Sunday, February 28, 2016

Skies and More

A few "SkyWatch" photos ...

February 7, 2016, 5:18 PM

January 31, 2016, 7:29 AM
In the photo above a redish-orange sky greeted us on the morning of January 31. We had to look back to the eastern sky to catch this picture. Remember the old saying, "Red sky in morning, Sailor take warning." Yes, it turned out to be a stormy day!

January 29, 2016, 4:47 PM

February 9, 2016, 5:48 PM

February 9, 2016, 5:20 PM
Three photos below ... Stormy days when the sun cut through the clouds in late afternoon.

February 17, 2016, 4:52 PM

February 14, 2016, 5:02 PM

February 14, 2016, 5:02 PM

February 13, 2016, 7:17 AM
In the photo above the lighting on the clouds is unusual. It almost looks like a sunset, but we were looking to the west and these clouds were illuminated by the sun rising in the east.

February 24, 2016, 5:37 PM
The above photo is considerably underexposed due to pointing the camera right at the sun with the "auto" setting. At first we thought about brightening it up a bit, but the more we looked at it, the more we liked it the way it was.

February 20, 2016, 5:33 PM

February 21, 2016, 5:31 PM

February 21, 2016, 5:35 PM

February 24, 2016, 5:43 PM

February 22, 2016, 5:21 PM

February 22, 2016, 5:21 PM

February 25, 2016, 5:52 PM

February 25, 2016, 5:53 PM
All of the above images were taken from our location in Seattle, Washington. Most of them are looking westward over Puget Sound with the Olympic Mountains in the distance.

Maritime Update ...

On Sunday, February 28, we spotted the Cosco Kaohsiung pulling into Elliott Bay headed for the freight terminal. Below you can see, first of all, our photo of the Kaohsiung, and then, a screen capture from MarineTraffic.com with info about the ship's arrival in port and a professional photo. We found it interesting that the ETA was right on the money as it was about 15 minutes before 12:00 UTC ( or 4 PM, PST).  Looks like it took the Kaohsiung about 3 days to get up here from Long Beach, California. Notice the overall length of the ship is 348.5 meters. That is ALMOST enough for 4 football fields!

Cosco Kaohsiung entering Elliott Bay, Seattle, WA
Enroute Port of Seattle
February 28, 2106

Screen capture from MarineTraffic.com


A few images from the Port of Seattle website ...

How a big ship is "plugged in" to shore power.

Crane operator at work moving freight containers.

New "Post Panamax" cranes.
Post Panamax means designed to accomodate the bigger ships that
will soon be operating through the enlarged Panama Canal.
The three images above are from the official Port of Seattle website and are provided for free distribution. We reduced the sizes for faster loading but did not otherwise modify them.

From our collection ...

We don't like to let a post go by without including something from our collection. Here is an old pennant from Yellowstone National Park. Based on years of collecting this stuff, we believe it is from the 1920s. Real colored feathers are attached to the head dress. (For you first-time visitors, we collect memorabilia from Yellowstone National Park. Most of the collection is from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s.)

Yellowstone Park Pennant
from the 1920s

Friday, February 19, 2016

Riding Black Horses [1935]

From our collection, a Dining Car Menu from 1935 ...

Riding Black Horses -- Blackfeet Brave
The "Empire Builder" was the Great Northern Railroad's
premier transcontinental passenger train.

Signed by Winold Reiss
in the lower left of the artwork.

Full interior of the menu.
Be sure to click on image for larger view.

Full breakfast for less than a dollar.

Hot Breads and Pies are baked on this car daily.

Some Culinary Secrets and a place to send a Message
to a Friend


Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Steamboat on Lake Yellowstone [1913]

From our collection of old postcards ...

Fun in 1913 in Yellowstone National Park

Postmarked September 17, 1913
Yellowstone Park, Wyoming

Description on back of card.

Google Maps -- Yellowstone National Park
Have you seen the Lake in Yellowstone?
YNP is mostly in the Northwest corner of Wyoming


Monday, February 15, 2016

President's Day 2016

From our collection of old postcards to honor President's Day ...

President McKinley's home and where he died in 1901.
** 25th President of the United States **


From Wikipedia: William McKinley (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897, until his assassination in September 1901, six months into his second term. McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish–American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry, and maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of inflationary proposals.


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