Coming Unhinged...

...now what did you think I meant?  Years ago a former owner of this house foolishly painted over the hinges of the outside attached shed.  Over the years the hinges and nails or skrews had rusted to the point that they broke off.  It happened as fall was turning to winter and it was too cold to fix.



Antique Hinge

That gave me a good reason not to use my snowblower.  It was hanging on by only the upper hinge.  Today, my sweetie bought a new hinge and drilled holes through the door.  (The holes were too big to use anything other than bolts.)



Replacement Hinge

Darn, I can get at my lawnmower and snowblower again.  It also looks like I need to do some touch up painting this summer. Do I have any volunteers?  (Just kidding!)

I made a good decision...

Many, many years ago I dated a man that I broke up with after finding out that he was verbally and emotionally abusive.  After I broke up with him, he found a woman shorter and fatter than I was and married her.  Did I really need to say that?  Yes, because I feel that he is abusing her.  I see them every once in a blue moon and I see the little signs. 

I wish there was something that I could do but I really don't know her.  I know many people that know him and they dismiss his oddness as just that - a bit off.  But as "Christians" we must accept people for who they are. 

I personally don't agree with that viewpoint.  I believe that Jesus had a way about him and when he crossed paths with sinners, he led them to repentance and they became a better person.  The exception to that are the people whose hearts are so hardened (like Judas).

Recently, I ran into this man and his wife.  He felt it necessary to talk about the vacation that they had just come back from.  Ironically, it was a vacation that we had talked about taking if our relationship would have progressed.  Then he used the conversation to put his wife down.  What kind of a man acts like that?  A sick, very sick man and once again I say, "I made a good decision when I pushed him away."

Dale talks like he is sitting in the bar B.S.ing with they guys.  But when I need something done, he is there to do it for me.  When I do something for him, he always make sure that he says thank-you.  He is not perfect but neither am I so I guess that it is a good match.  Again, I made a good decision, and pray for women living in abusive relationships. 

2013 Opening Fishing

We went for a Sunday afternoon drive today.  Most of the lakes that we passed by had hardly started melting.  It is only two weeks away from fishing opener and I have significant concerns that the lakes will be ice free. And if they are, I can't help but wonder if the fish will be biting yet. 



Ice Fishing Hole

Wouldn't it be funny if they needed to cut holes in the ice to fish on fishing opener?  NOT!  I definitely sick of winter.  I think we might go crazy if the lakes aren't open in time.
 


2013 Opener Fishing?????

 Okay, so this isn't 2013 it was a fishing contest in 2009.  But the reality that fishing boats might not be able to get on many of the lakes is a real concern.


Dale setting up a fishing hole

Spring Fling

On the news today they referred to the day in the low seventies as a spring fling.  Then they swore and said that snow is anticipated for Thursday.  So this warm spell is definitely just a fling.  

 

Bird watching

I was watching this bird sitting on a small branch and then there were two.  The second bird came and sat on the other side. They weren't there very long.  They flew off to another tree further away. 


The protector

 Here and there in small tufts I see promising colors of pink, blue, yellow and white the promise of spring.  These flowers are all flowers that can take the up and down temperatures common in the springtime.  Most crocus are called snow crocus because they can be seen blooming with now all around them.  I am getting spring fever.  I'm amazed at how often in the springtime, I re-remember how much I love to be outside in nature.  I enjoy taking hikes and photographing everything in nature.


Spring flowers

 On so many interior design / home makeover TV shows they take ordinary photographs that the person has taken, blow them up and hang them on the wall.  I think this photograph would make a particularly nice wall hanging.  There is the detail up front with water drops frozen in time and the levels of color in the flowing water and how it is reflecting the sky and the items surrounding it.  I can see standing in front of it for hours thinking, "What do I see when I look at this?" What do you see?


Provocative

k

A random meeting or a God thing?

I woke up at 5 AM EST (4 CST). When I fly out from South Bend, Indiana I stay at a Hotel within walking distance of the airport. (Had you guessed my photos were from Notre Dame, Mishiwaka and Elkhart?) Shortly after waking, I knew that I was going to be giving someone a ride to the airport.

