The Grand Haven Lighthouse

So on Saturday, I saw that the Wilfred Sykes would be traveling to Grand Haven.  I wasn't sure what time she was arriving there.  When I wok up on Saturday morning, I saw that I had a chance to catch her entering the harbor.

 While I was waiting for the Sykes, I figured that a couple pictures of the lighthouse were in order.  The pier was pretty icy and uneven, so I didn't stray too far out.

Fortunately, I had my big lens and I didn't have to actually go out on the pier.  I think this picture was better than what I could have gotten anyway.

Shutdown Madness

I try to remain apolitical on this blog.  There are plenty of outlets for political discourse, so I try to stay out of it.  There are times where the politics gets crazy and I just want to rant out about it.   And this is one of those times.

 At midnight of December 21, 2018, the House of Representatives failed to pass a bill that would have kept the remaining elements of the Government open.  The Senate passed a bill that was approved unanimously and the House of Representatives was willing to vote on it until the President decided that he couldn't have a bill that wouldn't fund his border wall.  As a result, parts of the government were shut down unless they were considered essential.
Homeland Security was one of the elements that was shut down but because the border patrol is considered as "essential", they are being forced to work without pay.  They missed their paycheck on January 15th and are likely to miss the next paycheck.  Based on what I'm reading and seeing on the news, it doesn't sound like there is going to be an end to this.
So why do I show the Border Patrol first?  Mainly because central to the shutdown is the idea that we can build a wall (or fence or iron slats or whatever) that will span our border with Mexico.  There is currently a fence (or whatever you want to call it) that pretty much covers the California, Arizona and New Mexico borders.  It doesn't cover areas where there is a natural barrier (i.e., a river, desert or mountain) that helps to stop immigrants.  Nor does it cover the Texas border.  There are two reasons for that, much of the land that has the fence was already owned by the Federal Government.  That is not the case in Texas.  Two, the Rio Grande River pretty much flows from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico.  While it's not entirely impassable, there are parts that are.  The government was starting to build the fence in parts of Texas but they ran into all sorts of legal troubles.
According to the President we need this wall in order to stop drug and criminal traffic from entering the United States.  When you look at the numbers, illegal immigration was trending downward before the President entered office.  Much of that is due to the improved economic activity in the Central and Southern American countries these people were coming from.  In fact, many of the illegal immigrants in the United States are people that have overstayed their visas.
So border policy is touted as the central reason to the debate.  Personally, I think there are better methods to dealing with the issues than a wall.  I'm sure the wall helps somewhat but you need other things to go with it.  You certainly need an increased border presence.  Walls can be scaled over or tunneled under and that's been shown.
The interesting part is that since Border Enforcement falls under the Department of Homeland Security, it's members are expected to report to their jobs despite not getting paid.  I have to believe that is going to have an impact on their effectiveness, especially if this drags on.

 This leads us to the Coast Guard.  The President says that the wall will help stem the flow of drugs into the country.  You know what else helps stem the flow of drugs into this country?  The Coast Guard.  I read somewhere that the Coast Guard stops more drugs than the other law enforcement services combined.  And that is after stopping one out of every five drug shipments they know about.  Imagine if their funding was increased what they could do.

 I would imagine they could afford a couple more cutters like the Escanaba here.  These cutters play a large role in stopping the drugs coming into the country.  I think they also play a role in the illegal immigrants that come to the United States by boat.  When you look at the coast of the United States, it makes the Mexican border look tiny.

 The Coast Guard also plays a large role in commerce because they keep the channels cleared and marked.  Again, I have to believe that their effectiveness is decreasing because they have other things on their mind.

 And factor in their search and rescue mission.  The Coast Guard was already taxed before the shutdown.  I can't imagine what worrying about paychecks does to their morale.

Which leads us to another part that is affected by the shutdown.  The FAA falls under the Department of Transportation.  The Department of Transportation is not currently funded which means the FAA is not currently funded.  This means that all of our air traffic controllers are working without a paycheck.  Again, this was a stressful job, so why add this level of stress?  The FAA is unable to conduct its other role in the form of accident investigation.

Apparently the IRS is not funded, so people may not get their refund checks.  The SNAP program is not funded and it is projected to run out of money by the beginning of March.  The EPA is also currently on furlough.  I already mentioned the national parks.

There are many people that say, "Fund the wall".  Why should we fund something that we aren't 100% sure of its effectiveness?  It's like many things with this administration, they prefer the flash to the things of substance.  A wall looks like something it being done and usually the more effective means of border control are things that aren't readily apparent.  As Patton said, "Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man.  We've conquered the oceans and mountains, anything built by man can be conquered".  Apparently that gets tested every day.  And if they give in, what's the prevent another act of hostage taking?

I just have this feeling of dread that something drastic is going to have to happen.  I also have a feeling of dread that we've been playing with house money for too long.  There are other components to all of this that I haven't mentioned.  So I don't know what happens from here.

The Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse - 2019

I wasn't going to do this tonight but then I realized that I couldn't miss out on it.  Now, the reason I wasn't going to do this was because it was friggin cold.  By the time I was done, it was -1 degree Fahrenheit out.  Fortunately it wasn't windy and nor did I stay out the whole time.

 Anyway, tonight was called a super moon because it was at the closed point to the earth.  That of course makes the moon look a little larger than normal.  Probably not that you could really tell.  It was also a full moon.  And the full moon for January is called the wolf moon.

 So I was just messing with the camera settings.  I think i like the first picture better.

 Shortly after the eclipse started.  I don't think it was quite -1 at this time but it was still cold.  I decided I could wait for a bit.

 I came out a few minutes later.  The moon was a little smaller.

 And then I went out around 11:30 (or so).  The moon had the blood red color I heard about.

