Robert Pence

Spectacular photo, Evergrey

Thanks. I'm glad people enjoy the pics; sometimes I wish I had paid closer attention and shot more photos of things I realize now were important. re the Fiero, where I used to work there was a management-type who still drove a Fiero in the late 1990s. He was fanatical about that car, and kept it looking cherry. He wasn't technically adept at all, and I often wondered how many of those things he had squirrelled away at some mechanic's place for a supply of parts. One day I pulled a job ticket to fix a problem with his computer, and when I got to his office he was out for the day. His computer was secured with a power-on password that I could have bypassed by opening the case and changing the jumper, but I took a guess and typed in "fiero" Bingo! Away we went.

Even though I don't ride a scooter or motorcycle, I'm very much in favor of dedicated parking for them. Their size means that they can occupy much less parking space per scooter or cycle, but so often when I attend an event I think I've spotted a parking space in a big, crowded lot, and when I reach it I find that there's a single scooter or more likely a single motorcycle occupying an entire space that would otherwise accomodate a car or even a full-sized pickup truck. The operators of event lots should provide dedicated scooter/motorcycle parking, and to say "Thanks for saving gas" it should be right next to the entry from the lot into the event.

I wonder if the kid in Jeff's photo only made it that far when they shoved him out the door at closing time, or if he's camped out waiting for the bar to open. Something about the exterior of that place makes me think it's a trashy dive. Not that that's a bad thing; often those are the most fun. Shawn, I love both of those photos. I favor the first one, because the second looks very familiar to me from having grown up in midwestern farm country. I guess it's all in what a person grows up with. In the USAF, for a while I was stationed about 3 hours from home. Every few weeks I'd go home for a weekend, and on occasion one of the guys in my dorm would go home with me. He was from Renovo, PA. I consider the Pennsylvania mountains absolutely gorgeous, and he'd marvel at the beauty of Indiana farm country because of the wide-open views of green crops and clear blue skies.

:clap: Top contender for best UO Picture Of The Day!

Gentrification or no, it looks like there's still lots of flavor and character. I love the colors in this shot:

Wonderful photos!

I'll bet the car/bike wreck occurred when the driver of the car was distracted by the sight of someone taking pictures of the buildings. In those small towns, when you point a camera at something, people turn their heads to see what's so interesting.

Sounds like an excellent idea. In the early days of the horseless carriage, some cities had ordinances requiring a flagman to walk ahead of each motor car, warning bicyclists, pedestrains and equestrians of its approach. That certainly would keep motorists' speeds down to a manageable level. :wink:

Awww, Damn! It's lunch time, and there's one not far from where I live! :-D

We have them here. Best shakes and malts in the area!

Mostly curiosity on both sides, there. Draft horses are gentle-natured, intelligent creatures.

Nice-looking town. The only time I've been there was early on a foggy morning in October, 1961, to see the Nickel Plate Railroad's retired steam locomotives lined up at the railroad yard awaiting the scrapper's torch. It was too foggy to get any photos.

Neat shots! Dogs that love water can be a blast! Here's a scene I caught this afternoon:

Very nice job! I think the visual appeal is better than that of a lot of work done by "professional" web designers.

The first Huletts were steam powered, with coal-fired boilers that traveled with the gantry. I would have loved to have seen those in operation, but they went away so long ago that I doubt if any film was ever made.

Yikes! I've been on scaffolding a little bit, but only up to the second story. That shot made me grab onto the arms of my chair.

About ten minutes of the Huletts at work, seen from the ground, from the operator's cab and from the hold of a freighter.

Amazing place and some excellent photos. I look forward to seeing more.

Wonderful set, all six parts! How many pairs of shoes did you wear out? You covered a lot of territory and got some interesting shots of seldom-seen scenes! :-)

Not exciting, perhaps, but well-kept. The cinema adds a splash of interest to the downtown.

I'm sure you could come up with some activity suited to that lovely veranda. It all looks quite graciously elegant.

There was a huge, sprawling Romanesque castle in Fort Wayne that was the Indiana School for the Feeble-Minded when I knew about it. It was on beautiful park-like grounds on the north side of town. The site is now Northside Park. When my aunt first started practicing medicine in Fort Wayne pre-WWII, when women weren't welcomed by a lot of hospital staff physicians and really had to prove themselves, a large part of her practice initially was taking care of residents there. I recall her saying that sometimes it was like practicing veterinary medicine in that the patients could not effectively communicate what sypmptoms they were experiencing. Perhaps that helped her develop the extraordinary diagnostic skills for which she became known. When that place was still operating as mostly a warehouse center for handicapped people, a lot of stories came out of it. My grandmother's sister spent almost all her life there, from about age 5 or 6 when rheumatic fever arrested her mental development at about that level, or maybe even younger. I was shocked when I first met her at an aunt's house, a few years after my grandmother had died. To look at her, it was as if my grandmother had come back, the resemblance was so strong. Her demeanor, though, was that of a small, subdued, very well-behaved child. I hate to even think now what sort of behavior modification procedures and/or medications she might have been subjected to. About the time the place closed, there was an article in the newspaper about a man in his sixties who had been there since age 15. All contemporary tests showed him to be of normal intelligence and he was articulate and could read and write. Why was he there? His parents had him committed because they caught him masturbating. They were the only people who could have revoked his commitment. They had died, and he knew of no other living relatives who could assume responsibility for him. He had been there so long without any outside contact that he was afraid to leave and face the world outside on his own. That was in the early 1970s.

Thanks for the reminiscence! I haven't been there since 1965, when I was stationed not far away at Dover, Delaware. The photos reawaken memories of weekend road trips in a history-rich part of the country. The carnage at Gettysburg was awful, and the stories of the battlefield medical facilities of the time are almost more terrifying. There were no antibiotics and no anaesthetics, and amputation without either of those was the only option for a limb shattered by large-caliber, low-velocity bullets. It's amazing that anyone ever survived after being wounded.

St. Joe, Indiana Pickle Fest 2008 Friday (August 9) I drove to St. Joe, Indiana to check out Pickle Fest. Sechler's Pickles, ubiquitous on area grocery shelves and the best ever, are made in St. Joe, and every year the town holds Pickle Fest to promote itself and its signature product. I went on Friday afternoon, not the best time to find the most activity. Next year I'll remember that and go on an evening or at least on a Saturday afternoon. I took a walk around town, too, with my camera. I bought a jar of sweet pickle relish and as soon as I got home, tried some on a hot dog. Mmmm! Good Stuff! Here are the photos. Be careful you don't get caught up in the excitement!