365 days of 2011

Typical Ozarks recreational arrangements and goodbye!

Gary — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:55:46 +0000

Today we sunbathed and went on a short exploratory hike

Yes, that’s right, sunbathed on the 31 December in the Northern hemisphere – I was impressed. Though to make up for this there was ice on the inside of our tent when we woke up.

My sunbathing was interrupted by a pack of horses crossing the creek, which confirmed my suspicion that there was a trail on the other side. This was good because when I’d spotted the chairs in the mud across the lake yesterday I’d thought that a picture of me sitting in one might make a fitting last 365 photograph. And so it turned out. Ginger declined my invitation to join me for my last picture – though we did try a few and they ended up on the cutting room floor. For a tripod I used one of the rusting chairs supported by my hiking pole. Close inspection showed that the chairs – like a lot of things in the Ozarks had been used for target practice at some point, as each had several bullet holes.

Despite it looking very calm down by the lake, we could hear the wind ripping through the trees high above on the ridges.

To tie off some loose ends.

The end of our trip

Overnight the wind shifted enabling it to blow down the valley and several trees came down – though none near us, we’d checked the trees near our tent quite carefully, and moved the tent earlier in the day because we didn’t like the look of one nearby tree. In the morning we had a leisurely start to the new year, and took a gamble on a trail that isn’t marked on the map to hike out – Our guess as to where the trail came out turned out to be correct, and we had a fairly easy hike of two and a half miles with a 730 foot climb back to the van, where we celebrated with a new year / end of hike beer.

The end of this blog

That’s it for my second full 365 days. I’m not going to do another as I’ve found the self portrait format too restrictive this time around, and heaven knows the world doesn’t need anymore pictures of me taken late at night, standing by a wall or sitting at my desk. Once more I’ve enjoyed the record this project has created, but I can’t say I’ve always enjoyed the process of making it. I’ve had far too much time invested in this when I have other pressing things I ought to be dealing with. I wish I’d managed to get more people involved, but it is what it is.

What’s Next

Right now I’m cogitating what I’m going to do next blog-wise. I still have my Photo blog, and there’s also our blog Breakfast in America, which has been languishing in the shadows of this blog for the past year. So I’m going to take a few days out to decide what to do next, because right now I’m enjoying not having to take a self portrait each day. I still have a couple of posts to add – monthly summaries for October through December. Hopefully when I do that I’ll also be able to reveal whatever new projects I’m embarked upon.

January 01 2012 - Gary and Ginger enjoy an end of hike beer

January 01 2012 - Gary and Ginger stop for a drink and snack on the way back to the Pines View Tower trailhead

Gary enjoying the view (taken by Ginger)

New Year's Eve - toasting tootsies by an open fire

Piney Creek Campsite

Table Rock Lake Entrance to Piney Creek

Piney Creek arm of Table Rock Lake

View towards Piney Creek

Filed under: Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, Remote Shutter Release, Wilderness and trails

Penultimate campfire of 2011

Gary — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:43:25 +0000

Today we backpacked into the Piney Creek Wilderness

We were in two minds where to go backpacking this weekend. Piney Creek Wilderness, or the similarly sounding Paddy Creek Wilderness. Piney creek has around twelve miles of ‘official’ trails, and Paddy Creek has a twenty mile loop.

In the end the weather made our minds up. It’s supposed to get very windy and quite cold, so we opted for Piney Creek with it’s wind protected valley trail, as opposed to the Paddy Creek’s ridge trail which would keep us up in the wind.

Piney creek was a good decision, as neither of us was as fit as we thought, and we would have struggled with the 20 mile hike. The first two thirds of a mile of the Tower trail at Piney Creek drops 350 feet over some fairly rough terrain, carrying a backpack plus 10lbs Christmas excess around one’s middle (that makes 20lbs I need to lose now) made it quite hard work – made even harder as the descent is immediately followed by a steep 135′ climb. The total drop to the creek is six hundred odd feet over one and a half miles, and it quite wore us out. But at least the trail to our planned campsite by Table Rock lake was flat – although quite muddy, and involved six creek crossings – fine for me in my bare feet but awkward for Ginger, who finally gave up taking off her hiking shoes for the crossings and just got them wet.

Our hike was a paltry three and a half miles to the lakeside. We found a few old fire rings, picked one and pitched the tent. It was great spot, and we decided to make this a leisurely trip and just lounge around. I’ve wanted to get down to the lake here for quite a while, as we think it’ll make a great Kayak/camping spot. And just across the lake we could see the possibly campsite I’d identified from the air on Google Earth. The locals had already been of course – and typical for the Ozarks there were some rusting chairs stuck in the mud on the lakeside.

