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Typical Ozarks recreational arrangements (365:365)
Typical Ozarks recreational arrangements (365:365). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today we sunbathed and went on a short exploratory hike
Yes, that’s right, sunbathed on the 31 December in the Northern hemisphere – I was impressed. Though to make up for this there was ice on the inside of our tent when we woke up.
My sunbathing was interrupted by a pack of horses crossing the creek, which confirmed my suspicion that there was a trail on the other side. This was good because when I’d spotted the chairs in the mud across the lake yesterday I’d thought that a picture of me sitting in one might make a fitting last 365 photograph. And so it turned out. Ginger declined my invitation to join me for my last picture – though we did try a few and they ended up on the cutting room floor. For a tripod I used one of the rusting chairs supported by my hiking pole. Close inspection showed that the chairs – like a lot of things in the Ozarks had been used for target practice at some point, as each had several bullet holes.
Despite it looking very calm down by the lake, we could hear the wind ripping through the trees high above on the ridges.
The end of this year’s 356 days project
That’s it for my second full 365 days. I’m not going to do another as I’ve found the self portrait format too restrictive this time around, and heaven knows the world doesn’t need anymore pictures of me taken late at night, standing by a wall or sitting at my desk. Once more I’ve enjoyed the record this project has created, but I can’t say I’ve always enjoyed the process of making it. I’ve had far too much time invested in this when I have other pressing things I ought to be dealing with. I wish I’d managed to get more people involved, but it is what it is.
Strolling in the lakeside mud. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Gary enjoying the view. Copyright © 2011 Ginger Allman, all rights reserved. 
Piney Creek Campsite. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Piney Creek Campsite. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Piney Creek arm of Table Rock Lake. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Table Rock Lake Entrance to Piney Creek. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Where Piney Creek joins Table Rock lake. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
New Year’s Eve – toasting tootsies by an open fire. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Penultimate campfire of 2011 (365:364)
Penultimate campfire of 2011 (365:364). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today we backpacked into the Piney Creek Wilderness
We were in two minds as to where to go backpacking this weekend. Piney Creek Wilderness, or the similarly sounding Paddy Creek Wilderness. Piney creek has around twelve miles of ‘official’ trails, and Paddy Creek has a twenty-mile loop.
In the end, the weather made our minds up. It’s supposed to get very windy and quite cold, so we opted for Piney Creek with its wind-protected valley trail, as opposed to the Paddy Creek’s ridge trail which would keep us up in the wind.
Piney Creek was a good decision, as neither of us was as fit as we thought, and we would have struggled with the 20-mile hike. The first two thirds of a mile of the Tower trail at Piney Creek drops 350 feet over some fairly rough terrain, carrying a backpack plus 10lbs Christmas excess around one’s middle (that makes 20lbs I need to lose now) made it quite hard work – made even harder as the descent is immediately followed by a steep 135′ climb. The total drop to the creek is six hundred-odd feet over one and a half miles, and it quite wore us out. But at least the trail to our planned campsite by Table Rock Lake was flat – although quite muddy, and involved six creek crossings – fine for me in my bare feet but awkward for Ginger, who finally gave up taking off her hiking shoes for the crossings and just got them wet.
Our hike was a paltry three and a half miles to the lakeside. We found a few old fire rings, picked one and pitched the tent. It was a great spot, and we decided to make this a leisurely trip and just lounge around. I’ve wanted to get down to the lake here for quite a while, as we think it’ll make a great Kayak/camping spot. And just across the lake we could see the potential campsite I’d identified from the air on Google Earth. The locals had already been of course – and typical for the Ozarks there were some rusting chairs stuck in the mud on the lakeside.
We saw several Bald Eagles – including some, that we’ve since concluded were, juveniles. And there was a very big nest.
There was plenty of wood laying around so we could afford to have a nice fire before turning in for the night.
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Gary and Tubby (365:363)
Gary and Tubby (365:363). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I was taking some family portraits and I forgot to include myself, so here I am with Tubby.
Ginger’s parents, her brother Sam and family came visiting today. I was (albeit reluctantly) persuaded to take some family photos, and once again I’m glad that I did. I’ll post a couple of sneak previews now – but I have a whole 30 minute session’s worth to go through selecting and processing the ‘keepers’.We used the kitchen as a makeshift studio, it’s not really big enough, especially when I’m using the ‘nifty fifty’ lens, but we managed fine.
When I’d finished taking the pictures I realized I’d not taken my 365 days picture, so I swept up the nearest cat – who happened to be Tubbster, and quickly rattled off a couple of shots. I should have swapped the backdrop over to black which better suits my skin tones, but I was working quickly to get my picture out of the way so I could continue with the family festivities.
As planned Lanie left with our visitors – so tomorrow we’ll be backpacking.
