Wild Ramblings

Family Pictures

2013-04-18T22:13:00.000-05:00

I love to take photo's. Usually, I love scenery photo's the best, though my wife loves friends and family. Well, this year I decided to take my son's photo that we try to buy every year. Normally, we get them from the school, either in the Fall or Spring. This year, his pictures were horrible. He was wearing his big, puffy blue coat during the Fall and some ratty old t-shirt for the Spring.

Anyway, my photography has been getting better, so we decided I'd just take pictures this year. And personally, I think they came out great. I took pictures of my son, my grandson, and my wife. My bride even took some of me and the boys.

We took them on Easter, and had a great time doing it. I expect to take more in the future!

Picture Details

Focal length 40 mm

exposure 1/100

F/9

ISO 100

Picture Details

Focal length 50 mm

exposure 1/160

F/8

ISO 100

Picture Details

Focal length 50 mm

exposure 1/125

F/10

ISO 100

Cookies!

2012-11-23T15:43:00.001-06:00

It's the annual cookie decoration day at my inlaws today. The young grand and great grand kids are having a blast!

Pretty as a picture

2012-08-29T06:28:00.001-05:00

Back in May, My wife and I went to my cousin's wedding in Norman. We decided to stay for the weekend. While there, we went to the Myriad Botanical Garden in Oklahoma City. It was a great place! I got my wife to pose for this picture. I don't take many portraits of people, but it'something I want to work on, and how better to do it than with a beautiful woman?

Picture Details

Focal length 70 mm

exposure 1/500

F/5.6

ISO 400

First Day of 7th Grade!

2012-08-16T08:03:00.000-05:00

Well, it's that time of year again... School Time! But this time, it's 7th grade! Starting the middle grade of Middle School!

He's not nervous at all this year. He's a pro now! Not expecting any problems this year, just hope he stay's healthy this year.

As usual, you can click on the pictures to make them larger!

7th Grade

6th Grade

5th Grade

4th Grade

3rd Grade

2nd Grade

1st Grade

Kindergarden

Pre-K

A rose by any other name

2012-04-19T21:33:00.001-05:00

Today, while I was at my grandparents doing some yard work, I noticed this beautiful rose along their fence line. It was awesome! To top it off, it stood out so much in the shade surrounded by different shades of green and brown.

This week, I've also been taking photo's for a project at a site I've been following called Digital Photography School. Their assignment this week was to shoot pictures with a Wide Open Apertures. I took a couple other picutres that I've posted to my flickr page. But today, while mowing, I decided to try some more shots. And personally, I'm glad I did, I think this came out wonderful.

The last few pictures, I've been trying to post details of my photo, so here you go

Picture Details
Focal length 18 mm
Exposure 1/160
F/3.5
ISO 200

Smiles

2012-04-13T22:13:00.001-05:00

On Easter, my wife and I had our grandson over, and he went to church with us. After church, there was a big Easter egg hunt out front right after the service, so, of course, we took him. There were lot's of people there and the green ground was covered by colored eggs (or as he called them, balls). But he wasn't sure what he thought of all the people, so he was holding onto Mimi. I happened to catch this great shot of my bride, and my grandson. I love shots like there were there weren't any poses, just a completely natural shot.

As my wife can tell you, I'm not much of a portrait taker. I love landscapes, but I've been working on my portraits as well as that is what she really enjoys.
Picture Details
Focal length 105 mm
exposure 1/160
F/7.1
ISO 100

Flower Photography

2012-04-13T22:02:00.001-05:00

Last week I came home from work, and took a walk by all our flower beds, and I took several photo's of them. It was getting late in the day, but not too late. It was overcaste, so that helped with the lighting of my photos. Of all the photo's I took, this was one of my favorite.

There was something about this yellow rose next to the brick wall that I found very nice. There was something about the composition that really caught my eye, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Picture Details
Focal length 105 mm
exposure 1/160
F/5.6
ISO 200

Playtime

2012-03-28T12:44:00.000-05:00

My daughter and her son came over today, and my grandson was able to play out in the yard. He loves the outside, and loves balls, and he got to enjoy the best of both worlds. Of course, I got the chance to get my camera out, and snap some shots.

