In doing some research, I discovered that the basic registration fee for registering a work with the US Copyright office went up. The current fee is $45.00 if anyone is interested (used to be $30.00). This is important because it means my offline writing project's completetion will be delayed longer than I originally expected, and a new target date hasn't been decided yet. Oh well, on to other things.
I've been thinking about sources of income lately, and trying to come up with a no overhead way to pull in even a trickle of funds to put aside. I've had such terrible luck with getting a regular job that I need to seek alternatives. I thought I had an idea where to begin, but now I'm not so sure if the risk is worth taking. I know the saying goes "nothing ventured nothing gained" but even at that, I'm just not feeling it with the passion I did only days ago. The ideas I have are all things that have no guarantee of success, and that's not a really comfortable position to be in for me right now. I need guarantees right now, not gambles.
Comments:
kout3uka
I think we have a winner! I was hoping someone out here in cyberspace would know, thanks for the info. I looked up some pictures of the blue heron and from the looks of those, I think that ID is correct. I didn't know we got those in West Virginia, so I'm surprised. I just wish I could have gotten a better picture of it.
I do have some photos of #19 already. It's got quite a story to it, but it's not for the faint of heart or the easily squeamish. Here is what I posted on Silver Run Tunnel (Tunnel #19) a few days ago, and it's got pictures with it, so have a good look at it when you can. I was out to that one earlier this summer, it was my first Rail Trail tunnel experience, not necessarily the best one because tunnel #19 is 1,376 feet long. But for perspective, it's the third longest on the trail, I haven't been to Eaton tunnel (Tunnel #21) at 1,840 feet long it's the second longest on the trail, or Tunnel #6, which at 2,297 feet long is the longest on the trail. Those are trips for another day as neither is really within easy access distance from where I live.
Your compliment means a lot to me, but you'd know why I say that if you knew the trouble that Fuji digital camera put me through. Thank you for the compliment.
Yensid:
Yeah, I'm not exactly sure when it was officially opened to the public, but it hasn't been that long, only a couple years, and they're still working on a lot of it. Actually it's a hiking, biking, and equestrian trail. What makes it so nice is that it's on an old railroad bed, that means no sharp turns, and no steep grades (the steepest is an over pass in Ellenboro, I rode that part on Bike once).
I've heard of Donner Summit, and know that story too well for my own liking. I saw something on National Geographic or Discovery Channel about a train that got stuck out that way in the snow in the 70's I think it was. No, North Bend Rail Trail is safe to hike. Don't let the warning sign I posted last time fool you, they have that sign up at several of the bridges near Walker as well as near the tunnels, so it's just something they put up as a precaution. The State Park and Rail Trail Foundation does everything they can to prevent anything disasterous from happening, they're restoring tunnel #12, and you can see from my pictures the job that was done on Tunnel #13 too (the part of the tunnel ceiling that looks white is actually formed concrete tiles that were put in where the brick used to be). There are some tunnels that are "off limits" on the trail, and they've actually bypassed them so you don't even know you missed them as you hike, unless you check the map like I did. Water damage to those tunnels make them impassable right now, but I've been told by someone in the Rail Trail Foundation's Cairo office that they are being restored for use, only time will tell.
I look at grafitti as part of the experience, since much of it goes back to the days when trains ran out that way and kids walked the tracks looking for thrills.
Okay, I'm working on that PM, but I have to choose my wording carefully so there's no room for misundertanding. I've dug myself into deep holes with careless statements a lot lately so I want to make sure I say everything the one and oly way it can be said correctly.
I think most people are still afraid to talk about where they live. I can understand younger people wanting to be cautious with good reason (what with internet predators and all), but I'm an adult so I don't need to be that cautious. Having lived here in West Virginia for sixteen years now, I can tell you that it is a beautiful place to look at. To me, it's interesting to know about places that you're not going to see featured on TV, or in the papers. It's those little out of the way places that have the most interesting stories for me, and I like to share them with others. I live in a kind of small town called Parkersburg, and it's got some interesting stories about it too. Maybe I'll tell you about the Blennerhassett family in the future.
Magnus Lensherr
That's quite all right, when I was taking the picture, I wasn't exactly sure I was shooting a bird either. My mom spotted it first, and because of the blue-gray color on the feathers, and where it was standing, thought it was the end of a weathered log in the creek. To find it in the picture, look dead center at the photo, and you'll see a bluish gray blob, that's the bird's body. Don't let the tree branches or the spider web distract your eyes. I wish I'd have gotten a better shot of it, but it was gone before I could take too many pictures.
That would not be a safe way to view tunnels, although you have to admit it would make a great picture! (DO NOT ATTEMPT IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!) You might want to check with your State Parks Service and see if they've done something similar with abandoned railroad rights of way near where you live, I've heard rumors of something like that in Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but rumors aren't much to go on. Look for any kind of park, or State Forest, even a National forest would have interesting hiking trails with some unique things along them. I have a local wildlife refuge near me that I hike the trails in once in a while. Always hike with a map if you can get one of the trails. On the organization of the post, I basically rewalked the trail in my head as I was sorting the pictures to post, and those ones struck my eyes as the most interesting. The physical layout on the page though, that was kind of a fluke, though it turned out how I wanted it. I had the post up, but had to take it down because all the pictures were all over the page. After a little bit of tweaking, I managed to get them how I wanted them. Oh, I should I should mention that those thumbnails are clickable links, I just got rid of that annoying blue hyperlink border (A CSS trick I learned), so if you didn't click to see the larger images, you can go back and get a closer look at all of them.
I think natural splendor like that should be shared, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.
alphonse13:
Hocking Hills? Why does that name sound familiar to me? Is that close to West Virginia somewhere?
I've heard that the pictures turned out great from my family, even the ones that didn't focus properly (Have I mentioned yet that I hate auto focus features on digital cameras?) looked nice upon inspection. I think the gem of this collection has to be the bird photo. That was a completely unexpected moment to capture, so it's not the best shot, but it's a high one in my books. I love the spontaneous shots like that, they always seem to turn out great.
Well, I hope to have it up soon, but I can't promise anything yet, my sister still has the DVDs I need to make the captures from.
mysterious rei
Thank you for saying so, nice pictures are often the ones you least expect to be when taking them.
The Ritchie County section of the trail has the most tunnels on it. It has Tunnel #19(Silver Run Tunnel), #13, #12, #10 (Dick Bias Tunnel - no photos) #8 (have't been there yet) and Tunnel #7 (haven't been there yet either). Wood County has the second longest tunnel (Tunnel #21, Eaton Tunnel), but I haven't made it there yet either. Eventually I'd like to bike the full 71 miles of the trail, but that would be an ambitious undertaking requiring support from my family, and maybe someone willing to ride along with me. As I get other photos of features of the Rail Trail, I'll try to post them so you can see, especially the tunnels, since they're my favorite part of the trail.
