By Land, By Sea, By Air

The Gull on the left had plenty to say to the other two. I wish I knew what was so important.

A warm winter's day for two gents.

A nice toy. A very nice toy.

The Best Fisherman At White Rock Lake

When ever I see a serious fisherman, my curious nature  is to ask if they are catching anything. Some will tell you," no". Some will say they got one or two while others will play their cards close to their chest. I understand that.

Yesterday, while starting my stroll looking for that "White Rock Unusual" it occurred to me that the best fisherman at White Rock was not a person. It wasn't even a bird or animal. It  was a tree! The tree that I am making a reference to at this point has more fishing gear, lures, bobs, hooks, leader line, spring clip clasp than some fishermen have in their tackle gear.

It became clear to me that the story wasn't in the fishermen catch, but the catch made time and time again by the tree that I stood looking into with the glimmers of sunlight striking every one of it's prized catches, sending the week-end fisherman home with less gear than they came to fish with today. 

There were some thirty lures not counting the lead sinkers, and other artificial bait lures.

Several of these hung at various levels in  the tree.

Saw Three of These At Three Different Lights

Went to the bank this morning. When I came out I saw this Red Tail hawk sitting on one of the new LED light poles. He had a wing span of  nearly 5 feet. He flew across the street into a wooded back yard and blocked by a Homeowners Association brick fence. Driving on, it was less than three miles when I made a turn and low and behold, there sat another big Red Tail. I parked and grabbed my camera and got a couple of shots before I saw the female sitting in  little thicket of trees along a creek. It was an amazing morning to see not one, not two, but three of these beautiful birds. The rest of the day was uneventful.

Red Tail Hawk

Same Bird

Thank You To Those That Ride As Patriot Guards

It was my maternal grandmother who taught me many,many years ago to never judge a book by it's cover. At first, my thinking was that she meant a book cover literally. Over a couple more decades, she expanded on that definition. The bottom line is that I got the full meaning literally and figuratively and have always remembered the basics and fundamental principals behind those lessons.

Today, I had an opportunity to shoot some really amazing images at another funeral for the first fallen police officer in North Texas in 2017. As it evolved with hours of waiting with mounted units, color guard units and the like, two hours later, I spot the procession coming  down the street at a distance. As I am moving toward my car to re position off cemetery property, an operations manager whistled me down and made a point that they had photographers and the  family had requested no pictures. While he was making his point, I made mine that I would never shot pictures at a funeral that had been listed as private. My intent was to stop shooting just as soon as the family entered the grounds.
There were other issues apparent and were not worth factoring in here. In as much as I am a background shooter and like the back story generally.

As it turned out, images that were to honor the fallen officer would also have honored previous policemen and firemen with another massive display of motorcycles. But the moment had been lost forever and that's alright.

A distinguished Arson Investigator from Richland Hills.

In lost moments, there is always that cloud with the silver lining. As it turned out, the book I learned never to judge is one of the most experienced Arson Investigators and he rides as a Patriot Guard. Thank You!! Thank You for allowing me to capture a moment in time that balances out and smooths out the chafe of life's wheat.

Only The Second Time On Antibiotics

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Well, I'm sicker than a old dog and that's two days in with the antibiotics which is only the second

Red Shoulder Hawk dead center

Same

Moved but still dead center

time that I have ever taken antibiotics. My thinking is that since I have not taken them on a regular or routine agenda they should attack this little bacteria like no one's business.

The weather here is totally miserable. Before I sat down to write this post, I heard this racket outside then a clap of thunder and then lightening and thunder again. I walked over to the window and at first sight all that I could see was clear sky, then I look out on the sidewalk and it is covered in hail (hence the racket). It's been a roller coaster of temperatures since Christmas. One day it's 40 then its 75 the next day. We have been getting these upper air disturbances every other day regularly. Oh, and then, there is the wind with 5-10 MPH today, 40 MPH gust the next. I cannot remember a winter like this in the past 15 years.

