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Kayaking in the ice on Lake Springfield
Kayaking in the ice on Lake Springfield. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. It’s Saturday so we must be kayaking
It’s amazing how quickly the weekend and our Saturday lie-in comes around each week.
This morning we hatched a plan to go kayaking on Lake Springfield. The temperature had risen above freezing and, at the time we decided to go at least, the sun was shining.
At the lake I found there was a lot more ice than I was expecting, with only a limited amount of open water. Putting the kayaks in was fine, though we had to break the ice. Thanks to our waterproof socks with nice warm wool socks inside them, getting in (and subsequently out) was fine. We were both nice and warm the entire hour we were out on the lake, and had there been enough free water to really get some paddling in I’d have been too hot.
Some of the ice was thin and it made interesting noises as we scrunched through, and even better was the noise it made if we set ripples running through it. Most of the lake though was covered in ice too thick for us to try and get through.
The conclusions from the day’s exercise were that the insulation in the hulls worked well, the waterproof socks were brilliant, and we now know we can paddle happily just about anytime the water isn’t frozen over.
Today’s Out takes & extras
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Checking the tyres (365:021)
Checking the tyres (365: 21) Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Take that winter and be gone. I decided to blow a raspberry at the wintry weather, to hell with it, and got Ginger to cut my hair. Then I removed all my excess face fuzz. I toyed briefly with posting a picture of my cut hair on the floor as today’s self-portrait but decided against it. It’s probably against the spirit of the rules for a self-portrait, though I guess I could have included my feet.
Beyond that my day can be summarized as: Interwebs, check the car tires, Walmart, take self portrait, shout at camera, school run and then re-take self portrait.
For some reason best known to itself, my camera took a batch of out-of-focus pictures on my first attempt at today’s picture. It’s not supposed to do that; in fact, I dislike the fact you can’t force it to take a picture if it decides it can’t focus. Some careful checks ruled out operator error, so running out of time, I went off on the school run and set the shot up again on our return.
In ten minutes I’m off to the gym (the second time this week – ‘Woot!’ I believe is the term often used in such circumstances today).
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Oil lamp reflection (365:020)
Oil lamp reflection (365:020) — When the telephone rings before six am you know the day is destined to have its challenges. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. When the telephone rings before six am you know the day is destined to have its challenges.
Despite the weather behaving exactly as predicted by the NOAA, Springfield Public Schools decided to declare a snow day. Hence the early morning call. This meant we had the kids underfoot all day, not that they’re that bad. Alek cleared the snow from our driveway and a bit of our neighbour’s. The girls kept fairly much to themselves; after some initial arguing about who was going to use the computer for how long and when that is. There was about three inches of snow and it was the very fluffy kind that makes great snowballs, is easily moved, and is fine for driving through if the appropriate care is exercised.
I finished my coursework just in time to be told that tonight’s class had been canceled, which left me a bit listless as I look forward to my classes. It seemed most of the population of Springfield was cowering inside away from the snow so we took off in the afternoon to drop Katie at the mall, and take Lanie shoe shopping. I sat around and I took my pictures while Ginger and Lanie did their shopping.
Once back home, I took the obligatory picture of the house in the snow and then wandered round the backyard looking for pictures to take. All I got was cold. Though I did mange to grab the above picture of me reflected in the globe of a blue glass oil lamp.
Hopefully tomorrow the kids will be going back to school. Katie asked me ‘would you cry?’ if they had another snow day. To be sure it’d probably bring tears to my eyes.
Today’s Out takes
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Waiting for the kids (365:019)
Waiting for the kids. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. What’s the point of taking safety shots if I don’t use them?
Just a normal day: Internets, coursework and school run. I accompanied Lanie when she went to choir practice so I could do some more voluntary IT work at Church. At six Ginger brought the big kids down and we had supper with the Youth Group and KfC kids and parents. While Ginger went off to the ‘Star Chamber’ with the other moms for their regular ‘mom talk’ I sat out in the parish hall chatting with some of the other left behind dads (we sometimes go out for a beer so we’re quite happy being left behind). I had hopped to get some more coursework done, but the conversation called more strongly than the work.
Back home we watched a movie (Matchstick Men) and waited for the forecast snow to fall. It had just started as we went to bed.
I took this picture on the school run this afternoon while waiting for the big kids to arrive. I took a couple of pictures at Church while I was working, but I decided I didn’t like them. At bed time I briefly considered taking another picture, but then I decided why not use the safety shot I already had? So I have.
