Al's Blog-o-Sphere

… is half the battle. Finally, I’m getting to near where I want to be with my Ham Radio studio.

I found a picture of my old operating desk. This is a very early shot of it. For most of the recent time, it’s been sitting turned 90 degrees from what is shown. I guess I wanted to unblock the window! The equipment changed, but mostly, that is the desk I tore apart a month ago.

But it also was piled high with stuff. Unfinished projects, papers I needed to save, magazines I wanted to keep, computer stuff, tools, and on and on. You get the mental picture, even if I don’t have one.

Now that I think about it, this photo might just be pre-computer. It’s hard to think of Ham Radio without computers anymore. Continue Reading…

A Gazebo sits alone here. I don’t know if it ever gets used for anything, in fact, the whole area is usually pretty deserted.

I won’t keep you waiting to see where this is. It’s not really a mystery, anyway. Continue Reading…

A little memorial sits next to the Erie Canal. I walk by it frequently, in fact, technically, it’s on the same street I live on. Click on the photo for a bigger view.

It’s rained here in Lockport the past few days. Not as much as Buffalo and some of the suburbs got, but enough to make for a very noticeable change in the seasons. While we were enjoying sunshine and 70-80 degree temperatures only a week or two ago, now it’s in the 50’s and cloudy most of the day. Maybe it’s the clouds, or maybe it really is autumn, but the days sure seem shorter too.

Today was pretty much rain-free and I took the opportunity to do my walk to the Post Office and back. I wandered a bit, but not really any new territory. I did take along the Canon Rebel xti and took some photos that should be better than those I took with the cell phone.

I wanted to revisit a few of the photos I took in the last bunch. This is the other, actually the original, four-sided clock tower in Downtown Lockport. It used to be in front of the Marine Midland Bank office, but that now is used as a satellite campus to NCCC. Kiddie-corner to it was the Manufacturers and Traders Bank (M&T) which held the famous Raphael Beck mural. The building is still there, but I don’t know what it is used for.

This clock is quite old. In fact, I remember it being old when I was a kid and having to be repaired at one point. The insides were removed and the clock sat empty for quite a while while it was rebuilt. It sands at the corner Main and Pine Streets, not far from the canal locks.

Click on photo for larger view Continue Reading…