I recently read an article in the Divers Alert Network’s members magazine written by a great photographer named Eddie Tapp about removing backscatter from an underwater image using Photoshop. I gave it a try and was really impressed so I am gong to show you how it works.

Backscatter is a problem for underwater photographers. It happens when light from an underwater flash is lit up and shows in the image as white dots. Although most of us work hard to try and eliminate backscatter, sometimes it’s just there.

With the photo open in Photoshop (I am using CS4 here), choose “View” from the top menu and then choose “Actual Pixels”. This will give you a 100% view of image. When you first open an image in Photoshop, you are looking at a image resolution of approximately 25% to 30%.

You can also accomplish the same thing by taking your mouse and double clicking on the “Magnifying Glass” icon on your toolbar palette.

Zooming into a 100% view allows you to see the backscatter in the image and makes the next part of our work easier.

Next, you should have the “History” panel showing on the screen. If it is not, choose “Window” from the top menu and click on the “History” choice. It will open a panel like the one on the left.

You will get the box shown on the right. First, move both sliders all the way to the left. You will have the same values that you see here. Take your mouse and click on one of the backscatter items. Try to choose a size that is consistent with the backscatter in the image.

Don’t choose too large of a backscatter item. In my photo, I have a lot of white dots that were fairly similar in size.

First, slide the “Radius” slider to the right until you see the white backscatter item disappear. You can use the up and down arrows on the keyboard to control this easier that using your mouse on the slider. After you have reached a point that looked good, increase the radius slider by one or two pixels. I found that a radius of six looked good and I then increased it to eight.

I found the next part more difficult. When you apply the radius to the photo, it blurs the entire photo and that is okay because we want that. When the photo is blurred, you remove the grain from the photo. We need that grain to achieve our objective.

If you use your mouse and click in the preview box, you will see the unfiltered image. Slide the “Threshold” slider to the right and keep checking the preview box until you get the same amount of grain the filtered selection as you have in the unfiltered selection. My eyes are getting old so I found this a little difficult. Eddie Tap notes that the “Threshold” setting will be between half  and twice the “Radius” setting. In my case, it would have been somewhere between 4 and 16. I decided that 8 looked good to me and went with it. Once you are satisfied with your choices, click on the “OK” button.

At the bottom of the “History” panel, there is an icon that looks like a camera. It is the “Snapshot” button. We will need a snapshot of the image as it is now to use later. Click on the “Snapshot” button.

Once the button is clicked, you will see will see an image under the original in the “History” panel that is named “Snapshot 1”. You will see an icon to the left of the original image that looks like a paintbrush with a counterclockwise arrow. That is for the “History” brush. Take your mouse and click in the box to the left of “Snapshot 1”. You will see the “History” brush icon move to the “Snapshot 1” image.

Take your mouse and click on “Open” box just below the “Snapshot 1” image. You will see your original image back on the screen.

Click on the “History Brush Tool” icon in your “Tools” palette and hold the mouse button down to make sure that the “History Brush Tool” is selected.

Your next choice is to choose the size of the brush that you use. You can use larger brushes with soft edges for larger areas and smaller brushes with hard edges when you get in close to your subject. You can make brushes larger and smaller using the brackets keys [ ] on your keyboard. The left one makes the brush smaller and right makes it larger.

Use the brushes palette to choose the type of brush that you want to use.

Here is the finished image. It looks so much better than it did before. It may take some time for you to be successful with this operation but it’s well worth the effort. Thank you, Eddie Tapp.

One note of caution. Do not crop or rotate your image while you are doing this procedure. It is important that the original image and the “Snapshot 1” image stay the same for this to work properly. Either rotate and crop before or after eliminating backscatter.

By the way, I looked to see if you could do the same thing in Photoshop Elements. I looked at PSE 7 but I found that there is no “History Brush Tool”. I googled to see if I could find a work around and there seems to be a way to do it but it looked like it might be pretty difficult. If anyone knows how this could be done in Photoshop Elements, please post here.

