humanity – Page 45 – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Frogs!!

A summertime visit to Sapsucker Woods

August 22, 2021August 11, 2021 MichaelStephenWills18 Comments

Wednesday last, grandson Sam, three years old at the time, and I wandered the landscape, catching the sights of summer. Eventually, we visited Sapsucker Woods, a Cornell University nature preserve. There, a boardwalk over the swamp is a proven venue for frog spotting and, this day, we had some success.

We found this cooperative golden-eyed beauty calmly squatting and croaking.

In this 30 second clip, reflected light off the water surface captures proto-croaks that did not quite escape from the source. There is a successful and full croak finale.

Off the boardwalk, we took a short detour to view an elaborate cairn built of local rock by a famous artist. The dappled sunlight across the surface is especially enjoyable.

At the furthest extent of the preserve is this pond where the residents were notably raucous in this 30 second clip.

About this time the mosquitoes descended for a determined attack on Sam’s legs. “Itchy,” he said. Myself, protected by deet, they left alone. Sam’s Mom prepared him for the trip with natural mosquito repellent that was not up to the task. Next time we visit, Sam will wear long pants and sleeves fortified with deet.

Just before picking Sam up for a quick retreat, I caught this turtle encrusted in duckweed sunning on a narrow branch. The head is retracted for the moment, can you imagine someone wading through that muck to place a rock? It is possible, but I witnessed the head, so am absolutely sure.

Special thanks to blogger shoreacres for the identification of duckweed. In my original posting I called it algae.

Click me for another Sapsucker Woods posting.

Copyright 2019 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved.

New Neighbors

Manufactured Home Installed Next Door, September 2017

August 18, 2021August 11, 2021 MichaelStephenWills32 Comments

When Pam and I made Westwood Knoll our home in 2011, to the north, across the street, was an empty wooded lot that has since been subdivided into three of the last home sites in Ithaca. This summer, the corner lot was razed of all its trees, the lovely mature cherry, sycamore, ash, maple reduced to stumps to be cut up and carted away. There was a positive in that the lot was overgrown and unsightly, but every spring the upper reaches were masses of blooms and young green leaves.

In a heavy rain on September 5th, 2017 the two parts, call them “modules”, were delivered, and then sat until September 7th to be assembled in one day. The process itself was interesting to witness and, while being otherwise occupied, I came out now and then to document the progress.

Here are my photographs. What do you think? Please leave comments.

The Foundation — The foundation installation took a week to construct. It started with, literally, blocks of styrofoam held together with plastic and assembled by hand, like a child’s block set. There is an 8 inch gap in between filled with concrete. There was NO rebar used. bolts were inserted for attaching the modules.

How Module Two was Hauled — Module Two was delivered on wheels and moved into position by this semi.

Module Two, the house next door — Module Two will eventually face the opposite direction. That will be the rear door. This is our swimming pool, I use garden hoses to siphon excess rainwater.

Construction Worker?? — Most of the workers were dressed like this, casually, no protection for feet or head. We were concerned with this. No one was injured this day, as far as we know.

Another Construction Worker — The worker is standing on a board on which the crane wheels will rest.

Crane Boom End and Hooks — Crane Boom End with hooks in transport configuration. These are attached to the modules for positioning over and lowering onto the foundation.

A supervisor — This fellow arrived to take pictures from that smart phone.

Tracked Loader — A versatile tracked loader used throughout the foundation construction and module installation.

Worker and Hooks — A worker prepares the hooks for use. No head protection was a concern to us.

Support Blocks — Yellow blocks of metal used to support the crane.. A railing of Module One is above the truck, to left.

Hooks Prepared for Use — The red hook is ready.

Hooks ready to go. — The hooks hang free, ready to use.

This is where Module One was dumped on the side of the road on September 5th, two days before installation.

Module One and Construction Worker — We are looking here over the edge of our patio and landscaped yard to the site of module one, pre-installation, a worker approaching.

Module Two — The first step was to extricate module two from the mud and haul it up the street. A construction worker foreground, the boom of crane beyond.

Positioning Module Two — The semi backed Module Two into position, the crane boom and hooks loom.

The Company Responsible — The workers were considerate of our lawn. There was minimal damage. The modules installed this day looks nothing like this image.

Module Two Attached and Ready — From here Module Two will be lifted onto the foundation.

Workers Prepare Foundation. — Workers prepare foundation to receive Module Two while the unit is readied.

Module Two Lifted. — I see only the black hook is in use.

Another View of Module Two with worker. That is the bottom of our driveway.

Module One with Construction Materials — Module One was delivered with construction materials inside.

Module One with Carrier and workers. — The porch and entry door of Module One with worker and rope. The worker needs to negotiate the carrier.

Pulling Module One Around — A 180 degree turn orients Module One to Module Two. The porch overhangs the foundation.

Positioning module one over foundation.

Worker Stands in Module Two — A worker observes from the interior of Module Two. Here is a closer view of the wire harness.

Final positioning of the module to form a whole structure.

Finished. — The roof panels are here lifted to a peak. The shingles and such in place for installation. These are the materials delivered inside Module One.

Update: since this post was first published September 2017 the original owners moved to the southern USA after selling the property at an inflated price to a young Cornell professor.

Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Drombeg Stone Circle I

Path to the late Bronze Age

August 10, 2021July 7, 2023 MichaelStephenWills1 Comment

Path well trodden through the centuries since.

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Click Me for the next post in this series.

Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Our Sally V

Last views from Kinsale, County Cork

August 8, 2021August 6, 2021 MichaelStephenWills

The view referred to by placard is to the right. The Old Head of Kinsale is the distant landform, looking right to left, is the portion that drops off to the ocean.

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Here is a Google Maps screen capture showing the relationship of our position (the unnamed red drop-pin) on the right, and the Old Head of Kinsale landform, seen below the lable “Ballylane.”

Here are the views looking toward the Celtic Sea, the Old Head of Kinsale and the cliffs at our feet.

This cemetery is unmarked on the maps I use.

Here is a Google Earth view of our walk, the red line. The view is looking east from above the former “de Courcy family parkland.”

A half mile footpath, marked in red, leads from Charles fort along the shoreline cliffs, surmounted by working farmland.

Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Yellow Hibiscus IV

anthers and stamens

August 7, 2021August 7, 2021 MichaelStephenWills10 Comments

Evening breezes brought to a halt my series of hibiscus bloom photographs, that bloom faded and shriveled, to be replaced by another. I captured the images of this post on a very quiet summer evening. This bloom was facing up closer to vertical that the previous.

A key identification for all 300 species of hibiscus is the long stamen tube. I have yet to see a local insect interacting with the stamen, always they are in the flower throat. In the tropics, pollination is thought to proceed from large butterflies and birds.

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Here are three macro photographs of this bloom, all from the Canon 100 “macro” lens. I learned by experience to tamp down the diaphragm to the smallest setting, f / 32 for this lens. The different aspects were achieved by moving the lens objective closer to the bloom. This is a “fixed” lens, it has one focal length.

References

Wikipedia – “hibiscus.”

Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Our Sally IV

Old and New Forts

August 5, 2021August 4, 2021 MichaelStephenWills1 Comment

As Pam and I past the scenes of bucolic reverie this sign drew us back to the past. The reference to de Courcy is as a family of invading Normans. John de Courcy, without the King’s permission, launched an 1176 AD invasion of northeastern Ireland, what is now County Down, as an ultimately failed land grab. The history is murky, though apparently John de Courcy’s son Miles acquired the land referred to in the placard through the English King Henry II, awarded to Miles’ thieving, murderous Norman father-in-law Milo de Cogan in the 13th Century. Much later, the old (James) and new (Charles) Forts were constructed to defend Kinsale harbor.

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Here is a Google Maps screen capture showing the relationship of our position (the unnamed red drop-pin) on the right, Charles and James Forts and the de Courcy family parklands, the large blank area below the pin named “Dock beach.”

Here are the views looking toward the Celtic Sea, the Old Head of Kinsale and the cliffs at our feet.

Looking toward the Old Head of Kinsale in the far distance

Yellow Hibiscus III

anthers and stamens

August 4, 2021July 31, 2021 MichaelStephenWills7 Comments

Nyctinasty (flower response to light: opening with or closing without light) in hibiscus plants is a mechanism to protect against adverse conditions such as cool temperatures that can be damaging. Through a lack of light stimulus and circadian rhythms the plant is able to trigger the molecular movement of ions to allow for the closing of the flower.

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Here are three macro photographs of this bloom, all from the Canon 100 “macro” lens. I start with the shutter diaphragm open at 4.0 (“F-stop”), a little narrower at 4.5 and a bit more at 9.0. For this lens the maximum opening is at 2.8, the narrowest is 32. As the opening narrows (F-stop increases) the exposure time needed to capture enough light lengthens and the range of the image in focus increases.

References

Wikipedia – “hibiscus.”

Our Sally III

Looking Around

August 2, 2021July 29, 2021 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

As Pam and I continued down the half mile “Sallyport” footpath, marked in red on the Google Earth view provided at the end of this post, we enjoyed the view across the Celtic Sea toward the distant Old Head of Kinsale and this sailboat headed to port.

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Landward, we enjoyed watching the progress of a farmer rolling hay bales while cows munched fresh green grass.

Yellow Hibiscus II

flower and buds

August 1, 2021July 30, 2021 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

This is a perennial, commonly known simply as “hibiscus”, or less widely known as rose mallow. Other names include hardy hibiscus, rose of sharon, and tropical hibiscus.

The hibiscus flower is traditionally worn by Tahitian and Hawaiian girls. If the flower is worn behind the left ear, the woman is married or has a boyfriend. If the flower is worn on the right, she is single or openly available for a relationship.

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Here are the three photographs of this bloom, all from the Canon 100 “macro” lens. Two with “sweat bees” and one without.

References

Wikipedia – “hibiscus.”

Yellow Hibiscus I

flower, buds, bee

July 29, 2021July 28, 2021 MichaelStephenWills7 Comments

Yellow hibiscus, the state flower of Hawaii was recorded in ancient Greece. In the photograph is captured several unopened buds, behind the flower, and a bee in the flower throat, attracted by nectar there. It is a small bee, of the Halictidae family, that lives alone in a ground nest and also called a “sweat bee,” from being attracted to perspiration.

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References

Wikipedia – “sweat bee” and “hibiscus.”