Last Post for 2010!

Here is my last post for 2010! This has been a great year with many photo trips, excursions and day trips. I have had the pleasure to work with old friends and meet many new ones along the way. I hope 2010 has been kind to you as much as it has been to us - may 2011 be even better!

Here are some West Virginia shots which never fails me when looking for something to shoot. Here are some dried ferns in the fall:



And when you have fog/dew in the early morning, catching these spides webs are just super!

On top of Dolly Sods, the low blueberry bushes turn a magnificany red in teh fall:

Almost last post for 2010..... Waterfalls

This is the end of 2010 and to help wrap up I will post of couple of waterfalls from West Virginia - Douglas Falls:

Elakala Waterfalls

Tucked away in a small ravine in West Virginia is this delightful waterfall which changes through the seasons and the amount rain. This is a favorite place to go and soak in nature.

Fall color against a waterfall

Yes, I am finding time to post-process some of my photos from the spring and summer. Here is one from early fall on a really pretty waterfall that the rocks are orange due to the mining runoff in the area. You will be seeming more of this waterfall as I do plan to get back here for several more sessions. There are a lot of angles and vantage point this location has.

Fall reflections

We went to check out the color at some waterfalls and found these reflections in basically a rain puddle. It had a complete black bottom and had a great reflection:

Complete lunar eclipse winter solstice 2010

Tonight I watched the first lunar eclipse during winter solstice in 456 years. The last time this occured was in 1638. This is such a rare event that Nasa is not sure when the next one will occur. And this happened right before cloud cover came in.

Cows eye view

I went to see what was going on at a local dairy farm this past fall and had the run of the farm. That included walking with the dairy cows, watching where I stepped and see what the cows say on a daily basis - they sure had a pretty backyard to play in. Here are just two trees on the pond which they drink from:

Here are two very old trees, reminding me of two old men standing on the street talking to each other:

A few more from the truck graveyard, here is a General Motors Corp cab with a great airhorn on the top:

Here is a Mack - still standing proud!

And lastly for today, a GMC with old curved fenders again with an airhorn on the cab:

1955 License plate

I love this graveyard! Loads of color and detail everwhere! Here is a 1955 license plate with a Ford pickup attached to it. Someone poked it's eyes out!



This is a front end detail of a well rig - General Motors Truck with the rig company listed:

Million Mile Seat

I wonder what it would be like to sit in this seat for a million miles??? Who was that man?

Ok, I thought I knew a little about trucks but going to this truck graveyard has given me a new perspecitve and how large the variety of trucks and styles there are if you find them. The problem is you see an old truck once in a while not loads of them all at the same time. 10 Macks in a row - they have be some dups in the group, nope - all different. Well the Macks will be another post. Here are two Fords - a cabover - the cab sits on top of the motor not behind the motor and a sturdy pickup truck. Both need work, both could become mint if a person had the time...... Here is the cabover:

And here is the Ford pickup - resting in the shade of tree:

Autocar-Diesel in truck graveyard

I went to a truck graveyard a couple weeks ago and foudn a treasure of 'old rust' that I will be going back propbably many times. Need to find me a warmer day to get there. This is an Autocar-Diesel with nice rust and extra paint.

The Autocar Company was started in 1899 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania as a manufacturer of brass era automobiles. They began manufacturing trucks in 1907 until 1953 when they were over taken by the White Motor Company.

Gettysburg Remembrance Day

The Muffled Drum’s Sad Roll Has Beat
The Soldier’s Last Tattoo.
No More On Life’s Parade Shall Meet
That Brave and Fallen Few.


Found on a plague at the Gettysburg Cemetery during Rembrance Day. 3,000 luminaries were lit in honor of the soldiers buried at this hollowed ground where Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address.

It's a Good Year!

It's a Good Year!

And at the other end of spectrum, a dump truck that has seen better days.

Fall Color

I need to post some fall color and needless to say some water to go with it. Enjoy!

