Doggies!

Can you believe it? Two posts in the month of July on this here blog. I's must be getting ill.

Today's post will feature another batch of photos taken this past July 4th weekend, and as the title suggests, it will feature doggies, specifically the one living here at the house.

The first two are of my mother's/daughter's nutty little chiuahauhau Oreo. Oreo has done an incredibly remarkable job of purging the entire backyard of all possible living creatures.

Birds? gone. Squirrels? ditto. Ducks? beyond a shadow of doubt. Rabbit? Getting there.

 

 The next two are of my mother's dog Lucky. Lucky is alder than dirt (about 18 or so), can't see and suffers from seriously short term memory loss.

As in, I can walk out the door and return fifteen seconds later to be barked at like it was my first time entering the house. In perpetuity.

As you can see, he is just chillin' in the sun.

 I was able to get a bunch of actions shots of Oreo from where I was (zoom lens on the camera) in the yard. In these two, you can see he was starting to go to town with scratching his back on the lawn.

And for those of you who are truly desperate to have music today, I double dog dare you to click on this link.

Father Nature's Corner

(c) 2015 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved.

Autumn Near Cedar Mountain 2012 (4)

After a small, yet not entirely necessary hiatus (read: too freakin' lazy to create a post), we come now to the end of this picture series (betcha thinkin' that I was ending this blog, right? right?). I'm not sure when the next series of pics or video will be posted here, if only for the main reason of not having anything on tap or stashed away on the trusty ol' flashy drive.

So without further ado, here is the fourth and final part of "Autumn Near Cedar Mountain".



Trees! Lots of trees! Seriously though, these trees were seriously compromised last winter by Storm Alfred and this fall by Tropical Storm/Hurricane (depending on where you was) Sandy. But, we can definitely trip down memory lane by looking at this pic with awe about the ability of Mother and Father Nature to do good.




I was sitting on what passes for a bridge on this road. Seriously. We have two (count 'em) bridges on this street. I suppose back in the day, oh when gas was 55 cents a gallon, these bridges were useful in bridging the now tiny/infinitesimal streams that flowed down the mountain. Anyways, I decided to take a long exposure of the trees near the bridge, and as you can see, I got a backyard or two in the shot as well.




This is Sienna. Sienna belongs to John, the family friend/serious computer geek who lives in the suburban section of Hartford and comes up here daily to walk her around the mountain all year round. John is also heavily into the concept of "open space" in Newington and is a member of the organization called Save Cedar Mountain, which is devoted to the preservation of Cedar Mountain from developers. To learn more, please click on the link.




Halloweenie!!! This display was created by the residents of one of the oldest group homes that I know here in Newington. I say oldest as this sucker was around when I was my younger nephew's age some 43 years ago. Anyways, every year they put up some kind of display for a holiday, and this year, they chose to do Halloween.




And finally, we end our journey at the same place where we started it: home. In this case, the front sidewalk gave us the best viewpoint in which to shoot this lovely picture. As Fred Rogers would often say:



Round & Round (4)

And finally, we come to the final part of this latest series. So let's begin at the ending and see what we shall see. And as always, the journey starts after you take that initial step.

The weather was definitely more agreeable this time around as the tiger lilies were in full bloom around the pond. With the way the sun was breaking through the trees in the backyard, I would venture to guess that this shot was taken around 6 in the evening (remember, we're still in the beginning of summer here, so the days are super duper long).

The Keeney Manufacturing plant (they make plumbing parts and supplies) has always been one of my favorite subjects for photographing since I started blogging back in 2008. They have the funkiest water sculpture that I've seen in quite sometime and the landscaping is second to none. I think the reason as to why it looks so immaculate and inviting, is that all the parades that happen here (Memorial day and Veteran's day) take place right on this particular section of Main Street. And I can always get a fantastic shot of those two majestic flags flapping away in the breeze.

