1953 Keegan, ME

Those were the days, no reality. Two fire trucks and an western ranch, Army guys with pup tents, what else could a boy want?

34 Years Ago

This little cutie came into my life 34 years ago. This is a special day every year. Tells you that you can do things right.

Contrails Have and Being Developed

Where is everyone going? New contrails being formed going who knows where.

Frosty

This is now several days old, like last week sometime. It was just a frosty moring and since then we went through a flood period of time. Bring on the frost. This morning it was snowing briefly.

Trying Not To Give Up

Stubborn little 3 yr old sapling.

Chester Returns for a Visit

In the spring of 2010 we had a duck show up with 3 babies. We also had one that had 8. The mother of three had issues with other ducks in the pond. It was as if they were out casts, constantly getting picked on. One day we noticed that the mother wasn't around but her babies were. Then after a day or so she showed up. We had seen other young, presumably, first time mothers abandon their young after about a month or so. Problem was she had been injured. Her left leg, wing and side had been injured when she was attacked by some animal. I figured she had saved her babies and kind of sacrificed herself.

We had feeders out for other birds and the ducks would always get underneath to get what was dropped, however, this mother and her offspring would be chanced off. Now there was plenty of food in the pond but, they do like cracked corn and I guess it was a treat. I started hand feeding, tossing food to her only, so she could get healthy. I called all kinds of animal care places but no one would do anything....part of nature I guess plus she had babies.

About six weeks later one of her babies showed up the same way. This baby died, it was injured just too much to help. It was a sad way for it to go. It laid on the bank of the pond one day, drained of energy as it was very hot. I put food right down in front of it but it barely ate. I even made sure it had water by digging a hole near it. We were working out back and noticed the duckling start to move towards the water. It meandered out near the middle, rolled over on its back and literally drowned itself. The mother of the eight started quacking. All the babies, hers and the two of the injured duck got on the bank and huddled together. This mother was a seasoned mother and, like elephant matriarchs, knew what to do and directed the funeral, if you will. They stood in attendance for over a half an hour constantly looking at the corpse. Only the older female and the injured mother stood in the water.

Well, life goes on. Earlier this year the injured mother duck came back but not with babies. She had a male with her. They spent a day or so here and then left. Yesterday she showed up again, with the male and came back again today. We started calling her Chester because of her limp, couldn't think of a good female name to represent the limp. As you can see the foot and leg are there but as she swims the foot and leg leave the water. When she stands on the ground the foot is kind of curled up and is only more like a crutch for balance.

Maybe next year she will be back and have some more babies.

Western Auto Sales Receipt

From Feb. 20, 1942 a receipt for what looks like 1 Def (defrost ?) Fan and 15 ft. of wire. Maybe for the truck he drove. Mr. Apple had a GMAC loan of a little more than $36 a month for a new Chevrolet. Check the price. Second picture is the backside of the receipt....an add for oil.

Red Apple Grill

Below is the menu for the Red Apple Grill, circa 1942 and earlier. Clifford L. Apple was the owner/operator and passed away in December of 1942. He was my wife's grandfather.  The Red Apple Grill was located at the intersection of SR 4 and SR23 south west of Marion, OH.  Today this intersection is a double lane highway interchange.  He had two professions, the Grill and he was an over the road driver.  He drove for CCC Trucking, Cleveland~Columbus~Cincinnati. I have some of his route logs showing what he made for a trip.  It wasn't much as you will see when I get them ready to post.  I also have a monthly budget ledger he and his wife Myrtle (May) kept. 

Not sure what the Price Clerk thing is at the bottom of the second page with the 1944 date.  Can't ask the question as both the of the grandparents have passed on as well as all four daughters he and May had.

Final Monthly Posting

One year ago I started out taking a picture looking out the same window looking east from my house. I focused on a tower in the distance and tried to figure ways of showing how the scenery changed and the position of the sun in the early hours of the day. I had not planned on the time change and felt bad that I went from 7 to 8 and back to 7 to try to get the shot. In retrospect I should not have let this bother me and just stuck with the local weather report telling be what sunrise was suppose to be. I use suppose because I couldn't say they were correct if I couldn't see the sun on a cloudy day.


