Northern Cambria County by Air

This week's blog was shot from a 2-seat helicopter as I was flown over the Northwest corner of Cambria County. The pictures comprise the four towns and two school districts that make up this part of the county. These first twenty-one pictures are just a small sample of the over 250 photographs that I took. The four pictures of the buck were shot in our yard. This was his third visit, that we know of.

Several years ago Spangler and Barnesboro consolidated to form the borough of Northern Cambria. We have used all three of the names to identify the pictures.

Slickport, PA

Hastings, PA, population 1,336

Hastings, PA.

Hastings, PA.

Patton, PA, population 1,923.

Patton, PA.

Cambria Heights Middle and High Schools, outside of Patton, PA.

Carrolltown, PA, population 996.

Carrolltown, PA.

Cambria Heights Elementary School.

Hi-Way Drive In.

Spangler, PA aka Northern Cambria, PA.

Spangler, PA showing the Spangler Ball Field.

Spangler, PA, the big red brick building is the old Miner's Hospital.

Northern Cambria, PA., populaton 4,190.

Northern Cambria High School.

Northern Cambria Elementary and Middle School.


Barnesboro, PA. aka Northern Cambria.

Village of Allport, Susquehanna Township.

Cambrian Hills Country Club.

Murphy's Spring, PA., with our slice of heaven in the center.

Backyard visitor.

Eye to Eye.

A decision has been made.

I'm out of here.

It's For the Birds

It's probably a little premature, but we have already got the majority of our bird feeders out. We have visitors coming in all day long. So far we've had five species of birds visiting. As the season goes along, our clientele will grow.

Northern Cambria head coach, F. Paronish.

Two of Northern Cambria's drummers.

N. C. Band fires up the crowd.

Number 7, Northern Cambria's running back, takes off with the ball.

Blairsville fumbles the ball after getting hit by Northern Cambria's linebacker. Northern Cambria recovers the ball.

Number 47, Northern Cambria's middle linebacker...sitting on his defense.

Chipping Sparrow lands on the bird feeder.

Sidewalk display outside of High Street Emporium, Ebensburg, PA.

This old fire truck once belonged to the Conemaugh Volunteer Fire Department. It was a Ford/Seagrave superduty 150.

Old hoses hang off the back of the fire truck.

Nuthatch feeding on sun flower seeds.

Four bird feeders with the bird bath in the background.

My wife and I built this frame last weekend so that we are able to hang a lot more feeders than we have ever had. Shown here are 8 feeders and we will be adding 4 more shortly, to our 12 bird feeder frame. It's approximately 8 feet by 8 feet.


Tree Sparrow gets a bath.

Titmouse 1 ... you are cleared for landing. Please enjoy your meal.

Wallhanging.

Life Worth Living

I'm so lucky that I live in this part of south central Pennsylvania. It is early fall, the colors are brilliant and the views can be breathtaking.

Buck in the brush -- Although this deer is only twenty feet away from me, he is still hard to see.

This is the same buck as in the previous picture. Both of these pictures were shot through a window in our family room.

'57 Chevy - The guy that owns this Chevy is the owner and cook in the restaurant in Nanty Glo, PA shown in the background. He traded his Harley for this beauty. Besides the skirts it also sports a continental on the back.

Looking east across Glendale Lake on a beautiful Friday night.

Friday night football, Glendale vs. Northern Bedford. It was Glendale's Homecoming game and they won. How cool is that?

Fall decorations - Jim and Sandy do up the farm every holiday or season.

I've never seen this game before. This is like tug-o-war basketball. One person on either side of the center post, harnessed and tethered to each other, the object is to get your three basketballs into the net before your opponent does. When you go forward your opponent goes backwards, when your opponent goes forward, you go backwards. It was fun to watch.

Norfolk Southern engine house along the mainline, Cresson, PA.

Young motocross rider getting a little practice time in on a fall Sunday afternoon. What a view!

Hitting the apex on a turn, this motocross rider spends some quality time with his Yamaha YZ250.

Hastings, PA decked out in its' fall colors. This is rural America.

Pontoon City, Glendale Lake, 9:30 on a Monday morning.

Dueling Festivals, Cambria County, PA

If you ever wonder how your potatoes were picked, this is how it is done.

This is the Cambria County Courthouse located in Ebensburg, PA.

Red Devil Mascot of Central Cambria High School, Ebensburg, PA.
Tuba player, Central Cambria High School Band.

In spite of the cold and the rain, folks still turned out for PotatoFest in Ebensburg.

Mentoring: Local woodcarver Ed H. instructs a young man in the art of wood carving during the PotatoFest in Ebensburg.

You can really tell these two are related, a mother and daughter from Portage, PA.

Guitar man - Russell Donnellon

One of several clowns who entertained at PotatoFest.

This gentleman, from Huntington, PA makes hand carved walking sticks and canes.

What a difference a day makes! PotatoFest in Ebensburg was wet, rainy, cold. The next day, Apple Cider Festival and Craft Show was bright, sunny and warm.

Redneck wind chimes.

Jen Brackbrill, Shaver's Creek Environmental Center, displays a Barn-owl to the crowd.

This is the same Barn owl - Tyto alba - that is shown on the handler's hand in the previous picture.

Red-tailed Hawk -- Buteo jamaicesis -- it has a wing span of approximately 4-1/2 feet.

This picture is actually a row of marshmallow guns that are made out of PVC pipe. If you look closely at the bottom of the picture you can see part of the openings of the pipes. Darkroom magic.

Stars and Stripes Forever.

This young man, a student at Glendale Area High School, is holding an albino Texas Rat Snake - Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri, on exhibit at the Apple Cider Festival held at Prince Gallitzin State Park.

Susquehanna Township Fire

The following photographs were taken at the scene of a fatal fire in Susquehanna Township, Cambria County on Monday, October 2, 2006 starting at approximately 11:30 in the morning. The State Police Fire Marshal, who is called in for all fatal fires, came to the conclusion that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction. The Cambria County Coroner, who was also called in, determined that the sole occupant of the home, an 85 year old woman, died from toxic smoke inhalation and burns to 60% of her body and that the death was accidental. Volunteer firemen from the Spangler, Hope and Hastings Fire Companies were on hand for more than 4 hours, as were EMS personnel from Veterans and Hastings EMS Stations. More than 1/4 mile of 5 inch hose was laid from the nearest hydrant on Route 219 (Bigler Avenue) to the home located on First Avenue. We are not adding text to the photographs as most of them are self-explanatory. The photos are shown in the order they were taken.

Cambria County Coroner, Dennis Kwiatkowski, talks with members of the press concerning his preliminary findings on the fire.