I checked out and was arranging my back pack when a man came around the corner to check out. The hotel worker had quickly stepped away when I was done and she was coming back and while he was waiting for her I asked, "Are you walking to the airport?"

He was planning on walking. I offered and gave him a ride.  In the very short ride, I realized that he was on the same flight as I was.  I dropped him off at a door because he had to check in yet.  I was pre-checked and needed to return the rental car.  So that was the end of that....or was it?

I no more than had dropped the keys in the vehicle return box than I got a call that the flight was delayed 1.5 hours.  I had cold pizza in my back pack for breakfast.  I decided to buy a large diet coke to go with it.  As I walked into the little cafeteria, there was that guy sitting at a small table.  I sat at the table next to him and chatted a bit. So that was the end of that....or was it?

On the plane, I was the first one to get on in my row.  I settled in with my neck pillow, my Kindle, a bottle of water and my camera.  The back pack went into the overhead bin.  This airline assigns seats as you buy tickets you can choose from the seats still available.  I supposedly got the last seat on the flight. Guess who was sitting buy me?  Yes, it was the same man.  He had barely gotten settled in his seat and the flight attendant asked if he wanted to move back a row because no one was sitting in that row.  He did. So that was the end of that....or was it?

Not if I had anything to say about it.  This person has now crossed my path randomly (or by God's intervention) this many times.  There was something more that needed to be said.  So without a clue as we were getting ready to disembark the plane, I asked, "Do you or your wife read much?"

He smiled a big smile and told me that his daughter was a published author with over 90 books sci-fi books published.  http://marissalingen.com/  I shared with him that my first book was published several years ago and my second is going to be published soon.

This man was an engineer, his sister is an artist (painter), and his daughter is an author and this morning, God used me to get him to the airport and our paths criss-crossed until I heard his story.  There are so many things similar to my family that it is like looking at us through the eyes of another.  I can't wait to see what becomes of this.   

Maybe I should be a wild life photographer?

 Have you ever noticed in nature the females blend in more with the back ground?  They are fairly plain looking but naturally beautiful.


Female Duck

 It is the male of the species that is all dressed up.  Brighter colors and draw people's attention more.  They are the beautiful ones of the species.  So why is it with humans that women are made to feel that they need to be anything other than natrually beautiful?


Male Duck

I saw this Canadian Goose close to shore  With the sun shining so brightly, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures playing with the reflection.



Mirror image

Then I saw the daphadils blooming in the flood plain and there was something special about these tuffs of green and yellow shining back through the reflecting blue water.



April Showers bring...



Then I heard in the distance two geese flying over headed for the river.  I started snapping shots.  I moved in the shape of and arch until they were on the other side and headed away.  I remembered seeing a picture of two goose flying and the clouds looking like a face.  Then I realized that the clouds in this picture sort of looked like eye brows.  Here's looking at you Doll!

The Eyes have it!



 Then I reviewed the next shot and I thought, "Doesn't that look like someone that is surprised and has puckered their lips saying ooo-oooo-oooo.  I guess it is all about looking beyond what you are seeing and seeing something new. 


oo oo hot lips

Playing with the Camera

I am at 942 pictures playing with my camera and its settings.  The Eagle was taken at a 300mm zoom.  Then I took it into edit mode and hit zoom two more times and saved it off. 


Eagle's Nest (Zoom Lens)

 I set the Aperture to F22. I needed to support the camera with my elbows on the side of the bridge to prevent wiggling.  In order for the water to show movement the exposure needs to be set at a longer period of time.  Why didn't it over expose in the sunshine? Setting the aperture is actually setting the shutter so that it doesn't open as wide.  The higher the number the smaller the opening.  Since the opening is smaller, less light gets in and it stays open longer to compensate.


Dam Gate taken with aperture F22

An effect with the camera is called "Fisheye".  They used to make a lens that was a very wide angle concave lens.  With this new effect, I can choose any photo and adjust it by ten levels for varying fisheyes.