So, with that said I will present the first morning shot taken on Nov. 1, 2010. As you will see in the last picture I was a little early but the sun is coming up behind the trees on the right hand side of the picture. It looks as if it was going to be a great day.

This picture is the April 1 shot. As you can see it is north (left) of the tower out in the distance. This is almost a due east view. It is also a little after sunrise with the sun so high up. This is 6 mos. into the study. Here too you can see the sun is up in the left corner. The big problem I had with this was that we had so many days of clouds this year. I believe we had already had almost a years worth of rain at this point. A couple of months before this my sump pump was running 24/7 plus a battery backup was running to keep up plus a third pump that I had to run a hose from to a drain.

 

Moving forward, finding a sunny morning we find last months photo. Look at where the sun is. Almost dead-on the tower. I believe, I would have to look it up to be specific, that the time was before seven o'clock. And now to end this endeavor.

The first picture is sunrise for me, when it just breaks the tree line. The second shot is just to show what 5 minutes in time can do to your lighting, color and that time does move. It is time to scroll back to the top and look at the first picture. Boy was I lucky to get clear days on the same days of the month of two different years.

Enlarge the first and last picture. Doctoring for clarity, watermarking and getting rid of the electric boxes was done.





Sheds, Mini Barns, Big Barns and Country Gardens

Title should say it all.

The Last Efforts of Fall

Here it is 3 days before the end of October. This is the month that says color. It's come and now leaving so I tried to grab some shots as we drove from Lebanon, OH home this afternoon. Blur is car traveling at 55 or so, clean shots are pure luck.

A local garden center trying to move the last of their pumpkins. They even have a petting zoo for the little ones as well as the indoor and outdoor shopping areas.

Old house......old look. Had to give it this as I was twisted in the seat and shooting out the back window on the drivers side due to the fact the house is close to the street and we were moving along at a good clip.

The perfect tree....if not it has to be close. Lucky speed shot in the distance.

A Witches Brew

Saw this at the store and read the back. Sounds interesting so I figure, why not, give it a try. If nothing else, I like the name and label. Too bad it's from the Wolverine state....Michigan. Go Bucks!



Only Two More Monthly Shots To Go

Next month will be the last installment of my not too scientific following of the sun across the eastern horizon as it comes up for a year. The by product of this is the changing of the scenery. There may be other shots from this photo window of mine as it does overlook a farmers field but that is somewhat rare.

So, without further hesitation, here is this months picture. I will say here, I really hate taking pictures looking into the sun. Look back one posting or so and you will see how the sun has moved in just a few days. Reference the radio tower.

Halloween, The Start of the Holiday Season

Boo!

Found this house in Spring Valley, OH when we went to the Apple Country store.

In Just Six Days......Movement

These pictures are more significant in showing what my monthly blog pictures were meant to show, not only the change in the scenery but the movement of the sun on the horizon as it comes up in the morning. The first picture was taken on the Oct. 1st and the second one was taken the sixth. The pictures are take from the same window in the house and I always use the tower as my centering point. The sun has definitely drifted to the south.....boo hoo. Need to figure a way to put an anchor on it to keep it from drifting anymore and allowing winter to show it's ugliness.

Missed by a Day

This was yesterday afternoon. Sun coming from the west with the storm clouds off to the east. There was no reason to take the monthly photo in the morning because you couldn't see the sun's transition from above the eastern line (the tower in the picture) to the southern hemisphere. As you can see though, the season here in the mid-west has changed. High was 51 and normal is 70 degrees. Possible frost this morning in low lying areas, we didn't get any.

This was shot this morning. What a difference a few hours makes. Yesterday was like I said, really cool if not cold because of a strong wind all day and today is great....cool again with wind but sunshine.....yea! Looking back in the blog you can see how the sun has changed positions in the sky and how the scenery has changed in appearance. We are early for our fall foliage by at least a week if not two.

