Meanwhile at Kodak...

Kenn Martinez and I took a trip up to the nest box. Spring is still in the distance but we need to be ready for it when it comes. In testing the various components of the Rochester Falconcam's infrastructure we found some problems with our network setup that needed fixing. A quick reboot for the router and cable modem had everything back up and running. Everything, that is, but Camera 1, which refused to send an image, or to make any response to our electronic queries whatsoever. The only thing to do was to go outside to get a look at the camera and its cables.

We have a knack of picking inhospitable weather for these tasks. Last year it was a blustery, freezing and snowy February day when we made our maintenance visit. This year we decided to tackle the problems early, but meteorologically speaking, we were no better off. At 220 feet (67m) up there are no buildings to break up the wind. It buffeted us without mercy, and it was apparently responsible for twisting Camera 1 around on it's support arm. We suspected that the wind might also have bounced around some of the camera's wiring, perhaps enough to break something.

We had barely adjusted to the shock of the frozen winds swirling around the tower when another force of nature showed up:
     

If I had any doubts about Mariah's fitness at the estimated age of thirteen years, she dispelled them in her first few passes when she dealt me a solid >THWACK!< on the back of my head. Both Kenn and I had dressed for the occasion-- hard hats and safety goggles are standard issue when venturing out into Mariah's domain-- but it was an ungentle reminder to keep our heads down. For the rest of our time outside, we rarely poked our heads up higher than the edge of the playpen railing.

While we worked she circled, silent and wary. The winds worked to Mariah's advantage, allowing her to kite on the strong currents without expending a lot of energy:
          

Anticipating her appearance, Kenn and I both brought our cameras. Photographically we got lucky. The sun was shining in a blue sky with only a smattering of light clouds. It goes without saying that we took advantage of the good light and Mariah's proximity to get some nice shots of her:
          

          

Eventually she got the idea that we weren't going away. We kept our heads down and there wasn't much for her to target, so she ceased her harrassment for a while. When she came back, she preferred to keep an eye on us from a greater distance:


A little detective work uncovered the problem with the camera-- no power. We traced the fault back to its source and made the necessary repairs. While we were at it, we discovered that many of the cables connecting the cameras to the computers and video server were suffering wear from rubbing against the metal edges that are everywhere in the playpen. We also found a bit of unintentional sabotage had been perpetrated by last year's brood-- some of the wires and cables had been chewed at. Some replacement insulation and protective padding solved these problems, at least for this year. We'll need to get back out to clean the camera lenses before the season starts but for now everything looks like it's in pretty good shape.

I took a moment to assess the state of construction in the former visitor parking lot, and the destruction over at the BeeBee station. The lot has been pretty well stripped of it's asphalt:


The demolition work on the northern smokestack is on the slow track compared to the razing of the middle stack. Rather than a mechanical crusher, they're using workmen to knock it down, seemingly brick by brick:


Maybe there's something about the northern stack's construction that makes it hard to use mechanical means of taking it down. Whatever the reason, this one is taking the slow road to its rubbly final disposition.