Chipmunks & Squirrels

Eastman's Oval

The major project for the past several weeks has been to thin down the chipmunk and squirrel population in the yard. As of now, we have trapped and transported 33 chipmunks and 17 squirrels. I can see a distinct reduction in rodent activity, but that doesn't seem to slow down the rate at which we capture them.

After trapping the rodents, we have taken them either to Luther Forrest (Cold Spring Road) or the other side of the golf course along Luther Road or Grace Moore Road. Hopefully that's far enough that they won't be able to find their way back.

Linda and I have also made plans for a few days in the Boston area next month. I'm looking forward to the trip - the last time I was there was for POE, and while we had planned to stay over for a day of fun, Linda had to cancel and I had to rush back to deal with family issues.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with the vampire (fasting blood work, part of my annual physical). And I have a date for my first cataract surgery, so the physical will also serve as part of the prescreening for the operation.

The last couple of days have been very hot. So this morning I decided to hang out in the darkroom where it's nice and cool. Today was silver printing, and I have a few prints to show for the effort. One of them will be my entry for Saratoga - Inside/Out this year, if I decide to enter. The problem is that the show closes the weekend that I have to travel to New Orleans in September, so I have to make some kind of arrangement for pickup.

This print is from our trip to the Finger Lakes last summer. It was a 35mm negative I did at the George Eastman house - I haven't decided if I will try to make a silver print, but I did make an enlarged (digital) negative and a Pt/Pd print. I can't say it's a favorite, but it's still nice.