A Very Busy Week

An early morning fire on Monday, the 20th, burned down a garage on the Galovich farm in Susquehanna Township.

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This praying mantis sculpture was once part of a extermination company along Route 30 in Somerset County.

This old barn sits along Route 711 north, just outside of Ligonier, PA.

Johnstown, PA as seen from the top of the Incline Plane.

Old steel mill, Johnstown, PA

Twice a year, this area is either filled with bikers or musical enthusiasts, or both, as the case may be. Seen here is the Johnstown train station. In June Thunder in the Valley takes over the area and in September it hosts Johnstown FolkFest.

Tioga Street Market, a mom and pop operation in the boro of Westmont, PA.

Johnstown, PA from ground level.

Monument to Michael Strank, one of the Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima, 61 years ago today (23Feb06).

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Even as the Olympics go on in Torino, Italy, The Pennsylvania Special Olympics Winter hockey games are held on the campus of Saint Francis University.

Blair County Vs. Berks County

Clinton County Vs. Blair County

This is the true spirit of the Special Olympics.

The Catalyst

This is the catalyst without all the movement. It is part of our gravity fed oil-burner system.

February 16, 2006

These ladies were honored by the Carrolltown Volunteer Fire Company for all their years of service.

The Carrolltown Volunteer Fire Company also honored several men for their years of service.

After nearly three years of being held captive and made to wander throughout Penn's Woods, this metal T-Rex, belonging to local metal artist Roland Paronish, was returned home Friday afternoon, after being released from police custody in Northern Cambria, PA.

The artist at work in his shop.

A photographer's rendition of a iron worker's art.

Staff and faculty overlook student pottery pieces for the silent auction held by the Northern Cambria High School National Honor Society.

A pile of dirt from a new underground mine sits behind an abandoned barn near Stifflertown.

An old house along Route 286 in Indiana County, PA on the Burnside-Montgomery Township line.

Normally a ground feeding bird, this Chipping Sparrow eats at a suet feeder.

A Downy Woodpecker works at eating while ignoring the snow on the top of the suet feeder.

Working for it's lunch, this Nuthatch stretches to reach the suet feeder.

Goldfinches

A gas war, which started in the Berlin, PA area, of Somerset County, expanded to Somerset city.

Just Another Day in Paradise

Home of Elias Unger, and although he would go by the title of "Colonel", more likely he never had any military experience. In 1889 he was the president of the corporation who maintained the dam and the resort called "The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club". This is at the Johnstown Flood National Memorial.

This barn, unusal for Cambria County because of its' rounded roof, sits along the Chest Springs-Loretto Road.

Looking like it belongs on the prairie of the midwest, this old homestead is actually on Brick Road, just outside of Carrolltown, PA

Retired Congressman "Bud" Shuster at Saint Francis University announcing a new memorial scholarship fund for his former aide, Ann Eppard. The fund will offer scholarships for summer Congressional internships to qualified SFU students.

The pottery shown here, was produced by students at Northern Cambria High School and put on silent auction to help promote programs by students who are members of the National Honor Society.

This home, along the Bakerton - Carrolltown Road, catches my eye everytime I pass it. I had to stop and finally take a picture.

This yellow tower is a water filtration system located on an abandoned Barnes and Tucker mine site. Mine water was filtered through lime within the tank to remove acid. The water was then pumped into a holding pond before it went into the local creeks.

At least once a week I pass this old boney pile in Bakertown that is now undergoing reclamation. As the refuse is removed from the site, it creates an ever changing environment.

Food fight - I've never noticed it before but Gold Finches are highly aggressive birds. They are amazing to watch.

Talk about satisfying your hunger, this Nuthatch is going all out.

This female Downy Woodpecker - Dendrocopos pubescens - has just started coming to our suet feeder. We have yet to see the males.

This angel statue sits outside the door of my tax acountant's office. I wonder if they are trying to tell me something.

Three by Five

Fire along Route 219, North of Northern Cambria.

Attack from the rear.

Always there -- Hope Fire Co, Cherry Tree VFD and Station 58 Spangler.

Teasel -- Dipsacus fullonum -- covered with ice crystals on a cold morning.

Refuse from an abandoned coal mine stands out even more with the white snow on the hill behind these houses in Fificktown, PA, now part of South Fork, PA (or so I am told).

Church in Fificktown.

A view from farther away with the railroad in the foreground and the church in the photo above in the background. Fificktown, PA.

Although many fans have over-decorated to show their overwhelming enthusiasm for the upcoming Super Bowl, this Steelers fan prefers to be eloquently understated.

Barn in Carrolltown, PA.

Farm along Route 219, North of St. Michael's.

Rusty Johnston, of Wichita, KS is seen here on his Segway in front of the Stokes Building on the campus of Saint Francis University. The Library is in the background. Rusty and his wife were in town on Saturday to see their nephew, Garrett Farha #10, play for the Saint Francis University men's basketball team. This is the first time I saw a Segway.

Garrett Farha, #10, jumps up to shoot a basket during the game on Thursday night against Fairleigh Dickinson.

The Red Flash cheerleaders watch as Garrett tries to sneak past a Monmouth defender during Saturday's game.