Do You Think His Tongue Was Planned?

Do you think this young bull stuck his tongue out on purpose?  I am betting he did knowing I was taking his photo, that has been the story of my life.  Time is still short, this is all you get.

This Bull Has Been Hard At Work...

This photo was taken at this years Elk rut in Northern Pennsylvania.  Time is short and the brain quit working sometime back, okay it was years ago so I will keep this very short.  This bull was busy keeping his herd together and tearing everything up to impress the cows.  And now while the cows look towards another bull he needs to rip off a most impressive bugle.  What an awesome sight and even more awesome sound it is.  I can't wait to do it again next year.

Same Bull As Monday's...

This is the same bull as Monday's post just taken a little earlier on a very grey day.  It would have been great to have a blue sky or colorful fall leaves in the back ground but the opportunity did not provide it.  I was walking up over the back side of the mountain when he appeared all alone and very vocal.  Looking up at him as he bugled created for me a larger than life creature that makes one of the sweetest sounds you will hear in nature.

Did anyone else notice that I have been posting on a regular basis?  Someone has because my daily hits have been going back up again.  It does seem as if only two people noticed that I changed the blog header last week.  I do not know if I can keep this going at this rate but I am going to try.

And with work interfering with life and every day being a work day or an off day I almost forgot it was Thanksgiving.  So, from my family to yours have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  And please don't burn your turkey today I want to see some football.

Take My Photo, Please...

This little guy stepped out into the open one afternoon I was photographing with Bob Shank.  It was a productive time as we had about seven bulls and numerous cows and calves around us.  Not wanting to pass up a chance to photograph Elk other than big bulls I snapped a few photos quickly before he headed away.  While out shooting I will photograph all wildlife as I see the beauty in them all.

When I did this photo on Photoshop CS5 it looked okay to me but now that I am looking at it in the blogger preview I see a green cast to the whole image.  What do you think.

Elk Silhouette...

If you have not realized it by now I really love silhouette photographs with the right subject.  Unfortunately they are not always easy to obtain.  My all time favorite would have to be Coy's from Country Captures, he used it as his blog header for a year and I hated to see it go.  I could have had the same chance at that shot had I tagged along with him that night but instead I ended up with the tractor on top of the ridge photo.  I prefer beautiful sunsets or sunrise colors behind the animal but one late cloudy evening this year in Elk country I looked up to see this opportunity presenting itself.  Not wanting to pass up the moment I fired away.  I will say I got my best whitetail silhouettes this year in SNP and you will be seeing those in the future.  I hope the two links worked as it is the first time I have tried it on this new format, if not check back as I will try and fix them.

Something Different For Friday...

After posting four days in a row of whitetail I thought it might be nice to switch things up and change to a larger animal today.  And if you are not counting this is five post this week for me, I am hoping if I get consistent I can gain my viewers back that I lost. 

This photograph was taken September 29, 2011 in Elk County during the Elk rut.  Since I gave meta data this week with my deer photos I will continue it today with this shot.  It was taken with the D7000, 200-400 VR f4 lens mounted on a tripod at 5:50 p.m.  The settings were ISO 640 at 1/250 second f4 at 600mm.  This bull had a good quality of light on him and for a change some fall colors in the back ground making the photograph pleasing to me even if the pose has him walking away.

I really dislike this time of year because of winter coming and summer being just a memory but then again it is my favorite time of year.  My two weeks spent at SNP and Elk County for the Elk and Whitetail ruts are my two best weeks of the year.  It is relaxing, there is great people, beautiful wildlife and I am cut off from the outside world.  Of course it also means the start of hockey season and those games really help me forget it is cold outside.

To Much Lens...

Don't you just hate it when you have to much lens.  Normally we cry that we do not have enough but in this case it was just the opposite.  What you see is all I could fit in the frame.  I was shooting the D7000 with the 200-400VR f4 when this bull approached me.  It was recorded at the 200mm (with the conversion factor it would be 300mm) at ISO 400, 1/40 sec at f4 from the wimberly.  I have always made a habit of carrying the D300 around me with the 70-200VR f2.8 but I got lazy this day and decided to put the lens in my bag I was carrying, it did me no good there.

The second photograph is taken from the first.  I only used this to show you the reflection in the eye, his teeth and the fine hairs standing up on his chin and nose.  This was only my second Elk trip with this lens and the first time on this camera so I was going through a few learning experiences.  Overall as long as I did my job right I was very pleased with both.  As a matter of fact the D7000 has now become my main camera with the D300 as the back-up.