Looking at my shoot log, this crazy weather is beginning to show up there too, which shows up later in sales down the road not just a month but for as much as a quarter since buyers buy on a quarter cycle ahead of the season. The editorial  images are needed to augment those gaps but even that has been rather sporadic at best.  If it wasn't for the love of the photography in the first place it would be the time to be making some  decisions like: it's time to retire from retiring. Which I know I will not do until the lights go out.

I've been watching a couple of trees at White Rock where a pair of Red Shoulder Hawks claim as their hunting grounds. A couple of days ago when I was feeling pretty lousy, I spotted the male squirrel hunting. I stopped the car and shot from the car, which I seldom do, but I just didn't feel like getting out and chasing down a bird that can fly faster than I can walk and that's after I back-up and park. You will need to click on the image so that it opens up larger to get a better view, otherwise all you are going to see is trees and branches. But, it opens up pretty well when enlarged. I can't get better than 100 percent since I lost the use of my high power lens on the Nikon camera. Olympus keeps telling me that they are bringing to market a ring that will allow my Nikon lens to be used on the Olympus camera. That will give me an added 50mm of power to get that 150 to 200 coverage that I lost.

This Is Pure Bull and Last Night's Storms Were Very Real.

Somethings in life are straight up bull. That's right. I'm not sticking out my chest here. I'm simply stating fact.

And this isn't just any bull. It's A real live Texas Longhorn that is a five minute drive from the heart of downtown Dallas. He's cat napping in the warm sun that has heated the surrounding air to 68 degrees F. If you look, he's got his eyes closed and I sure would not want to be the one to disturb his cat nap. Know what I mean?

It's a funny thing about gas prices. They are headed to prices we have not seen for a while. It's been obvious that the move upward is now in on the march. This past week the prices have gone from $1.90 to $2.22 per gallon almost over night. The best price in the metroplex generally is always at Fuel City. And the best car wash ever is there as well. And, if you are hungry.....oh my! The food is awesome.

Today, every gas station I passed was a few cents higher---and higher---and higher. I reached a point of no return. Continue on and hope for the best---or bite the bullet and pay the highest price. My gas tank is 14 gallons with a 2 gallon reserve and seldom do I ever wait to see the light come on. So if you do the calculations, a two or three cent price per gallon is not even worth the bother. Say you figure three cents per gallon, and at a quarter of a tank, that's ten gallons at three cents--or a whopping $0.30 should you bite the bullet of the higher price. You see where I'm going with this. Even being a penny-pincher, thirty cents isn't going to break the bank. But, the weighted factor today was the car wash. I really needed a car wash and Fuel City allows you to purchase your car wash right at the pump when you are paying for your gas. You can't beat the price or the convenience. While there, and before going down on the river to see the Trinity's flooding from the overnight storms, I visited the bulls and the donkeys there on the grounds.

As I was in line for the car wash (and the lines move F-A-S-T at Fuel City, The herd was at optimum viewing distance. Normally, they are down range a bit and it's not worth it, but it's like the posting in the National Parks that advise that the buffalo herds are within sight or not. In this case, if the bulls are within sight, that's good.

The storms last night generated officially four confirmed tornadoes that were of  EF-0 to EF-1s in strength. One blew out windows in a high rise office building that sits on LBJ Expressway just south of Carrollton near Midway. The weather service is  still investigating more damage in Collin County (which is Frisco and Plano).

It's  early  for Spring Tornadoes it seems, but in Texas---it's never to early. This little mixing bowl that we live in here blends warm fronts, cold fronts, moisture, dryness into a weather shake that can be totally unreal. It was one year ago this past Christmas that the Rockwall

Trinity overflowing and filling up with more runoff. Looking South from the Sylvan Avenue Bridge toward Las Colinas and Irving.

tornadoes took lives and left people still trying to re-build their homes and their lives. As it is, we get two tornado seasons as it is. One comes in the spring and the other comes in the fall, thanks to our mixing bowl effect. 

The Long Night's Moon

The first full moon of the new year was on January 10th. It's name is the Long Night's Moon. It represents new light.

First Full Moon of 2017

Light Beams over Downtown's Far East and Triangle Section

More Inline Skaters are seen at the lake in the past 5 years. The trails have been a big part of that happening.