Taking That First Step

It's hard to get started back blogging after letting it go for so long. It's very much like trying to get started back on an exercise routine after you've let yourself get all flabby and out of shape. When that happens, the best you can do is just make yourself take that first step. May, June and July went by without a blog post and I'm determined to not let August get by me as well. So here goes nothing!

I'm very sorry you haven't heard from me, but life has overwhelmed me lately. I wish I could say it's slowed down but... not so much. It continues at break neck speed.

One of the problems is figuring out where to start. So much has happened that I couldn't possibly do it justice. By the time I could find the time to tell you about all that, more stuff will have happened. So here's the abreviated synopsis. Maybe I'll find time to come back and fill in the details. But, if I don't, at least you'll get the overview. In no particular order.



Our Turn

I purchased a ten acre property in Poetry, Texas. This is the place where Mindy and I are building our future together. For now, we call it "Our Turn." Someday, we'll just call it "home." It's kept us very busy. It had a three-piece manufactured home on it that had to be moved. Then there was tree clearing, digging a pond, leveling a pad site for our future home and building a fence and a pier. And more tree clearing. And more cleaning. And... you get the idea. This place will keep us busy for years!

Up In Smoke

You may know there were a lot of wild fires in Texas earlier in the year. Well, my deer lease was among the casualties. It is located just south of Possum Kingdom Lake, an area that was hit very hard by the fires. My travel trailer and all the contents were completely burned up. Also, one of my blinds, a trail camera and some other items. My travel trailer wasn't covered by insurance, but the contents were. (Although only after a large deductible.) Recovery took quite a lot of my time. First I shopped for a new travel trailer. When I found one, it needed quite a bit of work. And, of course, there was shopping for contents and dealing with the insurance adjuster. Then taking the trailer to the lease, setting it up, etc. All this was very, very time consuming, but I'm almost back to square one with the exception of one blind.

Punta Cana

Mindy and I took a vacation to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic with my mom and my daughter. We stayed at the Iberostar Grand Bavaro resort. It was fabulous! The food was wonderful, the people were friendly and the service was fantastic! I highly recommend it!

Roadkill Chili Cookoff

Mindy hosted the 6th Annual Roadkill Chili cookoff. I won second place (behind Mindy's mom, Phyllis) with my wild hog chili recipe. A good time was had by all!

Grandma

I lost my 89 year old grandma last week. The funeral was yesterday. I feel kind of bad "glossing this over" because she was a wonderful, sweet lady and deserves all the honor I can bestow upon her. She had been in a nursing home and was suffering from dementia brought on simply by old age. Bless her heart, she just wore out.

I guess I'll share just this one thing... One of the things I remember about grandma from my childhood is long goodbyes. We would go to her house and, when it was time to go, she just wouldn't let us! To tell you the truth, it was a little annoying at the time, but we all knew it was because she loved us. It was during those long goodbyes that she would tell me, "David, I pray for you every day, every day, every day!" I later learned that when something is repeated in scripture, it's to add emphasis. I don't know if that's where grandma got the "every day, every day, every day" thing, but I do know she read her bible a lot, so it's a good theory.

Anyway, the point is, she really meant that she prayed for me every single day. And I have no doubt that she did. I really don't have any way of knowing what my life would have been like without all of grandma's prayers, but I'm grateful. Years later as an adult, I heard the song "Somebody's Prayin'" by Ricky Skaggs. I couldn't help but think Ricky was singin' about my grandma. And I still think of her everytime I hear that song. When he sings the part, "Lord, I thank you for those people prayin' all this time for me," well... I do feel a little emotional. Thanks, Grandma!

Everything Else

The above is just a part of everything that's happened over the last few months. I turned 50 years old. We lost a very special chicken. My mom broke her leg. And more. So much has happened! But I'll stop there. Remember, I was going to be brief!

Time Is Running Out

I'm sure you know that the big antique show in Warrenton is fast approaching. Mindy and I were there last weekend doing a little last minute preparation.

Well, while we were there, we found a Killdeer sitting on a couple of eggs.



Here's the mama Killdeer...



And here are her "babies"...



Mama Killdeer tried to lure us away from her eggs by feigning injury...



Unfortunately, the nest is right in a main driving area for the many trucks and travel trailers that will be rolling into this field in a few days. Eeeek!

Come on, babies, hurry up and hatch! Time is running out!

The Camel Tree

What is the camel tree you ask?



It's a tree that Mindy and I always see on our way to Warrenton. From a distance, it looks to us like a camel in silhouette. So we started calling it "the camel tree."



It's gotten to the point where it's become a sort of landmark for us. We actually look forward to seeing it each trip.



Do you see the "camel?" It's laying down in the shade of the big oak.



Of course, as you get closer, it starts to look a little more like a tree and a little less like a camel.



