The Allendale Telephone Company -- renamed several times due to mergers -- sounds like a podunk, small time operation. But it isn't. Because of GVSU in Allendale, there's always been money to keep the system high tech with excellent uptime. When DSL became available out where we were, we joined up. Kept it at the lowest guaranteed rate, but most days we get excellent throughput. Good enough to download 200MB printer drivers and do Netflix streaming, and play music and podcasts online. Oh sure, some Friday nights we can't watch a movie due to what we figure is all the kids on our subnet playing some massive online game plus a movie. (grin) But considering the quality (snort) and lack of concern about security, there is no way I'd ever hook up to a cable modem around here.

Next year we are supposed to be upgraded to fiber optics cable and we'll upgrade the phone, Internet and quite possible tell the cable TV company to take a hike.

Last night we had no DSL. We flipped off the powerstrip that has the DSL modem and the WiFi boxes a couple of times. WiFi came up. DSL modem came up and with the appropriate number of steady and blinking lights. Just no DSL Internet access.

We could've called Aventec -- the current company name -- but of course the system has been reliable so I'd have to look it up on the webpage. Oh, darn. Fortunately Mrs. Dr. Phil had the latest bill and we still get an Allendale phonebook from Aventec, so we did in fact have the numbers.

But last night we really didn't have a pressing need. We read books. Watched the Cubs beat up on the Cardinals in Game 3 of the NLDS. Had some Food Network.

In the morning, still no go. So Mrs. Dr. Phil called the local office when they opened at 8 and they reset the DSL. Everything is fine.

This is the second time in the years we've had DSL that they office had to reset the connection. Other minor DSL outages resolve themselves in a few hours. And, we could've called the service numbers last night if we'd wanted to. Basically, we've been pretty pleased with our DSL service.

Before we had the DSL, we used a jack splitter and ran a 25-foot RJ-11 phone line around the corner and across the living room to either our laptops or the Micron mid-tower PC at the desk. 28.8K modem from 1996 to when we got DSL/WiFi...

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

Well, we finally had a day where the high in Allendale topped fifty -- the highest I had at home was 50.8°F. Yesterday was supposed to be partly cloudy, but instead we had foggy and overcast all day. Today started out even foggier, but by midday, was all blue skies and sunshine. Lots of melting going on.

Yesterday I did go out to shoot some black & white film in my second Nikon F3 -- the F3blue with the MD-4 motor drive I got at Christmas (DW). I decided to try the 35-135mm f3.5-4.5 AF NIKKOR that came with the Kodak Pro SLR/n, and it turned out relatively easy to use as an AI manual focus lens. The push-pull zoom is very smooth and the focusing ring turns really easily. The Nikon F3 Type R focusing screen I bought, designed for running the split-image rangefinder with f3.5 to f5.6 lenses, worked very well, and the grid lines in the R screen are just bonus for when you're twisting and turning to shoot from the driver's seat of a vehicle.

Again, this is why you buy professional equipment.

A couple of weeks ago I realized that three of my 35mm Nikons were coming up on the ends of their rolls -- the F3blue, F4s and the N2020 -- and I'd started all the rolls I'd bought in 2013-14 when I got home from the hospital the first time. So, since I don't shoot film all that often, I just got four different rolls of pro film -- two B&W and two color negative, all C-41 color process.

So I was pleased to finish up the roll of Ilford XP-2 ISO 400 black & white film in the F3 yesterday. Pleased other than I missed one good shot: after circling around, I was coming up to 48th Avenue westbound on M-45 and to my left were two cars. Both were at 45° to the intersection and there was zero gap between them. My guess is that the little car pulled a right turn on red right into a car going straight on M-45. Or else the bigger car ran the red light. Either way, I had the perfect sight angle for shooting right between the cars as I sat at the light. Grabbed the F3, zoomed to 135mm, focused, pressed the shutter release. Nothing. As I put the camera down when the light turned green, I saw the red LED on which said I was at the end of the roll.

