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Cincinnati & Covington At Dusk

I headed down to Covington to take photographs of the city at dusk. I haven't really been down there in the evening since the Great American Tower was finished. Again the clouds were perfect. I didn't plan this but the Reds were playing at the same time so the stadium was lit up as well.

A Rest For Pets

The sun finally came out so I thought I would try to get some photos of the dogs, Luke decided that he would join us as well. The dogs were not cooperative. I think they just really wanted to play. I'll try another time.

A Few More From Around The City

More Mosiac Fish

Around the Park

That was some big ass winds we experienced that night. The park lost 13 trees that.

Phew!!! Made It Through The Night

We made it through the night.  I tried to continue posting last night however, a few minutes after my last post these massive gusts of wind that literally scared the crap out of me caused our power to go out. Some reports measured the wind speeds to be between 75-85 mph. Say What? I have to say that I have always enjoyed a good thunderstorm, still do but living in the woods does have a scare factor of 10 when the wind really picks up. We have all these enormous trees that encompass the cabin. Every wind storm you say a little prayer and hope to God none of them come crashing down on you or the cabin.

The driveway was a complete mess, large branches and humongous limbs made traveling down the driveway impossible. We both cleaned up just enough to get our vehicles through. We have a limb dangling over the driveway, it is being held up by another tree, yep really love driving under that limb. I'll be posting some photos so you can see what I am talking about.

I thought the driveway was bad but trying to maneuver down our street and through the park was just absurd. Remember that movie Twister? In one scene when they were trying to escape from a tornado all this debris was flying all around them, they kept having to avoid everything in the road, that was me this morning, well minus the tractors and houses, as I was swerving to avoid all the branches and limbs I kept yelling to myself, "debris, debris!" I took some photos of a few trees that didn't make it through the storm, I will post them as well. I do have to mention that when I left this morning I grabbed the point & shoot instead of my dslr, it was raining, I never want to take chances like that with the good camera so the quality of the photos are not as good.

Greg says that this is mother natures way of pruning. I say "no pruning, NO PRUNING!!"

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to try to get video of the storm, ummmm didn't happen.

Tornado Warning

Our county just issued a tornado warning. I am not concerned because the actual storm has not hit our area as yet. I went outside and the winds are really starting to pick up, a lot of lightning can be seen heading towards the cabin from the west, chances are we will most likely lose our electricity. I will keep posting as long as I can until A. The electricity goes out. B. We have to take cover in the basement. C. I may have to turn off the computer. Wish us luck.

Run Off Creek

Today we had a thunderstorm that lasted nearly 3 hours or so. I took this video of our crick (that's Kentucky slang for creek)about 32 seconds into the video some special effects were added by mother nature. The lightning hit way to close to home, thankfully I was ready for the massive thunder that followed.

As I write this another storm is approaching, right now it is going through Indianapolis which is about 90 miles away, should be here in an hour. I am going to try to get some video of it as well. Thankfully I have a real nice covered porch. Will post, that is if I don't chicken out.

Downtown Cincinnati

Today's Color is Green

After yesterdays torrential downpour and Sunday's 85 degree weather the under brush is just about all grown in, the leaves on the trees still have quite a bit of work to do before filling in but baby it's green outside today.

Note to self...trim under brush before it gets out of control. Might be a little late for that one.

Ankle Update #2

It has been 9 days since I sprained my ankle. The only good news I have at this point is that Jessie finally lost interest in playing with my foot. My ankle has gotten to the point that it has just stopped getting better. For the last 4 days it hasn't gotten any better, I do have a new pain now that is almost like a spasm. I'll be walking rather well (considering) and all of a sudden I'll have this shooting pain that comes from the top of my foot, it takes a few minutes to work itself out before I can start to walk almost normal again. I am not all together sure but I hope I haven't aggravated an old injury. I'm starting to get extremely frustrated. I know that being diabetic now makes everything heal slower, this ordeal has exhausted me and I have to admit that I'm a little depressed. Grrrrrrr

Cincinnati Cityscape

The clouds were perfect today for some black/white cityscape photography. They really popped out in the photos. When I got to the river today I was a bit surprised to find the river pretty high. Last weekend when I shot the fireworks you could finally see the beach area. Today well no beach and the trees are under water again. I haven't heard any news yet if the river is suppose to reach flood stage again or not.

