Need Some Help
I need you guys to use the comment field to encourage my dad to start his own blog! He's got a distribution list of people that he sends these wonderful e-mails to that are full of news of the North Carolina mountains - here's a sample:
2 Timber Rattlers in one day again! Total of seven for the year!
On the way back home from Spruce Pine this evening (tuesday), I passed a rattler lying across the center line about 30 yards north of the entrance to Crabtree Meadows. I turned around and stopped in the north bound lane with my headlights on him, grabbed my camera, and got some video - my camera has infrared night shot so it came out fair. I would say this one was about 2 1/2 ft maybe 3 and a little darker than the others I have seen in this area. Since I was blocking the lane, no one could hit this one and he slowly crawled off the road away from Crabtree. This was the 6th I've seen between Crabtree and NC 80 this year - 4 being road kills. I was excited to say the least!!!
As I got near the sign marking NC 80 ahear, there was another Rattler. A pickup was close behind me, so I couldn't slam on the brakes. I turned around at hwy 80 and went back. The truck was there beside the snake, and as I pulled up the guy was saying he was sorry but he had run over the rattler accidently. I really think he was sincere. This was a local fellow with his young son; I've seen him around several times. I hate to say it, but most people will go out of their way to run over any kind of snake. I was pleased that he didn't purposely run over the snake. He said he wouldn't want them in his yard, (don't think I would either with young children around); I would relocate them (the snakes, not the children!). After getting some video I got my walking cane to get him off the road in case he could survive but this guy offered to do it for me, since I don't get around very well. This may be the largest rattler I've seen in the area. One that would give him comperition, was a road kill in almost the identical location in the fall about 2 years ago. I counted around 12 rattles and it was the largest, widest rattles I've seen this year; I think he was around 4 ft long. I went back early this morning to retrieve his carcass, but it was nowhere to be found. Maybe he survived!
My video of this rattler didn't come out, my tape ran out. He was a beauty!
One of the volunteers at Crabtree said they had relocated a rattler that kept coming in the campground and had seen a copperhead in the meadow near the amphitheater. I've never seen a copperhead in the area, live or road kill.
New Wildflowers blooming now
Pink Turtle Head On Mt. Mitchell, blooming there before they are blooming below since their growing season is shorter on the mountain.
White Turtle head blooms in the Victor Fields area
Blazing Star
Hellers Blazing Star Rick and Margie saw one at Table Rock
Feather Bells
Filmy Angelica
Southern Hare Bell
White Snake Root
Yellow Fringed Orchids found a few more on Hwy 80 about 50 ft past the last house on the left from Busic, they are more orange now than yellow. Look after you pass Lyla Harrisons drive way
Bull Thistle Mt Mitchell
Skull Cap
Iron Weed
Spotted Touch Me Nots (orange)
Pale Touch me Nots (yellow)
Birds are starting to move. Black Mt. Gap at the Parkway and NC 128 is a super spot to watch the bird migration as thousands of birds funnel thru the gap. I'll let everyone know when the migration peaks. Also around Sept 22 is usually the peak of the Broad Winged Hawk migration on Mitchell. On the right day with clear weather, you can see hundreds in kettles rising in the thermals.
Had a new critter on my suet a few nights ago. Southern flying squirrels are common at night on the suet, but this time it was a Little Brown bat. First time I've seen that!
The rattler at Crabtree
This is the one from a few weeks ago
"Wild beasts and birds are by right not the property merely of the
people who are alive today, but the property of unknown genertions,
whose belongings we have no right to squander." President Theodore
Roosevelt
Great stuff, isn't it!? Let him know he needs to get off his butt and go to blogger.com and start one up!
Journalism Explained!
Fafblog's interview with Tim "Pumkinhead" Russert and Robert "I'm too evil to rate a nickname" Novak finally explains what modern journalism is all about...
Posted by Tony @ 08:59:00 am |
Telecommuting
Man, I love working from home!
Posted by Tony @ 11:41:00 am |
Dirty Little Secrets
C'mon, guys, admit it. I'm not the only one - you know you do it too. You're flipping through the incoming mail and your eyes light on that special catalog and you quickly and quietly grab it and unobtrusively slide it under the stack of Smithsonians and Eddie Bauer catalogs in the bathroom until you get your chance to spend a little quality time. And then there it is, in its four-color glory - paradise! Some pictures only show parts, others the whole thing - often uncovered so that you can see it all. Oh sure, there are more pictures on the Internet, but who wants to drag their laptop into the bathroom?
If you're reading this, chances are you're not that different. For me, it's the TigerDirect.com catalog. Maybe for you it's PC Upgrade magazine or NewEgg or, if you're a real old-timer, maybe it's Black Box. If you're a poseur, maybe you've got a copy of the Radio Shack catalog. JennySlash goes more for the office supply types - I've occasionally surprised her blissed out on the sofa while leafing through a big, thick Staples catalog. I go straight for the motherboards and the CPUs and the video cards - buying a whole system is sort of anti-climactic. I'm a tweaker - a memory upgrade here, a new hard drive there, maybe swapping in a new power supply or some rounded IDE cables, always striving for a happy, contented system. I never have the latest and greatest - unattainable without flashing more cash than I feel comfortable with. I'm always prowling around for good enough - figuring out the best I can get for what I'm willing to spend. And I'm not averse to a little sweet-talking - maybe convince someone that I'm worth free shipping or maybe an AMD XP 2600+ (Barton Core) CPU for the price of a 2500+.
