Team USA

[Gomig-21]

Keep in mind the falls have moved at least a few hundred feet since the border was drawn. So it may be creeping more to the Canadian side.

Rate of Erosion of Niagara Falls

Wow, didn't realize there was that much erosion happening to the falls like that, but it makes sense. Nothing beats the heck out of rocks and earth than hard hitting water. It's only a matter of time. Interesting that most of the heavy pounding happened during the 1800's.

The other thing to consider is the massive change of temperatures this place endures with not only climate change, but just the repetitiveness of seasons. When it goes from the beautiful summer temperatures of that pic you posted to the brutal freezing winters of that famously cold area and turns the falls to this............!

I'm sure all that ice takes its toll and speeds up the erosion process as well.

@Nilgiri , you were talking about the Great Lakes in the other thread and it reminded me of this area here:
I was talking about the clarity of the water there, well this is Hiden Lake Trail in Montana. Talk about heavenly.

A few months ago I was driving along this lake in Welsely, MA, and I parked my truck and took a quick hike through the woods and along the little bit of shore...

...then was pleasantly surprised by the sight of an osprey that was circling for a few seconds and then dove into the water and pulled a fish out and just as fast as it plunged into the water, it carried its prize and took off. I was mesmerized by the rare action that I didn't have the time nor the werewithal to get my phone out and snap any pics! But I looked up some photos and this is almost exactly what that osprey looked like as it contorted itself to catch its prize.

Hey Ant, speaking of electric lawnmowers and sshtuff like that, check out our new toy. For tight areas and lush property that you can't really get into with even a small bobcat, a "walk-along" bobcat does the trick and then some! This thing is awesome and God forbid they EVER produce this thing in electric!

You just push it or pull it along just like a lawnmower. Made short work of this 5 tons of granite boulders, rocks and debris! 1-1/2 hours, 2 men and 5 tons were gone just like that. Electric shmelectric!

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Wow, didn't realize there was that much erosion happening to the falls like that, but it makes sense. Nothing beats the heck out of rocks and earth than hard hitting water. It's only a matter of time. Interesting that most of the heavy pounding happened during the 1800's.

The other thing to consider is the massive change of temperatures this place endures with not only climate change, but just the repetitiveness of seasons. When it goes from the beautiful summer temperatures of that pic you posted to the brutal freezing winters of that famously cold area and turns the falls to this............!

I'm sure all that ice takes its toll and speeds up the erosion process as well.

@Nilgiri , you were talking about the Great Lakes in the other thread and it reminded me of this area here:
I was talking about the clarity of the water there, well this is Hiden Lake Trail in Montana. Talk about heavenly.

A few months ago I was driving along this lake in Welsely, MA, and I parked my truck and took a quick hike through the woods and along the little bit of shore...

View attachment 478220 View attachment 478221

...then was pleasantly surprised by the sight of an osprey that was circling for a few seconds and then dove into the water and pulled a fish out and just as fast as it plunged into the water, it carried its prize and took off. I was mesmerized by the rare action that I didn't have the time nor the werewithal to get my phone out and snap any pics! But I looked up some photos and this is almost exactly what that osprey looked like as it contorted itself to catch its prize.

Hey Ant, speaking of electric lawnmowers and sshtuff like that, check out our new toy. For tight areas and lush property that you can't really get into with even a small bobcat, a "walk-along" bobcat does the trick and then some! This thing is awesome and God forbid they EVER produce this thing in electric!

View attachment 478222

You just push it or pull it along just like a lawnmower. Made short work of this 5 tons of granite boulders, rocks and debris! 1-1/2 hours, 2 men and 5 tons were gone just like that. Electric shmelectric!

View attachment 478223

Well I wouldn't get too excited about super clear water. It sometimes means everything is dead due to acid rain.

Cool machine...hmmmm
Hey I have a stack of big rocks about 10x2.5x2 feet against my shed from digging out my garden (cue SNL Patriots skit:"we got the most rocks in the soil")

What are my options?

 

[Gomig-21]

Well I wouldn't get too excited about super clear water. It sometimes means everything is dead due to acid rain.

Stop raining on my parade, will ya! Sheeesh.

Cool machine...hmmmm
Hey I have a stack of big rocks about 10x2.5x2 feet against my shed from digging out my garden (cue SNL Patriots skit:"we got the most rocks in the soil")

What are my options?

What do you mean, how to get rid of them or what can you do with them, as in something useful?

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

What do you mean, how to get rid of them or what can you do with them, as in something useful?

Options as to how to get rid of them. I actually have a perimeter of small stones around my foundation. The pile only has the leftover BIG rocks. I'd like to dispose of them somehow.