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True Brits wear plaid (365:018)
True Brits wear plaid (365:018) — Putting away my washing. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Last night I fell asleep with a pair of woolly socks in my hand. Not, you understand, because I was cold. No, it was because Rotters a.k.a. Tubby was wandering around the house yowling, and I was waiting for an opportunity to throw the socks at him. I had the misguided hope that if the socks found their target he might shut up or least go somewhere else with his infernal racket. Luckily for Rotters sleep overtook me before he came in range.
Well I had a productive morning. I did some voluntary work on the Church website, I wrote a letter, sent some e-mails and I replied to an enquiry as to how we’d fixed my dry box and fishing tackle box into my kayak. Somewhere along the way there I must have lost steam, which was fine as I had to get out on the school run. I even made a start on this week’s homework, I’m secretly hoping there isn’t anywhere near as much to do as last week.
After fixing the laptop power cable for Ginger, dinner, the dishes and flipping Sprinky to keep her quiet (a task that requires putting her on her back and rubbing her tummy until she gets fed up), I was running out of things I could be bothered to do. That’s when I decided to put away my washing and make the event into a photo opportunity. As we have little cupboard space and lots of stuff and people around here, my wardrobe has been relegated to the hall closet, and that’s where you see me hanging up a shirt. There were other pictures but Ginger castigated me for having the hanger the wrong way around. And they think I’m anal.
To round the day off I decided to try again for a Lomo effect in my picture
post-processing , this time with a little more success and I even discovered a ‘new’ feature in my editing software while I was at it.Hopefully that will save me some time in thefuture . -
Gary and CD (365:017)
Today we went to Ginger’s parents to pick up Lanie.
Taking advantage of the four day weekend, Lanie has been spending a couple of nights with her grandparents. Today we drove the 150 mile round trip to bring her back home. I stopped briefly on the slab bridge over the creek to take a self portrait, and I also took a picture of the creek. The creek’s changed a lot since we were last here as some work’s been done to reinforce the bridge supports and the creek bed has been cleared too. Presumably in an attempt to stop the bridge getting washed out every time it rains hard.
We came prepared to hike the hill behind Ginger’s parents place. In all the times I’ve visited I’ve never ventured much further from the house than the creek. While I sat in the back of of the van pulling my walking shoes on CD (Carol’s Dog) came up to say hello in a very enthusiastic and doggy like manner. Luckily I had my bag and camera with me and I managed to grab this picture. Once I was properly shod Ginger, Lanie, CD and I went up the hill and explored. It was very good to see for myself the places that until now had only been a part of the stories of Ginger’s childhood.
After the hike I enjoyed a beer, conversation and chili with Jim while Ginger did computery things with Carol.
Today’s Out takes & extras
Ginger & Gary stopped on the slab bridge over Little North Fork
Ginger & Gary stopped on the slab bridge over Little North Fork
Little North Fork
Lanie – Adventurer extraordinaire
Lanie – Adventurer extraordinaire
Lanie – Adventurer extraordinaire -
Gary and Ginger at Compton Hollow (365:016)
Today we got off to a slow start.
Our slow start was probably because Lanie’s absence meant we didn’t need to get up early to get her to Church for choir.
Spurred on by the need to do something we decided to go out and hike somewhere new. Ginger picked Compton Hollow Conservation Area, about 20 miles East of Springfield. By the time we’d got there it was already past 3pm, and I was feeling justified in bringing along my headlamp ‘just in case’. As it turned out we finished our hike at half past five, with the light fading fast.
We managed to hike a large portion of the trails, about three and three-quarter miles. It was quite wet and muddy, with a couple of reasonable hills with descents and ascents or around 140′. This was our first hike of the year and we were both surprised how out of condition we’ve got in the two weeks since our last venture out into the wilds.
Today’s Out takes & extras
Out take: Near the end of the hike with the light fading fast 
View from Compton Hollow Conservation Area
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The owl over my shoulder (365:015)
Gary at Bass Pro. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Resides at Bass Pro. The women folk were off baby showering today.
Jim and Carol (Ginger’s parents) came into Springfield today so that all the IDA girls could go to cousin Betsy’s baby shower. People with Y chromosomes weren’t welcome, which suited Jim and I, we went off and did some shopping chores, spent far too much time in Bass Pro, and went on for a Mexican at our favorite restaurant – Amigos. After lunch we returned home, and as the girls still weren’t back we went back out to a flea market. There was lots of old UK furniture and stuff, which was rather disconcerting for me. I also spotted a rather nice Yashica-MAT EM 120 camera. I’m glad to report I kept my money in my pocket despite being sorely tempted.
