New York April Nyc Meet-up

My neighbors, the frogs, I could hear when I was on my street in front of my house last night. Anyways they create quite the buzz. Some might find the swampy sounds scary and Ear-E.

On my commute more shooting.

Yesterday I took note of how in Croton Harmon the terrain is just hilly, and then at Cortlandt Station the hills get taller and more rugged, then in Peekskill they become mountains.

Also Peekskill is a very small city of 18K people, but the housing is old and historic. Not that other towns don't have 100 year old houses, but it seems that Peekskill has a lot more. Driving around you can tell when you leave Peekskill by the age of the houses.

So there is a certain amount of charm and history displayed in the houses that kinda makes Peekskill a bit more interesting than other towns. Also because the waterfront and downtown are hip and developed it definitely has a Brooklyn vibe.

Augie
 
I hope Devil Christian does not punch me the next time he sees me, because a bird shat on me and then joking around I played the Powerball, Lotto, and Mega Millions.

Guess what, I won the Powerball.

Well not the jackpot, but anyways $4.00, so I rolled it over into more Powerball.

The drawing is tomorrow night.

Snarky Joe and I have been in conversation about cars. We are keen on Audi's, and if I won the Powerball about the only thing I would want is a 450 HP 444 foot pound Audi RS5. The RS3 does not have the 0-60 in under 3 seconds that I would want.

I would still keep my wonderful A4; I would still live in my small Baby-Victorian; and pretty much because I already loaded up on enough luxury goods pretty much I don't really need anything except a rad 29'er and a Gravel Bike.

As far as camera gear: another F3P so I can have one rigged with a MD-4 motordrive and another without.

Pretty much I am that happy.

I wonder do frogs eat Cicadas? LOL.

Augie
 
Fastest Speed of All Sinar Norma Three Good Pairs 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Cal,
After searching around and configuring what I can right now, I have come up with three perfect identical lens pairs for the Fastest Norma twin lens camera. On the left, are absolutely identical Schneider 150mm f5.6 chrome Componons. In the middle, two nearly identical (will do ok) 240mm f4.5 Schneider chrome Xenars. The viewing lens only works wide open, the iris is not working. But OK for viewing. I still have to plug the mickey mouse automation holes with aluminum filler. And on the far right, a perfectly matching pair of forward mounted Schneider 240mm f5.6 chrome Symmars. The taking lens is a Sinar Symmar, and have direct operating mickey mouse aperture mechanism (least amount of automation aperture board). It will take several hours of metal cutting to buzz down the flange diameter, and enlarge the hole size in the top hat. Then all will fit and I will have three nice workable pairs for this camera
 
Nokton48 said:
Fastest Speed of All Sinar Norma Three Good Pairs 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Cal,
After searching around and configuring what I can right now, I have come up with three perfect identical lens pairs for the Fastest Norma twin lens camera. On the left, are absolutely identical Schneider 150mm f5.6 chrome Componons. In the middle, two nearly identical (will do ok) 240mm f4.5 Schneider chrome Xenars. The viewing lens only works wide open, the iris is not working. But OK for viewing. I still have to plug the mickey mouse automation holes with aluminum filler. And on the far right, a perfectly matching pair of forward mounted Schneider 240mm f5.6 chrome Symmars. The taking lens is a Sinar Symmar, and have direct operating mickey mouse aperture mechanism (least amount of automation aperture board). It will take several hours of metal cutting to buzz down the flange diameter, and enlarge the hole size in the top hat. Then all will fit and I will have three nice workable pairs for this camera
Click to expand...

Devil Dan,

Mucho crazy and obsessive. I love it.

Cal
 
So "Maggie's" followers I.D.'ed my noisy neighbors as "Spring Peeper's" which are frogs that are about the size of a dime.

Because of all the racket they make (worse around dawn and dusk, and even worse when its raining) there basically has to be about a million of them, so basically I live next door to a frog ghetto.

So I went in Calvin-August the farmer mode, and started seedlings in peat moss pots. I have the front porch set up as my greenhouse.

An interesting plant I seeded is this small pepper plant I once had that grows small hot peppers that is used in Vietnamese cooking that are mucho hot.

Pretty much I will make my own chipmunk and deer repellent.

I see scrapings in my back yard, so I know deer have been already visiting. Let the feuding begin... LOL.

We went to Newburg to visit a place that sells old house parts. In the bathroom I found a cast iron floor grate that I would need to restore the hallway. From the owner of the shop I learned back in the day they had a furnace in the basement, and they basically blew hot air through a floor grate located in the center of the house.

That was the heating system.

So in my hallway is a patch made of quarter-sawn heart pine that I would like to get rid of. The one I saw though was just a little too small.

I did find a Roy Buchanon anthology in an antique emporium for $10.00. To me it was a good find.

