I spent Thursday morning by going on a couple of hikes here at the Park. Both hikes were in the area of the
equestrian campground. There was one trail that petered out about 3/4 of the way through. The ground had standing water and when I pushed my walking stick into the ground it sunk about 8 inches before coming to a stop. Luckily the grass in this area was so high and thick that I was able to walk in this area and not sink into the mud. The grass spread my weight out. I still had water to deal with, but my boots worked perfectly and kept the water out. I'm sure because of the conditions the park crew can't get the mower in there to maintain that part of the trail. I did come across area that had wild plums growing. I might go out on saturday morning and pick some of the ripe/near ripe ones. After hiking I went back to camp and cooked steak and mac & cheese for brunch. Hung around camp without a shirt on and now my back and stomach are red. A plus from last night, I rigged a small fan to the roof of my tent cot and had a cool breeze all night last night I slept great.
On thursday evening I went into town to the MPEC to attend the Western Swing Festival. I met with my friend Rod Moag and his friend Peter Oresich. Peter is visiting from Slovenia and has a radio show there. I don't have pictures of Peter or the friends that came with him, but I'll get some tonight.
I saw the Bob Wills' playboys last night as well as Leon Rausch and Tommy Allsup. Dennis Ivey and his band played as well as John England and his band. The music wa excellent and I can't wait to go back on Friday to see the next days bands. I have an all day wristband for Friday and Saturday, so I might as well go and enjoy the A/C. And there is free high speed Internet so maybe I can get some stuff done while I listen. Will post about Friday after Friday is done.
I'm camping this week at Lake Arrowhead State Park. I arrived yesterday at about 2:30. When I got here I stopped at the park office. I asked the attendant if I could go scout out areas and chose a spot then come back and tell her which one I wanted. She told me that I couldn't do that. I asked her to recommend a spot and she suggested #25. After check in I went to the campsite. The big plus to 25 is that it's a complete pull through. That's it. It was right next to the road and had no shade. I then checked the other sites on this loop and other loops and determined that either 29 or 27 would be the best available sites in the park. 29 had abundant shade and I could set my tent cot up on the same side of the parking pad as the water and electric hookups. After checking the covered picnic table I discovered that there was a large wasp nest in the eaves over the picnic table scratch 29. I knew 27 had shade also, but not all day like 29 had. After checking for wasps I determined that that was the site I wanted. I then went to the office and had them change me to site 27.
After getting camp set up I called an old Jellyfish.com friend and made plans to meet in Wichita Falls for supper. We decided I'd mee Ear at her house and we'd go from there. She did the driving so I got to sit shotgun and see all the sites. We went to eat at a hole in the wall Mexican food restaurant called Casa Manana.
The food was excellent, especially their signature tacos served with red corn taco shells or tortillas. After eating we went to the offically recognized, worlds smallest skyscraper. You'll have to google or wikipedia the story. But short version is that the building was a well executed scam from the 1920's and that the scale was 1 foot = 1 inch. So instead of several hundred feet high, it's only as tall as a 3 story building. After going through downtown and seeing the sites, including the Bar L drive up beer joint
we went to Monkeybutts and I got to meet her and see the place where most of their family have lived throughout the years. We also saw the waterfalls and drove by the Allred Unit, where 'Ear' works.
I also took time before heading into town to take some pictures of the prairie dogs here at the park. The prairie dogs in the prairie dog town were shy but the ones by the swimming beach were more photogenic.
After all that running around I came back to camp and went straight to sleep. Oh, on the way back from visiting I found a walmart that had a gas station. I took the time to go in and buy a small fan
and that really helped me sleep last night. It kept me cooler and the noise was like the fan at home.
I camped at Meridian State Park this weekend. I left on Friday (4/9/10) for a 3 day (2 night) stay at the park. The park was a 2 hour drive from Georgetown, TX. I took I-35 to Waco then headed west from there on highway 6. I enjoyed the drive down 6, it was a non-hectic, scenic drive. No confusing signage or tricky road junctions. At this time of the year, and because of the good rains we have had the wildflowers were in bloom. I enjoyed seeing the different types along the road, but by far and away the bluebonnets were the most plentiful.
