A Few days off & some Bald Eagles

Well I took a little vacation time off from the real $$ gig to hang out with my daughter, well at least for one day! Monday was a shopping day and other activities together but today, she thought it more fun to have a friend over and then go to grandma's later in the PM today (3/25) so I was left on my own for a few hours. Dad time was only a few hours today.

So I loaded up some gear and headed to Minto-Brown park and got out along the path that goes along side the Willamette River. Water was down enough so it was dry and very passable on foot or bike. The reason to go there is there is a nesting pair of Bald Eagles that are on the West side of the River but it is private property so to try and get close from that side is not very easy. So I go to the park and watch them and try to get some shots of the big majestic birds!

The shot included is not that good but it gives you some perspective of how big a nest might be! You see the one eagle perched on a branch outside the nest, and if you can barely see it there is another head just above the nest [click the picture and should make it fill a the window]. I am hoping they have laid their eggs and are now in the process of getting some new eagles to be around in a few months?! I was using my biggest lens a Sigma 125-400, shot at 1/180 of sec., f/8.0....did I say I was reaching as far as my lens would take me? This shot is actually cropped in so there is a lot more extraneous stuff in the original. My distance was approximately 175+ yards from my point to them.

Overall it was good to be out watching the river flow by, see the eagles and talk to some other folks that were also checking out the birds.

Then came home, picked up the daughter at Grandma's and shot some hoops in the driveway. Not a bad way to burn up the last day of vacation!

Thanks for reading, Tim -

Breakfast on Bikes

Hello folks-

last time I left you and I mentioned something about 'Breakfast on Bikes' that our regional Bicycle Commute coordinator is doing on the last Friday of every month. I am giving you a shot of my fender of my

Redline Cross bike that I use as a commuter. It is mostly made up of parts from a cannondale road bike that I had and disassembled but sold the frame/fork/headset, etc.

Anyway, when Eric puts this on where ever it might be in Salem you should commute and stop by and get some coffee or a snack on the way to wherever you have to be that AM. Here are some of the donors to

the effort -Coffee provided by the Coffee House Café, pastries by Cascade Baking Company, and fruit by Lifesource. Be sure to support our generous donors!

I have given a number of photos to Eric to be used for promotion of this on-going event and possibly to be used by the BTA itself on a quick blog by them. Oh yeah, I have two pieces of photography in the silent auction for the BTA's annual even this Saturday (22nd) so if you are there, bid high as the money all goes to support their cause! Bicycle advocacy and safety!

Gotta go select my NCAA basketball brackets now!

Tim

It's been a couple of weeks

Noticed that the time was going by out in the real world. It is almost mid-March and I have not posted anything for almost two weeks. Did you miss it? Anyone?

Well, slowly getting taxes done and some photo work also. I am finally getting some photos to my regional bicycle commute coordinator (Eric L.) from a 'Breakfast On Bikes' that he put together on the last day of February. I will get a shot of that out on the next one, I promise! He is really working on promoting Bike Commuting and I couldn't agree more, at least to find alternatives to the SOV (Single Occupancy Vehicle).

I have been getting some miles in on the bicycles and on 3/9/08 took an all day class for motorcycle safety and passed my skills test. That waives having to take the skills test at the state DMV offices so now I have to study and take the written knowledge test, hopefully pass and I will be street legal with my motorcycle endorsement. I recently purchased a 2006 Ducati Multistrada 620 as a running errands, commute ride. Yes I still ride the bicycles in 3x/week but wanted to have another alternative. I can also use it to get to some photo locations and not burn as much fuel. Will get a shot of that another time also.

Will be working on photos this weekend and trying to update smugmug and looking at a revamp of my regular site. Included this time is a shot I took back in Aug. 2003 of smoke rising from the B&B Complex fire in the Cascade foothills of Oregon. I was sitting on Highway 20/22 after traveling East from Bend, Oregon using the Old McKenzie Pass road as the main highway was closed from this rather large fire. I happened to catch the spotter plane as it was probably doing boundary checks and aerial mapping of the fire for ground updates.

Tim -