Scott Fillmer » house

Day 1 on the Ground in Uganda Starts Today

Scott Fillmer — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 07:11:50 +0000

Well, I’m not actually sure if this is day 1 or 2 or 3 or what but that’s how everyone else over here starts counting. We were able to get to the guest house last night about 1am local time and we did get to sleep around 2am. I am not sure I have ever taken a longer set of flights from one starting point to the next. Combined I think it ended up being almost 38 hours from house to house. It was great getting to travel with a group of guys and that part of the trip made it much easier than if you were trying to traverse all this alone. I have a tons of photos already but I will leave you with my favorite from the day so far, my roommate and resident neanderthal man, Mark Fuller. The two wonderful ladies who made and served us breakfast is Lillian and Jennifer, they had a great time with the team that just left, looking forward to getting to know them as well.

The trip from the airport at midnight to the house was something of shock overload and sensory explosion. I have been all over the world and been driven around in rickshaw’s in Bangkok and haven’t seen anything like the “traffic flow” they have going on over here. It was quite something at night, looking forward to actually being able to see the road today (they were on power blackouts all over the city last night so it was VERY dark).

As I write this we are all getting ready to head out. It’s 9am local time and there are more soccer (football) balls, goals, and everything else ready to head down to Buloba. Until tomorrow or whenever.

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A Midnight Summer’s Dream in the Night Sky

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:54:45 +0000

Ok, well it’s not Shakespeare but it is just about that time of year when the days are really long and the nights are clear and hot. Sometimes it’s hard to find new and fresh images when your routine seems to stay the same, but there is always a lot more to creation than meets the eye. Out here we actually still have a dark sky at night, most of the time. We can still see the lights from the Auburn-Opelika metro area and on the other side we can just see the glow from Columbus, GA, but it isn’t anything like what the sky looked when we lived in the big cities like Dallas. Those big cities like Atlanta and Birmingham have almost no night sky left. Luckily out here we still do… so… I’m off to try to get some shots of the Milky Way or whatever else my nephew finds while stargazing. Hopefully I’ll have something interesting to show for it tomorrow night.

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Finally, We Actually Got Some Rain Here in Auburn

Scott Fillmer — Sun, 15 May 2011 12:05:22 +0000

We finally finally got some rain down in Auburn. It rained most of Friday and by Saturday morning everything already looked a little greener than it did the day before, and a whole lot cooler than 96*F. Amazing what a little water will do. No, we don’t bale hay out here, but the guy down the street does. We just mow it down, as you can see from the tractor above. Saturday’s are just too short sometimes.

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Alabama Tornado Storm Damage from Dadeville Today :: Photos

Scott Fillmer — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 23:18:18 +0000

Almost impossible to describe what we saw today as we took a small group of people from Cornerstone into Dadeville, AL. We didn’t know what to expect when we got there and most of the area was closed off, but the houses the police directed us to were way beyond needing trees cleaned up or anything like that, they just needed help finding their personal belongings so they could leave the area. It wasn’t partial damage where we were, it was complete destruction. The homeowners were more than gracious for having just lost everything and then having total strangers walking around their property. I tried to document what we saw as best I could while respecting the owners of the property. I spoke with each owner before taking any shots of course and they were more than accommodating to our group. To see the entire gallery from today visit Alabama Storm Damage April 2011.

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A Mix of Sun and Rain So Time to Stop and Smell the Roses

Scott Fillmer — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:47:42 +0000

They say you should stop and smell the roses. It has been so cold, wet, dark, and raining for the last few days that you couldn’t get outside and do anything, let alone smell a rose. It finally cleared up enough this afternoon to jump outside for a quick break, and today that makes this shot the photo of the day. I took the shot of the roses with my iPhone today, and in my ongoing battle to make the iPhone a viable photographic alternative to a big DSLR I am testing out some new apps (blog post review to come some time).

There is so much going on this week and my mind and heart are in basically three different places so this was a nice walk around the house break. My friend and marathon prayer partner lost his sister unexpectedly this week and today he is in Tennessee with his wife at the funeral. He has usually been on the other side, praying for myself and Deborah as she continues with her tests at UAB, but this week it changed.

This morning, going through my normal continuous reading of the bible, I just happen to be reading Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 12:26 that says “if one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together”, and this is truly the case. As we get ready for the next round of tests at UAB on Friday (depending on whether UAB and BCBS can figure out how to talk to each other) I know he will be back on the other side praying for me once again, and that is such a comfort to me.

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The Lockheed C-130 Hercules Flyover from Fort Benning to Montgomery

Tumble — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:42:09 +0000

For the last several weeks these C-130’s have been flying directly over our property, at about 1,000 feet off the ground. While they are not as loud as an F-14 with afterburners fired, they can really beat the surrounding air, especially when flying in pairs. That’s just what they did last night at about 1:30am, felt like the windows were going to break.

This shot was taken about 15 miles farther into their flight path, almost directly over AUO (Auburn University Regional Airport) around 6pm. I am only drawing the conclusion they are flying from Fort Benning to Montgomery, but it is pretty cool to see them flying overhead, just not at 2am.

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Ebby and Her Many Expressions of Life

Tumble — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 19:13:00 +0000

The photo of the day today is the ever moody Ebby and her many expressions. I am truly amazed at how many expression a dog can make. She has a way of speaking volumes with just her eyes and this is one of those we love, saying just leave me alone and let me sleep.

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Monday Morning Photos of a Sunrise Surprise

Scott Fillmer — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:56:24 +0000

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

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:12:50 +0000

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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Giving Up Thanksgiving For Christmas This Year?

Scott Fillmer — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:29:44 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I am sitting here about to turn on the Macy’s Day Parade and for some reason thinking about Christmas and New Years Day and beyond. For some reason this year it seems like we have skipped over Thanksgiving and are bolting ourselves into the Christmas day time. Retail stores are probably trying desperately to bring in people early this year, and around town I started seeing Christmas displays and hearing Christmas music over the intercom before Halloween was over.

I don’t remember Christmas coming right after Halloween last year but it seems to have creeped its way farther up the calendar this year. I like Thanksgiving and would like to take one of these at a time before we go on to the next one, but I realize that Thanksgiving is not a real big commercial season and no one gives presents from Best Buy at Thanksgiving (thank goodness). If there is no commercial purpose for the holiday, it seems that most businesses, TV and radio will just skip over day now. I hate rushing through life. We rush here and there all day every day and I would like to celebrate one holiday at a time. Deb and I are not real big fans of holiday days anyway, it always disrupts the routines of everything, but I would like to enjoy one before going on to the next.

So, today being Thanksgiving I figured I would do the typical what I am thankful for post. A few things I am thankful for.

My Savior
My wife, family, friends
that I have food to eat, a place to live
I am able to live in a free country
clean water and shoes

Those are nothing earth shattering of course, but still something I am continually aware of and thankful for. Early this week on Tuesday a friend of mine, Josh, did a great explanation of why we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, why it is important, and what was going on at the time. It was during the Passover Celebration as explained in Exodus, but when Jesus and the disciples celebrated passover supper, Jesus spoke and said:

Matthew 26: 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus “gave thanks” during this celebration dinner, and today we give thanks as well. I do like to remember that this is generally an American holiday (see Thanksgiving is a U.S. Holiday, Think Global) and we should not forget that this is not a world-wide holiday. Last year, Deb and I spent the holiday on our boat (sort of) for a few hours and ended up coming back home after their wifi went down (see here). It’s a year later and we are going to spend the day here at the house with my father-in-law David, (see Deb’s mom’s blog) and watching some football.