Because I had been shooting the F3 since December in the cold, I used the countdown counter on the MD-4 motor drive. It has enough torque to rip frozen film off the spool if you're not careful. So I wasn't sure if I had really hit the end of the roll, or the end minus 1, meaning I could've had one more shot. Actually, no. When I changed rolls this afternoon the shutter was only partly cocked, so I was at the end. Well, I've missed pictures before. It happens. Especially when you're dealing with only 36 exposures (or 24) and not 2GB or more of flash drive. And realize, if I had a digital SLR with me, I might not have had it out of the case, or had a long enough lens on it to get the shot I wanted.

So I had two errands to do in Allendale this week. Being a clever person, I figured I could do the Walgreen's trip today -- and then tomorrow or Friday do the other errand and pick up the negatives and Photo CD. Alas, not to be.

I've used Walgreen's for the C-41 processing and scanning because it was convenient. Their scanner only goes to 1 megapixel, but even that's enough to reduce to around 600x400 pixels for webpages. And the color has been good, and especially the richness coming from film.

New person at the Photo desk at Walgreen's, no problem, she called in the manager. Get my phone number, start the order. Two rolls, develop, Photo CD, proof picture, no prints.

Um, they don't do that anymore.

I mean, I had been impressed that they still did enough photo business to do 1 Hour developing in-house. Alas, those days are gone. They've contracted out to some third-party lab. And these guys do not return the negatives.

Do. Not. Return. The. Negatives.

First of all, totally unacceptable for professional film. Second, I haven't even seen any of the scans these new guys can do. With the 1MP scans I'd been getting, I had the negatives, which meant if I really needed to, I could send individual strips out to get them professionally scanned at a higher rate. But without the negatives, totally at the mercy of the lab.

For those of you who grew up on digital and have never used film -- or have forgotten -- the negatives are the real photograph. Scanner has dust on it or set wrong? JPEG corrupted on the Photo CD? Scan it again. It's the backup.

And remember, too, there is nothing wrong with this 33-year-old camera. Or the 20-25 year old zoom lens.

Now some of you might be clever enough to comment that, "well, you already don't get your checks back from the bank." And that's true. But there are differences. Check verification from a scanned check doesn't require a very good image. And technically, you do lose forensic information if you were doing some big criminal probe, such as fingerprints, pen pressure, ink brands, etc. But mostly we can live with our old bank scanned checks, even if new technology comes along.

Negatives aren't like that. As I said, they can be scanned by better scanners and more skilled operators.

My camera store in Grand Rapids, on Fulton between John Ball Park and GVSU's downtown campus, is gone. They managed to survive the 90s, but somewhere around when we got our first digital camera in 2003, they went away. There is still a pro-capable camera store in West Michigan, but their G.R. store is way on the other end of town and their Kalamazoo store is way on the end of town. That's why I've never checked their photo processing. Otherwise, it's one of the real pro labs which require shipping. And, quite frankly, more expense.

After I check out to see what Meijers is doing (close) or Costco (other side of G.R.), which is who pro guru Ken Rockwell gets some of his film processing done in California.

We'll see.

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

Gas was $3.63.9/gallon today in Allendale. Except that's not what I paid.

Family Fare ran Yet Another Gas Coupon deal over the weekend, but instead of 50¢ off per gallon for buying $75 or more of groceries, they had a coupon for $2.99.9/gal Regular if you spent over $100.

There was a time when $100 for groceries was hard to do. And you would have an army of bags to bring in the house. Now, not so much, even for just a pair of people with no kids and no pets at the present time.

Still, it wasn't easy, since it excludes some items and this week was a light grocery week. I think Mrs. Dr. Phil said we made it by $5. (grin)

Also, as good as 64¢ off was, it wasn't quite as good a deal as one could get, because it was only for Regular 87 octane. I usually put 89 octane Midgrade in the Blazer. Still, a tank o' the cheap stuff won't hurt it. Although saying one is paying under three bucks a gallon at $2.99.9 is pushing it a bit.

Still, I'm not complaining about Family Failure's marketing efforts. By and large their captive gas station's prices are the same as Mobil, Admiral and Speedway in town -- and Allendale is usually cheaper than Wayland and Grand Rapids -- and the quality is good, we're going to buy most of our groceries there, so why not take advantage of their coupons? You can always get some sort of discount coupon when you buy enough groceries, with tiers to get you 5¢, 10¢, 15¢, etc. off per gallon. And about every two-three weeks recently they've had one of the 50¢ off per gallon coupons, which are good across all three grades.

