Welcome to Breakfast in America
My photo journal is an eclectic mix of things; there’s no guiding theme or topic. It is whatever happens to catch my attention, what I’ve been thinking, doing, and whatever my current obsessions are. At the moment, they are clearing some of the backlog on my ‘honey-do’ list, backpacking and hammock camping.
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Gary and Ginger on a snowy Sac River Trail (365:036)
No Interwebs today.
Ginger spent an age struggling with our ISP’s customer service only to eventually be told that there was a general outage in our area that would probably last several hours.
To keep busy I cleared the drive of last night’s couple of inches of snow, and we decided to enjoy the sunshine, brave the snow cover and go for a short hike on the Sac River Trail. The hike was fine, proving our gear is up to a winter hike, getting to the trail and away again was not so good.
On our way to the trail I nearly ‘T Boned’ a pick-up and trailer as it sailed through a stop sign without stopping; the driver was too busy chatting on his cell ‘phone. The street was completely snow covered, and the ABS while working hard couldn’t do enough to stop us in time. The only thing I could do was try and minimize the blow, and turned into the curb while trying to avoid a lamppost. Fortunately the curb stopped us and I missed the post. A couple of hours later at the parking lot for the trail I made the mistake of trying to turnaround to get out and got us well and truly stuck in the snow. Somehow I even managed to get one (driving) wheel off the ground! I tried my repertoire of get unstuck tricks, and finally had to resort to digging down through the snow and ice to the ground using my pocket knife. Note to self: Snow shovels aren’t worth a damn for digging out a stuck van.
I took today’s picture of Ginger and I while on our hike.
Today’s out takes & extras
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At the Antique Mall (365:035)
Today we managed to escape the kids for the first time in three days.
Last night, I found the leftovers of a bottle of Scotch (thanks Mick!), and drank a silent toast to Chris who died early this morning (UK time). He enjoyed his whisky and we have enjoyed many a dram over the years. It seemed a fitting end to the day.
Today is a new day and yet another snow day for the schools in Springfield, and our Youth Minister at Church volunteered to take the Youth Group kids for some snow day fun. I, for one, wasn’t going to try and dissuade her, the thought of nearly six hours to ourselves was far too good to turn down. At eleven I took the kids to Church, and I was surprised how bad the roads were, only the major roads have been plowed. At Church I checked if there was anything I needed to be doing and inspected the huge pile of snow in the next door parking lot before returning home.
Once home, we had to get a parcel in the post and then the day was ours. Which was a problem as we don’t have the right footwear for hiking in a foot of snow and the lakes are frozen so Kayaking was out of the question. We ended up going down to Ozark and visiting a couple of flea markets (or Antique Malls as they style themselves), where I drooled over some oil lamps, Coleman lamps and some very nice cameras. The light coming from some of the display cabinets was very nice, which is where I took today’s picture.
Today’s out takes and alternate pictures
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One door opens as another closes (365:034)
I’ve just received news of a death in the family back in the UK.
It was expected, but I’m deeply saddened by the news. Saddened that it’s happened so soon and so quickly, and saddened that I wasn’t there to say my goodbyes or provide support.
And then, this morning we went to the hospital to see the latest addition to our family, Natalie Anne, born yesterday evening to Betsy and Matt.
Just as one life ends another has begun.
Today’s out takes & extras
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There’s an icicle in my beard (365:033)
It was a tad cold this morning.
Well I consider 6°F (-14 °C) a tad chilly, but the sun was shining and there was nothing for it but to shift the foot of snow off of the path, drive and clear a way across the deck. I had help with the drive as Alek assisted me once he’d cleared a path for Diane next door.
With my warm woolly socks, base layer, shirt, trousers and my romper suit, hat and gloves I was soon too hot. That didn’t stop me growing a small beard-cicle. How cool, I’ve never had one of those before.
What with the winter hiking and now working outside in the low temps I’m discovering that with decent clothing the cold does not have to be a major problem. However, today was sunny and windless; some cloud and wind would have made a big difference.
Today’s out takes & extra
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Snow day (365:032)
This bad weather’s been on the cards for a while.
According to the reports, today was Missouri’s first official blizzard. With high winds and drifting snow, it wasn’t worth going out so the day was spent lounging. At least we’ve got power and Internet access, which is good for keeping kids amused (well those whose grades are good enough to be allowed Internet access anyway).
I took this picture while checking the weather radar and watching the snowdrift by the window. Not long afterward the kids went out and collected some snow to make genuine Ozark Snow Cones.