More From The Pa. Elk Rut...

Two posts in a week maybe I can get back into the swing of things here.  Today's post comes from my recent trip to Elk County for the rut.  In Monday's posts I mentioned the weather, what I didn't mention is that with the wet weather on Winslow Hill normally comes heavy fog in the mornings.  And we had just that, heavy fog on a few mornings.  When it is foggy like this you have a choice of just observing the Elk, trying to photograph them or doing both.  I have always done both, but I spend more time just watching than photographing.  This bull was photographed on the top of the mountain as he bugles to anyone that wants to listen, and believe me we were listening.  This is just an amazing sound, if one spends enough time around the bulls you can learn if it is an old bull or a younger one.

Now I am typing this hoping the video works, I changed some things on blogger to up date the way I make my posts hoping that some of the bugs go away and this is my first post after doing this.  If it works what you will see is a cow and her calf grooming each other close up.  This was taken mid morning on an overcast day in the woods with little light.  I have found that it can be much easier to video rather that shoot photos with a DSLR in low light.  Being away from the other noises Winslow Hill can bring is great, turn up your volume and listen to the peacefulness of the outdoors and the bugling of the bulls.  It is funny as the bull bugles the cow must have been bored by it as she appears to yawn or maybe she is lip syncing.  I hope this post works.

Pa. Elk Rut 2011...

Last week I spent my time in the mountains of Elk County observing and photographing the Pa. Elk Rut. This is the third year in a row I have spent the last week of September chasing around the Pa. Elk herd and enjoying quality time with great people. The week went allot like last years, warm weather (to warm for Elk activity) and lots and lots of rain. Also like last years the weather broke the last evening their giving me my best photos that night and the next morning.

I am not shore what I like best about the rut, a chance to be away from the phone, newspapers and TV, the Elk or the people. Most of the time is spent with great people that I have met by doing this. We get together every year at the same place, many I have known for a few years and others that you just meet. Yes I would have to say that the best part of the experience is spending time with great people, most that I will not see again until the next rut and others that I will shoot with numerous times before the next rut. We all share one thing in common, the love of the outdoors and wildlife.

This photos was taken early one morning in the saddle with Coy and Willard. This bull got a name this year like many other bulls in and around Winslow Hill. He is now called Uncle Bob.

Thanks for the great time guys and I can't wait to do it again.

Water Rescue On Front Street...

I assuming the video upload worked, I have tried a few times with no luck. This was one of the calls we had on Friday last week, we were dispatched to North Front Street near the city line for a car in the water with the occupant inside. One of the most difficult things to do during a flood is determining the best route of travel because of flooded streets. On this call I drove out of the city into the township to approach the incident. With apparatus on both sides we waited for the Utility to arrive with the raft. A crew of three walked the raft in to the auto and assisted the elderly man into the raft and out to safety. Once out we placed him on the front bumper of my wagon for EMS to check him out. The last photograph is Captain Jim McHenry "B" platoon and Battalion Chief Herb Berger "C" platoon working overtime with us.

I turned out to be an 87 year old man delivering meals on wheels, had this been a younger person we would not have been very happy about the call and he more than likely would have been fined. But do to circumstances we handled this a little different.

I would like to point out that the local news paper the Patriot News Harrisburg reported on the incident, of course it was almost all wrong. They stated that River Rescue brought the man to safety, WRONG it was the HFD. They also said that in the photo caption that he was setting on the bumper of a Susq. Twp. fire engine, WRONG again, they were not even there. I did send an email to three different people at the Patriot pointing out the errors but none were corrected nor did I even get a reply. I guess it is more important to just report things even if they are not true than to report the actual news. I should be used to this by now but it just pisses me off. In the last year they have only wanted to report negatives about the fire bureau and no positives.

Second Day Light Working The Flood...

First call of the morning was for a smoke investigation, when we arrived we found the resident had fired up a grill out back to make coffee. This resident was in the area that was to evacuate the day before and PPL turned off their electric. Floyd Wise, O.T. Lieutenant on Tower 3 and the driver Eric Jenkins.

The second call of the day was for Green and Lewis Streets for a fuel odor investigation. In the first photo you can see the sheen on the water, very common during flooding. There is nothing we can do on calls like this but say yep, there it is and go home. This is a few blocks from the river in a low area.

