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Updated: December 11, 2004
We know it's been well over a year since we updated our site, but it's been given a complete overhaul and is now a collection of four separate sites. Earthlink (our ISP) allows us 10 MB of webspace for each e-mail address and the original site we launched a few years ago has grown to the point where 10 MB was not enough, mostly due to the amount of photos we wanted to share. Now the 1002 Photography Project has its own distinct site, as does Michael's Studio Vheissu Pages.
In fact, the Photo Project has an additional two satellite sites featuring photos from the two progressive rock festivals we attended in 2004, the inaugural edition of the Rites of Spring Festival (aka ROSfest) in Phoenixville, PA, and the 6th annual North East Art Rock Festival (NEARfest), now back home in Bethlehem, PA. This was Michael's first foray into concert photography and it was fairly successful. We received a lot of comments from people all over the world, including many of the bands that played at the fests, and a few of the photos have been used on some of the band's own websites. We got a very nice e-mail from Manni Müeller, the
drummer for the German band RPWL, asking for permission to use our photos of the band from their ROSfest performance (like the one on the right here) on their website. Sonus Umbra used a photo of them on their website for a while, also, and three Strawbs photos are on their website. Links to the pages have been posted on many prog rock messages boards and both sites continue to get hits. The main page has all new photos (as of July 2004) and we have changed the thumbnail table design.
The home page here includes a new feature called 1002 Real Wildlife Adventures which features photos and brief stories about, well, real wildlife adventures that have occurred here at 1002. We plan to use some of the best of the past "What's New" events and images to provide a permanent source of 1002 history. Right now there are only five of these prepared, but we hope to add to them as they occur and as we dig back in our home image collection. Also, Cathi continues her 1002 saga in her new page entitled Here Comes the Bride. She has added her latest Corner, too.
We have three confirmed new species to add to our Backyard Birding Life List and grand total is now at 56 species. The first new addition was a House Wren, which is nothing exotic or rare in any way, but in our 25 years here at 1002 we have never seen or heard one close enough to count on our backyard list. Michael had been hearing one in the spring of 2003, though, and finally got visual confirmation while he was filling the feeder on the morning of July 12. Our House Wren visitor was singing away in our apple tree. Their song is not difficult to identify and the sighting was a mere formality. However, it's sometimes hard to tell where the bird making the sound is located, so we waited for a positive sighting before adding it to the list. The next new addition was a Northern Goshawk. 
This was a strange one, but confirmed by photographic eveidence. I've never seen one of these birds even away from home, so I doubted a positive ID until I got the photo back. One of these photos is available from a link on the Life List page. The final new bird, of which I wish we had a photo, was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Like the
House Wren, this is not an especially rare bird in our area, but it's always a thrill to see one, especially in our own backyard. They seem to have finally found our two butterfly bushes and we hope they continue to return to share with the butterflies. We also have some new photos of returning visitors on the birding page. In addition to our owl friend, we've got pictures of the Carolina Wren and Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers that we added to the list during the last update.
Speaking of flowers, Cathi's light cart yielded flowers and herbs for our various planting areas around the house. The front bed got so tall and beautiful that a picture of it was a definite to grace the top of our homepage. The impatiens there got to be 28 inches tall (see the picture at the left) and grew to totally obscure the little plastic bird drinker that our Goldfinches and Chickadees like to visit! The impatiens in our back "rock" garden (so called because it was built with rocks cleared from our yard, see the photo at the right) got only a few inches shorter, due to being mostly in the shade, and nearly covered the steps from the deck. We also got a good crop of sage, basil and oregano. Already getting ready for next year, Cathi took seeds from this year's flowers and brought the begonias and some of the herbs in for the winter. She also brought in "Mr. Pinky," the original impatiens grown from seed with the benefit of grow lights.
So, that's it for now. We would like to have another update ready for the Spring of 2005. We'll see what new adventures occur. Check in again soon and please enjoy the other pages!
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