Ginger and her brother Sam
Sam and Family
The Girls (Lanie in the middle) -
Winding down at the end of the day (365:362)
Winding down at the end of the day (365:362). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. We seem to spend a lot of time in the office area at the moment
Tonight we were researching a backpacking trip – the weather looks to be warm (for the time of year). We have family visiting tomorrow, and they are taking Lanie away for a few days, so we have a window of backpacking opportunity to take advantage of.
It’ll be nice to get out under the stars for a few days, and hopefully, it’ll provide some good picture opportunities for the last two days of my 365 days project.
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Making stuff (365:361)
Making stuff (365:361). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today I made myself useful by making stuff in the garage
In fact I’m being a proper Santa’s Elf helping Ginger make Christmas presents for the girls when they arrive on Thursday. Darn I missed an opportunity to wear my Christmas hat again.
Making stuff – The Close-up. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Gary and Ginger’s Christmas present (356:360)
Today we went Boxing day shopping.
And we bought this nifty hand-held GPS receiver as a joint present for us both. One of the problems with GPS is buying the maps which cost more than the receivers – this unit allows you to create and load your own using Google Earth – which is brilliant as we have a subscription to a topographic map service – so we can download any map we need.
To test it I loaded a map for Busiek State Park taken from the online brochure – I thought it came out rather well.
This was a considered purchase; as we have ideas to make it earn its keep. I’ll also be able to more quickly and accurately geotag my photographs.
Update
- 2023 – standalone GPS devices are so … 2011. Most modern smartphones have excellent GPS facilities built in, which combined with a decent GPS App work much better than the dedicated units. I use and recommend Gaia GPS, which I have on my Samsung Galaxy phone.
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At the end of Christmas day (365:359)
Christmas day
Despite my preference for a lie-in, we were up before seven, then it was non-stop with present opening, visiting family, food, drinks and finally a couple of card games.
Somehow the evening slipped away from me while we researched our joint Christmas present which we may go out and buy tomorrow. Exciting. In fact so exciting I was worn out. You can’t really see it but I’m wearing my very first camo shirt. Now I really will blend in with the locals. With the camo shirt and Christmas hat I’ve decided that next year I’ll take on the role of ‘Stealth Elf’.
Christmas Tree – the quiet before the present opening 
Christmas present carnage 
Sprinky finds a nice box under the coffee table to sit in 
Betsy and Natalie 
Gary the ‘Stealth Elf’ rests at the end of a busy Christmas day -
Christmas Eve (365:358)
Christmas Eve (365:358) Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Here I am in my church Christmas finery
Christmas has begun. The grandparents arrived this afternoon and are staying overnight to be with us on Christmas day. In the evening we all went to one of the Christmas services at church. When we got home we sat and chatted until late – and I slipped in this quick self-portrait just before bed.
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Edible display (365:357)
We arrived home from Christmas food shopping to find this very kind gift of fruit and fruit dipped in chocolate had been delivered
Of course it had to be eaten straight away as we knew it wouldn’t keep 🙂 and of course the fridge is full.
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Back to the wall (365:356)
It’s been a while since I took a wall picture.
Working late again – 2am.
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Day 355 – Only ten days left (365:355)
That’s all.
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Another late night (365:354)
Another late night (365:354). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Gone twelve and still at my desk
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Cat and mouse (365:353)
Cat and mouse (365:353). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Sprinky decided to fall asleep on my EfM lesson notes.
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Ginger puts a smile on my face (365:352)
I checked my eyes; unfortunately you can’t see what she was doing.
I can tell you that she was standing behind the camera and used a very effective technique to make me smile.
If you’ve been wondering why there have not been many ‘Wall’ shots of late – the answer is quite straightforward. When we re-organized the office area we ended up with a huge pile of stuff that no longer had a home. It ended up piled in the hall where my favorite wall is. So I can’t use the wall – but now I’ve found this alternative spot that might just do.
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Gary eats a Tie fighter (cookie) (365:351)
And swiftly dispatches Daft Cookie-Monster in the process
Actually it’s the ‘H’ from Christmas; Lanie made some Christmas cookies tonight.
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Sparkles (365:350)
I promised some pictures of the sparkles (when the sun finally came out again)
When we reorganised our office area Ginger put lots of glass and crystal beads in the windows. However, there was a problem, getting sparkles like this all over my monitors required the installation of the ‘anti-sparkle screen’.
Pretty sparkles on the wall -
Checking my lesson (365:349)
Ginger dropped me off early at church tonight.
I used the extra time to sit in the classroom and go over my coursework.
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An afternoon in bed (365:348)
An afternoon in bed (365:348). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I thought I was feeling better
Unfortunately not.
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Gary and the Christmas tree (365:347)
The erratic focusing on the camera is starting to annoy me
The camera software tells me the camera focused on my chest. So why is my hand in the primary focus zone? Sigh. I can’t wait to get this project finished and run some detailed focus tests.
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Today’s photograph was picked by Ginger (365:346)
Ginger said this picture is me.
It must be the slight smile.
