As I was mapping out another Sunday nature walk location for my kids, my son Logan, watched over my shoulder, and seemed to take great interest in watching me “fly” around on the computer screen.
I took some time to show him some of the buildings and places that he was familiar with, such as the grocery store and daycare, as well as his sister’s elementary school.
From there, I showed him he could also fly around the Solar System, the Moon as well as Mars!
His eyes were so large, and I think he forgot to blink, as he continued to watch the screen with amazement!
As we continued to “fly” around on Google Earth, I started to show him the controls for how to move around the screen.
Within seconds he was grabbing the mouse from my hand and was “flying” on his own!
For the next hour or so, he was flying around Chester County, and giggling very happily during his new adventures.
So to all the parents out there with young kids, I would strongly recommend downloading Google Earth, which is free, and begin to teach your child the local spots so that they can become familiar with their surroundings.
Once they have the basic navigational skills, take a step back and let them explore the world on the screen in front of them.
Not only is it fun for the kids, but they will also begin to start to understand the relationships of “things” around them.
If you really want to let them explore, check out and show them the “Flight Simulator” which can be found under the Tools menu.
Back in February when I first made the cut over from DotNetNuke to WordPress, the basic installation went without issue, but upon occasion, while I was trying to add blog entries, for some reason I had problems posting a new entry.
Initially, I thought it was just the revision of the WordPress software I was using, and waited for the next iteration which I installed, and the problem seemed to disappear.
For a period of about 4 to 5 weeks, I was able to post to my blog and continue on as if nothing had occurred.
With this new information, I started a live chat with technical support at CrystalTech, and asked if they would check out the settings for my site in regards to their firewall blocking packets of data thinking they were a SQL injection attack as mentioned in the posting.
The technician was quickly able to find and confirm that my site was indeed being blocked by CrystalTech’s SRX firewall, and created a ticket, requesting that my site be added to the white list.
I have since been able to confirm that posting issues seems to have disappeared even with posts that I had issues with in the past!
Needlessly to say, I am now very happy to be able to post again!
As I was scrolling down my Facebook wall, checking in with life, I noticed a thumbnail that looked familiar, and when I begin to read the content, I was very happily surprised!
While sitting on the couch and my laptop open and surfing, I fired up Google Earth to search for more information on the little park next to the barn that I’d seen in December.
To get the kid’s approval, I showed him some more of the pictures on Google Earth, and told them about what I had read.
They both seemed excited, so we gathered some provisions, backed up and headed off for our Sunday journey.
As we turned onto North Creek Road, I pointed out the barn, drove a little further, and turned into the parking lot.
Both Madison and Logan were eager to get out of the car and start running around.
I took a couple of photographs of the barn from the opposite direction trying to capture all of the yellow flowers that were carpeting the fields.
We crossed over the bridge and started down the long path that was in front of us.
To the left of us were steep hills blanketed in yellow and to the right some marshland that led to additional fields.
As we walked, I was amazed to see all the various birds flying around and was busy trying to point them out to the kids, including listening to the unique calls such as the red-winged blackbird.
Stroud Preserve – Fields of yellow flowers
While I was setting up another shot with my tripod, a fellow photographer was walking by and we started to chat.
During our conversation, we exchanged information about the preserve, and started to talk about the Flickr and Facebook groups, and finally realized that we both knew each other from the Chester County Flickr group!
Turns out that, Kelly Colgan Azar, is a long time visitor to the preserve and does a lot of ornithological photography in the area.
Stroud Preserve – Research Center
After a few more minutes of talking, and the kids being very patient while Kelly and I talked, we said our goodbyes and continue down the path.
As we got closer to the split in the path, it was amazing to see that even with all the rain that we have been having, the pond was missing several feet of water which was exposing the pond bottom.
We continued up the small little head towards the barn and once we got to the top we took notice of the sign saying that the area was off-limits because it was a private residence. To the people who live in the house, I am very envious!
Heading back down the hill, both kids wanted to find a path down to the pond to see what they could find, but I had to explain to them, that it was nothing but mud and we would probably get very dirty if not stuck, and it would be very hard for mommy to find us, let alone get us out!
Thankfully, they agreed and we started down the other branch of the path heading south.
Shortly into the trail, we decided to head up the steep path to the top of the hill, and once at the top, we stopped and rested while we drank some water and recovered from the climb.
After arrest, we walked the path along the ridge, and eventually reached the tree line and started down the wooded path.
At first Madison was very scared to go down the path because she feared rolling down through the woods, but her brother happily skipped along the path, causing me to tell him to slow down.
Stroud Preserve – Wooded Trail
I stood with Madison near the top for a second and pointed out the switch-back nature of the path, and how it would help us get down the trail without injuring ourselves. Finally she agreed and we continued on.
It was really surprising to see how lush the trees were so early in the spring, and the flooring of the woods was covered in Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) that were still young and had not even developed flowers yet to bear fruit.
Finally we got to the bottom, turned right and followed the path along the Brandywine Creek, heading once again in the southerly direction. Eventually we had to turn around because of the “no trespassing” signs that marked the edge of the preserve.
We continued along the Creek path, exiting the woods and finding our way back to the main path, taking a right and heading back towards the bridge where the kids wanted to do some more exploring.
Once the exploring was done we headed back to the car, climbed in and headed towards the Highlands Orchard the to get some fresh apples and maybe something else, but that is another story for another time.
This afternoon, I got a chance to help a friend out, and also enjoy a good time!
I have known Greg Ramirez for over 12 years now, and it is always nice to have a chance to help him out.
So to this afternoon, I got a chance to go down to Exton Beverage to participate in their “Spring Sampling”!
and never passing on a chance for doing some photos, and sampling some good beers, I took a little time to capture some of the following images which are now only available on the Exton Beverage Facebook Fanpage.
2011 Spring Sampling - Exton Beverage
My next technical task, is to figure out a better way to display Facebook images in my Blog.
