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this is a test

A couple of weeks ago my friend, Trixie, dragged me to the "Blue Berry Patch." This place happens to be about 3 blocks from my house. I'd see cars parked on the road, but never had a clue what it was. Basically, it's a huge back yard where people get together, drink and listen to music.

She was going because her boyfriend is in the band that was playing there. That's right, she's a groupie. The band is Low Frequency Shaman

I took my camera and they were playing from dusk on, so the lighting was pretty low and I didn't really want to use my flash, so I went with some really slow shutter speeds and long exposures. I like that type of photography anyway. Ended up with some interesting effects on most of them.

I went to the practice session of the Indy Races in St petersburg. They also have the Le Mans races, but the big one is the Indy cars. Fri is the best day to go, got in for $10, not too many people there so you can maneuver around and get good photo spots.


I attempted to take quite a few "panning" shots. Normally, with really fast cars you shoot with a really quick shutter speed, most of mine are 1/1000th of a second or faster. With the panning style I shot 1/40th of a second, which means the car will just be a blur... except you pan along with it. This isn't the easiest thing to do, but occasionally when one works right, you get a car in focus, with the background a blur because you were sweeping through in motion attempting to exactly follow the car's speed. About half the ones I took like that here are absolutely horrible... some decent, and a few look really nice. My favorites when they work. This is the one that came out the best, a nice panning shot of the Target #10, Dan Wheldon


Danica Patrick, pulling out of pit row.


One of the Le Mans cars:


Finally, what would a race be without race girls? I believe their official job description reads like this, "Walk around and look hot."



I also have a few More Photos from the track.

Is there anything cuter than puppies?

These are Bob Lehmann's newest additions.

Dioggi is the faun, Biarro is the tricolor.

Here is the love of my life.

I needed to do some work on my boat trailer, remember the giant rust hole right through a cross member that I mentioned? So, in order to get the trailer out, I had to stack the boat up on pallets. In my odd sorta way, everything worked out.


Now, the trailer has been a challenge so far. Some of the bolts are really badly rusted and I'm having issues getting them off. PB Blaster helps quite a bit, but I've gone one that has kicked my ass and several other bolts decided to commit bolt suicide and snap in half rather than suffer the indignity of being removed normally. I even tried to drill one out, and just ended up with a broken drill bit in the middle of it. I've now decided that bolt has proved it's worth and gets to stay.
The really good news is that the axle and hubs checked out at the local trailer repair shop, so those don't have to be replaced. Still had to spend a bit on new springs, and lots of new U-bolts, etc, but not as bad as buying a new axle, that's for sure.

I haven't been out taking any pictures, but I have started a new project. Operation, "Abandon Ship." Anyone that has ever gone white-water rafting with me knows what a hazard I am on the water. So, to increase the odds of my untimely death occuring, I decided to buy a boat so I can head out into the ocean. It can't be a nice safe boat, though. No, it would have to be a boat that needs a lot of work, and knowledge (which I don't have). I plan on writing a photo journal on the progress of my boat....


It appears it needs some wiring, perhaps. So far, all I've done is verified that the bilge pump works, and then just as quickly broke it when I stepped on it the next time I climbed into the hull. I also got a siphon to get all the gas out of the tank, as it's been in there for unknown years and certainly can't be used by now. I now have three 5 gallon gas tanks of old gas in my yard.

See that board going across the top left? That board goes across the stern of the boat. My friend Trixie is in charge of getting some padding and white pleather to match it to the rest of the interior. That's a key task, I'm not sure I should have given her something with so much responsibility attached to it.


I got the boat, trailer, and motor for around $500. I should point out that the trailer has some minor rust. By minor I mean that one of the cross members has a giant rust hole straight through it. And, the motor doesn't actually run. Minor, insignificant details.

The best part about the boat is the name, "Stress Less." I've barely begun working on it, and it's by far the most stressful thing in my life right now!

This is one of my local St Pete pics.
I have to admit, I did do some color adjustments, it was a bit more mellow from the camera. I was hoping for a gorgeous sunrise, and it was only an average one, but still got something!

Maui Chickens: The coolest chickens ever!

I took another trip down to Venice Beach to search for the fossilized shark teeth. I found about 100+ of the small ones (Mako, Bull, Tiger, and Snaggletooth) and near the end finally spotted one of the Megalodon.

This one isn't giant, it's about 2 3/4 inches long. But, it's always fun to find a tooth from the most feared known creature to ever live! This tooth has a little damage to it, but I'm still happy.