This Jacket Has Pants!

Thursday afternoon Colby came by work in order for us to go to Bingo. We haven't been in months - got out of the habit after the Arizona trip. Anyway, he wanted to go to Goodwill to try and find some 70s looking clothing for the Paris homecoming - the theme being the 1970s. He found a brown jacket and pants combination that he liked, but he pants were too big, so Colby ditched the pants and got just the jacket and a weird brown-yellow shirt. The cashier silently rang it all up with no problem, until she noticed the tag on the jacket. Hitherto silent, she blurted out in a nasal yet stentorian voice, "This jacket has pants!". The next five minutes or so were spent convincing her that he only wanted the jacket - she was adamant that "This jacket has pants - I can't sell this jacket without the pants!" over and over, even though I (being the adult, lol) assured her that Colby only wanted the jacket. She finally consented, but reluctantly - and continued to remind us that "You know this jacket has pants - I'm not supposed to sell this jacket without the pants". Apparently, this rule has been drilled into the Goodwill employees minds - never sell a jacket without the pants!

BTW, we went to Bingo afterward, and Colby hit Blackout - winning $350 (he split it with some old Bingo lady behind us). This will completely pay for the diamond mining trip next week as well as part of the New York trip next summer. The nice thing is that Colby paid me back the cost of buying the cards, plus he split the winnings with me - since I took him to bingo, he said. No argument there, lol!

Arkansas Ho!

Next weekend, Colby and I are going to Diamond Crater in Arkansas (about 7 hours from here, according to Google Maps) to prospect for - you guessed it - diamonds! Actually, I just needed an excuse for a quick road trip with plenty of photo ops (scenery, wildlife, etc) and this seemed to fit the bill - plus the whole idea sounds interesting. At any rate, I'll be able to put into practice some of the new techniques I learned from the many books Mark gave me a couple of weeks ago on photography - some serious stuff, mind you. We'll see how it pans out. And if I can persuade Marion to let me borrow her laptop, I can blog and upload pics as I go. Or Maybe Dee will let me borrow Iris (her Mac) - ha ha, fat chance - don't worry Dee, I wouldn't let he go, either!

Chickens!

A few months ago after the Arizona trip, I found myself venturing into the poultry business. At the peak of KB Farms rise to glory, we has about 17 chickens, three turkeys, three ducks, and two geese. They all died, from various causes, even the Gray Avenger (see video - Lindsey named him). All I have to say is...chickens are dumb.

Cooking With Duck

Found on Google Video - hilarious!

Photo Habit

Argh!! I took no pictures today - the idea was to finally have a do-nothing Saturday for the first time in weeks. No outings, jaunts, travelling of any kind, no forays into unknown territory for photo magic - just relaxation. And this evening I was overwhelmed with a pressing desire to take photos of something - ANYTHING, just so long as I could click the shutter and hear it snap open and shut. Ahhhhhh. Even the bathroom tile began to look good as a subject - some geometrical studies, perhaps. And that was when I knew I have gotten into photography as more than a hobby - it's an obsession.
So I forced myself to put down the camera, zip it up in its bag, and veg in front of the TV for awhile. The urge to click went away (kinda) but it is still lurking underneath, waiting for a weak moment. I should probably stop taking my camera with me everywhere - a guy at work calls my camera bag my 'man purse'. Anyway, this has turned into a completely pointless post (as they all tend to be, ha ha) so I will end it now...and perhaps break out the camera......

