Owls and woodchucks...

We live in a place where we see eagles, lots of deer and coyotes... yesterday I even shooed a woodchuck out of the garage, and then today on the way home we ran into this great Barred Owl...

Barred Owls can grow to be 21” tall and have a 42” wingspan. Beautiful.

A portly woodchuck with a nice disposition visited my garage the other day... the hound dog almost hyperventilated!

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Congratulations to the Class of 2016

Congrats NLO!  Your AMAZING!

All my love NLO,

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National Mall in Washington DC

If you ever have the good fortune to visit Washington DC, the National Mall is a wonderful place to spend a few days.  This is a very quick walk through.  Hope you enjoy!

A little overcast, but still a nice pic of the Capital

Inside the AIr and SPace Museum.  Great tri-motor, these ruled the air when the radial engine was king...

Ok, here's a hint - he invented the screw propeller...

The Crypt of James Smithson the namesake of the "Smithsonian."

Thomas Jefferson Memorial - I think Jefferson liked "round'" whereas Lincoln liked "square."

John Paul Jones.... some say the father of the American Navy...

The Korean War Memorial - outstanding!

A lunar lander from the Apollo program.  I was surprised by how fragile a craft this was.

The Spirit of St Louis...

Early flight and the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the lander that crossed the void of space to reach the moon - what a juxtaposition of time and technology in one picture.

Look closely... this is a stainless steel sculpture!

The very dignified entrance portalto the Smithsonian visitor center.

This view of the White House is sort of a classic.  It's was taken a few hundred feet West of the Washington Memorial - looking North. 

The DC War Memorial erected in the 1930's this was to commemorate WW I and the tremendous loss suffered by all in the "War to End all Wars."

This is the WW II memorial.  It is circular and each pillar represents a state.  Around the circumference historic events and their locations can be found...

Well this is a super short splash of what you will find if you visit.  I hope you liked the pics!

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My friend Sheryl's TED Talk

Go Sheryl!  

 

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Ashland Street Art

There's a small town in Northern Wisconsin called Ashland.  This little town has adopted a most interesting expression of history, art and community by painting extraordinary murals on the sides of buildings all over town.  The people come from old photographs of the period they were in...

A mural depicting the structure as it looked in 1892.

The side view of the mural above, it is very well done!

If you look closely you can see the building's brick and the painted over appearance of sand stone block...

Painted replicas of  old schools long gone...

A picture from the 1940's of some local ladies was the inspiration for this mural.

A huge canvas!  This mural captures a key piece of Ashland's history - at one time the World's longest "Oredock." Ships would anchor aside and chutes would rotate down allowing holds full of iron ore from nearby mines to fill the holds of vessels bound for Detroit and Cleveland where the iron ore made steel and fueled the industrial growth of the country.

Amazing... This mural is located near an old train depot.  Two railroads figured largely in Ashland's past.  The Great Northern and the Soo Line.

The people are represented from old photographs the loco is probably the last of the diesel units to roll down the tracks in this town, as the era of mining and the oredock are long gone.

Northern livery paint, amazing art...

An old aircraft hangar is depicted here from Ashland's early aviation history complete with personalities from the period.

A little jazz scene from the 20's...

This mural is a replica of what the main street looked like around the turn of the century (1900 ish)

Mining and logging were Ashland's largest industries and source of commerce.  In the late 1800's it is estimated that nearly 10,000 were employed in cutting timber and milling that timber into planks for the building of homes or the bolstering of tunnels in the mines.

A giant canvas, executed so very well...

How the mural looks from Main Street

A war memorial of citizens from the past...

The 1950's and some of Ashland's memories captured in this multi-paneled display

I personally find this one to be my favorite. 

In 1910, this store was a grocery, the scene depicts some patrons buying provisions.  I think the colors, or maybe the geometry of this mural really catches my eye...

Here we have a salute to the light house keepers from three different light houses in the area.  All of these lights are located on the Apostle Islands, a really wonderful place to hike and camp. The keepers and lights are from Devil's Island, Sand Island and Outer Island.

Being an engineer this stuff always grabs my attention.  Steam locomotives are amazing!

This is the 950, she was a ten wheeler - largest on the Iron Range!

A thing of beauty!  She pulled thousands of loaded cars full of iron ore and timber to the docks and worked into the 1950's where diesel power replaced her...

 Hope you all enjoyed this little trip to Ashland!

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Christ is Risen!

Happy Pascha to all my Orthodox friends!

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