Overtime Jeremy Saul, Jeff "Skull" Miller and our Captain Jim Mchenry on the last call of the day for reported smoke from a vacant house. We found nothing and in typical form this run came in minutes before quiting time.

Mike Souders the overtime driver on Wagon 4 does his best to hold up the tower.

There was numerous other calls during the day but only one other that I photographed and that was a water rescue on Second Street. I will post photos of that incident on Friday.

I did not work the rest of the tour as I was off sick for the first time in 13 years. What the companies got into over the weekend in unknown to me since I no longer listen once I leave the station.

Working The Harrisburg Flood...

On Thursday September 8, 2011 I reported for my first day out at the Harrisburg Fire Department. By the time we got to work the Battalion Chief's and street firemen and officers had most of the wheels in motion for the soon to be arriving flood waters. Flyer's had already been distributed by the firefighters the night before and the Paxton Fire Station No. 6 was already moving items to high ground and preparing to relocate to Station 1. By the way the last time we evacuated the building was in January 1996 and at that time I worked in that station, by the time they were ready to occupy the building again I had bid Tower 2 in station 1. There was numerous calls through out the day but nothing like the county was getting as the city had time to prepare and the river had not overflowed its banks yet.

In the morning we headed out and went door to door asking residents to evacuate the area as flood waters at that time were expected to reach 30 feet, a number that none of us on the job had ever worked before. By early afternoon we headed out again to drive a large area announcing on the public address system that residents were to evacuate the the area as soon as possible.

In the first photograph we are approaching MaClay Street on Front Street (the Governors Mansion is on the left) and the water has crossed the intersection. This is one of many places it had overflowed its banks and crossed Front Street. By the time we went by this area again the water was moving up MaClay Street. In the second photograph Billy-Bob Holtzman uses the Pa system to read the prepared statement of evacuation.

I took very few photographs of the flood waters as every time we went out it was for a mission and not sight seeing. I plan to make two more posts on Fridays daylight shift before going back to wildlife photos. By the way all photos were taken with my Sony Cyber-shot.

Touring The New Harley Davidson Assembly Plant...

That's right another post already! I am hoping to post two or three times a week and I am going to try and mix things up between wildlife and World War 2 and motorcycle events we attended this summer.

With that said today's post comes from our recent visit to the new vehicle operations center at the York Harley Davidson plant last week. Shane and I set out early one morning for a nice ride through the country on the bike en route to the new facility. We toured the plant and looked at their small museum located in the same building. It was a great time and we enjoyed seeing where our motorcycle was assembled. Many changes have taken place since Linda and I last visited in the 80's. I must say I enjoyed the tour better then and was sad to see that all the old motors and one of the three original 1903 bikes were gone and now in the home plant.

These are the first photos I have posted of my bike since April when it came in, it has under gone many changes since then. Click the picture for a much larger version. By the way these were all taken with the point and shoot Nikon and as in the past no cameras are allowed on the tour.

Reading Air and WW 2 Weekend 2011...

Yes I know I have been missing in action the last couple of months. I am still working lots of overtime and now that we have sunny weather I have been riding the bike every chance I get. Shane finished the 9Th grade yesterday and is growing up fast.

Last tour I had my regularly scheduled vacation to attend the Reading Air and World War 2 show. Linda went along for the first time and she and I spent the weekend in a hotel room. Shane camped with the Thuderbirds, 45Th infantry from Friday morning until Sunday evening, I attended the show all three days while Linda spent Saturday shopping at the outlets.

Shane had a great time and it was obvious just to look at him, we also added many more items to his collection some that he will be using again this weekend at a living history display in York. For those of you that do not know Shane or do not recognize him since he is now bigger than me that is him second from the right in the first photograph, fourth from the left front row in the next, with his back to the camera in the third, and yep him passing the ball and on the far left with the carbine in the last photograph.

It was a great weekend and I finally got to use the camera and lens I purchased in February. Who would have thought I could buy a new body and lens and only shoot about 200 photos in three months before this trip. I more than made up for lost time with the camera. Now to see if I can get a few days south for the whitetails before the month is over.

UPDATE, there was five photos here but blogger does not want to cooperate. I can't seem to get the spacing down right and the harder I try the more it gets messed up.

Back To Elk Country...

