Memories Of Yesterday

Yesterday we observed Memorial Day.  While these are a day late, I still wanted to take an opportunity to say "Thank you."

Recently my mother sent me a surprise in the mail.  I opened the unexpected letter and out fell four pictures of my grandfather, Ray Snow, from his days in the Army during World War II.  They included his boot camp graduation photo, one of him in France, and one of him in Germany.  It was a very pleasant surprise;  I was able to add those pictures to the others I have of him.

Again I thank him for his service and thank all those who have given their time.

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Just Scooting Right Along

So, I have not had the chance to take many new pictures this week, but I wanted to introduce you to my trusty photography companion. 

This is Skeeter.  He is named after Skeeter the long-suffering stage manager from the Muppets, whose uncle originally owned the theater where the Muppet Show took place.  Skeeter is a 1980 Yamaha QT 50, so we are the same age. 

Riding around on a scooter does get me a variety of looks and quite a few laughs, but it also gives me a different view of the places around me, and sometimes behind me.

Skeeter was also very popular with some of the guys from the Diesel Tech program at NDSCS.

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Shocking

Summer is here, and that means many things for people. One of the things that it means here is Storm Season.  There was a rumor that the storm chasers from the Discovery Channel were in the area.  I have no idea if it is true, but I wonder why they go chasing when you can sit in one place and let the show come to you. 

This storm rolled in around midnight:

Yup, that is midnight.

Catching lightening in a bottle may be a nearly impossible thing, but taking a picture of lightning is a close second.  I took 1,400 pictures to get these.

But sometimes you get lucky.

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Sunrise On The Lakes

One of the best parts about being in the Upper Midwest is the time you get to spend out at the lakes.  Minnesota is famous for its 10,000 lakes, and rightly so.  I was introduced two years ago to a beautiful one called Star Lake in Otter Tail County, near the town of Dent, Minnesota. 
The colors that come out there during sunrise are amazing.

This was sunrise on the 12th of May:

There are a couple of new things that I want to point out.  I have added a couple of options to the blog so that you can follow my posts more easily.  Now you can subscribe or get updates sent to your email. 
Thank you, Katie, for the suggestion.

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Down In Front! You're Blocking the Sun!

So this one took a little work.  There are a lot of things that you can do with a camera straight off the shelf, but taking pictures of the sun isn't really one of them.  After messing with the settings I discovered that if I put the lens of my sunglasses in front of the lens of my camera...

or shoot through the window of a welding helmet...

 I could actually get some fun pictures of today's eclipse.

We only got to see about 65% coverage being this far north.  So not quite the spectacular show that some parts of the country saw, but it made for an amazing sunset.

This shot reminded me of the logo from the TV show "China Beach."

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A place to post

I just recently bought a new camera (nothing special, just a better point-and-shoot) but now I have a ton of pictures and not a lot of people to show them to.  So I thought I would broadcast them out on to the "inter-web" and see what people think.  I have started putting the better ones in Picasa albums.  Ok, I think they are the better ones. What's the expression? "You should have seen the other guy?"  In other words, there are a lot more pictures that are laying on the digital cutting-room floor.  If you are dying to see what didn't make the "varsity team," let me know and I will post those too.

 I don't really have a set schedule in mind for posting more.  I hope to be shooting enough to make a "Pic of the Week" post, but please don't hold me to this too closely. 

I have to say that this photo makes me laugh every time that I look at it.

These swans and peacock were at the Chahinkapa Zoo in Wahpeton, North Dakota, this summer.  It makes me think of a cheesy spy movie like Get Smart or Spys Like Us because the peacock looks like he is sneaking past two oblivious security guards.

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