At Bass Pro I took a couple of pictures for Jim, one of an owl sculpture came out fairly well. I also took a couple of self-portraits too. I prefer this one even though it’s blurred (The Nikon is too heavy for arm’s length SPs at slow shutter speeds). Later on, at the flea market, I tried to get a shot of Jim and me in a mirror; I failed miserably, the shutter speed was far too slow and the result was all blurred. That was a shame as Jim tends to get all serious when a camera is pointed at him, and I caught both of us with big grins.
Today’s Out takes & extras
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Gary and Ginger relax at the end of the day (365:014)
Gary and Ginger relax at the end of the day (365:014). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. It’s a four day weekend.
And we took advantage of that fact to have a lie-in this morning. In fact I was so lazy I still hadn’t got dressed by four in the afternoon when I decided to follow the example set by my little furry friends and join them for a snooze.
The evening was mainly spent looking at watches on the Internet to find a replacement for mine which has been working erratically of late, and last night stopped completely for eleven hours. I can’t really complain, as I think it must be over seven years old.
I prefer divers’ watches as thet have proved more resiliant. Past experience has shown that I break normal watches very quickly. This time I’ve bought one with a mechanical movement. It won’t be as accurate, but with luck it might last longer. I also ordered a new Router for our internet connection, we’ll see how that turns out. I bought both items on Amazon as they let me pay in pounds sterling, which saves me paying bank charges.
To finish the day I relaxed with a beer (or three) while Ginger knitted and I studied backpacking and hiking books for potential hikes and ideas.
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Gary in the parish hall kitchen (365:13)
Gary in the parish hall kitchen Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved There was a time when I would have scoffed at the concept of a drive through ATM.
But no longer. It’s much warmer, faster, easier, and safer than standing on a wet and windy street corner. Today’s picture was going to be of me at the drive-through cash machine, but I didn’t like the only decent picture I got there. This evening was my EFM class and it was my turn to bring the evening meal. The class is held at church, and while I was setting out the meal in the Parish Hall kitchen, I took a self-portrait. For our meal Ginger made a lentil soup that seemed to go down very well. It’s good stuff for a cold day. I bought some pita bread to go with the soup and a cheesecake for dessert. Fortunately, there were five slices of cheesecake left over so we can all have a slice tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, the kids are now home for four days. With freezing temperatures outside, they’ll probably be getting a bit stir-crazy quite quickly. Fortunately, Lanie’s going to the grandparents’ Saturday for a couple of days. With overnight temps 25-30°F, our planned backpacking trip for this weekend has probably been thwarted. Darn I knew we should have tried out the tent in the backyard when it was a bit cold the other night!
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Lesson 15 (365:12)
Today the plan was to get my homework and some other things done.
We started the day with temperatures of 2°F (-16.6°C). As I’m not the one doing the early morning school run, I was able to stay nice and snug and warm. Though I passed on the option of staying in bed and got up as soon as Ginger and the kids left the house. I ought to try and get a picture of what the warmly dressed Englishman abroad is wearing nowadays. But I’ve not found a suitable location to take the picture except the garage, and it’s far too nippy out there right now. Let’s just say woolly socks and base layers and leave it to your imagination.
As I dislike wearing anything on my feet, having to wear shoes and socks is a bit of a blow. In the house my feet were getting cold with nowt on them, so I’ve been wearing some nice woolly socks Ginger knitted.
This morning I worked on my homework and took a couple of safety shots, just in case I lost interest or didn’t get a chance later.
Out take: Loading up the van at Food 4 Less After lunch we went grocery shopping, first to Wal-Mart for some essentials, and then on to Food 4 Less. It was after shopping in Food 4 Less that I took what I thought would be my picture for today. Ginger refused to get into the shot with me, claiming cosmetic and cat fur disasters. So I sat on the tail gate of the van and snapped away. One thing I’d have liked to get a picture of was the ice crystals in the air. The air was full of sparkles, but they were far too ephemeral and tiny for me to be able to capture them.
Once the shopping was done we had just enough time to dump the groceries on the garage floor for Ginger to move them into the house while I did the school run, which went without incident. Keen to get even more done, when I got back I worked on the Church website, so that is now up-to-date. Then it was out again to take Kids to Youth Group and do a bit of voluntary work maintaining an errant computer.
