Welcome Home, USS Edson

For many years now, the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum has been working toward obtaining a retired destroyer to moor in Bay City as a floating museum.  Many years ago, the Defoe shipyard in Bay City built destroyers.  Unfortunately, none of those ships have survived.  So the museum tried to get another ship of the same class.  After many attempts at that endeavor, they found a destroyer that was perfect for their uses.  They applied for, and was recently granted ownership, of the the USS Edson.

After all of the legal work was completed, a pair of tugboats tied on to her in Philadelphia, and towed this good ship to her new home in Bay City.  About a week ago, to much excitement, she arrived at her temporary mooring site.  She will stay there for a few weeks while her permanent home is made ready.

A view looking down the ship from the bow.

The forward gun, in front of the bridge.

The bridge.

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable in these ships could tell me what some of these things are (hint hint Uncle Steace).  For example, are these torpedo launchers?

And these?

Rear Gun.

Perhaps the prettiest sight of all.

So, to the USS Edson, I join the rest of our community in saying welcome to your new home.

Vacation Critters, pt 2–Feeling Buggy

Last time I featured the cute and cuddly, the fun and feathery, and the slippery and slithery.  This time, here are a couple of shots of the buggy critters I encountered on my recent vacation.

Just a quickie this time.  I will be stepping away from my usual nature/wildlife theme with my next post.  I don’t want to give away too much right now.  I will just say…

“Anchors aweigh, my boys……Anchors aweigh…….”

Vacation Critters

I just finished up a week of rest and relaxation on the water.  Between bouts of sitting and watching the lake, and sitting and reading, I took a lot of pictures.  Small furry, feathered, and not so furry nor feathered, critters made up a good part of my subjects.  Here are a few:

First, the furry….

As I passed a patch of wildflowers, I say this little bunny hiding in the grass.  As bunnies are apt to do, he froze, and let me get quite close before he bolted.

I am not sure, but I think, maybe, the large number of oak trees, and therefore acorns, may have something to do with the large number of squirrels around there.

And now for the feathered…..

What would a trip to the cottage be without a shot of the loons.

This cute little bathing beauty is a Savannah Sparrow.  Exciting for me, as I have never seen one before.

And last, but not least, the un-furry and un-feathered…

The frog population at the lake skyrocketed this year.  I have never seen so many frogs!  Here are just a couple.

And now for my favorite of the whole week.  One evening, as I sat reading, my wife Wendy called me down to the fire pit by the lake.  She had spotted a sneaky garter snake.  He pretended to be shy, but actually seemed to enjoy posing for me.

Thanks for stopping.  I am saving the insects for later, not to mention some wonderful sunsets and landscapes.  Stay tuned, there is a lot more to come!