The Wanaka museum plane must be a scale model as the real PBY has a wing span around 130 feet. Either that, or those New Zealanders ride some pretty honkin' big bikes!

Just for fun, watch Donald Sutherland in "Steelyard Blues'. A PBY plays a major role in it.

I heard the same thing..'Potomac'. By the way, the curator said 40 rounds, not 400 before the gun starting losing power.

I can certainly see why you would think our president is an 'A-hole' if you thought that Bush was a great leader. Maybe Sarah Palin will run in the next election and you can vote for her and restore the country. By the way, should you be interested, Forbes magazine's review of Obama's contributions may give you reason to reexamine your vitriol.

$200,000 to $300,000 is probably close. If you'll go in with me, for say 75%, I think we'd have a deal. You could drive it sometimes, too!

I'm glad that you all like them.

Thank you for your positive response. I spent two weeks in Oregon this summer. Great place to be with a camera.

More photos of 'abandoned' '36 Packard. The owner walked away and left it to languish near the road to his property. I'm tempted to say that this guy is at the least a bit odd. But isn't that the fun of it?

1936 Packard


side view


the discovery

At the end of last winter, a heavy snow had fallen which blanketed everything in pure white. I chanced upon this scene of rabbit tracks just off the dirt road that I frequently walk.

winter tracks of rabbit


old camp driveway barrier adding a little color

I found this old 1936 Packard in the woods on a dirt road near Lake Champlain,Vermont. It appears to have been there for decades. The metal, where there was any, was often paper thin. Still, the glory of the crisp, classic style that was embodied in their cars came through.

I stumbled on to this '36 Packard while walking near Lake Champlain, VT

A reply to all of you....still trying to figure this reply bit out. Thanks for your welcoming responses.
I was at my son's for Xmas and taking interior shots, especially at night, have given him and me many lousy results.Too much towards the 'cool' end of the spectrum. With the Sigma twist and cant flash pointed towards me at about 80 degrees, assuming 90 degrees is straight up, I was able to get some, not all, decent results. I played around with white balance a lot, but found that shifting the flash around to point back or up or slightly forward produced results that a forward pointing attached flash could not do.
Here's a question for you who have read this far: the Kelvin determination for 'hot and cool' is determined by the heating of some metal. Coolest resulting in orange-yellow whereas 'hot' is bluish white. Yet, I see professional photographers using hot and cool in a way which seems opposite to Kelvin. Any ideas?

Someone asked if I would post a photo. How do I do this? Your good advice desired!

I've been using a camera since I was a kid in the early 50's and with my own money earned from mowing lawns and such, bought a new Exakta SLR ,and a Zeiss 50mm and a 135mm zoom in 1956...big money in those days. I used it all through my four years in the Navy and into the 70's when I went to the Nikon FM. I just bought a very nice ,used Nikon D200. As someone pointed out, it is a computer with a lens. A bit daunting for my 74 year old brain, but I'm making some progress. Its got more bells and whistles than I could imagine! My old flash bit the dust [1980] so I bought a Sigma EF 610 which seems to work well. I like to photograph old cars, scenery and people when I have the chance. I have many older Nikon prime lenses to be used and an AF 18-200 zoom which does just about anything asked of it. I like being able to use a Polarizing filter again. My Nikon Coolpix 80 has no provision for filters or UV/ protection cover. Hope to hear back from some of you.