When you start the program, this is the screen that you will see. I didn’t want to extract jpegs from raw files, I wanted to do a shutter count. In the top menu, next to “Check for Update” is a selection named “Shutter Count”. I clicked on it and got this:

I selected “Run” and came to the following screen:

This is where things got a little wacky for me. I connected my D200 to my laptop with a USB cable and navigated to the compact flash card on the camera. It shows up in the navigation menu as a separate hard drive named D200. It didn’t show any photos. I tried a few times and no luck. Finally, I decided to take the last photo taken with the D200 and transfer it to my Desktop. I then searched for that file:

I selected “Load Image” and this is what I saw:

My D200 camera has 10,822 shutter clicks. That is pretty low considering that a Nikon shutter should last for 100,000 shutter clicks. By the way, this program is free. You can donate to the software designer if you find the program useful.

The second program only works on Jpeg and Tiff files so if you are shooting in Raw, you will have to convert your file to one of those formats. That shouldn’t be a problem because all of us that shoot in Raw convert to Jpeg or Tff anyway. The name of the program is Opanda IExif. It is also a fre program which does have a Pro version that does more than the free version and costs $19.99 USD. What I found out after downloading and installing it was that it did not show the shutter clicks for my Nikon D200 or Nikon D300 jpeg’s. I suppose that it may work with some cameras but it didn’t with mine.

I also read on the web that you can find the number of shutter clicks using Photoshop CS3 or CS4 by opening the file and choosing “File” “File Info” and then “Advanced” and clicking on the Exif Info section. I did not find the shutter clicks there for my Nikon D300 photo.

I found another program named ExifTool by Phil Harvey. This one worked great but understanding how to use it was also a little tough. Actually, I just had to read the “How to Use This Software” directions and all was well. What is it with us guys and directions? I downloaded the “Windows Executable” File (zip file) and extracted it to a directory. There is only one file named “exiftool(-k).exe”. To make this work, move this file to your desktop and then when you want to read the Exif  information (which includes shutter count), drag your file onto the file name on the desktop. You will have a window open like the one below:

You can see that the image count is the same as that obtained using Dr. Chung’s Preview Extractor. I am not sure that this will work with every brand of camera and I have only been looking for tools that would work on Windows and not on a Mac as I don’t own a Mac. If you have software that will work as well, please chime in here. In the meantime, I have found what I needed to help (?) enhance my sale of my mint D200.

After downloading, installing and starting the program, right click on the program icon in the taskbar and choose the “Settings” tab.

Here you can add the photos that you want to use for your wallpaper. The program comes with a couple of photos that you can use or not. I deleted the two photos that were there and loaded in my own. Note that there are choices under Wallpaper Change to choose how often the wallpaper is changed. I have mine change every hour. Under Wallpaper Properties, you can choose to have a different wallpaper on each monitor (if you are using more than one monitor).  I use the “Fit to Screen” option because my monitors are different sizes and I want the wallpaper to fit the entire screen. Also note that when you make changes in the Settings box or in the Options box, you won’t see the changes until the next scheduled wallpaper change. You can make this happen right away by right clicking on the program icon and choosing “Change Wallpaper Now”.

To add your own photos to the list, click on the “+ Add” button and you will see the following choices:

You can all separate files, all files in a folder or choose a folder to add. Once your photos are added to the list, do the following:

I selected all the images and then set the parameters that I wanted like “Fit to Screen” and show different wallpaper on each monitor.

Make sure that you look in the “Options” menu to ensure that “Run at system startup” is checked and check off any other things that you want changed.

This program ran on a Windows Vista machine as well as on a Windows XP machine. I used it on my Windows 7 Ultimate machine to change wallpapers on two separate monitors. If you love to see different wallpapers, this is the program for you.

There is also a professional version of this program that offers more options than the free version does. You can find the pro version here. The pro version costs 9.90 Euro which is $14.27 USD.

With Tom’s medical situation, we knew that we wouldn’t be leaving the area for some time to come if at all. We looked at two choices for our home – fix what needed fixing and sell our house and find a place that we would be happy with in retirement or do all the things that we wanted to in our present location and retire there. We love our location so much that the second option won out. We added on to the back of our house creating a great room and new kitchen area, replaced all our windows and doors and installed new siding and a new roof. We started our project during Christmas week in 2007 and wanted to be done in time for Tom and Lynda’s wedding at the end of May in 2008. We received our last inspection on the Tuesday before the wedding and on the day after the wedding, had more than 80 people at our home for a post wedding party.

Many of the decisions that we make are based on how they affect our retirement (when that time does come). My dive buddy, Beth Dalzell and her husband, Wes, installed a solar electric system at their home a few years ago and they were very happy with the system. Since they did theirs, the rebates offered for solar systems disappeared. Recently due to the economic stimulus programs, rebates returned and they are very good rebates. I did the math on installing solar and found for us it is a win-win situation.

