Obstructions

On Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:14:48 -0700, wrote:

Over 70F for the last few days, so obstructions have been interrupting
my daily ride.
snip
A beaver arching its back for the next tail-splash after the first
splash caught my attention:
snip
Stupid kingfisher zooming away after luring me into the brush with its
harsh cry:
snip
A familiar friend, trotting through an abandoned waterworks:
snip
Five dim-witted deer:
snip
Make that six dim-witted deer, plus a few more hidden behind the bush
snip
Distant dim-witted antelope at 4x, barely visible:
snip
Cheers,

Carl Fogel

What a relief to find that at least you're now listing proper
creatures as "obstructions" in your ride chronicles. I found it
particularly distressing back in the goathead phase when it appeared
that one of the leading rbt posters was being consistently flummoxed
by a shrubbery.

I've lately frittered some weekend time away trying to take some pix
of our own local impediments to progress, too. A fat-tired bike (rigid
29-er) was pressed into service to patrol some of the local trails.
It's my first real experience as an adult with bikes of this design
and I find they're really fun.

It develops that this part of south Florida is unique (among other
ways) in that it's the only place where alligators and crocodiles
share the same habitat, albeit not actually frolicking cheek by jowl
together through the local network of canals. In "The Purist", Ogden
Nash would remind us that it's important to recognize the difference
between them:

I give you now Professor Twist,
A conscientious scientist,
Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"
And sent him off to distant jungles.
Camped on a tropic riverside,
One day he missed his loving bride.
She had, the guide informed him later,
Been eaten by an alligator.
Professor Twist could not but smile.
"You mean," he said, "a crocodile."

Here's some of the merry-makers with gently smiling jaws [1] I've
encountered locally -

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_5703-b.jpg - American
crocodile, enjoying the last rays of afternoon sun.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_5657.jpg - Same beast, front
view.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_5682-2.jpg - A still more
intimate look.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_9237.jpg - Alligator.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_9237.jpg 'Nuther alligator.
Scarier than the one I remember from Pogo.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CAM_1088.jpg - Spectacled Caiman.
Not actually native, but released "pets" (or escapees from the New
York Subway tunnels) are apparently breeding in some of the same areas
where these crocs and gators live.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CAM_7129.jpg - Bump on a log.

[1] - Lewis Carroll
-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
Since 1983
Our catalog of track equipment: online since 1996
Phone: 305-273-4440
http://www.businesscycles.com
-------------------------------

John Dacey wrote:
[...] I found it
particularly distressing back in the goathead phase when it appeared
that one of the leading rbt posters was being consistently flummoxed
by a shrubbery.[...]

Better that than trying to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest
with a herring!

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

wrote:
Over 70F for the last few days, so obstructions have been interrupting
my daily ride.
snip
A beaver arching its back for the next tail-splash after the first
splash caught my attention:
snip
Stupid kingfisher zooming away after luring me into the brush with its
harsh cry:
snip
A familiar friend, trotting through an abandoned waterworks:
snip
Five dim-witted deer:
snip
Make that six dim-witted deer, plus a few more hidden behind the bush
snip
Distant dim-witted antelope at 4x, barely visible:
snip

John Dacey wrote:
What a relief to find that at least you're now listing proper
creatures as "obstructions" in your ride chronicles. I found it
particularly distressing back in the goathead phase when it appeared
that one of the leading rbt posters was being consistently flummoxed
by a shrubbery.
I've lately frittered some weekend time away trying to take some pix
of our own local impediments to progress, too. A fat-tired bike (rigid
29-er) was pressed into service to patrol some of the local trails.
It's my first real experience as an adult with bikes of this design
and I find they're really fun.
It develops that this part of south Florida is unique (among other
ways) in that it's the only place where alligators and crocodiles
share the same habitat, albeit not actually frolicking cheek by jowl
together through the local network of canals. In "The Purist", Ogden
Nash would remind us that it's important to recognize the difference
between them:
I give you now Professor Twist,
A conscientious scientist,
Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"
And sent him off to distant jungles.
Camped on a tropic riverside,
One day he missed his loving bride.
She had, the guide informed him later,
Been eaten by an alligator.
Professor Twist could not but smile.
"You mean," he said, "a crocodile."
Here's some of the merry-makers with gently smiling jaws [1] I've
encountered locally -
http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_5703-b.jpg - American
crocodile, enjoying the last rays of afternoon sun.
http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_5657.jpg - Same beast, front
view.
http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_5682-2.jpg - A still more
intimate look.
http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_9237.jpg - Alligator.
http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_9237.jpg 'Nuther alligator.
Scarier than the one I remember from Pogo.
http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CAM_1088.jpg - Spectacled Caiman.
Not actually native, but released "pets" (or escapees from the New
York Subway tunnels) are apparently breeding in some of the same areas
where these crocs and gators live.
http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CAM_7129.jpg - Bump on a log.
[1] - Lewis Carroll

Yikes!
I guess I'll stop complaining about mere salt slush, potholes and ice!
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:29:42 -0500, John Dacey
wrote:


I've lately frittered some weekend time away trying to take some pix
of our own local impediments to progress, too. A fat-tired bike (rigid
29-er) was pressed into service to patrol some of the local trails.
It's my first real experience as an adult with bikes of this design
and I find they're really fun.

