Crisfield

29 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Eastern Shore, Family, Travel

Tags

Chesapeake Bay, Crisfield, photography, vacation

Headed to Crisfield for dinner on Saturday night, to celebrate John and Gail’s anniversary. Always a good time with Kathy’s family. First stop was the dock or maybe it is just a fishing pier?

Memorial Day weekend and the flags are flying.

Looking across Daugherty Creek towards Tangier Sound and the Chesapeake Bay.

Kathy enjoying the peace and solitude. Stars overhead.

A moral compass or a navigational one? Needs directions.

Is that someone’s house all the way out there?

Dinner time. The soft shell crab sandwich was excellent! The sauteed soft shell crabs, not so much. But overall a very nice restaurant. Glad to have been invited to what was traditionally a father-daughters eatery! Thanks Merrill.

The family.

Random shot of a water tower – because this post is about water and me!

Got home in time for the deluge. Molly says to go ahead and she will catch up!

Good Intentions, Not Always Good Results

04 Friday May 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in engineering, Hopkins, Reservoir, water history

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Baltimore, Cromwell Park, Dams, engineering, Hiking, Loch Raven, maps, nature, photography, Research, water history

A couple weeks ago I was drawn into a discussion concerning the Balancing Reservoir adjacent to Cromwell Valley Park. I say adjacent because it is City property, in Baltimore County, part of the City’s watershed. This past weekend was the first chance that Kathy and I had to take a hike through CVP and this is what greeted us:

A poem about graffiti. What the hell? So I looked down at the balancing reservoir shaft and understood.

Someone drew, what I guess they thought, was a peace symbol and a heart. Going down the slope we saw even more.

Now I understand the reason for the poem. What idiots! I have never understood graffiti. Some that are murals are nice, but this makes no sense to me. And no, I don’t believe in that sort of “Freedom of Expression”

What does this have to do with my Post Title and opening statement? The discussion I had was with City Watershed personnel, the County, the Park and the volunteers at CVP. The area has been nicely cleared around this structure and throughout the reservoir. Unfortunately by clearing it out, it made it more accessible to more people and more people means more risk of vandalism. The discussion, both pros and cons, concerned restoring the site. Pros – historical water history. Cons – disruption to the wildlife and native plants.

Here is a 1921 partial drawing of the Balancing Reservoir.

We walked down the shaft slope and went over to the quarry, then to the spillway. View from the beginning of spillway looking toward Mine Bank Run.

A close up of the Spillway.

And of Molly not wanting to get too close. It is about a 20′ drop. There use to be a rope across there saying “Danger”

From the spillway we walked over to the dam. This dam actually has a concrete apron that extends partially down the slope towards the surge shaft. It has been pretty much cleared out, to the bird watchers and rangers dismay.

Here is the balancing reservoir in use 1922. This view is from the shaft to the dam.

This other view is looking over the old quarry. Both of these photos come from the Maryland Historical Society.

No trip to CVP would be complete without a hike to the Kilns.

New signage everywhere – kind of reminds me of an old 70s song! Descriptive signs.

My take on all this? Originally I thought it would be great to restore the complete balancing reservoir to its original construction, but I’m not so sure now. It would be nice to clear the concrete apron around the surge shaft and the concrete spillway. Not sure it would be worth clearing the dam face. Too many animals and birds in that area. And as the poem states, “volunteers…in their older years…” Who will maintain it 20 years from now? The City won’t and they haven’t. The place is only historical in the minds of people who appreciate their water source. Most people that turn on their faucets could care less about the history of how it gets there!

And for my history friends, here is a map from 1915 of the area. When the City built the new dam.

Light City Baltimore 2018

22 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, Harbor

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Baltimore, bridges, City Lights, Inner Harbor, Jones Falls, Light City, photography

Nice night to go to the Inner Harbor for the City Lights. Thinking that it would be really crowded, we parked on the other side of Little Italy and walked. Just over 4 miles round trip. It was still light out when we got there but figured by the time we walked all the way around the harbor, it would be dark on our return trip, and it was.

First up, catching the sun going down…

Then Mr. Trash Wheel. The harbor looked pretty clean.

Octopus at various light. Sun…

Then at night…

Kathy’s photo…

Then our own Tall Ship, my photo of the cannons.

And then Kathy’s, which I like better, because of the black/white contrasting line thru the ship and the Ferris wheel in the background.

A side shot.

This next one looked neat at night, I just couldn’t capture a good image.

Willie D (William Donald Schaefer, ex-mayor, ex-governor)

The Ferris wheel – they really relocated this off a ways.

Electronic mountain.

And soon, it will be dark and the flowers are lit up. (Another one from Kathy)

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Kathy in a display.

Something in the water.

A bunch of ducks.

Blue Bird vs Tree Swallow

15 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Eastern Shore, Farm, nature

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Barn, Blue Bird, Farm, nature, photography, Turtle

While down at Kathy’s parents, I saw a bunch of birds dive bombing each other over the field. Then one landed on a bird box. I thought it was an Eastern Blue Bird. Turns out it was a Tree Swallow. Not having a tripod, I used the next best thing, which still was not stable enough.