Dam Gate with Fisheye Effect

Then when I turn the camera to show the symbol of the person running, I can hold the button down and it will shoot a series of pictures.  It shoots them so fast that it "freezes" the objects in mid-air. Personally, I'm tempted to print this into a large picture and hanging it on the wall.  They brown/yellow color of the water makes an unusual depth of field in the picture.  Very similar to someone that would paint multiple styles one over the next leaving part of the previous layers visible.

Freeze Frame you can see almost every droplet in the air.

This wasn't a camera effect.  The spray from the dam with the right viewpoint and the beautiful sunshine above was creating a nice rainbow.

Rainbow Spray

WOW! Isn't this cool with the cement and iron in focus and seeing the movement of the water!  I just love playing with the settings of the camera.  I will need to start keeping track and telling you exactly what I'm doing.  

Aperture F22 - See the movement!

Have you found me yet?

Theater

I wish I was here when an event was going on inside the Theater, I'd love to see the inside of here.   But as bad as my timing is nothing is going on this week. Except that they are ripping up the parking lot tomorrow used by patrons of the theater and many people working downtown (including me this week).


Watch out on this side walk

The river is flooding.  These boys saw my camera and thought they were going to be in a news article.  So I figured I'd put them in my blog.  The current in the river is running VERY fast.  It was a good thing that the boys were staying close to the bank. 


Trouble on Wheels? Oh, just boys.

On the other side of the river, these boys thought that I was a professional photographer and asked if I could take a picture of them jumping. So I teased them and took this picture.  "But you missed the jump!"  I wondered if the children of this world are so desperately in need of attention that they will walk up to a stranger and ask to be in a photo? 

Then I walked to a different area and a man walked up to me and started chatting about my camera.  He has a traditional film SLR camera that he doesn't use very much because developing and printing film costs so much.  Later at the restaurant I brought my camera in to start previewing some of the photos that I took.  Another man started asking me question after question about the camera.  So I have changed my thesis to "Nikon D5100 with a 55x300 zoom is a guy magnet!" 


Dam

The police station is across the street from the smaller of the Dams. Up river further is a full dam with eleven flood gates.  Currently there are three gates open and there is still water coming over the other eight.  Have you figured out where I am yet?  I'll tell you later this week.  Let me know if you have me figured out.



Johnson Street Dam

A guessing game...

for you that is.  Where am I?  I brought my new camera with me so I decided to do some sight-seeing. I saw this beautiful gold dome as I drove into  _____.



Gold Dome

 To the right as I walked up I saw this more modernistic rendition of Jesus proclaiming "Touchdown"!


"Touchdown" Jesus

As I got up close, I recognized the statue as Sorin.  Well okay, I was clueless who he was other than the fact that he looked like a very old scholar and the name at the bottom clearly stated "Sorin"



Sorin

They embrace the love of Jesus and openly for everyone to see.  There was a large Catheral also but I was too close to get the picture when I finally cleared the trees. 


Jesus

Here is the last clue, the trees are starting to bud and bloom.  YES! There is springtime in part of our country anyway!  More tomorrow.


This Buds for you




My hands are itching

It was a LONG day today.  We left town for the day about 9AM.  We did some fast shopping on the way through town.  We had planned to stop and visit puppy "Chompers" but his people went to the water park for the day and he was visiting the brother-in-laws.  So instead we stopped by Sid's place and visited for a little while (the Sire of the puppies.) 

Then we continued on and visited Precious Hope.  She was the puppy that was near death about three weeks ago.  She is strong, energetic and about the same size as her sisters still with us.


Precious Hope 04/20/2013

Then we headed to Sandstone, Minnesota to the Midwest Country Theater to see Maggie Mae (from Oxford, Wisconsin) in concert.  The concert was great!


Maggie Mae from Oxford, Wisconsin

So are you wondering what does all this have to do with my hands itching?  Dale had picked up a new lotion.  I put some on my hands.  So when we stopped by the famous "Tobies" Restaurant in Hinckley and I stopped enough to realize that the tops of my hands were itching.  There was a small rash across my left hand and part of my right hand.  Okay.  It wasn't the hand lotion.  My hands were in the sun as we drove and I actually got a little bit of a sunburn.  38 degrees and sunny with a snow-covered everything and the tops of my hands are getting burned.  Maybe there is hope that spring is on the way. Although two days of snow are still in the forecast.