 

[Gomig-21]

Options as to how to get rid of them. I actually have a perimeter of small stones around my foundation. The pile only has the leftover BIG rocks. I'd like to dispose of them somehow.

Couple of options but neither are cheap TBH. 1) call a dumpster co. and have them drop off a 10 yard (dirt & rock only you have to specify that) and you can't put regular construction debris in it like the usual dumpsters. They'll come out, drop off a container for you (anywhere from $450 - $800 depending on their policy) and you can keep it on your property for up to a week or whatever they allow and fill it at your convenience. 2) Call an excavator or landscape co. that has debris removal service and they'll come out with a truck and a couple guys with wheel barrows and get rid of it for you, probably around $800.

3rd option is to load it up and drop it off at a friend's backyard in the middle of the night!

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

3rd option is to load it up and drop it off at a friend's backyard in the middle of the night!

$800...hmm...I'll be heading to the North Shore tonight...wear earplugs so I don't wake you. I'll toss some rabbits in too! There have a nest in the pile.

 

[Gomig-21]

$800...hmm...I'll be heading to the North Shore tonight...wear earplugs so I don't wake you. I'll toss some rabbits in too! There have a nest in the pile.

loool. I didn't mean this kid's back yard!

 

[Nilgiri]

Wow, didn't realize there was that much erosion happening to the falls like that, but it makes sense. Nothing beats the heck out of rocks and earth than hard hitting water. It's only a matter of time. Interesting that most of the heavy pounding happened during the 1800's.

Yeah basically waterfalls are formed when a hard rock layer exists on top of a softer one. Thus the lower layer gets eroded much more easily creating overhang which needs gravity to act upon it to break away like a cantilever. Over time this creates the waterfall to move backwards. The scale of the waterfall simply depends on the depth/height of the soft rock underneath....and the hard rock layer resistance....this can also vary as the waterfall retreats with time....leading to the speed/characteristics changing like you noticed (heavy pounding during 1800)...but also of course there is seasonal influences from the average flow rates and natural processes (earthquakes etc) etc etc.

I was talking about the clarity of the water there, well this is Hiden Lake Trail in Montana. Talk about heavenly.

The force is strong with this one

...then was pleasantly surprised by the sight of an osprey that was circling for a few seconds and then dove into the water and pulled a fish out and just as fast as it plunged into the water, it carried its prize and took off. I was mesmerized by the rare action that I didn't have the time nor the werewithal to get my phone out and snap any pics! But I looked up some photos and this is almost exactly what that osprey looked like as it contorted itself to catch its prize.

They are truly one of the greatest most amazing creatures in existence . A sheer joy to watch in action like you said...many animals/birds are jack of all trades....but the osprey defines the specialist in animal kingdom for me hehe.

Hey Ant, speaking of electric lawnmowers and sshtuff like that, check out our new toy. For tight areas and lush property that you can't really get into with even a small bobcat, a "walk-along" bobcat does the trick and then some! This thing is awesome and God forbid they EVER produce this thing in electric!

They need to go pro based radio control on that thing. That would be lots of fun right there.

 

[Gomig-21]

They are truly one of the greatest most amazing creatures in existence . A sheer joy to watch in action like you said...many animals/birds are jack of all trades....but the osprey defines the specialist in animal kingdom for me hehe.

Indeed. Originally the ornithologists who were classifying all known species of birds into categories were a bit perplexed with this one. They obviously realized it was a raptor but they didn't know if they should place it with the "fish-eating" eagles such as the venerable bald eagle, the stellar's sea eagle etc. since it's diet is strictly fish. But even the sea eagles don't eat fish only and so they figured the osprey was such a specialist that it might need it's own category. They couldn't classify it under any type of hawk/buteo or buzzard either and it's certainly not a falcon or owl or vulture. So they ended up temporarily classifying it as part of the eagle family but that didn't last long until they gave it its own category and it sits there with no other bird. Its inside toe is also designed with the flexibility to either go forward or backward, sort of having the option of being like an owl with two toes forward and two facing rearward or it can go the conventional way that most raptors are built with three toes forward and the halux facing backward. Indeed a magnificent bird.

Going back to The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and that line with Chippewa in it I was telling you about that your posting of that song reminded me of one of the coolest stories in American history.

In 1861, this guy who was an Indian chief of the Wisconsin tribe at South Fork of the Flambeau River.
Ahgamahwegezhig (Chief Sky)

He saw a tree with a big bald eagle nest with 2 chicks in it and back in the day, they could cut trees down without any problems and so he did. One eagle died from the fall and he took the other. Then he canoed up the Chippewa river (this is all in Chippewa country, Wisconsin) all the way up to an area called Jim Falls which was a big trading area. The Indian chief ended up trading the eaglet to a tavern owner (Daniel McCann) for a bushel of corn.

