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Monday Morning Photos of a Sunrise Surprise

30 Aug

This morning just when I opened my eyes this is what I saw above. My face just happens to face east right out a window, and this morning these low clouds turned into a beautiful sunrise. The colors fade so quickly but the brilliance produced in a matter of five minutes is just amazing. As I write this there are virtually no colors in the sky and the sun has retreated behind the thick clouds but what a great surprise to wake up and see the colors of a sunrise.

I was only able to take a few shots and by the time I got over to the pond (last photo) the colors were already just about gone, (time sequence of the shots was about 2-3 minutes). You can click on each photo to see a larger image, hope you enjoy them as much as I did when I ran out in the grass in my bare feet.

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The Dog Days of Summer, Version 2010

17 Aug

The only thing that seems to like the fact that the heat index has been over 100* (much of the time over 110*) this summer is our dog, and the Lantana.  I couldn’t think of a better shot for “dog days of summer” than Ebby sitting on her heated bed.  The dog days of summer are certainly here in south Alabama, the grass is all brown from lack of rain, the pond is all dried up, and you can’t go outside without getting swarmed by deer flies.  Some people like this time of year (I am guessing those who live in Montana, or Wisconsin, or Colorado, where the temps are in the mid-60′s right now), but down here, all I can think about is being able to walk without feeling like I am going to die, and being able to sit outside with a fire going in my fire pit.

I know those days are coming, because football season is the only thing being talked about down here now.  Only about 2 1/2 more weeks before Auburn kicks off the 2010-2011 football season, but at the moment, I am just thrilled the first game is at night.  With the temps at night still in the 70′s and 80′s, they should kick off this game at midnigh, but at least Auburn now runs some of the games like Talladega (they use to run that late season race during the day, and it was miserable too).

Fall is coming, probably 2 days in mid January, but the sun and the calendar says cooler weather is coming, but I think Ebby likes it just the way it is right now.  I still feel like she looks, and I am ready for something more like –> Samford Hall and Auburn University in the Snow.

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Happy Anniversary, 17 Years Has Flown By

11 Jun

It’s is hard to believe but today, 17 years ago, my wife and I got married.  This particular anniversary was a little different since Deborah would normally be sitting in the next room on a normal day, and this week she is in Denver teaching a hand quilting class, and it just happen to fall on our anniversary.  So, Happy Anniversary Deborah.  I think this is actually the first time in 17 years that we actually haven’t been together on June 11th.

The time has just flown by, yet I can almost remember every day.  Anyone who says marriage is easy is crazy (or isn’t married) but I wouldn’t trade it for anything with you Deborah.  Sorry we couldn’t be together today, so in place of getting to go out somewhere nice tonight, I, of course decided to make a video for you of little bits of our 17 years together.

Really really hard to believe it has been 17 years.  Can’t wait to see what 17 more years has in store for us (which would be the year 2027, yikes).

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Memorial Day Flag Flying from Auburn Alabama

31 May

I am glad we still celebrate Memorial Day in this country.  Somehow it seems that as the political correctness of our culture takes over everything we end up loosing an understanding of what made this country great in the first place.  It sickens me to see stories like the one of the Iraq veteran who displayed the American flag in his apartment window and was told to take it down or face eviction due to the fact that the flag is offensive to some of their residents.

Charlie Price of Wisconsin served 8 years for his country in Iraq and Kosovo to find that he isn’t even allowed to fly the flag he fought for in his own window. The couple is now fighting to amend the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 to include renters, and I hope they are successful.  Sometimes it seems that you are no longer aloud to hold an opinion in this country because it might offend someone.  Who are these idiots who have now decided that we need to be a country of brown plain-jane, average, robots, who all believe in the same thing and can never disagree with anyone else?

There is no greatness in average, no conviction of ideals or principles in living a life of medium gray, and these types always seem to get the headlines. It gets tiring to hear the moaners, whiners, and complainers beat the drums of complacency and strive towards moving the country to be average, but sometimes they seems to be yelling the loudest.  Now, instead of being the innovators and inventors, we are having to rely on Russia and Russian built rockets to take us into space, who would have thought that 20 years ago.

It is still the greatest country in the world, I just wish some of it’s residents would take a history lesson and see that America was not built on being average.  The History Channel just finished an interesting series called America The Story of Us.  Though some of it was a little subjective, it showed the overwhelming story of how much innovation, determination, and sacrifice people made because they believed in themselves and what this country stood for.