Now, you'll probably have to click on the picture to enlarge it, but that is a helicopter in the upper middle of this photo. Apparently some kind of celebration was going on (not sure what, but it definitely wasn't the Extravaganza that will be popping up here in a couple of months), but there were a lot cars and of course, the helicopter, which I thought was pretty neat. Yeah, that is TD Bank(north) to your left.

Now, this is another one of those pictures that I took that I don't have a clue as to why I did. But, let's try to narrow it down, shall we? It could be that I like taking pictures of white picket fences. Or, it could be that I enjoy taking pictures of flowers and trees in bloom. Or....well, I don't know what the third "or" is, but in any event, you gotta admit that its a great picture of what a typical homeowner here in Newington does with their property.

I was going through my birdy phase this summer when mother dearest moved the birdbath from the side of the yard to the front yard. So I took it upon myself to make sure that it was filled with clean water every day this past summer (every day boys and girls. M-F I filled it up once I pulled into the driveway after work and S & S before I took off for my morning and afternoon errands respectively). And as you can see, I had some fantastic feathered friends visit the bird bath. Once I added birdseed, I pretty much had a constant steady stream from May thru early September.

A shot of a solitary bird taken after its companions flew the coop. I did have some fantastic looking birds partake of the refreshments for the summer in great quantities. And yes, that is my hunk o' junk car that you see just off to the right, and my neighbor's house was for sale, but he eventually took it off the market. That little stump is all that remains of the hedge that used to clutter up the front yard for the past forty odd years or so. And if the birdbath looks crooked, you're right. Because the front yard slopes downwards, I had to eventually level off the birdbath with a piece of metal. This is prior to the leveling.

Round & Round (3)

After a ton of problems trying to upload these seven photos the way I wanted to do it but Blogger didn't want to let me do it the way I wanted (mainly, trying to upload one at time as opposed to all in one shot), I now bring to you the end of the middle.

I would like to say that this is one of my stock shots of the mountain that I took over a year ago, but it isn't. It is a current photo that was taken for this particular set of photos. Note the lush greeness of the mountain and the trees that line both sides of the street. This was taken on the tail end of the incredible long walk that was highlighted in last week's post, and let me tell you, my dogs were barking and growling by the time I got home....

....to this lovely front yard image. This is the bay window on the left side of the porch (the right side was shown last week, which featured my cat Holly. In this photo, you can see the thingamabob from last week, along with a teddy, a electronic parrot (trust me, we don't need an electronic parrot), a drawing of a potato head, another teddy bear and the reflection of the trees from across the street.

The world famous looking-up-into-the-tree-canopy shot. This one came about in much the same way as the one from a couple of weeks ago. A little while after I got home from my long walk and after the previous picture, I decided to sit in my backyard and write (HA!!). In addition to the pen, paper, lap desk and whatever story I happen to be working on, I also have my camera. Because nothing of note was bleeding from my brain to the paper, I decided to sit back and vegetate for a while. This shot came from that one hour's worth of vegetating.

This picture was taken while I was driving back from Middletown one Friday afternoon, which of course was during rush hour. Anyways, I decided to take a crack at taking a few shots of the boats that were sailing down the Connecticut river. However, a small problem quickly emerged. In addition to having no manual dexterity to speak of anymore, I also can't hold a camera and press the button with the same hand. End result is what you see here: a guardrail, a couple of trees, a few boats, my side mirror and my very dirty and worn out interior of the passenger door.

Another one of my world famous redundantly non-stock photo of the main intersection of downtown Newington. I say redundant because this one features the the flag at half staff, which most of you know is for when a U.S. soldier from Connecticut dies overseas in either Iraq or Afghanistan. I'm pretty sure that this is the reason as to why, simply because of the blue sign that you see in the center trumpeting the fact that one stream recycling is coming to town (which hit us in late July) and these photos were taken in late May/early June.

Another one of my world famous (redundant, ain't it?) non-stock photos of the backyard pond. Not sure why I took this one, other than the background weather looks a tad gloomy, which turn gives the photo a particular gloomy feel, especially around the edges of the photo. Anywho, you can see a great shot of the shed and a few of the wind chimes.