I arrived a little after two. The park office was well staffed and the two ladies working there were friendly and handled the people in line quickly. They only have three things for sell in the park office; ice ($2 a bag), firewood ($5 for a bundle) and walking sticks ($7-9) depending on what size you get. I picked site #10. The employee helping me told me that it was one of the more popular water/electric sites because it stood off by itself. I didn’t think of it like that, I just picked it because it was closer to the restrooms and showers. If I’d had know though I would have picked spot #14. It was really nicely laid out. If you go don’t take sites 11, 13 or 15, they are on a hill and rock covered. I didn’t see any good area to put a tent at these sites. Here’s a link to the map of the park:
This way you can see what and where I’m talking about.
I spent the first hour or so getting camp set up. It only took about 15 minutes to get the tarp laid out and the tent up. I’m getting better at it. Unpacked the sleeping pad (REI 3.5 self inflating) and got it laid out. Let me tell you, if you want a good pad for car camping, and don’t plan to hike long distances for camping, then this pad is great. I sleep very well on it, it’s comfy, I don’t feel the ground and it insulates you from the cold ground also. All in all a great product, a little too heavy if you’re doing a lot of hiking, but like I said earlier, a great addition to car camping gear.
After allowing the sleeping pad to fully inflate I unpacked, and laid out, my sleeping bag. It’s a 30 °Coleman sleeping bag I got at WalMart because I wasn’t happy with the 15+ year old sleeping bags I took with me. They were too cold when you’re camping and it gets down to lower 30’s at night. The Coleman bag is nice, toasty (even hot sometimes), and does a good job. The only problem is that it is extremely bulky and heavy. I think as the temperatures warm up I’ll ditch the sleeping bag and go with a blanket or two (just in case it get cooler than expected).
I’m buying this www.tinyurl.com/kamp-rite for my next trip to Caprock Canyons State Park. I really like this concept and think being able to get the sleeping platform off the ground will be nice.
After unpacking and getting everything set up I drove around the park to get an idea of where trails were and where I might want to take some additional photos.
I did get a hike in on the Little Springs Nature Trail. It was a nice easy hike through mostly Cedar (Ashe Juniper). I could hear bird calls but never was able to catch sight of any birds. The park is a known habitat for the Golden Cheeked Warbler. I looked for one, I really wanted to get a photo, but had no luck. I need to research better for future parks so that I’ll know what wildlife is there and have a better idea of what is there to photograph.
I brought some of the small 4lb bags of charcoal. Just light the bag and it’s ready for grilling in minutes. I also bought two of the bundles of firewood. I had a steak I wanted to grill and I knew it was going to get into the 40’s. I thought that the fire would make a nice way to fight off the chill. Had supper, the aforementioned steak, green beans and Lipton Green Tea. After that I cleaned dishes and got ready for bed. After the kids at the next site over quieted down I fell right asleep and didn’t wake up until the next morning.
That’s day 1. Day two (and 3) will follow in separate blogs.
I'm back on vacation in the Big Bend area again. Made it in to Alpine yesterday and headed straight to the Field Lab to meet with friends John, Neil, Andrew and Guy. But mostly to see Benita
Stayed at TFL most of the day and had a good time. Even got to help one of JW's neighbors unload some stuff from his pickup so he can continue building his house.
I finally got my room at the Antelope Lodge. My crazy buddy, Psyclesam, had this room the night before. If I hadn't of known that I would have figured it out soon enough.
Crazy Sam. That was pretty funny.
Going to Big Bend National Park today to photo and have my breath taken away. Will post more tonight or tomorrow.
I don't particularly like the way it turned out. I think next time I'm going to try for a panoramic shot. I think that may work better. I'm going to have to look at some other examples of panorama shots and see if it's something I want to try. So far, I'm not too impressed with the process. It's kind of clunky and hard to navigate the photos.
It will be a few weeks before I go anywhere that I can take pictures for my next try, unless I just go out and take photos of something local. If I do that it will probably be something along the San Gabriel River. I'll let you know here when I do my next project.
I haven't really had much of interest to post lately. I just figure nobody wants to read: I got up, ate, went to work, worked some crime scenes, came home, ate, slept and did it all over again. So, today I thought I'd write about something I came across on the bing.com search engine.