We saw several Bald Eagles – including some, that we’ve since concluded were, juveniles. And there was a very big nest.

There was plenty of wood laying around so we could afford to have nice fire before turning in for the night.

Filed under: Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, Outdoors, Remote Shutter Release, Tripod, Wilderness and trails

Gary and Tubby

Gary — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:15:29 +0000

I was taking some family portraits and I forgot to include myself, so here I am with Tubby

Ginger’s parents, her brother Sam and family came visiting today. I was (albeit reluctantly) persuaded to take some family photos, and once again I’m glad that I did. I’ll post a couple of sneak previews now – but I have a whole 30 minute session’s worth to go through selecting and processing the ‘keepers’.

We used the kitchen as a makeshift studio, it’s not really big enough, especially when I’m using the ‘nifty fifty’ lens, but we managed fine.

When I’d finished taking the pictures I realized I’d not taken my 365 days picture, so I swept up the nearest cat – who happened to be Tubbster, and quickly rattled off a couple of shots. I should have swapped the backdrop over to black which better suits my skin tones, but I was working quickly to get my picture out of the way so I could continue with the family festivities.

As planned Lanie left with our visitors – so tomorrow we’ll be backpacking.

Ginger and her brother Sam

Sam and Family

The Girls (Lanie in the middle)

Filed under: Home, Idling, Off Camera Flash, Remote Shutter Release, Tripod, Visiting

Winding down at the end of the day

Gary — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:05:29 +0000

We seem to spend a lot of time in the office area at the moment

Tonight we were researching a backpacking trip – the weather looks to be warm (for the time of year). We have family visiting tomorrow and they are taking Lanie away for a few days, so we have a window of backpacking opportunity to take advantage of.

It’ll be nice to get out under the stars for a few days, and hopefully it’ll provide some good picture opportunities for the last two days of my 365 days project.

Filed under: Home, Idling, Remote Shutter Release, Tripod

Making stuff

Gary — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:45:56 +0000

Today I made myself useful by making stuff in the garage

In fact I’m being a proper Santa’s Elf helping Ginger make Christmas presents for the girls when they arrive on Thursday. Darn I missed an opportunity to wear my Christmas hat again.

Making stuff - The closeup!

Filed under: Around the house, Home, Remote Shutter Release, Tripod, Working

Gary and Ginger’s Christmas present

Gary — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:20:48 +0000

Today we went Boxing day shopping.

And we bought this nifty hand-held GPS receiver as a joint present for us both. One of the problems with GPS is buying the maps which cost more than the receivers – this unit allows you to create and load your own using Google Earth – which is brilliant as we have a subscription to a topographic map service – so we can download any map we need.

To test it I loaded a map for Busiek State Park taken from the online brochure – I thought it came out rather well.

This was a considered purchase; as we have ideas to make it earn its keep. I’ll also be able to more quickly and accurately geotag my photographs.

Filed under: Backpacking, Body Part, Camping, Hiking, Home, Outdoors, Shopping

At the end of Christmas day

Gary — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:08:57 +0000

Christmas day

Despite my preference for a lie-in we were up before seven, then it was non-stop with present opening, visiting family, food, drinks and finally a couple of card games.

Somehow the evening slipped away from me while we researched our joint Christmas present which we may go out and buy tomorrow. Exciting. In fact so exciting I was worn out. You can’t really see it but I’m wearing my very first camo shirt. Now I really will blend in with the locals. With the camo shirt and Christmas hat I’ve decided that next year I’ll take on the role of ‘Stealth Elf’.

Christmas Tree - the quiet before the present opening

Christmas present carnage

Sprinky finds a nice box under the coffee table to sit in

Betsy and Natalie

Gary the 'Stealth Elf' rests at the end of a busy Christmas day

Filed under: Around the house, Home, Off Camera Flash, Remote Shutter Release, Tripod

Christmas Eve

Gary — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 16:57:56 +0000

here I am in my church Christmas finery

Christmas has begun. The grandparents arrived this afternoon and are staying overnight to be with us on Christmas day. In the evening we all went to one of the Christmas services at church. When we got home we sat and chatted until late – and I slipped in this quick self portrait just before bed.

Filed under: Around the house, Church, Home, Remote Shutter Release, Tripod

Edible display

Gary — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:48:52 +0000

We arrived home from Christmas food shopping to find this very kind gift of fruit and fruit dipped in chocolate had been delivered

Of course it had to be eaten straight away as we knew it wouldn’t keep and of course the fridge is full.

Filed under: Around the house, Body Part, Church, Home, Remote Shutter Release, Tripod

Back to the wall

Gary — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:39:46 +0000

It’s been a while since I took a wall picture.

Working late again – 2am.

Filed under: Around the house, Remote Shutter Release, Tripod