2011 Flood Perspectives

  
I said I was going to slow down...not go away.

Here's a pic of me kayaking the Susquehanna near Wysox, PA. It was taken from the top of the river's natural bank, which is a good ~20' or more above the river at "average" flow.

Here's a picture of "Bradford Bear", which is setback ~30 feet or more from the spot where the picture above was taken. You should be able to see the guardrail in the photo.

Below is a pic of Bradford Bear ( almost dead center ) taken on 9/8/2011. The water was still rising, and went up another 8" or so. The mailbox in the foreground/left was eventually covered.

All photos taken by DK Natt.

As of the date of this post, almost a month after the river crested, the Natt's are still without electricity.

  

12+ years and counting...

    

        

I'm pretty sure I started "blogging" not too long after I bought my first kayak, which was in 1997, and I know I used at least one now long defunct hosting website before switching to go.com in ~1999, which also stopped hosting "personal pages" sometime after ~2000 or so.
  
Even though the "Week 1" printout at the top of this blog definitely predates 10/3/1999, I use the October 3rd post as the "official" start date of my online river advocacy.

So...I've been circumnavigating cyberspace for 12+ years, which is longer than most. As true hardcore bloggers know, this "thing we do" can take up a lot of personal time, and that doesn't even take into account the behind-the-scenes stuff we do. And as most of my longtime visitors know...the vast majority of my prior posts weren't archived, so even though I am still paying to have the other site around, and can retrieve offline copies of almost every post spanning ~8 years or so, you can only view this one online right now. I'm glad Harold, Mark and Ben finally browbeat me into switching to blogger.com in early 2010. 
 

475 posts later...it's time for a break.

I've always been a goal-oriented person, and right now, this blogging thing is taking away from time that I really need to spend elsewhere to accomplish several personal goals that  - realistically - may be beyond my reach in a few years.
  
Anyway, effective today - on my "official" 12th anniversary of entering bloggerdom - I'm going to begin a little quasi-sabbatical from posting as frequently as I have been for the past year or so. I will continue to act and speak as a true advocate for the Susquehanna River. That will never change. I will also continue to follow the whole Marcellus Shale mess as closely as I ever have. I just won't be as active here.
  
Thanks to all who visit and have supported or acknowledged my efforts in any way in the past. Going forward, I will provide thoughts, comments and updates on my progress toward my goals if and when I have the time. In the interim, keep your eyes and ears focused on the Marcellus Shale & Susquehanna River-related news of the day, for you never know where or when I'll show up next.
 

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Trust me, there's a huge story here...
 

 

ATLAS THON - PSU's Finest

  
Whew!   The boys & girls from PSU are on their way back to Happy Valley. Not only did we really enjoy hosting this great group of young adults...we'd gladly do it again. We'll start stockpiling food for the next visit once we assess what we have left in the pantry & fridge...

After putting in ~11 hours on Saturday, they only "canned"  for a little over 4 hours on Sunday, but they raised another ~$2,000 to come in at a total of ~$6,800 for the weekend ...including almost $1,200 in coins.  I'm sure the folks at the bank really enjoyed watching me max out the capacity of their coin-counting machine...twice.

Eleven PSU students gave up their weekend to raise funds to help kids and their families struggling with cancer.

Someone want to criticize college kids today? Come see me.

So to Kaitlin, Isabella, Jenna, Bryan, Erin, Sean, Paul, Chris, Kristen, Ashley and Devin...tell your parents they did a great job. Hope to see you in February.

Here are a few pics to close out our Atlas THON-a-thon weekend. I need a nap.

   

THON!

We're hosting 11 Penn State students at our home this weekend for their local THON fundraising efforts. If you're not familiar with THON, read more about it here.

From their website:

The mission of the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon is to conquer pediatric cancer by providing outstanding emotional and financial support to the children, families, researchers, and staff of The Four Diamonds Fund.

Together we will find a cure.

My wife handled the grocery shopping, food preparation, etc. I was responsible for cutting the grass and making the outside presentable, general heavier cleaning, and having enough wood split & ready for the firepit. I offered to make a pot of buffalo tongue chili, however, the look I got pretty much quashed that idea.

   

On Saturday, the kids raised $4,800+, and they just cleared out of our home after breakfast this Sunday morning for Round II.

Anyway, our normal weekend routine has been interrupted, albeit for the best of causes...helping kids and their families cope with and hopefully - someday - beat childhood cancer.

So, please...the next time you see some kids dressed in Penn State garb with the cans above at an intersection, in front of a grocery store or fast-food place...consider what they are trying to do and contribute whatever you can. It all adds up.

Here are a few more pics from our weekend...so far.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.