Back to the City

What a day to get out and explore. Partly sunny with a high of 85. List of things to do...repair fan in car so I can have A/C. I headed again over to Cincinnati, while traveling down W. Pete Rose Way right under I75 I came across dozens of these Mosaic Fish. How unfortunate that this beautiful display is so out of the way and I am sure missed by many. Certainly worthy of a look not to mention a few photographs.

Hummingbirds

Well I have decided to try my hand at feeding hummingbirds. Tomorrow I will be heading out to Home Depot to check out their supply of feeders. I've been told that sitings are few but I hate to miss any opportunities. Photographing will be a little tricky at first and probably done through a window but when they start getting use to me photographing them should get easier. I thought eventually I would try hand feeding them as well.

Wish me luck and stay tune. I'll keep you updated.

Jessie

So since I've been basically stuck inside the house I was going through some of my old photographs and came across this one of Jessie, she is the one that finds it so much fun to play with my feet. Yep, not a good idea right now Jessie girl.

Ankle Update

Day 5 with a sprained ankle and I am improving, I am able to put a lot of pressure on my foot now but still have to be careful as all of sudden I'll get sharp pains that just go right through me, then I am back to babying it again. I find it more comfortable walking around  in stocking feet while I'm around the house, unfortunately Jessie (our german shepherd who is not use to seeing me in stocking feet) now thinks that my feet are new toys for her to play with. She likes to play with my feet with her paws, she doesn't understand that if she touches that wrong spot it nearly brings me to tears. I love my dog, I love my dog, I love my dog.

A Couple More Fireworks From Saturday Night

I had to add saturation to the photograph below. The blues tend to be on the light side.

Sometimes Size Doesn't Matter

Any photograph taking has been put on temporary hold. Last Friday I was heading out the door to get pizza when a big rock crossed my path, okay, it wasn't a BIG rock, I guess in reality it might even be defined as a stone, a BIG stone, anyway as I stepped on it I lost my balance, twisted my ankle and fell to the ground, all I have to say is the words that came flying out of my mouth were pretty unlady like. This of course happened one day prior to photographing the fireworks. Even though I managed to get myself to my favorite spot that night it really wasn't one of my brightest ideas. Every step was followed by "ouch," okay I'm lying about what word was said but I want this to be a family friendly blog so I wont type what I really said, I never realized that when it comes to extreme pain how much of a potty mouth I have.

So the photo below is that of the rock, okay okay, BIG stone that caused all this trouble. Don't let the size fool you. Sometimes size doesn't matter.

Cincinnati Reds Night Opener Fireworks

FYI the Reds won again tonight 4-2
When I finally reached my favorite spot I was pleasantly surprised to find only two other people there. Oh Yay I get a bench. It was a little cold and pretty early for anyone to really start getting excited about fireworks. When Firework Friday begins in May this area will become relatively crowded, well for the first couple of events anyway then by June the crowd really start to thin out. Last year I think I only missed a couple firework shows, this year my goal is to photograph every event, I believe that is 9 events all together.  I think I can, I think I can.

Getting Ready Tonights the Night

I am getting ready to head out to my favorite spot to photograph Reds opening night fireworks, so far it is a good night for the Reds as they are leading in the 4th 4-0. My biggest obstacle  will be walking to my spot. I fell yesterday and twisted my ankle ummmm pretty bad, swelled up like a cantaloup and it hurts like crap, I'm hoping I am lucky enough to be able to get a seat on one of the benches, if not, well as much I enjoy photographing the fireworks I'll be praying for a fast show. Wish me luck and stay tuned.

Lesson to be learned. I just preset all my setting and realized that my battery was not fully charged, I have an hour to charge it up which should almost fully charge my battery, however always a good idea to check your battery well in advance of any special event...FYI

One More Day Until The Fireworks