Games - Winter 2009

In the basement with Ty and Max on a winter's evening. The game was over and Mother had left, I think she won. The past couple weeks have been brutal weather, -6F this morning when I left for work. The boys had a 2 hour delay for school, I was jealous.

Winter of 2009 - Vote Denied

Well the weather liars got the forecast wrong and instead of a dusting to a inch of snow, we got 8" all during the rush hour. It took me over 2+ hours to get home last night in white out conditions. I was wanting to get home to vote on a local bond issue and did not think I would make it, but I got in the door before 7:30. I was told I was to late. The law is you have to be there in the door before 7:30 but the poll workers wanted to get home and started to close up the polling places before 7:30. I told them I wanted to vote, I was told they were closed. I should have called the board of elections right then, but I was so tired and frustrated I just went home. I called Judy at the board and lodged a complaint but by then my only option was to drive to Batavia and vote. Not something I wanted to do in bumper to bumper traffic. She said they should have called her and asked and it was not right what happened, she was nice as could be, and will tell the poll workers how they had failed to perform their duties that snowy day. I know working the voting poll locations is a thankless job, my Mother did it for well over 30 years. I guess we chalk it up to "White Death Syndrome" ... so it goes.

Perintown Ohio - U.S. 50

Back in 1880 or so the town was one of the biggest cities in the area with a large population and busy industry. It was a major producer of yeast, flower, lumber and spirits. The town had it's own rail station and was a stop for many people heading east from Cincinnati on stage coaches before the trains. This is one of the last old house left from that era in the town and I fear it will soon be torn down. So I ventured out one morning and captured a few pictures of it in the morning fog.

Winter of 2009 - Ohio Valley

We got more snow last night and ice is still coating everything. The drive to work was worse yesterday than Tues or Wed. I am sure today is going to be a joy, people can get nutty in snow around here. The grocery stores are empty or low on some products since the trucks can not get to them. We got about 12-15" of snow and freezing rain coating the house, trees, roads just about everything. Many people have lost power and crews are in town from the south helping to get the grid back and all connected. The family have been off school all week except Monday, they are out of snow days so they will have to go extra days in June to make it up. Ty is not concerned, he will be graduated and they are exempt. These are just a few pictures I have taken since Tuesday, more coming as is the snow today and tomorrow.

Ice Not So Nice - Winter 2009

Like most of the country we got a lot of snow, followed by sleet and ice rain. Then rain, that froze when the snow re-started. A winter *ucking wonderland. It will be going down into the lower teens tonight so all of this will be rock hard by morning. Salt does not work below 19F other than traction.

Hawaii Cruising, - NCL Pride of Hawaii

Cruising into Maui on the good ship Pride of Hawaii. I took some pictures early in the morning as the ship was coming into the harbor. Was a perfect morning in Hawaii, like all days seem to be. At least when we cruised the islands. Still waiting to hear when and where we are headed to on vacation. I have to find out from Martha what she has planned. Got to get pass ports updated and be ready for any where. Or could stay domestic, we will see what happens.

This vacation was nice, the ship was a bit crowed do to the 4th of the July week end. It was a huge ship. Free style cruising which I liked, others did not like the set up or service. I think the ship was moved to the med and had a total redo. We prefer smaller cruise ship like Celebrity's Mercury Cruise Liner. The foggy area is in the Ioa Valley on a 4th of July. Very cool place to see, the green color is excellent with the flowing streams.

Savanna Park

On a summer trip we stopped in Savanna for a day and enjoyed a evening walk around the cemetery and haunted houses of Savanna. At one stop I spotted a fellow relaxing on a park bench, I liked his relaxed smile so I captured it and him.

The guy was likely half lite but seemed to enjoy life, what more can you ask for. He seemed to be stress free and not wanting for anything. People might think of him as a bum, it is all in what people seek out in life and what makes you happy. Some people need a lot more things and or attention than other people. Some are happy to enjoy a day in the park sitting on a bench.

The Last of The Kennedy Dynasty

As soon as cancer was found, I noticed the immediate attempt at canonization of old Teddy by the main stream media.. They are saying what a "great American" he is. I say, let's get a couple things clear & not twist the facts to change the real history.

1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.

2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. Oops, the man can't count to four. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea, where a war was raging. No preferential treatment for him like "he" charged President Bush received.

3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris, never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private.

4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959, amazing!!!

5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash, and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed. Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we.

6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts. At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine, and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.

7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party, after passing several houses and a fire station. Then two friends returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew, that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying, Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car. The Ken nedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her family, before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne, and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight. Since the accident, Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS. Kopechne's family received a small pay out from the Kennedy's insurance policy, and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills... a "token of friendship"?

8. Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, and funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for liberalism". In his very first Senate roll, he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.

9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every expansion of and increase in immigration, up to and including the latest atte mpt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the Pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court Nominees, as if he were the standard bearer for the nation in matters of right. What a pompous ass.

10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great American".

Let's not allow the spin doctors make this jerk a hero -- how quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is ... just saying.

Bug Eyes Alone

This is another picture taken on the same day as the photo Bug Eyes that Jim Hartley Smith was kind enough to show me what a picture can look like with a edited sky. This picture was taken at a different exposure leaving some of the sky, not blown out like the first few shots. Using a Coolpix 4500 with a very low angle allowed me to get the better sky and same view as the edited version. Thanks to Jim, his hangs in my hallway. You meet some nice photographers along the way and years on some websites. Sadly you meet some not so nice people as well, some of them have issues. But to the many nice people who know themselves, are self assured and feel secure in themselves to help people like me, thanks. To the others, oh well, pound your salt.

Mo

Nose knows, dogs see things that way. They scope out rooms and areas with the nose more than the eye. Pays to watch discovery channel for trivia. Mo always knew when Min was cooking her specialty, special shells, his favorite plate to lick. Mo was a good dog and we miss him. We buried him in the back yard. The last warm weather day of that winter. A gut wrenching emotional experience for the family. The kids came home from school to find he had pass away. He died January 8th 2006,