Well, I don’t have to tell anyone around here what a great (read easy) winter we’ve had so far. I’m passing on some of our January pictures for life on the River.
By far, our highlight was a new friendly hawk who perched himself right outside my window and let me catch him resting after a fishing expedition
For the last day of the year the River continued to enjoy her warmth. Quiet except for the birds singing and the geese squawking. A final barge made her way up River in the morning and by the end of the day, Fred capped a perfect end to the year by showing his hibernating pose atop the harbor pier.
Thank you for tuning in on TOTAR these past two years, My goal when I began was to share the beauty and joy that the River brings to me and I am really proud of this blog and hope that you have gained some of the pleasure that the River has to offer every day.
I received my Blog stats from Word Press this afternoon
It has been a joy to watch the River and to share a bit of her blessing with you. I expect that I will post irregularly to TOTAR based on the River’s bringing me her unique and inspiring activities.
Richard
As the year draws to an end and this blog moves to a more irregular status (Some Days on the Allegheny River), its amazing just how calm and easy-going the River is today. She continues to be high, at least in our neighborhood, and the action has slowed to a goose pace. The geese were just lazing around this morning and gathered around this pair before heading off to feeding grounds nearby. The Consol Barge moved slowly up River with her load of coal for the New Ken power plant. And while I did not see any people on the River, one of our readers saw a bunch of kayaks on shore looking like folks were enjoying the warm December days. Enjoy yours!
The winter solstice has come and gone and we’ve hardly seen a winter day. The River is as high as it is in April so spring can’t be too far away. Last year the River was already beginning to freeze over and a lunar eclipse filled the night sky.
The barges continue to come up and down past our place and their repercussions reminded me of summer days… look and listen
Stayed home this weekend and enjoyed long walks along the bloated River as we watched the last few leaves of Fall drop to the ground. The River is high and fast due to flooding in other parts of town and we usually don’t see it this high this late. With the leaves all gone, the River is open for viewing and whether it is the ducks floating by or a barge steaming along, everything is fully visible.
This is the tradeoff for the Winter months. We lost the warmth but pick up the view.
Hope your holiday was filled with love and thanks
The weather was beautiful this weekend and the River took full advantage of it. Calm and fun as people filled up the River with Fall life. The trees are coming to the end of their season and are dropping their leaves in and around the River.
The sailboat was out again testing the wind while kayakers traipsed up, down and all around
A full weekend of fun!…oh yeah and an empty barge too!
Okay, so this blog is looking more like “Every Other Day Or So on the Allegheny River” or EODSAR rather than TOTAR.
But its oftentimes worth it when you have a couple of days like we’ve had. Fog, cool, followed by sun and sky. The River is calm like glass and reflects the changing season.
I was working on my annual “leaf falling video” this week and saw Bill fly into my frame and followed his journey across the harbor.
The River started off shrouded in fog in a way that a photo could not represent and in fact as I sat in a meeting on the 31st floor of the Regional Enterprise Tower (Formerly the Alcoa building), the fog hung around until 10 AM restricting views of the Point.
But by late day, it was a great fall day with the hills full of color and the River remarkably calm as it is most mornings but few afternoons. I could not help but video the Myra barge breaking up the River as she returned back down to her port of call.
Others must have been inspired by Majestic’s fall foliage trips as motor boaters and canoers were out this weekend. While it is still Autumn, the weather turned windy and cooler and with the River still high, the whitecaps on Saturday went from shore to shore.
Football Sunday and so lots of boats headed down to the game
Well at least it has seemed that way to me as I’ve been out of the home office all week and with the shorter days have just caught early mornings and some nighttime glimpses.
A beautiful sunrise this morning with the sun peeking through the broken fog produced an eery look to the sky and then as Gabby came steaming by, I thought I would capture all 1 and a half minutes of her haul. Now how much electricity does that coal produce?
BTW–Will be on vacation for a few days. Back next Tuesday!