I really like this picture. The grass filling the frame which really highlights my grandson and his soccer ball.

After the Storm

2012-03-21T19:54:00.003-05:00

We've had several days of storms, and they've finally mostly moved out. Still some minor chances of more rain but the sun is shining and my how everything has greened up!

I really enjoyed the reflection in the pooled water and the budding and blooming trees. I wish it would have been possible to catch the cool breeze and the smells of Spring.

I tried dividing the picture with a third of it water, a third land, and a third sky. I'm not sure I really got that, but I enjoy it.

Springtime!

2012-03-16T21:49:00.002-05:00

It is definatly Spring in Oklahoma. My wife got these flowers the the other day and she got them planted in the front flowerbed. The new and extra color was really nice. I worked on my shot and took several pictures. I liked the way this one came out. The only editing I performed on this picture was to crop it some.

Overall, I'm pleased with it. I personally like the depth I was able to achieve.

Bradford Pear

2012-03-06T19:36:00.002-06:00

It's feeling like spring here in Oklahoma. Flowers and trees are blooming and for the last few days anyway, it's been warm. Today's picture is brought to you by a beautiful, if not stinky tree, the Bradford Pear. I love how these trees look during the spring. I'm just glad I don't have any by my house, because they stink. I have to walk by them to and from work everyday, and I don't look forward to it.

The sun was just coming over the horizon this morning as I was walking into work, and the sunlight was shining on the white blooms. So I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. I like the depth I was able to get in this picture. How the front flowers stand out against those in the background, and all of them offset with the blue sky.

Personally, I think you should click on the picture to see a larger image of it. I think it looks even better that way.

Snake in the leaves

2012-02-21T21:28:00.001-06:00

It was a nice sunny Sunday afternoon. So I grabbed my camera, and decided to take a walk out long the fence line out back and see what I might see. While walking to the back of the yard where the trees, rocks and tall grass is located, I saw something orange out of the corner of my eye. I was shocked to see this snake. Seeing snakes isn't unusual. That's one of the nice things I like about living in the country. I get to see all sorts of different wildlife. What caught my attention was the color. I'd never seen a snake like this in the wild before. So, I kept my distance and took several pictures of it.

Later, when I got in and got the pictures off the camera I was able to zoom in and get a better look at the snake. And after doing some research, I'm pretty sure it's a scarlet king snake. Non-poisonous, but very cool.

Getting back to the picture, the top picture is the original. I was leaning over the fence and zoomed in as far as possible. I might could have been able to get closer, but until I new exactly what kind of snake it was, I wanted to keep my distance. I'm all for good pictures, but another trip to the emergency room is not what I had in mind. So, I went ahead and cropped the photo to get a much better look at the snake.

Bird House in the Woods

2012-02-15T21:16:00.001-06:00

On February 10 and 11th, I went with our Boy Scout Troop camping at Camp McClintock. While there, I had some time, and went out to take some pictures as well as taking the camera along when we went on a hike. While there, I found this bird house hung on a tree out in the woods. It was about 15 yards or so from one of the paths.

Snow Moon

2012-02-06T20:59:00.003-06:00

Tonight's almost full moon gave me a chance to go out and play with some of the settings on my camera. I had a couple shots without the moon in it, and was able to see several more starts in the shot than what's in this one. I had the shutter open for 30 seconds, which is probably too much, and perhaps I'll mess with that some tomorrow. Also, if I can figure out how to get the flash to go off, it might make for a better picture of the tree in the foreground and then have the moon and the star(s) in the background.

Silent Watcher

2012-02-01T21:26:00.001-06:00

I liked the way this picture turned out. I liked the shadows, the textures, the colors, and the contrasts. I've been working on framing my pictures too. Taking the time to try different framings, and then taking the time to go through my pictures and delete the ones I don't like. So what I'm left with is the ones I really like. So that's what I've been trying to do.

