..........................................................................................

2008-10-31T14:52:00.004-04:00

note: junk of pork is currently on hiatus due to being overserved at a mexican restaurant last weekend and misplacing its camera.

meanwhile, month-old pictures:

above: commuter trains run up and down the east shoreline of the lower hudson; in this narrow and otherwise pitch black stretch we run about 100 feet from the shore. the headlight of the train as it zips around the bend of a mountain or out from a clearing scares the crap out of me. every single time.

below: passing under the george washington bridge.

2008-09-30T17:15:00.004-04:00

asheville, n.c.:
humorous v. the humorless

2008-09-11T03:23:00.006-04:00

boredom v. excellence

- sunset, labor day
- engaged in the digital age (?)
- reverse fun with binoculars
- boats, boats, boats
- ominous chart text. made creepy by the fact that The Nightmare is in the middle of nowhere in Florida's Everglades.

2008-08-09T03:13:00.005-04:00

odds and ends from the last few weeks...

- 69th street pier, brooklyn
- hudson river, 5:45 am
- tugboat steakbone jamboree
- east river, 5:45 am
- uhaul road trip, chesapeake bay
- the things you have to find new places for after unpacking
- new view for the dag
- photos inside the old lightship frying pan, moored at pier 63 manhattan and open to the public (i think). an incredible, salty, rusty antique that guarded north carolina's frying pan shoals for thirty years - probably the nastiest spot on the east coast. very unrefurbished and master and commander-y. webpage here. more photos to follow.
- home

2008-07-07T15:22:00.006-04:00

summertime...

- cundy's harbor
- new meadows river
- i went straight to the triple dog dare
- beach fire
- figuring out how much time is left before the beach fire is extinguished by high tide
- more tugboat fun
- boat's fire cannon pumping 6000 gallons per minute
- working the bows of ships backing out of and into slips

2008-06-19T06:43:00.004-04:00

- friends
- tugboat cake by the incredible kravis
- cursive at the mercury lounge
- cab ride
- clean vermont air for the city dog
- early bonfire

2008-06-02T12:02:00.007-04:00

(passing under the verrazano at 3a.m.)

weather:

the city from bayonne nj, staten island, and pier 88 in manhattan:

2008-05-20T12:43:00.009-04:00

brighton beach and coney island...

... in pre-summer glory and wierdness --- ice cream but no roller coaster, fresh paint at nathan's hot dogs, vacant lots, open sea, graffiti, tans for the brave.

2008-05-12T13:26:00.008-04:00

empty container ship backing into a graving dock for repairs.

two tugs (not visible) assisting.

the front wall of the drydock is floating off to the right of the ship with another tug.

brooklyn shoreline ahead.

since the ship is still surrounded by water, we leave by crane.

tug secures the wall here and the water is drained from around the ship.

2008-04-29T03:04:00.007-04:00

sunrise, 20 miles off virginia coast, friday 4/25. overexposed by about a second.

0515

0520

0525

0530

0535

0540

0540, normal exposure

(actual sunrise, 6:05)

2008-04-19T02:34:00.009-04:00

spring.

road trip fog

- work
- depot
- grand central
- crab apple blossoms across the street
- ferry terminal aquarium
- long island sound

march first comes in like a...

2008-03-12T20:55:00.007-04:00

this squall blew through in about ten minutes on a sunny, 50-degree sunday afternoon.

around 4:45: snow, visibility dropped to under half a mile, and the anemometer topped out at 65 mph.

weather pictures don't usually do the weather justice, but at least you can see how quickly the sky changed while this thing rolled past...

4:46

4:48

4:51

4:52

4:52

4:52

4:53

5:00: just off the dock and sunny again.

february

2008-02-23T12:20:00.011-05:00

2/11: m and scout arrive in ny in a gale

- graffiti on the long island railroad
- view from the bridge of a container ship (100 ft up, 700 ft to bow)
- rather close to an anchor
- commute home on the ferry

- no sleep til brooklyn...
- natural history museum: a daring escape attempt from the butterfly exhibit
- giant creepy moth in the last day of its two week life
- dioramas: dolphins, sperm whale & giant squid, skunk doing something weird

- workers on the brooklyn bridge
- ghetto chickens on the empire state building
- brooklyn botanic garden
- afternoon sun
- port jefferson after the first real snow of the year

2008-01-15T13:10:00.001-05:00

january

...more gray, gray winter...

- hudson looking south from newburgh, late dec... ice has since melted

- s.i. ferry
- weird 180 of pushing against a container ship
- tug rope and ship hull
- frozen spray
- the gulls like, of all places to choose from, this dock
- back on land, in the park
- warm enough to mix concrete

junk of pork

2007-12-13T12:06:00.001-05:00

"But after receiving from the skipper a stiff glass or two of grog, a junk of pork, and a parcel of tobacco, they deemed it hardly worthwhile to institute further research."

