I observed both of these on my bike ride around our properties yesterday. A good reminder of the cycle of life and seasons. Dying brings new life.
2023-02-28
Shooting while sizzling…
Sometimes a piece of hot brass lands where you don't want it to… Such was the case during last week's competition. The solution…? Just finish the course of fire. Those puppies are pretty hot when first ejected. I could feel it burning, but did my best to maintain composure, place my shots, and finish out. The good news, I still managed to finish 2nd place against seriously stiff competition. The bad news, you could definitely see something was different about my last six shots with the brass casing lodged between my glasses and my face. My groupings just weren't what they should have been, hahahaha.
A pretty and snowy day at our old house
I think we ended up with about 18" of snow on the ground at one time that season. It was fun to go around pulling people out with Julie's Touareg. ;)
RetroBlog 2007-01-21
Andy was just an adorable little kid!
I think the puppy is getting his vitamins in this scene…
RetroBlog 2007-01-16
2023-02-27
It’s fun to see Andy posting about his experience at our house…
It was also quite nice of him to take the time to help us out! It's nice to have our ice maker back!
One to represent each caliber for which he owns at least something to launch it with :)
Just a sample of the fun and craziness of Demo Ranch
I think Julie made this cool graphic for us
It was back when the boys were only several years old. I saw it in my archives and remembered how cool it was.
RetroBlog 2007-01-15
2023-02-26
I love this vibe of our country barn, sunset, clouds, and night lighting…
As my mom said, you can almost smell the country air and feel the cool breeze in this shot…❣️
Andy and I enjoyed BATB Battle at the Border
We enjoyed a weekend in Nashville. We both competed, and Andy even got to be a judge. He was happy to get a few good saves and even beat some of the legends of Kendama from his early days. It was fun to watch Zac place in freestyle and win open. We were there the day they announced he was going pro at MKO 2017. :) I have a pro-mod from that day and their current one too.
Sorry, it’s a bit long at 16 minutes, but I thought you might enjoy getting a feel for our two days.
It’s fun to have a plumber for a son…!
Convenient too. The best part is, he only has to get the tiniest hint that we have a plumbing problem and he materializes to fix it! He did a quick and great job on our fridge coming over on his own time, twice! Once when we weren't even home. The best part was I got to play tool boy while he was crouched behind the fridge doing the work. I even had to run out to the truck once or twice, haha. My how the tables have turned! It makes me proud when I get calls or texts from my friends all over town about how well he did or how great he is. :)
Capturing the winter moon
I was on the way to work one morning as the sun was rising and the moon was setting. I had to pull over to get this shot. I used the roof of my car and a bean bag as a tripod. I had to turn the engine off to keep from shaking the camera. I was happy with the detail and the subtle colors!
In my retro blog journey, we are now into 2007. I started my blogging in December of 2007, so you've got less than a year left until I'm "caught up". I'll have to find some old prints to scan if I want to keep going back in history. Haha.
RetroBlog 2007-01-03
2023-02-25
Riding along the power lines with Zoe
The bottom shot shows the start of our journey. You can see the top of the hill where we are heading. The top left shot shows us getting there, and looking out over where our next journey will begin. The top right shot shows what we had to do to get back up after we'd tried our hand at descending to cross the river. It was quite a climb back up without much of a real path.
2023-02-24
Speaking of cats…
Percy wasn't too sure about being forced into a cat carrier…. You can see him sticking his fur out, hahaha. He settled down after a few minutes and seems to have adapted quickly to his new apartment. He of course greats you at the door and demands a belly rub by flopping all over in front of you. :)
A photo shoot with my father in-law.
We'd both received some new camera gear for Christmas and decided to hit the Wright Brothers cemetery in Dayton and see if we could find some good pics. It was fun to just walk around, take in the sights, and enjoy the outdoors.
RetroBlog 2006-12-26
2023-02-23
Andy is enjoying setting up his new place
He likes that it's all his, he can make all the decisions, and it's not too big. :)
The contrast of the Incredibles and dinosaurs!
Johnny stood out on his sheets, hahaha.
RetroBlog 2006-12-24
2023-02-22
Andy thinking about where to put his house warming gift from us…
It's a painting of many of the cats of the internet. Some of our faves made it into this first edition. A second edition is coming soon, haha!
These kids were so cute.
It's nice that we still like them and they're nice back to us most of the time too. ;)
RetroBlog 2006-12-24
2023-02-21
The granite of Massachusetts
They have so much of it that they make the parking bumpers and curbs out of granite. This was just a random cut in a hill along the highway last week.
Messing around with a little nighttime photography.
