My son was made in Taiwan when I was stationed there! Bp

When I shot Marlins baseball games I used to change my seat 13 rows behind home plate to get away from the netting. Bp

All granddaughters are very special. I gave my old Nikon D200 and an 18-55 zoom to mine a few months ago to replace the old film Minolta her school gave her. She is a photographer for the yearbook. She was very excited to go digital and uses it quite frequently now. She turns 18 in five days. Bp

Add my voice to those reporting an excellent experience with MPB. Bp

[quote=SteveR]We had a different experience with Troy Aikman....


That's a very heart-warming story. Thank you for sharing. It just goes to show that not all sports legends are jerks. Many are decent, caring human beings. Bp

Back in the 90's I lived in south Florida and had seats on the glass at the Florida Panthers hockey games. One night I saw Dan Marino sitting in the section behind the goal in the seats belonging to Wayne Huizenga, the owner of the Panthers, Marlins and Dolphins at the time. He was leaning back, with his feet up on the seat in front of him. He was the only person in the entire section of six or seven rows, aisle to aisle. In each aisle there was a security guard to keep people away from Marino. During the intermissions between periods I watched as several young kids, most less than eight years old I'm sure, tried to get an autograph of Marino, but the security guards would not let them near him, so they called to him from the aisle. He didn't acknowledge them or even look at them, he just stared straight ahead at the empty ice. Like you said, he might have been a great quarterback, but I would not want him for a friend.

During that time period, I had access to the field at all Dolphin home games. For my own personal use I shot an average of 300 images from the sidelines at each game with my Nikon F4. I also had access to the Dolphins training facility in Davie. Although I couldn't approach the players at the stadium before the games because they were "psyching up" for the battle to come (one player actually growled at me the only time I tried), I had no problem interacting with them at the practice field. Marino was unapproachable there also, I think he deemed it below him to acknowledge me. But I'll never forget Brian Cox, a linebacker (I think) and his genuine down-to-earth attitude and friendliness. He used his own money to establish a foundation for underprivileged African-American kids, a fact which was not widely known. In my opinion, he was the exact opposite of Marino and an excellent role model. Bp

Great shots, and very sharp! Bp

I didn't know that. All I can say is that it was an incredible aircraft! Thanks for the comment. Bp

About 25 years ago, when I lived in South Florida, a friend introduced me to a fellow who was part of a group which had restored a B-25, everything except the intercom. They named it "Chapter 11" (from the U.S. Bankruptcy Code) because it cost so much to do the restoration. They found the plane, which was manufactured in 1944 and used as the camera ship to film the "Battle of Britain" starring Ronald Reagan, trashed in a farm field in England. They shipped it to Executive Airport (general aviation) in Ft. Lauderdale and started scouring the planet (literally) for parts. They kept it in a large hangar at the airport, but the hangar was still too small to hold the whole aircraft, so they removed about five feet from each wingtip. They were able to easily reattach the wingtips back when they wanted to fly the aircraft, taking only about ten minutes and lots of screws to do it.

One Veteran's Day I was offered a ride in the airplane from Executive Airport down to Homestead Air Force base south of Miami. The plane was to be parked on the apron alongside the newest jet fighters of the day, for public viewing. On the way down, I sat in a waist gunner's position in front of the bomb bay and had an unobstructed view of the ground. After we took off and were a mile or so from the beach, a commercial Albatross amphibian airplane flew alongside of us for a short while, slightly lower than us. I could clearly see the pilot, who I'm sure was younger than the B-25, pointing to us in amazement!

The flight down was uneventful, and we landed at Homestead and taxied to our assigned position. The two pilots and I stood by as the crowd around the B-25 grew larger and larger. Our crowd dwarfed the crowds around the jet fighters! I still remember the WWII B-25 pilots who came up and kissed the front tire of our airplane, telling us how their B-25s saved their lives during the war. Although the public was prohibited from entering, the veteran pilots were allowed to board the plane and sit in the pilot's seat. Some of them had tears in their eyes when they came out.

After the show, we headed back north to Ft. Lauderdale. This time I sat in the tail gunner's position, on a form-fitting perforated steel seat that looked like it was taken off a tractor. From there, I had a more than 180 degree view of the world going by, but no intercom to communicate with the cockpit crew.

A few miles off Miami Beach, there was an area of shallow water, maybe six to ten feet deep (I scuba dived there several times), which had two rows of stilt homes built about twenty feet above the water, one on each side of a channel, which was maybe 75 to 100 feet wide. There was probably a total of less than twenty structures. These mostly summer homes were built long before, maybe in the fifties(?), when the State leased the sites to private individuals, on long-term leases, for this purpose. The only way to get to these homes was by boat.

Picture this: there I was, sitting in the tail, looking back and seeing the sights go by, sort of like watching in a rear-view mirror. We were probably at 500 feet or so over the ocean, when I noticed that we were slowly descending. As we got lower and lower, I began to panic. With no intercom, I couldn't determine what was happening. The engines were screaming as we almost touched the water. Remember, this aircraft was built in 1944! As we flew through the channel, I saw the stilt homes go by very very fast, and they were higher than I was! As we reached the end of the channel, the aircraft suddenly went completely vertical, standing on it's tail, engines still screaming, and I was staring straight down at the ocean! We climbed straight up for a few hundred feet, then the pilot leveled off and we flew back to Ft. Lauderdale. Panic does not adequately describe my feeling during those moments.

When we landed at Executive Airport I asked the pilot what the hell he was doing out there? He smiled, and said he was just having some fun!

Since then I have harbored the greatest respect for the B-25 Mitchell bomber. But I don't think I would like to do that ride again! Bp

I've seen many roadrunners around here, but I've never seen one stand still long enough to take a photo! Your shots are amazing! Bp

Oy! Bp

I think they spotted a bird on one of our feeders! Bp

Beautiful dog! Thank you for your work as a rescue volunteer. We've had several rescue dogs; they were all wonderful! We currently have two rescue dogs, an Anatolian Shepherd named Odin who weighs 150 pounds, and a black Lab mix named Jake who weighs about 100 pounds. We wouldn't part with them for the world! Bp

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Absolutely the best humor on the Hog in a long time! Bp

I still have a five gallon water bottle filled with coins. It's been more than 20 years since I started the collection, putting all the coins from my pocket in it at the end of each day. Now it weighs more than 200 pounds! I have no idea how much money is in it, nor do I know how to get the coins out the narrow neck of the bottle. I will not break the bottle to get the coins. My plan is to leave it to my grandchildren. Let them figure it out! Bp