Donuts Galore

With the new trend of making everything sweet and topped with bacon, today we shot a stacked wedding buffet of topped donuts. The flavors ran the gamut of lemon pistachio, coco puffs and chocolate, lucky charms, and sriracha bacon. Can not say that they were all my favorites but the Dough Boy Donuts food truck makes some really tasty treats.

An assortment of Dough Boys Donuts.

Out Of Season

 Proof that fruits are not the only thing we in a modern world consume out of season. Watching a florist prepare wedding bouquets out of peonies and roses in the middle of December makes it obvious that transportation in this era will always be a primary expense.

Blushing Ecuadorean Roses in mid December.

Road Tripping

Kimo walks the line somewhere on the plains of New Mexico.

 

Yoda is not as self assured but never hesitates for a look around.

Whenever I get into updating my computer it is always preempted by this massive task of cleaning up all the files and folders sitting on the drive. I end up looking at a bunch of old photos that may or may not have been edited in the past. Regardless, it brings back memories and lots of little gems. I found a couple of frames of Patty and my constant traveling companions. My dad always ribs me that my canine friend Kimo has seen more of this country than most humans ever will. Having been to the West Coast, Mexico, Canada and lots of places in between it would be hard to argue. Not sure if he has gotten tired of the sights or actually enjoys it, all I know is that he never complains about any of the hassles. He and Yoda only care that they get fed and can hang with us all day.

Roundabout Art

  The city of Fort Worth is creating a huge river front development along the Clear Fork of the Trinity river and in the process is creating new roads and updating the existing ones. The benefit of that is art that is created for the projects. In the center of the roundabout on Henderson and White Settlement there is a circular culture with moving reflective flaps that shimmer in the wind. Really cool design and the motion effect in mesmerizing.

Roundabout installation nears completion. 

Inland Surfer

  A day of rain brought back memories of a spring in Texas with massive amounts of water that created a two week run of inland surfing on the West Fork of the Trinity River. Avoiding the rain outside piecing together a video from some of the clips I shot for posterity. What a great way to get feet stuck in wax.

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Donkey Fights the Paparazzi

Had a funny one happen to me last week. A donkey was getting a drink from a tank in the morning and when he looked up while I was taking a picture of him, he stuck his tongue out at me. Who says animals do not have attitude.

I said, "don't take my picture."

A Little Patience

   I would never consider myself a gardener, guilty of letting everything that sprouts have its day. I still love to see what all those green shoots turn out to be. I think it comes from my experience with the spider lilies that have survived in the beds surrounding the house the previous owner must have planted. Every fall a long stalk starts to emerge from the weirdest places. By waiting to see what happens and letting them grow a delicate and intense red flower emerges. One of the last things in the yard still holding pollen so the caravan of insects that show up are always astounding. Nature just trying to teach me the benefits of being patient.

An ant explores the vibrant terrain.

Pollen graces the delicate tips.

Disappearing Moon

  Natural phenomenon always impress those with inquisitive minds. Eclipses are the source of hours of amazement whether solar or lunar. With the Super Blood Moon getting snuffed out by the shadow of the earth for a few hours the other night, geeks were dancing in the streets with giddy glee. All sorts of impressive feats conspiring at the same time and visible over earth bound star gazers head. Sad that such an impressive lunar eclipse will not happen in these parts again till 2033.

A sequence of the moon hiding behind earth's shadow.

Breitling Jets are Awesome

  With the air show season drawing to a close the Alliance Air Show is the second to last on the schedule for the first American Tour for the aerobatic flight jet team sponsored by the swiss watch manufacturer Breitling. Thanks to some quick phone calls and scheduling shuffles I got a chance to ride along for a short program as the team flew an orientation flight.
  Absolutely awe inspiring how close together the seven L-39 Albatross trainers fly. Then they start doing maneuvers over the airfield and I get flat out giddy. What an amazing group of pilots and I can not thank them enough for the opportunity.
  I guess advertising does work, because I now have a new favorite watch brand.

Pilot Christophe Deketelaere and mechanic Sayge Woodforth with the line of L-39 Albatross  jets.

Mid loop in the first slot position.

Looking at the smoke shadow of our loop.

THinking about reaching out and touching Breitling Jet 4.

