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Happy New Year to all and God bless! ...be safe and merry.

well I threw up my hands! and I heard, Amen! and I prayed, sweet Jesus don't let me become a backslider!

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy." - Benjamin Franklin

A true entrepreneur.

An experiment in DOF isolation. Does it work? It turns out the food poisoning was more of a flu-type bug. My mother, her boyfriend, my sister, and my grandmother were all stricken with similar symptoms. EL is still sick and I am limping along toward recovery. Can you say suck? On another note, Michael had a cool idea about posting some pics at wallpaper size, but I think I still have a long way to go... click on the photo for a 1280x1024 version of this photo if interested. some details: Shooting Date/Time - 12/21/2003 10:56:12 AM Shooting Mode - Aperture-Priority AE Tv( Shutter Speed ) - 1/6400 Av( Aperture Value ) - 2.8 Metering Mode - Spot Exposure Compensation - 0 ISO Speed - 100 Lens - EF 70-200mm L IS USM Focal Length - 195.0 mm Image Quality - RAW Flash - Off White Balance - Auto AF Mode - Manual Focus

I've been so lazy when it comes to this blogournal. My days start blurring and all I think about are things like sleep and rest and avoidance. I hate that I spent my night awake and sick and that I have a sick wife at home requiring some pampering and I am at work at this miserable job. I want simple pleasures and basic quality of life. Home, family, and the better good. EL and I rolled out of Houston on Christmas morning for my mother's house on the Gulf coast down by Corpus Christi. Christmas day and the day after pretty much consisted of pinballing around between the family gatherings at my Nana's (grandmother) and cocktails and cards at my mom's. I think EL got a better understanding of how much my family has accepted her and embraced her as one of us. I think she also gained a better appreciation of why I have some of the eccentric traits I do... my being a hopeless pack rat for example. We decided to drive back on Saturday to avoid the Sunday rush. We made decent time and enjoyed a quiet evening at home. I fiddled on the computer and she buzzed around the house. It was home again. Sunday morning and day were kinda a blur. I'm not sure where they went, but the impending workday always bums me out. It's one of the miserable byproducts of mot enjoying your work environment. EL and I have not been out to eat together in weeks, so we decided to go out for steak. Dinner was nice... the food tasted good and my wife makes lovely company. She hides great intelligence under her beauty and is a fab conversationalist. The weather was gloomy and cold. A cold front had blown in and dropped the temperature about 20 degrees in short order. It was a far cry from the whoppin' 81 degrees at my mother's the day after Christmas. Yes, December 26... 81 degrees. Yowzers. We stopped and picked up a few DVD's at Nazi Blockbuster and had planned on a snuggling up for one last couch night before bloody work invaded. Little did we know that the real invasion was only 20 minutes or so away... food poisoning. There really isn't much else to add. It was ugly and nasty and painful. I think our home finally settled down around 5:00 this morning... neither of us having received any rest. I tried to drink as much water as I could hold down to keep myself hydrated. I would give anything to be home and take care of EL today, but alas, I am here. Corp-o-hell. Cheers. I worked the rigs from three 'til midnight On the Corpus Christi Bay I'd get off and drink 'til daylight Sleep the mornin' away I had a plan to take my wages Leave the rigs behind for good But that life it is contagious And it gets down in your blood I lived in Corpus with my brother We were always on the run We were bad for one another But we were good at having fun We got stoned along the seawall We got drunk and rolled a car We knew the girls at every dancehall Had a tab at every bar If I could live my life all over It wouldn't matter anyway 'Cause I never could stay sober On the Corpus Christi Bay My brother had a wife and family You know he gave 'em a good home But his wife thought we were crazy And one day we found her gone We threw here clothes into the car trunk Her photographs her rosary We went to the pier and got drunk And threw it all into the sea If I could live my life all over It wouldn't matter anyway 'Cause I never could stay sober On the Corpus Christi Bay Now my brother lives in Houston He married for the second time He got a job with the union And it's keeping him in line He came to Corpus just this weekend It was good to see him here He said he finally gave up drinkin' Then he ordered me a beer If I could live my life all over It wouldn't matter anyway 'Cause I never could stay sober On the Corpus Christi Bay If I could live my life all over It wouldn't matter anyway 'Cause I never could stay sober On the Corpus Christi Bay

EL and I decide to go out to eat for the first time in weeks... food poisoning... both of us. No sleep. Lots and lots of quality time with the 'ole porcelain buddy. It's a good thing we have more than one bathroom. OMG this sucks.

I told myself I wasn't going to post anymore Dallas trip shots until I finished trudging through them all, but this littler fucker is just too cute to not share. I forgot I even took these two photos! I wonder if he (she?) knows that he's going to grow up to be ugly as sin? and a crop so you can get a better peek:

Another unknown plant from this weekend:

What is this flower? It is spiked, fanned out, and looks like a bird of paradise before it blooms, but as you can see, it definitely isn't orange... Here is an example of how what would otherwise be a pleasing photograph can be easily ruined by poor exposure in a hot spot... the bright afternoon sun sneaking through the trees on that one little section of rock caused a poo poo here. I didn't expose for that wee bit and got some blown highlights that ruined the shot. Live and learn... Must sleep. Woohoo. I'm such a party animal...



not.

Back from the coast... hay is for horses! The old familiar hay bail theme. Yup. Anyhoo, I'm knee deep in trying to get the rest of the Dallas trip stuff sorted and decided to take a break from animal photos for a bit. I need a faster computer.

Merry Christmas!

Hey now! Merry Christmas Eve!! I've decided to (due to my slow ass server) move the pics into the "MORE..." section of the post after I post the next set. This damn site takes forever to load as it is... ugh! Anyhoo, I like that some people have commented on the photos. I really dig it. Here are a few I grabbed this afternoon. I really would like a faster PC. Adobe RAW converter and Photoshop CS are crushing my proc with these files... of course, more memory would help too. Santa? Where are you? Hehe. I'm off to the store. I'm kinda in a liquored-up eggnog sorta mood.

Plbpbfffft! Na-na-nah-na-nah-na! You can't catch me!

Hey man... pass the damn remote... oh, and get me a beer while you're up...

Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn...