Cold enough for you?

Two water fountains flanking a neighborhood in Keller, Texas, are frozen in time on Friday, Jan. 8, 2010. One of them was actually continuing to spout water (the one in the first two shots) while the other was frozen solid (third shot). The thermometer in my car – which has proven to be fairly accurate when measuring the outside temperature – said it was 18 degrees. Made me want to rush home and have some hot chocolate, which is what I just did!

For the birds

These aren't the most exciting shots, but I'm proud of them because I've been trying for more than a year to get a good, clean shot of a great blue heron. Today, the coming cold weather is making them flock together and act crazy. That gave me several chances to catch one. The four images above are of the same bird. I got fairly close to him before he took off and then followed him until he was out of range. You can click on the images for a larger view.

Shooting wildlife and sports are two areas in which equipment matters. Ultimately, I'd have at least a 300 mm lens (this was taken with the long end of a 70-200 zoom). Working with what I have, I had to get close to the elusive creatures. They are really skittish, probably tired of being chased by chatty children and beleagured photographers. I can now leave them alone ... until I get my hands on that 300 mm lens!

Snow going

I've been remiss in not posting some snow pics from Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2009. Here are the boys catching some flakes in our driveway.


Little Z hasn't seen much snow, and he was watching it fall outside a window and asked, "Are those cornflakes?"




The rare White Christmas for North Texas was nice and, as usual, mostly gone after Christmas Day. There were pockets of unmelted snow for most of the week where the sun didn't shine. We got another light dusting of snow before all of the first snow was gone. Except during the second round of powdery precipitation, we awoke to find all of it gone because of rain that fell overnight.

This week, we're going to see arctic cold and possible freezing rain. Snow? Probably not.

Uh, Happy New Year!

It's only five days late. :-)

Had an awesome job interview today – actually the second interview for a great job. I'm excited about the possibility.

No matter what happens with that, 2010 is going to be an awesome year!

A December at home

J wanted a "mohawk" for his hair cut today. The sides aren't shaved too closely, but he loved the way it looked! It is winter, after all!


I'm sure the effect will be further enhanced tomorrow when my wife spikes the middle portion. Hopefully he'll be OK with another wee trim before heading back to school next month!


Z got some gloves as a Christmas gift from church. As you can see, he loves them. Maybe he loves them a little too much ...

I hope this holiday season finds you well and among people who love you. I'll have more family photos to post before ramping up my client work next month. I'm also renewing my efforts for full-time work, which will make life busier and more interesting, I'm sure!

Merry Christmas!

My Z turns 3

My wife made an awesome "monster truck" cake for our youngest son's 3rd birthday.


It's so fun to watch kids open up their presents. Z was thrilled about everything he was given.


This is a helmet/race car game thing. He loves wearing hats, so it was a no-brainer!


Here's our little rascal in my sister's car trying to escape.

We are hoping that both our boys will continue to look forward to December as a special month, because of their birthdays (Z's on Dec. 11 and J's on Dec. 26) and realizing God's gift of Jesus that is celebrated at Christmastime. Easier said than done, as for now they are focused on the receiving rather than the giving. But we'll work on that later.

What a weekend!

So busy lately, I'm actually looking forward to the coming week (even Monday).

On a sad note, a personal blog that I'd had for a long time has been deemed an "attack site" (actually, just the host). Guess that means it will be easy to quit using the site altogether. Simplifying is good.