The cost of the system is too high for a residential installation without rebates. The rebates made it much more affordable. The key for us was a payoff time less than 5 years. We would recoup our entire investment in that time period. I am not going to get into specific costs as they may vary depending on where you live and the size of the system. If you want specific info, send me an email and I will answer your questions.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you contemplate going solar. The roof where the panels are going to be installed should face in some southerly direction and it should not be shaded by surrounding trees. Our roof faces southwest at a 30° tilt. We have some tree issues and needed to remove a few. In our case, the trees were locust trees and we don’t like them because they tend to rot out from the inside and you don’t know that they are bad until they fall down. You should also plan on being in your home long enough to profit from the system. We have decided that this will be our last home. You have to be okay with the look of the panels on your roof. We visited a few other homes to look and see how they looked with the panels. We were okay with how our home would look. Some people will not like the look.

Next you have to find a company to supply and install the panels. With the current rebate system, these companies are pretty busy. After a lot of research, we settled on Seabright Solar. We met with their salesman, Keith Rose, and he went over our options. Before the meeting, I emailed him a copy of our electric usage for the year. That information is readily available from your electric company. He proposed a 9.9 kW-DC system. It is the largest residential system available. Their estimate was that our electric bill would be reduced by 89% with this system. Our electric cost for a 12 month period was $2,338.00. We should save $2,082.00 of that amount yearly. The system will help the environment by reducing 522,153 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

We then talked about the cost of the system. We were told about the current rebates. The State of New Jersey has a rebate of 23+% of the total cost of the system. There is also a 30% federal rebate on the cost of the system after the state rebate. That rebate is applied to your federal tax return. The real payoff in the system comes from Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) that we will receive each year. Our 9.9 kW system receives ten SRECs per year. These credits are sold back to the electric companies. The sale price per SREC that my friend, Wes, received in November of 2009 in New Jersey was $675. That provides a return of $6750.00 per year on SRECs. I am basing my system pay back on a $2,000 per year electric cost savings and $6750 for yearly SREC sales. My understanding is that we will receive SRECs for fifteen years although they may not be redeemable for that long of a time. There is also no guarantee that the price of the rebates will remain at its current level.

We signed up for our system on May 1, 2009. Seabright Solar submitted the rebate forms to the state and we received our letter of approval for the rebate at the beginning of June, 2009. We have a year to complete installation of our system to get the rebate. This rebate is paid directly to the solar company by the state. Next, permit applications were submitted to the town. Our first minor glitch came when the town wanted assurance that our roof could support the solar panels. Seabright Solar sent someone over to take measurements and they supplied the info to the town. Once past that, Seabright Solar was notified by the town that they would need to submit a zoning application which they took care of. After a few weeks waiting for approval, they were notified that the town needed a survey to complete the application. Fortunately, we had one from our addition work and that has now been submitted and we are waiting for the permit approval.

In order to get the full rebate from the state, we had to undergo an energy audit of our house. Seabright Solar set this up and when I was contacted by the energy audit contractor, I was told that the audit would take about five hours. When my friends had theirs done, it took an hour. I couldn’t imagine how the audit could drag on for five hours. Well, the audit actually took six hours and I was really impressed. They checked all the gas pipes in our home for leaks, checked the insulation in the attic, basement and crawl space. Closed off the front door and installed a fan that sucked air out of the house and they went around looking for leaks. They found a few good size leaks in the basement that pulled air through inside walls of the house from the attic to the basement. I was even more impressed when they fixed the problems and I didn’t have to pay a cent. The cost of the audit is paid by the state. I was really surprised when they found a couple of leaks in our new addition. They weren’t large but they were there and the contractor caulked them up. I am not sure how much work they are able to do under the contract but what they did at our house was pretty minor. In the end, our house passed the audit.

Now we wait for the permit from the town and the installation of our system. We will have forty-three 230 watt SUNPOWER panels. Each one is around 2.5’ x 5’. They will be connected to three 4.0 kW inverters.

Finally in late November, our panels arrived and installation began. They came to our house in a mini-pod. It was positioned in our yard so that everyone could see the SUNPOWER name.