And a shot of my young two year old nephew Bryce. I would like to give a status update as it applies to our relationship. Previously I mentioned that whenever Bryce sees me, he flips out and runs to the nearest relative screaming his tiny little head off. I am happy to announce that he no long flips out and goes screaming off into the night whenever he sees me. Now when he sees me, he says, "Uh-oh!" then goes back to whatever it was that he was doing prior to me walking into the room.

Not sure if this "Uh-oh!" is an improvement over the screaming anxiety attacks, but I'll take the tiny little victories wherever I can grab them.

Round & Round (2)

Once again were back with yet another scintillatingly original (for a change of pace) post on one of the many blogs that make up my empire. So, without further adieu or adios or goodbyes or talk you later for I have to book, we muddle through the early middle.

My lovely daughter Jenelle posing with her thingmabob on the swinging bench in the front yard.

Another shot of her with her thingambob on the front bench, simply because I wanted to make sure that just in case I goofed up the previous shot, I would have a back up shot to take the place of the goofed up shot.

This was taken during our local Memorial Day parade. The building that this wonderful old relic is actually a restored firehouse. The sidewalk that you see was put together one by one, and paid for with our hard earned and seriously wasted tax dollars from about four or five years ago.

I decided that I needed another good short of my finger that day, and the firehouse and fire truck was the perfect background for my finger. It's a little fuzzy, but you can see that my fingernail is a pretty healthy specimen and the finger itself has quite a bit of muscle tone to it.

Not a freakin' clue as to why I took this shot. It's a house that I pass by every day on my morning commute to work and every weekend on my walks to the center of town. Beyond that, a no vacancy sign currently hangs in the spot of my memory cells for this photo.

Now here's a picture that I can actually talk about. This is Holly in one of her favorite resting/sleeping/vegging out spots in the house: the front window. It has a perfect view of the front yard, a perfect view of the birds, and the sun comes blazing in throughout most of the day so that she can do her best imitation of Hobbes. I was able to sneak up on her and take this shot because hey, that's what I do best.

This shot was taken on a Sunday when I decided to really stretch my legs and walk in a such a big fat circle that the top circle touched at our local Catholic church that sits directly across West Meadow Cemetery. The church itself is about a good one and a half miles from my house and with the route I took that day, this was about at the three mile mark of my walk. The route itself? I walked next to the mountain all the way to the Hartford Regional Center, walked down the road until got to the road featured in this post, then walked up Market Square (soon to be feature next year in a post about the Waterfall festival), then to CVS for a bottle of water, then continued in a zig-zag pattern until I got to here.

The caption on the statue is from Isaiah 49:15 and it reads, "Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you."

Round & Round (1)

So yet we embark on yet another photographic journey around the town that is Newington. I call this series "Round & Round" because of the simple fact that these pictures were taken while I was walking in multiple circles. And no, I wasn't twirling around like a ballerina, I was simply walking in one large circle that started at my house and ended at my house. So, to use that moldy oldy quote from John Cleese, let us begin at the beginning.....

...with ducks. Yes, here were are back at Mill Pond park taking yet more pictures of ducks. This shot was taken on the bridge that crosses the waterfalls, specifically, the rocky ledge on the left that divides the waterfall from the pond. The ducks usually use this area as their local bathing hole, and of which the ledge is used as the drying/preening area.

A shot of a duck contemplating whether or not a bath or a swim is to be executed, and yes, that pasty looking solid shadow is my thumb. The white shadow on the water is in fact the sun, and yes, this is still taken from the bridge.

Now this is what the waterfall is supposed to look like: madly rushing over the rocks and forming a foamy pool at the bottom. Hasn't been like that for months and in fact, is probably like that now since Connecticut has been socked with a two day (so far) deluge (as of the date of this post). This shot was taken at the landing on the lower bottom of the park, which is used during the summer for wedding photos.

The flowers aren't quite in bloom yet, but this little plant island is what you see as you approach the landing. Once the flowers are in full bloom it is quite a sight to see. Just off to the upper left is a staircase that will take you to the walk path that rings the pond, and in the center background between the trees is this (please check the second photo).

