Mendenhall Panorama

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Vancouver Harbor Panorama.

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Vacation Videos

I put together a few videos from our Vacation. Just click the link in the gutter on the right for my YouTube channel or click the link below.

Rambin's YouTube Channel

North to Alaska.

As you may see from the updated photo slideshow that we are back from vacation. I all seems a blur now. We left after work Thursday May 5th and packed up our stuff and headed North to Indianapolis. We had a early morning flight and with a time zone difference made it even more so. I didn't sleep a wink and had a long day ahead of me. We had a shuttle to run us to the airport and while awaiting the plane tried to stay conscious. Before long we were walking down the tunnel to our plane and the start of our amazing vacation. The first leg of our journey went without a hitch. We landed in Denver and had a lay over until our next leg. A little Russian coffee helped to keep my peepers open. Leaving Denver we were on the wrong side of the plane to see the snow capped peaks passing by out the window but after a while we banked and got to see some of the amazing scenery. We landed in Seattle and after a very short wait we were climbing on a bus for the last leg of our journey into Canada. After about 2 hours we stopped at the Tulalip Casinos and picked up 3 Canadian ladies. Let me tell you if I had a nickel for every time I heard one of the ladies say Yah over the next 4 hours, I could have paid for our vacation and had money to spare. I think from hearing these ladies chatter, complain and giggle annoyingly, I through osmosis developed a Canadian accent. Thank goodness this passed over the next few hours and I returned to relatively normal...Well, normal for me. When we got to the hotel while we were checking in, it must have been the exhausted look on our faces but the very friendly clerk chatted with us and we discussed our travel day from hell and they upgraded our room to a larger room with an awesome view of the harbor. They got two thumbs up from us. After we unloaded all of our luggage and collapsed on the bed. We quickly made our way to the hot tub even though it was raining and after that called room service. The food was amazing and before long we were preparing for bed and ready to take on what Vancouver had in store for us.

Vancouver

The next day we made our way down to Canada Place and stopped by the 2010 Olympic cauldron and the large raid drop and pixelated killer whale. After a few minutes waiting in the rain our trolley pulled up and we were on the tour route. Our first stop was the Vancouver Aquarium. After spending a couple hours there we moved on the the totem poles at Stanley Park and then on to Prospect Point. While at Prospect we developed a bit of an appetite so we had Fish and Chips at Prospect Point Cafe. The view of Lionsgate Bridge was great and on the ceiling where metal tubing that were heated and made the lookout deck very cozy from the chilling drizzle outside. By the time we finished our lunch the drizzle had stopped and the sun popped out. While we waited for the trolley we enjoyed the flowers planted in beds of a black mulch. The mulch was soaking up the suns heat and steam was wafting from the brightly colored beds. We rode the trolley around to get the lay of the land and on into Vancouver and the various stops. Later on we made it back to our hotel and another dip in the hot tub and a meet up with another couple that was on the same cruise as us. This couple was from Manitoba, Canada. After comparing excursions planed and the up coming cruise we had been in the hot tub way too long. We made it back the room and decided to hold to our tradition of ordering Chinese food delivered to the hotel. We called the clerk and asked about a recommendation for Chinese food. They quickly responded by sending up a copy of the Chinese places menu. The food was very good and a lot off it. I did my best to finish it off but couldn't. I was stuffed like a Chinese egg roll. The next day I woke up early and looked online to see our cruise ship was getting ready to sail under Lionsgate Bridge and into Vancouver Harbor. Needles and I both watched as it sailed into view past Stanley Park and disappeared down the harbor. We got up and headed back down to Canada Place to see the ship for the first time with our own eyes and also finish up a few stops on our tour an did an alternate loop that ended up getting delayed by an protest to legalize pot before we had to head back pack up and board the ship at 2pm. We made it down to Gas town and finish up some souvenir shopping. While in the shop waiting out the rain we also had a few hail storms that popped up. We jumped back on the trolley and got back as close as we could to our hotel before making a break for it. We packed up our luggage and since the rain and hail stopped we decided to walk the 3 blocks to where we would board the cruise ship. The weather held out with only and sprinkle to two making our way to Canada Place. After making our way through Security, infectious disease questions, a quick look over our Passports, video cam photo and ID/key cards we were walking up the gangplank to the ship. This all sounds pretty quick but the process took probably an hour or more. Since I have nothing to reference this too, I don't know if this was quick or slow for boarding.

