A Chinook Helicopter

As I said in my last post, I got a chance to see a helicopter.

 It was a Chinook Helicopter operating out of Selfridge, I think.

 This is probably the same one I've seen before, but that's okay because it still cool to see one.

 She works her way past.

 A couple more shots.

And one more before she passes too far.

My First Ship of the Season

I'm not sure what the official day the opening of the Seaway is.  Usually, the Welland Canal is opened before the Soo Locks but this year it was different.  The Soo Locks opened on March 25 and this year marked the first time they didn't have a ship chomping at the bit to get out.  The first ship through the Welland Canal was a week after that.  The first ship that went through the Soo Locks was the Cason Callaway which went through on Friday.  There is a group of ships waiting around Drummond Island to go upbound but they may have to wait for the downbound ships.

What does all of this mean?  Well, the shipping season is a mess right now and it wont be cleared up until we get a nice string of warm days.  Evidently, Gary has had to curtail operations until it can get some iron and that's not a light thing.  I would imagine some of the other steel mills on the Lakes will be doing the same thing until shipping gets a little more consistent.  It would be  a daunting task to replace all that lost cargo with trains.  Keep in mind that even one of the smaller ships is the equivalent of about 300 rail cars.  This could have some longer term economic impact but we will see.

 But all of that is moot as I start watching my first ship of the season.  I kind of wish it were one of the ships mulling around the Soo right now as those are some of my favorites but this one will do.

 She is the Peter R. Cresswell.  She is operated by Algoma Central.  She has appeared on this blog before.

 She mostly deals with cement but I think she can carry other things.

 As I was taking a picture of her, a helicopter decided to make an appearance.  This picture almost gives me my trifecta.  Will have to photoshop a train in here.

 She starts to make her turn to enter the Detroit River.

 Which of course gives me the opportunity for a head shot.

 She's made her turn for the River and starts to move forward.  It seems like she was moving a little slower than normal yesterday.

 But that's okay...gave me an opportunity for more pictures.

 The undistracted view of her.

 A shot with one of the channel markers.

 A shot as she enters the River further.

 The almost straight on shot.

 And she passes by.

 As she was heading down the river, the helicopter decided to appear again.

 And she works her way past the Coast Guard station.

 Then I decided to head to the other side of the island to get some other pictures of her.

 I love the blue of the Detroit River.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 I wanted a little bit of foreground.

 The straight out shot.

One more of her pilothouse.

Back to the Rocky Beach

I saw that there was a ship stirring about yesterday, so I decided to head over to the Rocky Beach and one of my favorite places for boatwatching.  It was actually a nice enough day for it yesterday.

 The Soo Locks opened on March 25 of this year.  They finally had their first commercial vessel pass through on Friday.  The ice on the Lakes is at the thickest it has been in years.  This has caused havoc with the shipping so far.  Canada had to send two of its heavy icebreakers to help out and the US Coast Guard assets on the Lakes are pretty taxed right now.  So this has meant I haven't had many opportunities for boatwatching.  It was kind of nice to be able to do that.

 Despite all that, the ice looks pretty cool.  I kind of liked this piece because it looks like a honeycomb.

 A little bit of blue ice.

 Another shot of the ice covered rocky beach.

I kind of liked the way this one looked.

 This one reminded me of Superman's Fortress of Solitude.

 Not sure what kind of duck this was.

 One more piece of ice.

 I liked the way the sun was hitting this one.

A Rainy Day in Ann Arbor

So it was a pretty rainy, windy and chilly day (but not as cold as it was during the winter).  Rain does sometimes make for some nice pictures.

 As I headed back from lunch today, I noticed the cherry maples in front of the building.  I kind of liked the way the rain drops were falling from the berries.  This picture is okay.

 But I like this one better.  I like the way the tree is showing up in the drops.

 I think I like this one a little more because the berries look red.

 As I was heading home, I noticed a hawk flying around a field.  I stopped in the hope of getting a picture of it.  Instead, I get this turkey buzzy.

 I kind of liked this country scene.

 A flying goose.

Attempted murder?

Eastern Michigan Baseball Vs Michigan State

I decided to stop at the Eastern Michigan baseball game tonight.  They were playing the dreaded Spartans of Michigan State.  I don't normally go to Eastern baseball games because they tend to be scheduled for odd times and about half of the season is played somewhere warmer.  Around the time they start playing in Ypsilanti, the season is almost half over.  Normally, Eastern's baseball team is decent.  They are generally competitive in the MAC.

 Eastern's pitcher throwing the ball.  He ended up getting chased out after two innings.

 The pitching coach discussing strategy with the pitcher.

 One of the Eastern players swinging for the ball.

 Michigan State celebrating one of their 5 runs.

 Another pitch.

 The Michigan State base coach.

 Eastern celebrating one of their three runs.

The Michigan State pitcher getting chased off the mound.

I didn't stick around for the whole game because it started to get chilly.  It was still pretty fun.