Back home again and it was time to review my shots for the day. There’s nothing wrong with the shot I took outside Food 4 Less, but I prefer the safety shots and I’m going with this one. Now one of us just needs to venture out again to collect the kids from Youth Group and then we can settle down for the night. We have wine, we have movies. That’ll be nice.
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Watching the world go by (365:011)
Watching the world go by (365:011) Today I got finally got something done.
As my errant customer has finally paid me some money, I worked today. Basic website maintenance. It’s not making use of my executive skills, but if someone wants to pay me to do it, that’s fine by me. I like getting my hands dirty every now and then, and it keeps me in touch with web development.
My other achievement for the day was to go to the gym for the first time in around three months. I’ve not been 100% well since early September. Today was the first time I felt I’d be able to workout and end up feeling okay. Some of the hiking and Kayaking we’ve done over the past few months had left me in a fair bit of pain. It seems I was right, and I feel fine. Now the challenge will be to keep going. With luck my increased waistline’s days are numbered.
I’d like to give a big thank you to the powers that be for not declaring today a snow day. I really wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of a day with kids underfoot. The couple of inches of snow that threatened to close the schools looked very pretty. I managed to oust the cats from one of their favorite perches so that I could spend a little while looking out of the living room window watching the snow and world go by. In fact I’m rather surprised the kittehs didn’t manage to elbow, or whatever the kitteh equivalent joint is, their way into my picture today. They probably went off to sleep in the sunshine on the opposite side of the house.
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My major achievement of the day (365:010)
My major achievement of the day. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today was a day for getting things done.
I, however, took a different approach and chose to sit around doing nothing instead. Well, almost nothing. I trimmed my beard if that counts as an achievement. I took a shower. I even changed the batteries in the remote temperature sender for the weather station, and I, well, er, that’s about it. Oh I did the school run and after dinner washed the dishes and stacked the dishwasher, but I do those things most days so it’s hardly a special achievement. though slippery road conditions did make the school run a tad more exciting than usual.
My major preoccupation right now is monitoring the temperature, watching the snow fall and hoping tomorrow will not be a snow day. As I’ve changed the batteries in the remote temperature sensor I can do that nice and comfortably from inside the house. Ree-sult!
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Choral evensong (365:009)
Choral Evensong (365:009). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Somehow I managed to miss my Sunday afternoon nap.
I’m not sure how it happened, usually, the order of the day is get up at around seven-fifteen, leave for Church at eight-twenty to drop Lanie ready for Choir, while we socialize (which for me involves eating doughnuts and drinking coffee) until the 9 am service starts. Generally, we leave the teenagers to do what they do best; sleep-in.
Today Alek came along as both he and Lanie had been requisitioned to be ‘Kings’. There was no adult Sunday school after the service, so more socializing (and doughnuts) was called for while I waited for Ginger, Alek and Lanie to finish their various activities.
Normally once we get home, we collapse on the bed and declare nap time. Not today. Today Ginger went out frock shopping with the girls while I sent some emails and tinkered with our blog. On their return, a grocery shopping expedition was declared. Ah-ha! Thinks I, it’s about time we did another ‘Nauseating in Wal-Mart‘ picture. But it wasn’t to be. The place was absolutely throbbing and If I’d slowed up the aisle traffic by stopping to take a Self-Portrait there might well have been a riot. On to ‘Food 4 Less’ for more groceries, and I was feeling less than inspired to go with a ‘Nauseating in Food 4 Less’ picture.
Choral Evensong was being held at Church this evening featuring a couple of new pieces by Carlyle Sharpe that we wanted to hear. By the time we’d finished getting the groceries, we had just enough time to go home, dump them on the kitchen floor for the kids to put away and head back downtown for our second dose of Church for the day.
We arrived in plenty of time, and while we were waiting for things to start I took today’s picture. The music and service were very good, and we enjoyed the small cheese and wine reception afterward too.
By the way. Friday night we watched ‘The Changeling’ good movie. Last night we watched ‘Memphis Belle’, not Ginger’s kind of movie, and certainly showing its age a bit. It’s a long time since I last saw it but I still enjoyed the film. I don’t think Ginger appreciated my pointing out that Alek will all to soon be of a similar age to some of the aircrew.
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Taking it easy on a Saturday Morning (365:008)
Taking it easy on a Saturday Morning (365:008). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Saturday is the only day of the week when we get a chance to have a lie-in.