Installation took three days and Veronica and I were very impressed with the installation and the installation crew. The first thing that they did was get into our attic and reinforce the roof beams that had the panel supports attached. I was wondering why this was necessary as the panels are very light. Nick, the foreman of the crew, explained that the reinforcement was not for the weight but for the wind load underneath the panel wanting to bow the roof. All their wiring ran through conduit and they cleaned up after themselves. They arrived at our house when they said they would and that is an exception in this day and age.

Because of the trees in our yard, the panels were put on the front roof of the house and also on a roof in the back that faced south. The original installation required two 5 kW inverters but having the panels on two roofs necessitated three 4 kW inverters. Seabright Solar did not charge any extra for the three inverter installation.

After the panel installation was complete, Chet, the electrician arrived to tie the system into the main electric panel. He was also neat and all his wiring ran through conduit. It took him about a day and a half to complete the wiring. The system works and a day after Chet left, Veronica and I stood on the side of our house and watched our electric meter run backwards. December is not one of the better months in New Jersey for solar but I estimate that we should cut our electric bill in half this month. I can’t wait until the really good months of April, May and June.

It is interesting to watch how the converters work. Every morning when it starts to get light out, you can see the three lights on each inverter start to blink. Once the panels start getting light on them, a single green light remains on and they stay this way until they lose the light and the inverters shut down.

We had a very pleasant experience with Seabright Solar. I did find that I had to stay on top of things more with the office than I did with the installation crew. With the current rebate systems in place, Seabright Solar, like other solar installers are very busy so things in the office can get pretty hectic. I don’t think that you will be sorry if you choose to use them.

Once we started looking into getting Tom into a hyperbaric chamber, we quickly hit a large hurdle, one that is extremely difficult to overcome – the cost. Medical insurance will not pay for hyperbaric oxygen treatments for traumatic brain injuries. It is not an accepted treatment yet. The cost for a single chamber treatment can be anywhere from $1800 to $3000 and it is not uncommon for a traumatic brain injury course of treatment to be eighty chamber treatments (called rides). We certainly could not afford to pay that kind of money.

As luck would have it, we were having dinner with a great friend, Mike Emmerman, who is very prominent in the SCUBA diving community. We asked if he knew anyone who might get Tom into a chamber. He said that he knew a man named Glen Butler who ran a hyperbaric chamber in Mount Vernon, New York. Mike contacted Glen who contacted Tom’s wife, Lynda, and asked for medical data on Tom. It took a little time to get things in place but Tom was admitted into the hyperbaric oxygen program as a research patient. He was initially scheduled for twenty rides in the chamber. Soon after we started, we met a neurologist at the hospital named Dr. Nouri. He explained to us that five years ago, the belief was that if the brain was damaged, it could not heal. He told us that they do not believe that now. He also explained to us about the hyperbaric oxygen entering the body from all directions and how it forces its way into damaged tissues.

We were able to get Tom into these treatments because the hyperbaric chamber unit at Mount Vernon Hospital gave us a very reduced rate. Now, three times a week, Veronica and I drive Tom from his home in Morganville, New Jersey to Mount Vernon, New York for treatment. On a good day, it is about an hour and fifteen minute ride. On a bad day, it might take more than two hours.

As of today, Tom has had twenty-nine chamber rides. He is currently scheduled to have forty and we are hopeful that more will follow. The big question is has anything happened? The big answer is YES!!! I’ll start with a moment that really opened up my eyes. For the last four years, whenever I would see Tom staring out a window, I would ask him, “what are you thinking about?” I really wanted to know that answer to that question. The answer that I got each and every time was the same answer that my wife got when she asked Tom the question. “Nothing. My mind is a blank.” About four weeks ago after Tom had had about fourteen or fifteen chamber treatments, I was driving Tom to my business after I picked him up from therapy. He was staring out the window and I asked him what he was thinking. Expecting the usual answer, I was stunned when he said, “I am thinking about what I am going to do for the rest of the day.” I stammered out another question, “do you ever think about playing golf and body boarding?” Tom thought a minute and answered “Dad, I think about them all the time.” I said that whenever I used to ask the question about what he was thinking he would always tell me that his mind was a blank. He told me that it was that way. He tells me that it is not that way anymore. He still has times when his mind is a blank but they happen much less frequently.

Veronica, Lynda and I have all noticed that Tom is more aware. He is starting to initiate more. He is starting to answer questions in sentences instead of just “yes” and “no”. One of Tom’s most serious problems is his short term memory. He has great long term memory but terrible short term memory. We are seeing changes in that as well. He is starting to hold onto more short term memories. Many of the changes that we have seen in Tom since he started treatment have been things that might not mean much to a normal person but it is huge for Tom.

