The Eve of a New Year

Here it is, New Year's Eve and I don't have a picture to post (I take that back, I just took one)  I am in Baltimore, getting ready to head to work for the night.  While I am dealing with patients I will be glancing at the TV to see the rest of humanity celebrating the changing of the years.  Oh well.  This past year has been a challenging one with many ups and downs but the coming year brings promises of exciting new changes.  I can hardly wait.   I wish everyone out there a Happy New Year!

R.I.P.

One of three pygmy hamsters given to my stepdaughter at Christmas.  He just suddenly squeaked and dropped over dead.  This was just before his burial in the back yard.   'We barely new ye but ye seemed to be a good lass'

Zzzzzz.....

Spent a couple of hours sitting at the Department of Motor Vehicles waiting on my stepson to get his license.  I think we were about 100th in line.  This picture is as boring as I felt at the time.

Mmm, BBQ

I always enjoy my stop at Smithfield's Barbeque for some of the best pork BBQ around.  I would have taken a picture of the food but by the time I thought about taking a picture I had already gulped it down. Oh well.

Dogs Like Christmas Too!

Merry Christmas!

Santa brought me this DVD for Christmas.  I can't believe how good Santa's taste in music is.  Crosby and Nash are two of my all time favorites!

Back in Baltimore

I'm back in Baltimore and will be here until the 26th.  Duty calls:o(

Better Late Than Never

Real late getting a Christmas tree this year.

Night Crawlers

I caught these two guys crawling around under my house!  (Kevin, on the right, is 6 1/2 feet tall now and he used to be the smallest kid for his age)

It'll Tickle Yore Innards!

I found this old Mountain Dew soda bottle under the 

   house yesterday and thought it was great.  Research online 

 shows it to be from 1962 which was when the house was built.

Crawling

My stepson and I spent ALL day pulling out old air ducts in the crawl space under the house and then replacing each of the 12 runs with new.  I saved about 1500.00 by doing it myself although there were times today when I questioned my decision.  It was HARD work.  That is the old still hanging in the photo.



(taken with Samsung Galaxy S2 phone)

Busy Busy

I've been real busy down in NC today.  Lots of new power goodies to replace the flooded ones.  Here is a generator, chain saw, power washer and leaf blower all prepped, started and confirmed to be OK.  Also picked up many boxes of laminate flooring that I am getting ready to install in the house.

Obama

They are not afraid to express their anti Obama sentiments down here in rural NC.  O=One B=Big A=Ass M=Mistake A=America for my Democrat friends out there :o)  You probably wouldn't live long driving this truck around back in Baltimore.

Cazbar

My four dates at the Cazbar this evening!  That is Trisha, Danielle, Brittany and Ray.  We are all moving to Utah and they are going to be 4 of my 5 wives.





(Canon S90 - shot at 6mm (about 28mm equiv.), ISO 500, f2 at 1/60s with flash on low power)

Trifecta

Liquor, cigarettes and checks cashed.  What more could you want in life?

Dessert

I think I will pass on the bean pies today but a slice of strawberry cheesecake sure sounds good.

Trickle-up Poverty

This is a great bumper sticker.

Occupy

Not much going on at Occupy Baltimore today.

Foggy

It was real foggy this morning.





(Olympus E-PL2 with 25/1.4 lens - shot at ISO 250, f1.6)

Renovations

I'm almost done with my renovations.  All I need to do is to knock a hole in the floor for my new outdoor toilet and I will be finished.



(Olympus E-PL2 with Pana/Leica 25/1.4 lens - shot at ISO 250, f2.5 at 1/320s, from a moving car)

Cotton Pickin

Looks like snow but it's just cotton.

Gasoline

Just filling up the Jeep with gas.  Gasoline was $3.13 a gallon today which is lower than I can remember it being in quite a while.

Totem

Wow!  I found a statue of my ex-wife. (just kidding)

Packing

Guess what I was doing today?  Yep, you guessed it.  I was packing boxes for my upcoming move.  It's still about 60 days away but I can't wait to get the whole thing started.

Drive Thru

Rural drive thru near Washington, NC (referred to as Little Washington by folks down there)





(Olympus E-PL2 with Panasonic Leica 25/1.4 lens - taken at ISO 200, f4.5 @ 1/3200s)

Overpass Art

A little overpass art on I-95 in Richmond today.  I am back in Baltimore for my weekend of work.  The one bright spot is that I received my insurance check from the National Flood Insurance Program for the damages I received from Hurricane Irene.  Now the real renovation work can commence.  I am wrapping up my time here in Baltimore and will be moving back to my NC home within the next couple of months so I can hardly wait.  I have not enjoyed my 5 year stint here in Baltimore and getting back to a rural lifestyle is my idea of heaven.  I am going to spend several months just working on the house, putting in a solar and water system, establishing a garden, raising some chickens and just decompressing (oh, and taking some decent pictures again for a change).  Maybe next fall I will go back to work:o)



(Olympus E-PL2 with Panasonic/Leica 25/1.4 lens - taken at ISO 200, f4.5 @ 1/3200s)

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Last Crops

The last of the tomatoes and LOTS of collard greens rolling in.

Where Are The Cars?