This says it all...

I was done with work just after noon today.  I went over to Dale's because we were both going to the same eye doctor this afternoon. (My new glasses had an issue and he had to drop off paperwork.) 

I saw this poor tree!  Dale and I carefully knocked off the heavy wet snow.  By the end of the day it was lifting a bit.  I hope that it can recover.

Maybe Dale will need to tie it to the house to help it straighten up more? It reminds me of those troll dolls. It is April 19th ~ (Happy Birthday brother) it is just so wrong that there is 8 - 10 inches of snow on the ground.  There is still a debate if we are going to get above 60 degrees by the end of the month.
 

Home again for this?

When I got off the airplane this morning, the clouds were thick but it wasn't doing anything.  I reached the edge of the suburbs and it was starting to rain and sleet.  In another 10-15 miles it had turned to snow and the last 20 miles the roads were terrible.  The thick wet heavy snow was making driving difficult.

I heard thunder periodically through the day.  Thunder during a snowstorm means wet heavy snow. 



April 18th and still snowing

I think that I heard that we have not had a 60 degree day yet in April.  That leaves the BIG question, will we reach 60 before the end of the month?  It reminds me of the song in the musical, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  As the girls are singing about the winter that will never end.  AAAuuuggh.  But then it does, and it's spring. 


 

10 PM and still at it...

Not only is it snowing heavy all day long but the wind is blowing too.  I came home at 8PM with Duchess and My Jenny.  And when I let My Jenny out at 10PM, all of our foot prints had been covered up.  This morning when I arrived there was very little snow on the evergreen. 


Beautiful; But I've had enough snow

Mix and Match in the rain

I didn't plan well and I brought a heavy sweater but is is a good 20 to 30 degrees warmer. I left in a snow event. So I saw this cute yellow shirt and burgandy cover. Now with cameras in the phone, I can send pictures to off for opinions.

I've been looking for a black cover too but couldn't find one.  I love buying 2-3 of the same things in different colors for mixing and matching.  I was shopping tonight as the storms rolled into the area.

A clerk saw me taking pictures of the rain and asked why I was doing that.  "Because they are expecting about 9 inches of snow in Minnesota." I' d rather have the rain please! I can hear the thunder outside. That is goo sleeping weather!

Reminder of God's Promise

As I got out of the car after work today, I turned around to get th computer out from the back seat and stopped in my tracks. I was looking at a beautiful, bright, full rainbow. 

We need to focus on GOD's promises instead of the terror that Satan stirs up.

When walking through a storm remember, those that have just made it through are looking at the rainbow.  May you see God's blessings today.

Boston Marathon

Let's take time to pray for the people and families injured and killed in the explosions today.

Would not be me if I did not point out that this wasn't any normal "soft event" as newscasters are refering to it.  It is a major international event.  The twin towers were offices for many international businesses. 

The hit was not against just an busy event or busy place. It is an international attack.

My other soap box is.... Does the news media go overboard in reporting events like this? There is a high chance that the person or people that did this are sitting at home watching their TV's and seeing over and over and over again their terroristic attack. Just the thing that someone crazy enough to attack in such a way, would get off watching.  So why are they giving them what they want?

Found Money

Have you ever been walking in a public place and see money laying on the ground? I was shopping last weekend and I saw a $20 bill. There was a couple slightly older than I down the aisle and in front of them a mother with kids. They would have had to walk over it or dropped it.

This is also a common "stunt" that people would pull for a hidden camera routine. I looked around for anything suspicious. After seeing nothing, I picked it up.

In due dilegence, I found the couple and family that were in the row and asked them if they had lost any money within the store. No one had any "large" bills on them.

On my way out of the store I stopped by the lost and found and reported it. That was eight days ago.  I guess it is mine.

New Toy

I have been saving up for a new "toy" it is a Nikon D5100 camera.  It is a digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera with auto or manual focus. Other than the fact that my sister purchased a similar camera a year ago, I haven't had a working video camera for over ten years and I miss it.  Yeah the D5100 is both a still shot and video camera. 



