Vacancy!

Hope & Change

The Resie Falls

This is a photo of the reservoir in N.E. Massillon, Ohio where Sippo creek originates. I grew up near here and can remember when I was 8 years old, walking across the top of the falls. I and a friend were about 5 feet back from the edge. We took off our shoes and were walking on the slimy and slippery rocks of the spill way from the left to the right. The water was about four to six inches deep. It seemed so much bigger then. 

Late Afternoon in America

First, today is Vetran's Day. A thanks to everyone who has served their country.

Took a trip to Ohio this past week, to visit family. This is I an HDR image of the courthouse in Millersberg, hand-held.  My old stomping grounds of Wayne, Holmes, and western Stark counties.

Being back in Ohio for the election was quite interesting, and depressing. The majority of the area in Ohio was solid Romney country, or should I say, anti-Obama country. However, once you went into large cities, you were in solid Obama country. Not so much the suburbs, but especially in the poorer sections and campuses. In all my running around the countryside, I saw very few Obama signs in rural areas or small towns. I saw no Romney signs in poor sections of Canton, Akron, etc.

I think we've reached a tipping point in this country where the takers now outnumber the makers.

As the famous quote goes, 

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship....

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again to bondage." 

:	Sir Alex Fraser Tytler (1742-1813) Lord Woodhouselee, Scottish jurist, professor and historian
Source:	supposedly from The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic, c.1799 but no book has been found.

Elsewhere, I saw this attributed to Alexis De Tocqueville.  Authentic or not, it aptly describes the situation today.

Then there is  this.

To loosely paraphrase from another famous quote, "For the first time in my life, I am not optimistic about the future of this country."

Autumn Sunset

Mt. Redoubt with Mt. Iliamna on the extreme left.


For your Saturday night viewing, Spiderbait's Black Betty

Evening Light

Another photo from Tuesday evening's walk.  Last night, my daughter and I took another late evening walk to another vantage point to shoot some photos.  Had I read this I might have reconsidered. No wonder we didn't see anyone else out.

Evening walk in the woods

Taken Tuesday evening (10/23/12) while walking along the Potter Creek Trail at almost sunset. A three exposure HDR. I like the low angle 'sunset' light. The last week the weather's been clear and it's been beautiful. But once that sun went down it got cold, fast. I've always felt blessed to be able to live in Alaska. Evenings like this reinforce that feeling. 

Knik River From Atop Bodenburg Butte

Autumn Colors

Denali & Foraker From Anchorage

I took this two weekends ago. I was almost back to the trail-head and paused to record the view. Since then, it warmed up the following week and the snow is gone, but it has now gotten cooler and it's ready to keep the snow for a while the next time we get it. Foraker is on the left and Denali is on the right. That's Mt. Crosson in the middle I believe.

For your Saturday night viewing pleasure.
(Hat Tip to: The Other McCain)

Mood: Resigned

From this past January. This old fellow displayed how winter wears on everyone.

Dall Sheep

A photo of two Dall sheep. Not to be confused with mountain goats.
Though it can be very easy to do.

One Year Later, (Plus)

Last Friday (9/21/12) I posted a view from the porch taken a year earlier. My intention was to post a photo from exactly one year later. Oh well, I didn't make it. So anyway, here's another VFP taken this morning. Snow we accumulated a few inches, though it melted away after the sun came out later in the morning.

Clouds

Autumn Colors

This photo was taken on 9/28/11.  Next Friday it'll be one year to the day. I'll post the same view. Same image exactly one year apart. Here's hoping it hasn't been like the rest of this month, rainy, windy, & overcast.

Mt. Redoubt in the distance

On a sunny day. A closer view is here .

Heading Down

Wind Power

After all the bad weather, it was nice to have clear, crisp, and sunny days again.  there was a light frost this morning too, but it warmed up quickly. So, I grabbed my mountain bike and decided to take a little ride to a trail just a few miles up the road (and hill) from our home.  I took this along the way. This is the wind farm under construction on the south end of Fire Island.
I'll post more pics from today's ride in the next couple of days.

Big Wind

Tuesday, Anchorage had a huge wind storm. Much of town was out of power. Some areas still are as of today. We were out from around mid-night to 10:30 the following morning and we were lucky.
anyway, I took this during the big blow. Some areas on the hillside had gusts of 130mph.
It was shot at;
ISO: 200
Av: f16
fl: 27mm
Exp: 0.3sec.
Slow, yes. I was trying to somehow convey the force of the wind.