Auld Lang Syne...

... or old long since, or long long ago, or days gone by or old times. I know this is true because I read it on Wikipedia.

Anyway, my plan was to put up at least 52 posts this year and attempt to learn more about digital photography and post production along the way. I put 6000 clicks on this camera, not counting my waterproof point and shoot, and my cell phone. And, this doesn't even count work, where I do product photography for an on line retailer.

So the main thing I learned this year is: I have an infinite amount of things yet to learn. In fact, the industry is changing so fast, I will never master the learning curve. WooHoo! Good thing I have tomorrow.

Here are my Fave Pics shot in 2010.

Christmas Eve

Since we had Christmas with the Kids last weekend, it's been kind of hard for me and my wife to stay in the Christmas mood. We've been playing Christmas moovies all week: Miracle on 42nd St, The 4 Christmases, The Christmas Story, Die Hard, Die Hard II... , but still it seems weird. Everything should straighten out tomorrow when we go have dinner with my folks.

We had a real tree this year. Pretty good deal. Not too expensive, and it has held up nicely- no pine needles on the floor, and I didn't end up in the hospital with a life threatening asthma attack (I'm not allergic to pine trees, but my Mom thinks I am and has told me so all my life). My wife and Granddaughter did a great job of decorating it... well... the Granddaughter did a really good job of supervising.

Anyway, presents are all distributed, and it will become landfill by Sunday afternoon.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Kookies

This is the time of year we all get treats and goodies from all kinds of people we never see the rest of the year. For some reason these things are always some exotic concoction with all kinds of weird stuff mixed in. Why can't people just give Twinkies or Suzy-Qs at Christmas?

Now, throw in the culinary skills of a five year old, and you're likely to get something like a sugar cookie with a Spree in the center.

The Black Thumb Club

This is the first installment in a new series of pics I plan on uploading over the next year. My wife and I apparently both have black thumbs. Everything we plant usually ends up in the bulk trash pile after it has lived a short and dismal life on our property.

However, in spite of all our disastrous horticultural efforts, there seems to be a plethora of things that pop up around the property throughout the year. This happens because the lady we bought the house from actually did some research, and strategically planted this stuff.

So I decided to document it on my blog. These, I believe, are Paperwhites, and actually pop up all over the city. This set is in our front garden under the Crepe Myrtle I have been trying to kill for 8 years.

Stick With Me Here

Thought these might help me reach my goal this year which is to make at least 52 entries to this stupid blog. Well, looks like I made it. There are a few gaps here and there, but generally I kept up. I can't imagine trying to do one of those stupid 365 things.

Why do we have a choice of four different kinds of Elmers Glue? Are there really this many applications in school now or does someone just have too big of a marketing budget?

Smoke On The Water

Hmmmm. We must have received a shipment from... Omaha Steaks!

Who Gives a Hoot?

So a couple of weeks ago we went up to visit my Stepdaughters. We were there to celebrate the older one's birthday. She wanted to go to Macaroni Grill for lunch, so as soon as we pulled into town, it was girls in one car (my wife and her two daughters), and boys in the other (me and their significant others).

Sometime during the course of lunch I made the mistake of telling them I have never been to Hooters. I don't know how that came up, it just did. This left the guys speechless, and before the bill had been paid, it had been decided that a detour on the trip home was in order.

Well, since we ate like Barbarians at the restaurant, none of us guys had enough room for... whatever it is they serve at Hooters, so we just made a quick appearance in the lobby so they could buy me a memento to commemorate my first visit to this fine dining establishment.

This little keychain was the perfect item, so one of the guys grabbed it and handed it to the cashier to ring up. Five minutes later, she called over another waitress to help her find the 'code'. No luck. Now another waitress is involved. Now the manager is summonsed. Now half the staff is up there digging through manuals and notebooks and paperwork.

Finally the manager just hands it over and says "Here. It's on me. Sorry for the trouble". What trouble? We got a free keychain, and half the staff was hanging out up at the register. Mission accomplished!