I wouldn't mind the current gas prices so much if the gas tax for roadway construction and maintenance had kept up with inflation. We're actually driving about the same, I heard recently, but as gas mileage goes up -- those pesky CAFE standards that the frothies claim can never possibly work *** -- we're actually not burning as much gas.

But no, we couldn't possibly bump up the gas tax to reflect the new realities of driving plus the overdue bill from decades of deferred maintenance. ESPECIALLY in an election year.

To his credit, Governor Rick Snyder (R-MI) has been trying to find $1-1.5 billion to really make a dent in Michigan's road repair backlog. Alas, the legislature is working on $300-500 million, which they will tout as a final solution, even though it still ends up putting us at a net loss in maintenance. Sigh.

And so the gas prices jump up and down at whim, and the oil companies rake in massive profits -- totally outside their control they say -- in a mockery of reasonableness.

Oh, and a holiday driving weekend approacheth...

Dr. Phil

*** It is true that to get higher gas mileage, either you have to go to a smaller car or pay more for more technology. However, increased demand for and practical technologies for automobile safety have also driven up prices, so it's hard to tell by how much they've gone up to save some gas. For small hybrids, the increased functional gas mileage over the same car without the hybrid tech won't result in any savings -- you'd have to own for a long time and drive a whole lot of miles to recoup the investment. But... if the goal is to use less fuels, then we can talk. After all, wasteful technology is usually cheaper in the initial cost outlay, but the damage is long term.

Flood Report

We've been in a steadily losing battle for some days now. For a basement that's never had a serious leak before, water has come in from all over. Some water came in under the back door. And the water table had to have come up to the level of the house because the little cracks in foundation were leaking.

The office carpet was saturated early on -- it connects to a low point with the furnace room floor, so as that flooded, under the wall the water went. Or maybe there was a source there. Many, many boxes and bags of stored papers and things are now awaiting disposal.

The "kitty room" has never had water. A little leaked in from the wall with the furnace room. But then a big wet spot appeared in the middle of the floor -- another under floor leak? And now both carpeted rooms are supersaturated.

Thursday I went out and got a second wet vac. TruValue of Allendale said they had just one, an 18 gallon ShopVac, but then called me right back and said they had one 5 gallon unit as well. I told them to hold the latter for me, but when I got there I looked at the big unit. So much better construction -- with wheels set with a "wide stance" so it can't fall over like the old 5 gallon unit can. AND it has a front drain so it squat over the sump pump and pee into it. No brainer to get it, an outdoor extension cord if we needed it, and a second pair of ear muffs for Mrs. Dr. Phil to use -- My shooting muffs have always been good for lawn mowers and using shopvacs indoors.

The deepest part of the water anywhere was maybe an inch. No more than ¼" anywhere else. And several places never got wet. But something was filling the sump pump and Thursday and Friday it was going off every 15-20 minutes. Our estimate is that it triggers at 10 gallons. So we're still talking about a prodigious amount of water in a place where we silly humans don't think we'll ever see it.

But we weren't winning. Not even holding our own. Worried about the big accordion fold paper air filter on the furnace, which is on the bottom.

Still... one source of smell in the basement was an old cardboard set of drawers that my parents must have bought in the 50s. It got soaked and once it was put outside, things got a lot better.

Friday didn't add too much to the rain totals, but never have I had a day with 6 or 7 rounds of heavy graupel -- my favorite kind of snow. (grin) Graupel is fun -- it bounces -- and just doesn't add much water. Called into ServPro -- finally -- and left a message.

Left a 2nd message 22 hours later here on Saturday morning and got an almost immediate callback. AND they have a crew freed up for tomorrow morning at 9. To be able to clean out the junk and to get a decision to dry or pull the carpet by tomorrow is a huge relief.

More anon.

Dr. Phil

Flowing Onward

On Saturday, when I took some of the pictures in the previous post (DW), I'd been told by Mrs. Dr. Phil to vacate the house for an hour, or better an hour-and-a-half, while the decks were swabbed. That's why I had the Nikon D1, and with some time to wander and adequate, but not great light, decided to check on the flooding Grand River.