Tom had a stroke that affected the right side of his face and the left side of his body. At a recent checkup by his neurologist, it was noted that Tom’s smile has gotten a little bit bigger and his right eye has gone a little further to the right of midline and that both eyes are tracking together. Dr. Michael Finkelstein, a neurologist, at Mount Vernon Hospital told me that it is probably his cranial nerves healing. Tom had damage to both his 6th and 7th cranial nerve in his initial injury.

A typical hyperbaric treatment for Tom is two hours in the chamber. He is taken to two atmospheres of pressure. He gets three air breaks during the two hours to make sure that he does not develop oxygen toxicity. Tom has to clear his ears as the pressure is increased in the chamber and he has not had any problems doing so. The people in the chamber treatment group known as the Life Support Technologies Group are incredible. The chamber operators are Manny, Mark and James. They make our visits there a pleasure. Pat manages the department and she is a terrific woman. Gerry is in charge of research and we love seeing him. Glen Butler, who runs the unit, is extremely knowledgeable and is on the top of our list of great people.

This is all great for Tom but what breaks our hearts is that other traumatic brain injured patients do not have access to hyperbaric oxygen. Mount Vernon Hospital’s Hyperbaric Oxygen Department is looking form traumatic brain injured patients for treatment. They offer treatments for $240.00 per chamber treatment. They are trying to get hyperbaric oxygen recognized as an accepted treatment program so that insurance companies will pay. You can click on the link above or you can call them at (914) 361-6535.

The following are her comments: “I downloaded your screen saver and loved the first half, but then you got into the diver petting, etc. and I must assume that you haven’t seen the PADI Dive and Save The Manatee’s Club brochure on manatees, “If you love us, please don’t touch us.” Hopefully that will become the rule for the entire state. I don’t know how to eliminate those bad things from the set so I have deleted it!”

I went to the Save The Manatee web site and read their position of swimming with the West Indian Manatees in Crystal River. They have adopted a “no hands” policy for swimming with manatees. They have other items that they would like incorporated such as disallowing the use of fins, mandating the wearing of floatation devices and not allowing anyone within ten feet of a manatee. They state that this will not affect the commercial aspect of operations that are in the business of manatee tours.

I think that they most important thing that I got out of their opinion page was that harassing manatees has to stop. I have seen a lot of it in the times that I have been in Crystal River. I think that there is a great distinction between scratching a manatee that approaches you and the kind of harassment that they show in their “award winning video.” The video accurately depicts people harassing manatees and I am all for that type of harassment to stop. I believe that there are better ways to stop the harassment than adopting a “no hands – no fins – floatation devices and ten foot boundaries.”

I believe that better education on the do’s and don’ts of interacting with manatees is essential. This can be done by the tour operators that make their living bringing people to manatees and through organizations like Save The Manatee and from web sites of people who visit and love manatees.

My wife and I have been traveling to Crystal River to swim with manatees for more than ten years and there is no doubt in my mind that manatees like to interact with humans. Not every manatee wants to interact all the time and it is very evident when they are not interested in an interaction. They just

don’t come to you. When they do, they usually want to be scratched. You can tell how much they like it when they roll over on their backs and allow you to scratch their stomachs. No one makes them do that. They do it because they like it. Think how unprotected they are when they are on their backs. I have seen manatees drive people crazy until they got scratched. I watched a juvenile swim between my wife’s legs while she was standing in shallow water. When my wife didn’t react, the manatee started rubbing itself against her legs. It didn’t stop until she paid attention to the manatee.

On one of our first trips to Crystal River, my wife was interacting with a manatee and started to get tired. She took her hand off the manatee’s stomach and the manatee used its flipper to bring her hand back. What does that mean? I think that the manatee wanted the interaction as much as my wife did!

So what constitutes harassment? There are a lot of things and most of them occur when people are stupid or don’t care. I have seen people trying to ride a manatee. I have seen them grab manatees and try to keep them on the surface or not let them swim away. I have seen them dive down and harass manatees resting on the bottom. The manatees are on the bottom because they don’t want to be bothered. I think that sometimes harassment happens because people get excited. It is not every day that you can be in the water with an animal that can weigh in at 2000 pounds.

So how can we help to stop this? I think that we all need to get involved and stop people when they are doing something that they are not supposed to do. We can try and educate others as to the proper methods of interacting with manatees. Granted, there are going to be people who aren’t going to listen but those same people are not going to listen to any other methods of discouragement.

I see a lot of groups of children that come to the Crystal River. I am not sure if they are from schools but if they are they should be taught by their teachers about proper manatee etiquette. I also believe that tour operators that rely on bringing people to see and interact with manatees have a responsibility to ensure that their paying clients act responsibly. If they don’t, it is the tour operator’s livelihood that is at stake.

As an underwater photographer, I have a vested interest in manatees. I would love to continue to photograph them and I would love for everyone to experience the beauty of the West Indian manatee. I want the opportunity to interact with manatees to stay as it is. I don’t want the action of a few misguided individuals to force the government to dictate policy to all of us. I know that it is hard to step in and tell people that they are doing something wrong but we must. If you are a parent, it is your responsibility to educate your children about proper etiquette with manatees. If you don’t, how are their children going to be able to experience what we have?

I guess that my point in this blog is to see how you feel about this?

I tried downloading the newest ATI Catalyst Suite from the AMD web site and installed it into the laptop. It installed okay and I was able to set the resolution that I had with Vista. At one point, I had to restart me laptop and that’s when the headaches began. As the laptop shut down, I got a blue screen of death (BSOD) and an with the culprit being ATI2DVAG.dll. I searched and searched and couldn’t find a solution. I tried all different types of fixes that I found on the internet without any joy. I downloaded older versions of the ATI driver and tried to install them. Sometimes, I was successful and sometimes I was not. In any case, nothing worked. I finally removed all the ATI drivers from my system, restarted and had Windows 7 load in a generic VGA driver. My system worked but I could not get to the resolution that I had before and one of my favorite screen savers would not work because of a direct x problem.

After hours of looking, I happened onto the DriverHeaven site where I found DH Mobility Modder.net and their program Mobility Modder. It was the answer to my problems. Their newest version added support for Windows 7 drivers. The process was not difficult. Rather than explain each step, jump to their site and follow the directions. The site claims that nothing bad is added to your system using their process.

Make sure that you follow the directions and I hope that you find the same success that I did. I can now enjoy Windows 7 without all the hassles of video driver problems.

The great people at Special Strides have added another dimension to Tom’s favorite things. They have started him into horseback riding. Now Tom has never been horseback riding and he had never driven a horse and buggy before going to Special Strides.

Tom’s session of horse and buggy riding or horseback riding starts the same way with Tom grooming his horse. When he rides the horse and buggy, his horse is Gypsy and when horseback riding, he rides Magic.

I couldn’t go for his first horseback riding experience but I made it to the second. The first thing that impressed me was how great all the people from Special Strides where with Tom. They really care and they interact with him and he loves every second of it. Initially, Tom can’t take the reins and just take Magic wherever he wants. The specialists at Special Strides have to make sure that Tom can maintain his balance on the horse and that he is comfortable. His team included three people: Mary who led Magic on their journey, Melissa Jarzynski, MSPT, a member of the hippotherapy staff, who walked along on one side of Tom and Paula O’Neill of the Therapeutic Riding Team who walked along on the other side. They helped Tom find his balance in the saddle.

Paula, Melissa and Mary chatted away with Tom as they took him along a path into the woods and back again and onto the mile long track at Congress Hill Farm where the thoroughbreds exercise.

I guess that I should back up a little. After Tom grooms Magic, who is a  breeding stock paint horse, the team takes him to a small ramp so that it can be easier for him to mount the horse. Tom had no trouble getting aboard Magic and the group was soon on their way. Veronica, Francesca (a volunteer at Special Strides) and my wife Veronica and I followed along. Tom was enjoying every minute of the experience.

Before we knew it, the ride was over and Tom was back at the stable. I especially liked watching him dismount. He did not use the elevated platform. He swung his leg over Magic and slid off the saddle onto the ground. Paula and Melissa both said that they had seen an improvement in Tom in just one week. Veronica and I were happy about the news as was Tom’s lovely wife, Lynda.

So, Tom’s Wild Ride continues. It has been a long, hard four years but Tom has found the strength to continue to improve. Lynda, Veronica and I will not give up on our quest to bring Tom back to us completely. We will do whatever it takes to see him whole again.