Photosynth, a nifty little web app that allows a photographer to take several pictures of an object, landscape, building, etc., and then upload them to the Photosynth program to be stitched together into a type of 3D montage. I'm excited to give it a try.
I'm going to have to think of a good subject for my first attempt. I will start out small and get the hang of it. I'll post my results here. Might not get to it for a day or two. I have supper with Dad tonight so I don't know if I'll have time to do it until tomorrow.
Regardless, I'll post a link to the results here when I get it done.
I hope everyone had a good Christmas day. Mine was good. I got to see my grandchildren:
This is Angelique
This is Anthony
They came and visited for Christmas day. Anthony is 3 1/2 now and Angelique is 9 mos. Dang but their getting big quick. I made all the phone calls to family and that pretty much rounded out my Christmas day.
On Sunday I took fascat out to Buddy' Place in Austin for some music. Buddy's is one of those bars that is in plain sight but you don't notice it because it's in such a plain building. Brick painted an off white color with only a small sign advertising what is in the building. You get the feeling it's a hold over from when Austin wasn't such a big place and the bar has been there when 183/Burnet Rd was the outskirts of town. For a Sunday the regulars were out in force. I think it was because it was a memorial for Buddy Durnburger. Sorry, but I don't know who he was, perhaps the owner of Buddy's Place.
Roger Beck played with The Knights of Texas Swing. And of course fascat's boyfriend is one of the Knights, Paul Schlesinger:
That's Paul with the hat on. We really enjoyed the show. They had a buffet set out for the memorial for Buddy and they had some good BBQ. I don't think it's a regular offering so don't go expecting to be fed. They serve wine and beer only, and I'm pretty sure it's mostly domestic and a few Mexican import beers.
I must say that it was a very good holiday. I'm on call for New Year's Eve so no parties or drinking but I will stay up until midnight and celebrate it anyway.
Told you I was going out to take pictures of a windmill I saw last week. The sun wasn't out but that was okay. I just adjusted some of the settings and let it go. I did most all of the photos on manual settings today. I tried a few in Black and White and liked the results. Here's two of the photos I took:
Not Bad if I say so myself. You can see the rest of them at http://czardastx.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Windmills
Didn't do much else today other than load the photos to my smugmug account and cleaning up those galleries a little bit. I did fix a problem I was having with my desktop. It wasn't recording my programs correctly. I record 5 different shows from KOOP.ORG. Under the X in Texas; The Country, Swing and Rockabilly Jamboree; Country Roots; Graveside Service; Adventures in Sound. It turns out that my time zone was set wrong and that my sound card recording settings weren't set to the sound card for input. It's all fixed now. I'll find out Thursday when Rod does his show. I wonder if fascat will want to go to the studio again. I'd love to do a stickam broadcast of the show. I'll ask her and then post here if I do a broadcast.
Well, hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor from today.
No work for me today or tomorrow and the last three days of the week are a holiday for Christmas. No snow for us but I'm sure my brother that lives up north is snowed in. I think I'll enjoy our warm weather and get out to take some more pictures. I was on a delivery for our Brown Santa program to the central part of the county and saw an area that had some windmills in some pretty settings.
What is Brown Santa? It's the Sheriff's Office program to help make Christmas just a little better for children who would not otherwise have many (or any) gifts for Christmas morning. It's our non-profit charity associated with not only the Sheriff's Office, but with the county in general. This year my supervisor took over the Adopt a Family aspect of the program. We had a lot of people (employees an general public) donate for the Adopt a Family. I volunteered to deliver some of the gifts. It's nice to know that children are going to have a happier morning on Christmas day. So, because of the deliveries I came across a part of the county I haven't been to before and saw a couple of areas I'd like to photo.
The weather will be about 70 and sunny tomorrow. I'll get up with fascat (my wife) at 6:30 a.m. and get ready so I can get out and photo with the morning sun. It seems that all good photos are taken right around sunrise or sunset. The light is softer then, gives illumination but tends to not be so bright that it over exposes the photo. I've always been attracted to windmills and like to take photos of them. It seems that they are always found in some of the most scenic locations. I'll get out tomorrow and take the photos but am thinking about scouting it out today. I have to find the location again. I have a good GPS program on the iPhone so I should be able to find them with no problem. I'll try to remember to post photos tomorrow.