Chewbacca, Daisy, Forest

I chose a sample (very short video) of Duchess trying to teach a puppy how to play tug of war.  Duchess was feeling left out because we bought the puppies a few new toys and put them in their pen.  She wanted to play with them first.  So when we put them away, she took her toy to the puppy.  

 

 

 As I learn more about what the camera can do, I will share it with you.  Did you see the notation in the beginning that I had been saving up for this?  I had about $600 saved.  One store had a D3100 on sale for under $600 with two lenses.  18mm-55mm and a 55mm-200mm.  I have both of those lenses on my old D40.  I was planning on saving and buying a 55mm-300mm lens within the next year. 

I rarely shop at just one store.  I like to check out the options.  So at the second store that I shopped at I found that the more complex and expensive D5100 were on sale and you could choose any second lens at (each lens had a different amount off, $100/$150/$200 depending on the value of the lens.) BUT it would go over the amount that I had saved.  This is one of the few stores that I have a store credit card at so I decided to put the higher amount on the card.  I figured if I rearranged a few things, I could find a way to pay it off in 30-45 days. 

Well if blessings don't come from strange places.  As I was checking out, the clerk told me that because of the value of my purchase that I qualified for zero percent financing for 18 months.  WOW, so exciting.  I only use this credit card about twice a year and pay it off on the first statement.  So I don't think that I will need to worry about having both a zero finance paying off and revolving credit the month that I am paying off.  (Most cards pay towards the revolving credit before taking off the zero financing.  And if there is even $1 still owed on the original amount they will charge you 18 months of interest - beware!)

That means I now have a D5100 with a 18mm-55mm lens, a 55mm-200mm lens and a 55mm-300mm lens.  I will be selling my D40 with the 18mm-55mm lens and camera bag (hopefully). 

Work Ethic

LL Kool J (James Todd Smith) was on the Tonight show on April 11th, 2013 and he shared what his grandmother told him every day. "Todd;
If a task is once begun,
never leave it 'til it's done.
Be thou labor great or small,
do it well or not at all."

Growing up as a kid, I remember a camp that I went to and they taught us:
"Good, better, best,
never, ever, rest,
'til your good get's better
and your better get's best."

I feel that too often in America, we are loosing our work ethic.  Maybe there aren't enough people with the strong work ethic that have the time and/or energy to mentor the younger generations so that they embrace pride in a good job completed.  They take pride in many other things but not in a good job done.

Or is it that we have become such an instant society that we are lacking the patience needed?

April Fools!

Winter is not over yet.  It is nature's April Fool's joke on us.  Except being nature the date of April 1st is not really important.  It is after all April and that qualifies.  I remember in high school around April 21st (because it was very close to my brother's birthday) we had over 1/2" of snow on the ground when we got up in the morning.  It was melted by lunchtime. 


Thunder Snow

 Today we had between 8-9 inches of snow.  I can't remember that much snow this far into April in the past.  I noticed yesterday morning there were a few white crocus blooms starting to bloom.  Just enough to see the white but not enough to be able to photograph.  Don't worry, they will be okay, after all they aren't referred to as "Snow Crocus" for no reason. 


Bird Feeding "Naturally"

Sometimes I take a bit of a beating for not cleaning my flower gardens in the fall.  But there are a few reasons to leave them.  It can add character and sometimes color to a garden in the winter.  For perennials, leaving the green on top as long as possible helps build the root structure.  Other perennials self seed and if you cut them down, you maybe getting rid of the seed too early.  Leaving them up if those seeds don't drop throughout the fall and winter they make a wonderful bird feeder. 



I just got rid of this HUGE bank

There is something particularly sad about seeing a snow bank that you can barely step over on April 11th.  The sidewalk is under there someplace.  I might see it by the end of next week.



Oh, just park in the middle of the road.

There is "no parking" on this block from 2 am to 6 am from Nov 1st through April 1st.  Are you laughing yet?  Yeah, go ahead and just try to park here.  We do have a wide street but common sense went out the window with this snowstorm and there were several people that parked in places that people had to go over the center line in order to get by the parked cars.  So hopefully you don't meet an oncoming car.



YEAH!

Not everyone was upset about the snow.  The puppies loved it despite the fact that it was almost deeper than they were tall.