It develops that this part of south Florida is unique (among other
ways) in that it's the only place where alligators and crocodiles
share the same habitat, albeit not actually frolicking cheek by jowl
together through the local network of canals. In "The Purist", Ogden
Nash would remind us that it's important to recognize the difference
between them:

I give you now Professor Twist,
A conscientious scientist,
Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"
And sent him off to distant jungles.
Camped on a tropic riverside,
One day he missed his loving bride.
She had, the guide informed him later,
Been eaten by an alligator.
Professor Twist could not but smile.
"You mean," he said, "a crocodile."

Here's some of the merry-makers with gently smiling jaws [1] I've
encountered locally -

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_5703-b.jpg - American
crocodile, enjoying the last rays of afternoon sun.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_5657.jpg - Same beast, front
view.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_5682-2.jpg - A still more
intimate look.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_9237.jpg - Alligator.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CCC_9237.jpg 'Nuther alligator.
Scarier than the one I remember from Pogo.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CAM_1088.jpg - Spectacled Caiman.
Not actually native, but released "pets" (or escapees from the New
York Subway tunnels) are apparently breeding in some of the same areas
where these crocs and gators live.

http://64.70.205.200/graphics/nikpix/CAM_7129.jpg - Bump on a log.

[1] - Lewis Carroll
-------------------------------
John Dacey
Business Cycles, Miami, Florida
Since 1983
Our catalog of track equipment: online since 1996
Phone: 305-273-4440
http://www.businesscycles.com
-------------------------------

Dear John,

Oooh! Oooooh!

I kept thinking that guys riding around on bicycles all the time must
see something besides cars.

Nice to see you back at RBT, too.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:48:12 -0600, wrote:

[snip]

Sunny and over 60F, so the obstructions were feeling even less wary
today than usual.

I noticed this obstruction coming toward me, picking its way down the
far side of a gully full of leafless cottonwoods:

Full-size:
http://i27.tinypic.com/2dq92h.jpg

Trimmed:
http://i29.tinypic.com/3585jyq.jpg

A minute later, the obstruction re-appeared at the bottom of the
gully. My camera either got confused about the lighting or else has a
secret atomic flash setting:
http://i29.tinypic.com/292spcw.jpg

But modern cameras are amazing--despite the lightning-flash, the
obstruction is still visible when trimmed:
http://i27.tinypic.com/33kepfq.jpg

The same view again, a moment later, no atomic flash:
http://i25.tinypic.com/9scdvk.jpg

Trimmed:
http://i26.tinypic.com/2el5l6u.jpg

A few minutes later, another obstruction crept out of the brush to sit
and sunbathe on a convenient cement projection, staring up at me as I
clicked the camera button.

Full-size:
http://i25.tinypic.com/xn812q.jpg

Trimmed:
http://i29.tinypic.com/28rnqx0.jpg

Full-size sunbathing:
http://i30.tinypic.com/awq90o.jpg

Trimmed sunbathing
http://i28.tinypic.com/k3oruu.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

http://www.everwonder.com/david/snakes/

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:48:12 -0600, wrote:

[snip]

Gray day. Flat landscape. Nothing to do but count obstructions.

Thirteen obstructions:
http://i29.tinypic.com/2h2h6qa.jpg

You three obstructions pose against slightly less boring landscape:
http://i28.tinypic.com/169osgo.jpg

Now scamper to the right, where there may be a more scenic
background--no, to the right, you idiot! Follow the other two!
http://i32.tinypic.com/15q222x.jpg

That's a better background and you're all three together again, but
stop running in silly little circles:
http://i30.tinypic.com/6o1vg8.jpg

Much better background, but one of the three obstructions ran the
wrong way and vanished:
http://i32.tinypic.com/2pp0aa9.jpg

Two obstructions still moving right for a better background:
http://i26.tinypic.com/53n0ic.jpg

Getting a bit cloudy in the background behind those two:
http://i29.tinypic.com/2ex7j8x.jpg

The clouds drop back behind the mountains as the obstructions keep
running to the right:
http://i25.tinypic.com/10qi99y.jpg

The two obstructions join a larger group of obstructions on the right:
http://i27.tinypic.com/al52d3.jpg

Eight obstructions in various poses against non-flat background:
http://i26.tinypic.com/dgwtl.jpg

Three obstructions of a different kind against a different non-flat
background, on the right side of a fence:
http://i27.tinypic.com/2wqwsqr.jpg

Same three obstructions, from much further off, dead-center, still to
the right of the fence,
http://i26.tinypic.com/30b0aia.jpg

Not being too bright, here they are again, closer up, a little later,
having hopped the same fence:
http://i27.tinypic.com/72bsc7.jpg

Fuzzy, but nicely posed above the highway:
http://i28.tinypic.com/i214dj.jpg

Twelve of the original obstructions:
http://i31.tinypic.com/wl6h53.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:48:12 -0600, wrote:

[snip]

I ignored lots of grouchy red-tailed obstructions, which are perching
everywhere, but tend flap away if I stop for a photo.

But this less common obstruction was working a field next to a marsh,
flying back and forth, swooping up and down about ten feet of the
ground most of the time, harrying unseen rodents, head down like a
good Tour de France rider, so I stopped for a few minutes and took
pictures.

Full-size: http://i31.tinypic.com/2wpnlhd.jpg
Trimmed: http://i30.tinypic.com/e293b.jpg

Full-size: http://i28.tinypic.com/fawh1k.jpg
Trimmed: http://i31.tinypic.com/2j46omw.jpg

Full-size: http://i28.tinypic.com/w0ideq.jpg
Trimmed: http://i27.tinypic.com/2vlla9g.jpg

Full-size: http://i25.tinypic.com/2eg49s7.jpg
Trimmed: http://i31.tinypic.com/2hf6edx.jpg

Full-size: http://i29.tinypic.com/eamqdz.jpg
Trimmed: http://i29.tinypic.com/261ccix.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:48:12 -0600, wrote:

[snip]

I've been keeping an eye out for a particular obstruction for months
now, but unfortunately it looks a lot like a bird's nest or a paper
wasp nest, so I've been squinting at distant nests in bare trees
without any luck.

Here's what the obstruction looks like at a distance with 4x zoom:
http://i30.tinypic.com/etcpb8.jpg

Closer:
http://i25.tinypic.com/21afthk.jpg

Right underneath:
http://i25.tinypic.com/negn41.jpg

Look closely at the photo above, and you can just make out the
forepaws, which are grasping the branch.

But unless you get lucky with lighting (or tree the obstruction in a
5-foot tall juniper), that's about as good as the detail gets.

For example, this pose shows the profile of the nose and the outline
of one eye, but you need to know what you're looking at:
http://i28.tinypic.com/2eoyxyh.jpg

A nicely lit back view that shows even less detail:
http://i25.tinypic.com/2cs6fx3.jpg

A better back view, showing the back fan of white quills:
http://i27.tinypic.com/24lu0xy.jpg

A side view, showing how hopeless portrait photography can be, even if
the obstruction is willing to pose as long as you like:
http://i26.tinypic.com/nwzvyd.jpg

Sometimes getting closer doesn't help. This is probably about the
right distance:
http://i30.tinypic.com/2v1ovn4.jpg

It's looking right at the camera.

***

East of the Rockies, rivers like the Arkansas flow through a desolate,
arid country, home to antelope, cactus, and rattlesnakes:
http://i26.tinypic.com/1zog4u9.jpg

High up in the pitiless sky, ominous shapes soar against the sun,
wheeling in grim circles above the lonely photographer:
http://i29.tinypic.com/16gee74.jpg

A flock of vultures, right?

Well . . .

Let's go back a few minutes.

Here they are, executing a turn at lower altitude, coming back over my
head before they climbed to altitude and started soaring:
http://i25.tinypic.com/fee6ud.jpg

And here they are even earlier, taking off downstream moments after I
first startled them:
http://i27.tinypic.com/jiopol.jpg

Without pictures, it can be hard to convince visitors to the Colorado
semi-desert that some of the vultures circling overhead are looking
for fish.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

In article ,
wrote:

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:48:12 -0600, wrote:

A flock of vultures, right?

Well . . .

Let's go back a few minutes.

Here they are, executing a turn at lower altitude, coming back over my
head before they climbed to altitude and started soaring:
http://i25.tinypic.com/fee6ud.jpg

And here they are even earlier, taking off downstream moments after I
first startled them:
http://i27.tinypic.com/jiopol.jpg

Without pictures, it can be hard to convince visitors to the Colorado
semi-desert that some of the vultures circling overhead are looking
for fish.

You had a fair number of fuzzy porcupine pictures in this batch, but the
last shot of the pelicans was great.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."