I really am, I'm really lazy about this blog. There's no other excuse. I've done a lot of things since my last post and haven't posted a thing about them. I've gone to Corpus Christi for a week and learned about photography. I picked up a few new bits of knowledge with that class. I've been busy at work. I don't see many homicides, and have only worked the scene on 1 prior to one I just worked. I did a lot of the work on that one, it was an assist with another agency. Interesting and a lot of work. I went out to try to capture the Geminid Meteor Shower but the skies were cloudy and there was a large amount of fog. I did manage to get some pictures of a bathroom building using a technique called "painting with light". I also took some long exposure shots of some running water. I'll post photos from each shoot at the end of the blog.
Christmas is coming up soon, I guess I'm ready for it. My boss wants all of the people in our unit to take off the two days next week. As she puts it she wants to work the week by herself. I don't know, just don't want to come back to my office being jacked up and rearranged. That's happened to me before. Went on vacation and then came back and my office and job were completely redone. I guess I'll take the time off. After all, any time away from work is time well spent.
Here's the pictures:
I don't have the paint by light photos anymore. I'll have to post some at another time. If you ever want to see some of my photos, the good, bad and ugly, then go here: czardastx.smugmug.com That's my online web album. I upload most all of my photos there when I go on a photo expedition. Like I said, the good ones, the bad ones and the ugly ones. I do occasionally go back and clean it up, but not everytime I upload photos.
It's Halloween night 2009. I'm wearing a costume for the first time in who knows how long. That's right, I don't normally look this handsome. To celebrate my wife and I have come out to the Walburg Restaurant Biergarten. We'll spend some time eating, listening to the live music and drinking some good beer.
I'm having a great time. I have my sexy wife by my side. Really, she is. See for yourself
So, it's time to quit writing and time to drink, eat and enjoy the music. Happy Halloween all.
I always think that I can be posting more often. I even installed an app on my iPhone to help make it easier to post here. It seems that I only think of posting an entry at the wrong times. Either I'm just getting ready for bed, or I'm at work or just at the grocery store. I always think "I need to post on my blog". It doesn't happen. I think sometimes, when I'm home, I get distracted by t.v., surfing the net, whatever. I don't know how people post blogs everyday. I have a hard time coming up with material for the infrequent posts I make. Like now for example, I can think of absolutely nothing to post about that would be interesting or captivating. If I were to post an entry about what I did today it would go something like this:
Got up this morning, got dressed and headed to work. At work today I spent some time this morning processing some items recovered from a stolen vehicle. I was attempting to develop latent fingerprints using black fingerprint powder. I processed about 50 items today with very little luck. It's not like CSI on t.v., no perfect latent prints, no pretty women in blouses exposing their over ample bosoms. Nope, you dust the crap outta stuff, wind up looking like you haven't showered your forearms for a week because they are covered with black powder. But let's get back to the day. I also did some comparisons today. Comparing known fingerprints to fingerprints that were recovered from crime scenes. This is one of my least favorite parts of the job. But then again I didn't ask to be moved into crime scene, I was happiest (and loved) being in the evidence room. If I ever quit my job it will be because I am so unhappy with where I'm at now. Not going to think about it right now because it just pisses me off. So anyway, after looking at fingerprints I wrote reports for the items I processed earlier.
That, in a nutshell, is my day so far today. The highlight of the next hour and 45 minutes will be break time at 3:30. Since I don't smoke any longer I have started having a healthy snack. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Lately the snack has been apples. Fuji apples. In my opinion those are the best type of apple to eat. I just really like the taste of them. In addition to apples I have mixed in other fruit and some veggies too. I'm just trying to eat healthier and lose some of the lingering fat on my mid section. It's frustrating, I can contract my abdominal muscles and feel a small 'six pack' but it's not visible because of that little bit of fat that just doesn't want to go away. So I'll keep eating healthy snacks, watching that I don't stray at home and hope that eventually it will go away one day. Oh, and I do exercise, 5 times a week for 30 minutes. I alternate what type of exercise I do between core, legs, upper body and cardio. That's how I'm getting the 'six pack'. I just have to stick with it, that's all.