This is from LaMont on the Bluff, looking down on Grand River (distant) and its flood plain (foreground). (Click on photo for larger.)
©2013 Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon (All Rights Reserved)


Closer to the water, this is where the Old M-45 river crossing used to be, before the new bridges and the Allendale boulevard construction. These properties always flooded in the past. There's a house and driveway in there somewhere. (Click on photo for larger.)
©2013 Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon (All Rights Reserved)


Another view -- you can see the other end of Old M-45 on the other bank. It now has a parking area which I believe is used by the GVSU crew team. (Click on photo for larger.)
©2013 Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon (All Rights Reserved)


When I got home, I was surprised to realize that the daffodils were seriously emerging. Not sure if any of the crocuses by the forsythia across the front yard are still there. Or whether we'll see any sign of the stunted tulip plants in this same patch. (Click on photo for larger.)
©2013 Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon (All Rights Reserved)

Also, as of Tuesday, it's officially Spring as the peepers are making merry in the high waters of their swampy drain ditches and swamps.

Dr. Phil

Pretty Much A Miss

If it seems that all I am blogging about is the weather, it is because my long commute dominates my weekday life. Friday afternoon and all day Saturday we were in a Winter Weather Advisory and in the middle of the lake effect snow patterns -- up to a foot. By the time I got home on Friday, the snow falling outside the garage looked to be in layers -- each layer at a different distance was falling slowly at a different angle. Neat. While there were times we were in heavy horizontal snow on Saturday, the sun came out and the snows stopped. The persistent lake effect snow bands were just south of us. The region got anywhere from 0.4" to 16" of snow -- we only got a couple of inches of light very dry snow.

But... even though every time I mention the weather someone else is really getting clobbered, the real problem around here has been the ice. And here my classes are getting a real lesson in coefficients of friction.

Saturday the temps were in the upper 20s, but dropped overnight. By midnight is was down to 9°F. 1°F at 2am. 0°F by 3am until at least 7am. Then the warm up. 16°F at 10am and 26°F Sunday afternoon. The winds and the sun dried the roads in Allendale. Pale blue skies and pale clouds that looks airbrushed with no hard edges up until about 4pm.


This shed is in the middle of the asparagus fields near 68th Avenue. When I saw it at 3:50pm, there was blue sky and you could really see the two snowmobile tracks splitting around the shed. Alas, I should ALWAYS listen to my inner artistic demon and turned around right then and there. After I did my errands at Walgreens, I came out to gray skies which ruined the look. The lack of sun cut the edges of the tracks and the darkening skies dropped the shutter speeds. Though I did shut off the engine to shoot this shot, at 300mm (450mm effective focal length in DX), the shutter speed wasn't high enough to kill the motion shake as I wanted. Still... a nice composition. But it could've been much cooler. (grin) (Click on photo for larger.)
©2013 Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon (All Rights Reserved)

Even with the above kvetching, I am consistently amazed at what I can pull out of that first generation pro sensor in the Nikon D1.

Dr. Phil

Saturday Afternoon

Snow day on Thursday for WMU, then lake effect snow bands all the way through Saturday afternoon in places. The sudden cool off and then frigid freeze after Wednesday night plus snow put down a nice layer of ice on the roads. Friday's commute in the morning was slow and cold at 11°F in Allendale. At times speeds on the highways was down to 25-30mph and 40mph on the freeways. This wasn't helped by the fact that there was bright sun south of Grand Rapids and many people thought they should be able to drive faster.

Coming home on Friday, my gauge is to check the reflection of headlights off the road surface in my rearview mirror -- quite glazed, actually. So I probably annoyed some people with my caution. (grin) By Lake Michigan Drive, the lake effect was creating vast clouds of airborne snow with every passing cars. Maintaining sight of the edges of the roads was not easy.

By 3:30pm Saturday, though, there was brilliant blue sky to the north, so I threw my cheap old 12mm f8 Sigma Fisheye on the D1, set it to f11 and took a quick shot through the sliding glass door. Followed by a couple of pictures with the 35-70mm lens at 35mm. I can tell that I am getting comfortable working with the Nikon digital SLRs, because I've regained my form of holding a camera and getting interesting shots without benefit of looking through the finder (double-grin) -- the part of the sliding door without the screen is behind a table and with the snows and cold, there's a good chance the sliding screen door wouldn't open if I tried it.