What is really interesting though is, the keychain had a price tag on it. $3.95. Plain as day. Black and white. But because it wasn't properly 'in the system', they could do nothing with it. I just read about this phenomenon in a very interesting book called Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, wherein they discuss the loss of craftsmanship in this country, even in the area of clerks (and apparently, managers). Very interesting (and depressing) book.

Anyway, it was fun to hang with the guys, and if I were about thirty years younger and single, I might actually go back there and get something to eat. And I would like to thank my wife for being such a good sport and laughing the hardest when I told this story back at the house.

Light Duty

When I was a kid, my Dad would always 'recruit' my brother and me to help install Christmas lights on the house. I swear he would get us up before daylight and have us out there on ladders until sunset. He had the lights all packed in sequence so they would come out of storage in order. The ends were labeled, so we knew which end of the house to start so they would come out right. He had a special wiring harness made to accept the multiple strands, intersecting just above the power outlet. And, finally, he had custom made brackets to attach the lights to the roof without harming the shingles or facia board. And it still took us all day.

Now, my Dad is a retired rocket scientist. Seriously. He was an aerospace engineer during many of the moon shots. One of the reasons they made it all the way to the moon and back is because of guys like my Dad who paid attention to detail. However, this is hanging Christmas lights on a house, a mere 9 feet above the surface of the Earth.

So, now that I have a house of my own to hang lights on, I choose to take a slightly simpler route. I get up about... 10:30, have a long breakfast with my wife, surf the web, check my email, take my mid morning nap. Then I get my one string of lights out, and my custom made roof brackets, and flail away at my yearly Christmas spirit chore. Total time: 45 minutes. And it seems to work out just fine.

Oh! And taking them down is a breeze. I don't even get back on the roof! Just grab one end and yank... and then spend the next twenty minutes looking for 'custom brackets' in the grass.

But then, if I were working at NASA, those astronauts would probably be a lot more nervous about crawling into that rocket ship than they were back when my dad was in charge.

Fitty Years of Burgers

I gotta get this up now while it is still 2010.

I think the first hamburger I ever ate was at this place. And I think it was at their... grand opening. This place has outlasted any other joint for miles. And it was packed the night I took this shot. That little yellow circle at the top of the sign used to say 'Hamburgers 18¢, Cheeseburgers 19¢'. And when we drove up there, I wasn't in a car seat. Nor was I wearing a seatbelt, because they didn't come as standard equipment then.

Omaha Steaks

So if you think Omaha Steaks are a little pricey, consider this:

Their stuff beats anything you can find at the grocery store hands down. They flood you with coupons and deals that bring the prices down almost within reason. But most important of all, they pack your order with dry ice that gives you hours of entertainment in your very own kitchen.

Plain Vanilla

You know you hear and use this cliche all the time. I'll bet you say it at least five times a week. Well, here is your living proof that the term plain vanilla is indeed an oxymoron.

TUBA Diving

Spent the weekend in San Marcos with some good friends. This is the only river running in the Western Hemisphere right now. Not too exciting, but 72 degrees all winter long.

This guy was scouring the bottom for toober loot. I call this TUBA Diving (Tethered Underwater Breathing Apparatus). Don't know the official name. I wonder how long one can stay 6 feet under without building up too much nitrogen in the blood?

Texas Chile

I'm not a real big baseball fan, and I am extremely claustrophobic. Therefore I found it interesting that last night I was riveted to the internet watching the Texas Rangers try to make history by winning their first ever playoff series, and at the same time watched with the rest of the world the rescue of the Chilean Miners. And I swear the first man reached the surface at the very instant Texas generated the last out and clenched the final game against Tampa Bay. Whew!

Congratulations to both teams!

Update: All 33 miners plus the 6 rescue men up to the surface without a single incedent. Now I can get some sleep.

Colorado? Oregon? Montana? Canada? Alps?