Today’s runners up
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January Summary
It’s been a good month, and despite it being the middle of winter we’ve been quite busy. We’ve been hiking four times, and out in the kayaks twice. We’ve visited St Louis, Thornfield and Carthage.
I photographed my hands three times, posted thirteen black and white pictures, four pictures have one or more cats in them, there’s one dog and I appeared in bed twice, both times drinking coffee.
My most popular picture on Flickr was #17. But I suspect that’s only because the thumb nail image of my finger looks a bit like a penis, and Flickr’s like that.
1. New year’s day, 2. Gary and Ginger on the trail at Valley Water Mill Pond, 3. A quiet place, 4. Recycling, 5. Coursework, 6. Lesson remembered, 7. After the school run, 8. Taking it easy on a Saturday Morning, 9. Choral evensong, 10. My major achievement of the day, 11. Watching the world go by, 12. Lesson 15, 13. Gary in the parish hall kitchen, 14. Gary and Ginger relax at the end of the day, 15. The owl over my shoulder, 16. Gary and Ginger at Compton Hollow, 17. Gary and CD, 18. True Brits wear plaid, 19. Waiting for the kids, 20. Oil lamp reflection, 21. Checking the tires, 22. Kayaking in the ice on Lake Springfield, 23. Just before bed, 24. Cats, coffee and laptops in bed, 25. Tidying away, 26. Lesson 17: Numbers, 27. Halfway up the first hill – Busiek State Forest & Wildlife Area, 28. Drilling in the workshop, 29. Kayaking on James River, Springfield Missouri, 30. Thinking of Ginger, 31. The problem with varifocals…
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The problem with varifocals… (365:031)
…is that the only way I can see anything close up is to tilt my head way back.
It’s the quiet before the storm. We are waiting for a predicted 12″-20″ of snow. We’ll see, knowing the weather around here it could be 1″ or 20″. In the meantime I’ve just put the new annual license stickers on the van, that way I’ve made sure I won’t forget to do it if I get all excited when it snows.
Today’s outcasts:
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Thinking of Ginger (365:30)
We had a quiet day today, venturing out just twice. Once for breakfast and to get in supplies as it’s possible a big snow / ice storm may be headed our way, and second to go pick up the kids from the Church when they got back from the Bishop’s Ball. I decided to get my picture taken early, and grabbed a quick self portrait while gazing out of the window at the back yard. Ginger asked what I was thinking about when I took this picture. Well I was thinking of her, so I’ve changed the title to reflect that.
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Kayaking on James River, Springfield Missouri
Today was a busy day.
We decided to take advantage of the weather and go kayaking on the James River this morning. I’m glad we did, as the temperatures got up to 72°F (22°C), giving me my first chance this year to expose my legs to the air. Despite the warm weather the lake was still frozen in a couple of out of the way places.
We couldn’t stay out on the lake for too long, as we volunteered to take kids to the 2011 Bishop’s Ball, and I also volunteered to take some pictures while we were there. We had another reason to be going though. We’d been tipped off that Alek was to receive an ‘Outstanding Youth’ award, and we wanted to be there to see him receive it. The evening was good fun, though it’s been twenty odd years since I’ve done event photography, and it showed in the pictures, I need to wear contacts if I’m going to do any shoots like this in future. It also didn’t help that the flash only worked every second shot. Anyway, Alek looked pleased with his award and Ginger was very happy to be there to see him receive it, and it was good to see the girls all dressed up for the night.
Once I’d finished taking pictures we headed home, leaving the kids to get on with their evening – unlike last year when I headed out to the bars.
I was so wrapped up in taking other people’s pictures at the Ball, I forgot to get one of myself, so one of my pictures from earlier in the day, sitting enjoying the sun in my Kayak will have to do.
Today’s out takes & extras
And at the Bishops Ball: -
Repairing a kitchen drawer
Today I repaired a kitchen drawer and in the process learned two valuable safety lessons.
I used my nail gun to fix in a support for the drawer base. I unloaded the two-inch brad nails I had been using, loaded half inch nails, ran a couple of test shots and then nailed the support from the back. Unfortunately, there was one two-inch nail ‘in the pipe’ and it came straight through the front of the drawer slicing my finger. Firstly I should have triple checked all the two-inch nails had been removed, and secondly, my hand shouldn’t have been near the workpiece. I could have easily nailed my finger bone to the front of the drawer. I made absolutely sure there were no nails left in the gun when I put it away.