Boosted the contrast and darkened the shot to show the deep blue of the sky. The old fisheye isn't very sharp, so brightening it for detail didn't seem worth the trouble. (Click on photo for larger.)
©2013 Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon (All Rights Reserved)


View north out the deck showing the thick frosting on the trees. (Click on photo for larger.)
©2013 Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon (All Rights Reserved)


Second shot looking northeast. I liked the look of the fluffy ridge of snow that hadn't yet blown off the railing. And even without using the finder, that ridge fits perfectly in the curve of the trees. Sometimes I amaze myself. (Click on photo for larger.)
©2013 Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon (All Rights Reserved)

Meanwhile The Inevitable Rises

Beginning of last week gas was $3.38.9/gal for regular. I had a 50¢ and a 10¢/gal coupon for the Family Fare grocery gas station, so even with buying midgrade I was able to get gas under three bucks for once. Too often when I've had big coupons the price jumped so I end up paying what I would've before the increase. By afternoon the price had jumped 20¢/gal. And by Friday, it was up another dime to $3.68.9/gal, then $3.75.9/gal by the time I got home.

With the higher prices and the biting cold wind, I really resent standing there waiting for gas pumps to ask questions and think about the reply. Enter your ZIP code. Do you want a Car Wash? Do you want a receipt? Come on, it's not like you've never asked those questions before, you silly computers, and have to decide what to do with the NO and YES inputs.

The Neighbor

The guy across the road from us got a new toy -- a four-wheel ATV with a blade. He saw Mrs. Dr. Phil working the snow scoop during the first snow storm last week and he knows I'm walking with a cane these days. So when he runs up and down his longer driveway, he's been zipping up and down our 250 foot driveway and clearing off the daily accumulation. It's really nice of him. We got a $25 gas station gift car for him last weekend, since he didn't want anything for it. Right now I think he's really enjoying his new toy.

On Wednesday when I was hooking up the recycling bin with the garbage can inside to tow it back from the road, I noticed that there was several pieces of slag from the driveway in the square opening of the Blazer's Class III receiver hitch. That was odd until I realized that when I backed out in the morning I'd crunched up against the snow bank from the plowing -- presumably there were driveway stones picked up in the plowing. (four-wheel-drive-grin)

Dr. Phil

It's My Fault

This Christmas several people have emailed us -- including FB messages, etc. -- to say that things sent to our street address have been returned. We haven't moved. Rather getting a new and larger Post Office in Allendale meant that they could unify the like seven different jurisdictions for the township under one address. The big conversion date was Saturday 19 June 2010. (DW)

The bottom line is that it was our Post Office that has changed and after two years, they're no longer acting like they know how to forward. (grin)

We should have updated in Christmas letters in 2010, but with complications, including the deaths of my father in September 2010 and my sister in November 2011, we just haven't done any letters. (sigh)

The street address hasn't changed, but the town and ZIP:
West Olive MI 49460

Is now:
Allendale MI 49401

If you have my P.O. Box address, it was always Allendale and didn't change.

Sorry for the confusion. We're still here! We will write someday! Hell-oooo! Is anybody out there?

Dr. Phil

The Sacred and Honorable Act of the Citizenry

It only took twenty minutes -- 0900 to 0920 EST -- to park, walk in, vote, return today. That's longer than usual, because of the length of the ballot, not the lines for Precinct 3. Forgot to look at the ballot number on the tear-off tab, but the machine which tallied my vote recorded me as number 154. Precinct 5, which is mainly GVSU students, was the only one with a line.

Many more people there for today's election than any of the primaries or other elections, probably since 4 November 2008. I'm sure this church sees a lot of the Once In A Great While people in their pews, too. (grin)

The two women ahead of me to get their tear-off tabs pulled prior to scanning their completed ballots didn't know how to vote, as in feeding the machine. That tells me that probably they don't vote much, since we've had the same system for a long time. Sigh.

The little old ladies checking the paperwork -- well, they really ARE little old ladies -- are always cheerful and were happy to see so many people turnout.

Over at the side of the big room that we vote in, there was a masking tape box on the floor and the two poll watcher chairs were occupied. One young woman appeared to be a GVSU student, the other was a 40-ish man in casual business attire. When I came in, both were intently texting on their phones, not watching. The young woman, however, did look up and smile as I passed and I told her that I hope she was having a good time. This is the first time in years that I've seen any poll watchers in Allendale.