My family has had people who fought in the Civil War, WWI, both of my grandfathers served in WWI (see Son of a Son of a Photographer), one flew a B-24 Bomber in WWII in Europe, my dad served in the Air Force, and my cousin decided to go into the Navy after 9-11 and is currently serving in the Navy on a nuclear submarine.  I am thankful for their service to this country.  Because they served, my wife and I are able to enjoy living in this great country.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day.  It has been quite a stormy weekend with some crazy weather but I managed to get outside and take a few photos (and some of the dog of course).  The heat is definitely on its way, the pasture, trees, and everything around has taken on the brilliant green of summer.

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National Polka Festival in Ennis Texas 2010

29 May

We have very few traditions in our house.  We usually try to have special days throughout the year, but not necessarily on the day everyone else decides it should be done.  One tradition we have maintained for the last five years is going to the annual National Polka Festival (their website needs a serious update) in Ennis Texas.  This year through all kinds of different circumstances we were not able to make it, but today, for the last five years, we have been in Ennis enjoying some of Deborah’s Czech heritage with all the other Czech, German, and Texan people from around the country.

Each year Deborah has hand made an authentic Czech costume, and I usually get a vest and or shirt to go along with her costume.  This past year her costume was red, white, and black.  In order to enter into the Czech dance contest you must be in full costume, so Deborah has made a point to hand make hers each year.

Since we were not able to be there this year I thought I would post a few photos from last year.  We are already making plans to be at the festival next year, but at least this year I saved about 10,000 calories from all the great Czech and German food that always accompanies the festival.  I am sure everyone will have a wonderful time this year, we will be enjoying our Memorial Day weekend at home, watching all these thunderstorms rolling through.

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Good Friday Tornadoes with Minor Tree Damage :: Friday Feet

11 Apr

Downed Tree

This Friday for Friday Feet the plan was to focus on the day at hand, Good Friday.  We had a nice relaxing day at home on Friday in preparation for the Good Friday service and it ended up being one of the more memorable services that either Deborah or I have been to in years.  Just about half way into the service the tornado sirens started sounded.  The service was interrupted for about 30 minutes while we all hunkered down to one side of the worship area.

What made the service so memorable was how unscripted the whole evening was.  As we came back together and stared to focus on what makes this day special, the hail, thunder, and lightning started to come down in full force.  This was not a “traditional” service but the way it came together was so special.  I am thrilled to be a part of a church that is willing to interpret worship in many different ways.

On the way home it became apparent that the storm system that went through the area had made its way out to our property.  Tree after tree had been uprooted, snapped in half, and literally thrown all over the place.  The photo below at night was what we found as we drove in from the service.  A cedar tree topped and covering the road.  Once morning arrived we found about a 75 foot pine tree that was just blown over, making my Friday Feet image.

After surveying the damage out this way we found out that there were one and possibly two tornadoes that came through the property.  They were small, but had two visual sightings and see to skip around the houses for the most part.

Happy Easter to everyone.

Downed Tree

Downed Tree

Downed Tree

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Getting Sick is a Waste of Time, Or is It?

17 Mar

Azalea in Bloom

I would say I hate getting sick, but so does everyone.  I haven’t been sick to the point where I felt like I needed to stay home from work (or refrain from work, these days you can work from anywhere) for years.  I say years because I really can’t remember the last time I didn’t feel well enough to go to work, until yesterday.  It really only lasted a few hours in the morning and then the rest of the day was semi-productive but it got me thinking about what a waste of time it is to be sick, or is it God’s way of forcing us to slow down.

Being sick always seemed like a waste of time to me.  All of a sudden you are sitting at home with time (which seems to be manufactured from some where, because if you weren’t sick you wouldn’t have the time) to do just about anything, except you can’t or don’t do anything because… you are sick.

Time to stop and smell the flowers so to speak.  In a few weeks this part of the country will be in full bloom of Spring.  The photo above is one of our very early bloomers in the front yard, and a reminder that one of the most beautiful times of year in the south is on its way, if we stop and take the time to look.