Because I was trying to use my bigger lens, it was moving all over the place.  I was about ready to give up and then I decided to go for one of my smaller lens.

 The only problem with that is that this picture is heavily cropped.  My smaller lens doesn't have any image stabilization, so the picture isn't nearly as clear as I wanted.  But I guess it's clearer than the other picture.

 I'm not sure what phase of the eclipse this was but the moon looked pretty cool.  I can see why ancient people would get excited about this.  Given all that is going on right now, I can see why modern people are excited about this.

 Just kept shooting.

 I was trying different shutter speed settings.  One of the things with the moon is that you don't want to overexpose because then it looks like a gaseous ball in the sky.

 I think this one is my favorite of the blood red moon.

I didn't want to stay out to catch it on the flip side.  So this was my last picture.  I think this next time there is a full moon eclipse, it will be in May, so hopefully a bit warmer.

A Sunny Day for the Wolverine

I was going to pass on going out today but it was actually nice and sunny.  I thought that would make for good Wolverine pictures.  Since it's not all that far for me to get pictures of the Wolverine, I decided to brave the cold and get some pictures.  I'm glad I did.

 I think we got about 4 inches of snow dumped on us.  I was amazed at the condition of the roads. They weren't great but they weren't bad either.  Granted, I was pretty much on the main streets.

 It wasn't too long before the Wolverine appeared.  It was running late again today.

 I kind of liked the way it was kicking up the snow.  I think I should have been on the other side of the tracks to get the picture better.

 She passes the depot.

 I had to use the manual setting, the snow was reflecting too much light.  That made the camera think it was brighter than it really was.

 you can see the Ypsilanti sign on the freight house.

One more shot before going home.

Catching the Wolverine in the Snow

I was actually hoping that I would catch the Sykes as she made her way to Nanticoke but unfortunately, she passed Detroit yesterday.  Although that is good in a way because we ended up getting dumped on today.  And that pretty much meant I didn't want to go anywhere.  However, I did want to get some pictures, so I ended up getting pictures of the Wolverine.

 The Wolverine was running about five minutes late but that wasn't too bad since you can track Amtrak trains using their website.  As I was taking this picture, the crossing lights started to flash which meant the train was near.

 About thirty seconds later, the Wolverine appeared.  As you can see, it was still snowing pretty hard.  It wasn't too bad getting to Depot Town but I wouldn't have wanted to travel much further than that.

 I love catching the Wolverine right after a fresh snow because it is usually kicking it up.  Makes for a cool effect, I think.

 And I wasn't disappointed as she was kicking up quite a bit of snow.

 It was still snowing but I think it makes for a cool effect.  Almost like grain.

 And some of the reflections on the engine.

One more shot before moving on.

So then I went to the store and went home.  Not a terribly exciting day.

The Jerk Store Called - Part Too Many

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to go to the Joshua Tree National Park in southern California.  It was a pretty cool experience as I am from Michigan and I don't get to see desert that much.  I was kind of amazed at the amount of plant diversity I saw there.

Unfortunately, I was still learning quite a bit about the DSLR at the time, so many of the pictures I took aren't quite at the standard I'm at now.  I think I might go through them and post more of them at some later date since I didn't post them on here originally.

That wasn't the reason I'm writing this post.  As you know, the government is currently in a partial shutdown.  I'm not going to get into the politics behind it because I think the politics stink.  When the government is shut down, anyone that is considered as "non-essential" is furloughed.  Anyone that is considered as "essential" is forced to work without pay until they figure out how to open the government again.

National Park rangers are considered as "non-essential" and basically the national parks are closed.  However, closing a national park usually just means the gates are closed.  There aren't typically gates around the parks.  Because of that people can still get in the parks.

Which leads us up to the reason for this park.  Because people can get into the parks, there are some that are trashing them.  I'm reading stories about trash getting piled up in places and the bathrooms getting full of the stuff that are usually in bathrooms.  While those stories are disturbing, they aren't as disturbing as the one I read.

I read story about how some people either cut or pushed some joshua trees down.  Then those people proceeded to four wheel around the park.  When I went to the park, I remember reading that you shouldn't stray too far from the paths because it can damage the ecosystem for decades.  I also remember reading that some of these trees are hundreds of years old.  So why would someone trash something that has been around before their ancestors came to this country?

Especially when you consider that there are so many places that are designated specifically for four wheeling.  I mean why ruin something that other people enjoy for your pleasure?  When I go into natural areas I take the advice of the signs that are sometimes posted, "Take only pictures and leave only footprints".  I'm not a huge environmentalist but I do like to keep my footprint at a minimum.  I certainly wouldn't want to harm something that is older than my great-great-great grandparents.

So really, the only explanation that I have is that some people are assholes.  I seriously hope they catch these people and fine the bejesus out of them.  I also hope they make them clean the park sometime in July or August.

Watching the Philip R. Clarke

Even though it was pretty cold today, I decided to head down to Detroit to catch a ship.

 The ship in question was the Philip R. Clarke.

 I was kind of waffling that I wanted to go down to catch her but I knew that if I didn't I would kick myself for the rest of the day.

 She is one of the three AAA freighters that are left on the lakes.  She is a sister to the Arthur M. Anderson and Cason J. Callaway.  I hope that these ships will be around for a while longer but you never know.

 She was on her way to Conneaut, Ohio and I presume she would have been carrying taconite.

 She was coming down from Duluth.  And that journey would have been about 2 and a half days.

 As you can see, she's pretty loaded.

 The beam shot.

 Then I decided to head down to Riverside Park to get some more pictures of her.  Unfortunately, I couldn't make it sooner than this one.

And she continues on her way.  From this point, it would be another 11 hours to her destination.