Big Bee

  Discovered a gorgeous yard in the Riverside neighborhood of Ft. Worth this morning. Beautiful colors of flowering plants, arranged in sculpted beds amongst a bunch of trees such as a lace barked elm and bald cypress that you do not see in the area very often. In the middle of all that is a fence with a passion vine that was covered with blooms. With the size of the flowers I almost missed the furry little fellow helping to pollinate all those blooms. A bumble bee just rolling around like a pig in slop. He had so much pollen on him you could not make out the black stripes. Really fun to watch nature work.

Bumble Bee getting a taste of Passion Flower.

Natures Bounty

  To see the larger animals of the natral world is always an impressive sight, but after walking thru their environment and seeing how expansive their domain can be it gives a whole new perspective. Climbing thru western National Parks of Glacier, Yellowstone,Grand Tetons and Rocky Mountain to see their habitat and bask in their environment makes it so much more impressive to finally see a Bull Elk in all his glory up close. I am thankful that there are places that will be maintained in their natural state just disappointed that they are so limited in size. 

A Bull Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Second Chance Farm

   There is a place near Granbury, Texas called Second Chance Farm. A special place that takes in animals disadvantaged in some fashion no one else seems to be able to take care of. Sandi Walker has made it her mission to save these animals that are handicapped, have been abused, or just have no chance at a life anywhere else. With a lot of love and care these blind dogs and steers, pets with deformed or missing limbs, horses that have their own seeing eye horses and so many more heart wrenching stories survuve. With a staff of dedicated volunteers and donations she has converted a part of her families farm to haven for the disadvantaged. She is the kind of person that inspires us all to do better in this world.

Horses come for a snack.

Mascot Doofus who is blind with Sandi Walker and her volunteers.

The blind and deaf Helen in her room.

Handicapped Doodle Bug tries out his new harness.

Volunteer Shane McAda spends some time with a group of deaf dogs. 

Looking for Rainbows

  Traveling can be nerve wracking, arduous and exhausting for all of us. The planning involved to get everything together and making sure all the schedules are met is only part of the dilemma. Add a couple of pets to the mix and there is just that much more worrying involved. There is a reason we put ourselves under all this stress. We are all just looking for Rainbows and I always seem to be able to find one on a trip to northern New Mexico. Coming back across the prairie from the artist community of Taos, having passed the entrance to Philmont Scout Reservation, and the buffalo herds of Ted Turner and the tiny hamlet of Springer I see a huge thunder head. Right away I start looking for the rainbows that always seem to accompany these summer storms and find one forming off in the distance. A constant chase to catch the perfect one and isn't that what all our vacations really are.

A rainbow over a wind mill on the plains o Northern New Mexico.

Dog Roadtrip

   On a road trip, especially when you travel along with a couple of humans, the biggest problem is making sure that there are plenty of rest stops. As a dog you have to let all the other dogs know how far you traveled by leaving a pee stain everywhere you go. The car stops and we jump out, run down the road a bit and pee everywhere we smell something different. Now and then you have to stop and leave a hard block but peeing is definitely the most important thing. Makes you smile thinking about all those dogs we left confused on what they were smelling and where it came from.

Leaving a mark for the coyotes that happen by.

Kimo looking for the ultimate spot o the open road.

Yodi leaving a piece of himself.

Bamboo Board

   In the name of green building and not adding to the land fill space I have had the intention of making a strapless kiteboard out of  an old sailboard I had in the garage. Since the lakes have all been closed off  due to heavy rains it gave me plenty of free time to finally do something about it.
   It is an old clarkfoam blank but I decided to put a layer of bamboo over it for durability. It is not the lightest configuration but a vacuum bagged deck and bottom with wet layup of epoxy and glass seems to have created a solid board. I used Futures fin boxes for strength so hopefully all those groundings will not do too much damage.
  One quick, light wind session gives me enough confidence in it that I can say it rides quite well, now to get some stronger winds and see how well it takes landings.
  Kino is pretty impressed that his profile gets to go kiteboarding too.

A Little Tired

   July for most people is the real start to summer but in Texas summer seems to start in May and be the time it gets to July survival seems to be the main goal. The heat and humidity starts beating you down and everything starts to look a little wilted. I found a perfect example in the yard this morning with a Black wing Swallowtail butterfly missing his tails, landing on an echinacea bloom that has some frazzled edges and a bit faded color. We are all a little haggard after a few hot summer days.

A tired Black wing Swallowtail lands on a faded Echinacea bloom.