Nope. Texas.

Can you believe that? Me either. But there we were. Chisos Mountains Basin in Big Bend National Park.

It only took 85 shots to get this. Good thing we are in the digital age, eh?

Out Of This World

Been out of this world on vacation. Took a trip to the lunar surface. Or so it seemed. I think this is where they filmed all those fake moon landings back in the late 60s.

The stupid sun would not cooperate with me all week. This is one of the few times I saw clear skies. Ten second exposure at f5.o 1600 iso. About 10:30 pm. Full Moon.

It's Floodn' Down In Texas

We got all our rain for the summer...Wednesday morning. I believe this was Tropical Storm Hermine blowing through town.

For the first time since I started my new job two years ago, I decided to play hookie. What a great decision that turned out to be! A couple of buddies and I ran over to the Paluxy River in Glen Rose. Caught it right at the crest- 3200 cfs. What a great level. Of course, being a Wednesday, we had the whole river to ourselves.

Some pics here, and eventually some video here.

Off The Bone BBQ

I've been eyeing this place for a month or so. Ran across it while doing a photo shoot back in August. But barbecue joints seem to have strange hours. They're usually closed on Sundays, don't stay open past 8 pm, and take off major holidays. How dare them!

Even though these guys close Sunday and Monday, I was delighted to find they were open today, Labor Day, from 11am to 4pm. Huh? I'll take it! The wife and I made the trek to the south side of downtown. This is part of that area they are trying to revitalize. Stick many more establishments like this in the area and I'll be spending more time (and money) down there for sure!

Great ribs, great brisket, great sides, and the family that runs this joint are a delight to deal with.

Playing Under the Bridge

As a kayaker, I spend a lot of time crawling around under bridges, gaining access to various waterways. Most of the time the experience is fairly annoying, as these places are generally not maintained at all. There is usually tall grass, ankle deep mud, trash, overgrown vegetation, and decrepit looking structures.

Yesterday, however, while putting on the Brazos River just east of Glen Rose, Texas, we had the pleasant experience of this overpass. The one with all concrete is fairly new. However, the green trestle has been there since the beginning of dirt. I was very impressed that not only did they refurbish the top, including resurfacing the road, but they redid the entire structure. They even painted the bottom under the road surface! Now all the little barn swallows that build their mud houses have a great new neighborhood to raise a family.

So the next time you are driving between Glen Rose and Cleburn on highway 67, you will know how nice the bridge is below you when you cross the Brazos River.

Hang Time

Saw this in the back yard of my Stepdaugheter's new house. Got me reminiscing about early childhood again. I wonder how many loads of laundry had been processed on this solar clothes dryer before it's demise?

Once upon a time, there were no clothes dryers. It's hard for me to imagine taking the time to hang up all my laundry after the spin cycle is finished. Who am I kidding? It's hard for me to imagine doing laundry at all since my lovely wife does it*!

My wife actually likes doing laundry. It is therapeutic for her. I wonder how therapeutic it would be if she had to deal with this contraption every time? We have recently contemplated replacing our old dryer, but have baulked at the $900+ price tags of comparable models to our old one. I could probably install a set of these for about $50!

*Just for the record, I do all the lawn work. However, if we had one of these in the back yard, I would probably strangle myself midway through summer lawn season, or my wife would threaten to strangle me until I got her a real dryer.

A River Runs Through It... Except Here

I've been conscious of the Trinity River since I was about... oh, six months old, I guess. We had to cross it on a rickety old bridge about four times a week in a covered wagon Ford Falcon station wagon to get into town. I've watched it flood many times. I've ridden miles and miles along it's banks on my bicycle and my motorcycle. And recently I have had the opportunity to paddle extensively on it in my kayaks.

So today I found it intriguing to be able to stand on the bottom of it while doing this photo shoot. The city has decided to install a standing wave for us paddle sport types to play on (here's a finished one in a city right down the interstate). This is just the start of a huge master project to convert the entire floodplain into a recreation area. Yeah, they are 'using' us kayakers to try to bring commerce into the area and reform it into a thriving community. Cool! Smite us with that responsibility.

