Picking Picasa

After eight months of blogging and almost 200 photos posted, it is not easy for new visitors to view photos in all the old archives. I have been looking for a better way to present my photo collection and thanks to my daughter-in-law, Shannon, I am trying out Picasa.

Picasa is a great photo organizer by the good folks at Google. They recently added a web album feature that allows you to upload photos to the web and create individual albums by subject. When you click on an album, you can view a slideshow of all the photos in that album.

Check it out my first albums at picasaweb.google.com/rono359 or click on the photo album link in the right column of the blog. The best part of all, Picasa is free.

Another Green Anole

Tranquillity

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Egret

A graceful take-off

Gulf Fritillary

Summer has ended but the butterfly bush continues to work its magic.

Large Grasshopper

Female Blue Dasher Dragonfly

Another Look at the Sedum

Monarch

Could this be the last Monarch of summer?

Shamrocks are Blooming B'Golly

Ducks on a Pond

Interesting cloud color

Pausing in a Pampas Plume

Another Sign of Fall

Morning dew on a yellow Mum

Osprey

Osprey circling over water on the Arrowhead Golf Course.

The Osprey is a fish-eating specialist, with live fish accounting for about 99% of its diet. When an Osprey takes a large fish to its nest, it will adjust the fish with its claws so the head is pointing forward to make it as aerodynamic as possible.

Ospreys declined drastically because of pesticides during the 1950s and 1960s, but since then they have made a comeback and are nesting again in areas from which they had disappeared.

Tiny Blooms on the Sedum

Golf Ball and Mushrooms

What club would you need to play this shot?
My brother-in-law, John, suggested a saute iron.

Bluebird

Happiness is walking out the front door in the morning and seeing a bluebird sitting on the mailbox post.

Historic Bramwell, WV

Restored Depot serves as interpretive center







Bramwell was settled by wealthy coal mine owners at the end of the nineteenth century It was considered the richest small town in America with as many as nineteen millionaires who made their fortunes in the rich Pocahontas Coalfield. When the bank closed in 1933, the prosperous decades faded.








Edward Cooper house
built in 1910









W.H. Thomas house
built 1n 1913

Thurmond, WV - Train Video

During our visit a CSX coal train passed through. There are several coal trains a day and AMTRAK comes through three times a week.

Thurmond, WV - Coaling Station

The coaling station provided a source of fuel for the steam locomotives operating along the C & O railroad. It was built in 1922 and could hold 500 tons of coal. In addition to coal, sand was also dispensed, which was used to give additional traction to locomotives on sometimes slippery rails.

For anyone interested in more details, click and enlarge the following scale drawings from the National Park Service.

Thurmond, WV - Railroad Bridge

The bridge was completed in 1915 and replaced an earlier bridge that was washed away by a major flood.

Thurmond, WV - Old Buildings

A few of the old commercial buildings have survived fires and abandonment and are now being preserved by the National Park Service.



Mankin-Cox Building
built in 1906











Bank of Thurmond
built in 1917

Thurmond, West Virginia

Visiting Thurmond is like taking a step back in time to an era of coal mining and steam trains. All around there are silent reminders of this once flourishing town.
Thurmond was the chief railroad center for the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad but the Great Depression and the change from steam to diesel locomotives were too much to overcome.

Listen to Noah Adam's sound tour of Thurmond on NPR.

The National Park Service operates a visitor center in the restored Depot. Historic furnishings and exhibits enable visitors to relate to this time in history.

New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia

The second longest single steel-arch bridge in the world with a length of 3,030 feet. Best known for the annual 'Bridge Day,' held every year on the third Saturday of October. This is the only day that pedestrians are allowed on the bridge. A few brave souls parachute off the bridge.

The bridge is 876 feet above the scenic New River which is a favorite of white water rafters.

Grasshopper

Bucolic

Owens family farm - Jeffersonville, Ohio

Butterflies in Ohio

Flower garden on the Owens family farm - Jeffersonville, Ohio

Red Water Hydrants

Freezeless water hydrants are a necessity on farms.

Owens family farm - Jeffersonville, Ohio