Brain Tickler

A Question to tickle your mind: "On a Tour of the Alaskan wilderness, what would you want to see more than anything else?" (Question borrowed from: THE CONVERSATION PIECE by Bret Nicholas and Paul Lowrie)

If I were on a tour of the Alaskan Wilderness, I would want to see a beautiful field of wild flowers with Mt. Mckinley in the background.

How about you?

Downtown Boulder, CO

The corner of Canyon and Broadway. Just North of here is the Pearl Street Mall and some great shopping!

A Winter Wonderland

To Trinity's credit, she probably wondered why we were meandering down this snowy trail. I've read that dogs don't see very well. Eventhough it was a clear-blue-sky day, the trees were laden with snow that was just beginning to melt. I was thumped on the head by several clods of snow as they slid off a branch on more than one occasion. Whenever the breeze stirred the branches, even a little bit, the snow rained down from above.

Trinity and Boulder Creek

She's a little too rambuncious for city hiking. Thankfully we didn't run into any other dogs. We're going to a professional dog trainer next week so he can train me how to handle her. I want to enjoy hiking with her....

Flations and Road to Boulder

Bluebird skies on the way to Boulder, CO for a short city hike.

It's all fun and games

....until somebody turns the lights out. Heck, it's still all fun and games:)



Last night, Trinity and I took a night time trollop through the snow. I strapped on my snow shoes and she used that german shepherd body of hers to plow through the snow. Using my new Nikon CoolPix S6, I tried to capture the essence of the scene. In some ways I succeeded, and in other ways I failed. I'm still trying to figure out the best mode for capturing night photography. Trinity's action shots at night failed. I either destroyed the ambience of the scene by blasting everything in sight with the flash or captured Trinity as a blur. Oh well...many days of discovery lie ahead.These pictures were taken in the green area (well...what used to be green), in front of my apartment building.

There is a gravel path under all that snow that leads to Old Town Lafayette. The city decorated beautifully! They placed colored celophane bags over the street lamps. You can see a "blue" and "red" lamp in the picture. I think the lightedbuilding is a bank. It sure looks pretty though, doesn't it?Just as I arrived at the road and was prepared to trek down main street for some more snowy pictures, the lights flickered and went out. According to the message on Excel Energy's self-help hotline, the outage lasted 4 hours. I don't know, I was talkin' to the sandman by that time.Trinity and I tromped back to our apartment in the darkness. I lit every candle in the house (I have lots of candles!!!) and enjoyed the peace and quiet. It's amazing how much better I can concentrate when there are a limited amount of things I can do. Since watching T.V. and playing with this blog were out, I had no trouble sitting on the couch with a book-light, reading the remaining pages of "Song of the Alpine". What a great book. Fantastic pictures, and interesting facts about the animals and plants that call the high country home. It was also great because I'm very familiar with the areas the authortalks about. Trinity hung out on my bed for most of the night. That was kind of strange. She's normally a morning snuggler, not a nightime one. She jumped up in my bed almost immediately after we came in from the dark. I heard her in there scratching at the sheets, trying to make a nest that was more comfortable for herself. She snuggled up against me while I read.

Another Feature of Picasa is "Contact Sheet". This gives you a good overview of all the pictures I've touched up today and scanned into my 'puter. If you would like a large copy of any of these pictures let me know, and I'll e-mail them.

Wearing Our Hats

This series of pictures has always been a favorite of mine. Mammaw and Pappaw wore many different hats in my life. They helped me become an adventurer by taking me along on weekend camping and fishing trips. Pappaw and I used to dream of the day he would buy his farm. I always thought I would go to live with them for the summers on that farm. Pappaw said I could (don't know if you knew that Mammaw:)

Robert Roy Bowman

A picture I took of my Pappaw in the Fall of 1995. One of the best Photos I've ever taken. Pappaw was a natural when it came to being photographed. He was always a willing subject, and I think he really enjoyed when I came to his farm to photograph himself or the landscape. I especially remember how he would help me setup photo ops and would hang around and ask if there was anything he could do to help. What a great guy!