Oktoberfest Booth

I had a booth at the local Vienna Oktoberfest this October - here is what it looked like before the show opened:

White Birch

Just got back from a week in New Hampshire. Great weather including the rain which added to the photos. Went to a white birch forest - here is a nice swipe:

Pickles for this season

This is a little off topic but I though this would be interesting i the day of fast food and prepared food - my family were from the farming heritage and always canned in late summer/early fall. I took my shot this fall and canned 2 bushels of cucumbers - could not fit the canner nor the 7 cans in the canner on the table so this is what was the results and input to the process. I believe I may have enough bread/butter, green lime and dill pickles to last for a while.

Found a few more Palouse photos for processing. These are from a Scottish Highland Cattle farm. This is a Ford V8 stake body truck with a load of drums which appears to have not been moved in a while.


Here we have the main barn looking through an old cattle loading ramp which has fungus and other growth on the wood. Not sure if this was really was for cattle as there is a 'horse' on the ramp.

And lastly, to show you that this was really a Scottish Highland cattle farm, here are four of the herd. It appears two of them could be twins as they were un-separable and very similar in color.

Manassas Bull Run National Battlefield

It was time to take the kids out and get a little exercise under the disguise of earning their Junior Ranger badges for Manassas National Battlefield in Virginia. It was a hot sticky day but there was a breeze - not one of the those hot but dry days which really only exist for the benefit of people who reason the situations. We saw multiple cannon demonstrations (little gun powder to make a little noise) and went over the hike loop around Henry Hill and went through the museum. The kids are now Junior Rangers at one more NPS site. Here is the stone bridge over Bull Run (the running water). The bridge was destroyed and rebuilt multiple timesduring the civil war.



Here are a string of cannons on Henry Hill.




And lastly here is the Henry house and the memorial to commemorate those who died at First Bull Run (Manassas).

Farm Equipment in the Palouse

This is a set of farm equipment in the Palouse - this is a 6-bottom plow sitting at the edge of the Palouse fields:


This is an interior shot of a farmers barn with his two combines and his fleet of Chevrolet work trucks - most are several years old but they are well cared for and provide excellent service:





This is a very interesting grain elevater that is in the shape of a wedge, normally they are square or more round but this was an interesting shape:

Old Cars in the Palouse

Besides old farm equipment being found in the Palouse, I was able to shoot some old cars and trucks as well. Here is the interior of an old Dodge 4-door sedan with a view of an old farm house in the window.
And who remembers the Ramblers?? Here is one with fresh ventilation - easy air flow in this model. I was also purchased in Spokane.

And here is the Dodge againg from a different vantage point and showing the farm house as well.

Train Tracks in the Palouse

The railroad played a significant part in the development of the Palouse which needed a way to haul the grain to market. Plenty of grain elevators and tracks are easily found in the Palouse. Here is a shot of several grain elevators:


This is the same area with train cars waiting to be used but not for grain.

And lastly, no yard is complete with out switches...

The residents of the Palouse use their vehicles for what appears a long time than other parts of the country. You can easily see trucks for the 60s still being used and older trucks as well. Many farmers have older equipment that, when asked, can be located and photopgraphed. Here are just a few of what I found in one day. This is a restored firetruck that the owner is very produ of:


The same own has a few other trucks that have not yet been restored but are in very good condition. Here is a GMS - General Motors Corporation stake body truck.



And here is the nose:

More Sunflowers

I was able to get back to the sunflowers this morning. It appears the spring weather with a lot of rain and then several weeks of +90 degree weather has stunted the sunflowers and causes some patches of flowers still trying to produce a head - in other words the field is not very even in a carpet of sunflowers. Their are many than are nice one-on-one.

Field of Sunflowers

Went out tonight to see how the field of sunflowers are doing this year - I think with all the early rain and recent weeks of 90+ weather, the sunflowers may not be as nice this year as other years. Here is a pano that I caught: