Certificate for $25 Bond, Carl Shaub Memorial Building Corporation

Click to Enlarge

Pine Lake was developer Carl Shaub's brainchild.

Above and below is a scan of a $25 bond for his corporation.

I regret not having scanned the document in color.

Rocks

I love these boulders. They can be found in the little gully near the gazebo.

Tree Felling

A portion of Park Drive was closed on Monday so a couple of huge trees could be felled. Photos follow.

Downtown Atlanta, Late 1940s-Early 1950s: Photos by Claude Suttle

I wasn't sure this was a photo of Atlanta until I found this image at the Atlanta History Center's website. It shows the demolition of the Bailey's Supreme Coffee Warehouse at bottom right.

Ruby Falls and Home

In 1964, when I was 14 years old, I found a marvelous book at the public library of my little town of Smyrna, Tennessee.

The title was Caves of Tennessee, the author was Thomas Barr, and the publisher was the Tennessee Department of Conservation and Commerce. The date of publication was 1961.

Rock City

In the sixties-- the days with no Interstate highways-- my family made a half-dozen trips from Ft. Huachuca, Arizona to Asheville, North Carolina and back. It was a three-day trip on two-lane roads each way, and a high point of the trip was seeing Burma Shave signs. How I miss them!

I Drive Lookout Mountain

In 1970 I and a friend drove from Nashville to Chattanooga to be hippies for the weekend. We blew it, because we watched the film Woodstock when we could have seen The Who perform Tommy just down the street.

We had almost no funds, so we spent the night at campground at the top of Lookout Mountain.

I'd been up Lookout Mountain a number of times, but this time was different. We drive a good 15 miles on the level before we reached our destination-- AND WE NEVER DESCENDED THE MOUNTAIN!

Later I looked at a map and realized Lookout was a narrow, flat-topped escarpment that stretched more than one hundred miles from Chattanooga to Gadsden, Alabama.

Claude Suttle's Photos of Lookout Mountain

Lookout Mountain is one of two 1500-foot escarpments that overlook the city of Chattanooga, some 120 miles to the northwest of Atlanta.(The second is Walden Ridge, which is often mistakenly called Signal Mountain, after the town of that name.)

I Find a Path Across the Gulch

I Wonder Where These Steps Lead...

Every time I go for a walk, it seems, I discover something new about our fair city.

Today it was a path that led from Oak across the big gulch to a house that fronts Spring Street.

Posts at Dogwood and Spruce

I'd like to know the story of these posts at the corner of Dogwood and Spruce...

Sometimes You Just Don't Need Central Heat and Air

When I bought my house in November1998 the air conditioning system consisted of an ancient grilleless 5000 BTU 110v window unit which was fed by a 20' long power cord, since there was no outlet nearby.

Pine Lake is in Georgia, and although the climate is temperate for the South, I knew I had to come up with a plan to keep my house cool, and it would need to be in place by May.

My first thought was of course central air, but since I had just bought the house that was out of the picture for financial reasons. Soon, I thought, but I need a short-term fix.

A friend told me she knew someone who had a 25,000 BTU  220-volt window unit for sale for (as I remember) $150. I checked my fuse box and there was space for a new 220-volt circuit, so we drove to Jonesboro and I bought it.

Ladybug

Wide Angle Views of Pine Lake

Here are some of the results of my tryout of a cheap wide-angle adapter for my camera.

The optics aren't good at all, and when I zoom out as much as possible the corners are obscured, but it does provide wider views of the lake than I can usually get.

Heron

On my walk this morning a blue heron was on Heron Island. I took two shots, then tried a cheap 2x filter and got several dozen blurry shots of him showing off. The two without the filter were in focus, but the heron more or less had its head up its behind, so they're not fit to print.

And so, here's a photo of a heron on my land in Second Life. Keep in mind-- this is a virtual heron. It does not exist in the real world.

Second Life is a three-dimensional virtual world where the content-- including this heron and the grasses in front of it-- are created by the residents.

More photos below the fold.

Our Beautiful Lake

Now You See It...

... now you don't!

The house nearest the lake's flume was knocked down yesterday. The land will be turned into a park and community garden.

On the Summit of Stone Mountain, 1960s

Photos by Claude Suttle

Stone Mountain, Sculpting in Progress

Photo by Claude Suttle

Stone Mountain Pre-Mutilation

This photo by Claude Suttle seems to show (partially) the cliff face of Stone Mountain before it was carved.

Here's another:

Dragoncon Postscript

I spent a day at DragonCon in the early 90s, but nothing prepared me for my experience Saturday morning.

One Last Photo from Dragon Con

Munster Family Reunion

DragonCon Parade IV: Batman in the Parade

"It's long past time to trade this piece of crap in. Maybe a Prius..."

DragonCon Parade III: Batman's Identity Crisis

Bruce Wayne has always had problems with his identity, and it was apparent at DragonCon that his assorted personalities are having an effect on him. That's why organizers couldn't take the risk of putting him on the parade security team.

"Robin? Where the hell ARE you? The parade starts in ten minutes and you're nowhere to be found! People are depending on us. I expect you to be in the Batmobile when I get to it. It's double-parked out front and fanboyz and girlz are picking it apart! Yes, I know I dropped you like a rock when the whole Dark Knight reinterpretation came about, but I have to face it, there's been a big hole in my life ever since! You know I invited you here to DragonCon to get us back on track. Batgirl? No, no, it was just a fling. I swear, and that thing with The Penguin was just a rumor. Okay. I'm heading for the car now while there are still wheels on it. You'll be there? Great! But Robin-- no touching me in public, okay? Not like last time."

DragonCon Parade II: Who Ya Gonna Call?

Fortunately, security was hiding in plain sight as part of the parade.

Meet DragonCon's security team:

DragonCon Parade I

This morning at nine I found myself in an elevator at the Westin Hotel on Peachtree Street with Lois Lane, The Cat in the Hat, and a Ghostbuster. Legolas the Elf had almost got on, but at the last minute got into an animated conversation in the hallway with Mr. Spock-- something about ears.

At the next stop a three-foot-tall Dalek boarded. "Would you please press floor 6?" it said. "I don't seem to have any arms."

Yes, DragonCon is in Atlanta again.

I had planned to spend the entire day, but silly me, I hadn't pre-registered and the lines at the Sheraton (DragonCon uses five downtown hotels) were so long I decided to just watch the parade.

Lots of photos below the fold!