100000 Years and Counting

32 and counting - gosh, that seems like a large number. Hey, I'm 2^5 years old! That's 100000 in binary, and 20 in hex (base 16 for you non-geek types). Anyway, who would actually spend the time to calculate their age in non base 10 numbering systems? (me apparently)
Actually, today was rather fun, despite not taking off from work. And why bother? I'd have just stayed home and Flickrd all day long, which is exactly what I'm going to do tonight, starting in a few minutes, because this evening I saw one of the more awesome lightning shows of this year - a perfect opportunity to test out my new lightning photography skills. Or rather, to test what I have learned about photography in general as applied to the interesting situation of lightning photography - low light, nonfunctional autofocus, long exposures, higher ISO ratings which means more noise in the photo ESPECIALLY with longer exposures, fleeting nature of subject, and so forth. The results won't be shown on the Weather Channel anytime (unless it's a slow weather day, and I mean sloooooooooooooow) but a few were nice, considering this was my first attempt. They'll be on Flickr soon so check out the link on the sidebar.
There has been far too much death, suicide, and killings in this fair town of late. Not to go into details, but one person was killed, one killed himself (after killing the first person), one died in a wreck, and one kid attempted suicide, all in one week. All of these people were young (early to late teens), which makes it doubly tragic.
I discovered some missing pics on Dee's Ressurection Computer. Here's the story behind that: Back in 2004, both our computers crashed relatively close, timewise. Mine was struck by lightning, and hers died of (I believe) smoke inhalation, lol. Long story short, the stuff that was kaput on my system was okay on hers, and the stuff on her's that was kaput was just peachy on mine. So we cobbled together a single computer from two dead ones. Hmm, I guess the ressurection idea doesn't fly - okay, we Frankensteined a new computer from two dead ones. Anyway, there were some pics on there I did not archive, but the other night at her house I got on the old computer (still running!) and I found all those old wonderful photos. Now I just need to get them off of there and back on to mine, so I can Flickr them too. I love Flickr.....

Kinda Obvious

This morning I was listening tp the radio and an ad for some prescription sleep aid comes on. Nothing out of the ordinary here - until it got to the list of possible side effects. The speaker droned through the usual suspects - headache, dry mouth, nausea, and drowsiness.

Wait a minute. Drowsiness is a SIDE EFFECT?? That's like saying a side effect of Viagra is...well, you get the idea. Drowsiness isn't a side effect, it's the primary point, the entire reason for the drug in the first place. This ad actually annoyed me with its stupid list of side effects, which I know is to cover legal issues, but still. Or am I being unreasonable? Who knows.

Whirlwind Saturday

Today, Colby and I went to Oklahoma City to see the 45th Infantry Museum (and to take lots of pics!) We've planned this for awhile but Colby's tooth injury precluded us from going last week (See the Barksdale trip instead)
It was actually very interesting, especially the section of the museum devoted to Dachau, the concentration camp. The images from there were most disturbing - nothing I cared to photograph, but poignant nonetheless. Of course, the airplane and tanks located outside the museum were excellent photo opps.
Coming down I-35S into Gainesville, I missed the 82 exit and proceeded all the way to Denton, quite aways out of the way. We had to backtrack, all the while listening to Colby talk about my lack of navigational sense.
Actually, we had a good time. I hadn't seen Colby since August, and he even told me he missed me (awww), which is a wonder for a 15 year old. Anyway, we are meeting again next week to help him study for his 6-week tests, especially algebra and biology. Seems he isn't doing so well in either subject.
Ahh, the forecast calls for severe storms! Better get the camera battery charged....

Barksdale AFB

Saturday I made an impromptu trip to Barksdale AFB in Shreveport to take pics of the aircraft on display there.




I posted most of these pics as HDRs - some more successful than others. Next weekend I plan to travel to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City with Colby and check out the planes they have there.

Speaking of Colby - he injured himself pretty bad Friday. Seems he was jumping on the trampoline and wound up hitting his mouth with his knee, knocking the tooth about 30 degrees off angle, according to Marion. When she told me about this, I was sorely tempted to drive out there just to check on him.

Nothing much else of interest has happened recently. I'm just lookinf forward to taking more pics at Tinker next weekend with Colby, assuming he's all healed up by then.

ARGH!!!!