So I have been documenting the progress of this project over the last month or so. Completion date is estimated for December 2010. They certainly have the equipment to pull that off... and the cooperation from the weather. I think the six lakes above this section are all well below conservation level. More pics here and here.

Get A Grip

When it's too hot to ride your bike, you can always work on it. And since my bike is pushing ten years old, it needs plenty of work. So it's a good thing it's hot!

Decided to replace the grips today. The old ones had been reduced to Gummy Bears. I would finish up my ride and have to peel my hands away from the handlebars.

Ya know, just like everything else BabyBoomers have exploited, handlebar grips come in a vast array of sizes, styles, colors and prices. These are the middle-of-the-road set because I'm a middle-of-the-road kind of guy. Perhaps that is because I was born right in the middle of the Boom.

So, now I should be good for another ten years or so. I guess if I can get that kind of mileage out of a product, I shouldn't worry about the price, eh?

Brrrr!

I ventured out of the air conditioning just long enough to snap a pic with my 50mm 1.8 to test depth of field.

I think that is remnant of Hostess SuzyQ's on the snowman's lips.

Taunting My Coworkers

Today is my two year anniversary at my job. It has been a very interesting time in my life to say the least. Mostly a very good experience, but a huge change for me, since I was self employed for almost twenty seven years before I landed here.

To celebrate I decided to get everyone Hostess treats. My selection has nothing to do with the fact that everyone except me is deeply entrenched in a 'Biggest Loser' competition. Bwa hah ha HAAAAAAAA!

Update: These lasted about twelve minutes after I placed them in the break room and made my announcement.

I did not sign off on this.

The city I live in is so stinkin' big, it is often years before I return to certain sections of it. Today I was driving down to the river on the south side of downtown to do a photo shoot and stumbled across this bridge being built. Sometimes it just amazes me how much stuff happens without my permission.

To Justify taking all that Cholesterol Medicine...

...and if you ever find yourself traveling through Oklahoma on I35, make sure you exit off main street in Moore, south of OKC (actually, exit 4th and go north a block to Main). Then head a half block east to Del Rancho for some great chicken fried steak and some even better local color. Order the #4 and split it with your traveling companion, or you will be hating your seatbelt for the next hour and a half. Oh, and sit in the booth straight across from the kitchen door, because that's the only one where the ordering phone works. Otherwise you just have to scream your order at the waitstaff.

Trip From Hell

Well, not really from Hell, but perhaps through Hell. We ran up to see the Granddaughter this weekend. Drove about 450 miles round trip. Saw about 109 broken down cars too. Interesting. Seemed like most of them had tire problems. In fact, I saw about 12 cars up on the jack with a tire missing and no one around.
Fortunately I just had the truck tuned along with some a/c work that proved to be very useful.

Welcome to August. Stay hydrated. Check your spare.

Today's Forecast: Chance of Hot Showers

My shower finally got to the point where I had to fix it. The hot water valve was spewing straight out at me. Not good. Now, you must realize my house is 57 years old. And whoever owned it before me was not a handyman by any stretch of the imagination. So every time I go to fix my plumbing or electrical stuff, I usually get some sort of little surprise. Or big project. Or both.

As luck has it, the guy that used to live across the street is a plumber and grew up in the neighborhood, so he is familiar with all the issues of these houses. He sent me right to these guys for my solution.

So I made the crosstown trek to this outfit. Not only did they have what I needed, I actually had a choice of weather to replace or rebuild the faucets! The guy spent 20 minutes with me. They probably made $7 profit off my purchase. But they made a customer for life. I love vendors like this.

Try finding that at the Big Box retailers.

BP and The Tarballs...

