tails get to swinging back and forth pretty good. They would not know what to do with a bird even if they caught one.

Fire Boat Training...

I will end the week with some photographs of us training on our new fire boat. Our new boat is equipped with a pump and deluge gun capable of flowing 500 gallons per minute. It also has a rescue platform that attaches to the front and a jet motor requiring only six inches of water to operate when it is up on plane. In the top photo Lt. Denny Devoe flows the gun and in the second photo Lt. Devoe pilots the craft while Capt. Dave Eiceman watches.

The Thunderbirds...

Two weeks in a row for Sky Watch Friday. These photos were taken the same place as last weeks, Andrews Air Force Base during the air show for Armed Forces day. The jets are part of the Thunderbirds air show. The Thunderbirds have entertained crowds for more than 65 years. They performed for an hour flying Lockheed Martin F-16 jets at speeds in excess of 450 miles per hour. Click tthe link to the left to visit other great skies from all over the world.

Two More From Armed Forces Day...

Nothing to say today, when I get these photos ready and do two weeks of scheduled post in one day I start to draw a blank. If you don't already know next to photographing wildlife my favorite subject is military portraits. I love these events.

Views From The Susquehanna River...

While out on the Susquehanna River training on our fire boats I took the opportunity to take a few photographs. The first photograph is the Capitol Building in Harrisburg. The second photo is of the Market Street bridge, Walnut Street bridge and the Harvey Taylor bridge. The one thing Harrisburg is not short of is bridges across the Susquehanna river, there is many more.