The Norwegian Pearl

We got on board and the rooms weren't ready so we made our way to the buffet. This was when we hear for the first time of many more to come "Washy washy happy happy!" While eating our fill, we heard that the staterooms were ready so we made our way to our room and awaited the delivery of our luggage. While waiting we meet the people that was in charge of cleaning our cabin. They were very nice and told us to contact them if we needed anything. Within an hour or so our luggage was delivered and we put away our things. After that Needles and I decided to hang out on the balcony and watched as the Norwegian Pearl pulled away from the docks and headed back under the Lionsgate Bridge and North into the Inside Passage. After awhile we decided to head to the spa to see what emanates they had to offer. We planned on getting the limited spa pass and when we did the tour Needles asked for it as soon as they mentioned it. Before long our key cards were stickered and we were a go to spa. After the walk through we headed back to the room and got ready to explore the ship and swing into the buffet for supper. That night we slipped into the Spinnaker Lounge and watched a game called Majority Rules played with groups of people. They asked trivia questions and was graded by points by the most common answer amongst the groups. The catch was the last one to submit their answer in writing to the desk had to stay on stage and dance while the DJ played various music clips. Prizes was given to all they participated and grand prize to the winner. It was hilarious. After that we headed back to the room for the evening to figure out how to work the shower in our room. I watched a little TV and soon was ready for bed. The next day was a day at sea with no port stops. The weather was overcast and cool. We did make a lap or two around the ship to stretch our legs and also kept our sea eye open for the occasional whale sighting. We did stop by the spa and unfortunately they were having some water problems and part of the spa was shut down and what was open had luke warm water. We heard later they had fixed the issue and that we made a return visit that afternoon. We also attended a Presentation on the history of Alaska in the Stardust theater.

Ketchikan

Tuesday was our first port day. Ketchikan, Alaska is very touristy. The building are all brightly painted and all the shops seem inviting to step into a browse. When we first stepped off the ship it was sprinkling and we weren't surprised, this being not only the salmon capital but the rain capital also. The iconic rain gauge showed their record rain fall of over 200 inches a year. We conceded to the fact that this was going to be the weather for our entire trip but was pleasantly surprised that after a few minutes the rain stopped the sun popped out and the rest of the day was cool but sunny. After we spent a few minutes looking around one of the shops we waited for our shuttle to our first excursion. Island Wings Misty Fjord float plane tour. We were along with three other people on the tour other than the pilot. I sat in the tail of the plane and Needles was just in front of me. The take off was very smooth and I almost didn't feel the lift off until I noticed the wings pitched to the left as we flew past our cruise ship in the harbor. The scenic sights on the way to the fjord was muted a little with the hazy morning cloud cover. The sights were still breath taking and just to experience a float plane ride was exciting in itself. After about an hour flight time we made our way into the fjord and proceeded to land. Again I was expecting a shutter or jerk as the large pontoons made contact with the water surface of the fjord but this was not the case. A smooth gliding landing found us in the middle of one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The water was glass smooth and surrounding coast line walled with large evergreen trees with stadium seating up the steep walls of the mountains. The snow capped mountains and waterfalls was straight off of a post card everywhere you looked. While we were there four seals came to investigate our visit. Our stay was short as any length would be to such a place and we climbed back into the plane for the trip back. This time I got to set in the co pilots seat. The trip back the haze had much improved and the already scenic views took on an all new grandeur. Mountain lakes, islands and a dormant volcano highlighted almost every bank and turn. We arrived back at Ketchikan and was returned back to our drop off. Since we still had time we made our way to Creek Street famous for the shops elevated on pylons over the water. While walking down the pier area I was wondering if I would see a bald eagle and on cue, one flew over our head and landed on a nearby post. I was able to get several pictures before the flock of tourist moving toward him made him uneasy and he moved down the pier. I was satisfied to get several more photos of the majestic bird and move on to see what adventures awaited us. We walked several blocks to the Salmon Hatchery and Eagle Sanctuary and Totem Heritage Center where they had several totem poles that had been taken down and preserved. Several displays of native Inuit masks and ceremonial dress was on display. The hatchery showed how they harvest eggs from the female salmon and fertilize the eggs to raise baby salmon in a man made setting to release into the nearby streams. Also a couple of injured bald eagle were on display and used to educate people about this amazing bird of prey. We made our way back to the dock. We decide on Fish Pirates Saloon. It had live music and fresh fish. We ordered the salmon and dungeoness crab meal. It was very good and I was amazed at the difference in the taste in "fresh" salmon vs. our salmon back home. The crab meat was sweet and dipped in the butter sauce made it even better. After our meal we finished up with a little souvenir shopping and returned to the ship. After unloading our purchases in the room and changing out of our excursion attire we made our way to a Comedy/Juggling act called Shark Bait. It was very funny. Later that evening found us back in the spa and a stop by the buffet for supper.

