Ground Hog Day

It sure has been cold lately.The same snow that fell in December remains. Some days are colder than others but spring must surely be around the corner. Davenport's engine would just grunt when I tried to start it. So,I had to charge its battery. Having a dead battery in the winter, is not a good situation to be in.

This time of year the sun seems to hang low in the southern horizon. A major winter storm passed to the south of us in the last 24 hrs.The storm was big enough to make national news with blizzard warnings in many states. We got very little snow as The system brushed by. I have taken many pictures within a couple miles of where I made this image today in western portage county. I just find it interesting place.

 Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow today. I can see why.

On The Wing

Several weeks ago, Melissa and I noticed a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree alongside the road. Yesterday as we traveled along the same road, the eagle was still hanging around. I decided to take its picture. When I was growing up they were seriously on the the verge of extinction. A rarity to see in the 70s. As a kid, I thought I might never see one in the wild.  We see them often today as their numbers increase in the lower 48 states.  A true success story.

Winter 2011

Going home for Christmas sure was fun. It is always great to see family and friends. It was also good to see the ground and Brownish green grass. I am always amazed at how little it has changed. The trees of western Kentucky and Tennessee are finally beginning to show new growth from an ice storm that happened a couple of years ago. The storm left an eerily looking landscape. What a treat to hear birds singing on our visit home. Here at home the only birds I have seen are eagles, hawks, turkeys, and crows. Lots of crows. Today, I went out and made a few exposures.  The snow is here to stay. At least for a little while longer. I have driven by a few places around here and seen a few possibilities for images. I keep them in my back pocket for a snowy day.

Tomorrow River.

Rough Harvest

A couple of weeks ago I was out in the west end of the county during gun deer season when I came upon this scene.

Portage County, Wisconsin  November, 2010.

From that same roll of  T-max film. Last image in black and white of ice crystals made at the time of last post.

Today out side of Rudolph, Wisconsin. A hoary frost covered the trees.

Winter 2010

Over the weekend we had our first real snow of the season. After the snow Melissa and I got the driveway cleared so we could get out. We got a solid ten inches with drifts close to two feet. Several surrounding counties had blizzard warnings posted. Now it is just bitterly cold with a high of 10 degrees today. I went out today and made some headway with the snow blower so I can get to the wood pile out back. It is a funny looking trail around the house.  What you see here should remain until spring.

The wind blew most of the snow off of the trees. A few remain that are flocked with the snow.

Water is in the title of this blog. I find it amazing what can happens to it in it various states. Yesterday I found crystals formed on a singled paned window in the garage. Yesterday it looked pretty cool but today was another animal all together.

Still Life

Every once and a while I see something that catches my eye. Today it was a broom.

This reminded me of an Image I made a couple of years ago that also included a broom. The broom in the next imge is in the lower left corner deep in shadow.

Anti-Freeze

Early last week after running some errands, I arrived home to find a small anti-freeze under Davenport (Toyota Pick-up). So I crawled underneath to take a look. Right away I noticed that most of the coolant was coming from just behind the water-pump. I have been around cars long enough to know that there is a small weep hole located on the water pump just behind the impeller where the belt pulley attaches to the pump. When coolant starts to come out it is only a matter of time before the pump fails and all the engines coolant will drain out in a matter of moments.
   I do not consider myself a gear head or mechanic but out of necessity I find myself taking on such endeavors.

   

The image above shows the front of the engine with the water pump removed. It was also a good time to replace the belts and hoses.

I took all of the images in this post with my cell phone. I took this self portrait weeks before.

These images are about to find a new home but first they had to be sprayed with a preservative to keep them from fading. Then they will be matted and framed. This was the first time I had applied this preservative to any of my images giving them a matte finish. After they had dried they had a rough texture almost like sandpaper.   Images that I have made with my printer that are under glass have not faded at all but some that I printed a couple of years ago  that have been exposed to air have faded to look like something out of my childhood.