The eaglet grew pretty fast and was becoming a terror and the McCann family had a tough time dealing with it as a pet. So one night, a bunch of Union soldiers came into the tavern and saw the eagle. Next thing you know, McCann is offering to sell the eagle to the soldiers for $2:50. The soldiers were from a company that was called the "Eau Claire Badgers". They drew a hat and took .25c contributions until they came up with the $2:50 and bought the eagle from McCann.

They took the eagle back to the camp figuring they could make it their mascot (even though they were badgers.) The next morning, the company sergeant saw the bird and said "we'll call him Old Abe" after the great Abraham Lincoln of course.

In late 1861, these eagle-bearing Badgers got on a steam ship trip down the Chippewa river to the Mississippi and up the Wisconsin River to Madicson, Wisconsin where they arrived to be attached as Company C to the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Next thing you know, they're building him a special emblem perch and designating a special "eagle bearer" who would hold him on that perch and he would be part of the colors (flags).

Old Abe and the color guard at Vicksburg, July 1863:
Ed Homaston (far left holding perch), Sgt Ambrose Armitage (third from left)

They would march into battle against the confederates who started noticing this bald eagle was riding in with them and they also figured that these guys were getting attached to this bird since they heard all about its name etc. So they started aiming at the eagle thinking if they killed it, it would ruin the moral of this Wisconsin 8th volunteer regiment. He survived several attempts at his life until the lieutenant decided to put the color regiment in the back of the line, further away from the line of fire because they didn't want this eagle they came to love to get anywhere near a flying slug.

He ended up being involved in something like 38 different battles and skirmishes and survived every single one. He was eventually decorated as a hero and became just that. After the war, he would be paraded through the streets of Madison and people would line up to see him and wave to him. There were legends made of him that he would soar over the battlefield and warn his soldiers of attackers coming from the flanks and he would dodge bullets and cannon fire coming at him and extraordinary stories like that were made of him. He was a true hero with a great name.

They even said he had such a great personality that he would know when it was time to have his picture taken that he would pose for it.

Old Abe was the inspiration behind the famous 101st Screaming Eagles airborne patch.

The Chippewa line in that song reminded me of this story and wasn't sure if you had heard of this before or not. Definitely one of the cooler aspects of that nasty period of US history.

 

[Nilgiri]

Indeed. Originally the ornithologists who were classifying all known species of birds into categories were a bit perplexed with this one. They obviously realized it was a raptor but they didn't know if they should place it with the "fish-eating" eagles such as the venerable bald eagle, the stellar's sea eagle etc. since it's diet is strictly fish. But even the sea eagles don't eat fish only and so they figured the osprey was such a specialist that it might need it's own category. They couldn't classify it under any type of hawk/buteo or buzzard either and it's certainly not a falcon or owl or vulture. So they ended up temporarily classifying it as part of the eagle family but that didn't last long until they gave it its own category and it sits there with no other bird. Its inside toe is also designed with the flexibility to either go forward or backward, sort of having the option of being like an owl with two toes forward and two facing rearward or it can go the conventional way that most raptors are built with three toes forward and the halux facing backward. Indeed a magnificent bird.

Going back to The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and that line with Chippewa in it I was telling you about that your posting of that song reminded me of one of the coolest stories in American history.

In 1861, this guy who was an Indian chief of the Wisconsin tribe at South Fork of the Flambeau River.
Ahgamahwegezhig (Chief Sky)

He saw a tree with a big bald eagle nest with 2 chicks in it and back in the day, they could cut trees down without any problems and so he did. One eagle died from the fall and he took the other. Then he canoed up the Chippewa river (this is all in Chippewa country, Wisconsin) all the way up to an area called Jim Falls which was a big trading area. The Indian chief ended up trading the eaglet to a tavern owner (Daniel McCann) for a bushel of corn.

The eaglet grew pretty fast and was becoming a terror and the McCann family had a tough time dealing with it as a pet. So one night, a bunch of Union soldiers came into the tavern and saw the eagle. Next thing you know, McCann is offering to sell the eagle to the soldiers for $2:50. The soldiers were from a company that was called the "Eau Claire Badgers". They drew a hat and took .25c contributions until they came up with the $2:50 and bought the eagle from McCann.

They took the eagle back to the camp figuring they could make it their mascot (even though they were badgers.) The next morning, the company sergeant saw the bird and said "we'll call him Old Abe" after the great Abraham Lincoln of course.