A makeshift steady support – deer fencing around a tree.

What I thought was a Blue Bird.

The actual Blue Birds have always been hard for me to get a good shot. They are finicky and don’t sit long in the same spot. This guy was preening himself.

Heading over to the barn, this goose was on the lookout for his mate…

Who is on the nest, keeping the eggs warm.

Just a random hole.

The barn – ready to come down soon.

Random sliding door hardware.

Back at the pond.

And that quick, he is gone. Another nice weekend!

The Peale Center

13 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in HISTORY, Photography

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Baltimore, Barnum, Ghost, glass plate negatives, HISTORY, Museum, Peale Center, photography, Research, writing

The Peale Center, also once Baltimore’s City Hall and Colored School #1 and then a temporary Water Engineer’s office. Then the Municipal Museum and then a vacant…am I missing anything? It has been a lot of things since 1814 and I am really glad it is being restored to a museum.

View from across the street, at the Municipal Building – where the water engineers are now located. Workers had to move their scaffold out of the way so we could get in.

A walk out back. I think I would have placed this lamp elsewhere instead of in front of the relief.

Another gas lamp.

Back inside to await the history talk. Here is an artist rendition of what the Peale will look like when completed.

A nice model of the proposed renovations.

Holy H.G. Wells! A freakin’ time machine. Damn, still under construction!

Hum Bug!!

More bugs.

And the real reason for my visit – a talk by Peter Manseau on his book “The Apparitionist”. It was a really good talk. One thing that kind of stuck in my head was when he said, “There are about 50,000 deceased persons on Facebook. Still being visited by family and friends.” It is like a modern day seance in the electronic social media age. People get to see their departed loved ones, just like the photographs taken by 19th century photographers of dead people posing. But Peter’s book goes more into ghost being seen in glass plate images. I can’t wait to read his book…

Loose Ends Never End

05 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Archives, engineering, water history

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Tags

Baltimore, Construction, Dams, engineering, Patapsco, photography, POLITICS, Public Works, Research, scanning, water history

Loose Ends Never End sounds like some spiritual/metaphysical quote (It does come from the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 9). But in my case it is more about my trying to tie up some loose ends before I retire. Just when I think I’m about done documenting and scanning the archives – Poof!! More just appear out of nowhere. Well actually I found a bunch more under my work bench. Three index drawers full of 3-1/2″ x 5″ photographic negatives. At first I thought there was only 500 or so. There are over 1,500 of them! I started scanning them yesterday and got about 100 done. Below is a sampling of those.

Just glancing through the first couple hundred, it appears these are from the building of the Liberty Dam, starting in 1952. This photo shows a happy foreman on top of the intake structure as it is being built.

The Engineer’s Office – must be before MBE/WBE requirements. Not sure why the one guy has his arm around the other one?

There were four floods on the Patapsco during 1952, all stopping work for a few days – Change Order!

The coffer dams held back some of the water.

The Arundel Corporation’s cement plant.

Ooopps! Not looking too happy now. There were a lot of accidents on the job site in 1952. Most notably a crane fell, crushing one of the workers. There are actually a few photos in this group of that, but I am not posting those. One shows the worker’s head crushed under the I-beam. I cannot believe someone took that photo.

This looks like an accident waiting to happen. I don’t think that truck is capable of holding that bucket safely.

These guys are working. Trying to make up for lost days due to flooding.

The intake structure rising from the river.

I have been using an Epson 4990 scanner for a few years now. It works pretty good, except the software that came with it is a little off. By that I mean, if I scan a photo negative, it automatically turns it into a positive in a file, but it is too dark and takes a lot of work in the Photoshop Elements software. So I scan it as a positive, which it converts to a negative. Then in PE I invert it and hit auto levels and it looks just right. Some of course will never look right, only because of what the photographer did when taking the photo.

I guess taking care of these loose ends will give me something to do for a while!

Easter Weekend in OC and on the Farm

02 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, ocean city

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Tags

deer, Farm, Hiking, nature, ocean city, photography

Friday we went to Kathy’s parents down the Eastern Shore. It is always nice to spend time with her family. They treat me like family. After a few hours of chores, time for dinner and relaxing. Saturday we headed down to Ocean City. Went early enough to beat most of the holiday traffic.

The Easter Bunny was there, taking carriage rides with visitors.

Started our walk at the Life Saving Museum.

Not a bad crowd for Easter weekend. I know them three ladies! The inlet and other municipal lots have a new system of charging for parking. Seems like it is going to be a pain, having to remember you license plate # and it is going to be expensive – but today it was free. People were still feeding the new meter. OC must have made a ton of money on Saturday. New meters went into effect on Sunday.

While Kathy, her sister and mom headed to some shops, I headed to the water. You have got to touch the ocean while there! The fishing pier.

The inlet from the jetty. After the storms a couple weeks ago, they said this sand bar was sticking 20+ feet into the channel.

Looking south from the pier, towards the jetty.