3 types of people

The word chion in Greek means "snow". Therefore, there are 3 types of people in the world...

chionophobes: fear of snow
chioneuphores: tolerate and survive snowy conditions by taking advantage of specialized niches.
chionophiles: snow lovers with evolved adaptations.

I took my snowshoes out for a spin today. I'd say I'm a chionophile. How 'bout you?

Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas--For Real

One of my favorite Christmas movies....This one goes out to my brothers and sister (Stephen, Rob, and Sherri) and their families. Love that high speed internet!

Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas--The Bloopers

If I could be any animal...

When I was a kid, I used to wonder what it was like to be something other than what I was. For instance, in the heat of summer I was envious of fish. When I was stuck in a classroom all day, I wondered what it was like to be a woodland creature. All animals (fish, birds, woodland creature...) have their drawbacks. It would be no fun as a fish on a cold, sunless day. Rabbits and squirrels had to evade countless predators. Today I was reading the book Song of the Alpine by Joyce Gellhorn when I discovered a near perfect animal match for myself. The Marmot.

Marmots start their day around sunrise (perhaps one of the few drawbacks). They spend their early morning eating tasty little salad items. By midmorning they're sacked out on rocks sunbathing. Around noon or so, when it gets a little too hot, they retire to their burrow for a siesta. After the usual afternoon rain show, it's outside again for more sunbathing. Late in the afternoon is another feeding session. Within a few minutes of sun down, it's back to the burrow (sounds like a Bruce Springsteen album). I like to think they spend that time in the nest reading, writing, or building little marmot websites. Maybe snuggling up to a handsome Mr. Marmot too :)

Blizzard Warning

...WINTER STORM WARNING IS CANCELLED...
...BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 PM MST THURSDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 PM MST THURSDAY. THE WINTER
STORM WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

SNOW WILL QUICKLY DEVELOP EARLY THIS MORNING AND WILL BE HEAVY
TODAY AND TONIGHT. TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 12 TO 20 INCHES CAN BE
EXPECTED IN MOST LOCATIONS BEFORE THE SNOW DECREASES THURSDAY
MORNING. AS MUCH AS 2 FEET OF SNOW WILL FALL IN THE SOUTHERN
SUBURBS AND PALMER DIVIDE AREA.

NORTH WINDS INCREASING TO AROUND 25 MPH WITH FREQUENT GUSTS TO 35
MPH ESPECIALLY EAST OF I-25 WILL PRODUCE CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND
DRIFTING SNOW.

A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE
OCCURRING OR IMMINENT. SUSTAINED WIND AND/OR FREQUENT WIND GUSTS
OF 35 MPH OR HIGHER WILL COMBINE WITH CONSIDERABLE FALLING AND
BLOWING SNOW TO PRODUCE WIDESPREAD VISIBILITIES BELOW ONE QUARTER
OF A MILE. TRAVEL WILL BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND IS DISCOURAGED
IN THESE WHITEOUT CONDITIONS. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...HAVE A WINTER
SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET STRANDED...STAY WITH YOUR
VEHICLE AND WAIT FOR HELP TO ARRIVE.

Is it just me or is this geologic formation giving us the middle finger?

Naughty Or Nice?

I'd say I've been a little of both:)

This image aptly describes my life as a "Java" programmer. I'm not sure if I'm using the term "Java" or "programmer" loosely. Both probably. No matter, I am definately prolonging the problem, at least today anyhow. Right now, I am taking "a break" from reading about how to create JavaBeans for my JSP web application. Did I lose the majority of you just now? If not, I won't even bother to go into what a JavaBean is because I haven't completely learned the topic yet. At any rate (what does that mean?), I am now wasting time until 5 p.m. Hopefully this blog will unleash enough creative energy that I will be able to return to my mundane programming job. God...am I depressing or what?

Mammaw and Pappaw

I captured this collection of pictures sometime around 1995 or 1996 while enrolled in a black and white photography class at Wright State University in Dayton, OH. I loved photographing my grandparents. They were such honest and willing subjects. Unfortunately, due to time constraints (you know how those early 20's go), I didn't have enough time to develop all of the pictures that I loved from my contact sheets. Thanks to digital technology, I am now able to view and share these images as though they were developed in the dark room. Let me know what you think....