EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT

LEAN MEAN MOWING MACHINE

OK! How many Gals do you know that asks for a New Mower for their Birthday!

Well I have one! Saturday we picked up the Wife's new mower. A 19 inch mower deck to go along with the 22 inch one bought two years ago. Electric start and rear wheel driven. One point adjustment for the blade height. This puppies got it all. Smaller in size for a better turning radius to get around the flower beds and trees, and alot easier to handle when making your lines straight! (Her Words).

Years ago, and I will not say how many, She decided that the mowing duties and the flower beds belonged to Her. I was informed that I could not mow a straight line and the difference between a weed and a flower was unknown to me! I could trim the trees and keep the equipment in good order but that was it. Man, Was My Feelins Hurt!!!

So to help my bruised ego I decided that the best mowers, trimmers, edgers, weedeaters, digging tools, and what ever those other strange tools were, She would have.

To make a long story a little shorter. While she is getting that new machine dusty and dirty, which I will have to clean up, think I will just give the Pickup a bath. Josey Bell said she will help!

TRUE STORY!

READING PRACTICE

B is for BEAR!

The new school year just started last week. Seems as though these kids are doing their homework while sitting in the park. The page before the one she is pointing at read "A is for Auto". Makes a good Trivia Question.

From the files

When we moved back to Kansas this summer I was under the impression I would have more time to spend taking photos but for some reason it hasn't worked out that way.

I've had to dig into the archives and come up with something to post. I'd like to say there isn't anything intersting in Kansas to take photos of as my excuse but I just haven't had the time to get out. It sucks having to work for a living! I think I need to come up with some different lottery numbers! LOL

SECRET BAIT

What better way for a Boy to spend his Saturday morning

than fishing at Mulvey's Pond!

Just last night PaPa and me took the electric rod and battery down to the orchard where we coaxed a cupfull of those big ol nightcrawlers out of the ground. PaPa learned this trick when He was my age living in Montana. My great GranPa taught him.

Grasshoppers and the stinkbait work pretty good and so do the little worms. But when your going for the biggest catfish in the pond only me and papa's secret bait will do! Shoot! That big ol catfish ain't got a prayer of a chance!

MORNING FEEDING

Here we have Robby feeding Her bottle calf . Oklahoma skies are beautiful this morning with the clouds almost starting to make Mares Tails.

After three feeds last night Robby was up at daylight! Her little Bull Calf was already bawling for breakfast. Dressed and out the door she was up to the task. This is Her responsibility. You can have him,Papa said, but you have to take care of him!

Setting on the fence and dreaming of all the Blue Ribbons that this boy would win at the County Fair this year made this chore easy. After all every girl doesn't get a to have Her own calf! And this sure ain't work!

Note;

This is my own story. I never knew Robby but wish I had. Any child that takes on the responsibility of an orphaned calf and completes the job of raising one has character! Robby has a story, and if I ever run into the Newkirk family, an invite will be given to post their account of Her in the Comment section of Shutterbugs!

Reflection!

TAG YOU'RE IT !

These kids seem to be playing a game of tag or starting a race to the pond.

From here it's a downhill run.

What do you guys think about this processed pic? I don't know if I like it or not. All thru this series I have found getting the correct light settings on sculptures has been a challange. Most of the shots have to be overexposed to get the definition I'm looking for. I realize this shot has back lighting and using the flash did not produce an exceptable image, so I just processed the pic while going with the underexposed shot.

PARK SCULPTURES

North or Vandement Entrance

In my last post, in the comment section, Paul inquired as to where the sculptures were located that I have been photographing. As all picture takers say, I just happen to have a picture to answer your question with!

Chisholm Trail Park is our largest park, connecting to Freedom Trail Playground, the Community Center, Ball Diamonds, Tennis Courts, Swimming Pool, more picnic areas and other various activities. Meandering, paved walking trails wander all thru this large acreage. Placed at various points throughout the park is where the sculptures are to be found. I believe they are a nice addition along with being an asset to our park system. Along with the well manicured grounds, wonderful ponds and lighted fountains, this is a most pleasant place to take one's daily walks.

Wonder where the Cowboy that belongs to these Boots is?

I always heard they 'Die with their Boots on'

This is a view from the hill looking South. You can see some of the paved walking trails and a few of the ponds with fountains. In the left lower corner just beyond the trail and park bench is 'Robbie'. Her post is coming.

Just beyond the trees in the background is the Community Center with all the other facilities mentioned earlier in this post. Also the small lake created by the dammed springs which was an early day watering hole along the Chisholm Trail for the men and Longhorns alike on their way to the railheads in Kansas is located there. Some of the yet to be shown sculptures are located in this area.

So, this is the area where the sculptures reside. We also have the 'Centennial Longhorns' which are scattered about town..............But these will be for another series!

SPANISH MUSTANG

Ears pointed forward, still alert for danger. Nostrils flared large and mouth wide open, gasping for all the air He can bring into his lungs . This Lead Stallion has just led His herd of wild ponies on an all out run away from a threat. Covered with sweat and veins still bulging from a swiftly beating heart, He has finally arrived to safety and a cool drink at the Springs here at Chisholm Trail Park in Yukon, Oklahoma.

