A New Life Begins

     We've been busy as spring brings the outdoor chores of cleaning up the winter debris and keeping up with the mowing as the warmer weather and rains make the grass grow.  I'll take this anytime.  The rains also gives one the opportunity to work on taking photos in a different light.  Sometimes this is a real good thing as you don't have the harshness of the sun to wash everything out.  With this it also give me the opportunity to try to be a little bit more artistic.  Since I can't really paint or draw this is the closest thing I will get to in the artistic effort.  These seeds, or whirly gigs as many call them, will turn brown and get lighter as they dry up.  Then as then loose their ability to hang on to the tree they will be carried aloft and then slowly drift down to find a home on the ground and with any luck will spout and a new tree will be formed.

Nesting

We have had a couple of hen ducks in the pond earlier but  most have found a place to build a nest to lay their eggs in.  In our case this lone hen has located hers in our courtyard under a Holly bush.  All I can figure is that she is saying peek-a-boo, I see you.  Only question now is how many little ones will come out of this nest. 

Tax Day Surprise

Was this sent by the Government to remind everybody how nasty this day came be to some?  About 2" in most places overnight.  It was one of those wet sticking pretty snowfalls.  Of course along with the snow was the temps going from mid 70's to sub 30's climbing to high of 35.  Today is better....mid 50's.

Sometimes One Wishes

On some days you just wish you could go back in time when things seem like they were simpler.  Didn't necessarily seem like it then but today it does.  I was repairing some rock chips in the paint on my new 1971 Plymouth Duster 340.  My brother was in town visiting and took these shots.  Move forward 43 years and things haven't changed all that much, or have they.  Lets see, I'm older and maybe wiser.  I'm sitting here waiting for another episode of A-fib to pass, I wasn't back then but I already had heart issues (born that way).  I know how to relax now, didn't back then.  I had been married 2.5 years, now it's 45 years.  The Duster was a hot rod of sorts, 285 HP that pretty much beat all the GM products at the time....yes, even Corvettes.  I know, I auto crossed against them on weekends.  Today one of my vehicles has 144 HP and the other has about 188.  I could work on the Duster, I can't today and have no desire to.  Had a beard, not today.  Had a bunch of hair, still have it but the forehead has gotten longer or my eyebrows have fallen a bit.

 

Well, that was fun.

 

 

Weather Related?

Well, spring has come and so have the rains.  Flood Watches and Warnings are out for counties all around the Dayton, OH area.  It's is amazing how we just came off one of the longest, or so it seems, snowy winters and people are having issues with driving in the rain.  Well, maybe what they need is a set of these racing rain tires used on cars that attain straight line speeds of near 200mph and corners of 100+.  Only problem is they don't like dry roads and tend to start coming apart as they and the road surface heat up.

This is Melanie Snow's car in the garage at Mid-Ohio Raceway in Lexington, OH.  She's always warning the drivers behind her that the roads are going to be difficult to negotiate with her in front of them.  At the time this was taken she and her husband shared the driving responsibilities as required by the ALMS series.  Today her husband has retired from driving so her co-driving partner now is her son. 

Taken Twelve Seconds Apart

I took these on April 1 to show how little amount of time you have when taking morning photos or evening photos.  Same is true in the evening "Golden Hour".  If you watch the sun at these times you can almost see the time lapse with your own eyes. 

 

Yes, there is a difference in the zoom but that isn't important here.  It's the glow that was showing from behind the tree line as the sun got closer to breaking the horizon.  From this advantage point it may have already done that in the top picture and I am really assuming that it may have in the second shot, just 12 seconds later.  The other give away is the darkness of the sky to the right of the where the glow would be in the first picture.  The sun will arch up and to the south as it makes its way to the west to set before beginning another day. 

 

Today, and for the next four or five days, rain is in the forecast.  It's Spring and Winter has gone bye-bye for this year here in southern Ohio.  We hope.