With the help of some great friends and great people, we have gotten Tom into a hyperbaric oxygen treatment program. We have read about people with traumatic brain injury having success with these types of treatments. The tough part is finding someone who will pay for these treatments. I am sure that you are wondering why hyperbaric oxygen? A neurologist at the hospital where Tom is getting the treatment explained it well to us today. As we walk this earth, we breathe 32% oxygen. When a person goes into a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, they are breathing 100% oxygen with 1.25 to 1.75 atmospheres of pressure on their body. A University of Pennsylvania (Penn) study found that “a typical course of oxygen treatments increases by eight-fold the number of stem cells circulating in a person’s body.” These stem cells find their way to injured parts of the body and help repair those areas. As little as five years ago, the belief was that injured parts of the brain could not heal. That is not the belief today. Here is another quote from the Penn study: “Stem cells exist in the bone marrow of human beings and animals and are capable of changing their nature to become part of many different organs and tissues. In response to injury, these cells move from the bone marrow to the injured sites, where they differentiate into cells that assist in the healing process. The movement, or mobilization, of stem cells can be triggered by a variety of stimuli – including pharmaceutical agents and hyperbaric oxygen treatments. Where as drugs are associated with a host of side effects, hyperbaric oxygen treatments carry a significantly lower risk of such effects.”

Will hyperbaric oxygen help Tom? We hope and pray that it does. I will keep you updated on his progress.

If you want to see more photos of Tom grooming and horseback riding, visit my Photo Gallery and click on Physically Challenged and Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center or just click here.

One of the things that did happen over the course of the year is that Veronica and I gave the hawk a nickname – Screech! Over the course of time, he lived up to his name but managed to stay far enough away from me that I couldn’t get a descent photo.

I did some Google research on red-tailed hawks so that I would know a little more about them.

They are considered a small-sized bird of prey but Screech seems to be pretty large to me. They are also colloquially known as “chickenhawk” although it rarely preys on chickens but at the Brick Reservoir, Screech has become known more as a “duck hawk” as he has been feeding on the resident mallard ducks.

Red-tailed hawks are found in central Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories east to southern Quebec and the Maritime Provinces of Canada, and south to Florida, the West Indies and Central America. Its preferred habitat is mixed forest and field, with high bluffs or trees that may be used as perch sites.

When they fly, they flap their wings as little as possible to conserve energy. They can travel from 20 to 40 mph.

Red-tailed hawks are opportunistic feeders. Their diet is mainly small mammals but it also includes birds and reptiles. They reach sexual maturity at two years of age so I guess that Shriek is there as we have seen him (her) for over a year. They are monogamous birds and mate with the same individual for many years. They usually only take another mate when their original mate dies.

Every time that we have seen Screech, the bird has been alone so I guess that Screech is on the lookout for a mate.

My big breakthrough for Screech came a few weeks ago as Veronica and I walked around the reservoir and it happened almost in our back yard. Our back yard borders on the Brick Reservoir.

We moved into Brick in 1986 and our backyard was a sand pit. When the company that was mining the pit went out of business, there was talk about a number of different uses, most of which we did not want to see.

When the talk came around to a reservoir, we were thrilled. They have become great neighbors for us. We love living where we do.

As we approached our back yard from the reservoir, we noticed some people standing and looking at the woods. They weren’t sure what they were looking at. I heard comments like “it’s an osprey hawk” or “is that an owl?” Veronica and I knew that it was Screech and we informed anyone that stopped that it was a red-tailed hawk. He was on a tree branch about ten feet off the ground. I asked Veronica to walk to the house and get my camera while I kept an eye on Screech. When we first saw Screech, he was facing us and we could see the beautiful colors of his underside. By the time Veronica came out and handed me the camera over the back yard fence, Screech had turned his back on us but was kind enough to keep looking to see what we were up to. I managed to get off a few photos before he flew to the ground to partake in something that we could not see because of the dense underbrush. One of the men that work at the reservoir told me about Screech landing on a wooden fence that is between the walking path and the water. A woman walked right past the hawk and it didn’t move. How cool is that?

I did a lot of my research on Wikipedia.org. They are a storehouse of information. If you would like to see more photos of red-tailed hawks, including a few that my son, Tom, took years ago, you can visit my Photo Gallery or go direct to Red-tailed hawk photos by clicking here. I have to say that I am really jealous of Tom’s red-tailed hawk photos. He used a Canon point-and-shoot camera and crawled on his stomach and got very close to the hawk. This is that photo.