It is back to Elk country for today. Like the whitetail rut I do not know where I left off nor do I remember many of the particulars as it was five long, I mean really long months ago. This years Elk rut was not a bust but compared to the previous year it seemed like it. The weather was bad, that Elk were not as easy to see, they has less to say and the action was slow. All that aside I was still in the great outdoors with fresh air, wildlife and good people and that is what counts the most.
I do remember photographing this bull as it was my last morning there and I was concentrating on the small herd on the hillside in front of me. This bull, a few cows and calves came through the woods to my right and approached me fairly close. They got close enough that I could not use the camera mounted to the tripod and had to photograph this bull with the Nikon D90 70-200 f2.8 hand held. I didn't realize that this was a decent shot until I opened it in raw yesterday and made a few small changes. Speaking of raw I have finally upgraded to CS5 but have not had much chance to play with it. I am thinking that after just getting the new bike (by the way did you see it on the previous post, IT'S AWESOME!) I won't push my luck with Linda about getting Lightroom3.

Catching Up On The HFD...

Battalion Chief Dan Hartman on his last night and one of his last runs with Emanual Stoute (T1).

BC Hartman on his last night with retired Assistant Chief Bownaze and retired Lt. Doug Bair.

Dustin Ventresca and Mike Souder getting signatures on our petition in the uptown section of the city. Dustin resigned last month to move into a more stable job (who would have figured the job of a firefighter would not be a stable position).

December 2010 uptown B platoon crews worked this accident after arriving to find a SUV on its side with a man trapped underneath it.

"B" platoon uptown extinguishes a tan bark fire next to the Governors mansion.

"B" platoon members Billy Holtzman, Wil Turner and Deshawn Dennis take a break after working a multiple alarm house fire in the gut earlier this year. This was the second day in a row that a "Mayday" was called by one of our firefighters in trouble in a burning building. For real!, one of us could die doing this, can't be this is the sweetest job on earth (sarcasm and I will leave it go at that).

One of those busy days from bank robbery crashes, gas leaks, automatic fire alarms to car fires uptown. The city firefighters just keep getting the job done no matter what.

Nothing like rolling in at 3 a.m. to find eight vehicles involved in an accident with ejections and truck well involved with a running gasoline fire like the "D" platoon did a couple of weeks ago.

All photos were taken with my point and shoot, I may not be the best photographer but I wouldn't want you to think that this was the quality I get from my DSLR's.

The last time I left you with the HFD we were fighting for our jobs. We managed to keep them for a number of reasons but we can't leave our guard down as I am shore we will be going through this in just another few short months.

The department still dwindles down as the once proud department of 105 is now down to 78 after BC Dan Hartman (32 years), Robbie Sullivan, Lt. Andy Weaver and firefighter Steve Snoke have all retired long before they wanted to. Along with firefighter Dustin Ventresca resigning to take a job in HAZMAT in our nations Capitol after working so hard and long to get on the HFD. In all the slots and seats still need to be filled no matter how many men are on the job and overtime is the norm instead of the occasional. I remember when I hired on you took every o.t. offered to you because it only happened a few times a year. Now you can work one, two and sometimes three in just your four day break.

Through all of this the men and women of the department continue to come to work and provide the citizens and guest of the city with the best fire and ems protection possible. Calls have not decreased even thought manpower has and even with the quantity going down the quality remains the same. I just hope that the toll does not become to much that one of my brothers has to make the supreme sacrifice. This year alone we have had two mayday calls and three near misses. That is more than should occur in a lifetime.

Next post I will bring you up to date on my outside life.

Silver Springs Fire Continued...

When I posted last time I spoke briefly and showed a few photographs from a fire last week behind my house. You could tell from the photographs that I arrived before the fire department and began photographing and videoing the fire. In the video before the FD arrives you will hear the sound of a 20 pound propane tank as it relieves pressure and begins to burns. For those of you not in the fire service you will be able to see the flames intensify from this in the front right hand corner of the building. For you old timers like me it is in the 1-4 corner, quadrant A, first floor. For you new fangled talk like rocket scientist it will be the AB corner on division 1.

Response to the 31-02 box brought companies 31 (Silver Springs), 33 (New Kingston), 27 (Citizens Mechanicsburg), Truck 28 (Washies Mech.), 25 (Monroe Twp.), E23 (Upper Allen for R.I.T.) and Air 45 (Carlisle). Manpower was pretty good for a daylight as enough men showed up to handle numerous buildings this size. The blaze was knocked down rather quickly and further damage was averted. There appeared to be no injuries in battling the blaze and companies remained on the scene for several hours. I did not speak to anyone concerning cause or damage dollar amount but according to the local paper the occupant started the car went back inside and came back out to find the garage burning.