Look at that, it's 3:30. Going to wrap this up so I can have my apple. Have a good weekend, and take care until next time.
I've been pretty busy this week with the annual conference. I thought I'd be able to give more updates, but the Doubletree only has free wi-fi in the lobby. Needless to say it's a pain if I want to use my netbook. This is a higher end hotel and here you pay (actually overpay) for things that are free at a motel 6. Wi-fi in the room? $9.95 a day. Parking? $5.00 breakfast at the hotel restaurant? $18.00. And what do you pay for those things at a motel 6? $0.00. Next time I'll stay at the cheap hotel a block away.
We have 250 people from law enforcement agencies throughout TX. I had to teach yesterday an have just done the running for stuff today. Day 2 is almost over. It's going to be time to decide on where to eat, I think we might go to Chesdars. I've never been there and am looking forward to it.
Will try to post more later, and maybe a picture or two if I can do it
Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemiitlichkeit Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemiitlichkeit Eins, zwei, Drei g'suffa! Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi, Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi, Prosit
Walburg Biergarten during October. Good food, good beer and great music!
Spending a coue hours tonight listening to Pete pick and sing at Down the Alley Bistro on the square here in Georgetown.
It's too bad that I can't post video or I'd give you a snippet of the performance. This is a nice place, they serve some really nice sandwiches. Wine, beer, soft drinks and coffee round out the drink selections.
In a world separate from this one Pete and I work together. Well, he's actually my boss. But we've worked together for 14 years and I've known him before he got his title (Lt.) and still see him as just Pete, but with the ability to point and tell me 'do that'. Thankfully he doesn't abuse that ability. By the way, he's the one on the right in the picture.
I downloaded the blogpress app for my iPhone. Maybe it will help me to post more often. That doesn't mean I'll post anything insightful, just that I'll post more often.
This picture has nothing to do with this post. It's one I took in Corpus 2 years ago from the 7th floor balcony of the hotel I was staying in. I just happened to be outside when the sun was about to rise and got my camera and snapped a few photos. This is the best of them. I have this one as my wall paper on my phone.
Just a short note. I'm still trying to lose some weight. Actually not lose weight so much as try to get rid of the belly fat that just doesn't seem to want to go away. I've lost a lot of mid-section bulk and replaced it with muscle. I know it's muscles cuz I can feel them under that "hanging in there" fat that just won't go away.
I've decided to try something. I'll try to remember to post results here to let you all know if it works. I'm going to eat two apples a day. The first in the morning. I'll have the apple and one breakfast taco instead of two breakfast tacos. The second taco will be at about 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon. I'll eat that one to tide me over to supper. It's better than eating something from the vending machine here in the office.
Now, since I'm replacing 'bad' calories with 'good' calories perhaps my body will burn the stubborn fat. Maybe the apples in combination with my exercise will finally do it. It's frustrating to have abs but not be able to see them for the layer of fat covering them.
The whole point is that I want to look good for my wife. I'll post results, no not pictures, in a month.
14 hours. That's how long I have to wait before I leave on my vacation. It can't get here soon enough. Leaving at 7 tomorrow morning and plan to be in Ft. Davis between 2 and 3 o'clock. It's a long drive but I'm looking forward to it. I remember the scenery from my last time going and it's pleasant. Yes, even the part along I-10 going west from Ozona on. Maybe some people would think it's boring because it's unchanging scenery. I enjoy it. It's a time to reflect and think, and is really peaceful. Plus I'll have some good tunes to listen to and some podcasts of CarTalk available for my listening pleasure.
I have a new program on my iPhone called motionx. I'm going to be using it to post to my facebook page. It's a GPS program and it tracks your route as you drive it. I'll probably post my trip every hour or so if I can remember and if I can do it safely. Don't want to drive off the side of the road just to post something. You can friend me on facebook, just search for czardastx and send a request. I'll approve it.
