Poltrack Blog

The full moon of March 19th occurred only a hour away from the point when the moon's orbit was at it's nearest point to the earth (perigee). As a result the moon appears 14% larger and 30% brighter. Having a full moon AND a perigee moon last happened in 1993. I couldn't resist taking a picture last night. I was surprised to learn that I had to adjust the exposure manually because I could not rely on the automatic settings which overexposed the shots. Check it out:

I've admired the photography of Tim Bouwer for some time. Recently he traveled with my friend John Weber on a business trip to California. The hiked through Muir Woods and Point Reyes, visited Alcatraz and more. These are my favorites from his album.

Cathy says Hi…Bob and I visited Maine this summer….a great time, although we missed Lillian.  The hat collage pic was done with Lillian’s hat.  So I thought I would take a pic of everybody at Coffee Pond wearing Grandma’s hat.  Molly asked if she could have her picture taken sitting on the dock with her feet in the water so she would look like Babcia (see pic of Lillian on dock)!!!  That was one of her favorite spots!  Cathy Aunt Lillian at Coffee Pond, Maine A Collage

When we returned from vacation we were given the sad news that Pickles our elder feline warrior did not return from his nightly hunt of rodents and moles. It was impossible to keep this guy in the house for any length of time (and we tried). He loved the outdoors and and would complain loudly if we didn’t let him out. He was definitely a warrior, we found him as a stray many years ago. Over the years he lost a fang, managed to kill some big game (a rabbit) and gathered a few battle scars. He was gentle with us and the other cats but was not interested in typical cat distractions like boxes, bags and laser pointers. He couldn’t be bothered with such frivolities. Paris and Buster are still with us. Paris is an indoor cat and Buster spends time outside only when he gets banished for tormenting Paris. He’d rather sleep on an amplifier than hunt. Paris concentrates on insects and moths. If vermin are in the house I know I can depend on her. Pickle’s got along with both of them. He will b...

The only bright spot during this dreadful weather pattern is the constant appearance of hummingbirds around the feeders. The rain seems to have dampened the flowering of their native food sources so the feeders are quite attractive to them. It’s great being a teleworker, I can work while listening to Hank Williams and watching hummingbirds. Now if it would only … please… STOP RAINING!

On April 16th, 1944 over three hundred bombers and fighters of the 5th Air Army took off on a mission to bomb and strafe the Japanese airfields located at  Hollandia , Dutch New Guinea. The mission was successful and no aircraft was lost to enemy action, however their safe return was blocked by a massive weather front. 37 aircraft were destroyed or went missing because of the bad weather.This event known as  Black Sunday  and marked the biggest operational loss due to weather in WWII. My uncle piloted a  B-25  on this mission. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Ed Poltrack's Squadron The experience of crews who did find an airfield was no better. Alfred B. Colwell,Jr., was the Navigator/Bombardier on a B-25 in the 38th Bomb Group based at Nadzab, New Guinea April 16 Mission #48 – Hollandia. … The whole area was full of planes-B-24s, B-25s, A-20s and P-38s. We got down to 50 feet above the coast and followed it towards Sa...

At Mary and Melissa’s graduation we were once again privileged to experience a performance by our very own “Pyroman” as well as great firework display. Pyroman has spent many hours perfecting his craft. He wears a special Kevlar and Nomex outfit along with a motorcycle helmet affixed with pyrotechnic devices. The pyrotechnics are electronically ignited, a process that consists of each device being attached electrically to a trigger box. This setup allows Pyroman to coordinate his performance to a musical score. Pictures cannot adequately capture the essence of the performance but I tried to take a few. I have been lucky enough to witness other Pyroman displays but this one was the best ever. The smoke did not obscure the stage and several new innovations were added. This year a pinwheel was added that produced a lovely dynamic spiral effect. At the end of the performance, we were treated to several large mushroom shaped fireball effects that may have be...