It's been a busy week: Albert Lee, MN and Des Moines, IA, and I have taken no pictures. Today it was 75 degrees! Went for a 25 mile bike ride and wanted to keep going. Attached are a couple of favorite photos from the past. Enjoy

It has been awhile, but since no one is reading this anyway it doesn't mater. Maybe I'll start doing better. Here are two of my latest good photos. I hope you like them.

Last Great Day

Saturday may have been the last great day. I see nothing in the forecast but rain and chilly weather, but hope springs eternal and I'm sure things will improve. It's just hard to train for long rides when it rains all the time. Guess I should take up canoeing. I was in Iowa this week and came upon this cool bridge. Remember Bridges of Madison County? This is one of them, the Roseman Bridge. I also spotted this old green barn. Unusual color for an old barn. My favorite pic. of the week is the old building in Humeston, IA with colors that really pop and, as luck would have it, a darling stooped little lady shopper. This is rural America as I find it. Hope you enjoy the picts. and it will have been a good week.

Rock On - Better Bill

Great Day

Today was a good day. One of the best days I've had this spring. This morning I cut the grass and trimmed the yard. I think it looks pretty nice for early in the year. I then went for a bike ride. Perfect temps in the 70's, cloudy, but windy and humid. God sprinkled on in Olathe and the ride south was into tough 30 mph headwinds. On the way home I had a big tailwind so with that at my back I rode down my favorite downhill - an 8% grade. Top speed - 48 mph, yeehaaw! I maybe could have gotten more, but I was passing cars on the right and the speed limit was 45 mph. After all the work I sat on the deck and had a refreshing beverage. The fun was not over, I still had more yard work to do, but there is always more of that. All in all, a great day.

Later, Bill

Spring has finally arrived - well in Oklahoma anyway. I did some work in Talihina, OK this week. It was beautiful, the Bradford Pears were in full bloom as were the Dogwoods and Redbuds. On Tuesday my co-worker Arnie and I bought some steaks at Kimbles Foods and went to a State Park and barbqued them. I saw this nice little redbud showing off and took its picture. It did shower a little which gave the tree a little more look of freshness. Oklahoma is about two weeks ahead of us here in Kansas City, but Spring is on the way.

Long Exhausting Week

This was a long week ending with our Affiliated Foods Midwest Spring Food Show in Omaha, NE. There was a one day set up ( Thursday) and a show on Friday/Saturday with tear down and return home on Saturday. The shows are fun in that it's a change of pace, you see new products and visit with old friends and make some new ones. It just makes for some very long hard days. The week began with a trip to Downs Kansas and a tour of Cawker City, Kansas and a viewing of the Worlds Largest Ball Of Twine. Something Cawker City is justly proud of. Forget it all you wanabees. There is a Ball Of String Festival weekend every year in which the add twin to the ball so they can stay ahead of all the imitators. Of equal interest to me was the Ball Of Twine Inn just across the street. I didn't find it on the Best 100 Places you have to visit before you die list, but I'm sure it was just an oversight.

Today I just sort of rested. I did go the Shawnee Mission Park for a walk and to try to find a good sign of Spring to photograph. The grass is starting to green up and I found this Pussy Willow just about to pop, but I think it is still a week early. I also found this Bluebird setting on top of his home. If I did that they would call someone!

Have a Great Week :)
Better Bill

Bad weather and silly birds.

Yea, I know it has been two weeks, but I just haven't felt it. The weather has been crappy, at least during times I could enjoy it. This weekend was the worst. Four inches of snow. One of the photos above is from Shawnee Mission Park. I thought it would be a good place to get some nice snow pictures, but Saturday was opening day of trout season at the lake and there were lots of people. On top of that most of the lake roads were closed to traffic. I do think the photo captures the eye and takes it for a nice tour through the picture.

The first picture is of my finch feeder with a Red Headed Woodpecker trying to steal a snack. He is much too big for the feeder, but trying to hang on anyway. I thought it was kind of comical.

Speaking of birds, the Jayhawks keep on winning. Rock Chalk Jayhawk! - Sorry Missouri :( NOT!

Hang on everyone, Spring has to be just around the corner.

Billh :)

First Finch

This day started out great. The above photo is of the very first bird that has visited my new feeder. At least the first one that I have seen. It must be a finch of some kind, I'm really confused about birds. I have three bird books and none of them have pictures that look like the birds I see in my back yard. I must live in a twilight zone.

A very nice day was today. The sun was out wall to wall, and there was very little wind. A bit chilly though, but still nice enough to go for a run. This makes two days in a row. A hilly route yesterday and a shorter flat route today.

Happy Trails,
Billh

Valentines a good day

This was a good day. I did get the little woman :) a card and 2 dozen roses. I think that was kind of overkill, but at least when she left for work she had gotten over the slight she thought I had given her earlier. On Monday last we changed our cable network to AT&T. They were not able to set e-mail up on her Mac. She had to rely on web mail and she was not happy. I have been out of town all week and had not had a chance to look at it. This morning I put on my geek cap on and actually figured it out! She loves me again. That made her happier than two dozen roses.

Combine my success with her e-mail and Kansas University's basketball win over rival K-State and it has been a good day.

The above photo is my attempt at an artsy picture of a rose. I think it's OK, what do you think?

Happy Trails,
Billh

For the Birds

The big thing I did today was to purchase a finch feeder to attach to the deck. I already have a feeder, but it is too far from the house and I can't get close up photos. This one is ten feet from the kitchen window and should be a joy to watch and photograph. This brings up the subject of squirrels. They seem to defeat every deterrent I have tried. Oh well they need food too.

I went for a walk through the park and took the above photo with my small Olympus. I think it turned out OK.

Have Fun :)
Bill

Record Temp

Iowa may be the Hawkeye state, but there are plenty of them here in Kansas also. My job pleasures me with driving all over the state and I have noticed a lot of different Hawk like birds. I bought a book at Borders that pictures birds that are most likely to be found in Kansas and sure enough there are a lot of birds of prey that spend at least some of the year in Kansas. The photo is of the very common Red Tailed Hawk. I took it today at the Home and Garden Show in Kansas City. Don't move too quick, it has its eye on you! My brother Bob came down from Topeka and we went there together.

I also went for a bike ride. The temps were a record 70 degrees and winds were not too bad in the 10 to 15 mph range.

Hope you had as good a day as I did :)

Bike Ride

The big thing I did today was go for a bike ride. I think we set a record high for Jan. 31 at 70 degrees. Very unusual for January, but I'll take it. The only draw back was the wind 20+ miles per hour whew! It was tough heading into the wind, but great coming back. If you don't ride in the wind in Kansas, you don't ride much. I got in 26 Miles.

I also watched Kansas University basketball struggle through the second half to beat Colorado, at Allen Fieldhouse, by only 4 points. They should have won by 30.

I did record a short video of myself so that I have something to try to put on my web page. When I figure it all out, I'll have to reshoot the video.

Bill

New Commitment

OK this is it for sure. I am recommitting myself to blogging more frequently. If not everyday then at least once per week. Maybe I'll even blog twice today since it is early. I have been very busy since my last blog. I got myself a Christmas present this year, a Canon D50 DSLR camera. It is my first SLR and I am taking lots of time to learn how to use it. I love to take pictures and love the camera. I am also working on a new web site, kind of a next generation. With it I am learning how to use layers to make the site more attractive. I also want to include some video, so I need to learn how to ad that to the page and lastly, I am learning some javascript to help make the content more interesting.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions on these subjects, I have a lot to learn.

Bill