Add To Bush's Follies The Rape of His Own Country

The despoilment of the Appalachians is typical of the President's bankrupt environmental policies

Henry Porter
Sunday March 12, 2006
The Observer

Eastern Kentucky is a long way from Britain. What do we care if another million acres of the Appalachian mountain range are lost to strip mining? If the habitat of the flying squirrel and the cerulean warbler is blown up and bulldozed? If one of the oldest temperate forests in the world with some 80 species of trees is destroyed by the greed of a few coal companies? Why should it matter to us?

I'll tell you why. First, because this story exposes the pathological destructiveness of the Republican political and religious elite. Not content with the ruin it has caused in Iraq, George W Bush's administration lays waste the great American wilderness in a way that tests your faith in the reason of man.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1728999,00.html

:cry:

If I'm going to see America while it's still beautiful.

Take pictures, quick, while you still can. :hug:

Somebody's gotta stop these crazies while there's still time

What do you think is the best thing I can do with my exposed undeveloped film? I could mail the film home or have it processed at a one hour type of place along the way. What would you do if you were me?

I'd carry it home with you!

I've been thinking about Arizona and where to go...

Go to Cave Creek Canyon FOR SURE... it's beautiful and BIRDY. It's a good spot for endemic flycatchers and trogon. Portal and the surrounding area is good for some stuff too, including Scaled Quail and many other endemics. If you have time, drive over the crest of the Chiricahuas stopping in Rustler Park (up at the top) for Olive Warbler, Mexican Chickadee, Red Faced Warbler, and Yellow Eyed Junco.

Also go to Saguaro National Park and the Arizona/Sonora Desert Museum. If you have time, go south to Madera Canyon and check out the feeders at the Santa Rita lodge. The hummingbirds there are UNREAL. In Madera Canyon, bird the whole way up the canyon for such goodies as Strickland's Woodpecker and Bridled Titmouse. Saguaro is good for Pyrrhuloxia, thrashers, and wrens. You might want to get "Birder's Guide to SE Arizona" from the ABA to know EXACTLY where to go... down to the roadside pullout!!!! I had that book my first trip there and I got 58 lifers, followed by 14 and 10 on subsequent visits!

I had my life Bendire's Thrasher from the car at Saguaro while listening to "White Rabbit" at full volume. It really doesn't get any better than that.

And on edit: if you come through Redding, CA I can get you YB Magpie, Oak Titmouse, and Wrentit easily, as well as a brazilian other birds.

Tell me your route through California, and I'll tell you what you can get! :bounce:

I'm still using film so I'm a little concerned about heat damage to the rolls if I carry them around for a month undeveloped.

Maybe an insulated pouch? :shrug:

See why my trike trip turned into a truck trip instead. x( I rode mt trike over to the repair shop on Saturday and had serious daydreams of leaving all my new fangled toys at home, packin' my chaps and leather jacket, two changes of riding clothes, one pair of shorts and triking ot after all. Except that would mean missing Arizona to avoid the heat. Oh well. I think I'll have to get in a few serious rides before my trip.

I'm taking a birding trip down to Southern California next week and I really think I'll just blow off packing and just sleep in the car, ya know?

Or maybe just bring the tent and sleeping bag.... the trunk of the car is full of dog food, sacks of vermiculite, bolts of fabric, and sundry god knows what. :scared:

It's still to cold and damp for serious birding in the northeast.

The birds have started their Spring migration. I saw several flocks of geese in the air when I was down in Long Island yesterday. The Red-wing Blackbirds and Starlings have returned.

Those damned starlings make a mess out of my birdbath.x(

I'm pretty good about unloading almost everything out of my tracker and my pickup truck. :shrug: I got no trunk but it was scary when I did. However on the plus side :) I always had a bathingsuit and change of clothes with me.

Which was a bit of a shocker, as it snowed this weekend!

I bet the warm weather last week lured them north...

It seems like New York transitions straight from Winter to Summer. I grew up down south where Spring was long and beautiful.

What part of southern California are you heading for?

Island Scrub Jay, here I come! :bounce:

I'm also hoping for Xantus' Murrelet and Black Vented Shearwater too...

Those three would put me at 580 for the lower 48 and 583 for ABA and life. :bounce:

I dunno that I could deal with eastern winters... a lot of the best birding out here in IN the winter... it's when the waterfowl and shorebirds are around.

Packed Frodo into my truck and lived in a little house on the beach in South Carolina. Next winter I plan to fly to warmer climates about once a month if I can. The winter might be more enjoyable if I don't feel so isolated. Finding DU last winter may be the only reason I'm still a little bit sane today.

I don't have a life list to add to but I'm always excited when I spot a new bird.
I am happy to just watch it's behavior for a while. :)

for your road trip! :bounce:

And you have to bird Arizona like a FIEND, 'cause if you ever start listing you'll kick yourself if you don't.

I went to Alaska TWICE before I started birding. :banghead:

Maybe someday I'll make it. Sigh. I still feel a very long trike trip somewhere in my future.

I'm taking my Sibley's book with me. I think you've got a point there. I'll make a bird list of this trip! :bounce::bounce:

that protect exposed film from temperature extremes and X-rays.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=148886&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

Smaller one:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=148885&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

I'll have to check out the link when I'm back at my main computer. The link froze my laptop.
I decided to hang out in bed this morning since I'm a little tired from my trip to celebrate my mother in law's 93 birthday. My tracker and my body aren't compatible for long drives at the moment. Ouch. x(

Do you think I should wait until I get back home to develop a hundred rolls of film?

100 rolls of film than 100 sets of prints and negs.

I just thought of somethin' else, though: Since you don't have to worry about X-rays — and that's the main thing those film pouches are for — you'd do just as well with a cooler and a few packs of Blue Ice. (It's a good idea to keep film cool before you shoot it, too — but give it time to warm up before you do.)

Oh, and don't throw away the plastic cans. They protect the film a little bit too. (You shouldn't throw 'em away anyway, but take 'em to a photo shop for recycling.)

I hate to drink 1/2 warm stuff that's offered for sale when I stop for gas. I usually do have a cooler even on trike trips.

I've been throwing my film canisters in with the rest of my recycling. I never thought about giving it back to the camera shop because I assumed they simply discarded them.

The one I always went to when I was shooting pro, Bay Photo Lab, recycled 'em. If it matters, I'd ask.

I actually found a really good use for 'em besides keeping various small stuff in. The Kodak cans fit perfectly inside a roll of electrician's tape, so I put solder in one, punch a hole in the lid for it to snake out and stick the can in the tape core. That way I've always got solder and tape together.

Kind of specialized, I know. But...

:P

Plus it keeps your hands clean. Solder is so soft. I loved to play with little puddles if it when I was a kid. My uncle was always tinkering with something. :)

that never fully intended to bring anything back to the hills but a sorrow perpetuated :cry:

http://athena.english.vt.edu/~appalach/writersM/protestsongs.html