Ice Storm

We got a pretty serious ice storm last week. Cable was out for several days, therefore Internet service was as well, so I couldn't post, or even surf. I've been trying to catch up on my reading of blogs. Still...it could have been a lot worse. We didn't lose power, but last Tuesday, I was outside letting my dog relieve himself at about 3:00 am, and it was dead calm and only 16 degrees F. I could hear a generator running down the road a little ways. Some of my neighbors were without power for three days. That would have really sucked, No power, a new baby, and cold enough to freeze the......well you know what I mean.

Here's Looking at You, Kid

Sorry that I have not posted very much lately. The water is much too cold to kayak, frozen in places. My daughter is now taking up much of my free time.

You'll shoot your eye out!

One of my favorite holiday movies was running for 24 hours straight on TBS yesterday: A Christmas Story. The really cool part is the Christmas gift that my parents gave me yesterday. A .36 caliber flint-lock muzzle-loader rifle. One of the first things my mom said to me was: "You be careful with that." I had to laugh.

You see, the cool part is that about 17 years ago, I purchased all of the required parts to build this little beauty myself. The problem only became apparent to me after I attempted and subsiquently broke the "high figure curly maple stock with tiger-stripes" It was then that my stomach became upset, and my energy level for this task took a nose dive. I put all the parts back into the box and slid it back between the floor joists at my parents house just above the basement work bench. I had thought about the rifle a few times since, but recently it had faded from memory.

My father sought out the expertise and craftsmanship of a local muzzle-loader builder, and had him finish the job for me. In retrospect, I could not have done this rifle justice. It now is a real work of art, that I am told performs wonderfully.

Just like in the movie, my parents let everyone open all of the gifts, and then after the last one was opened, they said that there was still one gift left, and sent me around the corner to get it. I was really surprised. I had not expected to ever see this rifle finished, let alone get it for a gift this Christmas. It is a really special gift for me.

Tummy Time

Here is a picture for granny.

Small World

It seems that videos of kayak rolling are in high demand. Here is a video of Alex Pak, I believe, unless I am mistaken, from across the Atlantic. I have found that the Internet is very useful for someone like myself who only reads, writes, and speaks a single language. So long as there is an online translator, I can read blogs from all over the world. It is continuing to become smaller and smaller every day. Here is the translated "kayak of sea: The kayak-blog of Oli". Here is the translated "The Life is to Whistle" blog of Carlos. Each of these blogs are viewed better in their native language, as the pictures, the grammar, and the page formats are much more pleasing to the eye. I only use the translator after I have viewed the pics first. Here are the links to the blogs in there native languages: kayak de mer: Le kayak-blog d'Oli and La vida es silbar.

I'm Getting Better with My Digital Camera

Mommy and Maddie went to a baby shower on Sunday, and I had a couple of hours to go spend as I pleased. So I took my Canon 10D, as well as my Canon Elan II loaded with B/W film, and drove a little ways down the road to a small cross roads called Sharon Hollow. Here are some of the better digital pictures from my short trip. You'll have to wait a little longer for the film photos.

Who's Your Daddy?

Here is a little side-by-side comparison of baby pictures. That's me on the left in 1967, and my new baby girl is on the right.

I Like to Watch the Discovery Channel

This totally fascinated me.



A more sublime picture of Mommy and Maddie.
Madeline Fay, born by caesarian-section, 24 October 2006 at 4:35pm, 8 lbs 10 1/2 oz, 20 1/4 inches long. Everyone is doing great.

Fall Paddle on Hudson Lake

I made it out paddling again. The colder weather and water hasn't chased me indoors yet. I met up with some friends from Indiana and paddled an old familiar lake again. Before I moved to my new house, I used to paddle Hudson Lake quite often. It used to be close to my old home, and its a PWC free, no-wake lake that is surrounded by state owned woods. This is the lake that Wes Boyd paddled very often, and wrote about on his web site Kayak Place. I have paddled with Wes numerous times in the past, but he was not there yesterday.
The fall colors are fading fast.
It started out as a gray day with a few rain drops, but we were all dressed for the occation. There were nine of us all together. We circumnavigated the entire lake, but took a break in the middle to heat up some chili and have a hot lunch.
This is a picture of my friend Barry. I met Barry in the summer of 2002, when a group of six of us took a trip to Drummond Island in northern Michigan. I also met up with Barry again in 2004 at Drummond.The sun did come out later in the day and warmed us up nicely. It was a great paddle day. I don't often get to paddle with others, and yesterday was a great change of pace for me. I think I am going to have to find some paddlers closer to home that I can meet up with more often....maybe start a club.

Pull the Trigger, Quick!

Sometimes you can screw everything up taking the picture, and it still comes out kinda cool.

Digital Photo Help

Wayfarer has a good post on Digital SLR picture taking. I'm linking to his links. I watched the Thomas Hawk videos, and found them to be very informative. I have some new things to try out with my Canon 10D soon. Oh yeah, Thomas' online photos are awesome as well.

Last Paddle?

I hope today is not the last paddle for the season. The air was cool, but the sun was hot. The water was not unbearable to wade in, but I don't want to go swimming in it. Thermometer read 65 deg F water temp. There has already been a little frost on the pumpkins on a couple of mornings.

Our baby Madeline, is on the way, only five more weeks to go. Winter is just around the corner. I had better make the most of every day like today.