Juneau

The next day our excursion was Harv and Marv Whale Watching tour. We were surprised that none of the shops were open when we disembarked. We wandered around port for almost an hour until our ride picked us up to start our excursion. We traveled several miles North of Juneau to Auk Bay where we loaded on to a couple of small boats, ours named OB1 for Out Back One and the other named Merlin. We skipped along the glassy surface into the bay in search of our air spouting quarry. After several minutes Captain Shawn slowed the boat and glassed the horizon of the Bay. He made the announcement "Got one!" We slipped closer to the area and was able to view a single humpback whale sporadicly breaking the surface of the water with breathes and the occasional dorsal hump. A few minutes later we got a call from one of the other ships in the Bay of a mother and her calf. We left and headed in the direction of the report. When we arrived it was amazing to see the intermittent breaths of both mother and calf and I scored some choice pictures of when they would both surface at the same time. While observing the two for several minutes Capt. Shawn got a phone call. Earlier in the trip he made the statement that Orca whales were not usually spotted this early in the season and even during the times they are usually there only 1 in 10 trips happen on Orca. The phone call he just got told him that AF pod a residential pod of about 40 killer whales were in the Bay. My excitement level already high at the sight of a calf humpback went through the roof. I think my excitement may have been seconded by Capt. Shawn as he made mention earlier in the trip that his favorite animal was the Orca and that he follows their migration pattern and does whale watching tours in Hawaii in the off season for Alaska. We made our way toward the area of the pod and it was reported that only about 20 or so of the pod was there. When we got close to the area, we didn't know where to look their was so much going on. Baby orca breaching into the air. Dorsal fins popping up all along the coastline. The moment you framed your shot on one thing something else would happen and pull your interest and the shot in another direction. This was by far some of the trickiest photography of the trip. The humpback whales give you 5 to 10 seconds with every surfacing for some pictures, the orcas are more like 3 seconds to frame and make a shot. After we were there a few minutes a large male dorsal fin broke the waters surface just a few feet from the starboard side of our boat. The fin was 6ft tall estimated by the Captain of our tour. The time flew and we were in danger of being late back to the dock so we had to break off the chase and return back. When we got back to the pier we had just enough time to do some shopping and jump back on the ship.

The Tracy Arm

The second part of the day was to be spent cruising down the Tracy Arm Fjord toward Sawyer Glacier. We entered the Fjord and noticed right away a few icebergs. Little did we know that this was the first of thousands we would encounter on our trip. The fjord narrowed and the walls rose steeply as we made our way deeper into the channel. Lichen aligned some of the walls of the mountains and everywhere the evergreens could get a foot hold held a tree. The waterfalls, some falling hundreds of feet, were countless as we slipped slowly down the fjord. The occasional iceberg would brush the ships hull and give me flashbacks of the Titanic movie. The wake from our ships engines would lap waves upon the icebergs and sometimes cause them to fall apart and collapse into the water. We spent almost four hours on our balcony that day soaking in the scenic surroundings. When we got closer to the Sawyer Glacier they made an announcement that we were passing through the S pass. A particularly bendy part that we had to proceed slow. When we got past it we slowed to a stop and then started the turn about. An another announcement was made that we were several miles from the Glacier and we couldn't proceed any further due to ice and the safety of the ship. As we looked on down the fjord we could see where the icebergs that were spaced apart enough for a large ship to pass through were starting to jumble up as we got farther into the fjord. On down the passage it look like you wouldn't even be able to get a smaller boat past them. Our return trip back out of the fjord was just as scenic as we got to see the other side of the fjord. We did encounter a seal on our trip in and also the lucky people on the starboard side got a glimpse of a bear.