I spent some time welding a sledge breaking up a concrete patio in my first-backyard. We intend on laying out a blue-stone 400 square foot patio (20x20) very soon, so I'm doing the sweat equity. We plan on doing this ourselves.

The front will get a new craftsman style door with side lights, and a wide new brick stoop with no railings.

Tomorrow I will likely transplant two dwarfed Hy-Der-anger-ERs that got stunted because they were planted too close to the garage.

The sledge swinging reminds me of Ron, a friend who was a pitcher in the minor leagues. He had an arm like a rail gun, and he could make even a softball sizzle cutting though the air.

I know because I was the catcher, and he played short stop, and when there was a play at home plate, I was in serious danger not only from the base runner, but also the ball being thrown at me.

On that softball team I was known for my ax swing and the consistent line drive right over second base. They called me Cal Rip-kin. They kinda laughed though because I was a mountain man and I swing like I was splitting wood that was mucho unconventional. I like high pitches, of course. LOL.

Tomorrow there is nothing on the schedule, so I'm going to use a vacation day to break concrete with a sledge. After I clear out the concrete I'll need to dig till I hit the subsoil, then I'll know how much sand I'll need.

Peekskill Mason Supply is local and is about 2 1/2 miles away. While a pro contractor will be redoing the front stoop, we will be doing the walkway up to it. Know that we are on the fringe of the city and have no sidewalks. How hill-billy is that.

Calvin-August
 
On the biking front I mounted my first tubeless tire on a tubeless rim Schwable Has Dampf on a Mavic CrossRock UST). What a tight FxxK-fit.

Believe it or not the way these fit together it is almost like an interference fit. I used dish washing soap as a lube.

The fit is so tight that I set the bead with a floor pump and it held air without sealant.

Phil was spot on with 17 pounds PSI on the 2.35 front tire. The rear 2.25 is only 24 inches and twenty PSI is about as low as I like to go to avoid bottoming out the tire and pinging the rim.

Anyways this was my preliminary impression jumping a curb to feel the bounce.

For a laugh look up the video from Mavic on mounting a tubeless road tire on a Mavic UST rim. Basically it went on with no tools.

Then there is this fool who whines and complains about the blister on his thumb and the 2 hours worth of work where he still can't get the tire mounted. He even shows hard plastic tire rons that he deformed and wore out through his efforts.

The funny thing is that this guy did not heed the warning from the Mavic rep that one MUST not allow the tire to set itself into the bead, which is basically what the tire will want to do.

So Augie's tip of the day because he is not a hill-billy with three hands, he cheated and used a large C-clamp to hold the beads together once he had the first bead on the rim. This way the second bead dose not or cannot seat itself or unravel as one migrates stretching the second bead over the rim.

Know that with a heavy mountain bike tire made for Enduros with extra firm and heavy sidewalls is not as easy as a road bike tire.

So the lack of rolling resistance is pretty remarkable, as well as the tolerated low tire pressure. I can see how this is better than my retro ways.

Cal
 
Cal, now I understand the excitement of a move. Somehow by pure timing I managed to get a nice rental contract. Centric, new build, with a moving in date of November. 300sqft for myself and the cameras. Good location so I can walk anywhere in my town.



Seems a bit of a chore to think of carting everything but it is quite exciting to think about what to set up. That, and it being a small place keeps GAS away but I just have the temptation to purchase stuff in anticipation.



I actually commute to my capital city, 45 min, but there is a satellite office in my town so it may be flexible. At my age, large city lifestyle is fun but at the core I am a descendant of fishermen and mountain villagers.
 
Prest_400 said:
Cal, now I understand the excitement of a move. Somehow by pure timing I managed to get a nice rental contract. Centric, new build, with a moving in date of November. 300sqft for myself and the cameras. Good location so I can walk anywhere in my town.



Seems a bit of a chore to think of carting everything but it is quite exciting to think about what to set up. That, and it being a small place keeps GAS away but I just have the temptation to purchase stuff in anticipation.



I actually commute to my capital city, 45 min, but there is a satellite office in my town so it may be flexible. At my age, large city lifestyle is fun but at the core I am a descendant of fishermen and mountain villagers.
Click to expand...

Jorde,

The geography of Canton China created a natural fortress that kept it isolated from China for almost a thousand years where feudalism endured.

Peekskill similarly is surrounded by a ring of mountains, and not far away is Fort Smith, Fort Montgomery, The town of Garrison, and of course West Point.

I feel right at home with my genes and breeding.

This driver who came by to deliver nuclides I asked if he was a boxer, I could tell by his build, and in fact he was a licensed pro.

In conversation he mentioned that he spared with a guy my size, he was a bigger guy than me, and he said that guy had the hardest punches. He had the same narrow shoulders like me with long arms.

If you understand physics it is all about speed, acceleration and leverage.

Breaking up concrete with a sledge is kinda what I was built for.

Cal
 
Range-rover said:
Wow that's really great I only seen him play on youtube
there was that one song he did "Hey Joe" which was great.
Click to expand...

Bob,

I have a live version of Hey Joe on the anthology I secured.

Kinda funny is even though technically he could play mighty speedy that some of his best work was slowed down songs that were covers.

Roy is the reason why I'm addicted to Tele's. From what I know he favored Fender BF Vibrolux's for that 2x10 sound.

Cal
 
I only go to work for rest. LOL.

My body is tired from breaking up concrete. Devil Christian confirmed that I can use what I'm breaking up as "clean-fill" to save money on dumpster fees, and more importantly to reclaim and terrace beyond my back-backyard that borders on "the frog ghetto."

I also uncovered lots of cobblestones that had settled to be level with the grass, and in some cases were totally buried.

So there is a limit of how much of this work I can do at a time and the best tactic is to keep chiseling away with the work when I can.

Seems like my property has about a foot of topsoil before I hit subsoil, likely because I am in a valley of sorts.

Also my rear lawn needs to be graded lower because of the settling of some concrete narrow walkways have settled over the decades. These walkways suggest an English Garden, and I want to preserve them.

I removed some sod like patches of grass and started leveling and back-filling my first terrace that extends back 8-10 feet.

I'll build a retaining wall of broken concrete that will become enclosed as back fill when a pretty retaining wall is build perhaps of field-stone.

Dave "Maggie's" son-in-law is saving rocks for me in nearby Cortlandt Manor which is abundantly rocky with glacial deposits inland from the Hudson River.

I can see building out a landing and then having stone block stairs descending into a hidden terraced shelf for privacy, a landing of sorts.

Also know that in Greenpoint I set up a container garden of swamp plants.

My idea of gardening is rather sculptural where I created different gardens that were separate spaces connected by paths.

I witnessed a full sunny day and took note of where was best for a shade garden, and where the one spot was that got full sun for a cut flower garden.

We had a mason come by Monday to survey rebuilding our front stoop. Currently he is replacing the garage floor and building out a new driveway for my diagonal corner neighbor's house. I can see that he is a very good mason, because of all the work he performed on my neighbor's large stucco home, including a new front stoop.

So perhaps next year I will have my garage and driveway done. The mason laughed when I showed him my garage which is basically the same garage.

So our front stoop will be replaced with a larger 8 foot wide brick stoop. Our mason will used reclaimed bricks to match the ones on the front porch foundation, and of course addition bricks will be stockpiled because Maggie and I will lay out a brick walkway that we will do the work.

No hand railings, but we figure we can set up planters as a container garden so we don't get sued.

The 36 inch wide door will be replaced by a Craftsman style door, but include a pair of 14 inch side-lites and a short 10 inch transom. So this grand entrance requires a larger stoop.

The front enclosed porch is only 16 feet long, but the 8 foot stoop creates a great proportion. Also the original steps from the street to a landing will be retained, but the mason will trim down the bottom landing so we can expand the lower brick walkway from the street.

I took some shots to document the before. I expect our house will look rather stately. Our Baby-Victorian is likely the "Old Lady on the street."

My mason thinks he might begin working on our new stoop April 15th. My worry was that he might be booked up and then I would have to deal with "Woman-Factor."

So there was an undetailed report of a man who hot jumped by 3-5 men just outside of Depre Park in Peekskill. Required a trip to the hospital.

Who knows what really happened? Fact is that 90% of crime is alcohol related. This happened last Sunday.

Cal
 
Austintatious said:
Smoke. Kin. Hot.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMcjPZgK9GM
Click to expand...

Austin,

Many thanks for the link.

Did you know that he named that 54 Tele that is all worn in and it is called "Nancy?"

BTW I am a plug and play (cord-amp) kinda guy also. The sound is in my hands, but of course I don't sound like Roy.

If you take notice he used the volume knob as if a volume pedal. I would not call that cheating.

The "Gate-Keeping" I rant about is real. How can a guitarist like Roy be unknown?

Cal
 
I am trained as a journalist, so I did some fact checking.

The Telecaster in fact is a 1953, and this guitar with jumbo frets was also owned by Danny Gatton, another Telecaster guitar slinger, and Mike Stern.

I did not know this, but I was aware of the story that when Mike Stern had this guitar stolen from him when he was mugged at gunpoint in the Boston subway system.

My source was a "Guitar Player" magazine interview.

So the question today is where is "Nancy?"

I was correct that his amp of choice was a Fender Vibrolux with 2x10's for speakers.

At the Austin "Hey Joe" live performance one commentor states that in the video you can see the pair of Fender Twin amps stacked on top of each other and that he is doing the "plug and play."

On the anthology I have there is another cover of Hendrix's "If 6 was 9."

Cal
 
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