Enough is enough! I have spent most of today on FLickr, adding descriptions to pics I uploaded earlier, posting pics to groups, and most of all, waiting for all the comments and views to come rolling in. It's an addiction. I need to stop and take a break, just to let my eyes rest and have a stretch. And yet I am mysteriously called back to Flickr......can't resist urge.....must post pics....ARGHH! :)

The Untold Story.... :)

I have decided to do a recap of my trip out west earlier this year, as a sort of photoblog entry here, because....well, I've just been meaning to do it. So here's the story of how it all came about, and the journey itself, lol.

Back in late 2005, I was over at Marion's (a friend of mine from my old church) one night - I forget why - oh yeah, she had asked me over to tell me she was going to set me up with a date at some point (which turned out less than stellar, but that's a story for another time). Anyway, we got to talking about places we've been. Marion used to live out in West Texas, and she mentioned Carlsbad Caverns was a cool place to go. I thought it would be as well, but I don't like to take trips by myself. Well, her son Colby (the one who shadows me much of the time, lol) chimed in - "Beej, you and I could go over Spring Break!" My first thought was.....uhh no. But we talked it over, and it started sounding like fun.
Anyway, Shelton, Colby's older brother (who is old enough to drive, muy importante!) also wanted to go, and so he got added to the passenger list. As the weeks went on, we kept adding new destinations: the Davis Mountains, Palo Duro Canyon, Ship Rock, Roswell. At the Superbowl Party over at Dennis', Robert overheard our plans. By that time we were thinking of going as far west as the Four Corners. Robert told us that as long as we were going that far, we might as well go to the Grand Canyon. Suddenly, lights went off in my mind -- visiting the Grand Canyon is one of the items on my List Of Things To Do Someday. Going on the Price Is Right is another, btw. Anyhoo, everything gelled at that moment - a grand journey it would be!
So we began all the planning and stuff for the trip. Colby and I had been going to Bingo on Thursday evenings since January, and we put all our considerable winnings toward the trip (it was probably close to $1000 or so, minus the cost of playing). Colby would think of things we would need on the trip, and we'd go shopping at WalMart on the weekends when they were on sale.
Finally, the big day was here. I took off early from work that Friday, drove out to Marion's, loaded up all their gear and whatnot, and we finally left around 4:30 PM or so. Driving along US 82, we stopped for this pic (looking back east) and a stretch break.



We continued on, through Wichita Falls (where we ate at the historic Carl's Jr, the same CJ I ate at on the band ski trip to Colorado many moons ago) all the way to Amarillo. Along the way, we listened to Johnny Cash - not much else at all. Actually it was Johnny Cash and music from Walk The Line, too. However, at one point (and I have it on video for proof), someone started playing My Humps (ugh, I can't stand that song) and we did the singalong music video thing. Funny to watch myself, horrible to think of someone else watching it.
We made Amarillo that night, found a cheap hotel (Econolodge, I think), and stayed up singing along with Shelton playing his guitar. He and I do a pretty good I Walk The Line, complete with harmony, ha ha.
Somewhat early the next morning (Saturday 3/11) we head out again. Just outside Amarillo, right off I-40, is the Cadillac Ranch.

(Shelton walks in front of the Cadillacs, while Colby is perched on top)

The story behind this (or so the legends go) is that Stanley Marsh was getting a divorce. Being a rich man, he had a collection of Cadillacs his soon to be ex wife had her eye on. To keep her from getting them, he had them buried like so, and turned it into a roadside attraction. You're even expected to bring spraypaint and graffiti the cars! We didn't have any, but fortunately other people let us borrow a can.

We left the Cadillac Ranch and headed for New Mexico. At the border, there was an interesting sign at the Visitor Center.

Watch for snakes???

Leaving the Visitors Center (where we loaded up on plenty of free maps and such) we continued along I-40 through Albuquerque, then northwest towards Farmington, where Shelton was born. We spent the night in a Holiday Inn Express, by far the nicest place we stayed at the whole trip.
From Farmington, we set out the next morning for Ship Rock.

It's very isolated, well off the beaten path, and we finally made it. As I parked the car, we noticed the car rocking back and forth - the wind was so strong, it felt like it would lift off the ground and fly (or roll over, ouch!). We got out and immediately discovered what wind chill really means. Oh man it was cold and GUSTING!!