Now I have to think about packing and double and triple checking that I have everything I need. I said at the beginning of this post that I had 14 hours. I know me and I bet I leave earlier than that. I'm thinking I'll wake up at 4 am and hit the road at 5. I'll be too excited to be able to sleep and then if wake up at 4 to wait until 7. I don't particularly like to drive when it's dark, but the advantage is that I can do a lot of the driving while it's still cool. Driving a Ford Explorer, I'll take every bit of gas saving measures I can. I punched my start and finish into google maps and it wants me to go all the way south to San Antonio and pick up I-10 there. It's more miles but a little less time, about 40 minutes. I'm going Hwy 29 to Mason then to Junction and pick up I-10 there. Longer trip time wise, but about 70 miles shorter in distance.
Well, I'm ready to go. I have 95 percent of my stuff packed and in the Explorer. I hope I can get some sleep tonight. I hope the rain isn't too heavy. It's raining in this part of central TX now, and has been for the last 2 days. Well, next post will be from Fort Davis. See ya.
Alright, that's just perfect. I spent the last 20 minutes typing a summary of the last 5 days and now it's gone. I was using the Blogger gadget on my iGoogle page, switched to my iTunes to load some music on my iPhone and when I came back my post was gone. I know now thata I better hit the 'Save Draft' button more often.
To summarize, I worked overtime on Wednesday but got a hit on some latent prints I developed. We went to Walburg and had good food, great German beer and heard some fantastic music on Friday night. Saturday I had breakfast with my son, he's got his eye on 3 different women. Yesterday I prepped the SUV for the drive to Fort Davis next Sunday. All systems are operational and it's good to go.
Today went by quickly. I hope the next 3 days do the same. Sunday morning can't get here soon enough.
Started a mini vacation today. I'm maxed out for my vacation time at work. In order to fix this problem I took today and Friday off to give myself a long holiday weekend. I'm getting Labor day off too, that's the nice thing about working a government job. Thursday, today, is vacation time. Tomorrow is a floating holiday. I'm also getting close to being maxed out on my comp time.
I got called out last night at 6 pm and didn't finish up until 11:30. So I added 5 1/2 hours to my comp time. And I also get 6.1 hours of vacation time every two weeks so I won't burn but 1.9 hours of vacation time. So, where am I going with this? I'm going to have to take more time off. Which I am going in another 10 days.
I'm taking a vacation and going to the Big Bend area. I'll be there for 5 days and 4 nights, starting on the 13th. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm going to be staying in Fort Davis at the wildflower cottages (www.wildflowercottages.net). I stayed there last year and really enjoyed it. I'm really looking forward to returning to stay there again.
I'm planning on going to the McDonald Observatory. I planned my time there to coincide as closely as possible to the new moon. Last time I went there was a full moon so I didn't get to see much through the telescopes. This visit should be better.
I'm going to grab breakfast at The Grub Shack when I take a day trip along the River Road (Ranch Road 170 from Terlingua to Presidio). Going to really work out my new camera that day. I am also going to try to stop by The Field Lab to see it and meet John Wells. I'm really impressed by what he's doing. Living his dream and doing it "off the grid". You can read his blog here; http://thefieldlab.blogspot.com/ .
I'm going to visit the museum on the campus of Sul Ross University. I was told last time that it's a really nice museum. I will probably roll some sightseeing in Alpine into that time while I'm there. Not too sure if I'll go to Marfa for sightseeing. I think I will though because I didn't do that last time either. And I do plan to go watch for the Marfa Lights at least once, again to give my camera a work out.
That, in a nutshell, is my vacation plans.
I mentioned my new camera. I sold my Canon XSi and used the money from that to buy a Canon T1i. I like the new camera. Google it for specs, I'm not going into them here. But, you can see some of the pictures I took with it here: http://czardastx.smugmug.com/Nature I took these photos last weekend at the San Gabriel Park in Georgetown, TX. I'm really anxious to see how well my camera will work in the Big Bend environment in bright daylight and during the night. The nights there are really dark. That's one of the reasons I love going out there, they have so many stars in their sky and it's so quiet and slow. You just don't get that RUSH, RUSH, RUSH that is so typical of the Austin area of TX.
Keep an eye here and on my smugmug account for stories and photos from my vacation.
