Happy New Year

Wishing you and your family a safe and happy new year!

Merry Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving!

Is "I DO" the longest sentance in the English language?

Saw this sign after I dropped my car off for service and it made me chuckle.  Why yes it is.   Once you say "I do" and have kids then it becomes the longest "Sentence".  Life with out parole. Even if you get divorced the tie to your ex is there the rest of your life.  My joke I tell is there is more crying at a wedding than at funeral.  At a wedding the sentence is just beggining at a funeral it is over.

Happy birthday Ashley!

I want to wish my daughter Ashley a happy 8th birthday!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Fall Photos from Sunday October 09, 2011

Went out train chasing today and here are some of the photographs I took with fall colors.

Who's to say you can't have some fun with a point and shoot camera.

IMG_4659
Originally uploaded by Ritchie's Photostream

I took this photo with my Canon Power shot SX100 camera just to test out the zoom on the camera one night while the kids were playing in the park. The Canon Power Shot SX100 is a point and shoot camera. I own a digital rebel which is a low end professional camera and I can't with the lenses I have get this photograph.

Wind Power in Western Ohio

Just a short  drive East of Fort Wayne there as a seen that looks like something you might have seen out West a few years ago.  Along highway 30 East of New Haven there is a wind farm in place.  There are hundreds of these giant windmills silently turning to generate power.  I took these photographs one afternoon on my way home from Decatur.   My kids and I noticed them on our family vacation back in June to Deshler Ohio.  I had seen the giant blades on flat bed trucks going down 469, but didn't know exactly what it was I was looking at.  It is possible on a clear day to see these from the intersection of Highway 30 and 469 as you drive on 469.   The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette had an article on these that can be seen by clicking here. I personally don't like these giant machines because the block out the natural beauty of the land.  One of my favorite parts of going out rail fanning is being out in the country where I can enjoy nature.

Making it all worth while.

Eariler in the summer I decided that I would build a platform for my cats to sit on behind my couch so they could look out the Window when they wanted. I have three indoor cats and they had never had a place to look out. My son Dakota and I one Sunday afternoon decided it was time to build it. It was one of those father son type things that we could do together. From time to time when I come home from work I see one to three cats sitting on it at any given time. Today I am home on Vacation and Fuzzy (AKA Momma Kitty) was laying all streched out in front of the window. Needless to say the things we do for our kids and for our pets.

A relic from the past.

I saw this rather large praying mantis the other day on the side walk. I normally don't see any during the summer, but this was the second one I saw on this day and the third one I saw this year. Buy looking at it you might mistake it for a twig. It also looks like it could be anchient. It is casting quite a large shadow.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Happy 44th Birthday to my sister Sheila

I want to wish my sister Sheila a very happy 44th birthday. I hope it is a great day for you and the start of a great year!

A Father's day cook out

Happy Fathers Day to all the dad's out there!

Today was a good fathers day for me. A couple of weeks ago I decided to buy a grill so that we could grill out from time to time. So this morning when my ten year old son got up he went out side for a while and when he came back in he announced that he had cleaned the grill. I guess that was his way of saying "I want to grill out this afternoon". So I made the trip to the grocery store and bought some hamburger meat and hot dogs.

Around 4:3opm today I started the fire in the charcoal grill. First off up until two weeks ago I had never grilled using a charcoal grill. The only grill I had ever used was electric. This being my third attempt at grilling on a charcoal grill I hoped I got it right this time. The food so far was just okay. After waiting about a 1/2 hour or a little more I finally put the food on to grill. As soon as I put on the hamburgers I knew it was going to turn out better this time. The food was good and I even melted some cheese on the hamburgers when they were done so we actually had bacon cheese burgers and hotdogs. My seven year old daughter doesn't seem to like food from the grill, but we had a good day and it was a GREAT fathers day.

Summer Time Projects

For the past several years I have had Summer Time projects that I wanted to accomplish, but for one reason or another I have failed to get some of them done.  This year I have lined out the list of projects I would like to accomplish before the winter winds and snow come back this year.  One of those projects was to install my new railroad scanner antenna.  About two months ago I bought a new commercial antenna for listening to railroad audio and I had not installed it as of yet, so today was the day.  I really didn't feel like getting this put up today, but it sure gives one a sense of accomplishment when a project is finished.   The amazing things is how much more I can hear with the new antenna.  Not only is it about 6 feet higher off the ground, but it also has about 5 db of gain (signal amplification).  As of a few minutes ago I was hearing not only the local trains, but trains calling signals about twenty miles away.  WOO HOO!

A summer time tradition - First trip to the Zoo

 This year like no other year I have sprung for a Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo membership.  This years prices was $92 for a year.  They have completely redesigned the entry way and have a whole brand new system for allowing for entry.  I even got a permanent card to use.  When they swipe your card it tells you how much time it is until you have to renew your membership.  Now the regular price to get into the zoo is $13 for an adult and $8.50 for children.  So, using the membership yesterday resulted in getting $30 back on the $92 I paid.  I figure the 4th use will be free. The kids seem to enjoy going and seeing the animals and it gives me a way to keep them entertained for now.  In this blog I am including some pictures I took from yesterdays visit.  These photos can also be seen at www.flickr.com/railfandad