Anyway, here is Ship Rock - I had to literally brace myself against the car to take this shot, what with the hurricane force winds (well, maybe I exaggerate, but they sure were strong!)


And here is a scene looking to the left of the previous photo - you can kinda spot Shelton on the right, center.


After quickly returning to the vehicle and turning the butt warmers to full power (i.e., heated seats, but Colby calls them butt warmers, which is a fitting description too), we got out of there, since we were on private property (see the fence above - we went inside it). Set course for Colorado!


The plan was to get a room in Cortez, CO, then go to Mesa Verde and spend the day there seeing the old indian ruins. Nature had something else in mind. The moment we crossed into Colorado from New Mexico, a snowstorm appeared out of nowhere. Apparently, CO had already gotten LOTS of snow. Anyway, as we travelled down the highway, the snow got so bad I had to pull over at this little trading post.

You know the winter storm is bad when the icicles are horizontal. Yikes!! Anyway, it was fortuitous that we stopped there - this was the only place we found pinion nuts for Dale.

After leaving the trading post, we drove on to Cortez and found a nice (!) place called the Aneth Lodge. From there we went straight for Mesa Verde. You drive up this mountain highway, fairly steep for this Texas boy, lol, and then we saw this sign:

Not good. It turns out they were shutting the park down for the day - too much snow or something, the ranger lady told us. So scrap Mesa Verde - we went back to the motel room for a bit (meaning nap time for some of us, ha ha), then went to dinner at a little italian place which had the best italian food I have ever eaten - and our waitress was a double for Dicie Rue - I mean they could be sisters at least, if not identical twins!! But she was nice, so they aren't identical (rimshot!) Seriously, though, we've talked about a quickie weekend trip back to Cortez to see Mesa Verde AND to get some more of that italian food, if we can find the place again! Anyway, after dinner, we went back to the motel room and spent the rest of the evening playing poker, listening to Shelton play Johhny Cash on his guitar, and having a good time. The police showed up around 1 AM - something was going on at another room. Never did get a good look at what was happening, but it was exciting - like watching COPS but live!

We left Cortez the next day and headed for the Grand Canyon. We saw some interesting rock formations, such as this one:



Along the way, we stopped at the Four Corners national park (actually I believe its on Navajo land or something like that)

I wasn't too impressed witht the monument itself - yeah yeah, stand in four states at once, I get it. And it didn't take long for the "Hang on a sec, I have to head over to Utah for a bit" jokes to wear thin. Very thin. But the best part of the F.C. is the scenery - here's a sample:


From there we set out again for the Grand Canyon. We got a room in Flagstaff at the 'quaint' motel called the Wonderland.

I need to post the video I have from the Wonderland - too funny to even describe here. That will be my next project, lol

Anyway, the next day, we set out for the Grand Canyon.

Look carefully - you can see the snowball someone (Colby) threw into the Grand Canyon.

Words and pictures can hardly describe the scenery - so I won't really try.

After leaving the canyon, we stopped at Sunset Crater, and also Meteor Crater.


Along the way, we stopped at a trading post with a giant jackrabbit:



We had many many more adventures and funny and just plain weird stuff - too much to go into detail here. You'll just have to watch the videos when I get them posted to Google or Youtube at some point.

The plan for next year is either New York City or Canada - Canda will be cheaper but New York is New York - much cooler, imho. We'll just have to see how it goes!

Flickritis...

I spent most of Friday night (well past 3 AM) and most of Saturday so far on Flickr, uploading some new pics, adding comments, tags, etc, after I was done editing all the pics I took Friday night. I recently began using the RAW format for taking pics, which allows you far more control over the image than with TIFF or JPG, at the cost of increased time to process those images. But it's worth it, because you can save a mediocre image via RAW editing and transform it into the picture you actually WANTED to take.

Anyway, here's a couple of the best ones from last night.






I like nighttime shots, and Snickers is always a good subject, lol.