If you think that I took a shot of about one dozen school buses, then you would be WRONG. If you'd guessed that I took a shot of the trees, you'd be WRONG TOO. If you look real close and squint your eyes until you get a headache, you will see between the gravel path and the tree a tiny bird. Yup, I took a pretty bad shot of bird. How bad? I had to go back to my computer, bring up the photo and zoom in 500%, just so that I can tell you it was a bird. Nifty looking skool buses though, eh? Pretty color for a tree trunk, eh?

Okay, back to the flowers. These two planters are part of a group of five that dot this church's parking lot (first pic). This actually used to be an entrance/exit driveway, but considering that right over my right shoulder is a busy intersection, they got smart and closed it up. To the near right is this shopping plaza (last pic) and to the left of the white picket fence is the church's cemetery, which gets decorated with American flags on either Memorial Day, July 4th or Labor Day.

And finally, the unknown object. Not a clue on what this is suppose to be. The bench you've already seen in other picture posts, but this, no idea. Your guess is as good as mine on what this particular item is, but don't it look purty?

Newinton Center....And Beyond! (5)

I think that this batch will lend itself for some decent captioning for a change.


This is looking easterly and southerly. I was trying to get a general purpose shot without the traffic, but as you can see, no such luck. Anywho, you can see Carvels directly across from us, a loser sitting in the crosswalk waiting to make a right on red, which is a very popular and breakable law here in Connecticut. Yes, breakable. Do you think that everyone really does a proper stop at a red light before turning? Honestly, do you? Honestly, do I? Honestly, I do. About 75% of the time, I come to a proper stop, which in that driver's manual that NOOOOOOOOBODY ever reads anymore once they pass their exam, says that your car must halt and jerk back just a little bit in order for it to be considered a complete and legal stop.

Jenelle in one of her many dance costumes this season. This particular costume was for her solo tap dance competitions. Song of choice (well, not really) was "Old Time Rock & Roll". This is what she'd danced to this past week at Wildwood, New Jersey at her latest national dance competition. Factoid: Jenelle was personally invited by an organizer to another one being held at the same time in New Hampshire. However, that one was a little more expensive and was more group oriented, whereas this one is geared towards the individual. Shot was taken in the front hallway.

This one was taken in the living room, next to a scooter and the wife's yarn collection. I will say that for this season's dance competitions, I wasn't driven completely insane by the daily two hour injection of music being played for rehearsals. Whereas the previous years either irritated the crap out of me (If I Only Had A Brain, artist unknown); or made me seriously detest an artist for years to come, (Meet The Flintstones, B-52's); this one was pretty good, as it didn't bother me much. Now if she was dancing to "Cotton Eye Joe" (skated to that instead), that would've really bothered me.

I decided to bring my camera along for my hike on Good Friday/Easter Sunday. I can truthfully pinpoint the time frame because the development date for this picture disc was April 11, 2010, and as I'd stated early on, money drives when I get my disposables developed. Anywho, I wanted to get some funky shots of what the mountain is like in the early spring. This was taken along one of the plateaus that I frequently hike. Believe it or not, in spite of the crappiness that are my legs (muscle weakness, neuropathy and what not), I can do a pretty damn good job of hiking up this funky mountain.

This is looking up the mountain towards one of the ridges. Now let me tell you, if you think that the incline in this picture looks bad, it really is. I'm estimating that incline was something like a 5 or 6% grade, which is no mean feat to climb (most steep hills that one drives on are about 4%). I actually climbed this thing a few weeks after I took this shot, and even though I did a zig-zag pattern going up and using the trees and underbrush for leverage, it was nevertheless a pretty brutal climb. Did I forget to mention that in addition the previously mentioned maladies, I have a wicked case of asthma? While I don't use inhalers, this was climb was a decent trigger just the same. Fortunately, the triggering was mild, and I was able to judiciously find some great spots to rest and let the mountain refreshen my spirit. Let me tell you, the silence on the mountain that day was incredible. No people, no traffic, just a stray bird here and there, and the wind gently blowing across with the sun beating down....does a body good.

