Still Kicking

Just checking in to see if this still works. Been away for a while and been ranting and posting on Facebook, Wordpress and Flickr. Couldn't access the blog because so many things had changed. Now that I have a Google email address, it looks like I'm back in the game. So if anybody is interested, find me on those sites until I get back to posting on Blogger.
Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/OldeTownePhotos/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldetownephotos/

Love Our Geese

... but don't feed them.

I've started to collect information on the problems of feeding wild geese in our city park, especially stale bread. A few comments on Facebook didn't have any effect, so I'm going to be putting all the information here as reference.

People have always enjoyed feeding gulls, geese, ducks or swans at beaches and parks. Indeed, they feel they are doing the birds a big favor, helping them out. What they might not realize is that feeding these birds is detrimental to them and the environment in many ways. Please read on to learn more about the harmful effects of hand feeding waterfowl.
http://hardeybordercollies.com/id91.html
Ten Reasons to Not Feed Geese.

WHAT DUCKS SHOULDN'T EAT >>>
Unfortunately, the food most people associate with ducks – BREAD – is also one of the worst parts of a duck's diet.
Bread is bad for ducks because it lacks any nutritional value for the birds. A diet of mostly bread or bread-like products such as crackers, cookies, donuts, chips, cereal, popcorn and similar scraps will cause health problems, including obesity, malnutrition and poor development. Uneaten, rotting bread in the water will foster disease and attract pests and predators such as rats, raccoons and other mammals that may prey on ducklings or even attack adult ducks. Birders who enjoy feeding ducks should do so only rarely and should offer a range of nutritious foods, such as cracked corn, oats, chopped vegetables and lettuce leaves instead of unhealthy bread.

What Do Ducks Eat ?

Battle of Hampton Roads

aka - The Monitor and the Merrimac(k)
or rightly called the CSS Virginia

Collection of information and images depicting this famous battle.

http://www.monitorcenter.org/the-battle-of-hampton-roads/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/pga.04044/

"The Monitor and Merrimac: The First Fight Between Ironclads", a chromolithograph of the Battle of Hampton Roads, produced by Louis Prang & Co., Boston signed "Jo Davidson".

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/confederate_ships/virginia.html

Undefeated CSS Virginia returning to Portsmouth.
[ Faux Daguerreotype by yours truly. ] 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/oldetownephotos/15352108818/

· 

The Battle of Hampton Roads took place March 8th and 9th, 1862. A key witness to this event was Henry Eaton Coleman who was born on January 5, 1837 at Woodlawn Plantation in Halifax County, Virginia. He studied civil engineering at the Virginia Military Institute and the College of William and Mary. At age 21, Coleman purchased a farm known as “Cedar Grove.” At the outbreak of the Civil War, Coleman joined the 12th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, as a captain in Company B. The regiment was ordered to Sewell’s Point, near Norfolk, where Coleman witnessed the epic duel between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. He wrote a letter afterwards from Camp Arrington to his wife Julia describing the battle and casualties. His letter even included sketches of the Monitor and Virginia. A portion of his letter is enclosed: "On Saturday, March 8th, at 12 a.m. the “Merrimac” in company with the gun boats “Raleigh” “Beaufort” (each of one gun.) left her wharf in Norfolk steamed directly to Newport News. At 2 p.m. the “Realigh” Capt. Alexander, opened on the Blockading vessels; then the “Beaufort,” Capt. Parker, joined in, which the “Merrimac” quietly proceeded between the “Congress” “Cumberland” (U.S. 40 gun frigate) + gave it to them right + left. At 2.45 p.m. the “Cumberland” sunk, from the broadsides of the “Merrimac” + from the battering ram, then whole crew (about 500 men) with the exception of the a few who swam ashore, drowned. At 3 p.m. the “Congress” took fire, but was extinguished. Shortly after taking fire she ran up a white flag at half mast in [show] of surrender + distress, the commander of the “Merrimac” ceased firing + sent a boat to her assistance. This boat was fired on shore several times, + then the “Merrimac” threw ascending shells into her + burnt her to the waters edge with most of her crew aboard." Coleman finished the war as a colonel and succeeded in a career as a civil engineer. He died on June 25, 1890 in Halifax County, Virginia. His letter resides in the collections of the Mariner's Museum.

http://cssvirginia.org/vacsn/135anniv/index.htm

http://www.building-model-boats.com/css-virginia.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hampton_Roads

Rev. Braidfoot (aka Dean Burgess) tells the story behind the stained glass window in Trinity Church.

Do you know the story behind this window? I was trying to find something on the Internet, but I guess I'll have to just tell you what I know. The part that's in the light box was removed from the window to keep the Union Forces from burning down the church and the hospital. It reads: " Who died during the Civil War between the years of 1861 & 1865 in Defence of their Native State of Virginia against the invasion of the U.S. forces."

There are many memories of the Civil War in the church. The “Confederate Window” commemorates officers who died from this church. It was erected during Union occupation of the town and the inscription, now standing on the sill, was so offensive to the Union officers that the Secretary of the Navy said he would close the Naval Hospital and the Shipyard unless it was removed.

The crew of the C. S. S. Virginia (the ironclad Merrimac) was blessed at this altar and the acting priest, The Rev. John Wingfield, blessed the ship before it went to the first battle of ironclads. Fr. Wingfield’s refusal to pray for the President of the United States resulted in his being forced to sweep the streets in Norfolk with a ball and chain on his leg (he later became the first Bishop of Northern California).

http://www.trinity-portsmouth.org/anniversary-info

Spring is just around the corner in Olde Towne

Merry Christmas 2016

Thank you, friends and followers. Hopefully, in 2017 I can be more into blogging and less into Facebook. Many photos from the Children's Parade, Winter Wonderland and the Holiday Music Festival are posted in my Flickr Photostream. . Please take time to peruse at your leisure.

Memorial Day 2016

This link will take you to a previous post on Memorial Day and its significance.

Or Copy & Paste.  http://oldetownephotos.blogspot.com/2009/05/memorial-day.html

The Bugle That Sounded the End of WW1

The Bugle That Sounded the End of WW1 (click on link)

I was going to save this for Veterans' Day, but I may forget. I stumbled onto this today and had to post.

The main article that this was related to was the 100th anniversary of
General Pershing's Mexican Expedition to capture Pancho Villa.