Weekdays we have the kids and School run to deal with, and Sundays we have to be up to get Lanie to Church for 8.30am ready for choir at the nine O’clock service.
This is the way I tend to start every day; with my morning coffee, in bed, surrounded by one, two, three but never four kithehs. Weekdays the first alarm is around six-fifteen, is Katie up? At seven-thirty is Lanie up? Then it’s seven-forty-five and is Alek in the shower? a little later, has Lanie left for school?
Alek puts the coffee on, and this school year, Ginger is doing the morning school run, so at seven-twenty I get my coffee in bed and shortly afterwards Ginger and the big kids go off on the school run. Generally by eight Ginger’s back and we sit in bed, finishing our coffee and chatting about the day to come.
Saturdays, provided we’ve not got any other commitments we can have a nice relaxing start to the day. Today Lanie brought us breakfast in bed, so it was even more relaxed than usual. So relaxed that we didn’t surface until well after noon.
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After the school run (365: 7)
After the school run (365:007) Copyright © 2007 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I was supposed to be working today.
However, that was only on the condition that I was paid in advance (this particular customer owes me a lot of money). No money came, so I busied myself with other, much more interesting things, working slowly back through my photo blog, updating the images. I’ve decided to move the image hosting for the blog away from Flickr into WordPress as the image quality is higher.
This afternoon I finally called a friend in the UK, who I’ve been meaning to call all week. Up to now I’ve always remembered too late in the day, or I’ve been busy at the best time to call. We chatted for a while exchanging news and such so I ended up leaving for the school run a little later than I’d planned. This resulted in my idea for a safety shot taken in the car waiting for the kids didn’t come about.
Arriving back at the house I noticed how nice the light in the garage was, so I grabbed a couple of quick ‘selfies’. And I remembered to take my cap off first – Yay! This picture will do for today.
Now to get on with the weekend. Not that we’re doing anything, just hunkering down and seeing how the predicted bad weather for the mid west turns out. I don’t think there’ll be any camping or hiking this weekend. That’s a shame.
Note to self: It may be getting very chilly out but a bit of beard maintenance is probably in order.
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Lesson remembered (365:006)
Lesson remembered (365:006). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today I’ve been reminded of a valuable lesson I’d forgotten. Take a safety shot.
I had a planned photograph for today. It got cancelled and I was left without a picture. I sat and scratched my head. I discarded the idea of a picture of me holding the letter from Bass Pro I received today. It told me I was in the top 10% of its retail store customers. I think we may need to cut down on our visits to Bass Pro. It was too late for another picture of the me doing my coursework, or sitting in class tonight, and the school run is long done. I could have re-enacted putting air in the van’s tire, but it’s cold and cramped for space in the garage.
So I closed my eyes and tried to think of a suitable picture to illustrate my day.
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Coursework (365:005)
Coursework (365:005). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I’ve two lots of coursework to do before tomorrow evening’s class.
I won’t get much more time to work on my studying today as shortly after I get home from the school run I’ve a meeting and then I’ll be waiting for the kids while they’re at Youth Group. I doubt we’ll be home before eight-thirty.
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Recycling (365:004)
Recycling (365:004). Copyright © 2007 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. It’s been a quiet day in Springfield. Mainly because my day didn’t start until the afternoon. I fitted the remote temperature sensor for my new weather station, a Christmas gift from Carol and Jim. Now Lanie can check the outside temperature from inside the house without (a) recourse to the Internet or (b) going outside to check, losing our precious heated air in the process.
As we don’t have a curbside recycling collection, this afternoon I took all the Christmas packaging and various ‘beverage’ containers we’d accrued over the holiday period to the recycling center. The center is near the high school, so it’s nice and easy to drop it off on the afternoon school run.
Now I need to settle down and do what I’m supposed to do: get my coursework ready for Thursday evening’s class.
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A quiet place (365:003)
A quiet place (365:003). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Five people (and four cats) are a lot to fit into our small house.
Space for quiet reflection, navel contemplation, introspection and general sulking and skulking about is necessarily at a premium. This is my retreat. Sat here on the bed in our room I’m just about hidden from view, if not out of earshot of the turmoil that the kids can generate. Though to be fair to the big kids, the smallest one makes and instigates more noise than everyone else put together.
Tonight I came here to wind down after a fairly long day at the wheel, driving the four hundred odd miles to collect the kids from the Amtrak station in St Louis. The kids have been with their father in Chicago for the past week, today marks the end of the Christmas break and the end of a nice period of peace and quiet for us.