~~

And this brings us to the end of "Newington Center...And Beyond". Tune in next week, where we will start a brand new series of posts that will feature "Flora, Fauna and Aminals!"

Newington Center....And Beyond (4)

Yup, still at the lower section of Mill Pond park, near the waterfalls. Gonna rest for a spell. Still got that issue with intelligent captioning again, so feel free to riff on the pictures and come up with your own captions. Betcha they'll be better than mines.


There are one or two firsts that Newington is noted for that I knew from when I was a child. The first McDonald's in Connecticut is located in Newington, right on the Berlin Turnpike (official monikers, The Wilbur Cross Highway, The Merritt Parkway & The Hartford-New Haven Turnpike). However, this isn't about that. The stone what you see in this picture commemorates the site of the first U.S. Girl Scout Day Camp, back in 1922. Repeat, first U.S. Girl Scout Day Camp. Anywhere. In the U.S.A. Not sure what else I can say about that, since obviously I never participated in the Girl Scouts nor has my daughter participated in the Girl Scouts. But, its a fun thing to brag about. Oh, in the background to the very far right, is a lovely old fashioned gazebo that when the flowers are in bloom, is quite a sight to behold.

This display (for lack of a better word) encircles the monument. The writing on the post says "May Peace Prevail On Earth" in at least four different languages. It's a very interesting concept, a post enclosed by a series of benches, and I wish I could elaborate further on it, but I'm sure someone out there will be kind enough to offer one up for me.

Same circle of harmony scene, only this one is a little more encompassing. Would be a little eerie with the barren trees if this was take at night, don't you think? A little ghostly presence...woooooooooooooo!

Small grouping of trees located on the corner of my street. You can see the mountain starting to bloom a little bit (yeah, right).

Not sure if this is the same tree or not. I do take weird shots, don't I? Anyways, just by first glance, this tree certainly don't look healthy. At second glance, this looks like a tree from the town green. Still sickly looking though.

And finally, a truly random shot, at the intersection of Cedar and Main, looking south into downtown. Can't remember if I was playing dodge the traffic prior to this shot or after this shot.

Still hoping to take my .133 batting average and rise it by couple hundred points next week. Lets hope the final batch of shots is a helluva lot better than this batch of highly ornamental, but purely dysfunctional, pictures of my town.

Newington Center....And Beyond (3)

Note: Apologies for the lack of descriptive captioning this week. Apparently I took a batch of shots that didn't really lend themselves to any kind of in-depth captioning. Next week's should hold some promise, as I need to do a little refresh for a couple of the shots that I took.

This was taken at the main feeding area for the ducks at Mill Pond. There are others feeding areas scattered around the park, but for the most part, if you want to have your little one squeal with delight, you take them to this one. In the foreground, you can see a small slice of the fenced-in landing where people congregate. In the background is the town pool.

This was taken from one of the seldom used feeding areas. In the far background, you can once again see the town pool (sort of dominates the pictures, don't it?) and a small bridge.

Tree (like D'OH!). This was taken at the waterfalls. Across the street and right next to the waterfalls is the town school bus garage (hence the buses in the background). Springtime in New England always means having at least one pine tree surrounded by hibernating trees.

Our world famous waterfalls, looking like it usually does on a non-stormy day. It's pretty much a consistently casual flow as the pond empties directly into a lower stream. I know it doesn't look like much, but after a good storm it really is a sight to behold. Same goes for those sickly plants that you see in the foreground. I do have some pics in the upcoming months that I think captures the the waterfall area quite well. The bridge up above is also a nifty feeding area, but mostly people watch a few of the ducks take their hourly baths on top of the waterfalls.

Mill Pond Falls (like really D'OH!!!!!!). In the summer this area is definitely a sight to behold. In the spring, as you can see, it looks depressingly empty. Off in the distance you can see how empty the waterfalls look, how vacant and forlorn those benches on the left feel, and how achingly silent the trees stand. Definitely makes you think, and not in a good way either.