It's been a couple of weeks

Noticed that the time was going by out in the real world. It is almost mid-March and I have not posted anything for almost two weeks. Did you miss it? Anyone?

Well, slowly getting taxes done and some photo work also. I am finally getting some photos to my regional bicycle commute coordinator (Eric L.) from a 'Breakfast On Bikes' that he put together on the last day of February. I will get a shot of that out on the next one, I promise! He is really working on promoting Bike Commuting and I couldn't agree more, at least to find alternatives to the SOV (Single Occupancy Vehicle).

I have been getting some miles in on the bicycles and on 3/9/08 took an all day class for motorcycle safety and passed my skills test. That waives having to take the skills test at the state DMV offices so now I have to study and take the written knowledge test, hopefully pass and I will be street legal with my motorcycle endorsement. I recently purchased a 2006 Ducati Multistrada 620 as a running errands, commute ride. Yes I still ride the bicycles in 3x/week but wanted to have another alternative. I can also use it to get to some photo locations and not burn as much fuel. Will get a shot of that another time also.

Will be working on photos this weekend and trying to update smugmug and looking at a revamp of my regular site. Included this time is a shot I took back in Aug. 2003 of smoke rising from the B&B Complex fire in the Cascade foothills of Oregon. I was sitting on Highway 20/22 after traveling East from Bend, Oregon using the Old McKenzie Pass road as the main highway was closed from this rather large fire. I happened to catch the spotter plane as it was probably doing boundary checks and aerial mapping of the fire for ground updates.

Tim -

End of February - Leap Day!

Wow! Can you believe it? Last day of Feb. Tomorrow and it is "leap day" where those folks born on this day get to celebrate their birthdays. Must be hard doing that on a four year cycle. Let me rant for a bit here and get you some updates.

I did post three photos to my smugmug account on Tuesday night and am getting closer to posting at least two a night to start to build up the stock out there. I have plenty of images on the PC to review and get out for sale and display. I will have two pieces of matted and framed work in the silent auction for the BTA at their annual awards program in March. I am trying to find the positive in my lack of time to do all the things I would like to do and have changed up my work out routines to hopefully allow me to get a little more done.

Have been doing some successful commuting by bike to work this month, but have flatted three times in four weeks?! What gives? This last one I actually had a nice little shard of glass in the tire and it pinned holed the tube. I should not have swapped out my specialized armadillo tires this early. I am going to keep patched tubes with me for the commute as it gets a little pricey putting in new tubes every time. I have recently added some more Horsepower to my two wheeled collection. I bought a new Ducati MS620 motorcycle to help with gas savings and be my back-up when I do not ride the bicycles. I do sometimes commute with my spouse when it is raining as she only works two blocks away and I get to stay pretty dry that way in her car!

I recently dumped off some photos from my older Pentax istDS and had a couple shots of the moon with Mt. Hood. I didn't notice it right away that afternoon so the moon was getting pretty high up but it is pretty cool nonetheless. The shot was taken back in January from my back deck in Salem. Hope you will enjoy it!

Gotta go work on taxes or something now. If you get a chance, please check out my smugmug photo work and if there is something you might like to see let me know!

Tim

First One of February!

Hello!
Looks like I am averaging about two weeks between postings so far. I do not lead a very exciting life as a government worker and aspiring photographer.

I was intending to get out to one of the near-by National Wildlife Refuges but have not made it. I did take a day off during the week, but ended up riding my bike and running errands that had to get done. On Saturday 2/9 it was such great weather wise here in the Willamette Valley I needed to get out and ride and was able to get in a nice two hour ride North of Salem in Polk and Yamhill counties.

I am still working on some photos (a ton) that need to be reviewed, maybe processed or held for later. Then I need to update the smugmug location and looking at a redesign of my basic website.

I will be contributing two pieces of work (for silent auction), all framed, matted and signed that will be part of the BTA's - Alice B. Toeclips banquet/awards in March. Check out their site over on the right hand side to get more information.

To end I will include a sunrise from back in late October 2007 shot from my back deck. I have done some major cropping in so if you enlarge it, it shall not look so great. Will post again!

Tim -

More in January

Hi folks!

Left you about 10 days ago and am making the commitment to sit down at the PC and get some more blogging done. Seems our very cool or frigid for Willamette Valley standards is turning just a bit. Now that we seem to be getting away from mid 30's for highs we are getting back to rain! I don't think you can win when it comes to the weather here, but hopefully it will not freeze tonight or it is going to be a really bad Sunday.

I got in a run today and did get some bike commutes this week but not much in the way of mileage on the bike this year, maybe a 100+ miles so far? I am getting another new bike put together, a redline conquest pro frame set, with most of the other stuff hijacked off my older Cannondale. This will become my commuter and Cross-Racing bike if I get the motivation to race in the fall.

Hey, I know last time I said something about posting a shot or two of some bighorn sheep, but changed my mind for now. I am posting a shot of an icicle that was by this metal art thingy hanging by one of the doors at my folks house. I spent about twenty minutes shooting this icicle trying to catch drops coming off the damn thing. In this one you will see a drop just getting ready to be free from the main icicle and start its journey downward.

I am hoping to get out to one of the NWR's close to Salem to see about what birds might be hanging around and get some shooting in. Am also planning on heading up into the Cascades one of these weekends to do some skiing, snowshoeing, or sledding and getting away from the rain. Will hopefully get some good shots along the way. This week I plan on updating to my smugmug account with some animals and landscapes.

Thanks for stopping in!

Tim

New Year - New sights

Wow! Over the past month and a half I have been looking at the blog but doing nothing about it. It is time to get serious and this is the year! Part of it has been laziness and the other part finding the time, but like I tell my honey bunny, you have to make the time. I should live by that same thought.

Well, December came and went with no updates so here we are mid-way through January and I am starting again. In December, my wife, daughter and I went back to Cody, Wyoming to visit my folks for the Christmas holiday. Good times, with a 3-4 inches of light powdery snow on Christmas eve and plenty of Mule deer coming into the yard for a little extra feed. Yes, my dad gives them a little bit of cracked corn to munch on, but not a whole lot and I don't think you could really say that it enhances their diet to much. Anyway, they get around 10-14 deer almost everyday and I have included a shot of one of the bucks that was around.

When not playing games with family or sitting around having a beer and talking I did get a chance to drive up the North Fork (Main Hwy) towards the East gate of Yellowstone Park. I will get you a shot or two of some Big Horn sheep that were hanging out near the road along some drainage's. Pretty nice to just sit there and watch them graze, had a few feisty males ramming their horns with each other. Makes you appreciate the animals in this world and being away from larger communities, cars and way to many people!

Well, this is just a start. I am going to work on some of the animal photos and check some of the local places in Salem to start getting some showing's on the walls of their businesses. I will post out when I have some out and about in the community.

So long for now, and thanks for stopping in! I promise to be more jazzed about getting stuff out and since I would like this to be my job someday maybe I should "make the time."

Bye, tim