10 Things That Being Sick Brings to Mind

  1. we are not in charge
  2. those of us in generally good health often take it for granted, until we get sick
  3. we have time, we just don’t make time
  4. you take pleasure in little things, like silence
  5. a cloudy rainy day is a great time to be sick
  6. no one wants to be around you
  7. your spouse is the greatest person ever
  8. nothing tastes good
  9. daytime programing hasn’t changed and the news is still annoying
  10. the work you did’t get done, probably didn’t need to be done that day anyway

Of course this comes from being sick where I couldn’t move or do anything for about half a day.  If I was laid up for several days in a row I am not sure what in the world I would do with myself.

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We are No Longer Amazon Marketplace Sellers

5 Mar

Books for Sale

It’s official, we are no longer selling books on Amazon.  For those of you who didn’t know, we have been selling books on Amazon in the Amazon Marketplace (those are the used and new books you see when Amazon is sold out or when you just want to buy the same book Amazon sells for $39.99 for $.01) for years.  Yesterday we sold all our remaining inventory, some 4,000 used/new books in one large bulk sale to a buyer in Texas.  For Deb and I, the books had become (as Andy Stanley put it last week) the old sofa that no one wants to get rid of because it has always been there.

We started selling book on Amazon at the same time we were full time eBay sellers (eBay lost out as a viable place to sell as a business long long before Amazon) back in 2005, and sold full time on Amazon in 2006-2008, and it was some of the hardest work, most laborious, and in the end least profit making work I can ever recall doing in my life.  It came at a time when Deb and I needed to work from home, needed and wanted to work together, and many blessings came our way over those years of selling books online.

Over our selling life on Amazon, we sold over 9,000 books at a retail price of $65,000 (that’s not as much as it sounds when you divide by 3 years and then start thinking profit margins), kept a high feedback rating, and learned a lot about hard work and to appreciate what we were given.  Not much different than what we gained and learned from our previous businesses we started and ran together, except that this particular one took over our entire house top to bottom.

Amazon Marketplace Seller

After running several small businesses over the past 10-12 years I have come to understand that each business or product has a defined life cycle, especially when you are running very small self made businesses.  Products come in and out, jobs, customers, and life in general, has a lifespan or timeframe where some things work well.  The key is to know when it is time to move on and get rid of the old sofa.  For the books, yesterday was that day, and we were both thrilled.  There were many many reasons, but knowing it was indeed the right time to let it go was a good feeling.

Anyone that wants to know the inner workings of selling on eBay or Amazon feel free to drop me an email.  Combined I think we have about 12-15 years experience selling on both platforms and we lived and breathed eBay and Amazon, so we do know our way around.  We certainly know how to get in trouble with big brother, and how to survive when the rules get changed (and they always do).

Our online selling life was great, and really is always something we think about no matter what we are working on or doing.  In those years, we managed to:

  • work together 24/7, netting 20,800 more hours spent together
  • fought off fraud
  • and copyright infringement issues
  • fended off domain landsharks
  • had $300,000 in sales without making a profit
  • sold alongside corrupt competition
  • continually fought customer theft
  • avoided a few lawsuits
  • didn’t sue a few times when we could have
  • were falsely accused of anything and everything
  • Witnessed to many (I hope)
  • were praised and awarded
  • ridiculed
  • made some great friendships
  • ate at a huge unknown number of restaurants
  • filed for our own patents and trademarks
  • never clocked in once
  • travel to every state in the country
  • live in a bus, apartment, house, tent, campground
  • lived in Nevada, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Alabama (and many others)
  • filled approximately 250,000 orders
  • counted approximately 2 million crystals
  • imported products from Austria
  • invented our own products
  • worked for a competitor
  • took 50,000 product images
  • went through about 30 computers
  • used miles and miles of tape, boxes, and packaging
  • cried, laughed, bled, and cherished every second

Thankfully for us, now, we have both moved on to a new chapter in our lives together and it doesn’t look like there will be much online selling involved, and that’s a good thing, because I am exahusted.

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Rare March Snowstorm in Auburn 2009

1 Mar

Deborah watching the snow

A rare snowstorm hit the state of Alabama this weekend.  It was 3,319 days since any measurable snow was recorded at the Birmingham airport and today they reported 2 inches of snow.  That said, we are two hours southeast of Birmingham so I am sure it has been even longer down here.  It was quite a storm and it snowed almost all day today until the sun went down.  It is supposed to get into the mid-20′s tonight so all that snow is going to freeze and should stick around at least until tomorrow.

