deep thoughts

This kid is so funny! We're in the car and he says, "Dad, I think I know what I would want them to say for my eulogy." I said, "Really, Son? What's that?" He replied, "knock knock..."

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Here are some pics from the big snow we had last week.

calm before the storm

We watched icicles melt off the bushes on Friday. I was fascinated by their clarity and the trapped air bubbles. The weather was nice enough for routine car maintenance on Saturday, so I checked fluid levels for the cars. We discovered a problem and my car got fixed. (Thanks, Brother Greg!) Good thing, because we have a big snow storm forecasted, and they're talking about record accumulation, high winds, even thunder and lightning.

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As I write this someone said we're in the calm before the storm. Who's calm?! Have you seen how gas prices spiked and how busy things are at the grocery stores right now? On a lighter side, our puppy is tiny, so it will be funny to see how he reacts to huge piles of snow. I expect he will love it. We renamed him "Bear." You can see how small he is compared to my shoe.

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Everyone at the office expects that when the storm hits, we will have to shut down for a day. I have mixed feelings about that. Let's see what happens...

1.21 gigawatts

(I wish I could hide this photo until after you finished reading.)

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Great Scott!! Who would have thought that I could capture another lightning image so soon?! I did this one the same as the other lightning pic, except that these exposures were much shorter. This is the image I had been hoping for all along... one bold streak of lightning, not the thin fingers like the ones in yesterday's post. Believe me, I hightailed it out of there as soon as I got this shot. Two minutes after this, I was driving in strong winds, blinding rain and even hail. Before I reached home, the sky was green, so I went for shelter. The temperature itself dropped to a comfortable level, which is nice, because I don't care for hot and muggy.

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After the rain, we got a beautiful sunset and a rainbow. I need to clean out my camera, because I let debris inside while changing lenses.

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Okay, now you may go back and look at the picture. ;-)

Sky Watch Friday!

Golden Dreams

For some odd reason, I woke up too early on Tuesday. Maybe it was the annoyingly loud but unintentional chainsaw impersonation I do while snoring. Before I could let myself drift back to sleep, I noticed an eerie amber glow as it oozed through the miniblinds of my bedroom. What an unnatural color! Half-asleep, but providentially wearing jammies, I walked downstairs, grabbed my camera, stepped out front, and fired off a couple of photographs before returning upstairs for that oh-so precious last 22 minutes of sleep.

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That photograph is completely unfiltered and unedited in any way. The sky is exactly the way I saw it through my droopy eyelids, except that my eyeballs were not really focusing on anything except the enigmatic haze.

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Speaking of Tuesday... no, the dog does not smell like skunk anymore, and no, we still do not have a new refrigerator.

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Bonus shot. Black storm clouds from 7:30 AM on Monday morning.

Wanna join us for Sky Watch? Click here.

morning has broken

Yeah, "morning has broken" ...split right down the middle, and daylight is in complete disrepair!

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I misplaced my sunglasses on Friday and squinted through this whole weekend. The shades finally turned up, but not until late Sunday afternoon. Usually, I wear them on the drive to and from work, because I drive East in the morning and West at night.

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[I know that it is foolish to multitask while driving, but I got ready at a red light, and by the time my camera was ready to shoot, the light had changed, so I just did a no-look "shoot from the hip" --cowboy-style. There was NO post-editing to those shots. They turned out fair... considering, don't you think?]

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This morning, the sunlight struggled to break through the atmosphere, and from the looks of the Northern sky's dark reinforcements, the light did not have a real chance of winning this battle. By the time I got to the office, the sun's rays had retreated, yielding to an ominous shroud that poured mercilessly as if we were standing under the deluge of a waterfall, and by now, not even the coolest dudes were wearing their sunglasses.

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Speaking of darkness, I saw the new Batman movie on Saturday with Mrs. Craver. We went for the Imax experience. My recommendation? Go now; don't wait for the DVD, but don't do Imax, either. The cityscapes were splendid, but too brief. The action was hard to follow on such a huge viewing area. We can't say too much about the movie without spoiling the story for anyone who hasn't seen it; but I liked it. This flic was packed with action and intensity without gore, immodesty or pervasive language. The Batman suit has a new cowl that allows him to turn his head. He breaks out a new bat-cycle in this movie and when I saw him do this one turn... a 180 off of a wall, I just about fell out of my chair! This movie will probably be useful for launching discussions about the morality of using force and where to draw the line between justice and wickedness.

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Photos 2 & 3 were taken at 7:36 AM and 7:54 AM respectively.

bitter cold

Our area is under a "Winter Storm Warning." Translation: hazardous weather is occurring with a threat to life and property.

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It's hard to take these warnings seriously, because we try to be prepared for the cold and snow, and as long as you drive carefully, bad stuff only happens to someone else, right? Well, today I heard of a family who lost a dear friend, due to yesterday's harsh weather. It seems this lady fell and froze to death before she could crawl to the neighbor's door for help.

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I feel badly for this family's loss. Don't you wish you happened to drive by just in time to rescue her? Even though I don't know the victim personally, I wish I could have saved her. It was a needless loss of life, since there should have been people nearby... somewhere.

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But what if...

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What if someone DID offer a hand right when it happened? And what if in a foolish prideful moment, she waved them off and declined assistance.

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Lord, grant that I might have the humility to accept help when I need it.