In late 1861, these eagle-bearing Badgers got on a steam ship trip down the Chippewa river to the Mississippi and up the Wisconsin River to Madicson, Wisconsin where they arrived to be attached as Company C to the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Next thing you know, they're building him a special emblem perch and designating a special "eagle bearer" who would hold him on that perch and he would be part of the colors (flags).

Old Abe and the color guard at Vicksburg, July 1863:
Ed Homaston (far left holding perch), Sgt Ambrose Armitage (third from left)

They would march into battle against the confederates who started noticing this bald eagle was riding in with them and they also figured that these guys were getting attached to this bird since they heard all about its name etc. So they started aiming at the eagle thinking if they killed it, it would ruin the moral of this Wisconsin 8th volunteer regiment. He survived several attempts at his life until the lieutenant decided to put the color regiment in the back of the line, further away from the line of fire because they didn't want this eagle they came to love to get anywhere near a flying slug.

He ended up being involved in something like 38 different battles and skirmishes and survived every single one. He was eventually decorated as a hero and became just that. After the war, he would be paraded through the streets of Madison and people would line up to see him and wave to him. There were legends made of him that he would soar over the battlefield and warn his soldiers of attackers coming from the flanks and he would dodge bullets and cannon fire coming at him and extraordinary stories like that were made of him. He was a true hero with a great name.

They even said he had such a great personality that he would know when it was time to have his picture taken that he would pose for it.

Old Abe was the inspiration behind the famous 101st Screaming Eagles airborne patch.

The Chippewa line in that song reminded me of this story and wasn't sure if you had heard of this before or not. Definitely one of the cooler aspects of that nasty period of US history.

That's a fascinating story indeed! Now I have some more trivia regarding the 101st that I didn't know heh.

Thanks bud!

 

[Gomig-21]

That's a fascinating story indeed! Now I have some more trivia regarding the 101st that I didn't know heh.

Thanks bud!

It's definitely a great story also because of it's obscurity in the history of the civil war, but becomes pretty relevent when it ties to the origin of the 101st airborne division patch.

Statue of Liberty cutting through the clouds.

 

[KAL-EL]

It's definitely a great story also because of it's obscurity in the history of the civil war, but becomes pretty relevent when it ties to the origin of the 101st airborne division patch.

Statue of Liberty cutting through the clouds.

I really like that pic

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

@Gomig-21

Look what WholePaycheck is offering (seems to include everybody within 495) I can see how driverless cars will eventually end up doing this:

Amazon announces free delivery from Whole Foods in under two hours to Greater Boston area

https://www.masslive.com/news/boston/index.ssf/2018/06/in_boston_amazon_offers_free_2.html

Those who live in the Boston area, subscribe to Amazon Prime and purchase from Whole Foods are in luck.

Amazon announced on Tuesday that Prime members in select metros, including Boston, can now receive free, two-hour deliveries on select purchases over $35. The Seattle tech giant bought Whole Foods last year, and said it would use its technology to rethink grocery shopping.

In 14 cities -- now expanded to include Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia and Richmond -- Prime members can now utilize "Ultrafast delivery." The service is offered beyond just Boston, including areas north and south of the city, from Lynn to Brockton.

Here's how it works: customers can check if their zip code is in range and shop through "Prime Now" for bestselling items and orders over $35. Bestsellers include thousands of items, including "fresh produce, high-quality meat and seafood, everyday staples and other locally sourced items from Whole Foods Market," Amazon said in a statement.

The Amazon-Whole Foods two-hour delivery service is free in Boston, or $7.99 for one-hour delivery. The service is offered daily from 8 a.m. through 10 p.m.

 

[Gomig-21]

Look what WholePaycheck is offering

Is that another name for Wholefoods? Or is that like a joke cause it'll cost your whole paycheck to buy groceries there? lol.

$35 limit on a delivery? You gotta be kidding me! I can't remember the last time I spent 3 times that at Stop & Shop!? We never get outta there under $300 and it's just 3 of us most of the time just 2 people! That delivery service will be overwhelmed in no time at all.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

..is that like a joke cause it'll cost your whole paycheck to buy groceries there? lol.

Yep! https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whole paycheck

$35 limit on a delivery? You gotta be kidding me! I can't remember the last time I spent 3 times that at Stop & Shop!? We never get outta there under $300 and it's just 3 of us most of the time just 2 people! That delivery service will be overwhelmed in no time at all.

Yeah I bet only 5% of their sales transactions are under $35. Skip Stop&Shop and go to MarketBasket.

I think it's going to be an interesting roll-out once everybody hears about it.