...didn't keep the masses from descending upon Galveston Island this weekend. My wife and I ran down there to check out the 'damage'. The only damage we could find was left over from Hurricane Ike from 3 years ago, or however long it has been. In fact, the water was cleaner than I have ever seen. The beaches were even clean! More pics here.

I have never seen it this crowded either. Of course, I usually travel in September/ October after most kiddos are safely back in school. After all, I am allergic to anyone under 28.

No oil slicks, no tar balls. Only unheard of crystal clear water. Amazing.

Photo by wife. Those are her feet, not mine.

Our Backyard...

...does not have one of these. But ironically, it kind of sounds the same around here. The difference is our white noise is comprised of two interstates that run within a few miles of the house.

This is Cascades Falls near Mount Princeton, Colorado. I just got back from a great kayak trip with some of my buddies. Highs of 78, lows into the upper 30s. You can check out some more pics here.

Meanwhile I'll be sitting in the living room, listening to the gentle babbling of the central a/c unit, as it is 103º outside today.

IT'S SO HOT, you could...

... fry an SUV on the sidewalk!

Yet another unusual sight on my morning ride. Temps are supposed to be hovering right around the 100º mark for the rest of eternity.

I have never seen a car burn like this one (except on tv). Complete from one end to the other, including the front of the garage and the corner of the house.

Bulk Trash Pick-up

I see some really strange things while riding my bike in the morning.

What makes one decide to throw away something like this? What would posses someone to buy something like this? I've noticed a lot of people around here emulating this body style.

My grandfather was a plaster of paris dealer when I was a little kid. He had these things laying all over his shop, spilling into the house and back yard. Apparently there was a big market for them. I wonder how many of them still exist today?

Rule of Threes

This sign just covers the basics of life, doesn't it?

When I took my Wilderness First Responder course, we learned the Rule of 3s.

Let's see if I can remember:

1. You can survive THREE DAYS without WATER.

2. You can survive THREE MINUTES without AIR.

3. You can survive THREE SECONDS without getting a text, email or call on your cellphone.

You Filmin' Me?

While out shopping today I saw this pathetic little corner of the Target customer service area. Look at that. One counter, a bin full of unclaimed packs of snapshots, and an old obsolete enlargement machine. No attendant. This reminds me of how much photography has changed since I was a child.

In the late 70s I worked as a print processor in the 200,000 square foot Fotomat Labs. On a typical Sunday night, I would go into work at 11pm and get off at 7am Monday morning. In that span of time we would process, print, package and ship out around 22,000 rolls of film.

That is the strangest job I have ever had. My position was to monitor all the prints as they came streaming out of the darkroom. Yes, that means I could look at all your stupid photos all night long. Our policy was to process everything anyone shot. And, yes, people would shoot anything you can imagine. And, many things you can't imagine.

So, soon the term 'shooting film' will go by the way of 'hang up the phone', 'watch the tube', and 'read the paper'. In fact, I shot this pic on my phone and emailed it to my account and posted it up here all in about 45 minutes. No trip to the drugstore. No smelly fingers from developer/stopbath/fixer.

Duck and Cover

While riding my bike the other morning I ran across this in my very own neighborhood! Funny I should notice this the day after finding this video. And now this song stuck in my head!

In the first vid, check out the cool fire truck. And notice how many kids probably ended up with a concussion acting out their scenarios.

120% Pure Beef

The choice was a Whataburger Junior for lunch today because I knew we were going out for a big dinner tonight. But when they brought my meal, I noticed a full size patty on my little burger. Even though I got more than I paid for, I was somewhat annoyed. Of course, if they would have put a junior size patty on a full size bun, I would have REALLY been annoyed. That happened to me once at a Dairy Queen: got more than I paid for but...

I think this is karma getting back at me for all those times at Jack-in-the-Box when we ran out of hamburgers and just wrapped a cheeseburger in hamburger paper and sent the order out the door. 49 times out of 50 we would never hear a thing. Then that 50th guy would come storming back in, throwing a fit like we had insulted his manhood or something. Of course, by then we had a fresh batch up and he got a hot'n steamy one.

I did not make a scene today. I just happily ate my hamburger and curbed my expectations of the fast food industry.

BTW, if you are a future potential employer and you are reading this to try and get some dirt on me, remember, I was seventeen years old when I was flipping burgers.

Party Animal

Don't know whether this guy was just too hot or suffering from a pecan pie filling hangover, but he certainly depicts what we were doing for the entire Memorial Day weekend: as little as possible.

I Scrath My Head...

My commute to work is about twenty five minutes and takes me through Suburban America at it's finest. I could take the tollway and save about five minutes and miss most of the twenty one traffic lights, but that would cost about $1560.00 a year. Plus I would miss out on stuff like this.

At one of the most obnoxiously long red lights that seems to always catch me, sits this sign. It cycles through about four times while I patiently breath in carbon monoxide, waiting for green.

Now, I'm not the world's best speller, so I Googled 'scrath' one day, thinking I might be missing something important. But all I came up with was a 1978 bootleg Japanese U-Tube video of Ted Nugent's Cat Scrath Fever.

What's really amazing is not the fact there is a misspelled word on this sign, but the fact that it has been up there for approaching TWO YEARS. They have even added more text recently! Do they not sit back and look at the sign after they are done?

I mean, c'mon! I misspelled prairie on 1000 sweatshirts one time and replaced them for the client immediately. I think I should get free car washes for me and my wife for life!

Saturday Morning Laundry

This is one of my favorite places to stand. It's on the edge of the Washing Machine, right in the middle of Cossatot Falls. My buddy John and I decided to catch one last run before summer starts, when he takes off for God Knows Where for the rest of his life. We met some great paddlers from all over the region as we negotiated shuttle service throughout the weekend. Check out some more pics here.

Flood Stage Fright

Rain was forecast for this entire weekend. But watching the radar, it meticulously weaved its way up and past all the critical areas we were hoping it would hit... except the Cossatot. BAM!

Saturday morning a group of us headed to the river, expecting a typical springtime river expedition. As we approached the neighborhood, the river shot up to flood stage. Thank goodness for iPhones and on line river gauges! How did these guys do this 20 years ago?!

So I finally got to do a 'Blue Run' on the 'Tot. What a kick! I did it in a bran spankin' new Jackson Villein too, thank you Dave Holl from Kayak Instruct.com for letting me scratch up break in your new demo. Check out some pics of the trip here.

FINALLY!

... they knock this thing down!

1,051,200 Minutes of Marital Bliss

That is a three layer double chocolate anniversary cake. Today is our two year wedding anniversary.

We celebrated by going to... a wedding... accidentally. We spent the weekend at one of the Gaylord resorts. There was a wedding going on right in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. In fact, the preacher had a microphone to project over the roar. He seemed quite at home behind a microphone with that captured audience. Yes, I was coveting the photographer's 70-200 2.8. lens. Later that night we saw the same group eating a post wedding formal dinner, with the best man feeling quite at home behind a microphone...

Happy Dia de las Madres

I googled that. It means: "Instead of a cheap bunch of roses, get your mom an Eleven Piece Polka Band for Mother's Day." She will remember that forever.

And STILL They Taunt Me...

The demolition guys have been tearing down this shopping center since the middle of March. Now, if I were driving the Caterpillar, I would have cracked into this building first. This was originally a Bonanza Steak House back during the Civil War. It has been about 63 different things since it was built. It's been an eyesore since I bought into the neighborhood seven years ago. PLEASE put it out of it's misery!

Will Rogers never met Rush Limbaugh

Nothing magic or funny about this pic. I was killing off an hour or so before I headed back home from a visit with the grandaughter. Ended up at Will Rogers Park in OKC. The weather was so beautiful the place was just crawling with DSLRs. I got there a little late, so the sun was pretty high. This was the only spot in the shade without five Nikons clicking away.