Opening Files slow from File Explorer (XP)

2011-10-26T09:49:00.002-05:00

So, last week, right before I went off on vacation, I got a new laptop at work. My old one had it's video card go out and I'd had it for several years. Well, I got everything transferred over last week so I could hit the ground running after getting back from vacation.

Well, yesterday, I started noticing that it was taking a very long time to open pictures from the file explorer, so I changed to a different program (from the windows default) and it seemed to work fine after that. Later in the day, I noticed that other files were taking a long time as well, in fact, nearly every file I opened took a long time.

I did some research and read that there could be problems with network drives which could cause this problem, so I disabled all my network drivers, and the problem persisted. So, I searched the the registry looking for the \\ that would be at the front of a networked machine (either name or IP address) to see if anything in my Windows registry was pointed to a network device, and surprise surprise, I found that one of my software programs had it's executable pointed to my old laptop from when I had connected to it to remove old files to copy to the new one. So, I changed the path from the old machine to this one, and my files started opening up fast as expected.

So, if you have that problem, you may want to take a look at that.

First day of 6th grade!

2011-08-11T07:33:00.000-05:00

Well, it's that time of year again... School Time! But this time, it's 6th grade, AKA Middle School!

He's a little nervous, but not too bad. I have no concern on his school work. I expect it to be a good year.

As usual, you can click on the pictures to make them larger!

6th Grade

5th Grade

4th Grade

3rd Grade

2nd Grade

1st Grade

Kindergarden

Sleeping Baby

2011-07-27T08:42:00.001-05:00

I took this picture back on April 20th using my cell phone instead of my other camera, but I really liked the way it turned out.

I think the best part was he was in my wife's lap, but you can't see that. His head was on one leg, and his legs on the other. There was just enough lighting from the bed side lamp that it illuminated him, but not her.

Good morning!

2011-07-26T12:07:00.001-05:00

100_6504, a photo by jarrard@swbell.net on Flickr.

This morning (7/26), I was getting ready for work and looked out and saw this beautiful sunrise. So I grabbed my camera, and went outside to make sure I got a chance to capture it! I was able to take a few other shots to.

It was a beautiful morning.

Via Flickr:
July sunrise!

Sprawl Trilogy

2011-07-18T13:29:00.000-05:00

I just finished readying Mona Lisa Overdrive. The third and final book of the William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy. And I have to say, I'm not sure what I think about it.

I've always enjoyed Neuromancer. Once you get past the sex and the drugs, it's a good book. Now with Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive, well, I'm just not sure what I think about them.

I'll have to come back and read them through again some time.

He certainly has a different writing style.

Mandatory Water Rationing

2011-07-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

Last week, RWD3 started mandatory water rationing. So today was the second day since it started I've been able to water. I've lucked out that I'm able to water on M, W, F.

Friday, I worked from home, so it wasn't bad. Today though, after I got back from my walk, I started watering. I got the garden watered, but wasn't able to finish the flower bed. Luckily, my wife was staying home today, so she'll be able to finish.

So far, so good. Guess we'll see how it goes. It makes me wish I'd set up some of those barrels to catch rain water. May consider it before next season.

Rain!

2011-07-13T13:45:00.001-05:00

We got rain this morning. Sweet, beautiful rain. We needed it so badly. It was nice to hear and smell it. It stopped me from walking, but I was OK with that.

Google Plus

2011-07-11T13:18:00.000-05:00

I got an invite today for Google Plus. So far, it's interesting. There are things about it I really like. The biggest drawback I see at the moment is there aren't that many people using it yet.

How will it do in the long term? Who knows, but I hope more people start using it. I think it has some great potential.

Chess Camp

2011-07-10T16:19:00.001-05:00

Today at church and friend of mine was talking about sending 2nd of his kids to chess camp starting tomorrow. My boy loves chess and would love that. So I asked him to tell me about it next year.

His wife emailed me to let me know it wasn't too late to enroll him this year. So after talking with him about it, we got him all signed up. He goes each afternoon 1:00 to 4:30.

He's looking forward to it.

I'm not dead yet...

2011-07-09T16:12:00.001-05:00

I'm getting better.

Just been lazy. Just got an official Blogger Android app.