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Thinking of Ginger (365:30)
Thinking of Ginger (365:30) Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 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
Kayaking on James River, Springfield Missouri (365: 29) Today was a busy day. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 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.
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Repairing a kitchen drawer
Repairing the kitchen drawer — I repaired a kitchen drawer and in the process learned two valuable safety lessons. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 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.
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Drilling in the workshop (365: 28)
Drilling in the workshop (365: 28) — Today, I spent some time in the workshop. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today, I spent some time in the workshop. With temperatures expected to be in the sixties, we planned to go out in the kayaks. That didn’t happen. Some shopping was done, and I spent some time in the workshop instead.
First, I repaired a kitchen drawer and, in the process, learned two valuable safety lessons. Then I made myself a pair of huaraches. I’ve been reading about minimalist footwear for quite a while, and the huaraches seem to be the way to go, providing a very open shoe with a firmly attached sole. They are also very easy to make. So today I made a test pair. The finish of the sole cut-out is a bit rough. I won’t worry about it because I don’t expect these to last long.
Now, I’ll have to give them a test and see how well they fair out on the trail and around home. One thing that has surprised me is that I’m having trouble getting used to the feel of the cord between my toes. As a long-term flip-flop wearer, I wasn’t expecting it to be an issue.
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Halfway up the first hill – Busiek State Forest & Wildlife Area (365:27)
Halfway up the first hill – Busiek State Forest & Wildlife Area (365:27) — Tomorrow I’ll ache. This morning we went on a short 3 mile hike on the Silver trail at Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. The hike might have been short but it included two, two hundred foot ascents. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Tomorrow I’ll ache. This morning we went on a short 3-mile hike on the Silver trail at Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. The hike might have been short but it included two, two hundred foot ascents. We’ve been slacking and not hiking much recently, so we’re a bit out of condition. We paused briefly halfway up the first hill to catch our breath and take this picture. The temperatures were due to get up in the fifties today, but when we started hiking were still below freezing. By the time we got halfway up the second hill we were hot. The only wildlife we saw was an armadillo, which I managed to get within three feet of, but didn’t get a picture as I was too busy laughing at the bouncy way they run.
Still to do: the school run, another visit to the bank, get the slow puncture in the van’s back wheel fixed, and then my class this evening.
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Stopped for lunch
Stopped for lunch. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. We stopped for lunch near the end of our hike on the Silver Trail at Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area.
Stopped for lunch. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
View to the North from the Silver Trail at Busiek
View to the North from the Silver Trail at Busiek — Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. This descent is much steeper than it looks, and it’s very easy to lose your footing on the loose stones that make up the trail.
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Ginger approaching halfway up the first big ascent
Ginger approaching halfway up the first big (200-ft.) ascent on the Silver Trail.
Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.We stopped for lunch near the end of our hike on the Silver Trail at Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area.
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Lesson 17: Numbers (365:26)
Lesson 17: Numbers – Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Wednesdays are kids taxiing days.
Ginger’s been feeling a bit poorly, so I was up early again to do the school run. I spent most of the day reading and making notes for my class tomorrow night. I stopped to do the afternoon school run, pick up some more cash from the bank and drop off the recycling.
Wednesday evenings are Bell choir, Choir practice followed by Youth Group, which today requires three trips downtown. By the nine pm kid curfew I’ll be ready for our adult time.
Future Gary says: The picture’s fine, but in a small thumbnail format my finger looks like a penis “once seen you cannot unsee it.”
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Tidying away (365:25)
Tidying Away (365:25) Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I need to find my tennis ball.
My day started early with the school run at seven-thirty. Back home I finally put all the boxes of Christmas decorations out in the shed where they belong.
There was a visit to the bank and some shopping required. While shopping I spotted a display of ‘Valentine’s Day Monsters’. I liked their color so much I decided to take a quick safety shot with them.
While Ginger put the shopping away, I put away our kayaking socks and shoes from last Saturday. To do this I had to lower my Kayak from its berth on the garage ceiling. While it was down I retrieved my Emergency kit. I thought this activity might make today’s picture, so I set up the camera and once more encountered the ‘out of focus’ problem. This time to make doubly sure it was the camera and not me, I asked Ginger to look through the viewfinder as I took the shot using the remote. Sure enough, the camera wasn’t focusing. It took a lot of fiddling around to get a couple of in-focus pictures. D’oh!
While I was taking the pictures I flicked our hanging tennis ball up into Ginger’s kayak so it wouldn’t be in the shot. We use the ball to tell me when to stop so I don’t plow into all the stuff stored at the end of the garage. I forgot about it until later when I came to park the car and had to use the ancient art of ‘touch parking’. I retrieved the bit of string to which the ball is attached only to find the ball has gone awol. So now I’m going to have to lower Ginger’s kayak and find the missing ball.
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Tidying away
Tidying away — With my Kayak lowered from its berth on the garage ceiling, I searched it for a pair of missing gloves and my emergency kit. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. With my Kayak lowered from its berth on the garage ceiling, I searched it for a pair of missing gloves and my emergency kit. I thought this activity might make a reasonable picture, so I set up the camera, and once more, I hit the ‘no focus’ problem. This time, to make doubly sure it was the camera and not me, I asked Ginger to look through the viewfinder as I took the shot using the remote. Sure enough, the camera was deciding it was in focus without actually focusing. It took a lot of shots and fiddling around to get a couple of in focus pictures. D’oh!
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Valentine’s Day Monsters
Valentine’s Day Monsters. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Cats, coffee and laptops in bed (365:024)
Cats, coffee and laptops in bed. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. A little peek into our morning customs. Cats, coffee, and Internet in bed
I had to very carefully get out of bed to set the camera up without disturbing the cats as I wanted them in the picture. As soon as the autofocus started whirring, Tubby sat in front of the camera – half out of shot, head on one side staring into the lens. after ten pictures he grew bored and sought out his favorite perch on Ginger’s chest (he isn’t called “Tubby Tit Sitter” without reason). I needn’t have worried about disturbing Sprinky. She refused to move from her selected spot on the side of the bed.
That’s my picture done for the day and it’s still morning 🙂
Today’s Out takes & extras
Ginger, Tubby, Gary and Sprinky. Morning High Jinx 
Laptops in bed -
Just before bed (365:023)
Just before bed — Not a lot happened today. Alarm at seven, Church, Sunday School, Nap time, Star Wars Episode 1, Internets, hiking plans and bed. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Not a lot happened today. Alarm at seven, Church, Sunday School, Naptime, Star Wars Episode 1, Internets, hiking plans and bed.
I settled for the cliché self-portrait against a wall, and I didn’t put a lot of effort into it either. A tripod would have helped with the blur and lens distortion as I could have had the camera further away. As it was I had to hold the camera in both hands to minimize camera shake. A tripod would have also left a hand free to hold a reflector to fill in the light a bit. I’ll be able to try that another night.
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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