Looking north. This sandbar went under the pier.

Heading back to the Boardwalk. The last time we were here, they had just started painting the water tank. Looks good.

So back to the farm and after some chores, I decided to take a hike around the property. The farm next door, the guy has cut a lot of trees down and deepened his storm water trench. Merrill says the guy plans to plant pines back there.

Nice green color. Lots of water throughout the woods.

Woodpecker condo?

No car or truck research today.

Looking through the trucks engine compartment to another car.

Car from another view.

This one does say Cosmopolitan.

Nice dash.

Left the car cemetery and thought I could take a path not taken before – too much water. I did have my water proof boots on but this was a little deep and muddy. Private property on the right and water on the left.

Headed back and took another trail. (Lots or trails back there. Merrill does a great job keeping them clear). A new sniper stand.

Hit another pool of water so I cut across and found this path.

Am I laying on my back, looking up? Or is this tiny house laying on its back?

Passing the little house, I see an open field and a fairly large storm water ditch and these two guys. They didn’t see me for a couple minutes and I just stood there watching them. Always a peaceful feeling to see nature at her best.

After a couple minutes of watching, I turned the corner and these three were on the other side of the ditch. After posing for a couple pics, they took off.

This fence heads to the road, but I wanted to head back to the farm through the woods.

But unfortunately I hit more water. I was going to follow my path back the way I came but Kathy texted me and wanted to know if I was alright? It was about 2 hours of hiking and enjoying nature!

I followed the above fence to the road, and came across an old farm. Being a guest at some ones home, I thought it best not to trespass to get a better look.

This is the path my Not-So-Smart phone said I took. (Just watched a show about a girl who followed her smart phones directions and ended up lost in the desert for a few days)

And this is my path, I shall follow this path, come what may. And here I will find peace.

Saturday Night in York, Pa.

19 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in concerts, HISTORY, Theater

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concerts, HISTORY, photography, Theater, York

Kathy and I went up to York this past Saturday, to see Lyle Lovett and Shawn Colvin in concert. It was a good concert but I’m really not a big fan of this type of music. I was glad there was a sort of comedy skit between the two of them after each song. That made it very enjoyable. (I actually would have been content to listen to them exchange stories for two hours!)

We arrived in York about 40 minutes before show time, so we didn’t have much time to explore the city. I would like to do a day trip one day, just to check out the town, something to ponder.

From what we saw during the drive in and looking for a parking space, York is a mixture of old and new buildings and residences. The theater itself is a good example.

Here is what it looked like back in the day.

And this was Saturday. We were in the Strand. Both theaters together make up the Appell Center for the Performing Arts. The Strand was built in 1925 and had a seating capacity of 1,262 (It was packed Saturday!) There are 1,800 pounds of gold leaf adorning the murals and columns throughout the theater. (No cameras allowed, although many people were taking photos, and my cell phone sucks for photography, so no pics). The Strand cost $1m to build and was closed in 1976. Reopened in 1980 after renovations.

The Capitol, next door, was built in 1906 and was called the Theatorium and then the Jackson. Originally built as a dance hall and then a balcony was added in 1917, to show movies. This theater closed in 1977 and reopened in 1981.

Someone took our photo! I’m to the left, covering my face.

Lyle and Shawn. Friends since 1991 and still touring together. All photos, except two are from the Appell website.

Terrapin Park

14 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, National Parks, nature

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Beach, bridges, Chesapeake Bay, Hiking, photography, Terrapin

The last couple of times we visited this park, last summer, we were unable to hike the trails – too many people and too many cars in the parking lot. It was packed. I like that people and families go to the parks to enjoy themselves, I just don’t like it when large groups of people set up camp and stay all day – not allowing others to enjoy the park. It was so bad last summer, that the park service had to install Spot-o-Pots along the beach path. Here is our path:

It was a short hike. We just wanted to see and enjoy the Bay.

Along the Cross Island Trail, we stopped long enough to enjoy some of the beauty that is all around us.

Hitting the beach, our first view is of a ship going under the Bay Bridge. I don’t know how many times we travelled over that bridge and saw anywhere from 4 to 12 ships just parked on the other side. This is the first time we saw one actually heading to points north.

We always did want a home on the Eastern Shore!

The recent storms that we had, left a lot of debris up on the dunes. And some along the beach.

I have my doubts that this was washed up on shore, along with a cantaloupe a few yards away.

Constantly shifting, in and out of the pond.

Along with all the debris and driftwood, were some casualties from the storms – like this poor little fellow.

And this guy.

And another.

The breakwater walls seem to have broken.

Gnarly.

Waiting for its tenants.

A few areas have eroded away along the beach. Nature just does her thing…

History Hike Part 1

22 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by Ronald Parks in Hiking, nature

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bridges, Dams, Gunpowder Falls, Hiking, mills, nature, photography

Between the work on our houses and going to Salisbury, yesterday was our first opportunity to take a hike. A little over-cast but a very nice day. The map shows we walked about 3-1/2 miles on the Little Gunpowder Trail, starting at Jerusalem Mill.