The church lot where we vote was packed.


Steady stream of cars coming up and down the long winding drive from M-45 and any empty parking spots were only empty for seconds. There was enough coming and going that I didn't have to wait to get a reasonably close parking space.

The Ballot

This was probably the fullest two-sided ballot I've seen in the twenty-odd years we've been in West Michigan. Besides the major and minor races, there was a lively non-partisan race for state supreme court justices -- including the West Wing reunion ad for Bridget Mary McCormack and PSA for the non-partisan part of the ballot -- plus a half-dozen Proposals.

What does Michigan think it is, California?

The Proposals, five of them Constitutional amendments, were a real mixed bag. And the campaigns wildly insane -- one ad just said hands off our Constitution and vote NO on everything on principle. Proposal 6, a sweetheart deal by the private owners of the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor to keep their monopoly, was particularly cynical. Proposal 3 was about increasing wind and alternative power. This should be in the Constitution? Well, given the current political climate, I can see why they'd want to force the legislature and governor to comply. The only non-constitutional ballot issue, Proposal 1, was about the state's Emergency Manager law, in which the governor can appoint managers to take over local governments, and in some cases fire, the locally elected officials. Proposals 2 and 4 were about labor issues, one for government employees including police, firefighters and teachers, the other about home health care workers. Proposal 5 was about tying the hands of the legislature to make it even more difficult to raise taxes, if needed.

It's All Over Except For The Screaming

We were a purple country going into the election and I don't expect that to change coming out of it. And that purple? It's from the red and blue bruises.

Since I can't see either Presidential candidate coming away with 60-70% of the popular vote, we will still be a divided nation. The scenarios have varied wildly from a 269-269 electoral vote tie, to a 305 vote win. If we don't know the results tonight or by early morning, I won't be surprised. If a more decisive, but certainly not "a mandate", win occurs on either side, I won't be surprised either.

In any event, I've voted and I hope that if you are eligible and able to, that you have, too.

And for the record, I utterly oppose any attempts of either voter suppression or voter fraud by any side, for any reason. Anyone arguing that they can do it because the other side is doing it, is an even bigger idiot.

I figure that the last of the campaign ads will get off the airwaves by Thursday or Friday... (evil grin)

Dr. Phil

Glory

I don't drag along the Nikon D1 commuter bag with me every day, but my equipment bag does have the little Sony digital with a Carl Zeiss zoom lens. It's autofocus is much too happy locking onto the front windshield, so I lose some pictures, but at least I have a camera. (grin)

A week ago Thursday the sun was hiding behind a bank of clouds and the gaps created these lovely glory rays shooting over half the horizon. It persisted for the first forty five minutes of the drive, but in the beginning it looked like Allendale was blessed. This pattern continued in the evening, too, but those pictures weren't very good.


Sun rays basking glory over Allendale -- from 84th Avenue fields. (Click on photo for larger.)

The Flock Struts

Last weekend I wrote about the elusive wild turkeys (DW) and the large flock which has taken to crossing some of the roads about a mile, mile and a half, from us.

This Thursday morning I had to stop on Warner to let the big birds calmly strut across the road. It had rained overnight and between the dark clouds, the sun rising and the wet, it looked pretty amazing. While waiting, given that there's about 20 birds in this flock, I got out the Sony to try one shot. Of course, I had to look up at the rear view mirror because of the tire screeching noise behind me. Seems that this Toyota was all hell bent on closing the gap to the Blazer, which meant it was going in excess of 55mph, decided that they were going to pass me -- and then saw all the birds and was trying to brake and shimmy on the wet road, as they were not practicing driving under safe conditions. I wasn't too worried, they were screeching to a halt quite a distance away. But what-ta-id-iot.


I didn't correct the exposure, because you can see more of the turkeys this way. (grin) (Click on photo for larger.)

Two driveways up a second grouping of turkeys had just crossed and were standing around. Yesterday, I slowed in that area and saw about two dozen waiting at a driveway about to cross. There's a K-O-A campground nearby, and Mrs. Dr. Phil said that the other day someone reported early morning turkeys walking around that place.

It's like Hitchcock, but more stately and in slow motion.

Dr. Phil