I took these images today on my way to Cornerstone and some here at the house once I got home.  No telling when the next heavy snowfall will come down to Auburn so I tried to take as many photos and video as I could.  The one unique shot here is of our tree swing.  This will make just about every weather season we could get from the same angle.  I now have Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, snow, rain, and several others which I will post all together.  You can see all the photos from the snow storm on my flickr account here or go right to the March 2009 Snowstorm gallery.

Flower in the snow

Heavy Snow on the Trees

Tree swing in the snow

Stop Sign in the Snow

Deborah and Ebby in the Snow

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Welcome to Our Living Room // Friday Feet

20 Feb

Our Living Room

This was a different kind of Friday for Friday Feet this week.  If you are new to reading this blog, each Friday I do a post called Friday Feet which is just a photo “feet” shot that is where we happen to be on Friday.  If you are married you know the importance of spending some time together and after a busy week, Friday is usually our day.

This week we had plans to go to Panama City Beach (our last trip down there was on our motorcycles in September 2006) for this particular Friday but as things go in life, it was not meant to be this week.  It ended up being very cold down here this week (and today), and the timing just didn’t work out for us to go.  So today, we just spent the day at home in the living room working on our computers together and we thought we would just go out for a nice dinner together on Friday night.

The day spent in the living room together worked out great, nice to take a day and stay home, but we perhaps never should have left the house.  We ended up going to three different restaurants before we found one that had less than a 40 minute wait and it was our last choice of any place to eat between Columbus Georgia and our house, which would be Phenix City Alabama (yes that is spelled correctly for those not from around here, that’s how we spell in Alabama), not really known for all it’s great eateries, sorry).

We make the trek over to Columbus GA probably once a month so Deb and go to a few fabric stores that are not in Auburn.  Each time we go, we try to remember not to go back because of the traffic and crowds.  With the military base so close by (which is a good thing) the city seems to be so overcrowded at the main shopping centers.  So in a huge shopping center which houses a Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart, Lowes, Barnes & Noble, Circuit City (right now), Bed Bath and Beyond, Movie Theater and a lot more big box stores and tons of restaurants, to eat is a 40 minute wait (outside in the freezing cold).

We went over to Wal-Mart and picked up something for our favorite Superman in Birmingham (that is just in there to see if he reads my blog) and made our way over to Phenix City to eat.  For some reason this restaurant was loaded with Bama paraphernalia so the first shot was for my favorite Bama fan (anyone want to take a guess where that shot was taken).  On a side note, if you have a restaurant in the Auburn / Opelika area and would like someone to do a review for you, let me know, we love to eat, write, and review.

Never under estimate the greatness of spending the day at home with your wife and never leaving the house.  We did this for probably 10 years straight, so I have some experience in that area, but as a friend of mine put it, sometimes a day at home is a very good thing.

All that to say, welcome to our living room.  The feet shot was a vague attempt to sort of re-create a photo my grandfather took of himself (see Son of a Son of a Photographer?) that he took in 1938.  I am sort of always trying to recreate that image in my mind but with 71 years difference in the photos there isn’t much other than perhaps the position that remains the same.  The photo still fascinates me and it didn’t need a bunch of blabbering text like this to tell a story.

Friday Feet Dinner

Friday Feet Dinner

Winter is a strange thing down here.  It never really gets a strong hold like it does in the north so we fluctuate between humid storms in the 50-60* and like it is today and tonight, freezing in the 30′s.  Even so, the winter would be unbearable to warm loving people without our Lopi (see photo) wood burning stove that keeps it in the tropical range all winter.

In case you were wondering, after being in this house three years we have finally moved the lawn furniture out of the living room and that macbook on the oversized chair across the room is Deb and Ebby’s place (Blazer and I get the other side of the room away from the fireplace).  Some days I still feel like we are moving in with boxes everywhere (literally) because of the last remaining remnants of our book business that takes up the entire garage, but it is getting better each week.  When Deb starts her classes up again in March all will be gone and cleaned out.

Far more than I am sure any of you care to know but there you go, a mostly uneventful Friday Feet but in my usual long worded way.  If any of you do your own Friday Feet post on your blog please let me know so I can link over to you.  Have a good weekend everyone.

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