Indian Pony, Mustang, Spanish Colonial Horse, American Indian Horse.

These are just a few names given to these once Wild and Free Spirits of the Plains. And yes, they at one time did wander this very land and plains that I call Home. The Springs now have a Dam which makes a very nice pond for the Townsfolk to stroll around, but I suspect hardly any give a thought to the Mustangs, or God Dog as the Indians first called the ponies, watering here.

"NEWT"

This little Guy with Number#3 on his shirt is headed to the baseball field next to the Community Center.

Selective Colorization.

I just found out there's a button on Capture NX2, that could recover the original color on the picture. Just 4 clicks, and I could create something like this. I have done similar effect like this before on CS5, it tooks me a lot longer just for one picture.

CHILD OF THE PLAINS

This will be my first photo in a series of what I call "Art In The Park".

"JANEY" is the name I gave to this young Lady of the Plains.

Born in 1887 this young Lass of Raven Black Hair was surveying her options and thinking towards the future. This was Statehood Day,
November 16, 1907.

Half white, half Indian, she never felt or accepted the stigma . Educated and knowing what she wanted, this statehood only gave her more boldness and a legal avenue to further her dreams. Little, or maybe she did know, how her actions would inspire a few of her heirs.

Thirteen children, two dying plus her husband a Mr. Coffee of trading post history in Oklahoma almost broke her heart, the other eleven
kids were from my Grandpa Parker, He was a Cowboy from Texas.

Prior to meeting him, Janey had already accumalated property in Wapanucka,OK., been to New Mexico and homesteaded land along with her Dad and brothers. Between Clovis and Portales they accumalated a respectable acreage. I visited the graves of my family there and the land they owned, but for the life of me I did not see what drew Janey there. But land she did leave! For whatever its worth. If you ever have a chance to travel in New Mexico between Clovis and Portales and come to a wide spot called Dora, say high to the Lanes and Parker's.

Did not mean to get so far off base but Grandma Martha Jane, "Janey", which is such an inspiration to all of us lives on. None of her grandkids ever seen her alive or heard her voice. She passed in 1933. Dad was born in 1922, will be 90 his next Birthday. My last link with her.

Never fear Janey, I will see you Memorial Day in Tuttle, Oklahoma, and will give a tip of the hat to your dreams. You are truly are The Spirit of Oklahoma!

Birds.

Blackhawk Down

Cheryl and I went for a drive on Sunday just to get away from the house and the computers for a while. We headed towards the local lake for the possibility of getting some good photos and as we were driving across the dam I spotted a dark green "thing" sitting in a small field about a mile away. If the rotors hadn't been turning I probably never would have seen it.

Naturally I was curious so I started looking for roads that would get us closer. As we came up on the field, about 300 yards from the car, we watched as the Blackhawk would lift off and hover about ten feet off the ground and then set back down again.

We watched this for about 30 minutes and I never really could figure out what they were doing. They would hover for a while and then set down, then they would hover and fly a little and then set back down in the same spot as before. I could see one of the crew members looking down at the ground as if he was watching the wheels or the wash from the rotors but I never did see anything wrong.

After about 45 minutes we saw the Blackhawk fly off to the east and disappear. It made for some interesting shots.

These were all hand held with the Sigma 150-500mm, most shot at 500mm. I did a little tweaking of the sky in Nikon's NX2 to take some of the brightness out and then framed them up in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Antique Cars.

1961 Volkswagen.

1965 Mustang.

I went to my son Taekwondo tournament last weekend, and it just happen they have a car show there along with the body builder expo.

Checking out Oloneo

Oloneo is one of the newer pieces of software for creating "HDR" images which it does quite nicely I must admit.

What I was curious about was taking a single RAW image and getting the most "Dynamic Range" out of it with just one photograph. Oloneo does this quite nicely as you can see in the above two pictures. I set the camera to take one RAW picture and one Large/Fine JPEG image all in one shot. The top picture is the JPEG as shot and the bottom picture is the RAW picture processed with the Oloneo software. Can't see that much difference until you view the pictures larger.

The program is free to try for 30 days which I am doing now... 28 days left to go.

Ultra wide Macro lens... Hu?

Found this Bumble Bee on a Canadian Thistle plant but I had the Sigma 10-20 mounted on the camera... What the heck, I took the picture anyway, from about about 6" away which is as close as you can get with this lens and still be in focus. Post processing includes cropping, framing and resizing.

Toroweap AZ.

Before.

After.

The bottom picture, it has an orange color graduated filter applied to it. All of this are done on "color efex pro software". I thought by doing this, it could make the skies more dramatic, and the color matching the canyon. I hope you like it!

Mexican hat rock.

This is two exposures, one at before Sunrise, and one around 9:00 A.M. Then merge them together in CS5.

Antelope Canyon

These are from Nikon D3X camera with 24-70mm f/2.8, and 14-24mm.