Smokies Light

Flew to Austin and back the same day Saturday for a job interview. Last time I flew to Austin and back the same day I was in a Learjet when I was somebody thought to be important many years ago. The interview went ok I guess, but during the idle chit chat part with the potential boss who happens to be from Lenoir City, he made some derogatory comments about the snail darter. While the snail darter controversy in Tennessee that delayed the damming of the Little Tennessee River by TVA for a few years was perhaps bogus, the greater issue was stopping one of the most beautiful and healthy trout rivers in the nation from being destroyed for no other purpose than for TVA to prove it could do it. So anyhoo, life is too short to work for a Republican in Austin. Back to barking at the moon.

Don Hendershot who writes for the Smoky Mountain News continues to harass the ornithological community for the premature re-discovery of the thought to be extinct ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas back in 2004. The announcement which carried the prestige and reputation of Cornell University made big news in the national media. It's now been 4 years and still no definitive proof.

If they're free how can they be on sale? I don't get it. They must have defects.

Sometimes I'm suspicious about the way pelicans fish. They fly up high over the water and when the prey is spotted, they nose dive at full speed making a big splash. I really suspect they just fly up high and dive in just for the joy of it. If they happen to catch a fish then all the better.

in the 1860s....

"It is useless to attempt to describe the wild and romantic scenery through which we passed. We spent the whole day through laurel thickets, with no path to guide us, passed over rapid mountain torrents by springing from rock to rock, many times at places where I should have never thought of attempting, had not Jack gone before, and at about two o’clock arrived at Alum Cave, thoroughly and utterly exhausted by our toilsome climbing and walk of seven miles. The last half mile was nearly perpendicular."

Read more here.

These pics were taken last weekend. With the hurricanes, summer heat, real estate collapse, insurance problems, etc., don't let anyone ever convince you that Florida, at least this part, isn't paradise.

All of the great egret pics posted over the last few days and weeks were taken on the same day back in early January. It was the very first day I set out to take pics of birds in flight. These egrets literally circled over my head at close range almost as if they knew what I was doing and were hamming it up for the camera.

Photographers have to work really hard here to get bird pics, stalking quietly, setting up blinds, waiting for hours, etc.
Ok not really. A snowy egret walked right by me maybe three feet away while I was taking these pics.

From Alex at ProjectBluesphere, who has been out of the country sailing a few years:

One guy in the office said “Your in America now, we all have to sign contracts, contracts for cell phones and contracts for credit cards”. I tried to explain that I don’t have a cell phone contract and I don’t have credit cards, they just kind of looked at me funny. I also don’t have a car, bills, or other liabilities and I believe in taking responsibility for my own actions. Is this really so strange?

I wonder if it is me that has changed so much, I don’t think America could have changed this much in the last 5 years?

No Alex, it is we who have changed. We don't like freedom being on the march in these parts. You could be a terrorist.

The proprietors of Tennviews, Knoxviews and Blountviews were in the area today so we hooked up this morning for breakfast by the sea in Flagler Beach and some exploring of area parks. Pictured above are R. Neal, bizgrrl, and the Pupster. Back in Tennessee we live in fairly close proximity and have been blog buds for years but today was the first time we've met in person, a very long way from home. It was a delightful day even tho the weather was a little cooler and windier than it's been for most of the Winter. And would somebody send me a note next time there's a time change in the works?

Remember a few years ago when several hundred acres were taken from all U.S. citizens in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park so Cherokee could build a new high school? The tract of land was called Ravensford just behind the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. The new high school is now pretty much finished. You can see the eyesore roofs of the buildings and the parkings lots easily from the Blue Ridge Parkway near its terminus at Oconaluftee. The land was ceded to Cherokee by an act of Congress in an omnibus bill, in a provision inserted by former Rep. Charles Taylor. The Cherokee claimed they had no room to expand and build a new school due to the geography and being hemmed in by the National Park so they needed the National Park land.

From the Smoky Mountain News:

Workers are moving dirt to build Cherokee’s first golf course.

The course is being built on the former Smoky Mountain Raceway property along Shoals Creek Road, and Duvall says it will “surpass everything in this region.”

Golf course architects, Robert Trent Jones II, designed the Sequoyah National Golf Club. Construction costs for this project are not being released yet, Duvall Said.

The Tribe is also considering building a housing development near the golf course. Duvall said the houses would be for tribal members only.

Plans call for this facility to be completed in summer or fall of 2009.

These Flagler College students were deeply engaged in a philosophical debate over the Greek icons when I interrupted them to get a cup of joe. It's good to be in a college town. I'll be posting more humanscapes this week.

Now that I've quit my job, naturally thoughts turn to starting my own business rather than slaving for someone else again. (I'll have to make it to at least 2010 when I expect to be elected to Congress.) Over a beer the other day, a friend was telling me about her experiences with eHarmony.com, and lo and behold, an idea for a new web-based business was born right there in the bar (and after downing a few). Based on the theory of opposites attract, and because magnetic poles with opposite polarization attract while the same repels, and because losers in prison seem to win the hearts of women everywhere, I'm thinking of starting up www.mismatch.com or www.eDiscord.com. Customers will fill out questionnaires and personality profiles of themselves, and with some high-tech analysis (MS Excel), the site will automatically bring together people who, in theory, should hate each other. I really think this has potential. There's nothing more boring than hanging out with someone with the same interests and outlook on life if you ask me. This idea was born a few days ago and today I get an email with dysfunctional Hallmark cards posted below. I think it's a sign to proceed.

