Out looking for buds on the trees and found a beautiful cardinal.

 Since it was clear, sunny and wind was just moderate, I survived the only frost we have had this February.

So, in mid afternoon it was time to do a walk. My last two walks racked up 6,920 and 4,447. With today's walk and shoot, I racked up another 5,415 steps. That wipes out the two days of cold Friday and Saturday of a shameful 541 and 528 steps basically that were away from my desk to cook, eat and do a bit of housework. 

Here, the buds have swelled to a point that with the three days of mid 70s and an 80 or more, these will pop by this coming  weekend. Right on time to the annual March 1 of seeing green shoots in the trees. 

The reward was finding that beautiful cardinal. Birds and Blooms say:
" Native American lore states if a cardinal is seen, it is believed that individual will have good luck within 12 days of the sighting. Cardinals are incredibly loyal creatures. "

Here, he was calling to his mate. Now, I'm going to have to start looking for the nest.

Beauty, Color, Flowers and Love

What else is really needed?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every One have a Happy Valentines Day This Week

 

Apology to my Loyal Readers--It's been a hecktic time of shooting and getting images listed with our agents. We hope to do better---

 as the weather increases. Spring is not that far away and already I am seeing evidence of buds swelling and even a few green shoots appearing. Usually--and I say that cautiously-- green is showing by March 1 here in North Texas. Baring that old Atmospheric River and the Pineapple Express, right now, we are bouncing back and forth from the mid 70s to the 50s with a 50/50 split on the three or four day of rain followed by an equal amount of sunny and blue skies. Talk about a roller coaster---we climb out of the well to sunshine and then crown the top and on the way day its foggy, gloomy hit and miss rain showers as the short waves move along the sagging jet stream. We've been there before, but it is hard to plan things. 

UT Southwester announced yesterday that they will be building on the quadrant to the north and west of the Medical District, a new complex of Children's hospital that will be two 12 story towers with another tower of 8 stories at Mockingbird and Harry Hines Blvd. That would not close the Children's Hospital on the back side of the Old Parkland Hospital. That would put it in the heart of where the new Teaching Hospital was built a few years back and has already undergone an expansion. So, I need to get over that way and shoot the area where the  "best Children's Hospital" in the nation will be built. The project is not planned to be operational for about 6-years. 

Things like that take planning ahead and being at the right place at the right te. With the St. Patrick's Day parade hitting the streets  March 16th as the 43rd Dallas Mavs St. Patrick Day Parade at 11 a.m. down Greenville Avenue. Levels are back to pre-Covid levels of 100.000  in attendance.                      

January got off to a 66,087 Step Month; 28.16 miles; 2,414 calorie burn.

It also was a productive month shooting, as well. While the year started off with some nice published images, there is a new twist to my shooting and subject mater. AI, has not been a help in some endeavors, it did slow down the process a lot. I have never minded doing work once, but I sure as the devil hate having to do it twice, especially at someone's lack of detail. I learned fresh out of college that paying attention to detail was more expected than most other "laws" of the job. Having had that pointed out to me from a very young age, I had  mastered that right though college and into my first job.

My boss called me into his office about the second or third day after starting. I didn't know what to expect but I was more curious than afraid. "Sit down", he said. He went on to tell me that he did this with all new employees and it was going to be a  rather short meeting.  "Working for me", he said, " means doing these six things: detail,detail detail."  He paused, looked directly at me. Still not saying anything, I said," that  was only three"  Finally, he cracked a half-smile and said,  most would have assumed  that the other three were the same." " Are they," I replied. " They are", he replied. Had they left my office assuming that the other three were the same as the first, I would have given them their pay check and said that they are not working out. But, you, on the other hand, you obviously pay attention to detail and quickly noticed that I had only said three times, detail,detail,detail. You even ask the question, "are they". So, one simple short meeting  already pointed out to me that you are a detail man and that will make you a successful   employee for our firm. 

 The weather has been in the low to  high 70's since Sunday. One more day tomorrow before the Pacific storms of Atmosphere Rivers arrives not once, but twice in the upcoming week. I will  be able to get some image work done in this forecast down time of rain.With my major Doctor's Appointments already made until this time next year, I'm good to go on that front.

So, with Spring coming, I have already been checking the hot spots where Spring happens  here by the first day of March with new shoots etc.  The rain and warm temps after that period of really hard freezes, things should be right on schedule. I am anxious to see what mother nature holds for this spring. 

Here are a few of the places where shooting took place this past string of days since last Sunday.

Cowboys Cooked Another Goose Play Off while Mother Nature frosted the ground with snow and ice and sub freezing temps

 The old adage, "when it rains, it pours" was working overtime in Dallas this past weekend. Haven't seen snow on the ground for a couple of years and while opening the door to get a good feel for festive winter awakening, looking out the window was just fine. The gauge on the porch seemed to be pegged at about 5° F. The wind chills down the brick in the winter and holds the cold, while in the summer, the sun beats down on them and drives the hand around the numbers and pegs them at that 120°F reading. Love Field is always more warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than my porch. 

My last trip out found me having to pull out some cash for a bus ticket because I had t put my phone on charge and left the house with it still plugged in on the charger. By the time I got to the bus stop and discovered my forgetfulness, I was not about to walk back to get the phone. Then during the trip, I was going to check my steps and realized, "hey, I do that on my phone". So those steps were lost for the days tally. 

Never-the-less, I found another telephone pole were the summer's heat had melted the tar on this one as bad as the first one I found. The tar pooled up on the sidewalk below the pole like the first one. 

Set a new record yesterday at 85,000 Mega Watts of Electricity demand and the grid held!

New Year is off and running wild already

 The weather is a condition not an excuse, I know. However, Cold weather and pushing yourself can land you in that spot of land where there is a lot of granite. So, I stay in and clean up old files and review new ones. Today, I spent most of the day putting out little fires as a result of AI training and some customer service agent that assured me that my concern would not happen. Then, I get a letter, that it did. Not once, but twice. All I know is that I hear a lot of "I'm sorry" from customer service lately.  That does not get it with me at my age. It seems there are not many people that pay attention to detail any more, but then, in a barber shop, I found one that reminded me so much of my dad, a detail man in every thing he did, that it was hard to hold in the emotions. So, it did help to see that there are a few of those people left today.

Yesterday, I got out and had a wonderful time. It was a delightful day in the 60s. Today, the rain came. Tonight, the Polar cold front that is passing us will make it to the Gulf. The operative word here is "Polar". Tomorrow, will be our first hard freeze of the season. Highs will be in the low 40s but the kicker here is the 45MPH gusting winds from the northwest. It will move out fast and Wednesday, the 50s and 60s are  back for a couple of days before another system pushes us toward a longer-lasting spell of cold weather.  My doctor's appointment will be surrounded by winter on all sides. Never fails. Made the appointment two weeks ago because my doctor could not see me the same day my other doctor's appointed occurred. 

So, while I got some interesting pictures from yesterday,  I  am not totally done editing  the batch as of yet. 

Here will be a few of left overs from 2023 that AI finished using as their training target.

Cold Rain in Dallas, Today.

 Rainy days and Tuesdays. The day has been busy creating backpacks using our photos in  abstract and also was able to add new categories to our light boxes on our Dreamstime portfolio. It should make it easier for the graphic arts crews to find what they want much faster, even giving them more choices at one sitting rather than going through a few thousand images there searching for one specific topic. 

Every one be safe and stay well for 2024.