Bombers Birthday

Once a year Bombers on Lark St. in Albany gives you a present for getting older.

The photos tell the story:

technorati tags:Bombers, Lark, Albany, NY, margarita, cherry, 2007, giant

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Hadley Mountain

This was my first "real" hike post ACL surgery. The quotes around real are because obese people (who I am almost one of), children, and parents with children in child carriers were walking the trail. However, in their defense this is a short but legitimate hike 1.8 miles and 1500+ feet gained. not exactly flat, and while the trail is well maintained it is steep in spots. Lots of fun and a good workout and a big confidence booster that I'll be 100% shortly.

Aim and I did about 5 miles total with the spur to the north summit ledges.
Felt good to be out and it was nice and cool on the summit but the black flies were biting a bit.

A few photos of the trip (of course):

click the photos for captions and full size images.

technorati tags:ADK, Adirondacks, Hadley, hiking, Forever Wild, Article 14, Daks, New York State Forest Preserve, Forest Preserve, wilderness, fire, tower, mountain, ACL, dinosaur, rocks

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Dogs Can Fly Too

These are a few photos from the USDAA agility trials are Saratoga Springs this weekend.

These animals are simply amazing when you consider they run the course about as fast as a professional football player (US football). they run about 20ft/6m per second which would give them a 6.5 second 40m time. Top flight receivers run about 4 seconds per 40 but don't have tubes, tunnels, rings, stairs, hurdles and other assorted obstacles in their way. And they don't have to cut left and right constantly while maintaining that speed.

(to view full size images click the thumbnails):

technorati tags:dog, Agility, USDAA, Saratoga, NY, Pentax, K10D, Photography, canine

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Moreau and The Red Eft

Took my first hike Sunday and everything went well. We took the West Ridge Trail which has some interesting rocky view points. Trail was moderate and really perfect for a first hike.

With rain impending we were just happy to get a few miles in and we ended up hiking out in the pouring rain, but it was a good hike.

Along the way we came across these Red Efts (spotted newts). These are pretty common in the northeast in the spring despite the fact they are far less plentiful then decades ago. Global warming/climate change? Pollution? Ozone layer depletion (responsible for many amphibians extinction)? Whatever the reason these guys going the way of the dodo and fewer and fewer seem to be seen every spring.

While I've quite a few photos of Red Efts on leaves, these are unique because of the green moss.

(To view the full size photos, click on the thumbnails below)

technorati tags:Red Eft, Moreau, State, Park, ADK, Daks, newt, hiking, backpacking, wilderness

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