After seeing it so many times, we finally decided to pull over and take a few pictures.



And that, my friends, is the camel tree!

Wild West

Stephens County, Texas

New Playground in Stephens County

It's been a whirlwind lately! Sometimes I forget what I've told you guys and what I haven't. I have a new deer lease in Stephens County, Texas. Is this news to you?

It's just a little south of Possum Kingdom State Park , which of course is on Possum Kingdom Lake. Mindy and I were there over Memorial Day weekend to take my new travel trailer and set it up. Oh yeah, I bought a new travel trailer too! Have I told you that yet? Yes, I have a new travel trailer for the deer lease. That way I can leave my old one in Warrenton for the big shows. Anyway...

On the way back, I got the above shot of my sweetheart with a wooden Indian. Here's another one of just the Indian...




Isn't he great?! The crack in his feathers just adds character! I've got my feeders running at the new lease and the trail cams going. Hopefully, I'll be showing you pictures from the new place soon!

Winter In The Yukon

My geocaching travel bug, "Would I Lie To You?", spent the whole winter in the Yukon Territory. Brrrrr! In short pants, no less!

That boy really gets around! Since I dropped him off in March of 2008, he's been in Texas, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Alaska and the Yukon. Here's a Google Earth map of his travels so far...



I received an email from the person he's currently staying with and was assured that he will be hitting the road again soon. If you would like to follow his adventure, visit his page here.

Mindy and I will be doing a little geocaching this weekend. Who knows, maybe we'll run into him!

Reflections

No, it's not f-stop friday. But I wanted to share this picture that I took last weekend.

This was our view from the veranda of Le Shiloh Shabby Chateau!

After a few days there, the rest of the world seems upside down!



Click here for more pictures of our romantic weekend getaway.

Zapp Through My Lens

Just grab her leg and hold on tight!



Clicking the photo above will start a slide show of 80 photos. It's the best way to view my Zapp photos in large size, but may not be dial-up friendly. Alternatively, you can view the set here. Either way be sure to enlarge the window to full size.

And if you were at Zapp, you'd better look at all the photos because YOU could be in there!

Hope you enjoy!

Warrenton... WHEW!

Mindy and I are back from twelve glorious days in Warrenton! And I'm exhausted! I'll have more pictures to share later. Still processing. In the meantime, just to prove I'm still alive, here's a picture that I took in Debbie and Danny's tent...



Please forgive my lack of comments. I'll try to get back to perusing your blogs soon!

f-stop Friday - Old Glory Alaska Style

We will never forget.

This Hallowed Ground

No, not the civil war book by Bruce Catton. And maybe "hallowed" is a slight exageration. But I did get the feeling that there's something very special about this piece of real estate!

On Labor Day weekend, Mindy took me to the place where she will be set up near Zapp Hall in Warrenton. I got to see the lay of the land. Up close. Personal.

I liked the colors, textures, highlights and shadows of this nearby rustic outbuilding. It seemed very photo-worthy!



I hope I am not treading on her toes to blog about our visit, but it was exciting to finally see this place in person! I'm pretty sure she will do a thorough blog later, so consider this only a sampling!



Talk about chippy white paint! It's quiet now, but not for long! I look forward to meeting new and old friends there very soon!

f-stop Friday - Eskimo Smile

This young Athabascan Indian is a college student. She is wearing the traditional sealskin clothing of her ancestory. Traditional, that is, except for one modern convenience... a zipper!

I took this photo in Alaska in 2007. Today I decided to try it with a square crop, sepia tone and vignette. It makes me smile. Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

A Whale of a Tale

Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads
A whale of a tale or two
'Bout the flappin' fish and the girl I love
On a night like this with the moon above
A whale of a tale and it's all true
I swear by my tattoo

Do you know that song? As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, when Mindy and I were in Boston, we went whale watching. I had been whale watching once before on a vacation with my kids in Alaska. So I had some idea what to expect and was prepared with my 200mm lens and my 2x teleconverter.

Coming out of the harbor, we saw this lighthouse. Kinda pretty, huh?



Thar she blows! Come on, I know you've always wanted to say that! Go ahead, I'll wait! THAR SHE BLOWS! Good job!



Here's a Humpback's humped back. All the whales we saw were Humpbacks. Bless their hearts.



I'm assuming this whale is from Texas. Cause she's so friendly. See, she's waving at you. Hi, y'all!



Humpback cows sometimes slap the surface of the water with their flippers to call their calves closer to them. At least that's the theory. But I still say they're just waving hello!



Now here's where our whale of a tale turns to a tail of a whale. I took the following picture of the bottom of the fluke of one of the whales. The captain of the boat was interested in the photo because they identify individual whales by the pattern on the bottom of the fluke. She was not able to identify the whale from the book of photographs she had. Of course, it was hard for her to see details in the pattern because she was viewing it on my camera’s LCD screen, not on a computer.



Fast forward to six days ago. Some of you know I use Flickr to share my photos. I received a comment on the above photo on my Flickr photostream from an administrator of a Flickr group called “Humpback Whale Flukes” inviting me to add my picture to the group and telling me that this particular whale is an eleven year old female named Etch-A-Sketch and she is HWC#8484 on the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog.

It seems there are over 6,000 whales that have been cataloged by photos of their flukes. And because whale calves stay with their mother for a period of time, they actually have the maternal side of the family trees mapped out on many of the whales. It was interesting to me to find out that this whale, Etch-A-Sketch, is the daughter of Thalassa and the granddaughter of Salt. Salt is the most photographed and famous of humpback whales, having been seen each of the last 32 years in a row! She is even the star of a video called “Salt and Friends.”

Having had success at identifying Etch-a-Sketch, I then submitted the following photo to the same Flickr group.



A couple days later one of the members identified her as a twenty-one year old female named Tornado, HWC#0741. How cool is that? So I"m two for two on tails of a whale. And with that I end my whale of a tale.

f-stop Friday - Fishing Boat in Silhouette

Fishing Boat in Silhouette, originally uploaded by Snakelover61.

While Mindy and I were in Boston, we went on a whale watching trip. I hope to blog more about that later, but for now I want to share with you one of the pictures from that little excursion.

Creating a silhouette like this is pretty easy. All you really need is a good amount of difference in lighting between the subject and the background. In other words, high contrast. Of course, it's better if the subject is readily recognizable just by its outline. Then you simply underexpose the subject. In this case, I literally only had to point and shoot because almost everything the light meter was reading was brighter than the fishing boat.

This was already a silhouette straight off the camera, but more hazy and "bland" than what you see here. So I did a little post-shot processing, tweaking the brightness, contrast and saturation levels to arrive at this. I also cropped for a more pleasing (to me) composition.

Peaceful, isn't it? Can you hear the sea gulls? Smell the ocean? Feel the breeze on your face?

Enjoy your weekend!

Boston Statues - Dead or Alive

I am working in my warehouse today. It's over 100 degrees in there and I'm working alone. Of course, I'm concerned about heat stroke and such because there would be no one to revive me or drag my butt back into the air conditioning! I am cognizant of the inherent dangers. So I'm drinking lots of water and taking frequent cool down breaks just to be on the safe side. Figured posting a blog from my air conditioned office would be a nice thing to do while I'm cooling off, so here I am!

I love a good statue! And Mindy and I got to see lots of interesting statues in Boston on our recent vacation. I thought maybe you'd like to see some of them. This first one is a memorial dedicated to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the all-black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry that he led. The movie "Glory" is based on the story.



Colonel Shaw was killed in battle and was buried by the Confederates in a mass grave along with many of the black soldiers who served under him. This was intended as an insult to the white officer.

Said the Confederate General, Johnson Hagood, "Had he been in command of white troops, I should have given him an honorable burial; as it is, I shall bury him in the common trench with the negroes that fell with him."

Colonel Shaw's father had a different take on it, stating, "We would not have his body removed from where it lies surrounded by his brave and devoted soldiers....We can imagine no holier place than that in which he lies, among his brave and devoted followers, nor wish for him better company – what a body-guard he has."

Good stuff! Mindy and I really enjoyed this next one, the Hungarian Revolution Memorial.



Mindy and I were both fascinated by the faces on the memorial base. They are among the rubble of war, depicting the lives lost in the revolution. The centerpiece of the memorial is a woman standing atop the rubble lifting a baby toward the sky. I think this represents a new beginning. Hope. Freedom.



It's really hard to capture the full impact of this memorial. I knew nothing of the Hungarian Revolution, but this made me want to learn about it. Here's what John F. Kennedy said on the first anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution.

"October 23rd, 1956 is a day that will live forever in the annals of free men and nations. It was a day of courage, conscience and triumph. No other day since history began has shown more clearly the eternal unquenchability of man's desire to be free, whatever the odds against success, whatever the sacrifice required."



I think President Obama should think about that.



This next statue is dedicated to General Joseph Hooker. Known as "Fighting Joe," he had a long and distinguished military career. But he is best known as the man who defeated General Robert E. Lee.



Behind the statue of General Hooker is the State Building with it's gold lief gilded dome.

But not ALL of the statues we saw in Boston were dead! No, some were very much alive!



These two young ladies are called "Living Statues." They remain as still as a statue until you put some money in their tip container. Then they move for a few seconds, freezing in a new position.



Pretty cool, huh? The boys can do it too!



Doesn't he look stoic?



Well, I'd probably better get back to work! Thanks for the break!