You Bluff'n Me?

This weekend was supposed to be filled with great options for exotic paddling trips. However, the weather, and the Corps of Engineers had other things in mind. We had some pretty severe storms come through, but they all seemed to skip the watersheds for the desired rivers. Plus, all our dam release park n' play spots got turned off at the last minute. Fortunately, the rain hit one spot, and we got to drag out the equipment and satisfy our paddling addiction.

This was a new river for me. Lots of fun, remote, and very pretty. Fairly tame. Class II at the most. In fact, the only sketchy moment on the whole trip came when I tried to take out about 28 Harley Davidsons during the shuttle. I'll bet there are some foul posts on the motorcycle forums about some crazy kayakers.

ReTIREment Benefits

It's been raining here for the past 4 or 5 days. Not enough to fill any rivers or local sewer ditches creeks so I can go kayaking, but enough to keep standing water on the road and drive me to the point of buying new tires. I've been putting this off because I was emotionally attached to the set I had on my truck. They never gave me any grief. In fact, the dealer made money off my road hazard insurance this time around.

But my new tires (or 'toars' as they say in Tyler) are upgrades from my last set. Still Michelin LTXs, but they now have a 70,000 mile warranty instead of 60,000. We figure I put about 70,000 on my old set, with a little meat to spare.

If you price these you might cringe, but let me tell you, they are cheaper in the long haul(literally) than any other tire I have purchased. All other brands I have run on my truck have worn out at less than 40,000. And they aren't that much cheaper up front.

So if you plan on keeping your ride for any length of time (I hope to hit 200,000 with mine), you might just consider a set of these.

Carbon Footprints in Time

No, this is not how much I paid for gas this weekend. But it was pretty close. I actually paid $2.60/ gal for the 'might contain ethanol' stuff. The real stuff was about $2.85/gal.

It's funny to see closed down gas stations with the price of the era still displayed. I figure this place closed down sometime in the summer of 2008. That summer I paid as much as $4.17/ gal up in Colorado. I think in one week I spent $700 on fuel during my summer vacation! I also remember gas dipping down to $1.31 about a year ago.

Let's see, since we are waxing nostalgic, in 2005, right after Hurricane Katrina, it topped $3.00 for the first time I can remember. That's when I bought my motorcycle. I remember in June of 2001 buying gas for $1.15, and I think for a day it actually dropped to $.99, then shot up. Oh, let's see, in 1979 I vaguely remember paying $1.08. And in the 80s I remember being annoyed because i had to burn up an entire $20 bill to fill my tank.

But the day I got my driver's license, I paid $0.34/ gal. I could fill up my Volkswagen for less than $5.00. Oh, and I remember the day I got pissed off at the gas station attendant cuz gas shot up to an ungodly .51/gal!

Of course, when my dad used to drive us around, we would finally find a self serve station and get gas for .18 or he would really splurge and get ethyl for .19. On occasion there would be gas wars and the stuff would hit .16.

No, I'm not complaining... well... yes I am. I never expect fuel to go back to .16 or .51 or 1.08 or even 1.31. Heck, I'd settle for $2.34, which pissed me off even after Katrina settled down. What really irks me is the lack of reasoning behind fuel pricing.

Guess I'll just ride my scooter.

A Little Hoarse Today

Easter Sunday my wife and I spent almost the entire day on the back deck, including all three meals. Weather was fantastic and we had nowhere to go and no schedule to keep. Nice.

Sometimes some interesting things happen when you slow your life down that much. I have lived in my house for almost seven years. I mow my yard about 22 times every summer. That is about 132 times since I bought the house. To get from the front to the back I pass through a gate at least four times per mowing. That is 528 times through that gate.

Sunday is the first time I have ever seen this little horse head on that gate. So I started looking around at my fence. There are four of these. How have I gone this long without seeing four cast aluminum horse heads on my fence? And more puzzling: why would anyone ever purchase and install such a thing?