Going for Apples

Took a small trip today to a place called The Apple Store to get apples. It one of those country market setting with a corn maze, petting zoo for the kids as well as all the fall goodies. But......NO APPLES. They will be in next week.

September Fog

Morning Fog

I looked out to the east and saw a slight haze across the ground. The brightness of the sun was minimal but within minutes the haze had become ground fog and the sun was starting cast shadows.

Mid-September Shot

Two more months and 4 more shots will end my twice a month look at the sun coming up. This shot almost looks more like a sunset in some ways with the colors as they are. The sun has moved quit a few degrees south of were it was just a month ago. Amazing how it doesn't show and then all of a sudden you notice it. Interesting feature here is the heaviness of the clouds. Real thin areas are light blue and the dark areas look more ominous like storm clouds. As it turned out this day became very windy and quite chilly. We helped neighbors with a garage sale and were very cold. Temps were in the low to mid 60's but should be more like the 70's. Trees appear to be early this year, normally the changing doesn't take place until late Sept. to the early part of October.

Waves

Double Moon

I don't really like taking a picture of anything and then immediately taking the same subject and posting it again in a short time but I could resist this moon shot. What got me was how different it was from last evenings. The first was taken from my deck and this one from the window that I take my, soon to be over, monthly shots from. Another one is due in a couple of days. I shot it on ISO 1600 thus picking up some graininess. The double moon is caused by the thermopane window. A prism if you will. The actual moon is the brighter one and if you notice you can actually see the terrain in the upper moon. I presume this is caused by the lack of brightness. Moon shots are really difficult to take without a huge lens. My lens is the Tamron 18-270mm VC DiII.

So, now I promise myself that I won't take another moon shot until.....the October Harvest Moon.

Almost To Late

I forgot about the September Harvest Moon and then again last night I forgot again. I wanted to get it coming up over the horizon. Wouldn't have this picture had it not been for my wife.

Yea!

Buy.com has a new Bamboo pen headed my way as of about 4 PM today. I called BHphoto at 4 and they were closed......uh? Hrs. were 9 to 2. Checked their hours and they are closed on Saturday too. Open on Sunday. Open on Mon-Thur 9 to 7. This is in NYC. Oh well, Buy.com's gain. Free shipping and no tax.

It's Broke and I Broke It, My Wacom Tablet Pen

I was taking my laptop to the bedroom so I could work on my photo files, needed to do some clean-up. While carrying it on a tray I had placed my Bamboo pad and pen on the tray too. I thought I had the pen caught between the computer and my left hand. While moving down the hall I heard the sound of something hitting the floor flatly. It was my Bamboo pen. Didn't think anything of it until I got everything hooked up and back on and then I found that the nib end didn't work but the eraser did.

Well this put a somewhat long hold on my file cleaning. I started Googling  eraser end works on my pen only" and I found a how to fix pretty quick. I needed to take the pen apart. Yes it does come apart with some persuasion. I found that it works with two coils that are very small and very very fragile. Wacom should have this in their literature somewhere. Everyone drops a pen or pencil and as you use the Wacom tool you start to feel as if you have a regular pen in you hand, well almost.

The video showed and other postings told how to fix the issue. Super Glue! This is something that I am usually very good at. I have used number 1 (thin) to number 3 (think, a kicker is used to set this one) many times but this time I had to buy some at Ace Hardware but I had no idea as to the viscosity and I ended up with thin.

I put the nib back in to lineup the sleeve and coil. I used a pair of angle needle nose pliers to grip the two pieces as they needed squeezed for thirty sec. I held the pen, actually just he exposed circuit board and coils, over the Bamboo pad and saw the pointer move. As I turned the piece over to check the alignment and gluing I noticed the back side had a gap in it. I tried to squeeze this back together and move the nib. I was afraid the nib had come in contact with the glue. It had and as I tried to pull the nib and save the parts the coil slipped from the needle nose. Bottom line, project was lost. Glue got on the sleeve ends which caused them to become insulated. Pen became useless.

