White Christmas in Garland, Texas!

I've lived in the Dallas area for 57 years and it finally happened...snow on the ground on December 25th. It wasn't very much snow. We never get very much around here. It started Christmas Eve right after lunchtime. For several hours it came down quite hard but the temperature was above freezing and it was melting as soon as it hit the ground. Around 4:30 the temperature had dropped and the snow finally started sticking. It continued for another three hours but was light. We only ended up with a little over an inch at my house, but enough to call it a White Christmas. First one here since 1926, and I missed that one.

I just had to go out Christmas morning and take some pictures in my back yard because I knew the snow would start melting as soon as the sun got up good. We also had to be at my mother in laws around noon. Several critters had left tracks in the fresh snow. Something had crossed the fence and gone over to the edge of the pond and then left the way it came. Probably a cat. The picture above is an interesting set of tracks which came from the back fence and then vanished under the deck through a small opening. If you look close you can see a line down the middle of the tracks. I'm guessing this was a rat or a very large mouse. Looks like I will be going to the hardware store tomorrow and getting a present for this rodent.

A few more images from Death Valley!

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

I've added a few images from my recent trip to Death Valley. Next time I need to spend a little more time in Death Valley because I actually spent less than 24 hours of my trip there. If you recall a previous blog about the trip, there were a lot of plans that were changed.

 Badwater Reflections

I camped out near Stovepipe Wells. That put me close to the Mesquite Flat Dunes which I photographed at sunset. The next morning I drove to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the U.S. at 282 feet below sea level. There actually was a little water in one area and I was able to get some reflections of the distant mountains. Right before sunrise I photographed the salt flats. The salt flat was much rougher than I expected it to be.

Badwater Salt Flats

The last image was taken at Zabriski Point, a very popular photo location.

Zabriski Point

Some black and white and a touch of color!

The other day I purchased myself a new computer with the 64 bit version of Windows 7 installed. This is my main Photoshop machine where I do all the processing of my images. I seem to replace computers about every 2 years because the old computer becomes too slow, the hard drive is full, and its just not capable of doing things that I need it to do. The latest version of Photoshop, CS4 seems to need more Ram, a better graphics card, and of course a faster processor always helps.

Lately, in big Garland, Texas where I live we have had some cold and wet days. This morning it is 23 degrees. I know that is nothing to you Minnesota folks out there, but its cold for here. This has given me a chance to look at some of the work I shot earlier this year and test out this new computer.

So where were these images taken? Starting from the top...

1. An old house near Sherman, Texas.
2. Dick's Classic Garage.
3. Sign on the side of a building in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.
4. Dick's Classic Garage.
5. Gauges on an old fire truck in the Texas hill country.
   

A Funny Christmas Email!

I got a funny email today and thought I would share it!

Read the story before looking at the picture below!!

Well, there is good news and bad news about my Christmas decorations this year
Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations.The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had people come screaming up to my house. Great stories. But two things made me take it down. 

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder and almost killed herself putting it against my house; she didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy).

By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up into my yard.
I think I made him too real this time...
Oh well,  it was fun while it lasted!  See what you think.........look below......