Skagway

First off when disembarking you notice that paintings of the years of cruise ships logos on the rock wall across from you. Some of them spanning back years and years of the tourist industry that is so vital to the area. They say they Skagway experienced their gold rush a second time with the millions on people that step on their piers off of the cruise ships. We stopped by the front of the ship for a quick photo and then made our way into the depot for our all day excursion that would take us many miles into the interior of the panhandle of Alaska and even back into Canada. Our train trip along the White Pass Yukon Route made our way by the Gold Rush Cemetery an old cemetery for the people who lost their lives during that time from accidents, disease and murder. We also made our way by a train caboose that can be rented by the night to stay the night just 5 miles up the pass. The rest of our trip was very scenic with tunnels, bridges, waterfalls, steep drops into the gorge below and snow highlighted mountains. The occasional sign post would mark a site of the gold rush trail or some other historic point of interest. One spot was a black cross marking the grave site of a couple of workers when a large bolder slide off the mountain and crushed them. Their bodies are still in place under the large rock about the size of railroad car. As we ascended up the mountain the temperature dropped and we noticed the snow getting deeper on the ground and started to fall from the sky. Just three week prior they made a pass with the rotary snow engine to clear the train tracks for the trip. At times the snow piled up past the windows of the train car. When we made it to Fraser B.C. we had to submit passports to continue our journey on bus. We made our way north along the Yukon Highway and into Carcross B.C. where we stopped for lunch. A quick visit with some Alaskan Husky Pups and a trip through a taxidermy museum and before long we needed to head back. The snow falling from the sky made it seem as though the sun was about to go down but we still had most of the day ahead of us. The snow was so heavy at times that it would block out the sun and drop visibility to zero. At Carcross we got to stop by Emerald Lake and also Carcross Desert and large sandy area that resembles a desert. The sand was left there by a glacier that passed by long ago. It was weird to see sand rolling over the hills with the occasional evergreen tree poking up through the yellowy sand. On our return visit the sand was starting to cover over with snow. As we made our way back to Skagway the weather improved and our tour driver dropped us off in town to look around at the shops. We made our way back to the boat after scoring a warm beverage and picking up some whole bean coffee to take back with us home. We backed away from the dock and the direction of the ship turned South to our next port. This made me a little sad as it also made it all too clear that our trip was coming to an end in a few days.

Prince Rupert B.C.

The odd thing right off the bat was that our balcony over looked the town. With us being on the port side for the trip we usually found ourselves looking into the sound or bay at our ports. After they assembled the walkways we disembarked. As we arrived later in the day they assembled us in the theater and then escorted us to the exit as time would be a factor to pull this one off. We made our way to the port and again had to show our passports as we were in Canada. We boarded the Catamaran named Inside Passage for our Grizzly Bear excursion. We skipped along the water and had occasional sightings of bald eagles and other birds that live near the water. We slipped by a rocky point and spotted some harbor seals that slipped back into the water upon our approach. We arrived a Khutzemateen Sanctuary and decreased our speed to start looking for our furry prey. We slipped by a couple of spots they seemed to look at as frequent spots and before long I noticed that peoples interest seemed to be directed to a dark spot on the far off bank. The tour guide leaned in and told me to toward the dark spot by a tree stump on the bank. The engines were cut and we coasted in closer and closer to where the bear shaped spot was. The closer to the bank we got I noticed my excitement level started to ramp up. I started to take a few pictures even when we were still a good ways from the bank as I was afraid the bear would spook and dash back into the trees. To my amazement we edged closer and closer to reveal that this was a Momma bear and a year old cub. We got closer and closer and eventually got to within 40 feet of the bear and her cub. The wary mother kept an eye on us and occasionally glimpsed over her shoulder to look where Junior was. They were eating grass along the shore as the guide told us they do after coming out of hibernation to kind of jump start the digestive tract in preparation for the salmon run just a few weeks from now. It was amazing to get that close to these bears and for them to tolerate our visit into their world. We were able to approach the pair 3 different times. On our way back to Prince Rupert the sun was starting to drop quickly We happened on a large group of bald eagles in various stages of maturity just before we arrive back into port and shuffle back onto the ship. Or last day on the ship would be spent at sea. We enjoyed a show did one of our daily spa trips and packed up our luggage for a quick departure the following morning. For those who can carry their own bags they allow you to debark first so we were able to start our Seattle sightseeing.