Garage Fire Close To Home...

Wow! it really has been a long time since my last post. I want to thank those of you that posted supportive comments on my last post and that went out and signed our petition. Soon I will make a new post on what has happened in the last 25 days in Harrisburg. Lets just say it has been a crazy and busy time period.

An incident that occurred yesterday morning (12-30-10) prompted me to make a post today as I planned nothing more for today except for hockey, football and beer. Did I say beer?, I meant good old Porter beer and winter ale. After getting home a little late from work yesterday morning I was making breakfast when at 9:16 a.m. Cumberland County 911 toned out area companies for a reported garage fire at 160 Texaco Road in Silver Springs Township, Cumberland County. With Texaco Road being just behind the house I though I would get the camera out dust it off and see if it still worked. Looking out the back window at the header gave me all the incentive I needed and off I went. I arrived the same time as the incident commander and ahead of the fire apparatus. The photos go on a time line in order and as you can see the garage was well involved upon my arrival. It was a one and a half story block and frame two car unattached garage with one car inside. In photo two you can see when the springs left loose that held the door up allowing it to come down. This is just one of many dangers a firefighter faces on these types of calls along with flammable liquids, floor pits, pesticides and other items stored in the building. Photo three shows the lines man on the first in engine stretching an attack line to extinguish the blaze. I must say he did a very good job in deploying the line. In the last two photos he and his partner begin attacking the fire.

Within the next few days I will make another post on this fire with a few more photos and some video. And hopefully next week I will post about what has been going on in the city recently. With any luck I will be back to posting regularly again in another week or so.

For now I hope everyone out there had a safe and joyous Christmas and an equally safe and Happy New Year.

Help My Brothers Out..

I need to be very careful what I type in here to insure that I am not in the unemployment line also. For those of you that live in my area you already know what is going on since it has been the main attraction in the papers and news for the last 11 plus months. For those of you that do not live in my area then I will tell you that I have been a Harrisburg Pa fireman for more than 20 years know. Because of decisions NOT MADE BY THE FIREMEN the city finds itself in debt by almost $300 million dollars. It was decided that it would be fixed on the backs of the hard working firemen so effective January 1, 2011, 10 of my brothers will be laid off. These guys worked hard to get this job, passing numerous tests waiting long periods of time, completing a fire academy and most of all uprooting their families from their homes and moving them into the city as a condition of employment. Our work schedule will also be changed to 24 hours on and 48 hours off raising our work week an additional 14 hours per week. Along with the downsizing to three platoons nine officers will be demoted. I would like to point out that this is all in violation of our contract.

Please if you live in my area work, play, live or visit Harrisburg please sign our petition to attempt to stop this. Someone is in the Union Hall 2048 Derry Street every evening from 4 to 7 p.m. and firefighters are out walking door to door in all neighborhoods, one can also be found online at http://www.saveharrisburg.com/. Feel free to write city hall and the local rag we call a news paper. Our men did not create this problem, in fact you will see none of our names on the documents to borrow all the money that put us here. I really do not see why we need to be the only ones to feel the pain when the FOP, ASCME, and managers in city hall do not miss a beat this holiday season.

Please do not believe everything you see and hear on the television, for some reason they all appear to be on the take. We have presented cold hard facts about just who did create this mess and why our overtime is so high along with many other items to channels 43, 27, 8, 21 and the bathroom wipe my ass with it Harrisburg Patriot but for some reason the never air or print any of it. Yet just this morning (SAT.) channel ABC 27 Dennis Owens was quick to point out that we (HFD) were given a four year contract extension by Mayor Steven Reed before he left office tying the hands of Thompson and creating her more heartache. Why do they never mention that the other two unions were also given extensions or even that ours does not go into effect until January 1, 2013, so how is that effecting us now. I will not even go into the differences between the contracts and what the police get compared to us. But if you visit the cities web site the contracts are on there.

Because of my work schedule and other commitments and the lack of anyone looking at my site anymore with the exception of Sparky this will be my last post for some time. I will start posting again sometime in the future so please stop back from time to time to check.

Thanks
Tired, pissed off, confused and just plain fed up, Brad

Back To The Elk Rut...

Away from the whitetails today and back to the Pennsylvania Elk. My brain has not been working right these days leaving me at a loss of anything to type so I will just leave you with these photos taken along Dewey Road during the rut in September.