This was back when The Greene first opened. I was playing around with the settings to be able to hand hold m camera for night scenes. The recent rain had given me a reflection pool I couldn't pass up. You never know exactly what kind of weather to expect around Christmas each year. ;)
RetroBlog 2006-12-23
Andy snuggled in the quilt Julie made him!
We all loved this blanket for sure! Andy looks adorable under it too. :)
RetroBlog 2006-12-22
2023-02-20
Meanwhile… These two are “working”
This is the kind of thing brothers get up to when one is supposed to be helping the other move into his own apartment, hahaha. Andy was moving this past weekend and each moment was good for a laugh!
Just one of the many ways to relax at work…
At our offices, there are always ares dedicated to taking a little break and playing hard. This pac-man game is in one of the "applied physics" labs (also known as a room full of pingpong and pool tables.)
The best part is it offered a whole slew of OG video games so you could pick which one you wanted. Everyone knows, Galatea was one of the BEST!
It’s nice that you can get a similar feel on an iPhone these days with something like Galaxy Attack Alien Shooter…
This was one of my first trips to the Deep South with Christmas decorations.
It was New Orleans just before Christmas to visit a customer that was having trouble with some of our gauges. I liked the night light Christmas vibe, but was hard to reconcile with the perfectly comfortable outdoor temperatures at night, hahaha.
RetroBlog 2006-12-20
“You got it dad!”
I've always loved this pic of Andy giving me the thumbs up. :)
RetroBlog 2006-12-18
2023-02-19
I found a great “mountain” park near HQ
I spent a little time exploiting the nearby bikeway while I was in the Boston area last week. It was a nice break at work. I managed to find a hill I could play around on, by a lake, that challenge me just enough to be fun yet good exercise. The 50º weather made it perfect!
Two
Three
Quite the contrast from my palace hotel in India…
Luckily, I wan't staying at this place during my journey this week. But I thought the sunset, and the stark hotel made a good pic. This was in the parking lot of my Denny's dinner. ;)
The last stop on our little side trip in India…
They asked me if I wanted to see "The Taj". I said sure… I didn't know what they meant for sure. THIS is the Taj Mahal. Taj is tomb in their language. I would say, that's quite a tomb! It's made of marble. It was actually challenging to get the right exposure because of how much the sun reflected off the white. I was really happy with how this shot turned out. We got to walk all around the face and the plaza level. Quite an amazing experience.
Of course that is offset by when I turned 180º from taking this shot, I was looking at the human waste laying in the gutter along the road… Some of the most beautiful and most terrible sights, all in the same instant at various points along my journey. In the end, it was a great trip, I loved the food, enjoyed the people, learned a lot, and made a few friends I still hear from every once in a while.
RetroBlog 2006-12-11
Some of the Indian architecture was very beautiful!
This was a pavilion at the Red Fort of Agra.
RetroBlog 2006-12-11
2023-02-18
I’d forgotten just how good Denny’s is!
The grand slam, or all American slam…. Yum! I substituted veggies for the potatoes (but they included them anyhow). So I saved a spoonful to get a taste. If you me, you know I love squash of any kind, so I preferred that anyhow. Fond memories. It actually made a really good Togo meal for the road to keep me on schedule.
I wish there were more of them closer to us.
I’ve been craving Denny’s breakfast for a while…!
Just as I was pulling away from my random biking stop on my trip, I saw the sign…. I decided that would be just the thing for dinner (breakfast)! I have many fond memories of working all night to finish up an automation install or run-off and stopping at Denny's to refuel on the way home or back to the hotel. This one was in New York along the Erie Canal. The nearest one to home is at a gas station up near Jeffersonville (40 mins away or so). I need to convince the kids to try it with me. ;)
Travels upon travels…
It's pretty bad when BOTH my RetroBlog AND current day entries are on the road…. But I guess that's what keeps it interesting and lets me see new things. I am really enjoying hopping on my bike in random places, then discovering gems like this during my ride. This was the point where I turned around along the Erie Canal. This church was created almost 300 years ago. It made for an idylic photo. :)
The expansive Red Fort at Agra…
Notice that it is long enough that the contrast of the bricks change because there is enough haze between me and the end of the fort…. I don't know if that's because the fort was so big, or the air quality was so rough? Maybe a bit of both?
RetroBlog 2006-12-11
2023-02-17
I break up my long road trips by getting some exercise.
I just got back from a trip to the Boston area and back this week.
On the way out Tuesday, I stopped along the Erie Canal and rode my bike for 30 minutes or so. You can see the canal walkway for the horses carved into the bank along the opposite side of the water. The bike path used to be a rail line that followed the water. Interesting history and beautiful area.
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