Celebrating World Surfing Day

Since I live in a land locked area of Texas, I usually celebrate World Surfing Day by going online and looking at all the great surf people get to enjoy around the world. Every now and then the wind will coincide and at least I can go windsurfing or kiteboarding and get my surf that way. This year with all the rain from Tropical Storm Bill the Trinity River has come up again and I got to enjoy the day, standing on a board, surfing a wave, that I actually paddled onto. It may be in a river and the water may not be salty but it was real surfing and I had a blast.

Surfing!

From above!

On a River!

Endless Waves

   Amazingly, the water is still running high on the Trinity River after a week and the daily surf sessions continue. I had company today with Tom Pennington and a few other kiteboarding friends making an appearance for a great morning of endless waves.

Surfing Again

  And on the second day the sun came out, but the river went up so I went back for some more riversurfing. The wave is easier to catch but smooths out and you can not turn as far out on it. Still loads of fun.

A ride on the Trinity River on a sunny day.

The sun sets over a puddle.

Surfing on a River

Catching a ride on a wave on the West Fork of the Trinity River.

   The month of May in Texas has been a sequence of deluge storms raising lake levels and filling streams far over their banks. With that much water flowing down stream, some of the low water damns in the area start to form perfect standing waves. On the West Fork of the Trinity River just down stream of the spillway at Lake Worth there is one of these waves with an eddy that is strong enough to pull flotsam right up to the wave. Watching for a minute, it becomes obvious that on a surfboard with a quick paddle it would put a rider right into the wave and for some great rides. This morning, that is exactly what I did. To the sheer amusement of a couple of folks passing by, I rode an endless wave for hours till the water level started to go back down. Getting kicked out just meant a quick tumble in the wash cycle created by the waves and a quick escalator ride right back to the start. Perfect example of the old saying,"If you get lemons, make lemonade."

Red Flame in the Bush

Vibrant colors and contrasts.

   For most of the spring Patty and I have been seeing the bright red splash of color of a male Cardinal flitting around the kitchen window. Every now and then the less flamboyant female C

That is one pissed off Cardinal.

ardinal would make an appearance at the bird feeder by the kitchen window as well. We see the species every year, but this pair seemed to stay really close by. Mowing the lawn I found out why as the male raised a ruckus and kept throwing up his crown as I moved around. It turns out they built a nest along the north side of the house.
  I took a few pictures of him as he threw his tantrum but did not want to disturb the home. As I look at the images, I am just blown away by the vibrance of the color and beauty of such a simple species. No wonder our heart races whenever we see a flash of red shoot among the branches in the woods.

Old World History

  The world over you see children playing with futbols, known in the United States as soccer. In the Dominican Republic this afternoon, I was getting a little lesson in History at the oldest convent in the New World, Convent de las Domnicanas in the old town section of Santo Domingo. In the space between the chapel and the rectory is a beautifully tiled courtyard which created a perfect playing field for a group of local youths. Old school abounds everywhere and it lends itself to new school games.

Church and futbol go hand to foot in the D.R.

Storms in Spring

Sunset after a spring storm.

   Spring time in Texas brings rather turbulent atmospheric conditions with it. Thunderstorms that can escalate to rather severe storms including some really violent tornados. Luckily this sky resulted from only a passing shower and the Ft. worth Middle School City Track meet was able to run the full course after just a slight delay. In the meantime, the skies created a wonderful sunset for event winners to enjoy.

Christian Fell tries to touch the sky.

Sprinting for the finish of the 4x100 relay.

Another Johnson Win

  Spent another night at Texas Motor Speedway, this time for the Duck Commander 500 Nascar Sprint Cup race. An evening sitting on the roof of a big building getting the view that most people get of a NASCAR race on TV. Kind of cool to see the whole race from above, and I get to turn the camera where I want and not wait for the replay to swing that way. Had a bunch of friends to hang with since the lights are so bright every bug within a days flight seems to be swirling around them. They were trying to get their own view of Jimmie Johnson winning his 5th race at the Texas venue. Not a bad evening at all on a comfortable spring evening, but all the action really made me long for a cold beer.

That is the view, cars going round and round.

Rain held off but made for a really nice evening.

LAte race cautions bring frantic pitstops.

A late restart and Johnson is still leading.

A few of my friends on the roof.

Johnson sparks the fireworks.

The obligatory donuts.