Seattle

We planned on jumping on the double decker pink bus that we were expected to stop at Pier 66 a little after 9am. Unfortunately the bus didn't end up showing until almost 10am so we stood in the rain with 30 of our closest Chinese friends for almost an hour. We finally boarded the pink bus and began our tour with our first stop at the EMP/Sci Fi Museum that was featuring Battlestar Galactica and Nirvana. It was neat to see some of the old and new props from the show. After that we made our way through the Music part of the museum seeing memorabilia from Jimmy Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and other various artists. Our next stop would be the Space Needle. After purchasing our ticket and a quick check of our bags we were on the elevator and heading up into the clouds. Yes I say clouds because it was a very cloudy and rainy day in Seattle. Surprise...I know. The scenic view from the Needle was nice but of course would have been better on a clear day. We did pick up some coffee while there and since we had to pick up our luggage in storage and grab the light link rail South to the SeaTac stop and the shuttle to the Cedar Brook Lodge. The hotel was tucked away and seemed almost like a line of large homes tucked into the Seattle hill side. The building seemed small and one level but when you entered it was a split level that proceeded with a restaurant and bar with exterior patio and yard on the lower level. Our room was in a different building and was kind of confusing since our room was on the 3rd floor but our window looked out just above ground level. One nice touch was free snacks in the form of malted milk ball in dark, milk and mint chocolate, bottled water, chips, yogurt, fruit and Haagen Daz ice cream. Our next day we headed back into downtown Seattle to finish off our vacation and see a few more sights in Seattle. We stopped by the Public Market Place and got to see Pikes Place and the very first Starbucks. We ended up eating at Lowells and setting in a window seat on the third floor watching the traffic in Elliot Bay. We made a couple of trips around the tour route and actually ended up chatting with the tour narrator about or trip since we were the only ones on the bus. We got dropped off to do what was to be our last stop The Underground Seattle tour. This tour was to tell us about the history and perils of Seattle. The tour guides were funny and added just the right amount of crude humor to make it fun and interesting. After the tour was over we hoofed it the couple of blocks to the Chinatown Light Rail stop and was instantly notified by an announcement that the train wasn't making the stop at this terminal due to a disabled train in the tube. We were routed to a bus that took us a couple of stops down the track and let us off so that we could race to the University stop to catch the train inly to hear that the whole thing was a drill and train service has resumed. We made it back to the hotel and ended up just doing some snacks for supper and packed up for our travel day back home. We arrived at SeaTac way too early and after getting through security and boarded the plane we had on of those experiences that is often seen in a movie. About 30 minutes after take off that had a lady pass out and made the over head announcement "Is there a doctor on board?" I noticed a couple of people made their way forward so I relaxed and settled into the flight. Since we had a medical emergency we were late in disembarking our flight so catching our next flight was gonna be tight. We made it with ten minutes to spare and was on our way to Indy. I finally felt like home was almost in sight when we landed in Indianapolis but after waiting for our shuttle for 20 minutes and then having to wait another 10 to 15 minutes on another family to get to the bus I was more than ready to be in my car and on my way home.

Home

We arrived home around 5pm and after a quick visit to my Brother and Sister in Laws I called it a night and went to bed around 8:45pm. I was beat and ended up sleeping until 10 am the next morning. I am glad we are home but can't wait to go back to Alaska in the future. It's was an amazing trip and I feel that our next vacation will have a hard time topping it.

Total mileage traveled rough estimate 6,800 miles. For more pictures a slideshow is in the gutter to the right of the page. Or go to my Picasa Albums to view.

Vacation 2011

Vacation Slideshow

Three More Days

In just a few days we will be leaving on our Alaskan adventure. I am sure we will have a fantastic time but I am a little hesitant to let my guard down and just relax and go with the flow. It seems that when I do relax, the other shoe drops and something doesn't go exactly to plan. We will be leaving Friday from Indy, dark and early and either waiting in an airport, on a plane or on a bus for 17 hours. I am not really looking forward to this but this is how it had to be to get there for reasonable money. I just hope that all the flights are on time and all the connects work out and that our luggage gets there when we do. By 7:30pm Central time Friday we will be in Vancouver and probably exhausted. We would like to do some running around Friday evening but I suspect our running around will consist of getting something to eat and resting. We might slip down to the 2010 Olympic Cauldron since it is only about a block or so from the Hotel. Wish us luck and hope to post some pics soon.

East Fork Lake Pics

Momma eagle watching over her young.

Three young ones in the nest.

Momma keeping a protective eye out.

Looking out over the lake.

Caught.

Going.

Going.

Gulp!

Gone.

To fly.

To sing.

To be free.

Happy Early Birthday to Me.

I have been long lusting after a L lens for my DSLR for some time now. When I sold my pop up camper I had a choice to make, use the money to add the lens to my current DSLR or upgrade to a new camera body . I decided on the later and ended up picking up a Canon 60D from Amazon. I got the camera a week ago and I am very pleased with its abilities and thought in time I might pair it with the L lens of my dreams. I decided to give Needles the Canon XS DSLR as she has been wanting one also. Little did I know that Needles had decided with her "hand me down" DSLR that she might buy the L lens I wanted and we could share it. The lens came in the mail Saturday and just after she brought the package in the house, she holds it out to me and says "Happy Early Birthday!" To say I was thrilled is an understatement. Thank you Needles. You make my dreams come true. Love you and you shouldn't have.

Original picture

Crop of the image above. Amazing.

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny came for a visit today. The candy he left didn't taste so good. Happy Easter everyone.

Bacon Explosion!

Bacon Explosion with hamburger.

Interleave bacon 6 down and six across.

Mix 1lb hamburger and 1lb sausage with seasonings and pork rub.

Spread mixture over your bacon.

Fry remaining bacon on a pan.

Spread over mixture.

Roll it up and season with more pork rub.

Put in on to smoke.

Done @ 165 degrees.

Countdown.

I have been counting down the days until we go on vacation. I was trying to control my excitement with the upcoming trip and was thinking everything was seeming to go well until I got some unexpected news from my work a couple weeks ago. It's amazing how your world and your perspective of it can change in just a few seconds and just a few words. Needless to say my stress levels have shot up a little more lately, my fuse a little shorter and looking forward to the trip is a little bitter sweet with what is weighing on my mind. I was just going to ignore it and hope that some how the world would sort it out some way and that whatever happens, happens. But the more I try to ignored it the more my mind slips back to the situation like a paper cut that can be forgotten but suddenly becomes all encompassing in a painful split second. I don't know why I am so surprised of the situation. I guess I am just taking things day by day and as said before things will sort themselves out in time.....So I guess I have two countdowns...One good and one, I don't know yet.

Productive Weekend.

This weekend has been a busy one so far. This morning we got up and had breakfast. I had a follow up eye doctors appointment so we decided to head into town early and swing by our local bald eagles nest to find one of the eagles setting on at least one egg. We stayed for about 30 minutes and then decided to run into town for lunch. Our stop was Ophelia's Cup and Needles had the Great Big Gorgeous Salad and I had the Robust Reuben washed down with some pomegranate and cherry tea. It was all very good. We still had an hour to kill before my appointment so we stopped by the park to see if we could see some white squirrels but no luck. We stopped to do some grocery shopping and then off to the appointment. After the appointment one our way out of town we stopped back by the eagles nest and was treated to see both make an appearance. When we got home we unloaded the groceries and I prepped my smoker for some Boston butts I was going to smoke for the Renshaw Family get together tomorrow. While that was smoking away nicely I also replaced a phone line in the house and also replaced a light in the garage. I am glad we finally have some weather nice enough to be able to do some thins outside. I was starting to get a little cabin fever. Have a great weekend.

My thoughts are with the people in Japan that have been effected by the earthquake, tsunami, 2 nuclear power plants heading toward melt down and now the volcano erupting. They can't catch a break.

Storm

Weekend in Kentucky.

