NO STUPID RULES - I loved this sign on a bank in Harrisburg. Too bad it isn't a few blocks west on the State Capitol.

 

Boathouses on the lft bank of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The river is flat and relatively calm here above the Fairmount Dam.

 

Philadelphia skyline from I76 - if you look about one third the way from the right you will see the dome of City Hall topped by its statue of William Penn. Until fairly recent times, no construction was allowed higher than "Billy" Penn's hat. You can imagine how different the city would appear if that restriction applied for more than a few blocks around City Hall.

 

Ships assisted by tugs moving up the Delaware River at Philadelphia.

 

Tree trimming in NJ can't possibly get more complicated than this - three men in boom lifts and the state police to make sure all traffic comes to a complete halt.

  Osprey - Pandion haliaetus - sseen on one of our trips to New Jersey.

  Laughing Gulls - Larus atricilla - were much in evidence on our trips to NJ this summer.

  Aerial lifts were a major category of the industrial equipment offered for sale at the annual summer contractor sale at the Atlantic City race track. All we came home with was a trench compactor and Sharp color copier. A good thing, too. It was a struggle to get them both into the bed of the pickup and we hadn't brought a trailer as we did to another sale in Jersey two days earlier.

 

Skyline of downtown Philadelphia from eastbound I-76.

  Solar-powered traffic cam records the frustration of rush hour travelers on the Schuylkill Expressway as the portable speed monitoring system notes the crawling pace of passing cars. The highway. part of I-76 skirting the south side of Philadelphia, is nicknamed the Sure-kill Deathway by the locals.

  John Wayne fans will appreciate the name of this tavern on Pa. Rt, 10 in Reading. "Trooper Thorn" was the nom de guerre of his character Sean Thornton as a prize fighter in my favorite of his films - The Quiet Man. Filmed on location in the Emerald Isle, directed by John Ford, co-starring Maureen O'Hara and featuring such Ford repertory stalwarts as Victor McLaglen and Ward Bond and with a delighful supporting cast including Barry Fizgerald, Mldred Natwick and Francis Ford, The Quiet Man is a nearly perfect film.

 

Skyline of Philadelphia rises in the distance beyond the old industrial whoreline of the Schuylkill River.

 

Construction underway in Philadelphia for a new bridge over the Schuylkill River; some of the downtown skyscrapers can be seen in the background on the left.

  Canada Geese - Branta canadensis - lead their young on a swim. This was taken on June 20, but a crash of my main computer and procrastination in dealing with the mess has led to a two month backlog in postings here.

  Variety is one of the great attractions of visiting the pond behind Tilden Industrial Park. Here we see a Great Blue Heron- Ardea herodias - with some male Wood Ducks - Aix sponsa - and a Painted Turtle - Chrysemys picta - all within a few feet of one another.

  Eastern Kingbird - Tyrannus tyrannus - despite its feasome name is one of the smaller of the arge flycatchers. This was one sighted by a small stream in Lancaster County on a rainy day and is the only one I have seen although they are quite widespread.

  35-ton lowboy trailer - I bought this so that somesay we could transport my D6 dozer - being moved to a neighbor's hours for painting. I'll post a new photo of this rig when we get the new deck, lights and decals on it.