The pen cost....$25 to $30 with no shipping fee online. Wacom's price $30 + shipping $5. I'll be buying it online, Walmart even carries it. I will also do a reply back to Wacom's tech support, where they said they don't repair the pens but would be glad to sell me one, asking them to think about labeling how fragile these pens are.

In this picture you can see how thin the wires are that make up the coil. If I had gotten this to hold I could have done like they do on motors and transformers by laying a thin film of glue on the coil and it would become a very durable pen, forever.

Septembers Monthly Posting

Normally I have put only one picture up to show the seasonal changes going on as well as the change in the angle of the sun in the morning. Here you can see the sun is still north of the imaginary center line looking east. I use the tower out in the distance as my reference point.

I have used two shots this month to indicate the timing of morning or evening shots. It only takes a few minutes for "the shot" to be gone due to lost lighting or color. These two pictures were taken 13 minutes apart. The sun went from behind the pine trees to just above them. Moments later and the sun would become an issue and filters would be needed if you couldn't the the brightness down enough.

There are only 3 more shots to be taken and then I think I will do a composite of all and post them like a review.

Learning PSE, CS5.1, LR3

I have all these Adobe, PSE 8, CS5 and LR3 tutorial videos on my desktop. I get books from the local library and have gone to one seminar on Photoshop at the library. I bought the For Dummies on PSE8 and marked it up like I was going to be given a test at the end of the quarter. A neighbor has it now and I'll bet she is trying to dodge my markings as well as read through them.

I like to set the laptop up on the desk next to the desktop and play the video on one and open one of the programs on the other to just work along. I'm a hands on learner. You can't just tell me 2+2=4, I have to see it and sometimes ask why. That was always a good one in school. It's called stump the teacher.

I did this picture several times but I was trying to learn the process on one computer, stopping and starting the individual programs.  There are only three layers outside of the background with a handful of sub steps. I got it but I had to substitute a paint step for the yellow when it was suppose to be a "fill" step of the foreground color that had been picked. It all came out but it took me way too long to get it. I can say that since it took so many times that I probably won't forget it.

This is a picture on my daughter and son-in-law about 10 years ago at the Mid-Ohio race course in Lexington, OH. It was my fathers day present.

A Blog I Follow

I follow Brattcat from Brattleboro, VT and must wish them well. I just saw a news reel of their community and it wasn't good. Raging waters from flooded streams. Cars floating away.

Hang in there Brattleboro. Check out Bratcat's blog....http://brattleborobrief.blogspot.com/

What Can I Say

I have nothing to say about this picture except that this is more like what one would have seen in the late 50's through the 60's. All the fancy hardware came later. No airbrushing, just a can of spray paint.

Morning Fog

It's that time of year around here, somewhere between central Ohio and southern Ohio. Maybe it we should be considered mid-central/southern Ohio. Since Columbus is pretty much in the center of the state and we are to the west of that on I-75 and below I-70 but not down on the Ohio river I like mid-central/southern.

I degress....in late August and through much of September we can get ground fog. You can time it with school starts. The 2 hour delays are inevitable, especially in the areas outside the major city limits where the tempertures cool more.

I got these pics of the fog hanging on the ground over a soy bean field and rising from a pond.

Mid August Posting

As you can see, the sun light is still coming from the left side of the picture but it is slowly drifting back to the right. Another month or so and I will be looking at it straight on.

I took this on the 15th but am just getting around to posting it. We've had roofers here along with downspout and gutter installers and facia and siding people for the last few days. Hail damage at the end of May an just now getting it done.

Today the builder of our home had a contractor in to dig along the footer to tie into the curtain drain. They then made what is called a daylight drain. This is to relieve my sump pump from its continious running when we get days of wet weather, like in the spring and sometimes in the fall. They also have to replace or repair the crock (sump pit) as it fills with water from below the curtain drain connection. Sometimes this connection never does put water into the pit but the pump runs almost continously. Once the pipe feeds the pits it is 24/7 with no shutting down. Even my backup system is strained. I took pictures today, will try to post tomorrow. Now they have lots of yard work to do to get me back to normal.

Meal Time

Caught in the act.