1. I always wanted to have someone to hold, someone to love. And now
that you've come into my life...
(Inside card) I've changed my mind

2. I must admit, you brought religion into my life...
(Inside card) I never believed in Hell until I met you.

3. As the days go by, I think how lucky I am....
(Inside card) That you're not here to ruin it for me

4. Congratulations on your promotion. Before you go....
(Inside card) Will you take the knife from my back? You'll probably need it
again.

5. Someday I hope to marry...
(Inside card) Someone other than you.

6. Happy Birthday! You look great for your age....
(Inside card) Almost lifelike!

7. When we were together, you said you'd die for me...
(Inside card) Now we've broken up, I think it's time to keep your promise.

8. We've been friends for a very long time...
(Inside card) What do you say we stop?

9.I'm so miserable without you..
(Inside card) It's almost like you're still here.

10. Congratulations on your new bundle of joy....
(Inside card) Did you ever find out who the father was?

11. You are such a good friend. If we were on a sinking ship and there was only
one life jacket...
(Inside card) I'd miss you terribly and think of you often.

12. Your friends and I wanted to do something special for your birthday...
(Inside card So we're having you put to sleep.

13. Happy Birthday, Uncle Dad!
(Available only in Alabama , Mississippi , and Arkansas and certain areas of the
Carolinas )

14.Looking back over the years we were together,I can't help but wonder...
(Inside card) What was I thinking?

15. Congratulations on your wedding day!...
(Inside card) Too bad no one likes your wife

A while back I posted a few "just is" birds. This one is a "don't know what it is" bird. It had light green legs, maybe a cattle egret. Taken today. Click here for an uncropped image.

Scenes from a festival held last weekend in St. Augustine. For a while there I thought I was back in Gatlinburg.

Made a day trip to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Canaveral National Seashore, and the JFK Space Center yesterday. I have a few pics from the outing which I'll post over time.

The Canaveral National Seashore is isolated and completely undeveloped. The ocean here begins to take on the aqua blue color that is so beautiful compared to the murkiness of the water further north.

Thought I would join in on the dolphin blogging. This one was taken Friday morning. The sun was well up and shining too bright for a good pic. I cranked down the ev a long way and took it anyway.

In what sounds like a science-fiction movie plot, a swarm of jellyfish 10 square miles and 35 feet deep wipes out Northern Ireland's only salmon farm. In other salmon news, for the first time in the history of fisheries management, there will be no salmon fishing this year in California and Oregon due to there being no salmon left to catch.

In NASA's defense, the Visitor Center is outsourced to a private company. The IMAX 3D movies of space exploration should be required viewing of all U.S. citizens. To see what what was accomplished 40 years ago as a nation, compared to how far we've sunk as a nation, especially in the last 8 years, brought me to tears.

The great blue heron is very common here as well as back in Tennessee. Even so you just have to take their picture when given the opportunity. This is what happens when you get too close tho.

Those were the impatient words of Alan Shepard after the launch of Mercury 7 was delayed several times. The plaque said the rocket pictured here was the actual one that took Shepard into space. I was surprised at how small it was in real life, compared to the later Saturn rockets which took man to the moon. The flight duration of Mercury 7 lasted only 15 minutes, 28 seconds and covered only 303 earth miles.

I like the open space of the water in this image but would have preferred the bird to be on the right side of the frame instead of the lower left facing out of the frame. With a rapidly moving bird and a slowly moving photographer you can't always get the composition hoped for.

Strong winds for the last few days have the ocean in an uproar. Is the right wing touching the water? Looks like it. Will have to deduct points for that.
Uncropped version:

As much as I like Stevie and Paul, that song to me is like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Florida style.

It looks as if painterly effects were applied in Photoshop but this image is straight from the camera except for minimal post-processing required for a raw file.

It's amazing that in this tech age that a host provider can hose up a website for up to 48 hours before getting it working again. The problem was due to some bad hard drives. There are simple and inexpensive ways to reduce or eliminate the impact of drive failures, and when the main function of your business, such as a website host provider, depends on hard drives it would seem they would know what those ways are.

So anyhoo, I'm taking my $5 a month elsewhere, so in the near future there might be another brief hiccup as the site is moved. In the meantime, we resume our normally scheduled programming.

In Flagler Beach, just across A1A from the ocean. I had breakfast here.

I posted a while back my belated discovery of Eva Cassidy. Someone has made a video tribute to Eva which made the bigtime at Eschaton and also posted here for your listening and viewing pleasure.

Headed back to the Smokies Monday morning. It's so painful to leave. I was here just long enough to start feeling like a local and made a few friends, and now it comes to an end. I see no reason to freeze half the year up in the mountains if you don't have to, so I will probably put the condo treehouse up for sale and try to get back down this way. If you know anyone interested in a Smokies condo please send them my way. I'll finish up Florida this week on the blog with a few bird pics.

Update: doh! I already packed my external hard drive with the pics on it. I'll start posting again in a couple of days. Thanks for coming by.

Postponed the trip back to the mountains 'til Thursday. Time now for another walk on the beach with the infinite primordial soup cleansing the soles of my feet and the soul of my spirit as well.