Last weekend Needles and I made the trip to Kentucky. We both got out from work Friday a little early so we got an early jump in heading to the promise land. We arrived just before 6pm and my Mother had a small feast ready for us. We got to sit, visit and catch up on things. Before long it was time to go to bed. The next morning after breakfast Dad and I went to check out his rabbit traps and then around 10am we went into town to see my cousin at his shop. After a brief visit we headed on into town and stopped off a Uncle Lee's, where I hoped they would have the pair of boots I have been wanting but no luck. Needles scored a pair of thermals and then we were off to the local Rural King. I still didn't find my boots but instead scored some mesquite smoking chips, some Jack Daniels smoking chips and a bag of charcoal. I guess I am still a little shocked when I see people in a store smoking a cigarette but we were 2 for 2 in this category of walking through second hand smoke while inside a store trying to shop. To cleans the palate on our way back to my parents we made a pit stop to Sonic for cherry lime aids. Mmmmmmm. When we got back to my parents my Aunt and Grandma came to visit and we had lunch. All too soon it was time to go to bed. Sunday morning Mom and Dad got ready for church and Needles and I packed up to head back North. On our way home we stopped off at a scenic area just North of Henderson and walked the trails at Eagles Slough. The bird watching deck wasn't done yet so we will have to stop back by later. On our way through Mt. Carmel we made stop at Subway and then finally home. It was a nice weekend but it went too quickly.

HDR Photography

I ran up on an interesting effect you can do with cameras that do bracket photography. What you do is take at least 3 images each of different exposure levels and combine them with a computer program to boost the dynamic range of the image. It evens out the bright and dark areas and pumps up the saturation of the image. I will post the three images that I used as a practice and then the final image. I will definitely be looking into trying this technique in the future. Exposure Value +1Exposure Level -1Exposure Level 0

Final Product HDR Image

Weather Update.

Well the icy rain fell and coated everything in a quarter inch layer of ice until about 8 pm last night the temp rose to 36 and it started to melt. The only unfortunate thing about the whole evening was that around 5:30pm the Internet went down and didn't returned until sometime in the middle of the night. By this morning most of the ice was gone but it was bitterly cold at 21. While driving to work the snow was falling and by 3pm the ground was covered and the roads were starting to become white. By the time Needles got home we had about an inch of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. I think the snow is just about over but with the temps being frigid I don't think it will be going anywhere very fast. I guess Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow so I expect by this time next week will be in the 80's. Have a good evening.

Winter Storm.

The doom has begun. Only time will tell what we end up with.

Weekend.

Our do nothing weekend ended up being a doing something weekend. I got a phone call Saturday from my Brother wanting to take us to lunch in celebration of our 14th anniversary. We went to the Trace Inn and had a good time watching the hundred of geese flying in and out of the lake. A large portion of the lake is frozen so they seem to congregate around the Trace Inn area. We got to catch up with Rudy and the Gang and before long we found ourselves back at home and doing some of the chores that we needed to get done. Needles made a meatloaf. It's was her first and it was magnificent. Today we went down to Needles's Mom's L's house. She made one of my favorite meals of the many she makes. She made sweet and sour meatballs. Yum! It's been a good weekend. Now I am doing laundry in preparation of the impending work week. We are also supposed to get some bad weather tomorrow night. Icy rain with snow chaser. I wonder what we will end up with. I guess we will know around this time tomorrow. Have a good week.

Do Nothins.

This weekend is a do dothing weekend. We are going to sleep in and relax. I think we will venture to Needles Moms on Sunday but other than that......Nothin.

White Weekend.

We got about 6 to 7 inches of the white stuff last week and it is safe to say I am sick and tired of the snow. Even as I type this post there is even more of the stuff falling from the sky. By one websites account we have gotten about 17 inches of snow this year so far. This weekend has been somewhat uneventful. I did pick up a couple of 5 pound pork butts and smoked them Saturday. I started them around 8:15am and they finished up about 5:45pm. They turned out pretty good but I bet if I let them go for about 30 more minutes they would have been a little more tender. We pulled the pork off the bone and now have plenty of fixins for pork sandwiches and the like. Today Needles and I needed to get out of the house so we made a run to the big city and stopped off at Rural King and Lowe's. While at Lowe's I ran into my boss and talked a bit. After we left there we returned back across the river and stopped at one of our favorite Chinese places to celebrate our 14th year together which will be on Tuesday the 25th. Needles picked up a couple of items she was wanting but I returned home empty handed. I did however order a mini dehumidifier to help with the humidity in our bedroom. Hope everyone had a nice weekend.