I'm sure it's not healthy but I think I've got my obsession under control. Mostly. I've only got one system that isn't bootable right now, which I think is pretty darn responsible. And the covers are on ALL of my systems (at the moment). I'll admit that I do have to be restrained a bit when I walk past JennySlash's workstation with its oh-so-five-years-ago CPU, but when I start mapping out a makeover (new CPU, that'll require a new mobo and CPU fan/heatsink and do you really want to do all that in that old HP case? I think not! Need at least 512MB of RAM, pop in a CD-RW, I think we can get away without a DVD drive for now but definitely need to implant a new hard drive - the old one's WAY too small...) she smacks me on the back of the head and reminds me that she wants a new buffet for the dining room much more than a new computer.
Buffets? Wonder how much RAM they need to run Linux?
Posted by Tony @ 04:30:00 pm |
Carolina Football
Oh, joy - it's almost time for another season of Carolina Football under John Bunting. Blech! I'm sure he's a good guy and no question he's a Carolina guy, but I've seen no indication after three years that he's the right guy to be Carolina coach. He's got his supporters (my dad among them) but when I ask what it is they like about him, it basically boils down to "he talks a good game". So far after three seasons, that hasn't translated into victories on the field.
Prior to Carl Torbush, the last three football coaches at UNC all made significant improvements in personnel and in records in their first three years. Bill Dooley's teams improved every year, going 2-8, 3-7 and 5-5. His 4th season they went 8-4 and tied for 2nd in the conference. Dick Crum started at Carolina the same year I did, and coached teams to 5-6, 8-3-1 and 11-1 in his first three years. His fourth season ended in a 10-2 record, hardly much of a drop-off from the ACC Championship season the year before. Mack Brown took a team seriously depleted by a couple of years of bad recruiting and went 1-10, 1-10 and 6-4-1 and finished 7-4 in his fourth season. No one wants to really remember Carl Torbush, but his teams went 7-5, 3-8 and 6-5 - hardly stellar but his worst season was better than 2 of Bunting's 3. And he didn't lose to Duke. Let me repeat that - he didn't lose to Duke. Last year's loss was the first time we've lost to Duke since Mack Brown's second season, when they whacked us 41-0. One can only assume that that embarrassing loss was a serious motivator for Brown's third team as last year's loss had better be for this team.
It's not that we haven't had some players the last couple of years. We've had some pretty stellar receivers and I think Darian Durant is the guy that we all hoped Ronald Curry was going to be - good arm, great legs, smart kid. Durant's gotten a knock for fumbling too much and making some bad decisions, but he's been behind a pretty crappy O-line his whole career - I think he's been fantastic all things considered. What I really miss though are the guys that made Carolina football - where are the 1000-yard rushers and the future all-Pro linebackers and defensive linemen that have been the staples of Carolina football since before I started watching? Where are the Don McCauleys and Mike Voights and Amos Lawrences and Kelvin Bryants and Ethan Hortons and Derrick Fenners and Natrone Meanses? Where are the Buddy Currys and Lawrence Taylors and Kevin Donnalleys and K Mayses and Vonnie Hollidayses and Greg Ellises? We've scored a lot of points the last few years, but we haven't been able to stop anybody at all. And when the weather's been bad or we've faced a good defensive secondary, we haven't had the guy in the backfield that you can pitch to or hand off to that'll get you 6 or 7 yards and keep the defense honest. Jonathan Linton is the only 1,000 rusher we've had in the last 10 years, and he only got 1004 yards on 4 yards per carry (basically a fullback). I want to see a defensive front that will knock the opposite line on their asses and linebackers that will let nothing get in the way of their grabbing the opposing quarterback and swinging him through the air on the way to a fifteen yard loss (think Lawrence Taylor against Clemson).
I am not in favor of throwing over coaches on a regular basis. Hell, I'd've given Torbush another year or two. And I'm not saying that Bunting needs to get some specific number of wins in order not to be replaced. But I think we ought to demand significant improvement this season. And is it too much to ask that we beat fuckin' Duke?!
Posted by Tony @ 01:00:00 pm |
Sunday, August 8, 2004
My Disappearance
Hope no one was alarmed by the lack of posting last week - spent a good chunk of it in the wilds of northern Delaware in meetings. You might recall that I spent a good part of the winter and spring of '03 in Newark, Delaware on a "temporary" assignment. That's pronounced NEW'-ark (like as opposed to an old ark) to differentiate it from Newark, New Jersey, which appears to be something like NOO'-urk. Don't ever get the two confused if you are speaking to someone in Delaware.
I have had a hard time figuring Newark, DE out, despite spending way more time there than I'd like. Newark is the home of the University of Delaware Fighting Blue Hens with a student population of almost that of UNC-CH. Now I live in a college town and have spent a bit of time (or at least passed through) Ann Arbor, Athens, Champaign-Urbana and others and I can tell you that Newark is the sorriest excuse for a college town that I've ever seen. I'm also trying to figure out where in the hell they put all the people - the population is about a third that of Chapel Hill-Carrboro and we've got Durham to soak up even more people. Sure, Wilmington DE's only about as far away from campus as Raleigh is from here, but it's not all that big either. There is a little main street running right next to campus in Newark with a couple of bars and restaurants, but nowhere near the places to eat or hang out that Franklin Street has. The campus architecture actually looks relatively similar to UNC or UGa or other more Southern campuses, but the surrounding rental housing look much more Northern - ugly two stories with asbestos siding and badly-tacked-on porches -really hideous. Of course, my view of Newark was no doubt colored by my introduction to it, which was as soon as I could get a flight into Philadelphia after the President's Day snowstorm dumped 25" of snow on the area last year. The first few weeks all I saw were 5-foot-tall mountains of black plowed snow on the sides of the roads. It also suffers from its approaches - most people are either first going to see the DuPont plant or the Mopar plant. Not the most scenic entrances...
But thankfully I'm home with my sweetie and with no return trips on the horizon!
Posted by Tony @ 08:49:00 pm |
