Skunked again...

...by my own daughter, but I sure am proud of her. She won 2nd place again this year in the National Arts Program sponsored by the City of Charleston and Kanawha County. This year she was in the Youth 12-18 category. Last year she got 2nd and the year before that she got 1st in the youth under 12 category. Even though I didn't win anything this year I sold one of my entries (click here to see which one) to a lady that works in the city attorney's office. We both made out pretty well. She won $50 and I sold mine for a $100. Not too shabby.

Other than...

...the water being like ice, we had a great afternoon on the river.

Sunday Evening

Cold Water!!!!

We went to a family reunion at Carnifex Ferry Sunday and after it was over we walked down to the river to swim. Man, it was cold!

Riverfest Fireworks

Riverfest 5k

Bonnie, Mayor Calloway and Kim.


Kim and her cousin Bonnie (aka Ronnie) ran the Riverfest 5k yesterday morning. They both did pretty well. Bonnie got 1st place in their age group (40-44) and Kim got 2nd. I had to work so the girls hung out with me at the fire station while they ran. They wanted to have their picture taken with Saint Albans Mayor Dick Calloway and he gladly agreed. In the picture of the runners starting, the guy running the clock is J.R. Frasier (a great runner himself). J.R. and Kim were hired on Charleston Police Department at the same time (way back in 1986) and went to the academy together.

Sleepin' In The Hammock

You can't beat a nap in a hammock on a nice afternoon.

It's hard to believe...

...the King of Pop is dead. My wife's cousin Bonnie, my daughter and I had just been listening to some Michael Jackson songs this afternoon. Then my wife Kim and our friend Susan came home and they told us that Michael Jackson had died. We were waiting on the punchline and they said he was dead...really...seriously. I told them the story of mine and Kim's first date (October 20th, 1980). I had to drive my Mom's 1976 Nova and it only had an AM/FM radio, so I took my tape recorder and put it in the seat with us so we could listen to our Michael Jackson tapes. This was one of our favorite songs and still is. Relax your mind and feel the beat.

I'll add this to...

...my list of jobs I would like to get when I retire. It's a pretty short list. Here are few.

Drawbridge Operator in Beaufort County, SC
Groundskeeper at Arlington National Cemetery
Part time photographer for the Charleston Daily Mail (are you reading this Tom H?)


Or I could just do what I do now on my days off. Whatever I want to!

Big Bug

Our friends Frank and Debbie have a couple of small prints of my photos, but Debbie wanted a big one for outside on their back porch. I showed them some and Debbie picked the lady bug. She originally wanted it 4' x 3' but she already had a mount that was 44" x 33", so that was the final print size. I obviously can't make a print that big so they had Screen Graphics in Nitro do it. I had never even thought about printing something that big but it turned out real well. I was so proud I just couldn't stop looking at it ;-D

Big Timber

A limb that would've made a dandy tree itself, fell on a house today on Seventh Ave. in Saint Albans. Nobody was injured and very little damage was done to the house.

Green

Across the street...

...from the Glynn County Courthouse, Brunswick, GA.

A Pair of Old Shoes ;-)

Neptune Beach, Jacksonville, FL.

Jekyll Umbrella

Don't Look Kim!!!!!!!!!

This was a huge spider at Jekyll Island, GA. I was afraid to get real close. I thought it would take my camera and smash it.

Brickyard Point Sunset

Lady's Island, SC

Surfer Girl

Nice One!

B & W Dunes

It's the best place on earth!

Some Beaufort County Sunsets

Umbrellas

Hunting Island State Park.

West Virginians should be...

...the happ, happ, happiest people in the country because we get to have sex every time we fill up our gas tanks. This was last Saturday about 4.5 hours out of WV. When we left, gas in Saint Albans was 2.75. Since we've been out of the area the highest gas price I've seen is 2.51, but I still love WV.

RIP :-(

I was just mowing along this afternoon, happy as could be, then all of a sudden,,,wham. My 20 year old Lawn Boy gives out on me. I don't know what happened, but the front of the engine just blew out. I mow my yard and my neighbors yard and was almost finished when this tragedy happened. I had probably a minute left and I would've been done. I came in the house and broke the news to my wife. She doesn't get excited about money or stuff like that (that's my job), so she told me to go get a new one and be thankful that I got 20 years out of this one. So off I go to Center Hardware and pick me up another Lawn Boy (it's a beauty). I hope I can get as much faithful service out of this one.

Meow

Merrill's Alley

I was talking with...

...my friend Kenny (from Beckley) the other day and he asked if I had any more pictures from our New York trip to post. I told him I could probably find some more. I think his wife will like the top one.

Lunch near the World Trade Center. Those street vendors have some good stuff.
Bryant Park.
Rockefeller Center.

Times Square on a Saturday night is just a little crowded.
Trinity Church. Where the treasure in the movie "National Treasure" was found.

The view from our hotel room.