- "The Fisher Boy," Alonzo Tripp

2007-12-13T11:16:00.000-05:00

winter's here. shipload of salt arriving at a pier in newark.

weather:

2007-11-29T03:56:00.000-05:00

november

under manhattan bridge
look back east
looks worse than it is (~4-5')
a.m.
180 degrees of ship simulation
dead ship tow from ship (see blue hawser from tug) and...
stern boat working across stern / statue of liberty
project boat
maggie thinks scrabble is a litter box
dad coming up with another obscure scrabble word we didn't know he knew

october vacation...

2007-10-25T10:12:00.000-04:00

(laying down and looking up, long meadow, prospect park)

...and it's only half over.

brooklyn navy yard --- manhattan bridge and lower manhattan in bkgrnd --- ship has just finished discharging gravel from canada.

brooklyn botanical garden, sunday afternoon --- four leaved clovers all had three leaves anyway --- highly mesmerizing fish and a highly mesmerized great blue heron at the japanese hill-and-pond garden --- a nap on the cherry tree esplanade --- right before long meadow nap the next day

reeling in a thousand feet of kitestring --- after asking this guy how he builds his own kites, he landed it right next to me to show me --- q: how long does it take you to build one? a: depends on how quick you want to use it.
fair enough.

waiting to meet a tug, staten island ferry terminal, 4 a.m.: i think this ferry is for sale. the nameboards have been taken off the wheelhouses. (http://fredfryinternational.blogspot.com/2007/09/for-sale-one-surplus-staten-island.html)

2007-10-12T04:21:00.000-04:00

- marina at night x3

- salty curtains in the head
- sound-powered, hand-crank telephone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound-powered_telephone)
- autopilot
- handy autopilot graphics

2007-10-05T09:54:00.000-04:00

random items from the last couple of weeks.

--- ghetto chickens at the navy yard
--- the joys of unpacking (someone else's) stuff
--- view of bayonne new jersey container yard and manhattan in background from the bridge of a departing ship

--- undocking the uscg training ship / barque "eagle" from lower manhattan. tried unsuccessfully not to look like a total tourist while aboard.
- taking in lines
- tug pulls ship off the dock
- looking aft back toward east river and brooklyn bridge (seven cadets manning the three-wheeled helm!)
- outbound, governor's island to port
- the ship has 21,350 square feet of sail and over 5 miles of rigging

2007-09-17T17:01:00.000-04:00

a few days of travelling before back to work...

--- north carolina mountain state fair
--- two-day-old chickens trying to keep their distance from the heat lamp
--- two bucks to see "The World's Largest Horse" ('s ass)
--- blue ridge mountains from the ferris wheel

--- green monster
--- old wooden grandstand seats (from the 1930's?)
--- this is "playing"
--- a little 9.11 patriotic graffiti on the long island rail road

2007-09-05T22:42:00.000-04:00

my first and last ad:

it seems counterintuitive to mail away for an order of stamps, but doing so with an irresistably rustic little maine island post office will help keep them in business. it's so quaint, it's hard to believe. check out how to do it and pick your favorite island:

http://www.islandinstitute.org/programs.asp?section=communitysupport&subsection=Stamps_by_Mail

now, the last 7 days:

- last 340 mile commute
- avon street: wed 9pm
- : thurs 830am
- : fri 850am
- : fri 430pm
- : fri 850pm
- : empty
- :
- e prom from a moving truck, sat 545am
- finished thanks to the best friends ever.
- eastern parkway: west indian day parade, sunday 745pm (!!)
- two window views of the brooklyn museum
- view of my window from the brooklyn museum

2007-09-05T22:17:00.000-04:00

2007-08-21T15:23:00.000-04:00

view from the stern at 0600 watch change

saturday

sunday

monday

tuesday

2007-08-14T00:27:00.000-04:00

--- stuck on the bqe... --- ...looking out the other window --- if you don't love it leave it 1 --- if you don't love it leave it 2 --- it's really hot. everywhere. ---

2007-08-06T22:22:00.000-04:00

saturday's gang from chandler's cove

jw's displaying sweet new tat (photo by jeff) --- wiscasset sucking --- s.o.'s of tugboaters --- ry-ry seeing his new bride --- girls being suthun --- jeff's bubbles --- jw reenacting drunken packing --- meg reenacting (?)

2007-07-30T02:32:00.000-04:00

full moon current --- working the tip of a bow --- near the end of a bad storm --- midtown from hudson

2007-07-23T16:13:00.001-04:00

here goes a new effort to publish something here every monday or so to keep life interesting on and off the boat.

.....

arthur kill in the fog, 3 a.m.; me and a jellyfish; hudson river 5 a.m.; whizzing moose; up in a cloud on katahdin.

.....

2007-07-02T03:04:00.000-04:00

.....

2007-07-01T03:42:00.000-04:00

2007-07-01T01:41:00.000-04:00

.....