Staying Put

With all the snow and bad weather we've been having for the last week, I decided to stay close to home for this week's blog.

The Hastings Borough crew have the right frame of mind from the looks of this shot. The Christmas decorations are down and the Spring things are taking their place.


Hydrangea


One of the things I've been working on this winter is to get photographs of some of the larger birds taking off from the feeders. So far this is about as good as it can get, I think. The Red-bellied Woodpecker just started to spread its' wings as I pressed the cable release.

To get this and the next shot, I hung a piece of black paper behind the icicles. My shutter speed was 1/640, the ISO is 400 and the aperture was 2.8.

Creek along Number Nine Road.

When the snow flies and the drive-in closes, it's time to push the boats onto dry land.

No shows due to snow.

One of the favorite foods for the winter birds is this sumac.

Looking good in my winter coat.

Braving the cold.

You can't imagine how surprised I was to look out the window on Friday morning and see this member of the woodpecker family, a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -- Sphyrapicus various -- sitting on one of the suet feeders. This is the first time I ever saw this woodpecker although they live in our woods.

Woodpecker on feeder.

Every February the Carrolltown Volunteer Fire Company holds their annual dinner dance and this year's was the biggest yet with more than 400 people buying tickets to the event. As part of the night's activities awards are given to deserving volunteers. This year the Ladies Auxiliary award went to Rose Herring(r) and it ws presented by Sue Byrne(l).


With a combined total of 91 years service to the Carrolltown Volunteer Fire Company, three men were honored at the event on Saturday night. Shown left to right: Ted Malloy (22 years), Company President Gerald Sherry, Dick Yarko (49 years) and Tom Malloy (22 years).


After dinner was served and the awards were given out, it was time for some entertainment. First up was comedian/magician Mike Gigliotto. Mike was also the emcee of the event.


The highlight of the show was Ohio based comedian Dan Long.


Dan had the assembled masses eating out of his hand from the time he hit the stage. Although my wife and I had other plans for the night, I'm glad we stayed around to see Dan perform.

Bishop Carroll's Lauren Oldham gets up for 2 as #33 Vanessa Rawley of Moshannon Valley tries to block the shot.


Bishop Carroll's #33 Kristen Kos makes the play look easy as she gets inside the guard of Moshannon Valley's #10 Taylor Murarik.


Vanessa Rowley #33 for the Damsels of Moshannon Valley looks for 2 over the defenders of Bishop Carroll, #4 Lauren Oldham and #41 Mara Weinzierl.


And once again the rebound goes to Bishop Carroll.


Bishop Carroll's senior guard Victor Tranquillo goes airborne for the hoop as Northern Cambria's #11 Jordan Stiles can only watch.

Fighting for control of the rebound are Jesse Carnevali and Luke Paronish.

Northern Cambria's #32 Jesse Carnevali gets his arm in the way of Bishop Carroll forward Luke Paronish as he goes to the basket.

Bishop Carroll's big center #50 Steve Greene tries for 2 points over the out stretched arms of Northern Cambria's Joe Yuhas.