I finished another three crazy days at work which were absolutely terrible.  That explains my 3 day lapse in posts.  I hit the road real early this morning to head back to my NC home.   This is a picture taken while driving south on I-95 through Washington D.C. this morning about 2:30am.  I have never seen so little traffic while driving through the Hell of D.C.

A Little Wide

Just a quick pic from the top of my parking garage in Baltimore.









(Olympus E-PL2 with Panasonic 7-14 zoom - shot at 9mm, ISO 800, f10 @ 1/2500 sec.)

The Alamo

From my archive.  Taken at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.

Packing and Dreaming

I spent the last couple of days packing boxes for my upcoming move.  Todays pic is from my archive.  It was taken on the river behind my house in NC a few years ago.  I can hardly wait to pull the canoe out and get back on the water.

Contemplative

No common failure,

whether it be sickness or bankruptcy

or professional misfortune,

will reverberate so cruelly and deeply

in the unconscious as a divorce.

It penetrates the seat of all anguish,

forcing it to life.

With one cut, it slices more deeply

than life can ever reach.

                                  --- Botho Strauss

(Shot with my eyeball and stored in my brain)

Jupiter in Infrared

I shot this sunset over the ocean through binoculars when messing around one day.  To me it looks like an infrared picture of Jupiter.

Water, Water, Everywhere

Looking out from my back patio on my birthday this year, August 27th, during Hurricane Irene.  The house was flooded and only the most basic of repairs have been made.  I am currently waiting on my flood insurance claim to be paid and I have no idea how long that will take.  Since the claim is with the National Flood Insurance Program (FEMA) I am sure it will be quick and efficient.  

I Wonder

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being

 run by smart people who are putting us on,

 or by imbeciles who really mean it."

                                                                                                                                     --- Mark Twain

My Favorite Time of Year

Just a pic from my archive.  Taken in southern Pennsylvania.




(Olympus E-PL2 with Panasonic 20/1.7 lens - shot at ISO 200, f3.5 @ 1/500s)

Subliminal

A subliminal message on the wall of this shop and yes it made me stop.   Taken on Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina.

From Mongo's Site - thanks Steve!

Alterations

Eating the way I have been lately results in the need for a little alteration work on the slacks.

Crackers!

Hey, I thought today that if I can make bread then I can make crackers!  Well, I did and it was easy - they came out great (excuse the rough looking cookie sheet).  I just made a single serving of crackers using 1/2 cup of flour, 1 tbsp. olive oil, garlic salt and just a little bit of water added until it turns into dough (about 1/4 cup).   Roll it out onto a cookie sheet, top with a little rough ground salt and bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Total time to make was 30 minutes (5 to make the dough and 25 to cook).  That's it for my cooking posts this week.  I'm just excited that I can have fun making some of my bread products at a MUCH reduced price over store bought.

Bread 2

 I had so much fun making bread yesterday I just had to do it again today to learn from my mistakes.   Today was perfect.  I made two loaves and on one I decided to get fancy making 3 strands and weaving them.  Both loaves are great and I had a blast again.  It's a lot cheaper than buying bread from the store and it's not hard at all.  The only thing I might try next time is to use 'bread' flour instead of all purpose flour.   I would get more 'rise' but the bread flour costs almost 3 times as much.  I'm sure I will stick with the cheaper route as I am very pleased with what I got today.  First pic is just before going in the oven, after letting the loaves rise for about 30 minutes.  The second pic is right out of the oven.  I got the golden color by spraying the loaves with cooking spray just before going in and the last one is the end cut off (after I had eaten what I cut off).


(Taken with E-PL1 with Panasonic 20/1.7 lens - ISO 500, f3.5 @ 1/30s)

Bread!

I decided to make bread for the first time today and boy is it easy and fun.  It didn't turn out perfect but it tasted great and I know how to perfect it next time.  I won't be buying bread anymore.   For one loaf I just mixed 3 cups of flour, 1 tbs. sugar (I didn't have any sugar so I used maple syrup), 1 tsp. salt,  1 package fast rise yeast and 1 1/4 cup of warm water.  You just mix all the ingredients, knead the resulting dough for about 10 minutes, let stand and rise for 1 hour, knead again for a minute or two and form out the loaf on a greased cookie sheet, let stand and rise for another 30 minutes then throw it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  My one mistake?  After I had formed the loaf and had let it rise for 30 minutes I cut the top of the loaf with several slits like you see online.  Well, I should have done that after I had formed the loaf but BEFORE I let it do the final 30 minute rise.  What happened was the loaf had all puffed out like it should have but when I cut the top it partially collapsed.  Then I cooked it and although it did puff back up some it lost the full rise that it had before I sliced it.  Still came out tasting great though.  I felt like Tom Hanks in Castaway when he had made fire and was dancing around singing.  When I finished I was thumping my chest and saying "bread, me make bread"

Halloween Fright!

Something really scary on Halloween.  I think I let this cottage cheese sit a little too long in the fridge.

Fun in the Closet

Twirling around a lightstick loop in the closet today.



(E-PL2 with Panasonic 20/1.7 lens - taken at ISO 400, f1.7 @ 1 sec.)

Snow!!!

Wow, snow up here in the Northeast and it's not even Halloween yet!